Issue 1 the poduim

The Podium FormallyKnown as, My Formula One - 2012 Season Preview

F1, Rallying, Touring Cars, Karting and much more Check out our FREE Android App search for Podium

Thank you for more than 48,000* downloads of the 2012 season preview *figures accurate as of 06/07/12. Figure’s are taken from all download repositories and include reads on scribd.com as that was an option which itself added up to 926 reads.

Issue One

Issue One July 2012

July to Sept 2012

£1.99

Inside The Podium This Month

Along with so much more This Month We This month we go What is K.E.R.S Talk "Back to Basics! as Exclusively With Formula One Super Star Heikki Kovalainen Every Issue we explain in plain English, Pictured above on Saturday 7th July at Silverstone the complex world of Formula One and motor sport technology

Also the big article

we visit a karting track.

An amazing sport we can all enjoy;

Competition Inside Win 4 Tickets to go to the circuit and try karting yourself.

You!ll LOVE it*

*Alternative Prize available if you live too far away to use vouchers

‘What Happens Inside A Garage During A Grand Prix Weekend’ As Our Editor Phil Woods Reports From Inside the Caterham Garage Magazine and content copyright - Podium Magazine Limited and it’s writers - Registered in England & Wales No. 8051412

Cover story

Inside This Month

Exclusive interview with Caterham F1 Driver & F1 Legend Heikki Kovalainen Read it on page

Page 7 The British Grand Prix

This time it’s K.E.R.S TECH IN PLAIN ENGLISH

F1 Full Race Report INDYCAR

World Touring Car Championships

In Issue One we ask what is WTCC?

What is K.E.R.S? How does it work?

Find out here in plain English.

NO Jargon Allowed

Page 44

Following the trend of Issue One. We ask, What is IndyCar? Those Tyres?

Pre season we spoke to Paul Hembery to find out more about the new tyres in F1.

An Exclusive Interview and feature with F1 Star and Music Genius

What Is DTM?

Jamie Alguersuari

GP2 Action from Silversone

Again following our ‘What Is?’ collection of features, this time it is DTM

BTCC or British Touring Car Championships

Bringing You Right up to date

The Boy From Brazil A Star in the making??

We take a closer look at Luiz Razia

AND SO MUCH MORE Don’t forget to mention

‘The Podium Magazine’

when you speak to our valuable sponsors and advertisers

Meet the team - The writers for The Podium Magazine

Editor/MD Formula One @F1New2012

Eric Hall IndyCar

Nathan Thomas GP2 & Gp3

iamindycar.wordpress.com/

thewriteformula.net

George East WTCC & DTM

James Mappin BTCC

thewriteformula.net/

www.btcccrazy.co.uk

As he is inside F1 we have to do without a photo f1stephensmith.wordpress.com

Matthew Somerfield Technology in Plain English somersf1.blogspot.co.uk

Tomislav Stajduhar www.podiummagazine.co.uk

World Rally Championships www.worldrallyblog.com

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From the Editor Phil Woods F1 - WHAT A SEASON! As I write this we have just had the British Grand Prix, but prior to that we had 8 races and 7 winners, including Pastor Maldonado, (a supposed pay driver) at Williams. Where has all the dominance gone? Is it down to the loss of down force from having no blown diffuser or is it something else? Well in this issue we will try to get to the bottom of the reasons why, we’ll ask Pirelli if they think it’s down to management of the tyres? We’ll speak to drivers and teams and find out what they think. It’s a minefield of technological reasoning, or is it? We intend to find out. Whatever it is, there are two ways of looking at it; 1. We've achieved unpredictability and more overtaking in F1 which we have wanted for years, or 2. Does it devalue the sport when it becomes to easy to overtake, when you become a sitting duck?

We’ve got some exciting interviews. All the stats and latest news from motor sport worldwide. What’s happening in Touring Cars? What about the World Rally Championship? Who are the rising stars this season from GP2, GP3 etc.

We have a special feature on Karting, many peoples 1st foray into motor sport (we even have a competition to have a go yourself, I’ve done it and it’s great fun, I wasn’t very good though, that’s why I write instead of drive).

Every month we will have a feature on a form of technology written in plain English, by our expert Matthew Somerfield.

Next time he explains DRS in a way everyone can understand.

I really hope you enjoy this issue and please mention us to our sponsors when you ring them, they are the reason the magazine is such a low price. May I take the time to thank all 48,324 of you who downloaded or read the 2012 preseason preview. It astounded me that such an amateur project could generate so much interest. Although, I would like to make it clear that without the help of Tom Webb, Mike Gascoigne, Tony Fernandes and others at Caterham F1, you wouldn’t be reading this here right now. Their help, publicity (via social media) and advice has gone beyond anything they needed to do. So a heartfelt thanks from me, and that goes for every one of you. Enjoy the magazine, and keep enjoying the racing. Wish I had more space but I don’t, so until next time, goodbye.

Caterham Cars Where else could you have so much fun?

www.caterhamracing.com

An Interview Heikki Kovalainan - A True F1 Star PW - During the 9 years of karting (1991-2000) did you ever dream that you'd reach the pinnacle of the sport, and stay in it so long?

HK - Definitely. Getting to F1 was always my goal and that's what everything I worked hard to achieve before I reached F1 was all directed towards. I don't think i've been in the sport a long time yet. Compared to some of the drivers I still have many years in F1 ahead of me.

PW - Following karting, you moved to Formula Renault in 2001. The previous year, your fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen won the series and moved straight into a Formula One drive . Was that your main motivation for choosing this route? Or was it irrelevant and you had other plans and motives?

HK - I've never chosen what to do based on what other people are doing.

I've always done what is best for my career and what will give me the best chance of long-term success.

PW - We are a Formula One magazine, so let's move forward to your F1 career.

You joined Renault in 2004, then for 3 seasons you were one of their test drivers. Then in 2007, Fernando Alonso moved to McLaren (no one has forgotten that move). You were then promoted into a race seat. Your start at Renault seemed to be filled with bad luck. Did you ever feel, that despite your obvious talent, your Formula One career would be short lived?

HK - Not at all. Luck comes and goes and in the long-term it's irrelevant. What makes the difference is hard work, dedication and taking your opportunities when they come. I'm a Grand Prix winner, and when you count up how many people have competed in F1 over the years, not that many drivers can say that, so it is working out pretty well.

PW - You started to become consistent and score points at most races. Then came the Japanese Grand Prix, despite not even making it to the final qualifying session you still managed to finish 2nd and get your first F1 podium. You had spent years building up to this moment. Can you tell us what it was like to finally get what you deserved and stand on the podium?

HK - Honestly - it was a good feeling but as soon as I stepped off the podium I was focusing on the next step up.

It's important to enjoy the successes but it's more important to keep pushing on, so it was a good feeling, but one I wanted to build on.

PW - Fernando Alonso returned to Renault the following year, this meant you effectively lost your drive. You decided to join McLaren in what seemed like a straight swap. I understand you had at least one other offer (Toyota, I believe). What made you choose McLaren?

HK - McLaren are one of the great F1 teams. You only have to look at their record over the years, and what they are doing right now, to see that grabbing an opportunity like that is a good idea.

PW - It was obvious from the word go that McLaren had a good car in 2008. In the first race Lewis put his car on pole and you managed third. Could you see that you had a very good rookie working with you? And how well did you work together?

HK - We worked together very well, and it didn't come as any surprise to see how good Lewis was. He was well known to everyone in motorsport and we always knew how quick he was.

PW - What do you remember about the Spanish Grand Prix, when you had that terrible accident? I can tell you that I was so worried at the time HK - I don't remember a huge amount. Yes it was a big crash, but I don't remember a lot about the actual impact, or what happened immediately afterwards, but the main thing was to get on with it once I could get back in the car. There's no point looking back and worrying about what might have happened.

PW - You won your first race in Hungary and also became the 100th driver to win a grand prix. How did that win feel?

HK -Incredible. Your first win in F1 is very special, but it serves to push me on for the next one, and the one after that, and so on until I win a championship. It's an amazing feeling, but the same as the podium I scored in Japan - once it was over it was behind me and I wanted to get on with the next race.

An Interview Heikki Kovalainan - A True F1 Star Continued......

PW - During your two years at McLaren, you seemed to have a lot of tyre issues. (That is how it has been reported), if that was true, how frustrating was that?

HK - Don't believe everything you read....

PW - In 2010 you joined a new team, Lotus (now Caterham). It was a great choice by the team bosses to go with experienced drivers. What made you decide to move to a team knowing that you will not get that winning feeling for a number of years?

HK - I knew I wanted a fresh start, a chance for me to start afresh and help a team start from scratch. Tony, Din, Nasa and Riad have a long-term plan and are investing in the right areas to bring success to this team and what we have achieved in just over two years is incredible. You just have to look at where the other two teams that joined the sport at the same time as us are to see how far we have come and how hard it is to bridge the gap to teams like Sauber, Force India and Williams. We are edging ever closer but the nearer we get the harder it is cutting seconds off the gap was achievable when we started around 7 seconds off the leading cars in 2010. Now we're within a second it's obviously much more difficult to keep shaving tenths off - it takes huge investment and massive resources, but we are realistic, motivated and ready to take our chances when they come.

PW - So far you have won one Grand Prix, the set up at Caterham seems to be good, are we going to see you on the top step again?

HK - That's the plan. When? I can't say, but I don't want to say I won a race. I want to say I've won races and championships - that's why I'm here.

PW - Now some more fun questions to learn more about you. During the winter break, what is your favourite activity?

HK - Obviously the calendar means we don't get to spend a lot of time with friends and family, so I use the winter to catch up with the important people in my life. I also train hard throughout the winter, and I play golf. Quite a lot of golf....

PW - Do you have any close friends within the paddock (by this I mean other drivers)?

HK - Of the drivers Lewis is probably my best friend. We've been on holiday a few times and our girlfriends are close. Apart from that, I get on with nearly all the drivers and I have a lot of friends in other teams, and across the paddock.

PW - What is your favourite circuit?

HK - Probably, Suzuka. The first sector really pushes the cars to the limit and when you feel just how fast an F1 car can go through there it's pretty hardcore.

PW - If you could have any driver from history as your team partner, who would it be? And why?

HK - I couldn't really answer that. There's a lot of great drivers who have gone before but I don't think I could name just one who'd be a good team mate. I guess anyone who could help push the team.

PW - Do you have any hobbies that you take part in-between grand prix's?

HK - It's pretty well known I like playing golf. I took it up relatively late and enjoy the fact you need to have a good mix of precision and power. It's a good way to step away from F1 and take part in something else that requires full focus to get it right PW - Who do you think will win the drivers' championship?

HK - Whoever has the best car!

PW - Do you watch or follow any other motor sports?

HK - I like rallying. I have a few friends who compete and I follow them. I also keep an eye on some of the lower single seat formulae, but I wouldn't stay up to watch most other motor sport.

PW - It doesn't matter what has happened, good or bad, you always seem happy and have a smile on your face?

Tell us your secret, how can we be happy all the time?

HK - I am happy - that's it really. There's no secret, it's just about how you view life.

What is

?

by George East

Although there is a race at Brands Hatch, unless you are a devoted rev-head, it's unlikely that you would have heard of DTM, or the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. If, like me, you don't speak German, that's the German Touring Car Masters.

1. History Lesson The series was born from the ITC – the International Touring Car Championship, which was born from the original DTM that ran from 1984 to 1996 and then morphed into the ITC - a largely German based series that comprised of Opel, Mercedes Benz and Alfa Romeo. Due to a large proportion of the revenue that the series made going to the FIA, little return was made on the high-levels of investment and subsequently, in 1996, the ITC folded.

Fast forward four years later, and the year 2000 saw the re-emergence of the DTM vers 2.0 from the ashes of the ITC. In an attempt to keep costs low, the sport's governing body, the DMSB (German Motor Racing Governing Body) and the series' rights owner, the ITR, attempted to keep the series true to its German roots by keeping most of the races in Germany. Due to the insular nature of the DTM, the series was refused championship status.

To prevent costs from spiralling beyond reasonable means, DTM cars have to have a front mounted 4.0 V8 engine built by the manufacturer, rear wheel drive configuration and uniform components such as third party sourced xTrak or Hewland gearboxes and Dunlop tyres. Furthermore, in the spirit of restricted spending, the most important part of the car, the aero package, is developed before the season and thus maintained throughout. Although manufacturers are encouraged to implement their own technological innovations in the cars, in season testing is banned, as the idea is that no manufacturer should gain an advantage.

The idea then, is simple: DTM racing should be cheap(ish) spectacular, hard, equal and fast. Very fast.

The series began with Mercedes Benz and Opel being the first 'factory' manufacturers to enter with their Astra and CLK coupes with smaller teams running the cars. Audi, albeit present, were not represented as a manufacturer as the powers that be from Ingolstadt insisted that they use their trademark Quattro four-wheel drive technology. In the spirit of cost-cutting, naturally, the idea was refused by the DMSB and Bavarian based tuning company, Abt Sportsline, hastily cobbled together a DTM spec Audi TT. DTM vol. 2 then, kicked off in May 2000 on the shortened Nurburgring track and fast became one of the most highly regarded series due to the fast and action packed nature of the racing.

The years 2000-2001 were dominated by Mercedes Benz, in particular the CLK driven by German ace Berndt Schneider who by the time of his retirement at the end of the 2008 season had become the most successful DTM driver of the modern era with four titles – all with Mercedes Benz – to his name.

The following year, 2002, was arguably one of the most surprising championship wins, as French ace, Laurent Aiello pulled off an unexpected title with an Abt run Audi TT which had by this point, an extended wheelbase to meet the series requirements.

In terms of importance, 2004 was the most important for the DTM. Audi, encouraged by the successes of the independently run TTs, entered officially as a manufacturer with their A4, the manufacturers deciding to switch to a saloon body. Now, the DTM was booming with three (Audi, Opel and Mercedes Benz) of Germany's four biggest car manufacturers – BMW were cleaning up in the WTCC - were fighting for honour on some of Europe's finest race-tracks. 2004 also proved pivotal not only due to the body change and Audi's first driver's title in their maiden year as a constructor courtesy of Mattias Ekstrom, but also because Opel announced that they would pull out at the end of the 2005. A lack of success since Manuel Reuter had finished second in the driver's championship in 2000, 'the lightnings' had gained just a few podiums and points finishes here and there up to the point of their withdrawal. Akin to the recent pull out from the WTCC by Chevrolet, parent company General Motors cited cost cutting operations in Europe as another reason.

