Renault wins again..this time with Alonso

 

Photo Source: ITV-F1.co.uk


Alonso stormed round the circuit to snatch pole on Saturday, and from that position he started the race and produced a solid drive to win in front of Trulli in the Toyota. Toyota is at last looking like they have spent their millions in the right place, I'm sure Toyota HQ were getting a little annoyed at the lack of results but things are looking better.

The race was packed full of action, a huge contrast to Australia's race a few weekend ago. The Ferrari's yet again seem to be struggling and Shumi didn't seem to care much, just cruised round in a very uneventful race for him.

There were clashes, blow ups (poor BAR, it's just not happening this year so far)
and the man in the wars, Mark Webber had his car battered round, buy a Toyota and a Renault. The FIA has just blamed the incident on Fisi, and quite right as he made a move that was never going to work. Fisi knew this as did Webber as he pointed out in an interview, So why in the hell did Webber knowing that Fisi was going to slide wide, try to squeeze him from the outside? This only ended up with the side of his Williams caved in, was he surprised at the outcome? He should have been he placed his car right in the line of fire. He's an experienced driver, what was he thinking? Anyway if Fisi was to blame for making an irrational overtaking manouver then Webber was to blame for the accident, in my opinion.

Apart from Alonso and Trulli, Heidfeld dodged the clumsy drivers behind to collect a well earned 3rd.

McLaren yet again didn't have the pace that they had shown in testing, yes on one lap they were quick but with tyre problems and imbalances I think McLaren has produced a car that doesn't match upto the Renault best suites these new tyre regulations. The Renault's seem to be designed bottom up around understeer, hence the great drive out of corners and quick starts. This style seems to look after the rear tyres better than everybody else. Bahrain next and I expect Ferrari will bring the 2005 race car, they need too. AS

Maserati at the Geneva Motor Show

Maserati showed the new grand sport which looked very fine in bright red as did the MC12, one road going version and one racing version, the size of the car surprised me, its huge, long and wide. Very Impressive.

 


Photo by:AS

New XK

One of the stars of the show, its a stunning design that shares some lines with the more expensive Astons, but I'm sure Jaguar know this and will make sure that they use the similarities to boost sales of Jaguars in the USA its biggest market. The XK8 is looking very old and dated, the sooner they get this concept to production the better.

 

New Stratos?

This 'toy' like concept is based on the Lancia Stratos of the 1980's, you can see the shared design but actually it looks hidious in the metal. Shame really , I'm sure Lancia could do with some niche models to bring Lancia back to life.

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Lotus Exige

Lotus brought this fantastic looking little sports car the Exige MKII, It really stood out in bright Orange and with new engines sourced from Toyota I'm sure it goes as well as it looks.

 

Astra OPC

Oh, when will they drop the Vauxhall brand name, Opel had an impressive display at the show with the new Zafira spinning around on a stand and this the new OPC, due out later this year, its going to shake VW's boots when it offers huge performance and good equipment levels for far less than the hugely overpriced GTI.

 

Audi RS4

Anticipation was built up, but when seen in the flesh it doesn't stack up. What we have here is an A4 with an after market front spoiler and alloys from your 'blingest' Halfords dealer. The only part that impressed was the rear which showed the most body changes over the S4. The interior was nice, but that was only because of the steering wheel and excellent seats, Audi should have actually tried to make it different from the standard S4, make it really stand out, like the special addition it trully is, oh thats right its not going to be built in limited numbers as previously thought , they might as well have badged it S4+ and keep the RS4 for another day when they want somthing a little more special looking. Harsh, very possibly, The performance is likley to be awesome but I think people will feel short changed when they see in the flesh.

 

Range Rover Sport

Its a menacing looking beast, sitting very low and tough looking. BMW must be rushing to get the new X5 upto scratch because thes sports Range Rover is going to eat every sports SUV alive, I'm sure of it. Another cracker from Land Rover.

 

Mercedes SLK55 AMG 

Dodge Viper

Mercedes has struggled hugely recently with reports of huge losses, but at the show was the new ML, new CLS, new B-Class and new A-Class, spread out in a confusing mess, their layout wasn't the best. Chrysler did a better job of displaying the new Viper GTS.

 

Fisichella finaly wins!

 

Source: www.F1-live.com

Sunday's Grand Prix held in Melbourne Australia has given Giancarlo fisichella his second GP win. His first being at the Brazilian GP a few years ago was dubious but deserved. He drove well then and outstanding yesterday. Fisi started from the front after he was gifted pole position buy extreme weather conditions on the Saturday. He made an excellent and now legendary Renault start and continued to lead for the remainder of the GP. He looked after his car and wasn't troubled by anybody. It was a very measured drive, surely after all these years Fisi will have a true opportunity to fight for the title. His car is up to the job and so is he. The two fastest cars on the day were not Ferrari's or McLarens, they were Renaults. Alonso also produced a fight to end up third after starting way back in the pack. He came charging through the field to earn a well deserved place on the podium.

