F1 - 2014 - ABU DHABI

The curtain closes down on the 2014 season here in Abu Dhabi in the way that pretty much everybody expected to be.
The few hopes for a thrilling race, kept alive by an outstanding pole position performance from the German Nico Rosberg on Saturday, faded away at the first corner of the race.
No one could have taken away this Championship from Lewis Hamilton's pocket, no driver, no team, no "double points in the final race" rule.

The combination Hamilton-Mercedes this year was just simply the best. The car that translated into racing performance the big technical changes introduced this year better than anyone else. The driver that improved the most since last year.

It has been an astonishing season for the British driver that today sits on top of the racing world. The inconsistency and the temper that produced much trouble for him in the past seasons seems well back in the past. Today's Lewis is a solid, concentrated, calculating driver that fits well in the team mechanisms, even when he has to share the box with his direct competitor for the title. He comes out as a much more humble and personable character, definitely much more diplomatic when needed and his maturity translate in more confidence and more coolness behind the wheel.

It's the evolution that impresses more than the result. Being F1 Champion again, for the second time, it's definitely an achievement but it's probably even better knowing that the driver is fully developed and at his best. Mercedes fully gets it and they will put all the effort needed to keep the gap from the other teams, to make this the first of a long strike of successes.


On the other hand, Rosberg proved to be a very respectable individual. Inside the car he showed an incredible consistency that only cracked a couple times when the pressure for results was getting heavier. The determination the pushed him to never give up is remarkable and it's all summarized in his willing to finish this Sunday Gran Prix under the checkered flag even though it was clear that the title slipped away form him way back in the race and the team suggested an anticipated retirement.
He finishes this season with his head up, showing pride, respect for the opponent and knowledge that this year there was really nothing more to do.

The frictions and tensions showed sometimes on track and in the paddock between the two drivers proved to be part of the competition that we often experienced in the past and that contributed to build up legendary sort of halos around some of the best drivers ever. If we kept watching race after race, lap after lap, it's because these two gave everything they had and the team took the only role of supervising them without giving orders that could have killed the show.

Much more can be said about this season, and it will be, but there is one particular little good news that is good to share today. Jules Bianchi, still in the fight for his life after the horrible accident of Suzuka, was able to be moved back to France, in a medical facility closer to his place, to his family and to his friends and fans. The road for him is still long and steep but hopefully the comfort of being back home will play in his favor.

WEC - 2014 - 6 HOURS of BAHRAIN

Watch the second last race of the 2014 World Endurance Championship now!

VIDEO - WTCC - Macau - 2014

Watch the last races of the 2014 season for the WTCC Championship. Here!

F1 - Brasil - 2014

Two weeks, two races, same situation in the run for the World Championship title.
The victory of Hamilton in Austin could have curbed the expectation of many but not for Rosberg, who lands in San Paolo with only one thought: win and keep the math away from the paddock.
The best way to achieve that is to start fast from the beginning, faster than everybody else if possible, teammate included, and positioning yourself on the first seat on grid.
That's exactly what happened on the newly resurfaced Jose' Carlos Pace the days before Sunday.
Then there's the race. 71 laps to run all in one breathe, with an eye on the mirrors and one one the tires, that could let you drive on chewing gum at any moment.
The result is a chasing game that sees the two Mercedes run in another league, no surprise about that, with Hamilton putting all the pressure he could on the German driver ahead but also leaving room for errors. and in this game of milliseconds, going out of track sideways and trowing away about six seconds can make a difference between 31 or 17 points of advantage on your teammate.

It ends like this, the same way it started. This time we don't see the overtake that could have given the final push in the run for title. This time the smile on the first step of the podium is blonde, and in two weeks we'll all stare at the stunning landscape of Abu Dhabi anxious to unfold the last chapter of this German Tale.

Only a couple more considerations:

Thumbs up for Massa who scores one of the few podiums of the season at the hometown race despite entertaining the audience with first speeding in the pit lane and second stopping at the wrong box. Good result for the confidence and good celebration for the memories;

Thumbs down for the circus that devotes good words about keeping the cost of F1 at an accessible level for all the teams but then keeps adding races every year in preposterous places and the calendar looks like the dream of an Aeroplan Miles carholder.
Result? Two teams missing, one in bankrupcy and a sad short grid;

Thumbs up for the Brasilian supporters. They show up on a Sunday finally sunny for the first time in years and they push Massa to the third place under the flag. Goosebumps when, after celebrating Felipe, they let go a joyous "ole ole ole ole Senna Senna" that bring us back to 1993;

Thumbs down for the double point system in the last race of the year. Sure Bernie was afraid that closing the race for the title before the end of the season could translate in less money but go tell this to Hamilton...;

Thumbs up for Mercedes that, with a Constructor Championship in the pocket, lets the drivers fight each other until the end, even if sometimes it translates in delicate post race debriefings, and to the two drivers who may be livid when the teammate stands on their left on the podium, but they always show up with a big smile and some gesture of congratulation.

