Pushing The Limits

The 2017 f1 regulation change promised an end to Mercedes' dominance over the V6 turbo era. Redbull were choosen as Mercedes's closest competetiors. However, it was Ferrari who made the biggest step forward. With an encouraging winter testing pace, Ferrari arrived in Melbourne with high hopes. Ferrari silenced everyone who questioned them by defeating the until then, unchallenged Mercedes to take victory. At that moment f1 fans for the first time in a while felt that there was genuine championship fight.  Getty Ferrari and Vettel's win created an air of excitement in the paddock. Despite both Vettel and Hamilton's dominance in the modern era neither of them had ever gone head to head.  Since the Australian grand prix, the championship swung back and forth between the two (though Vettel maintained the lead in the points table).   Getty Baku was probably the most dramatic race of the season. The contraversial car chop by Vettel earned him a 10-second stop

Remember those ugly flip-flop shaped device you saw being tested on the cars ,the Halo protection device,well guess what ! FIA have announced that 2018 F1 cars will be fitted with the device.                                                OH FUN  In my opinion it feels like F1 is actually contradicting itself. The  whole point of the changes made to the cars this year was to make them look more aggressive with the wider tyres , wider rear wings, bigger diffusers etc and adding the halo device seems to be a step in the wrong direction. The halo device was actually supposed to be dropped this year in order to focus on development of the shield or the aeroscreen. But apparently FIA changed its mind.  To put it simply , the Halo ruins the aesthetics  of an F1 car.

  ©Getty Vettel’s win around the streets of Monte Carlo extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 25 points, but the way he jumped his teammate through the pit stops has led to suggestions Ferrari have already made the him their No. 1 driver.              ©Getty Four-time world champion Vettel was kept out five laps longer after Raikkonen came in for his only stop. This gave Vettel clear air to put in some fast times and ‘overcut’ Kimi, who was visibly unhappy after the race. Ferrari said Raikkonen's stop was pre-planned and that Vettel had been left out to avoid any danger form Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.                     ©Getty “The stony demeanour said it all for Kimi Raikkonen by the close of the Monaco Grand Prix and, while the Iceman is renowned for giving nothing away in public, that he was not happy at how his race had panned out was clear,”  Giles Richards wrote in The Guardian . Des

Failing to pick up a single point this season, McLaren have so far had a frustrating start to 2017 with reliability problems and an under-powered Honda engine. Despite failing to score points in the Spanish GP, McLaren Honda looked fairly competitive-Fernando Alonso even managed to make it into Q3.  A combination of updates including a new front wing, rear wing , floor and bodywork aided Alonso's seventh place. Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa hopes that unique characteristic of the circuit that makes it less reliant on outright power can provide McLaren a chance to attack for points. With Fernando Alonso skipping the Monaco GP to compete in the Indy500, McLaren have brought Jenson Button back for a one-off race return. Jenson too feels that new updates may be the key to McLaren's success this weekend. McLaren realising that this is probably their best shot at scoring good points, are keen to ensure a trouble-free weekend. Racing director Eric Boullier tol

The halo device, which has been in development for a few years now has been dropped by the F1 strategy group. As its replacement, a new 'shield' concept is being favoured for 2018. The Halo device was meant to be introduced this year but was pushed back to 2018.    Let's be honest the Halo looks like flip-flops on the car. It's terrible  appearance  seems to be one of the reasons it was dropped. In a quest for cockpit protection, F1 has now turned to the 'shield'.  The Shield is a kind of elongated windscreen which runs along the nose and top of the Monocoque, and is designed to protect the driver from debris. (WTF1) The shield should look something like Redbull's aeroscreen concept. FIA says : “ A number of more integrated solutions for additional frontal protection have been studied, and the decision has been taken to give priority to the transparent ‘Shield’ family of systems. The FIA aims to carry out track tests of this sys

Reaction to everything that happened in the Chinese GP in GIFs. 1. Wet start without a safety car  2. Lance stroll crashes  3. Tifosi when Ferrari made the right strategy decision with Vettel but Giovinazzi's crash bring out SC. 4. Mercedes when Bottas spun 5. When Mercedes realised that Max was in P2  6. More problems for McLaren Honda as Vandoorne retires  7. Vettel made 2 stellar moves on Raikkonen and Ricciardo 8. When you were looking forward to Ves vs Vet but Ves spins out  9. When you precisely thought this about overtaking       10. Hamilton complains about tyres but sets the fastest lap  11. Sainz and Alonso having a little battle  12. Alonso retires for the first time in China 13. Vettel begins catching Hamilton  14. Redbull when Ricciardo and Verstappen didn't take each other out 15. Mercedes win ! 16. Tifosi and Mercedes fans preparing for battle  17. You reme

1. Minttu Raikkonen Fitness freak and model Minttu virtanen is the wife of Kimi "Iceman" Raikkonen. Kimi and Minttu wed in a private ceremony only for family and friends on 8th August in Tuscany, Italy. The pair have a son called Robin Ace Raikkonen and a daughter called Rianna Angelia Milana. 2. Hanna Prater Long-time girlfriend of Sebastian Vettel, still continues to stay out of the public eye. She and Seb have been together since high school. They live in Switzerland with their two daughters Emily and Mathilda. Hanna made a rare appearance at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix. 3.Anna Raffaela Massa     I think it’s fair to say that Raffaela and Felipe are the power couple of formula one. Felipinho their son is often seen talking to or playing with the other drivers in the paddock. In fact, Felipinho and Daniel Ricciardo had a karting race which Felipinho won! 4. Emilia Bottas Finnish Olympic swimmer Emilia is the wife of Williams drive

    ©Getty Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel won the season opener in Australia by almost 10 seconds from Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. This was Ferrari’s first win since Singapore 2015 and their first win at Albert Park since Kimi Raikkonen’s 2007 victory.      ©Getty At the beginning of the weekend there was lot of talk about Ferrari’s pre-season pace and whether it was genuine. Their pace on Sunday stood testimony to the fact that Ferrari are indeed looking good this year. Vettel took his 43 rd victory with the help of a smart strategy. Hamilton’s early pitstop put him behind the RedBull of Max Verstappen which allowed Vettel to stay out and open a decent gap , allowing him to re-join in front of Verstappen after his pitstop. The other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth ahead of Vertsappen and Felipe Massa.     ©Getty Home-boy Daniel Ricciardo who hoped to finish on the podium almost didn’t start the race as he got stuc

F1 is back and a Formula 1 race is nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster for fans.Here is how we feel -  1. When you remember that its race day          2. Adrenalin rush during the start  3. Then you see that people crashed into each other         4.  The safety car comes out                                         5.   The race restarts and y ou begin to pray that nobody crashes into your favourites             6.  Your reaction to a bad pit-stop 7. When Max Verstappen begins overtaking ! 8. When you finally hear Sebastian Vettel say "Honestly ! Blue flags!" 9. And you hear Kimi Raikkonen say two words. 10. then the tyre and Fuel saving begins 11.  everything comes to life again  12. The chequered flag comes out and its podium time ! 13. Suddenly you realise that you have to wait 2 weeks for the next race. (Post inspired by  carthrottle  )