For the rest of the season all eyes will be on the two Renault drivers to see if they can deliver again, I expect they will, Alonso has raw pace, can be erratic but has the ability to match any of the top drivers and exceed them on his day. Fisichella too is very well regarded by both his team and other teams, he is also a smoother driver than Alonso and better in damp conditions. I expect that with this years tyre rules and engine rules, Fisi suites the new regs. more so than Alonso. Alonso can learn a lot from Fisichella he is a veteran racer who has raced for 4 teams, Benetton on two separate occasions!

Coulthard did himself a huge favour by bringing home the Redbull car home in 4th, something that was not expected at all. He showed his old class and drove fantastically well, he held off Webber in his Williams for pretty much the whole race, his start was fantastic, a gutsy move that put him into 3rd for the first corner. Surely he must have taken some satisfaction that he beat the Williams, the team who turned him down, and McLaren the team who threw him out. But RedBull will probably have a mixed showing this year, expect them to show glimers of speed but ultimately we'll see them mid field. Coulthard has both the quality and experience to take them further, its about development, if the Cosworth engine can match the Ferrari's, Mercedes and BMW's of this world later on in the season, consistent development is required.

Both Ferrari and McLaren didn't show their true potential, McLaren especially. The two McLaren drivers obviously frustrated with their postion never really made a clear break, Kimi stalled, looked racy behind Schumi but never did make a move, Montoya decided to cruise through the race surprisingly off the pace, not good practice when your driving for a new team. Ferrari showed that even though they are using a development of last years car they still have the pace, well at least one of them did, Rubins showed how it was done, whilst Michael really looked under pressure, and slow, yes slow, he has a different style to Rubins and the later's style suites these new tyre regs better than the former's. Time will tell.

The next race is at Malaysia and I expect things to return to normal, a 6 way battle for the race win between, the Ferrari drivers, McLaren Drivers and Renault drivers. Looks like this season is gonna be good after all!AS

Brabus SLR

 


You would think that through McLaren the SLR's performance ability had been maximised, no say Brabus. The German car manufacturer and tuner modifies pretty much all examples of Mercedes and that means the SLR hasn't been left out. The SLR has been around for a while so its a surprise Brabus has only done this now, its obviously been held back from them by Mercedes who probably didn't want to take anything away from its relationship with McLaren.

Visually the car hasn't been changed much, the rear diffuser is exposed carbon as is some of the front aerodynamic work, which helps reduce front axle lift. Other more obvious changes to the exterior are the 20" Brabus Multipiece Alloy wheels, which Brabus says improves handling.

The engine hasn't received to much attention as the standard SLR engine was in a very high state of tune already. Brabus has added custom camshafts, but also tried to improve the efficiency of the engine by adding a fuel cooling system and replacing the exhaust with an exotic racing version which isn't street legal. A self locking rear difflock improves traction and helps give the SLR a 0-62 mph time of 3.6 seconds. The fact that the engine produces 660 bhp @ 6500 rpm also helps to obtain a maximum speed of 340 km/h.

Brabus is also known for its lavish interiors and the SLR doesn't escape this treatment. The leather hand stitched carpet uses 7800 meters of thread. The interior can be individualised to match however wild a customers taste. Brabus adds their own steering wheel that is more sporting orinteted and incorporates the gear shift controls.

Brabus always seem to take what you would see as a completed car and just push those boundaries a little further. This SLR in typical black with its red/black interior gives the SLR a more purposeful look than the standard SLR and that’s before the car's been started, no doubt with the racing exhaust I'm sure it would sound the part too, So for 600,000 euros who wants one...

The New Lexus IS

 


This is Lexus's new IS replacing what was a good car but never quite worried the competition from BMW and Audi. As far as looks go, the new IS consists of sleek lines and shares some attractive detailing from its bigger brother the new GS. With Bangle's BMW designs loosing customers and Audi's enthusiastic use of the ugly stick, this new lexus is a breath of fresh air. Simple clean and attractive lines in a reliable and unpretentious package.

What is more important is the fact that Lexus has brought out a stonking diesel engine, their first. The 4 cyl 2.2 ltr engine punches out an impressive 175 bhp, but whats more impressive is the 400Nm of torque thats produced at just over 2000 rpm, clearly better than its nearest rivals. A brace of petrol engine will also appear including a new direct injection V6 and most probably the staight six's carried over from the last model. A new 6 seed auto matched up to the now fashionable paddle shifts will be on offer. The car is to be officially launched at the Geneva Motor show this month and will probably be paired up with its rivals in various european motor magazines, I hope it will do well. The reason behind the diesel is clearly the european market where the small executive market increasingly beats the diesel drum. If your fed up with BMW's heavy handed designs and Audi's random facelifts this classy Lexus is a welcome sight. AS (info source. JCF.com)