Thumbs down for Nelson Piquet who starts off with a question for Hamilton about his girlfriend and walks away from him without giving time for an answer. Lewis leaves the podium disappointed to come back just one minute after to give Nelsinho the chance to make up for it. Hilarious;

Thumbs down for NBC. This is Formula 1, not NASCAR, we don't care about statistics or recaps while the race is on!!! We don't care about 5 minutes commercial brakes with no background screen on the race!!! If this is the way you'll keep doing it, please give up on the rights.

VIDEO - WTCC 2014 - SUZUKA

Watch round 11 of the WTCC 2014 from Sukuza Japan!

VIDEO - European LMS - Estoril - 2014

Watch the final round of ELMS 2014 here!

VIDEO - DTM Final - Hockenheimring - 2014

Final round of DTM 2014. Watch the full race here!

VIDEO - Blancpain Series - Zolder - 2014

Watch the full Practice and Main Races of the second last appointment in the Blancpain Series 2014!

F1 - Japan -2014 - Jules Bianchi

It would be nice to talk about the race, about one of the classic F1 appointments on the calendar. Certainly it will be better to report about the head to head going on in the Mercedes team that even this Sunday made us pay close attention at the lap times.
Instead, we have to face reality, we have to deal with something that puts everything else in perspective: a driver, a new member of the paddock, a young person is fighting right now for his life after something that it shouldn't have happened, unfortunately, happened.

Jules Bianchi, a very talented racer driving for the Marussia Team but already in the circle of the young Ferrari drivers, has seen his race ending in a crash into a recovery vehicle that was operating beside the barrier to clear the field from another car, the Sauber of Sutil, who crashed in the same spot a lap earlier.

Bad race management, yellow flags, red flags, to race or not to race, Charlie Whiting, Bernie Ecclestone...As often happens in these situations, the public opinion starts to play the games "Let's find who to blame" and "They should have done this or that". It's a pretty rational reaction since everyone wants to be clear from any responsibility but unfortunately no one can come out of this completely clean.
Yes, because if the race took place anyway although it was known that Japan was under a particularly critical weather situation, if the money making machine of TV rights and advertising has so much weight in the process of decision making, then we all are somehow responsible for pushing the boundaries  a little too close to the edge.

Formula One has always been the pioneer and outpost for safety in motor racing and, by default, in day by day driving, we all know that. What is harder to digest is that, no matter what, motor racing is still, and will always be, a dangerous sport. The improving of safety will always be a work in progress and sometimes, unfortunately, accidents forestall actions.
Also, the fact that bad accidents are more and more infrequently these days,  contributes to lower the guard against danger. But the risk is still there, hiding at every corner, waiting for a bad combination of event to show up.

We will never have a completely safe motor race. Danger is in the nature of it, danger is what elevates racing drivers to idols to the eyes of the fans, danger is what keeps us hypnotized from the green light to the checkered flag, danger is what makes us look at the champions of the past in an almost mythological way.

Let's just hope that the effort of everyone will be spent now in the direction of avoiding similar situations in the future.

Mostly, let's hope that Bianchi will be able to walk away from this and, as usually happens to these fighters on four wheels, that we will see him again with his helmet on.

VIDEO - WTCC - Beijing - 2014

Watch races 17 and 18 from the 2014 WTCC in China!

DTM Zandvoort 2014

The Championship has been decided last race when Marco Wittmann conquered Lautsiz. We have to go through Zandvoort before wrapping up the season in Hockenheim. And thank God we do it because this Sunday's race has been so far one of the most exciting of the season.
The release of pressure from the race to the Championship lets the drivers focus only on the race and the result is a gift to the viewers, a hour-and-a-half spectacle worth to pull out from the archives during the upcoming boring winter season.

