Alex Yoong

Last weekend was the second time this year i had a Saturday and Sunday completely to myself, so it was really great to spend some time with the son. Alister is growing up so fast and i have to keep reminding myself to catch him while i can.

This weekend (tmrw) i have to work but i’m not sure it really is work…. You see i have been paid to come and judge the Singtel Pit Girls competition in Singapore. Its a tough job but somebody has to do it i guess.

The task that i have to judge them upon is on how well they drive an F1 simulator and to give them tips. I find this very amusing as my seven year old son is much better with the video games than i am.

Oh well, tally ho!

Its 1030am and i am back home in my apartment with my cat. Unfortunately we had an engine blow at around 7am (7hours into the race), and so i am now at home, freshly showered and very red eyed.

It was a lot of fun and we really took the fight to the works cars. The Rieter Engineering Lamborhgini was leading as i left the circuit from the Joest Audi. But before our blow up we were splitting the pair and looked comfortable to challenge for the lead later on.

Proud of the work the guys did. Really no experience with the car and we struggled with setup in the early laps. But as the track gripped up our car became more neutral and we could attack more.

Lot of hard work for nothing at first glance, but there was some solid stuff there from the team and sometimes that just has to be enough.

Time for a nap.

Its been a strange morning. I have been trying to stay in bed all day and managed to make it to 1pm. The reason being that i am driving in the MME race that starts at midnight tonight. It goes on for 12 hours and with drivers only allowed to do 75min maximum between each stint, it means i won’t have much time to sleep through out the race.

So its 4pm now and i’m here in a coffee shop in KL trying to stop my itchy feet from going to the track too early.

I am racing a Lamborghini GT3 for KK Performance Team and i have 2 great team mates. Marchy Lee and Matthew Marsh, who are from Hong Kong and we have all been friends for a long time.

We are quietly optimistic that the race will go well for us if the car runs reliably. We qualified third yesterday with a Porsche RSR on pole and the factory Rieter Lamborghini team in second. As a privater team we were pretty happy to be within half a second of the factory team and fancy our chances. Its very competitive though as we also have the works Audi Joest team in the race starting from 4th.

Its the only race i plan on doing this year and cant wait for it to start. Its been such a pleasure to be behind the wheel again, sorting through data and working out the best methods to get the most of this 580bhp monster.

I will hopefully post with good news later on.

Ferrari is back. They won the last GP in Germany on genuine pace. The Red Bulls managed to snatch pole with their usual Q3 heroics, but in the race, the Ferrari in Fernando Alonso’s hands was the quickest car out there. Did he deserve to win? Perhaps not, as Massa would have been able to keep him behind if it was not for Ferrari issuing “team orders”.

Let’s try this with a bit of perspective though. As much as the team orders to allow Alonso through denied us of a thrilling finish, was it so unreasonable of Ferrari to do it? Alonso was quite a bit further ahead of Massa in the championship and realistically Ferrari’s only chance of winning the drivers championship. They need to make up some ground fast on the others and could not afford to let this chance go by.

Its a completely different scenario to the incident in 2002 that led to the rule to ban team orders. Back then Shumacher had won four races on the trot and was dominating the championship. His team mate, Barichello was quickest all weekend and was leading easily, when he was instructed to pull over for Michael Shumacher. The fans and the FIA were obviously incensed at this complete insult to racing competition.

Team orders are always going to be a part of F1 and while Red Bull say they will let their drivers race, if it came down to the last race of a tight season, no one would complain if Webber allowed Vettel through if it meant beating a Mclaren or Ferrari. The problem for me is the rule to ban team orders itself. Its impossible to police and when you have a situation like last Sunday, it makes a mockery of the sport. This rule needs to be reworked or taken away completely in my view.

Normally the Hungarian GP this weekend either throws up the most exciting races (when it rains) or the most boring (when it stays dry) of the calendar. Its very tight and twisty and the field should be close. There are not any really quick corners to speak about, so the Red Bulls advantage should be minimal and i fancy Ferrari to take their first pole of the season.