2006 to 2011 saw the series reduced to two manufacturers, Mercedes and Audi which whilst on paper this wasn't the most ideal situation (on the flip side of things, it was for the manufacturers, due to an increase in exposure with Opel gone!) the popularity of the series grew and did not detract from the on track action, which can only be described as “barnstorming”. The mid 2000s also proved somewhat of a golden era for Mercedes Benz, the Stuttgart marque taking five titles in this time period to Audi's two.

In a shift as seismic as 2004, 2012 is a year of comparative importance. Increasing the manufacturers presence, BMW has joined the series, weighing in with its M3, which now sees Germany's three most prestigious manufacturers fighting for on and off-track honours. In an attempt to keep costs down as previous years marked an increased investment due to the fielding of more cars by the two manufacturers, the series once again sees a reversion to the coupe body - the Audi A5, Mercedes C Class and BMW M3 represent their manufacturers - and further technical developments to prevent this highly popular series meeting a fate akin to the ITC. Whilst yes, there have been rule changes and yes, there have been one or two cost cutting measures here and there, it has not detracted from this immensely popular category of racing. October 2010 saw the announcement that the category will be branching out to the U.S. with the launch of the North American DTM Series due to be run by NASCAR in 2013 with a 12-race calendar.

It may be tin tops and the cars may look like the one on your drive, but do not be fooled. DTM is as fast paced, action packed and gritty a series as you can get.

What is

2. So, what's the racing like?

?

Cont....

With the history lesson over, I'm guessing that you want to know what the racing is like. Well, think of it as the anti-F1. If F1 is football, then DTM is rugby. It's tough.

Pastor Maldonado aside, it's pretty rare to see F1 cars getting into each other and it's certainly not acceptable to go bashing into each other unless it's an true accident. Sure, I'm not saying that DTM is a complete free for all, but it's a regular occurrence to see cars getting into each other, winglets flying all over the place and at times, the accident culminating in a cloud of Dunlop tyre smoke. It's pretty spectacular.

These may look like your average – albeit anabolic - executive coupe, but bodywork aside, these are just silhouette cars.

Beneath the steroidal carbon fibre body, beats the heart of a naturally aspirated V8 and a carbon fibre monocoque with a roll cage of re-inforced steel. Also, it's widely considered by the drivers within the series who have cut their racing teeth in lower single seat formulae, that these are more like a single seater to drive than a 'traditional' touring car. According to Jamie O' Leary, Autosport Magazine's DTM reporter, these things are “very fast”.

So, with DTM being a 'contact sport' of V8 power and rules that are designed to keep things relatively equal, the racing is tight and the racing is fast. It's not uncommon to see cars mere inches from each other and races are often fought to the very last corner.

Out of ten? A solid 9.

3. Who races in DTM? In short, anyone.

There is a conception that due to the Mercedes connection, it is viewed as somewhat of a feeder series to F1. Whilst this – one could argue – is correct as Paul Di Resta won the 2010 DTM title before stepping into F1 with Force India, and Gary Paffett claimed the 2005 championship which promoted him to the role of McLaren test driver, DTM is a series in its own right for which the drivers deserve recognition. As I said before, the racing is close, the grip levels high, the tracks tight and the cars, thanks to their closed bodies and subsequent incredible heat levels are not what can be considered comfortable.

The DTM lot then, are a talented bunch. The grid comprises of ex-F1 drivers (David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher at present, whilst Mika Hakkinen and Jean Alesi raced in the series in the past) and young bucks such as the Spanish contingent of Miguel Molina (aged 23) and Roberto Merhi (aged 21), along with Italian Edoardo Mortara (aged 25) who incredibly managed to study for – and graduate – a BA in Business Administration along with his racing career.

Incredibly over the last six years, DTM has also seen four women drivers on the scene, with varying levels of success.

4. Stat attack Champions (drivers and constructors) since 2000: 2000 – Bernd Schneider (HWA Team Mercedes Benz)/Mercedes Benz 2001 – Bernd Schneider (HWA Team Mercedes Benz)/Mercedes Benz 2002 – Laurent Aiello (Abt Sportsline Audi)/Mercedes Benz 2003 – Bernd Schneider (HWA Team Mercedes Benz)/Mercedes Benz 2004 – Mattias Ekstrom (Abt Sportsline Audi)/Audi 2005 – Gary Paffett (HWA Team Mercedes Benz)/Mercedes Benz 2006 – Bernd Schneider (HWA Team Mercedes Benz)/Mercedes Benz 2007 – Mattias Ekstrom (Abt Sportsline Audi)/Audi 2008 – Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline Audi)/Mercedes Benz 2009 – Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline Audi)/Mercedes Benz 2010 – Paul Di Resta (HWA Team Mercedes Benz)/Mercedes Benz 2011 – Martin Tomczyk (Team Phoenix Audi)/Audi

Paul Di Resta 2010 Champion Now Formula One Star

An Interview With Paul Hembery (Pirelli’s Motor Sport Director)

Conducted by Phil Woods Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director for Pirelli Tyres talks today about the 2012 tyres and what we might expect from the spectacle that is Formula One. People may not be aware of the fact that Paul has been involved in motorsport for the past 12 years.

Pirelli became the sole tyre supplier in 2011 and were given the task of making Formula One more interesting on the tyre front. Paul was born in Yeovil. He spends a lot of his time in hotel rooms, following Pirelli's move into F1. He also has a place in Milan where he spends some of his time.

PW - In my opinion Formula one was so much better last season, mainly because of the tyre wear at some tracks. How difficult is it to pick the right tyres for the right track?

PH - “It's not easy at all; particularly last year when all the tracks were new to us. Essentially, it's a question of trying to best match the characteristics of our tyres to the characteristics of each circuit, bearing in mind factors such as the track layout, the nature of the surface and the likely weather conditions. We also consider how each combination might add to the spectacle in terms of strategy.

We're certainly helped by all the data we collect over the course of the year as well as simulation and also surface samples, but it's not an easy exercise.”

PW -. What will be different about the 2012 tyres? Will they need changing more or less during a race?

What have you tried to do in that area?

PH - “We're still aiming to see between two and three pit stops per car at every race, so that has not changed. Last year we had 2.25 stops per car per race, so we hit the target exactly. However, the tyres are distinctly different this year compared to last year, with new profiles and new compounds. Generally speaking, all the compounds are softer and they are definitely more biased towards performance. The gaps between the compounds are also much closer, which should lead to some interesting race strategies.”

“no, the wet tyres were not made for Silvertsone” *Never actually said or insinuated by Paul, for anyone who is unfamiliar with the concept, it’s called a joke*

PW - When qualifying is over and the top 10 is decided, most will be on the softest option. What lap do you expect to see the first pit stops at Australia?

PH - “It's hard to say exactly as our 2012 tyres have never yet run in Melbourne and it's impossible to predict exactly how the track and weather conditions will be when we get there. But last year we saw the first stops between around lap 12 and lap 20, so it wouldn't surprise me to see something similar this year. We'll have to wait and see what the conditions are like to be sure though.”

PW - Will the people watching at home be able to tell which tyre cars have on in 2012? Because the only criticism I have of Pirelli in 2011 is that, without the commentators, we wouldn't have known most of the time.

PH - “Yes, we have enhanced the visibility of the colours so that they stand out more. We've done that through the use of more prominent markings that will be easier to recognise. It's actually quite a complex piece of stickering, as you need to find a process that will remain visible over a long period of time and adhere to the sidewall despite huge speeds and forces. But this year the tyres should definitely be easier to tell apart.”

PW - . How frustrating has it been, or should I say is it, that the car you've had for testing is so old?

PH “You can only work with the equipment you've got, and while the Toyota may have been old, it was a 'neutral' manufacturer, which did not show bias towards any existing teams. It's been clear for a while that we needed a more modern solution, but one that did not hand any single team a particular advantage, and that's what we've been working on. We're close to arriving at answer that is was made soon after that they would acceptable to everyone, and we hope to announce that shortly.” Announcement use a 2010 Renault with upgrades to make it more like this years cars, especially in aerodynamics.

We continue our interview with Paul Hembery, Motor Sport Director of Pirelli PW - Surely it benefits the teams for you to have an up-to-date car. What difference does it make in your eyes when it comes to developing tyres an older car?

PH - “It's mainly a question of differences in speed and aerodynamic downforce. A lot has happened in the last three years since the Toyota was new, both in terms of technological advances and new regulations.

This means that the forces acting on a 2009 car are not identical to the forces acting on a 2012 car, and that's what makes it difficult for us when it comes to developing the tyres.”

PW - Will this years tyres make the racing even more interesting? Or pretty much the same?

PH - “We hope that the action will be even more exciting this year. We learned a lot in our debut season, as you would expect, and 2012 is all about putting those lessons into practice. I think we'll see a bigger element of strategy this year, as the result of the performance gap between the compounds closing up. This should lead to closer racing, as the speed differential between some of the cars on different tyres won't be as big as it was last year.”

PW - Is there still likely to be a high amount of degradation on the softest compound ?

PH - “The softest tyre, the P Zero Red supersoft, is in fact the only compound that is completely unchanged from last year, although the profile is new for 2012. This new profile will help the tyre deliver peak performance for longer – so to that extent it will degrade less, but ultimately we expect the overall range to be about the same: 100 kilometres or so. That will give us between two to three pit stops on average per race, as we wanted” PW - Are Pirelli enjoying being part of F1 again?

PH - “Absolutely: there's a lot of enjoyment and a lot of pride in what we are doing. Our Formula One tyres are global ambassadors for Italian excellence and technology all over the world. Formula One also shares and complements our brand values at Pirelli: style, performance, passion and exclusivity. Who wouldn't enjoy it?”

PW - Does Pirelli working in F1 benefit the road car at all?

PH - “Definitely: that's one of the key reasons why we are involved. We look on Formula One as being our biggest research and development laboratory, with all the grand prix circuits that we race on forming the ultimate test track. It's normal for our tyres in Formula One to be subjected to forces of up to 5G, as well as having the equivalent of more than 1000 kilograms pushing down on them under full aerodynamic load. So it's clear to see how the sheer extremes that our tyres go through can help us gather information to produce the best road car tyres. This includes products such as the new Trofeo range – which is designed for frequent track use – as well as the P Zero Ultra High Performance range.”

PW - In your opinion who made the best use of any of your compounds in 2011? When and how?

PH: “That's an interesting question but in the end we are not privy to the whole picture when it comes the strategy and data from each team, as quite rightly there are certain facts that they prefer to keep to themselves. So we can only go on the facts that we see along with everyone else. And it's hard to argue with the statistics; Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button have both been very good when it comes to tyre management, and I don't think it's any co-incidence that they finished first and second in the championship last year.”

PW - Finally, tell the fans anything else they might need to know about the 2012 tyres? And the same question for Pirelli?

PH: “What people maybe don't realise about Pirelli is how much work goes on behind the scenes and how much of our competition philosophy goes into the road car tyres. There are several examples of this from the past; for example our low-profile tyres for high-performance sports cars have their roots in technology we developed for the Lancia Stratos to go rallying. One thing that all these tyres have in common is the huge army of people who work in research and development, but are not in the public eye. Whether we're talking about road car tyres or Formula One tyres, Pirelli operates at a hugely high level of technology: but most of it goes unseen. That's something that people should know.”

A History of Pirelli in Motor Sport Pirelli’s industrial and technological history is closely linked to its history of motorsport uccesses, which officially started in 1907. Since then, the Milan-based company has earned hundreds of victories on track and on road, on two and four wheels, exploiting the experience gained on the race track for innovation in its commercial products.

The ultra-high-performance (UHP) P Zero line of products adopts technical solutions derived from the WRC races, in GRAND-AM and GT competitions. Pirelli’s historic Cinturato line of tyres - launched in a new range on the European market in 2008 and 2009 – which dominated Formula 1 racing in the 1950s, led to major innovation in commercial tyres in the 1970s (with the CN36 version used for competitive rallies).

As confirmation of Pirell’s motorsport excellence, based on a tradition of innovation and reliability in competition, Pirelli has been selected as exclusive supplier not only for the Formula 1, GP2 Series and GP3 Series championships, but also for WRC and GRANDAM (from 2008 to 2010) in car racing, and for the World Superbike (SBK) until 2012, as well as Super Stock and Motocross World Championship, in motorcycle racing.

Pirelli’s motorsport history reaches all the way back to the late 19th century. In 1897, Giovanni Battista Pirelli supplied tyres to riders in a motorcycle race. Pirelli Motorsport’s first official competition was the Paris-Peking overland race in 1907, won by Prince Scipione Borghese’s Itala in a memorable effort together with journalist Luigi Barzini, covering 17,000 kilometers with only four tyre changes. This Pirelli victory inspired the company to invent its elongated P logo in 1908, in order to distinguish the brand from competitors and represent it in the eyes of consumers.

In the 1920s, Pirelli began a collaboration with Alfa Romeo to dominate Grand Prix competition of that era. Pirelli fitted cars such as the Alfa P2 models driven by Antonio Ascari, Giuseppe Campari and Gastone Brilli Peri (winner of the first world title in 1925 in that Formula 1 series).

Soon, success in the Mille Miglia race followed, with Pirelli also becoming a major force in road racing. After the Second World War, the first victories with Ferrari and Maserati arrived. The Italian marques Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati all became Pirelli teammates, followed later by Germany’s Porsche, the UK’s Aston Martin and others, for both racing cars and standard production vehicles.

Since the beginning of the 1900s, Pirelli has also had an important role in motorcycle racing, with Tazio Nuvolari included among its riders. In the Thirties, the Guzzi, Gilera and Bianchi bikes were all fitted with Pirelli Motocord. It was with this tyre – between 1937 and 1939 – that riders like Taruffi, Alberti, Vanni and Sandri, on the Guzzi 250 and the Gilera 500, established one speed record after another. The Second World War brought the races to a halt, and they were only started again towards the end of the 1940s, with victories again by the Guzzi and Gilera motorcycles. In 1948, the Bisiluri bike with Gilera 500 engine established no less than 31 speed records reaching 300 kilometers (186 miles) per hour while fitted with Pirelli tyres.

The 1950s: four F1 world titles with Alfa Romeo and Ferrari With the Alfa Romeo 158 and 159, Pirelli obtained two F1 world titles, thanks to Nino Farina from Turin and Argentina’s Juan-Manuel Fangio, and in 1952 Pirelli achieved victory with Alberto Ascari's 4-cylinder Ferrari 500 in the F1 World Championship (six wins out of six, in the races in which he took part.)

In 1954 Pirelli fitted Ferrari for the Le Mans 24 Hours, winning with Trintignant and Gonzalez driving the 375 MM Plus. The Milan-based company continued developing increasingly more competitive high-performance tyres, for the most diverse races: from the Carrera Panamericana to the Mille Miglia, from the Grand Prix to endurance tests like the Sebring 12 Hours, won in 1957 by Behra-Fangio’s Maserati 450S. In 1957, Pirelli suspended its activity in Formula 1.

