Daytona 500 starts NASCAR Season
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
Since football season is over, it’s that time of the year when we watch cars go around in circles again.
And in case you didn’t get that, the 2010 NASCAR season is kicking off on Valentine’s Day weekend with the Daytona 500. For all ya’ll who didn’t know, they say the Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s equivalent to the Super Bowl. I still have no idea why they have this race to kick off their season though.
Still, NASCAR will have the annual Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway to generate some hype for the whole year. And since this sport really doesn’t have anything else to offer other than cars going around in circles for three freaking hours, they need all the hype they can get.
So with the 52nd Daytona 500 kicking off the brand new season, what’s in store for NASCAR racing fans this year? Well, for one, NASCAR has made headlines over the last couple of weeks following several rules changes that will take place this season. These changes will encourage more aggressive driving from drivers AND more importantly, to captivate fans.
The recent changes have been made due to the continual poor ratings that racing received last year.
Chariman of NASCAR, Brian France said that he wants drivers not to be afraid to ”open it up.” Bump-drafting will now be permitted at Daytona during the race. France went on to say that he would like to see some of the drivers on the circuit show more emotion at times.
This new policy on the rules should make for an interesting race, when the Daytona 500 begins.
There will be 43 drivers in the field, and leading the pack as favorites for the Daytona 500 is Tony Stewart. Stewart has 43 career victories and 226 top-10 finishes. He has never won the Daytona 500, but oddsmakers have installed him as a +700 favorite to claim his first victory in the race.
At the second spot is Kyle Busch. Busch was…
Ferrari and Fernando Alonso team-up
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Looks like Ferrari is serious about dominating the field next season.
In case you haven’t been watching the 2009 F1 season, to say that it hasn’t been Ferrari’s year could be an understatement.
Next season, it looks like Ferrari intends to make a huge bid as far as the 2010 title is concerned because they just signed former double world champion Fernando Alonso to a three-year deal.
That’s right, Fernando Alonso, for the second time in his career, is leaving Renault to sign with another team, this time with Ferrari. Just a few years ago, he left Renault to sign with McLaren. The honeymoon between him and McLaren ended when a young Lewis Hamilton entered the picture. Luckily, Renault was there to take Alonso back, only for him to leave the team again to sign with Ferrari.
Alonso signing with Ferrari means he’ll be teammates with his rival Felipe Massa. That also means Kimi Raikkonen is leaving the team but I reckon with Alonso’s skill set, the Italians won’t miss the Finn one bit.
”We are very proud to welcome to our team another winning driver, who has demonstrated his amazing talent by winning two world championships in his career to date,” said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.
”Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari.”
”In his first year with us he managed to win the drivers’ title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari’s history, and he played a vital role in our taking of the constructors’ title in 2007 and 2008.”
Kimi Raikkonen, who is set to return to McLaren…
Kimi Raikkonen to return to McLaren
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
You read it, the fiery Finn is coming back to McLaren, looking to save the team from the debacle they’ve been having this year.
Looks like McLaren – Mercedes is already making some moves to rectify the pathetic campaign they’ve been having this 2009 F1 season. In case you haven’t been paying attention, McLaren’s defending champion, Lewis Hamilton, has only won a couple of races this season and the team in general hasn’t been faring well too, dropping to fourth in the constructors championship standings.
With Lewis Hamilton struggling this year, McLaren has to come up with an insurance policy for next year’s run and with the team signing a former world champion like Kimi Raikkonen, they may have found exactly that.
Kimi Raikkonen raced for McLaren a few years ago so there won’t be any adjustments as far as the Finn is concerned. Back in 2007, Kimi Raikkonen left McLaren for Ferrari in a £25 million a year deal that made him the highest paid driver on the grid.
He rewarded them by winning the world championship in his debut campaign but his position came under threat when Fernando Alonso, Renault’s double world champion, was rumored last year to join Ferrari and replace him.
The major problem has been Raikkonen’s $50 million (£31 million) a year contract with Ferrari, which had another year left to run then. Lawyers have been working overtime back in Singapore to complete the final details of his pay-off, with McLaren expected to pick up the Finn at a fraction of the price.
Raikkonen’s departure from McLaren after five years followed a falling out with then team principal Ron Dennis. But with Dennis having left the team, a source close to the negotiations said, ”Kimi is only looking at McLaren and McLaren are only looking at him.”
Raikkonen, 29, will replace his fellow Finn…
Can Alonso win Singapore Fair and Square?
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
Who will crash his car on purpose for Alonso to take the checkered flag this time?
Ah yes, conspiracies and controversies have not been new to the 2009 F1 season. And in case you didn’t know, the entire Renault F1 team is in the middle of the latest one coming to this weekend’s Singapore GP.
Yup, the 2009 F1 Singapore Grand Prix is this weekend and Fernando Alonso will try to defend the title he earned last year. After all, the Singapore GP is the ONLY race in the F1 racing calendar held at nighttime and since the inaugural race last season, the event has become one of those races you just have to win if you’re a Formula One driver.
However, there seems to be a problem about the way Fernando Alonso won the race in Singapore last year. It turns out that team Renault ordered Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash his car on purpose to give Alonso an unfair advantage.
You see, Nelson Piquet Jr. crashing his Renault last year meant that Alonso had taken his first pit stop before the safety car was deployed. Thanks to Flavio Briatore’s ingenuity, the plan worked perfectly and Alonso ended up with the win on Singapore’s inaugural night race.
Fernando Alonso, as of this writing, still claims he was on the dark about the devious plan to give him the edge through the safety car. As far as he’s concerned, he doesn’t know squat about the incident.
Alonso is confident that he’ll be able to win again in Singapore, with or without his Renault teammate deliberately crashing his car for him.
”The car is working well at most circuits so I believe we are competitive enough to get close to the podium, which has to be my target this weekend,” he said.
”I like it [the circuit] because it’s quite…”
Can Brawn GP still win 2009 F1 title?
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
In case you haven’t noticed, teams are starting to catch up to the once unbeatable mean and green machine.
After a red hot start to the 2009 F1 season that saw Brawn GP on the podium for eight straight races, their last two outings have been a little different with Jenson Button scoring a mere six championship points and Rubens Barrichello dropping three before his DNF in Hungary.
For what it’s worth, Jenson Button still remains on top of the leaderboard as far as the race for the drivers’ title is concerned with Brawn GP still leading the race for the constructors’ title.
But since other teams are starting to close in on them, specifically Red Bull, these guys definitely have something to be worried about. Red Bull’s Mark Webber is now only 18.5 points behind Button while the team in general is only 15.5 points adrift of Brawn GP.
Is Brawn starting to lose its edge or has the competition started to get more competitive? As far as team boss Ross Brawn is concerned, he’s putting the blame on the team’s recent modifications to the BGP001 while also acknowledging that YES, the competition has become a little bit stronger.
”It’s true that the opposition has got a lot stronger, but in the first part of the season we were getting the most out of the tires and unexpectedly we’ve had problems there (since),” team boss Ross Brawn said.
”It’s certainly related to some modification which…”
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