While Mclaren are leading both the drivers and constructors championship, they are a team needing to catch up quick. They are having trouble making their blown diffusors work and need to get back up to speed within the next 2 or 3 races or they will be behind in the championship.

Its the half way point of the Formula One championship and its been a great year so far. The quality of driving and car inovation has been extremely high. Even the 3 new teams, who have had to start from scratch have been doing an admirable job. In this article we look at how all the teams they have been fairing and what they need to do to improve.

Mclaren

Hamilton had a few blips at the first few races of the year, where he over drove a bit, but since then has been very steady in both races and qualifying and that is why he is winning the driver championship this year. He just needs to keep doing what he is doing. Button was outstanding in quite a few races this year, with two well deserved wins in Australia and China. But he needs to improve on his qualifying, to allow him an easier time in the races.

While Mclaren were a bit behind the pace at the beginning of the year, they have been able to reproduce their form in developing the car through the season ala last year. This fantastic rate of development with good reliability has allowed them to close the gap up to the Red Bulls pace wise, and this is why they are leading both the constructors and drivers championship. They will need to pick up more qualifying pace, because if Red Bull can convert their poles into race wins more often, its going to be hard to keep in front of the team from Milton Keynes.

Red Bull

Both drivers have been driving very well with their altercation in Turkey being the only real blot on their copy book. Also Webbers first lap at Valencia was a bit shabby, but their performances in qualifying have been outstanding. Between Webber and Vettel, they have been on pole at every race except one, which by itself is an amazing stat.

The car reliability has let them down a bit in the first half of the season and that is why they are not leading the championship. Red Bull still enjoy a slight car speed advantage and if they can continue to improve at their current rate of development without anymore reliability worries, they will be challenging for both titles at the end of the year.

Ferrari

Alonso has been very impressive at times this year, in a car not a match for the Red Bulls. But at times just lately he has been overdriving a bit, which is similar to the Alonso who first came back to Renault after his time at Mclaren. For example, at Montreal he had the speed to win the race, but was not too clever in traffic and this meant he finished third. Now sometimes getting traffic can just be bad luck, but it do remember him doing the same with Renault, when he was trying to make an uncompetitive car do things it just could not do. Massa has had a quiet year so far and needs to dig deep if he is going to stop Alonso completely taking over the number 1 position in the team.

Ferrari as a team seems to be playing catch up a bit compared to the others. There was nothing complicated on their cars this year and it seems they have just been trying to copy some of the more inovative things that have come from the other teams, such as Mclarens F duct and the Red Bulls blown diffuser. They need to concentrate more on pushing in their own direction with development if they are to get right back on top.

Mercedes

Mercedes has brought back Michael Schmacher this year and just about everyone has had their say on the Rainmeisters come back. Schmacher has been struggling especially in qualifying and his younger team mate, Rosberg has been outshining him. Despite the poor performances, i still see enough of the old Shuey, that i think he will get better. The fire and aggression is still there. Its been hard to judge Rosberg, because while he has been very good this year, we do not know how good because Shumacher is clearly not driving as well as he use to. Also how much of it is the car?

Mercedes brought some neat things on as the year developed, like their shorter air box, but you cannot help but wonder if they are not quite on top of the regulations this year, because of the big 4 teams they seemed to have improved the least. They would have been relieved with Rosberg’s podium in Silverstone and they will hope to have turned the corner.

Renault

Kubica has been outstanding this year, squeezing every inch of performance out of the Renault. He seems to be flourishing with his new team as they have been giving him the care and attention he seems to need. Kubica’s rookie team mate, Petrov has had an up and down year. There have a couple of top ten qualifications, but for me, he needs to improve his all round game if he wants to keep his seat for next year.