In the 1970s important changes were taking place in the motorcycle industry.

Segmentation was created, with bikes separated by use: cross-country, enduro and offroad raids got underway, and Pirelli confirmed its commitment to motorcycle racing winning favour with teams and riders in the different segments.

Pirelli’s experience in rallying began in the 1970s and has continued without interruption for more than three decades, during which it has won 150 titles: from the 1973 Poland Rally won by Warmbold-Todt’s Fiat Abarth 124 to the 2005 Rally in England won by Solberg-Mills’ Subaru Impreza WRC. Going on to Markku Alen’s victory with the Lancia Rally 037 in the 1984 Tour de Corse, and Sandro Munari’s successes with the Lancia Stratos at the Montecarlo Rally (from 1975 to 1977) and Stig Blomqvist’s victory at the 1983 Sanremo, up to Pirelli’s hundredth victory in world rallies with Burns-Reid’s Subaru Impreza WRC (1997). Winning Italian drivers have included Franco Cunico, first at Sanremo with the Ford Escort Cosworth in 1993 and Piero Liatti, first with the Subaru Impreza, with Pirelli P Zero tyres. Among Pirelli’s more recent rally victories, in addition to those in WRC, the 2010 victory in Montecarlo where Ford swept to victory with the only car in the race officially fitted with Pirelli tyres should be noted.

The 1980s: Pirelli takes command in the various championships In the 1980s, after its successes in the endurance races of Formula 2, Pirelli returned to Formula 1. In these years, the company made history with the Pirelli P7 radial, the most evolved racing tyre developed by Pirelli technicians to date.

Pirelli P7 tyres were fitted on the Osella-BMW which Eddie Cheever drove to success in the first race of the European F2 Championship at Silverstone in 1980. The following year Pirelli won the European title with the Toleman, and went back to Formula 1. The return was with the British team’s single seater racing cars. Pirelli’s F1 tyres were later adopted

by Osella, Arrows, Fittipaldi and Minardi, as well as by prestigious teams like Lotus and Brabham. This latter offered Pirelli its first success in France in 1985 with Piquet, twentyeight years after Moss. Benetton won with Pirelli tyres in Mexico (1986, Gerhard Berger) and Piquet again triumphed in Canada in 1991, which was the last Pirelli victory in the F1 competitions.

The present day and the victories More recently, apart from rallies, Pirelli’s attention has been concentrated on races for prototypes, GT cars, and now, a return to Grand Prix racing as official supplier to Gp3.

Pirellis have won endurance races, like the Daytona 24 Hours, and the IMSA Titles, in the mid-nineties with Oldsmobile and Ferrari.

In addition, in 2005/2006 Pirelli was also successful in the GT category with its P Zero tyres. In 2005 it gained victory in the Le Mans Endurance 2005 Series with the Ferrari 550 Maranello of the Italia-BMS Team, and in 2006 with the Porsche 996 GT3-RSR of the AutOrlando Sport team.

In the GT1 class of the FIA-GT Championships, Pirelli obtained 2005 and 2006 Team classifications with the Maserati MC 12, and above all it won the 2006 Drivers’ Title with Bertolini-Bartels.

With the Ferrari 430 GTC, Pirelli won in the GT2 class, commanding respect from both teams and drivers like Jaime Melo. The P Zero Racing tyres fitted on the Aston Martin DBR9M were key in the American Le Mans Series, winning the IMSA Cup and allowing Stéphane Sarrazin to be judged the best new driver of 2006.

The Milan company played an important role in the Ferrari Challenge, thanks to the P Zero Racing tyres used for the various races which took place in Italy, Europe and North America, as well as for the important European GT championships, such as those of France and Italy, for the FIA GT4 Cup and for the Seat Léon Eurocup.

Pirelli is currently the exclusive supplier to many of the world’s most relevant racing series, including the FIA WRC (World Rally Championship), FIA GP3, GRAND-AM’s Rolex Sports Car Series, VW TDI Cup, Pirelli Drivers Cup, Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo, Maserati Trofeo, Brazilian GT Championship and World Superbike - achieving remarkable results and the support of each series, its teams and very importantly, the fans.

In January 2010 Pirelli swept to victory at the Montecarlo Rally with Mikko Hirvonen’s Ford Fiesta Super 2000, the only car in the event officially fitted with Pirelli tyres. The Finnish star easily overcame road difficulties thanks to Pirelli Winter Sottozero and Pzero tyres which, with their versatility and reliability, adapted to all the different conditions, from the ice in the mountain passes to the dry coastal asphalt.

Pirelli debuted in Barcelona on 7-9 May 2010 as the official tyre supplier to GP3, the onemake single-seater series, which has been pitched as a stepping-stone to GP2, a direct feeder category to Formula One. Designed as a training formula for young and aspiring drivers, the series is made up of nine race weekends, each consisting of a practice and a qualifying session and two races in an effort to maximise track time for the drivers and accelerate their learning.

Pirelli was chosen by the FIA to supply the control tyre for this crucial new series because of the company's proven ability to contain costs while maintaining a high level of technology to further the best interests of competition. (History of Pirelli Part 2 Next Issue)

Back To Basics But Loads of Fun at the Same Time A Look at the world of first stage karting as Phil Woods visits 'The Circuit' in Sandycroft, Flintshire. We look at some of the success stories from the venue, as some staff and drivers have gone on to higher levels at motor sport.

You may be asking, why is a Formula One magazine looking at the world of karting at a low level? The answer is simple, so many F1 stars start in karting, people like current double world champion Sebastian Vettel, also the most successful driver in F1 history, Michael Schumacher, continues to take part in karting. Schumacher recently commented in the 'F1 Racing' magazine that he still loves the challenge against the youngsters. Not only that, so many F1 stars have started in karting. So karting has an important role to play in early development of racing drivers. If you're not a racing driver and want to have a fun day out, you too can enjoy karting at many places around the country. I myself have tried karting at 'The Circuit' in Sandycroft, I may not have been the winner on that occasion and found it difficult to master the vehicle to start with, but very soon I got used to it and absolutely loved it. My brother and I are trying to arrange a re-visit so we can experience the fun again soon. I'd do it every week if I had the time.

Now a bit more about karting at 'The Circuit' in Sandycroft (a short drive from Chester as it's on the border of Wales and England. An easy place to get to as it is just a few miles from the M56, for directions visit the official circuit website, link at bottom of article).

'The Circuit' opened 23 years ago, so it is run by very experienced staff and management who stay with the company, proving that it is both great fun to work there and the management are easy to work for. It was set up by Ian and Tony Devenport and it is Ian who has allowed me exclusive access into the world of first level karting. It is a family business and they intend for it to stay that way.

'The Circuit' is not there just for budding drivers, it's important to mention at this stage that it is open mainly for fun, I myself went there as part of my stag day (before the drinking of course) and despite never driven a race car of any description at that point, all my friends and family who came along, enjoyed it thoroughly and want to return soon (so do I).

During my visit to 'The Circuit' I was able to interview Kyle Trevor, a manager at the circuit.

Kyle gave me an insight into the history and present life at 'The Circuit'. Kyle has worked there for 7 years, he is a lover of Formula One and naturally follows the British drivers, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Paul Di Resta. He is a McLaren fan, which goes well with his support of British drivers. He mentioned that he follows drivers rather than teams.

This is a common fan thing with F1. ‘ After visiting 'The Circuit' again to watch a Grand Prix event take place, I spoke briefly to a racer who has only been once before. Matt Duffield had only competed in 5 races and won all 5, he progressed to the semi finals. His final race was exciting for the spectators as he took the lead and gained a final warning for his pass to take the lead. Matt had this to about 'The Circuit', “It's a good mix of having a laugh and competitiveness, a great place to bring your mates�. Matt finished as Grand Prix Champion with 7 wins from 7 races, a clean sweep.

Maybe a name to watch for the future if he decides to take it more seriously, however as we ll know he'll need to find some sponsorship money.

‘The Circuit' itself is mostly an indoor circuit but has a unique feature of part of the track going outside and then back in, as part of the course. If you are looking to have a go for fun, I can recommend the £10 session which gives you 12 minutes on the track. It may not sound like a long time, but on a track that has a lap that is less than a minute time (this time is possible for first timers too), you can get in 12 or more laps for your money, and let me tell you, that is enough for a beginner, it's loads of fun but the karts take some getting used to. Before you step foot in a kart, you are able to have any help and advice you need. This may include the best way to take certain corners, ideal braking points etc. For £35 per person, they also offer a Grand Prix session which gives you and your friends a chance to experience some competition on the track. The Grand Prix does last a lot longer than the 12 minutes you get for £10, and makes things just that little more competitive. So if you fancy yourself as a young Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton, then why not see if you can do it by getting some willing friends together and try out the Grand Prix offering. This is where a lot of young talent is discovered, even at this early stage.

Before I start to talk about the different success stories from 'The Circuit', I will start with some records. The fastest laps on the course for an adult is 28.3 seconds, that was by Chris Jones, Chris has now moved away from karting at this level to become a race instructor at Oulton Park, one of the most popular race tracks in the UK. I personally visited Oulton Park last season for the British Touring Car Championships, that shows everyone what could be possible from starting at this level. The Junior record was 30.8 seconds, bearing in mind that the karts are different for the juniors compared to the adults, to be just 2.5 seconds behind Chris Jones is an amazing achievement.

There have been many success stories from 'The Circuit', therefore owners Ian and Tony can be proud of what they have started. Here are a few more success stories from people who have started at 'The Circuit'; 15 year old, Ben Hingley is now competing in Junior Karts. John Pike has moved on to a much higher level and both John and Ben have their own websites where you can follow their careers (links at the bottom of this article). Jamie Stanley is now racing in the Lotus Cup Race, he also taught F1 presenter for the BBC, Jake Humphries at Silverstone, so that his presenting could be more hands on. It worked to as Jake has become a great F1 presenter. Jamie is now considering racing in the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race. The we move onto someone who has done something a little different following his work at 'The Circuit', Jake Sanson has become a commentator for Auto Grass, Super Karts and Bangor Racing. I took the opportunity to speak with Jake at Oulton Park, in a break he was having between practising his commentating skills for his biggest race yet. That interview can be read later in this magazine.

'The Circuit' has also welcomed many famous faces, including; Michael Owen, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, David Weir, Jason McAteer and the very popular comedian Rowan Atkinson. Rowan is well known for enjoying his racing and is very fast. He may have done well on the Top Gear track, but he couldn't beat the track record here at 'The Circuit', no doubt he will be back, his desire for racing is such that I am confident that he will want to improve his time in Sandycroft.

'The Circuit' has also been visited by the TV kids show 'Prank Patrol' who have filmed there.

Finally you can see from the photos around this article, the amount of famous faces who know this karting course. People like Jenson Button, 2009 F1 world champion. You can learn more about the course at www.thecircuit.co.uk don't just sit there reading this magazine and imagine yourself racing. Get out and visit 'The Circuit' and enjoy seeing if you have the potential. I am sure there is natural talent out waiting to be discovered. If you think you can do it, give it a go, there are people at the venue who can see talent very quickly. You could be the next Lewis Hamilton and don't even know it. Before I sign off though, you have to remember that whether you are the next star, or completely rubbish, let me remind you that it is great fun either way. See the advert for more contact details for 'The Circuit'.

If you live too far away, I know that there are people reading this in places like Russia and the USA among others, there will be a karting circuit within reach of your own home. Use the internet to find it and go along for some fun.

Big Competition Win 4 Tickets to Try Out the Action Yourself Simple to enter:

Follow The Podium on Twitter @F1New2012 and answer this question; Who is the Current World F1 Champion Driver?

Just start the tweet podium competition then give answer

*other prizes available for those who can’t make it to Chester

Race

Report

Following a weekend of rain, sun, cloud and queues of traffic we were treated to a Grand Prix that delivered more than any of us expected.

Before I begin this report, there are a couple of things I need to say, firstly I spent the qualifying session in the Caterham Garage (in the magazine , released 15th July, there will be a feature on 'Life inside a team garage during a Grand Prix weekend'), which was an incredible experience and I learnt so much about how much work goes on into getting the cars ready to go and do a few laps. Secondly I want to talk about the traffic issues on Friday. I was invited to the BRDC BBQ on Friday evening, during that BBQ (great evening, by the way) an announcement was made about how they planned to resolve the issue and most importantly why it happened.

Many reports blamed Silverstone, however the fault does not lie with the circuit at all, in fact for 2012, they had worked very hard to lay hardcore etc to ensure parking would be a lot easier. For an event with more spectators than any other in the UK and (for motor sport) probably the world, it takes a lot of organisation. The BRDC had spent time and money making it ready for the event and it was ready. The real reason why the problems occurred on Friday were down to the external camp sites, who had suffered due to the proceeding bad weather, they started to turn many people away, some camp sites only took around 20% of the normal capacity, that traffic then rejoined the Silverstone traffic and hoped to get into the course. This meant huge queues as two lots of traffic were on the same route expecting paring that the course weren't ready for. They asked anyone without official parking or the circuit to stay away Saturday and come instead on Sunday to enjoy the race day, a big ask of the supporters. People instead walked miles, cycled and found spare spaces in cars with official parking passes. The British spirit went into overdrive and I have to say (I walked in from the village of Silverstone) that the traffic seemed to be back to normal on Saturday. Well done BRDC, well done everyone at Siverstone and well done to the supporters.

Now onto Sunday and the Grand Prix itself (and a dry one at that). I was reporting from the media centre in he beautiful new paddock and pit comlpex, and some overtakes during the GP bought about a round of applause from the media, that's the quality of this years Grand Prix.

As soon as the lights went out, Alonso moved across the circuit cutting off 2nd placed Webber from taking the 1st place from him, Alonso then began to try and open a gap before the DRS was enabled, he managed to do this with relative ease, in a car predicted to be a 'dog' by many people, yet with a driver like Alonso behind the wheel he has been making the car look so good this season, however, there is no denying that the car has improved no end in recent races. In the top 10, both Hamilton and Webber had gone for the harder option tyre, perhaps in an attempt to make up places in first pit stop phase. Lap one was unkind to Paul Di Resta (one of the British hopes) who connects with a rival and flies off the track causing a puncture, the damage to his car was far too bad and he was out, so the first Brit was out after another couple of laps. Massa (our driver of the day, for his best performance since his comeback) had a great start passing Vettel into 4th and proceeded to chase down Schumacher in 3rd who also had a great start.