The manufacturers standings see BMW jumping forward in the fight against AUDI that, however, is pleased to bring back to Ingolstadt the first, believe it or not, victory of the season.
It could have gone even better for the four ringed team if the safety car didn't have to show up on track every other lap, compromising the strategy of two other AUDI contending for first place: Rockenfeller and Muller.

When the red lights go off is Wittmann to take the lead from P2 but only four laps later the safety car makes it first appearance of the day: Tambay loose grip and ends up on the grass, straight until the barrier. The group repack and soon almost all the cars on option tires are in the top positions, Mortara included although he was starting from the last position on the grid.

The second safety car is crucial, it comes out on lap 18, right at the beginning of the pit stop window. Who benefits from this is who just stopped (Di Resta, Wehrlein and Mortara). On the other end, whoever has to stop now and not for option tires is not going to be happy much longer.

There's time for another four calls for the safety car but not to finish all the 44 laps of the race. Ekstrom is the one taking the most out of it flying position after position, wearing an option tire that doesn't leave much hope to the rest of the top five drivers, Superman Wittmann included.

The final verdict says: Ekstrom, Wittmann and Tomczyk on the podium, with a radiant Mortara in forth position after defending his position during the last laps from a much faster Vietoris and starting from P23 on grid.

The second last appointment of the season is over and we are all looking forward to the celebration of the champions in Hockenheim in three weeks.

It will be tough to wait until next season!

VIDEO - DTM Zandvoort - 2014

Watch the second last race of 2014 DTM in Zandvoort here!

Watch the full 1000km of the Nurburgring!

VIDEO - Tudor USC - Circuit of The Americas - 2014

VIDEO - WEC - Circuit of The Americas - 2014

Watch the full 6 Hours race of the COTA here!

F1 - Singapore - 2014

The last part of the season starts here, in Singapore. The circus won't land in Europe again before the end of November, when we will have a 2014 Champion. Not much time for the teams to apply any upgrade to their cars, not much time for the drivers to book a seat for the next season. The music will stop soon and the chairs available are only a few.
Everybody is projecting himself into 2015. Well... everybody except who is fighting for the championship. Inside the Mercedes team, very few people will divert their attention from the head to head between the two silver drivers.

Let's step back for a second and let's take a look at the actual race that took place in the astonishing scenery of Singapore.
On the grid we have the by now usual duo Mercedes in front, followed by the two Red Bull in particular good shape on the city track and the positively performing Ferrari of Alonso, first of the two pairs Ferrari-Williams starting in Row 3 and 4.

The first and biggest turn of event takes place even before the first lap. The warm up lap begins with the cars leaving their position on the grid to slowly get ready for the start but Rosberg Mercedes' doesn't move an inch. Some problem in the electrical system between wheel and gear box doesn't work and he has to give up his second position on the grid and start from the pit.
The car will never get back to work properly, it will take laps before Rosberg will attempt, with much struggle, to overtake Marussias and Caterhams. His forth gear won't work and this is not the best track to lose traction at medium speed.
He will come into the pit for the tires change, they will try to use a second steering wheel but that won't solve the problem. He'll watch the rest of the race from the pit, staring at his teammate flying away from the group, finishing in first position, pushing him down from the top of the season standing, feeling sorry for the team because one of them scored no points.

With Rosberg out of the game, everybody in the top positions moves ahead, the two Red Bull fill up the podium behind Hamilton, this time with Vettel in front of the local idol Ricciardo. Alonso, who was dying to get to the podium for once in a while, has to please himself with a forth place. Massa sits in fifth.

With five races to go we have the two contending for the title within 3 points. A family feud that will keep the whole Mercedes team on their toes and will divide even more the supporters in "Team Hamilton" vs. "Team Rosberg".

Who are you gonna go for?

ELMS 2014 - Round 4 - Paul Ricard

Watch the FULL 4 Hours Race here!

Marco Wittmann 2014 DTM Champion

It didn't take the whole season to find a Champion this year. Thanks to his four victories in eight races, Marco Wittmann is the DTM Champion 2014.
A BMW car brings its driver to the top of the category, like exactly 30 years ago, when the first DTM Championship was conquered by Strycek, in the BMW 635.