Renault as done a very competent job this year and in the last couple of races have had the third of forth best car on the grid. Other than Mclaren, they have had the best rate of development with some very clever thinking on the aerodynamics. Its a good complement, that other teams have started to copy what Renault has been doing with their front and rear wings.

Force India

Adrian Sutil has really grown into a team leader this year with some very solid drives in qualifying and the race. His teammate, Liuzzi has been a bit over shadowed, although some good race performances has netted him useful points. He will need to improve his qualifying in this second part of the year if he wants to keep his seat next season.

Force India have been doing a pretty impressive job and are solidly ahead of the mid pack and knocking on the top 5 teams door at certain races. They have a tidy car and with some good developments on it but must keep it up or they risk being overtaken by Williams and Sauber.

Williams

They had a shocking start to the year but have slowly come good in the last few races. Barrichello drove brilliantly to finish 4th at Valencia and fifth in the UK. This will help build confidence within the team that they can now push on to become top 5 contenders.

Hulkenburg’s rookie year has been a bit hit and miss and i think he needs to do more if he wants to guarantee his seat for next year.

BMW Sauber

Another team like williams which really underperformed for the first half of the year. It’s encouraging that at Valencia they finished in the points and showed good race pace. If they can improve their performances in qualifying, they should be able to finish in the points more regularly.

Pedro De larosa has been quick on occasion this year, but his team mate, Kobayashi has been very impressive when he has driven well. He just needs to smooth out some of the times when he has not been so comfortable in the car.

Toro Rosso

They have had a very quiet year and have firmly been at the back of the mid pack. Occasionally one of their drivers seem to get the most of their equipment and they run in the points. Both team and drivers need to do better, because although they are one of the smaller teams on the grid, having Red Bull as a big brother should be getting them better results.

Lotus

They started from zero with only 6 months before the start of the season, so for them to be the best of the new teams is a very impressive achievement. They also seem to be going in the right direction with car developments and believe they have a good chance of challenging the more established teams next year.

Both Trulli and Kovalianen have been evenly matched and they just need to keep up their motivation despite only fighting at the back.

Virgin

Pretty good performances, but i feel that going the CFD route without any wind tunnel work, is hurting them. They need to be careful, because if HRT can afford to bring some updates, Virgin might get overtaken.

Glock has been a doing a solid job all year, Di Grassi needs to improve.

HRT

They had such a rough start to the year with team ownership changing just before the start. So i have been quietly impressed with the small gains that they have managed. I do not see them being able to afford any more updates and think they will stay at the back for the rest of the season.

Its hard to judge the performance of both rookie drivers, but as an ex Minardi driver i fully sympathize with them. They possibly have the toughest job on the grid.

This next stretch in the championship is crucial as we see four more races in Europe before 5 fly away races. Mclaren and Ferrari both need to get updates that work onto their cars if they are going to stop the Red Bull train (provided they don’t shoot themselves in the foot that is).

The European GP held in Valencia, is the second grand prix of the year to be held in Spain after Barcelona. Its a street track, with quite a few quick bits on it and some actual run off areas. Its quite smooth as far as street tracks go and very wide.

While Montreal is a low down force circuit and Valencia will be a high down force circuit (although the straights are long here too), they both share quite a few similarities. This should mean that the cars that were quick at the last race will be quick here. I certainly hope so as the last race showed a great fight between the top three manufacturers, Mclaren, Red Bull and Ferrari.

Red Bull has been dominate in the first half of the season, but Mclaren have closed down the gap in the last two races, culminating in Hamilton’s pole position and win in Canada. With Montreal’s low down force configuration, the Ferraris were also competitive, but they are bullish they can continue their form here in Valencia, due to the major upgrades they are bringing onto the car. Both Massa and Alonso have expressed optimism that this new upgrade package will work.

Ferrari will be desperate to show they can keep up with the rate of development that Mclaren has shown. In my opinion, Mclaren have been very impressive with their mid season development. At the moment as they did last year, Mclaren are showing that in the middle of the season, while still racing, they are able to up their development and improve the car at a rate none of the other teams can match. This will be key for for the championship this year, and its up to the others to stop them.