Jenson Button had made it up to 13th and was trying to take advantage of a battle between Perez and Grosjean, Jenson briefly took the lead in that battle but it wasn't long before the Lotus took 11th place back. By now it's lap three and Massa has a stab at taing his old teammate Schumacher for 3rd but the move didn't work and he all of a sudden found Vettel in his mirrors. Some good fighting though and by lap 5 he was putting clear air between him and the specially designed Red Bull (photos of thier supporters all over), the time was still less than a second, and the same in front with Schumacher. With DRS enabled it should be an interesting battle for that final spot on the podium. Although it still is early stages. At this point Alonso couldn't shake off Webber. For some reason though on the next lap Alonso built up a gap to Webber and ensured he was out of the DRS zone.

Lewis Hamilton was neither gaining nor losing places, we heard him say on the radio that he couldn't keep up, never mind catch the people in front, his team reassures him it was down to the tyres he was on and that his pace was good.

On lap 7, Massa has got himself back into the smell of Schumachers exhaust fumes and his race engineer started to instruct him on when to use KERS, surely, not even Schumacher can hold off a reformed Massa for long. The speed of Schumacher is allowing Alonso and Webber to get away from the pack, meaning that baring any calamities we could have our top two already.

Between lap 9 an 12, those on soft tyres started to pit. this looked the right option as Grosjean was posting fastest laps from 18th position.

On lap 12, Massa tries a move on Schumacher again, this time trying to go up the inside of Stowe, he made it stick this time in a pass that gained a round of applause from the media centre. Now we had Alonso leading from Webber and the other Ferrari of Massa in 3rd. It's looking like a good day for Ferrari at the moment.

Maldonado, meanwhile continues to frustrate Senna, as he had a moment of oversteer which threw him into a spin with Senna, ending Senna's race, the incident was to be investigated after the race. I have my own opinions on this, Maldonado has shown some brilliance this season but he has to be a little more careful at times.

During lap 15 Massa pitted and came back out in front of Schumacher and Raikkonen. By now Jenson Button was in 8th place after a great move on Senna's Willaims.

Webber pits but ends up behind Hamilton. During the next lap Alonso pits for hard tyres, this means he will have to pit at least one more time for his soft tyres. Ferrari are happy that their strategy has worked so far as Alonso comes out in front of Webber.

Hamilton now leads the grand prix and the crowd go wild as has, he hasn't pitted yet so although it's a lead, it's perhaps a bit false. The crowd cheer every time he passes. On lap 19, Alonso retakes the lead using DRS on Hamilton, but Lewis isn't ready to give up yet as he uses the slipstream of the Ferarri to re-pass without DRS, yet this doesn't last long and Alonso goes back to the front as Lewis runs wide. However, it was somewhat inevitable that Hamilton's lead wouldn't last due to the age of his tyres. A lap later, the McLaren pit crew are out to put a new set of tyres on his car, realising his lap times weren't matching his effort. The McLaren crew do a good job, no mistakes this time, Lewis comes out in 7th, just behind the returnees, Schumacher and Raikkonen. In fact McLaren are having the fastest pitstops, some turnaround since the last few races, something tells me they've been practising.

By lap 23, most of the pit stops are over and we are back in some sort of real order; Alonso leads from Webber by nearly 5 seconds, with Vettel 3.4 seconds further back in 3rd, Massa is in 4th and will be looking to retake that final podium spot at least, we will keep an eye on that. From a British point of view, Lewis is 7th and Jenson is 12th, looking to get into the points.

It's still a good day for weather and no sign of rain until after the race to mix things up a little.

On lap 24, Schumachers tyres seem to be going off as both Hamilton and Raikkonen pass him. Schumacher started the race in 3rd but now lies 7th. Now that Raikkonen had got past Schumacher he became the fastest driver on the track. He is now chasing the Ferrari of Massa, however Massa is still having a good race.

Alonso is now the fastest man on the track, building up nearly a 6 second lead. The biggest thing to watch now at the halfway stage is the pace of World Champion Vettel, who is catching his team mate at a rate of knots in 3rd. Lewis has a very short stint and pits after just 8 laps and may or may not now yet that he has to make those tyres last the remainder of the race. He rejoins in 12th with Rosberg (who's had a bit of a quiet afternoon) and team mate Jenson just in front of him.

After Lewis is told to look after his tyres and that he needs to make them last 22 laps, he passes Rosberg, yep, Lewis, that's why you're loved by so many people. Always reminds me of the line from that film with John Cleese as a rich casino owner picking people at random to chase for a $1 million dollar prize and Rowan Atkinson plays a foreign chap and just says "it's a race". Too right Lewis, go for it, especially in front of your home fans. It may not be panning out to be a great race for him but at least he is giving it everything. Having spoken with Lewis before the race in the paddock he does seem so much more relaxed, willing to chat and seemingly happy, well he was when I spoke with him.

A couple of laps later Lewis also passes team mate Jenson, it's clear the fresher tyres are suiting Lewis and Jenson needs his changing as it isn't long before he looses another place to Grosjean, unsurprisingly Button pits next time round.

On Saturday evening Kobayashi apologised to fans about tyre choice in qualifying and said he'd make up for it in the race, well he is certainly doing that, now all over the back of Schumacher. Vettel is now in 5th having made a stop behind Raikkonen (who in my opinion is having a great return to the sport).

On lap 37 Webber pits for the final time to give it one final push, he starts to clock up some amazing times, just one lap later, unsurprising really, Alonso pits, earlier than Ferrari had planned and puts on the softer tyre.

Then comes the first major crash for Kobayashi of the afternoon on lap 38, only problem is, it is in his pit box and it just looks like a game of skittles, men flying everywhere. I hope they're all ok, needless to say it's not the fastest pit stop in the world.

12 laps to go and Grosjean shows why Lotus gave him a second chance. He spent the first part of the race at the back of the field after the Di Resta incident, but now finds himself in 6th, looks like they were right to give him chance number 2.

Reports of medical staff and stretchers at the Sauber garage go through the media centre, I do hope it's not to bad and a bit of precaution.

As we move into the final stint of the race (last 10 laps), Webber is catching Alonso very fast, if it carries on like this then Alonso will have to defend or increase his lap times if his tyres will allow him, Webber is just under 4 seconds behind. Massa is also catching Vettel, I'm thinking a little late though.

From a British point of view, Button is 11th and chasing Senna to get the final points and it looks like Hamiltons tyres have gone off as his times are looking poor compared to the rest of the top 10.

With around 6 laps remaining, Webber is in the DRS range of Alonso, if anyone can fight off Webber, it's Alonso, but with DRS, you become a sitting duck, this is the biggest arguement. If there was no DRS, I think Alonso would be able to hold on for 5 laps, but with DRS I think in a short time we will have a new leader. It's not long before my thoughts become reality and a race that Alonso has lead from start to almost the end is undone with a DRS overtake, and baring any mistakes Webber will win the British GP. There are no further dramas at the front, but in 10th Kobayashi makes an error and gives the final points position to Button. Something for the Brits to chear about at the end.

See next page for final results

So here is the final outcome of the British GP 1 - Webber - Red Bull - Winner 2 - Alonso - Ferrari - 2nd 3 - Vettel - Red Bull - 3rd 4 - Massa - Ferrari (Podium Magazine's driver of the day, best drive since comeback) 5 - Raikkonen - Lotus 6 - Grosjean - Lotus 7 - Schumacher -Mercedes 8 - Hamilton - Mclaren 9 - Senna - Williams 10 - Button - McLaren 11 - Kobayashi - Sauber 12 - Hulkenberg - Force India 13 - Ricciardo - Toro Rosso 14 - Vergne - Toro Rosso 15 - Rosberg - Mercedes 16 - Maldonado - Williams 17 - Kovalainen - Caterham 18 - Glock - Marussia 19 - Pic - Marussia 20 - De La Rosa - HRT 21 - Karthikeyan - HRT 22 - Perez - Sauber - DNF 23 - Di Resta - Force India - DNF 24 - Petrov - Caterham - DNS (Engine Issue)

Points Webber - 25 Alonso - 18 Vettel - 15 Massa - 12 Raikkonen - 10 Grosjean - 8 Schamuacher -6 Hamilton - 4 Senna - 2 Button - 1

Luiz Razia - The Boy From Barrerias ‘The Future of Racing A Special Feature by George East

For a country which is almost a by-word for Formula One, it seems incredible that the last time we saw a Brazilian driver on the F1 podium was - come this October - two years ago courtesy of Felipe Massa in Korea.

Even stranger, is that the last time the sport had a Brazilian winner was three years ago with Rubens Barrichello at Monza. Stranger still, is that the last Brazilian to have won the drivers championship was Ayrton Senna in 1991. That is, of course, that is if you don't count Ferrari Team Principle, Stefano Domenicali's observation that "Felipe (Massa) was World Champion for sixteen seconds in 2008".

On face value then, things aren't looking great for Brazil as F1's third most successful nation. There hasn't arguably- been a World Champion in two decades, a race winner in three years, a podium in two and the country's two representatives on the grid, Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna, whilst steady, are unspectacular given the jobs being done by their team mates. If, however, you scratch beyond F1 and into its feeder series, GP2, a very different story begins to appear.

A young guy who seems intent on changing the situation for his country, is Luiz Razia, a 23 year old from the Brazilian town of Barreiras who drives for the Arden team in F1's feeder series, GP2. I was able to have a chat with Luiz at his team's factory last week about the situation going on for Brazilians in F1 and whether or not he can break the country's seemingly stagnant period in the sport. Turning up to the factory in a cool looking pair of trousers and navy blue shirt, it was a pleasant surprise that he didn't begin to answer the question with the stock motorsport response, "for sure" which seems to pepper most race-drivers vocabulary. Instead, he looks thoughtful against the Arden factory's backdrop of trophies, Bruno Senna's GP2 car and Mark Webber's 2010 Red Bull RB6 - a serious reminder that his team is owned by Red Bull Racing's Team Principle, Christian Horner and his father Gary - and answers cheerfully "I think everybody wants to win, I want to win". He follows this sentence with "I don't care if Massa finishes second, that's not my goal." This leaves me unsure as to whether he is referring to the Paulista's and Brazil's 2008 heartbreak, or his compatriot's supporting role to Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, but as Luiz continues, he leaves me in no doubt as to his future plans and reveals a focussed determination behind his friendly and relaxed exterior; "I wanna be a world champion, but in the meantime, we need to focus on today, on where we are now which is GP2, we are doing a great season and the future we never know..."

He's not wrong. After finishing second in the GP2 season's opener in Bahrain and winning races convincingly in Malaysia and Catalunya, the boy from Brazil lies second in the championship, 31 points behind Italy's Davide Valsecchi. When I ask him if he can win the GP2 title this year, again he seems relaxed and answers with a sense of pragmatism and sensibility which gives the impression you're speaking with someone far older than 23. "Yeah, that's the goal!" comes the excited reply. He seems be relishing the fact that he has the possibility in his hands to break his country's championship draught but remains realistic that whilst he's done well so far in 2012 to get to second in the championship, it's a long season and there is still a lot of work to be done; "we've shown some very good speed and results, but we need to show that throughout the season. We're going now to Valencia for the other half of the season, and I hope to be in Singapore in a very good place to win the championship." After four seasons in the series, an underlying determination and a candid admission that he feels "different, a different person, because I've had to reinvent myself this season" it would seem foolhardy to write Luiz Razia off when the series arrives at the season finale as being either the championship leader, or being near as dammit. The hard work doesn't seem to scare him, though. Using Arden's Red Bull connections, Luiz admits that he has been "working very hard" up to three times a day with James his trainer who is also the head of Red Bull Racing training programme. To add to his regime, he has been training in the 2011 champions' race simulator at the Red Bull factory in Milton Keynes, not far from the Arden workshop. Perhaps most astonishingly, for a member of the Playstation Generation he is also on a self-imposed Twitter and Facebook ban until Valencia, a task unthinkable for many – including me! - early twenty-somethings.

Whilst he seems to have everything in place to take the 2012 GP2 title, the burning question is whether Luiz can make it into Formula One and bring some "new blood" into the sport for Brazil within the next few years?

He breaks into a massive grin against the backdrop of silverware and Webber's Blue Red Bull. An ironic symbol that he could be in a similar car within a few years, should he get onto the Red Bull Driver Programme and should the Australian retire or jump ship to Ferrari. "No, I definitely will be [there] next season". Given his 2012 results and the maturity and determination he has shown so far over our chat, I wouldn't doubt him.

Furthermore, he was Marussia (née, Virgin Racing) F1's test driver in 2010 and switched to Caterham (née, Lotus Racing, then Team Lotus) for a similar duty in 2011. On top of having an impressive turn of speed, he also possesses an understanding of the mechanics of a modern Formula One car. This was reflected within Team Lotus and they allowed Luiz to replace the Norfolk based outfit's Italian veteran, Jarno Trulli for Friday practice duties in front of his home crowd in São Paulo. Again, he impressed. "In Brazil everybody (Team Lotus) was very pleased with my work inside and outside the car and with feedback". And rightly they should have been pleased, considering that Razia finished just over a second off of the team's other driver, Heikki Kovalainen in a car - which if you listen to Trulli - was plagued by vague and unresponsive power steering.

Why then, did the vacant seat go to Renault refugee Vitaly Petrov and not Luiz after the Italian vacated the team in February this year after the first pre-season test in Jérez? On paper, it would have made sense to put a driver who knows the team into Trulli's seat. He sits back in his chair and looks thoughtful again, a seeming trait of the young driver which I notice as our conversation develops; "Well” he laments “I was very close to a deal with Caterham last year but because of money I couldn't and finally Petrov got the place. It was close by *this* much to getting it..." He uses the international sign for a tiny margin and laughs.

After we conclude the interview, I drink a can of Red Bull in the team's workshop and chat with Deborah, the Arden's administrator who has organized all of this. In the background, Luiz jokes with his mechanics and engineers as they go through multiple pit-stop practices before heading to Valencia the following Wednesday.

He seems full of confidence and every inch the race driver who is ready to step up to the highest level of world motorsport.

If then, the 23 year old Brazilian missed out on an F1 2012 seat with a team that is regarded by the F1 community as "the best of the newcomers" due to Petrov's bank balance being bigger, then surely he has done enough to fulfil his plan of getting into F1 next year on merit alone, not including the increased backing he would bring should he claim the GP2 title this year. Given that he lays second in the GP2 championship, Arden's connections to Red Bull, his previous F1 experience and an attitude as cool as the trousers he was wearing, would you really want to count against Luiz Razia entering F1 and lifting his country from the F1 blues it seems to have fallen into?

Well, I don't know about you, but I've made my mind up.