The race is wet and the slippery asphalt of the Lautiz leaves no room for error. Many learn that since the first laps of the race, included Ekstrom, one of the last contendings in the run for the title, but Marco Wittmann kept it together, even with a car not at the same level of the Mercedes that confirmed to be the best car to have at the Lausizring.
The other of the last possible contendings, Edoardo Mortara, went for a different strategy, knowing that the only way to mind the gap to Wittmann was by taking some risks. He opted to start with slick tires although the track was still soaked, hoping in a quick change of condition and eventually in the help of the safety car. Unfortunately for him none of these factors came into place and he crossed the finish line in 16th and last position.

The winner of the day is Pascal Wehrlein who, in 48 hours gets his first pole position in DTM, his first  win in DTM and the role of reserve driver for the F1 Mercedes team. yes, quite of a week end!

The verdict is then, Marco Wittmann is the champion for this season 2014. The last two races will still have to crown the top manufacturer and, with only 18 points between BMW and Audi, it will be a close call.

VIDEO - DTM lausitzring - 2014

Sep. 14, 2014 DTM Lausitzring full race:

VIDEO - GP2 - GP3 Monza - 2014

Watch the GP2 and GP3 series races in Monza. Week end September 06-07, 2014.

VIDEO - Blancpain Algarve 2014

Watch the last two races of Blancpain Series in Algarve, Portugal!

F1 - Italian Gran Prix 2014

After the F1 circus leaves the Monza Race Track for the 64th time since 1950, it really seems a joke that somebody is even thinking about kicking the Autodromo out of the calendar.
The spotless venue, the gathering of Very Important People and, off course, the river of fans that embraces the temple of Formula One until overflowing on the Rettifilo as soon as the cars fly under the checkered flag are simply incomparable.
Not to mention the emotion that this scenario arouse in the three lucky people that get to see this from the best spot: the podium. Nobody can be indifferent to the excitement that spread from that mainly red multitude, not even if that same crowd booed you a couple years ago, not even if you see your first opponent climbing the tallest step of the podium due to a couple of mistakes of your own, not even if you are coming back to this venue for the first in a color that is not red anymore and at least half of the people down there treated you like a bus driver for the last four years.
Everything goes away in the blink of an eye....at least during those 10 minutes of glory.

Going back to the race summary, the story unfolded pretty much following the script: the two Mercedes on a pace that puts them in another category, the rest of Mercedes engines performing incredibly good, behind....the rest of all, with a sad note for the performance of the Ferrari Team, disappointing, again, in the race that, by itself, could have saved the mediocre season.

The start of the race goes smoothly, only a little too smoothly for Hamilton and Ricciardo who both loose several positions before the first chicane.
Just the time to understand that the warnings on the silver car number 44 were unfounded and it's Hamilton's show. It will take a while to mend the gap from the teammate Rosberg but he finalize the chase also thanks to a double - photocopy mistake from the German driver who misses the first chicane twice. Many people will argue that those weren't mistakes but that Mercedes, wearing the suit of "KARMA POLICE" "invited" Rosberg to do so to make up after the incident in the last race that compromised Hamilton's race.
Lots of dramas and conspiracy theories that will fill up webpages and blogs at least until the next appointment.

The nicest surprise comes from the third place. He started this season with the expectation of finally getting back the confidence of years ago and, why not, to get his revenge after being relegated in the dark corner of the Ferrari's box for way too long. The history went, again, a little different from what planned, between failures, accidents and wrong set-ups. But the now infamous dose of bad luck who was surrounding him couldn't find any better moment to end up this curse. Right there, right in front of many people that betrayed him overnight but also right in front of those people who still love him for how they had to know him during more than a decade, Massa is torn in a fight of emotions. And is the joy that wins, is the positivity that always  distinguished him to overcome any other bad thought. And it's nice to see him smiling again from up there.

The fight for the Championship is now, most likely, a head to head within the Mercedes Team but the thirst for glory and the pursuit of a seat for the next season will keep the tension up to the top for the next and last six races.
With the number of good young drivers (see Magnussen this last week end) that we have to witness this year and many more knocking at the door from factories series, nothing will be left to chance.

Will Power

The 2014 Indycar season ends here, in Fontana, with the last race in calendar, the last of three 500 miles races in this year.
Tony Kanaan finally finds his way back to the highest step of the podium, after a season of struggle and pain, in the only race where all the eyes are not so much on the race winner but mostly on the Champion.
Anyway, good boost of confidence for the good Brazilian in a race not less though and close than all the rest.