Ever wanted to learn to drive a touring car properly? We are starting race driving courses soon, using our Proton Neo’s. These are proper race cars with full Motec data logging systems which makes it possible to pin point what each driver is doing including lines as it also has GPS.

For more info, please contact megat@axle.com.my

Phew, pretty long week, again. Car 2 had an engine let go when we were running it in and as it was not our priority we decided to withdraw it.

Car 1 qualified 38th out of 58 cars which was expected as the rules favour the Hondas and Toyotas too much. The Proton Neo’s were 7 seconds a lap slower than pole position, although we were the quickest of the Neo’s.

In the race the team performed faultlessly. We had absolutely no problems from the pitstops and were quick with change overs. The only slight problem we had was the oil temps were too high and so had to limit the revs of the car from 7000 to 6000rpm.

Drivers also made no mistakes and pushed hard all the way. Hiroko was very consistent at the end, and Pipa solid through out the race. Frank resisted some pretty good pressure at the end from a quicker competitor and we were happy to record a 15th position.

Every year we at Axle Motorsport run a couple of Proton Neo’s in an endurance race here, called the Sepang 1000km. Its a local race with a lot of entries (55), and a lot of fun. Our cars only have 135hp at the wheel (built by an old engineer of us, Rueben Wong), but are well prepared and handle very well. With the oposition having 50hp more than us, its going to be hard to beat them, but we feel with a good pitstops and a reliable car we should postion well if we stay out of trouble.

Its been almost a year since i drove anything and i have been getting the itch to drive. So i’ll be grabbing car no 2 and be racing it with Rhommell Singh. A good driver and our data engineer as well. Car 1 will be driven by my Sister Pippa Yoong, Hiroko (another good female driver) and Frank Yee from HK.

Can’t wait to trade some paint out there.

Istanbul see the seventh round of the F1 Championship take place. The circuit is situated on the Eastern side of the country and is a superbly built facility. In the past few years there has been a lack of atmosphere due to low crowd attendance, but this has not stopped drivers from looking forward to racing here. The reason being, that it is such a wonderful place to drive. There are a huge variety of corners here from high, medium and low speed.

The grand daddy of corners being turn 8, which is an insanely long quick corner. It is also the only corner in the world to have 4 apexes. If conditions and car are perfect, and the driver supremely confident and brave, you can actually go through that corner without lifting off full throttle. Its the sort of corner that get the juices flowing. When Jenson Button won here last year, one of the first things he said when he got out of the car was “i was flat around turn 8″, which got big grins of astonishment from his fellow podium runners.

The circuit is also very smooth and flowing, which is similar to Barcelona and Silverstone, so it should be a good track for the Red Bulls. Mclaren should also be strong there because there is a long straight to make full use of their F duct and they have also been quick this year through fast corners. Its whether they have found improvements through the medium and slow corners that will be key for their form.

Also, lets not discount Ferrari as they have been pretty good everywhere. Massa has won here multiple times and i think with something to prove this year, he will be blinding. Alonso as we know is always quick, and i expect him to be able to put behind him the mistakes from Monaco to go well.

One of the big discussion points since the last race has been the form of Mark Webber. It is not a surprise at all for me that he is doing so well. I was his team mate at Minardi in 2002, and the one thing he showed was how blindingly quick he could be. That pace was what got him drives at Williams and then Red Bull. The one thing that curtailed his progress a bit was that he never had much luck in races. Meaning that his race craft was not as strong as his qualifying pace. It was also something that we saw in our time in Minardi.

What was surprising for me, is that he has taken so long to get that part of his game right. Maybe it was the challenge from Vettel that spurred him on, and now the result is that he is driving as good or better than anyone else on the grid. If he can maintain this purple patch, then he will have to be considered a real title contender for this year. Vettel for one will be working very hard to try and stop this.

The battle of the team mates continue…….