Some Might Say It’s The Biggest Motor Sport in the USA It’s the closest to Formula One. But What Is IndyCar A Special Introduction by Eric Hall

May in Indianapolis. More than a month; more than a race; more than an event. For 300,000 people, May in Indianapolis is a way of life. For a healthy contingency of these people, eleven months out of the year are spent in preparation and in anticipation for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. It's not just an Indycar race; it is the race. A supernova in our quiet galaxy of Indycar racing. This is the one time a year that not just the motorsports world, but the entire sporting media takes pause to remember what makes Indy so special. Hundreds of thousands of people huddle around a TV or radio all day long and become hardcore Indycar fans; even if for just a single afternoon once a year.

Our crown jewel race means something different to each and every person who watches or experiences it. Indianapolis is the temple of speed; the hallowed grounds where engineers, mechanics and drivers toe the line of sanity; taking machines to within an eyelash of catastrophe just to find that extra tenth of a second. Squeezing every ounce of speed out of the high tech race machines as an offering to the open wheel gods is the only way worship at the two and a half mile rectangle. And anyone associated with the ethanol fueled religious experience wouldn't have it any other way.

The Indy 500 also means prosperity, growth and history. Speedway; the small enclave surrounded by the sprawling city of Indianapolis, was single-handedly created and sustained by its famous racetrack. An entire community was created to fuel the massive machine that was, and is, racing at the Speedway. From boutique racing shops to diners to team garages; Speedway's lifeblood has always been the famous brickyard. The Speedway has also given Indianapolis; a once struggling city with a still born automotive industry, a fighting chance at the prosperity we enjoy today.

Without the world's largest single day sporting event, Indianapolis would be a shadow of its current self. The Colts, Pacers, NCAA headquarters, our booming convention industry, the Super Bowl; none would have been possible without the Memorial Day Classic. Yes, the Indy 500 has been more and more recently marketed to a local market but it's our history. A celebration of how far we as a city have come with the most famous race in the world. This is a local rite of passage and a celebration of history, not just a stop on a national touring calendar.

An Extra Special Social Weekend for Americans

The Indy 500 is a month long celebration around the entire state. But more than remembering history, or worshiping speed, the race has always been a time for family. We hear tales from across the world of cookouts with a main course of 200 laps of open wheel racing each May. Friends and family form and entire weekend based around the happenings in Speedway. "See you in Indy" is a saying that means so much more than just a time and place to meet. We are all family for one afternoon a year. Every year for the Memorial Day weekend, my family would take some type of trip so we could watch the race live on TV. Whether it be camping or visiting family out of town; the end of May means racing, family and friends.

For the participants, the experience is very similar. Famous racing families have made their name and scribed their name into the history of speed. Andretti, Unser, Chevrolet, Rahal, Bettenhausen, Foyt; generations of drivers have grown up with generations of fans. We have watched our young progeny grow up in the pits and we root for them when they finally take their place on the grid. As if perhaps by destiny, we expect to see the children of our past heroes battle it out on track like their forefathers did before them. For us fans, as well as the heroes we go to cheer on, it has always been a family affair, and always will be.

Another year past and another childhood remembered. A common story among older Indy vets, as well as recent re-returners, is the connection of some part of race day to a simpler time in childhood. For a few hours on those late May afternoons, we are transported back in time. Walking into the amazing facility is like stepping into a time machine. You can hear the sounds of a hundred years of triumph and heartbreak, you can smell the memories of pork tenderloins and methanol exhaust, you can feel the tangible history. All of this sends many of us back to childhoods from many summers past, to a more simple time. An afternoon to just stop and remember.

Indy is all of these things to me. An inextricable link to some kind of intangible rose colored past that may have never actually existed, and may never exist in the future.

But it is this romantic, glamorized reality that brings us back year after year. Even if you are a fan for a single day a year, these 500 miles means so much more than a race to the finish. Taps, balloons, Back Home Again in Indiana, gentleman start your engines; all things that have been slowly added to the fabric of what Indianapolis means to all of us. Things that are worth far more than the time taken to experience them.

Indianapolis is an afternoon of living history, love and reunion. One of a very small handful of events that can bring so many tangibles and intangibles to the center of attention year in and out. As we embark on yet another greatest month in racing, we are constantly reminded of what this battle of speed means. Contested on a small strip of immovable pavement, founded by men who have become more lore than reality. The 500 may just be another race on the calendar, another points paying event, but if you truly believe that... You just don't know what Indy means.

Rubens Barrichello The most recent convert from F1 to Indy Car

A weekend in the wet for the GP2 Drivers Gutierrez dazzles in the wet to take victory in the Feature Race at Silverstone

Report by Nathan Thomas With the weather as unpredictable as the on-track racing; last weekend's GP2 races at Silverstone proved a rigorous test of the drivers' talents. Although the weather improved greatly for the sprint race on Sunday morning, a race in which Luiz Razia solidified his strangle hold on the championship by taking victory, the days prior to the race had been riddled with torrential downpours.

Esteban Gutierrez, who notched his second victory in as many races, took the feature race on the Saturday. The highly regarded Mexican, who is being carefully monitored by Sauber chief Peter Sauber, proved the most adept at handling the changeable conditions after the race was started behind the safety car.

With copious amounts of standing water still on the track come the start of the feature race, drivers and teams knew that strategy would be fundamental in maximising their potential.

Pole sitter Fabio Leimer was able to get away well once being released by the safety car; the Swiss driver pulled out an extremely healthy advantage of nine-seconds between him and second placed Johnny Cecotto. This was particularly startling given the volatile track conditions, however unfortunately for the plucky Leimer – it was not to last.

His failure to capitalise on a second safety car lap 18, as most of the field flooded in to the pits, was to be a pivotal error. Clearly happy with how the car was feeling, he stayed out; however, that decision was to bite him on the behind when a the Safety Car was deployed for the third time –to pick up Stefano Coletti's Coloni car. The Monegasque driver misjudged the tricky conditions whilst adjusting to his new slick tyres and crashed at Chapel. It was harsh bout of bad luck for Leimar, but it was tinged with indecisiveness that in-turn opened up the door for Gutierrez.

To win the race Gutierrez knew that consistency was mandatory, and consistent he was. He leapfrogged Johnny Cecotto and Jolyon Palmer during the second round of pit stops; the Lotus driver then proceeded to hammer out a number blistering laps – including two fastest of the race. The superbly well-executed strategy was enough to earn the likeable Mexican the 27 points (25 for the win and a further two for the fastest lap); he was followed through the chequered flag by Johnny Cecotto who, were it not for a dose of over-cautiousness triggered by the weather, may have took victory himself.

Local boy Jolyon Palmer came home in a solid 3rd, something that delighted the legions of fans braving the weather. Ocean driver took Nigel Melker took an excellent fourth after a mature drive and Luiz Razia's fifth place finish was enough for him to leapfrog Davide Valsecchi, who finished in seventh, to the top of the championship. Sandwiched between those aforementioned drivers in sixth place was Razia's talented countrymen Felipe Nasr and Giedo van der Garde's eighth place finish was enough to ensure that he would start from pole in Sunday's sprint race. Max Chilton and Rio Haryanto, who both drove for Marussia in the recent young drivers test at Silverstone, made up the top ten.

Razia trumps title rival Valencchi in Sprint Battle Race

Luiz Razia's third victory of the season capped a fine weekend for the Brazilian who demonstrated superb mechanical sympathy in Saturday's feature race, where he finished fifth despite admitting to struggling in the conditions. Razia's delight at notching victory on Sunday will have been enhanced knowing that he was able to stave off the racy Valsecchi who had reigned in team-mate Felipe Nasr to launch a lat bid for victory at the ex-military air base in Northamptonshire.

The Arden drivers' consolidation of his championship lead was all but secure within two laps after a mesmeric start. The Brazilian surged through the field from fourth on the grid, taking DAMS driver Valsecchi for third in what was a great overtaking manoeuvre at Stowe. In blisteringly quick time, he was able to haul in countrymen Nasr and then repeated his Stowe heroics by taking pole man van der Garde to lead the race by the start of lap 3.

Despite this excellent start, Razia was unable to stretch his slender lead as second placed Nasr found it much easier to activate his tyres than team-mate Valsecchi. Nasr stalked Razia like a shadow and the latter of the two Brazilians was fortunate that a safety car was not needed after a collision between Stephane Richelmi of Trident, and Luiz's team-mate Simon Trummer.

Just as the crowd began to fixate their attentions on the on-going battle for first, a number of other cars were beginning to awake from their perceived slumber. Valsecchi's DAMS' challenger was showing signs of coming to life, and Saturday's race winner Esteban Gutierrez was displaying an impressive surge through the crowded pack. By lap 12, he had moved up to sixth with fellow Saturday podium drivers Palmer and Cecotto ahead of him.

As an intriguing points battle was assembling between the aforementioned three – another was about to join them. Davide Valsecchi had his car well and truly hooked up, the same could not be said for Felipe Nasr who begun to fall behind. He was taken by Valsecchi, who then began to pursue Razia with renewed gusto, whereas Nasr found himself slipping towards the fight for fourth. Gutierrez, who had drove excellent well once again, had passed both Palmer and Cecotto; he even had a run on Nasr but would go on to out-break himself and lose fourth to Venezuelan Cecotto.

Despite Valsecchi's urgency he ultimately ran out of time and could only watch has Razia took the chequered flag first. The last-gasp drama would be provided by 'Tom and Jerry' scenario being played out by Cecotto and Gutierrez. One the last lap, as the two hurtled into Vale, Gutierrez and Cecotto touched. The contact was enough to force the latter on to a dirt track and he became a passenger as his car careered into the barriers. Gutierrez was able to take advantage of this desperate bad luck, but nobody could deny he deserved his fourth place finish. However, Sunday was all about Luiz Razia, possibly the next driver to take on the mantle as the darling of Brazilian racing.

What is WTCC?

by George East

With an Interview coming in the next issue with current World Champion Yvan Muller, it’s only right we learn a little more about the sport itself. With The help of our journalist and WTCC specialist, George East, we can get an insight into the sport.

Like most motorsports, the WTCC – or the World Touring Car Championship – can trace its roots back to Europe, where it was run alongside the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) for Group A touring cars. These particular types of vehicle were production-derived cars were limited in terms of power, weight allowed technologies and overall cost.

Beginning in 1987, this category of racing differentiated from the European Touring Car Championship in that additional rounds were held outside of the continent, namely at the Japanese Fuji circuit and the Antipodean tracks of Wellington in New Zealand and Australia's Calder Park Raceway. Thanks to the tight and exciting racing characteristic of touring cars, the accessibility for fans and 'association' due to the cars being 'normal', the WTCC was an instant success. Unfortunately, it was also this success as after just one season that was won by Italian Roberto Ravaglia in a BMW M3, the series was cancelled due to FIA fears that the immensely popular series would begin to take away revenue from F1.

Fortunately, whilst it seemed that the WTCC had been prematurely consigned to the history books, the high popularity of the Supertouring category proved to be this category's saviour.

The Supertouring cars were based on a 2.0 touring car formula, their backgrounds on popular family cars such as the Renault Laguna and the Ford Mondeo and this particular type of racing machinery was proving be a hit in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). So, using the standard 2.0 and taking into account the popularity of the WTCC on a global basis, the FIA introduced the World Touring Car Cup – an annual get together for touring car drivers from different national championships the world over.

Such was the popularity still for touring cars on a global level, the resurrection for the WTCC began in 2001 when the ETCC was resumed with the FIA's support. As interest grew on a commercial scale and the arrival of 'official' manufacturers such as BMW, Chevrolet and SEAT began to take an interest to boost sales, the ETCC changed to the WTCC and the series was thus reborn.

Rightfully, the WTCC can claim itself to be a truly international sport. Races span from Britain to the Czech Republic, from Morocco and Brazil. Also, for the first time in the sport's history, the WTCC is racing at the Infineon Raceway in California this year.

With its international appeal, wheel banging on track action and the encouragement for independents (who have a separate championship), it is little wonder that the WTCC is the third most popular in the FIA's repertoire of world motorsports.

For Georges Stat Attack turn the page

George East Gives us his Stat Attack 2012 teams and drivers: Chevrolet: Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T: Yvan Muller (FR)/Robert Huff (GB)/Alain Menu (CH) Lukoil Racing Team: Seat Leon WTCC: Gabriele Tarquini (IT)/Aleksei Dudukalo (RU) Zengo Motorsports: BMW 320 TC: Gabor Weber (HU)/Norbert Michelisz (HU) Liqui Moly Team Engstler: Frank Engstler (D)/Charles Ng (TH?) Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden: Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T: Rickard Rydell (SE) Bamboo Engineering: Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T: Alex MacDowell (GB)/Pasquale Di Sabatino (IT) Team Aon: Ford Focus S2000 TC: James Nash (GB)/Tom Chilton (GB) ROAL Motorsport: BMW 320 TC: Tom Coronel (NL)/Alberto Cerqui (IT) Tuenti Racing Team: SEAT Leon WTCC TDi/SUNRED SR Leon 1.6T: Tiago Monteiro (PT)/SEAT Leon WTCC: Pepe Oriola (ES) Special Tuning Racing: SEAT Leon WTCC/SEAT Leon TDi: Darryl O'Young (China)/Tom Boardman (GB) Proteam Racing: BMW 320 TC: Isaac Tutumlu (ES)/Mehdi Bennani (MOR) Wiechers Sport: BMW 320 TC: Stefano D'Aste (IT) SUNRED Engineering: SEAT Leon TDi/SUNRED SR Leon 1.6T: Andrea Barlesi (BE)/Fernando Monje (ES) TMS Sport: LADA Granta WTCC: James Thompson Honda: Honda Civic 1.6T: TBA 2012 Calendar: Rounds 1 & 2: 11 March - Autodromo di Monza (Italy) Rounds 3 & 4: 1 April - Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia (Spain).

Rounds 5 & 6: 15 April - Circuit de Marrakech (Morocco) Rounds 7 & 8: 6 May - Hungaroring, Budapest (Hungary) Rounds 9 & 10: 20 May - Salzburgring (Austria) Rounds 11 & 12: 10 June - Circuito do Estoril (Portugal) Rounds 13 & 14: 8 July - Autodromo Oscar Cabalen, Córdoba (Argentina) Rounds 15 & 16: 22 July - Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba (Brazil) Rounds 17 & 18: 23 September - Infineon Raceway, Sonoma (USA) Rounds 19 & 20: 21 October - Suzuka East Circuit (Japan) Rounds 21 & 22: 4 November - Shanghai International Circuit (China) Rounds 23 & 24: 18 November - Circuito da Guia (Macau) Past champions:2011Yvan MULLER (FRA), Chevrolet CruzeChevrolet2010Yvan MULLER (FRA), Chevrolet CruzeChevrolet2009Gabriele TARQUINI (ITA), Seat Leon TDISeat2008Yvan MULLER (FRA), Seat Leon TDISeat2007Andy PRIAULX (GBR), BMW 320siBMW2006Andy PRIAULX (GBR), BMW 320siBMW2005Andy PRIAULX (GBR), BMW 320iBMW Random facts: Cost control is one of the overriding factors in touring car racing and the WTCC is no exception. The ethos of “less money for more racing rings true”. Engines are limited to 2.0 and many technologies featuring on road cars, such as Variable Valve Timing, ABS and Traction Control are banned.