The weekend starts unfortunately in a way that we really don't want to see. The brilliant rookie Aleshin looses control of his car during practice, while following a very low and dangerous line around the Fontana oval, and crashes against the wall before getting hit by the unlucky Kimball who project him up in the fence. As a result, the young Russian will be hospitalize with multiple fractures, in stable condition but with a long recovery ahead.

On Saturday, the race unfolds itself as expected. Power, ahead in the Championship standing, starts from second last position and sets his race in "safe mode" keeping his distance from the pack and avoiding any risky situation, at least for the first half of the race. Castroneves, who has to bridge the gap of 51 points from Power, starts in pole position and has only one goal: win and hope to put enough cars between him and the Australian.
Pagenaud, the last contending for the 2014 throne, has problems since the beginning and he is out of reach of good points from the first laps of the race.

The race goes on smoothly for 176 laps (a record by itself) with Power picking up positions and with Castroneves performing strong, always in eye contact on the first positions. For the drivers not involved in the championship this is, after all, the last race of the season and everybody wants to leave Fontana with a good result for the fans, for the teams, for the sponsors and for the chance to live the next six months without any regrets.

It is Kanaan that goes home at the end of the day with one of the biggest smiles in the paddock after being the 11th winner in the season (another record).
Tears and smiles is what you can find inside the helmet of Will Power in the last laps of the race. It took four times for the Australian to finally end the season at the top of the standing. Well deserved after a season (actually five) that saw him being the most consistent driver out there.

Castroneves, after finding himself another time in second position in the championship at the end of the year, has smiles for everyone, knowing that, after all, this season has been exciting for him and c'mon, what are the odds of losing again the championship in the last race again next year?




So this was the end of the 2014 season. It's time to see what the next season will look like. New races, new drivers, new rules. One thing is undeniable: this is one of the most spectacular racing leagues around the world. We will wait until 2015 and we'll be ready to enjoy the show again. Together.

VIDEO - IndyCar Last Round Fontana - 2014

CHAVES 2014 Indylights Champion

Our best congratulations to Gabby Chaves, fresh winner of the Indylights 2014 Championship.

After grabbing two second positions in Sonoma last week end, both times behind Harvey who reached him at the top of the standing with 547 points, Chaves has been awarded the Championship title after the count of runner-up finishes, five to one in favour of the Colombian-American driver.

Congratulations also to the Belardi Auto Racing Team for the great season and for the commitment to join the Series in 2015.

Video - WRC - ADAC - Germany

Here's the recap of the ADAC rallye 2014 in Germany from wrc.com.

Stages 15 to 18 are only available at: wrc.com

IRL Sonoma 2014 - Recap

Sonoma, Aug 24th. With only the double appointment at Fontana left in the calendar, the rush to the championship gets fiery.
Will Power, starting from the pole, has a real opportunity to weaken Castrovenes (who starts in P6) dreams of glory.
However, the windy road course of Sonoma is famous for the ability to shuffle driver's ambitions and results.

The green lights are on and it takes only a bunch of seconds to witness the first episode of the race. At the top of the hill there's a pile up and Castroneves, at that point in the middle of the pack, gets involved and needs to pit right away.
Power leads now with even more advantage on the Brazilian. Everything goes smooth for about 30 laps, where Power keeps the lead after the first round of pit stop, but then Huertas goes wide and a caution is called.
Lap 36, we get to the green and after only half of a lap there's another contact between Saavedra and Bourdais and another yellow comes out. This time Power stops and when he gets back he's in the middle of the group, the green is deployed and, at the same hairpin that caused the previous yellow, he spins.
Conway is in the lead now, followed by Kanaan. Power is second last while Castroneves is 18th.

After lap 60 the last session of pit stops is already on the go and Rahal gets in first position. Conway, Kanaan and Dixon follow.
Kanaan stops for the last time, while Dixon is getting very close to the back of Conway.
Three laps to go and Rahal can't stretch the fuel anymore. It's time for a very painful pit stop that means giving up the leadership.
Dixon sees the leader entering the pit lane and takes the chance, all he needs is to get a good exit from the last hairpin before the finish line and to push to pass Conway right in from of him right now. Everything goes as planned for Scott that closes the second turn of the track in first position.
Conway is probably being told to cruise to the end and he finds himself in third position, not able to reply to Hunter-Reay's attack.
The last lap sees the duo Dixon Hunter-Reay confortably getting to the finish line. The same can't be said for Conway that runs out of fuel at the very end of the lap, giving away the third place to Pagenaud and closing his race at walking speed in 14th position.