The SEAT Leon TDi was the first diesel powered car to win any FIA sanctioned race. The victory came in the hands of Yvan Muller at the Macau race of the 2008 season.

An Exclusive Interview with Jaimie Alguersuari During the British Grand Prix, Editor Phil Woods was lucky to have a few moments with Jaimie. He agreed to do an exclusive Interview and her it is!

Back soon? I’m Sure he will be!

PW : Every fans dream is to drive an F1 car. You've achieved that, but with your talent surely it won't be long before you get that opportunity again. Is that your aim?

JA : Of course! This is my sole aim for 2013. I will be there. (Glad to hear it - Editor) PW : A lot of fans will remember you being thrown in at the deep end. As F1 isn't as simple as getting in a car and turning a key and off you go. Can you give our readers some kind of idea of how difficult it is to drive an F1 car, especially for the first time?

JA : To be honest, after so many years in competition in Junior Formulas, the step between my last competition car, the FR3.5 , and F1, was not so big. The main difference is the power in the straights and the braking. Braking is awesome!

PW : If you were given a choice between an F1 drive or music. What would it be and why?

JA : These two things are both inside me. I love both. Obviously if I had to quit F1, which I expect not, my music career will go on.

PW : Last season you finished 7th on two occasions. Fighting with the big teams. That must have been a bit of a thrill. You drove excellent in those races and the same goes for the three 8th places you had last season. I know everyone wants to be on the podium, but how did that make you feel competing directly with world champions?

JA : Having achieved the best result ever of the STR made in Faenza (the one that drove Vettel was a master piece designed by Newey) was really a high!!! I delivered a lot of points in my second season. And I'm really proud of it. When you compete in F1 everyone is equal. You really do not care about the other guys, whether they are World Champions or not. You focus on yourself. That's how it works in F1. Having said that, I pay a lot of respect for these guys, specially Button, Alonso and Schumacher.

PW: In 2008 you won the British F3 title, with 12 podiums. That was with Carlin Motorsport.

That was your 2nd title following your Formula Renault title in 2006. The F3 championship was won in style. First of all well done. How did that make you feel? It shows that I am right when I say you're a quality driver. Do you still feel proud of those achievements?

JA : Of course that was my greatest achievement looking back in my career. I will never forget that last race in Donington Park. We where three drivers fighting for that year's Championship and all in the same garage! and I felt so proud of that Title! F3 British Champ has been always one of the most reputed series in the World.

PW : where do you see yourself in 5 years, career wise?

JA : Who knows!? My goal is to win the F1 Championship. When we race, we all want to don’t we?

PW : Finally you have a lot of fans around the world. What would you like to say to them?

JA : I'm so grateful to all my fans and followers. They give me an extra power everyday with their support. Nowadays it's so cool to have a real exchange with my fans thanks to Twitter. I'm very active!

Jaimie Photo Gallery on next page

Jaimie Alguerssuari Photo Galary

Podium Android App Free to Download At ‘The Podium’ we have a Free App keeping you up to date with everything Formula One.

One of the best Android Apps on the Market.

Just search Google Play for Podium, you can’t miss it.

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First time on Rally Stage - What to expect?

ByTomislav Stajduhar

There is first time for everything, both good and bad in life. Well, if you’re about to attend your first proper rally and you’re wondering if it’s going to be bad experience or a good one, fear not – it will 99.9% be amazingly good.

Despite rally being very accessible sport (if you can consider 130 GBP ticket as such), first timers might find it pretty complex and hard to spectate, mostly due to the nature of the sport and it’s “structure”.

More often than not, if you’re visiting a different part of the country or even going abroad, you will have to organize your own little rally just in order to make it to the stages. You need proper planning, maps, as many local sourced information and the most important thing – bring a friend or few of them.

Let’s presume you’ve made to the stages in time and in one piece, and you only got lost 5 times en route because you did not want to ask for directions despite numerous pleas from your passengers to do so. Asking for directions is just, I don’t know… I never ask for directions! That’s why I was circling around La Defense in Paris for hour and a half before I could find a way to the #%#%”! hotel. But I digress.

So, you made it to the stage – first and foremost and never to be underestimated. Ever. Pay attention to your surroundings, always do as you’re told by marshalls and security staff and also pay attention to your surroundings. If there is a 1/1000000000 chance that something driving down the road can reach your spot then you can be sure it will happen – today, next year or 10 years from now. But it will happen. Countless accidents happen in rally all the time and more often then not they’re very freak and bizarre. Make sure nothing is blocking your escape route, and you have a space around so you can move quickly – never go in the big crowds unless they’re on a grandstands or something similar. Well, you will do as you please, I’m just saying what my experiences have tought me – you need to be able to move fast – whether it’s because you want to run for your life from the crashing car or, well, that should be enough…

If there is an accident, be extra careful. Cars are coming in precise intervals, and oncoming car might not be aware that the road is blocked and you don’t want to be standing in the middle of the road with WRC car screaming towards you after jumping the blind crest at 160 km/h. Stay out of the way of security staff and marshalls but don’t hesitate to help if it’s safe. Remember, rally cars are lethal projectiles and drivers have a utterly complicated job of trying to keep those projectiles on the road, they care about corners, braking points and speed, don’t bring yourself into that equation or it will end up in tears.

Be polite and be nice and be social, you know, the old way social… talking, joking, and that sort of thing.

You’ll feel much better and you’ll be able to enjoy everything much more. It’s about having fun.

If you’re grumpy, in a bad mood or just can’t seem to have fun no matter what you do – rally stages are probably not the best place to be. You will very likely need to walk quite a bit to reach a good spectating spot.

Once you do there might be people there, and lots of them. Inevitably, some will be properly fueled up by various additives and hence loud and a bit enthusiastic. Let’s say you survive all this and just when you thought you will be able to relax a bit, the news came that stage start is being delayed for 30 minutes. Ok, not so bad. But if the next thing gracing your rally debut is a heavy shower… you get the picture, you really must be prepared for anything and be unlike many others – you will LOVE to stand out in the rain, or knee deep in snow, or in searing heat and dust, you will wait as much as it takes, just to be able to see 40 or 50 cars for few seconds each. If you’re on a local or regional rally then the number of cars might be significantly larger.

Spectating a rally stage is outdoor activity and you are on your own. That does not mean you will need to hide in a belly of a dead cow or drink your own piss, but it does mean you will want to bring some rain clothes if there is a chance of rain, some food and drinks, perhaps a blanket or a folding chair. To some, rallies are way of life, they camp on stages, walk for miles and miles, barbecue while spectating and in general have a great time outside and doing what they love.

As you can see, this “guide” is not written as a Rally Virgin 101, all it takes really is some common sense and some stuff you would probably take on your outdoor excursions anyway. If you’re new to rally, don’t be shy, ask others about the rules and favourites, listen to their experiences. You will be amazed how many fantastic stories are made on each rally, especially if you travel too far. Like the funny incident we had in Monte Carlo back in 20002., our little Fabia was so covered in dirt that we got pulled over by a policeman who was reluctant to touch it with his immaculate white gloves… instead we were politely asked to wash the car, at least the licence plates.

You can be sure, you will never forget your first rally, ever. Keep your wits about you, stay positive and most of all enjoy the day out. You can even write me back and describe your rally spectating debut. Have fun!

The Season So Far in F1 A Selection of Reports You’ve had the report from the British Grand Prix. So far this season we have been treated to some great racing, 7 winners during the first 7 races. I have selected the Bahrain, Spanish and Chinese to issue reports on during this first issue. The fear is to fill you with old news. So over the next few pages you’ll find reports on these grand prix’s. I have tried different styles for the reporting, I’ve tried to be different. Please let me know what you think and what you prefer ready for the next issue.

Spanish

Chinese

British

and Bahrain Races Reviewed

E & A Hammond Engine Reconditioning Boring - Grinding -Cylinder Head Work Motor Parts - Full Machining Sports Car Specialist Based nr Chester

01244 830900

Spanish Grand Prix Review

I decided to experiment with this Grand Prix Review and conduct it more like a commentary. I do hope you like the different format.

Before the race even starts we have massive controversy. Lewis Hamilton's superb qualifying pole lap was cruelly taken away and he will start from the back of the grid. There are rules in place to make the racing fair and safe. Now, can anyone tell me how it's fair that Lewis Hamilton starts behind a HRT which didn't make the 107% rule? His team shouldn't have made the mistake of not putting enough fuel in, I agree with that, but the punishment in this case really doesn't fit the crime.

The other thing to say is whilst there are rules, they are either kept and stuck to or they shouldn't be there at all.

Now, on to the race, The one thing I didn't think I'd be saying this season is that its Pastor Maldonado on pole in his Williams.

The start of this race will be key along with tyre strategy. Every car is starting on the soft tyre. The lights are out and off we go, Maldonado makes a great start but has Alonso breathing down his neck, as they get to the first corner they are wheel to wheel and Alonso wins out by turn two and st goes into 1 place. Perez goes wide and has a right rear puncture already, he's going to struggle to rd get all the way round without damaging the car. Raikkonen has taken 3 from Grosjean and Button th has had a good start and got into 8 . Lewis Hamilton has made 4 places on his start and still has a lot of work still on. Perez managed to get himself back to the pits without any further damage.

The last couple of laps Alonso has edged a few cars length ahead to keep out of the DRS zone. On lap 7 Mark Webber comes in for a new set of hard tyres, no doubt influenced by the lap times being put in by Perez at the moment. I'm now expecting a flood of cars into the pits. Mark Webber feeds back into 23rd place. He now has to make his way through the pack like Hamilton, who is yet to stop and is currently in 13th.

It's lap 11 and the leader Alonso pits. Now Maldonado needs to produce a stunning lap if he is to get back his position. Hamilton has moved up to 8th, which is a net 13 places up on his starting position.

Maldonado and Raikkonen both pit at the same time, now we will see if they did enough or whether Ferrari's pit stop and out lap were good enough. There is no sign of a pit stop for Hamilton yet and he is now running in 4th just behind Raikkonen. It'll be a brave move to try a two stop strategy but if they pull it off it'll be an amazing feat. It's worth mentioning that in 5th position at the moment is the Caterham of Kovalainen. He is yet to stop but maybe they are trying a different strategy also, it's looking a much faster car with the updates here in Barcelona.

Lap 13 and Schumacher and Bruno Senna come together, Schumacher will take no further part in the race, Senna will have to make it back to the pits with major damage to his rear tyre. I was clearly Schumacher's fault as he went straight into the rear of Senna's car at turn 1, misjudging the braking zone by the looks of things. Senna has had to stop out on track.

The time difference of the tyres meant that Hamilton has had to stop and come in for a new set of tyres. As he leaves the pit he runs over something which would have lost him some time, another issue at the pit stops for McLaren. He feeds back out in 13th position.

Something is wrong with Webber's Red Bull as on lap 17 everyone sweeps past him with ease. Hamilton, meanwhile overtakes Hulkenburg in the Force India. Webber pits for a new front wing with no obvious problem however there must have been.

What is surprising, is the speed of the Lotus's, we expected them to be faster in race speed. Maldonado is looking fast still, he is closing in on the Ferrari of Alonso.

We are on lap 24 as Williams decide to make the call to stop first this time ahead of the Ferrari. The race lead could now come down to the out lap of Maldonado. Ferrari decide to stay out at least one lap further. Alonso pits on lap 27 which may well give the lead to Maldonado as Alonso was stuck behind Charles Pic in a Marussia for a while. Maldonado sets the fastest lap of the race and powers past Alonso as he's in the pit exit. For now, though Raikkonen leads the race having not made a pit stop yet.

Back to Lewis Hamilton for a moment, after the drama of yesterday he has for once had some fortune handed down to him from the stewards as both Massa and Vettel get drive through penalties for speeding under yellow flag conditions. This is likely to put Hamilton well into the points. He is now in 5th. Maldonado has pulled out a 6.9 second gap on Alonso and is running away with it a we approach the half way mark. Never mind an unpredictable season, this race is just as unpredictable if not even more so. The only thing stable about this race are the two Lotus's we expected to be out in front are running 3rd and 4th consistently.

At half way stage, Kobayashi takes Button for position and they nearly touch.

Lewis Hamilton is starting to loose time so has do another pit stop and comes out in 14th position. It's clear from the radio messages that Hamilton won't be s topping again. Vettel is now in 7th place after taking Button. Hamilton is back in the points in 9th.

Lap 41 and Maldonado makes his final pit stop, but there is an issue which delays him by around 3 seconds.

That could be so costly at the end of the race as with 24 laps to do on these tyres, he has to hope that he can manage them better than the Ferrari of Alonso, he also has to hope that the poor pit stop won't have cost him the win.

Hamilton is in in 7th just ahead of team mate Button. On lap 45 Alonso stops for his final set of tyres.

Maldonado needs to take Raikkonen soon or hope that he pits. On lap 47 he manages to pass in the DRS zone, now it's all on how long it takes Alonso to pass, it could be the big news as far as this race is concerned. Alonso manages the pass on lap 48 with ease under the DRS conditions. Now the true picture unfolds as we move into the last period of this race. For 2 or 3 laps at the end of the race Alonso will have much better tyres. The only question may be, can Maldonado keep Alonso behind. Ferrari have certainly made some great improvements for this race.

Raikkonen is still a threat in this race, he is currently 21 seconds behind the leader but on much fresher tyres and putting in some incredible lap times. It's certainly going to be a great finish to this race as we go into lap 52 of 66.

Alonso is just outside the DRS time giving Maldonado, which is so important for this race. It was looking for a few laps like Alonso was going to take the lead. 10 laps to go for Alonso to try and get past. With 6 laps to go Maldonado is starting to pull away slightly, but Raikkonen is catching the leaders at a rate of knots. The team believe that Raikkonen can still win this race as both Alonso and Maldonado will hit the cliff with their tyres before the end.

Whether there is enough time to do it, I don't think so.

Hamilton is still in 7th, a great points take if he can keep the position, considering the starting position, although it's unlikely that he will be able to keep some of the cars behind him, as his tyres are so old, but anywhere in the top 10 is a stunning drive. Alonso is now 2 seconds behind Maldonado, I expect caused by the length of time spent in the turbulent air of the Williams. Vettel takes over 7th from Hamilton using the DRS. Maldonado has got to keep it going for just a 2 more laps. There won't be a more popular winner than Williams for the neutrals, especially after last year.

Final lap now and Maldonado is comfortable and unless there is an incident he should take the first win for Williams since 2004. The chequered flag comes out and Williams have done it with pole sitter Pastor Maldonado, the first Venezuelan to do so, Alonso comes in 2nd and Raikkonen in 3rd.

Bahrain Grand Prix Review

In a race full of action and overtaking, it took the cool head of a Double World Champion to win in Bahrain.

Tyre strategy seemed to be the big winner today further down the field, but even at the front, it looked for a few laps like Kimi Raikkonen may well hunt down Vettel and take a victory from 11the on the grid. As Vettel's tyres started to go off Raikkonen was catching him at a rate of knots, but just at the wrong time (as far as Lotus were concerned), so did the Lotus tyres.

I'm skipping straight to the end today, when really there was so much action from lights out, I should talk more about those. We'll talk about an outstanding drive by Paul Di Resta, yet further pit stop issues causing McLaren a chance of a podium, a great drive

by Grosjean, a storming drive into the points from Schumacher. Where to begin?

The start seems as good a place as any, but not a lot happened, no crashes, no huge spins, just some clean getaway's and not so clean. We will look at those in a moment, but not before mentioning that its been a long time, in fact nine years since we had four different winners of the first four grand prixs, this didn't disappoint as Vettel joined Rosberg, Alonso and Button as winners in 2012.

Now for the good and bad starts, we will begin with the Ferrari's of both Alonso and Massa, who both had great starts. Grosjean went from 7th to 4th for Lotus and Raikkonen gained four places by the third corner. The Caterham of Kovalainen suffered a puncture meaning he had to pit at the end of the first lap, undoing his superb qualifying performance. Ricciardo, who had a smile as wide as Sydney Harbour yesterday managed to have a poor start, from qualifying 6th to finding himself in 16th by the time the cars passed the start/finish lap for the first time.

It seemed a familiar old story at the front as Vettel looked like he would dominate like he did for most of last season, but the two Lotus cars kept him on his toes throughout the race. Team orders are allowed in Formula One now, so surely a call for Grosjean to let Raikkonen pass wouldn't have been frowned upon too much. If Raikkonen hadn't spent so much time in the dirty air of Grosjean then maybe he would have had a chance to catch Vettel for a victory. This is something we will never know. It was only in the final and third pit stops when the writing was on the wall for the race, although, both cars were close, Vettel managed to pull out enough of a gap to give him his first victory of the season.

For those of you who watched the race, you won't want a blow by blow account of what happened, instead you'll want opinions and comments. In China we tried a commentary style report, this week, we will try to give you the comments from the people who matter, and that includes my own opinion (“not that I matter” - editor).

We'll start with my own humble opinion; I enjoyed the race for a number of reasons, mainly because the season continues to be unpredictable. I love Formula One when I don't know what's going to happen. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that thought too. Yes, Red Bull and Vettel won again, but this was not due to a dominant car, it was down to management of th tyres, strategy and a calm drive. Next time we may well have a 5 different winner in 2012, and if I'm right, I wouldn't look much further than a Lotus, they really do look good at the moment and always did at Barcelona (as Renault or Lotus). Who was my driver of the day th th today? That accolade has to go to Paul Di Resta, a great start, lifting him from 10 to 6 and then managing his tyres so he only had to make two stops. He had to fight to keep his position with Ferrari's and McLaren's chasing him down for the last few laps as his tyres were on their last legs. A great drive, probably one of his best since joining F1, certainly his best drive of 2012.

Have we seen the start of a Felipe Massa resurgence? He may not have been near the podium, but he was only a few seconds behind his team mate Alonso and was fighting with the McLaren's, I hasten to add, not in the same way as last season.

Both McLaren's had bad luck, with Hamilton having not one, but two pit stop issues with his rear wheel nut. This is something that needs to be looked at before Barcelona as it is the type of thing that can cause a championship to go begging. Button was having an quite race in 7th, looking at some decent points in his title challenge, and then on lap 54 he lost pressure in one of his tyres and had to make an unscheduled stop, making him finish in a points position unlikely. Then just as things couldn't get worse, he had to retire due to a cracked exhaust. On a positive note he still managed to finish ahead of both HRT's.

Schumacher had another good race, having stared from the back, he managed to finish in 10th, giving him a points finish. Without a puncture for Kovalainen, who knows how far he could have gone.

So to finish this report, perhaps it's fitting to have a rewards ceremony....Well, we can all have laugh, can't we?

Drive of the day – Paul Di Resta Muck up of the day – Hamilton's rear wing nut Crash of the day – No one gets this one Chase of the day – Raikkonen on Vettel (for a while anyway) Unluckiest driver of the day - Jenson Button Missed opportunity of the day – Daniel Ricciardo

McLaren Pit Stops were not so good!!

Chinese Grand Prix Review

The front of the grid was locked out by the Silver Arrows of Mercedes. Nico Rosberg managed to show what he is made of yesterday and put in a perfect lap. Michael Schumacher starts just behind his team mate in second on the grid, believe it or not he th starts on the front row for the 116 time in his career. Lewis Hamilton continued his good nd season by qualifying in initial 2 place but due to a gear box change, he had to take a five place grid penalty. The other big news (and there are more to follow), Kobayashi put his Sauber third on the grid. Now the final bit of news from qualifying, reigning World th Champion Sebastian Vettel starts in 11 place, the only advantage for Sebastian is that he can choose his tyres.

The race is what gives you the points, so although we have to send congratulations to Nico Rosber, the time that matters is Sunday.

As you know by now, my style of writing is slightly different. I tend to enjoy throwing in an opinion or two. I'm going to start with Vettel, we are now about to see whether or not he can actually race. So many people feel that he can only lead from the front, we will soon see. For those who don't know about my race reports, let me explain, I write as the race goes on. This gives me the best chance to bring you a real experience of the race.

Before the race starts, the Chinese put on a great show for the fans, just remember the Olympics opening ceremony four years ago. Before the cars took to the track, the Chinese put on a display for the fans.

The race begins. How long can the Mercedes stay at the front? The McLaren's are going to look towards the front, the Sauber of Kobayashi is going to be difficult to pass, could he be the thorn in the side of the cars behind him, or to put it a different way, could the Sauber be the big chance for Mercedes? We will soon see. th

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What can Ferrari do from 9 (Alonso) and 12 (Massa) on the grid, in my opinion, nothing.

Alonso may have won the last race in a rain affected Malayasian Grand Prix, but nothing can bring that car from those positions to a podium (that is nothing but rain of course). In th th my opinion we have to look at the McLaren's for podiums in this race despite 6 and 7 starting positions. I should imagine a full use of KERS and a good start will be their best option,or they could find themselves stuck behind the very difficult to pass Kobayashi.

Whilst I talk about the Sauber's (and I have to give them a lot of praise, as I was was so wrong in the season preview magazine), they have qualified well and I expect them to have a good points scoring rce, perhaps even a podium. So many people would like to see either Nico or Michael win this Grand Prix, however, I am afraid that this probably won't occur today. They have great straight line speed, but the car can't manage the tyres well.

All will be revealed in a couple of hours. I'm going for a Jenson Button win, and another Sauber podium.

I'm excited, It's looking like a great race.

The lights are out, the Chinese Grand Prix is under way.

What a start, Jenson Button jumped up to 3rd, Sauber had a poor start with Kobayashi falling to 6th but the star of Malaysia, Perez made up a place and found himself in 7th. Both Mercedes kept their places, but for how long with Button now breathing down their neck. Already Perez has started his charge as he takes the position from his team mate. It's all going on in this first lap, I can hardly keep up. Webber made a th great move on Alonso, relegating Alonso down to 9 , just in front of his team mate (mate, used in the loosest form of the word of course), that could turn into an interesting battle. Where is Vettel in all this, I was expecting him to be challenging the top five by now. Alonso has just taken his place back from Vettel, so the Ferrari's are now split (what a shame). As the first lap finished we will undoubtedly find out what happened to Vettel, he has lost three places and is sat in between the Force India of Di Resta and the Williams of Maldonado. At the back of the grid at the end of that first lap, Kovalainen has moved ahead of the Force India of Hulkenberg and is running 16th, after a great start. Time to take a breath..............Perhaps.

DRS is now enabled so lets see what changes take place in lap3. The cars are all running so close together that perhaps this is one of those occasions when DRS won't be as affective. At the end of lap 4, Rosberg sets a fastest lap of the race, he really is going for it. Perhaps the magic of Ross Brawn and his mechanics have weaved their magic and made the car more than just about the Super DRS system. Only time will tell. At present both Mercedes have built up a big enough gap to avoid being at risk of DRS overtaking. Vettel is still not making any ground on Di Resta an still sits 14th. Jenson is being is being urged to move out of the Lotus DRS time (1 second as they cross the detection zone for those not in the know).

On lap 5 the gap between the two Mercedes seems to be reducing. Is that tyre wear, the biggest fear for Mercedes, judging by the past 2 races, or is he being told to manage the space and therefore fuel (we all remember th race Rosberg should have won at this track, but for a lack of fuel). Vettel is starting to complain about straight line speed, without that, they can't overtake on the long straights so they'll have to use their cornering speeds.I hear they are having the same issue with Webber.

The DRS section has been shortened this season, due to the amount of overtaking last season. It sees so far though that this may well be too short. It's a fine line between getting it right and wrong.

Mark Webber was the first to pit for tyres on lap 7, this means he can get this stage of the race out of the way straight away. However he feeds back in among the back markers for race position, sandwiched between the Marussia's of Glock and Pic. What strikes me about this race is closeness of the times between the cars.

Massa started on the harder compound tyre, with most cars having tyre degradation now, Massa is being urged to stick it out. He could be on for a decent good results.

The first of the leaders pit stop as both Raikkonen and Hamilton go into the pits at the same time, so close as they release but Hamilton makes the jump on Raikkonen. As they exit the pits they find themselves going toe to toe with Webber. This battle is likely to continue but for now, Hamilton wins, Webber finds himself just behind with Raikkonen at the back of this particular battle.

On lap 13 Michael Schumacher pits and then enters the track behind Lewis Hamilton. However soon after he finds himself beached on the grass I guess we will find out soon enough.

Now the leader Nico Rosberg pits, where does he feed I, he finds himself 3rd which in real terms is still first but he is being chased down by the two McLarens who are firing on all cylinders at the moment and catching Rosberg at a rate of knots.. he question now is, how long will it take for the McLarens to catch up and then to pass. Don't forget that won't be an easy task due to the overall speed of the Mercedes.

We now know that Michael had a mechanical issue, although we don't know what that is yet.

McLaren believe they can win this race now, let's see whether their confidence turns into realism. We all know how dreams turn to nightmares, especially Schumacher.

Sergio Perez leads the Grand Prix on lap 15, although he has yet to stop. We learnt last time out that Perez can look after his tyres more than most drivers on the track. Could this be another master class in how to look after tyres by the Mexican? How much longer can he go on this set of tyres and can he build a big enough gap to give him another chance at a podium? Massa also started on the same tyre but Perez is taking time out of Massa every lap.

Schumacher had to retire due to a wheel nut problem. Michael certainly didn't look happy.

Nico Rosberg took the lead back from Massa, the McLarens are still closing down, as I say that, Rosberg puts in fastest lap. There are just under 5 seconds separating Rosberg and Button in first th and second. Vettel has just moved into a points paying position, he now runs 10 . I think the next set of pit stops will resolve the outcome of this race, let's see how they play out. rd

Webber has just pitted for his 3 set of tyres, it looks like a 4 stop strategy, whether that will work or rd th not. Hamilton pits from 3 and finds himself in 13 in between the Massa and Webber fight. th

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Kovalinen and Ricciardo have just gone wheel to wheel for 17 and 18 , proving that it doesn't mater where you are, there are races going on all over the place.

Button pitted for new tyres and ended up behind the man who held him up in Malaysia, Maldonando in the Williams, but he made short work of dispatching him in the DRS zone here in China on lap 26.

Amazing action as Hamilton passes Massa without touching, miracles do happen.

The big moment will come when Rosberg pits, and we see whether Button has done enough to catch him. The only issue may well come if Mercedes decide to do two stop.

So the two favourites at this stage have both made their pit stops and Jenson Button seems to be the winner at this stage, the question is, will they have to stop again.

In the key pit stop for Button something didn't go quite right and a sticky right left wheel meant that he th fed back into 6 , virtually handing the potential victory to Nico Rosberg. Disappointing for British fans but great for fans of Rosberg who've had to wait so long for a victory.

Raikkonen had been racing so well and looked good for a podium, but a wrong tyre strategy cost him rd nd th a huge opportunity on his 3 race back. Instead on lap 49 he went from 2 to 8 position.

For the past few laps both McLarens had been chasing down Vettel, on lap 52 Jenson Button produced an amazing move and now Hamilton is chasing him down. Can Hamilton do it with just 4 laps to go. It seems a foregone conclusion that Nico Rosberg and Mercedes will get their first win, and it will be well deserved, this is of course baring any disaster. nd

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On lap 55 Lewis Hamilton finally passed Vettel, to hopefully make it a 2 and 3 for McLaren.

In the final outcome this was a formality with Rosberg winning for the Silver Arrows for the first time in many years and McLaren finishing 1st and 2nd, Our Driver of the day was -Bruno Senna from Williams for making up 7 places in the race to take 7th place from a qualifying position of 14th.

The Podium Driver Of the Day - Bruno Senna

It’s about time!!

PLAIN ENGLISH In every issue we explain the complex world of Motor Sport in a language we can all understand.

NO JARGON ALLOWED .

This Month K.E.R.S by Matthew Somerfield Kinetic Energy Recovery System or KERS for short is a technology applied in order to recover energy when the car is braking. This energy is stored in a battery pack and can then be used at intervals around the lap by the driver to maximise laptime, help overtake or defend against an overtake.

Nothing in life is free and so when 'harvesting' energy (ie recovering energy from braking) the braking balance of the car is upset. This is due to the electric motor unit attached to the front of the engine block causing a dragging effect as it recovers the energy. To counter this the driver will adjust his brake balance forward whilst 'harvesting' in order to provide better balance under braking.