For the Championship, Power closes in P10 and Castroneves in P18. Nothing has been decided yet, given the double points yet to be assigned in Fontana, but something tells me that Castroneves would happily trade his position at -51 pts for the Power's one.
Stay tuned!

Indy Racing League - Sonoma - 2014

Watch the full Indy Car race from Sonoma

GP2 Series 2014 at SPA

What an amazing weekend for the guys of GP2!

Race 1 takes place on Saturday, a very unpredictable Saturday due to the weather conditions.
The race starts wet, with Vandoorne pulling out the best start. It takes only seconds and the rain starts coming down very heavily. Behind the Belgian driver, everybody else is lost in a cloud. Upon the very few clear things to highlight from the mist, Palmer is in eight position and Marciello puts up a blinded show picking up several positions. But the rain is just too much and on the second lap Daly goes out, followed in order by the yellow flag, the safety car and, a lap later, the red flag.
Race is suspended in the hope of a sudden change of conditions.
The weather turns just a little lenient after about 20 minutes and the race restarts. This time Ceccotto takes the lead, followed by Vandoorne and Marciello but he goes wide later on.
It takes a bunch of laps for the drivers to get the confidence to start trying some moves and on lap 9 Marciello passes Ceccotto for the second position.
The award for the best overtake of the day (and probably not only) goes to Markelov that goes around Dillmann on lap 11.
Another couple of laps and it's time for a pit stop for most of the drivers. The leader Vandoorne goes in on lap 17 and Marciello, waiting another two laps, chops the gap from 4.6 to 2.6 secs. The two are in another race, lapping many times between 2 and 3 seconds faster than everybody else and with only 3 laps to go Marciello takes the lead that will give him his first victory in GP2.

It's Sunday morning and it's time for Race 2. the track is almost dry but not enough to not to think about it, especially in the several fast corners around the mighty SPA. Abt and Markelov fill the first row, Palmer starts from third.
At the lights is Nasr that gets the better traction, even with a minimal "jump and stop" a couple tenths of a second before the start. Palmer goes wide in the first turn, rejoining the track a bunch of positions back.
Marciello and Markelov get too close at the end of the Kemmel straight and, while the first spins and finds himself in P24, the second retires the car some laps further in the race.
Vandoorne, second in Race 1, sits in seventh position.
The whole race sees Ceccotto chasing Nasr, with the gap between the two fluctuating within a couple seconds. It won't be enough for Ceccotto that will finish in second place behind Nasr, with Palmer joining them on the podium after keeping the door close on the faster Evans.
To be mentioned the amazing comeback of Coletti, 24th on the grid and 7th under the checkered flag. On a race without interruption this is quite of an inpressive result.

Video GP2 Series 2014 Spa - Belgium

To whomever missed the action from the GP2 Series in Spa this past weekend, here are the video of the two races that took place on Saturday and Sunday.

F1 SPA - Recap

Is anyone out there still complaining about Formula One being boring?!?!?
Put together a Real race track, a bunch of  F1 turbo cars close to each other in performance and a handful of good drivers. Add a wet practice that further mixes the cards and an internal battle between the two drivers of the same team, that are also leading the Championship.....If this doesn't look yet like a race from the nostalgic '90s,  include also a touch between those two drivers that basically sends one of them out of the race and the recipe for a great Gran Prix is served.

At the end, is the Australian Ricciardo to jump on the highest step of the podium after 44 laps rich of battles on track as well as at the pits.
Is the most concentrated car-driver duo, combined with the best strategy, that goes home with 25 points in its pocket. Not the result that most of the experts were going to bet on, considering that the first two cars in grid were, as usual this year, the two Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton and third and fourth in line we had two sharks like Vettel and Alonso.

The focal moment of the race unfolded itself already in the second lap of the race. Rosberg sees an opportunity to put himself in an overtake position beside Hamilton and goes. Hamilton follows the regular racing line maybe unaware that behind, the other Mercedes was already on his rear tire. They touch, Rosberg loses the right side of his front wing and has to stop and replace it, Hamilton ends up with a flat tire in the first session of the longest Gran Prix track of the season and he need his time to come back to the pits to get assistance. He will never be able to come back in the fight for points and he will retire his car for better days.

The other Mercedes driver, Rosberg, gets back in the crowd, chasing and being chased until he ends up in second place that means 18 points that weight like gold, an hurricane of boos from the Hamilton's fans, copiously poured in the stands around the finish line, and one of the most critical debriefing in his racing career.