The electrical power recovered is transmitted to a battery pack which is usually stored under the fuel tank although this season Red Bull Racing also have supercapacitors located at the rear of the car for weight distribution and instantaneous power requirement purposes. The battery pack is the largest and heaviest component in the system and is placed here to achieve a better centre of gravity.

In order to re-use this energy the electrical motor attached to the front face of the engine and driven by a reduction gear off the crankshaft, sends power to the rear axle.

The driver can dispense the energy he has recovered in the current and previous lap by pressing a button on the steering wheel. This energy is usually described as an additional 80bhp over 6.67 seconds but is actually termed in the regulations as a maximum of 400kj's with a maximum output of 60kw.

In order to better utilise KERS for different track characteristics, there is nothing stopping the team/driver reducing the amount of energy dispensed in order to to increase the length of time KERS is available. As an example, perhaps they may use 50bhp hits of power which will allow KERS to be dispensed for 8 seconds instead. This may seem counter intuitive, seeing as surely you would want all the power you can get for as long as possible? Sure, but for circuits such as Monaco that are very stop start in nature you would prefer to have the additional boost coming out of many more corners. These options will be mapped within the ECU and controlled by the driver from the steering wheel.

When KERS was initially introduced in 2009 only a few of the teams ran with the device as in it's infancy the technology was much more cumbersome. In motorsport weight and weight distribution are paramount to the success of a car design and so KERS was initially seen as a potential hindrance.

Coupled with the costs associated in developing a system the teams agreed for 2010 that none of the teams would run KERS devices whilst they developed the systems packaging further. KERS made a triumphant return in 2011 with all but the new teams carrying KERS on the vehicles helped by the FIA raising the car's minimum weight limit by 20kg's. All in all the KERS package is now believed to be around 25-30kg's with most of that weight attributed to the battery pack(s). Formula One's application of KERS has undoubtedly had an effect on KERS potential usage in road cars which will continue to be the case when F1's new technical regulations further increase the power output allowable in 2014.

In the next issue (15th September 2012), Matthew looks at the world of DRS

Aerodyanmics Explained Stephen Smith Gives us an insight into Aerodynamics from within an the sport Aerodynamics plays a huge part in any F1 race be it the high downforce requirements of Monaco or the reduced-drag desires of Monza; each race also being at the mercy of the changeable weather conditions as we almost experienced this weekend in the Principality.

All these factors affect the performance of each car in many different ways - we've had 6 winners in 6 races in 2012 and in each you can see certain variables creating or assisting with the success, or failure, of the drivers and teams.

Now based on what I have posted about previously, aerodynamics (or at least the maths behind it) is complex enough based upon track requirements, weather, tyres, driver preference etc but you often hear about engine mapping also playing its part [F1 is fundamentally a sport, but if all could see the wizardry, physics and depth of mathematical detail supporting it, you'd think it were of NASA proportions].

So what is engine mapping?

Just before I delve into this, I'd like to state that the aerodynamic configuration for the car is determined by the circuit the car is about to hurtle itself around obeying the laws of motion determining the laws of aerodynamics giving an overall performance for the car. Simple. OK a tiny tweak here and there during a race but fundamentally unchanged.

Engine mapping is not a completely specific and nailed down undertaking and is generally discussed and illustrated in a 'disconcertingly vague' way but essentially it is the way the ECU allows and controls the engine to perform throughout a race. So, for example, you could be required to brake at the end of a long straight (low downforce, low drag) into a tight corner (higher downforce) and lift off the throttle, applying the brakes, but the ECU maintains the engine power output - the resultant effect of this is that the aerodynamic configuration is now having to work under completely different conditions as the energy output from the exhaust gases are vastly different and far hotter playing an altered role in the aerodynamic performance of the cars set up.

Similarly you could be safely leading the race and not have to 'hammer' the engine in order to maintain your lead, simply 'cruise' to the finish line.

This can have both a positive or negative effect on the car and needs to be simulated using CFD solvers to capture the increase in energy output and its effects downstream.

I guess most people would state that engine mapping should be set to 'fast' at all times as that is the name of the game - but any alterations can assist with fuel consumption on strategic final laps depending upon position - a final cruise to the chequered flag, as described above: or an adjusted power output to conserve tyre degradation.

Either way any change can play a huge part in the overall aerodynamic performance so (it clearly varies from team to team) a fast setting can aide one driver and visibly inhibit another. A main contributor to this is the position and profile, and indeed the downstream aero path, of the exhaust outlet - greatly effecting rear downforce if toward the centre of the car and providing grip if toward the rear.

For me, in my job, this adds complexity and also pushes the designers and aerodynamicist's within each team to constantly improve the finer details of the 'aerodynamic path' of the airflow on race from start to finish accounting for all eventualities.

The mathematics are able to calculate for change by adding a further source term for energy and as I mentioned above CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) is the quickest and most accurate way of carrying this out.

More and more powerful compute clusters used by F1 teams are crunching more and more complex mathematical equations to ascertain whether or not the minute or massive changes created by the use of engine mapping techniques contribute toward the final success of each driver and team.

Also these changes play a knock-on effect on phenomenon such as Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) - FSI is the interaction of some movable or deformable structure with an internal or surrounding fluid flow.

So in the case of an F1 car, the deformation of a front wing under acceleration or braking...... perhaps more on this again!

The Red Bull Rb7 Some people would say the best Aero Design ever in F1

What goes on inside a Formula One Garage during race weekend This weekend I was fortunate and lucky to spend the British Grand Prix FP£ and Qualifying from inside the Caterham F1 garage.

The first thing that struck me was the speed of decisions, “There is a dry line, shall we risk it on slicks?” the slicks go on,, the rain comes back and the slicks go on as fast as they went on. Instead Heikki’s final run was on Intermediates. There is nothing quite like hearing a Formula One engine fire up, for petrol heads like me it was an amazing sound, I even had headphones on listening to team radio.

The concentration of the drivers is second to none as they get ready to drive, nothing gets in their way, no matter how important, they are focussed on one thing and one thing only and the is getting to the next qualifying session.

The drivers are given very specific time limits over the radio and told when they will be going out, sometimes within seconds. There are unusually up to nine people working on the car as soon as it enters the garage, including people cleaning the car so it looks spotless. The same can be said for cleanliness when the cars leave, two or three people are on the floor scrubbing, making it spotless for the return of the cars.

It’s amazing how quickly everything happens. One minute the cars leave for a few laps of the circuit, the next minute they are back analysing data from a screen pulled down from above, as well as watching multiple screens around the garage (about 6 each side showing different things. There is the timing screen, the data analysis (corner by corner, they can tell where they are losing and gaining time to the official FIA feed.

During my time at the garage I was treated so well by everyone and can see from the effort that one day the team will be at the front of the grid.

There Is one thing that’ll live with me forever and that’s the sound of a F1 engine firing up from a few feet away.

The Stats All Our Sports Covered All Out Tables up to Date

Current Formula One Standings Drivers Standings as of British GP Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Driver Alonso Webber Vettel Hamilton Raikkonen Rosberg Grosjean Button Perez Maldonado Di Resta Schumacher Massa Kobayashi Senna Hulkenberg Verge Ricciardo Kovalainen Petrov Glock Pic Karthikeyan De La Rosa

Team Ferrari Red Bull Red Bull McLaren Lotus Mercedes Lotus McLaren Sauber Williams Force India Mercedes Ferrari Sauber Williams Force India Toro Rosso Toro Rosso Caterham Caterham Marussia Marussia HRT HRT

Points 129 116 100 92 83 75 61 50 39 29 27 23 23 21 18 17 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

Constructors’ Standings as of British GP Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Team Red Bull Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes Sauber Williams Force India Toro Rosso Caterham Marussia HRT

Points 216 152 144 142 98 60 47 44 6 0 0 0

Current British Touring Car Standings Drivers Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Driver Matt Neal Gordon Shedden Jason Plato Robert Collard Andrew Jordon Mat Jackson Tom Onslow-Cole Dave Newsham Frank Wrathall Jeff Smith Nick Foster Rob Austin Tony Gilham Lea Wood Aron Smith Daniel Welch Andy Neate Ollie Jackson Liam Griffin Will Bratt Chris James Tony Hughes Adam Morgan Paul O’Neill John Thorne

Points 221 220 192 171 171 139 125 84 80 79 70 68 68 68 53 46 46 30 29 20 15 11 7 3 0

Matt Neal Current Leader

Constructors’ Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Team Honda Racing eBay Motors Pirtek Racing MG KX Momentum Racing Redstone Racing ES Racing Rob Austin Racing Dynojet Team HARD BINZ Racing Welch Motorsport AmD Tuning.com Speedworks Thornley Motorsport

Points 422 299 251 235 218 105 90 83 70 70 48 37 32 0

Tony Gilham Finally Gets the Podium he deserves

Current World Touring Car Standings Drivers Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Driver Yvan Muller Robert Huff Alain Menu Tom Coronel Gabriele Tarquini Pepe Oriolo Norbert Michelisz Stefano d’Aste Tiago Monteiro Mehdi Bennani Franz Engstier Alberto Cerquui Alex MacDowall Aleksei Dudukalo Rickard Rydell James Nash Darryl O’Young Tom Chilton Tom Boardman Gabor Weber Isaac Tutumulu James Thompson Pasquale di Sabatino Charges NG Andrea Barlesi Fernando Monje

Points 245 227 210 140 134 107 106 84 45 43 40 37 28 22 14 12 11 7 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

Yvan Muller Current Leader

Constructors’ Standings as of 16/07/2012

Po 1 2 3

Team Chevrolet BMW Customer Racing Seat Customer Racing

Points 578 389 370

Try It Yourself

Current World Rally Championships Standings Drivers Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Driver Sebastien Loeb Miko Hirvonen Petter Solberg Mast Osberg Evgeny Novikov Jarli-Matti Latvala Martin Prokop Thierry Neuville Dani Sordo Nasser Al-Attiyah Sebastien Ogier Ott Tanak Armindo Araujo Francois Delecour Dennis Kulpers Henning Solberg Pierre Campana Patrik Sandell Yazeed Al-Rajhi Ken Block Jari Ketomaa Eyvind Brynilsden Ricardo Trivino Peter Van Merkstejn Jnr Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Manfred Stohl Benito Guerra Matthew Wilson Kevin Abbring Nicolas Fuchs Andreas Mikkelson Craig Breen PG Andersson Michal Kosciuszko Gianluica Linari Bryan Bouffier

Points 145 107 90 80 55 54 36 32 29 23 22 18 11 8 8 6 6 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Constructors’ Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Team Citroen Total World Rally Team For World Rally Team M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Qatar World Rally Team Citroen Junior World Rally Team Adapta World Rally Team MINI WRC Team Brazil World Rally Team

Points 237 141 103 47 42 27 26 16

Sebastien Loeb ‘Master of his art’

Current DTM Standings Drivers Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Driver Gary Paffett Jamie Green Bruno Spengler Martin Tomczyk Mattias Ekstrom Mike Rockenfeller Edoardo Mortata Christian Vietoris Augusto Farfas Timo Scheider David Coulthard Andy Priaulx Filipe Albuquerque Miguel Molina Ralf Schumacher Joey Hand Robert Wickens Dirk Werner Adrien Tambay Rachel Frey Roberto Merthi Sudie Stoddart

Points 95 69 58 54 47 39 31 24 16 16 14 14 8 8 7 2 2 1 0 0 0 0

Team Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Team Thomas Sabo Mercedes AMG Audi Sprts Team Abt Sportsline BMW-Team-Scheider BMW – Team – RMG Audi Sport Team Pheonix Audi Sport Team Rosberg BMW – TEAM – RBM DHL Paket / Stern Mercedes AMG

Points 119 76 63 59 56 47 39 30 16

Current GP2 Standings Drivers Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Driver l.Razia D.Valsecchi E.Gutierrez J.Calado M.Chilton G. Van Der Garde F.Leimer M.Ericsson J.Cecotto J.Palmer F.Nasr N.Berthon S.Coletti T.Dillman R.Haryanto N.Melker F.Onidi R.Gonzalez S.Trummer S.Richelmi J.Leal F.Crestani B.Hartley J.Kral D. De Jong D.Clos R.Teixeira G.Serenelli V.Guerin J.Lancaster J.Cecotto

Points 165 159 122 95 95 93 69 56 49 48 46 41 31 27 16 13 6 4 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Team Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Team Lotus GP DAMS Arden International Carlin Racing Engineering iSport International Caterham Racing Barwa Addax Team Rapax Ocean Racing Technology Trident Racing Venezuela GP Lazarus Scuderia Coloni

Points 217 205 169 122 110 104 99 49 27 17 5 1 0

Current Leader Razia

Current GP3 Standings Drivers Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Driver M. Evans A.Vainio A.Felix Da Costa D.Abt P.Niederhauser C.Daly T.Ellinas K.Ceccon M.Laine M.Stockinger D.Fumanelli R.Visolu T Pal Kiss W.Butler A.Brundle F.Gamberini F.Machado A.Powell R.Cregan D.Sranovich K.Sakurai JWartiwue F.Regalia V.Pirla G.Venturini C.Jorda A.Spavone E.Ringel J.Klasterka T.Kiss D.Furmanelli

Points 100 89 58 54 50 45 45 43 42 39 35 22 20 16 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Team Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Team Lotus GP MW Arden Carlin Jenzer Motorsprort Marussia Manor Racing Ocean Racing Technology Status Grand Prix Artech CRS Grand Prix Trident Racing

Points 185 177 83 72 45 43 39 21 0

Evans out in Front

Current IndyCar Standings Drivers Standings as of 16/07/2012 Po 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Driver Ryan Hunter-Reay Will Power Helio Castroneves Scott Dixon James Hinchcliffe Tony Kanaan Simon Pagenaud Dario Franchitti Ryan Briscoe Oriol Servia Graham Rahal Charlie Kimball Justin Wilson J.R. Hildebrand Marco Andretti R.Barrichello Takumo Sato Mike Conway E.J. Viso Ed Carpenter Alex Tagliani James Jakes Josef Newgarden Simon De Silvestro Katherine Legge Sebastien Bordais Ana Beastriz Townsend Bell Michel Joudain Sebastiian Saavedra Bryan Causon Wade Cunningham Jean Alesi

Points 335 301 289 281 268 267 264 230 217 215 205 204 200 199 187 183 176 172 172 163 162 162 143 123 103 102 28 26 16 14 13 13 13

More on IndyCar Next Month

Still Available at www.podiummagazine.co.uk

In The Next Issue September 2012 We take a look at DRS More Formula One

Special Report from the next BTCC round with Interview

Part 2 of Pirelli’s History in Motor Sport More Gp2, Gp3, IndyCar, Touring Cars, Rallying and More

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