Williams's Bottas complete the podium with another brilliant performance that is becoming more of a constant than a news.
News is, instead, the P4 for the red dressed Raikkonen that gets the best finish of this season and puts his car ahead of his teammate, again for the first time in this season.

Here's the classification for the point at the end of the race:

1. Ricciardo  Red Bull  25pts
2. Rosberg  Mercedes  18pts
3. Bottas  Williams  15pts
4. Raikkonen  Ferrari  12pts
5. Vettel  Red Bull  10pts
6. Button  McLaren  8pts
7. Alonso  Ferrari  6pts
8. Perez  ForceIndia  4pts
9. Kvyat  ToroRosso  2pts
10. Hulkenberg  ForceIndia  1pt

The Championship standings after Spa:

1. Rosberg  220pts
2. Hamilton  191pts
3. Ricciardo  156pts
4. Alonso  121pts
5. Bottas  110pts

Blancpain GT Series - RECAP

It's been a week end far from boring for the Blancpain GT Series circus, busy on the Slovakia Ring for the fourth appointment in calendar in the Sprint Series.

The Qualifying Race held on Saturday started with a shocking accident that saw Enge's Lamborghini rolling over and over in the very first lap of the race. Fortunately the drivers was fine but that was the end of the week end for the Reiter Engineering Team and for the duo Enge-Rosina. First Red Flag of the race to clean up the mess.
At the restart is the weather that takes control, after a couple of laps with zero visibility, the track started to be more drivable, just in time to give some confidence to the driver and then pouring rain again, couple of spins here and there, some car wandering around the soaked grass siding the circuit: safety car. The pit is open now and many take the chance to stop.  Not Winkelhock that practically gives up the lead because the race is stoppe for the second time after a couple of laps under safety car and his team will have to change driver on the third stint of the race.
The last 25 minutes are still enough to set aside another couple surprises, mainly igned Audi, with the at that point leader of the race Ide spinning at 6 minutes to the end and Abril that, after a very catchy come back until P4, goes wide in the last lap, ending in sixth position.
Is however another Audi to see the checkered flag first, with the duo Ramos-Vanthoor grabbing another victory and 8 points for the standing.

The main race takes place on a dry Sunday, but it doesn't take more than one turn for the drama to begin. Ramos and Proczyk start from the front line but none of them is fast, the group is packing on the way to turn 1 and when Ramos tries to gain some positions back, he gets on the brakes way too late and from the inside of the turn takes out in the sand a copious group of contenders upon himself.
The rest of the race is an engaging challenge between Bmw, Audi and Mercedes that sees, lastly, the two Bmw of Jager-Baumann, first win of the season, and Bueno-Jimenez, taking advantage of a better set-up for a dry race.

At the end of the two races we have:

Qualifying Race:

1. Ramos-Vanthoor   Audi                                         8pt.
2. Proczyk-Bleekemolen  Lamborghini                       6pt.
3. Verdonck-Gotz  Mercedes                                    4pt.

Main Race

1. Jager-Baumann   Bmw                                         25pt.
2. Bueno-Jimenez   Bmw                                         18pt.
3. Ide-Rast     Audi                                                  15pt.

Blancpain GT Series Slovakiaring Aug 22-24 2014

Aug 22 - 24 2014. The Blancpain Gt Series stops at the Slovakia Ring for Round 5 of the 2014 Championships.

Tons of action and close calls, so usual in this category, plus an unpredictable weather, made the two races, qualifying and main race, impossible to turn away from.

Here below the full coverage of Practice Race and Main Race.

Enjoy!

Video Indy Lights Milwaukee Aug 17th 2014

WATCH THE RACE HERE

Video DTM Nurburgring Aug 17th 2014

Busy Weekend Ahead!

Right, this week we have enough material to close ourselves in the living room for the next four days!!

It all starts today with the youngsters of  the Indy Lights tasting the ground in Sonoma for a very busy four day schedule, and with the World Rally Championship stopping in Germany for one of the most iconic appointments of the season.
Then tomorrow the mayhem begins, with the next categories (rigidly listed in alfabetical order) going down on track for their practice sessions: Blancpain GT Series, F1, GP2, GP3, IRL, Tudor United Sportscar Championship and V8 Supercars.

Enjoy the races and keep an eye on our session On track this Week to keep up to date on the upcoming events!

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