chevy

chevy: Marussia fails crash test with new car

2012-03-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

chevy: Marussia fails crash test with new car

Marussia fails crash test with new car

2012-02-28T12:39:00.001-08:00

New Page 2

The Marussia Formula 1 Team has been
forced to pull out of this week's final pre-season test at the
Circuit de Catalunya, with the squad's new challenger having
failed to pass mandatory FIA crash tests. The outfit is now
working hard to fix the issues with its car ahead of the first
race at Albert Park in Australia.
"The Marussia F1 Team is disappointed
to confirm that the planned first test of its 2012 race car -
the MR01 - has been delayed as a consequence of not passing the
final FIA crash test," a statement from the Banbury-based team
explained on Monday.

"All cars are required to pass 18 FIA-observed
tests for homologation to be granted. Despite the fact that the
MR01 has passed all 17 of the preceding tests, the regulations
require the car to have completed all of the tests before
running commences.
"The team will now not take part in the
final pre-season test in Barcelona later this week (1-4 March)
and will focus its efforts on repeating the crash test at the
end of the week."
Despite being present for the second
test of 2012 in Barcelona last week, current drivers Charles Pic
and Timo Glock were lapping at the wheel of last year's MVR-01.

Top 20 magic moments of 2011

2011-12-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

RACE ACE ... Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel gives the thumbs up after his fabtastic win at Monza

IT was a year of triumph, tragedy — and confusion.

Triumph for Sebastien Vettel, notching up 11 wins as he became Formula One's youngest back-to-back champion in dominant style.
Tragedy as we lost British IndyCar star Dan Wheldon in a crash that shocked us to the bone — a week before MotoGP ace Marco Simoncelli was killed in Malaysia.
And confusion inside the head of the world's fastest F1 driver, Lewis Hamilton.
Maybe Hamilton will tell us one day what was going on inside that famous yellow crash helmet. Maybe we will never know. Maybe he doesn't know...
As usual, motorsport around the globe provided us with a non-stop fiercely-fought kaleidoscope of thrills, drama, intrigue and disappointment.
I lapped it up, if you'll forgive the expression. And here are my Top 20 defining moments of 2011, in no particular order, half from F1 and half from all the other exciting categories that made this year so special.

1. VETTEL'S BEST WIN
Choose any one from 11 brilliant drives, but I'll opt for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Not just because he won it but also because of his 160mph pass of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, with two wheels on the grass on the outside of Curve Grande.
The stunning move finally rubbished the ridiculous suggestion that Vettel "can't overtake". For most of the season, he simply didn't need to.

LUCKY ESCAPE ... Allan McNish emerged unscathed after crashing during the 24-hour Le Mans race

2. ALLAN McNISH'S LE MANS SHUNT
The wee Scot nearly wiped himself out along with a dozen photographers when his Audi R18 pirouetted on top of the barriers after shooting off the track at 120mph.
The spectacular smash was trumped later on by team-mate Mike Rockenfeller's 200mph crunch, which he somehow survived.
Yet the sole remaining Audi went on to whip the Peugeot posse to top one of the most dramatic weekends of mixed emotions ever experienced by a single racing team.

RED FACED ... McLaren star Jenson Button pulls into the Red Bull area during the China Grand Prix

3. BUTTON'S BUNGLE
One of the comic moments of the year — along with the Canadian marshal who fell over in front of the F1 pack — came in China as Jenson dived in to Red Bull's pit box by mistake for a tyre change.
Rather than block his path, which they could have done to cost him extra seconds, the Red Bull boys ushered him through to the McLaren garage next door. How's that for courtesy?

VICTORY ... Matt Neal won the British Touring Car Championship crown - despite a cock-up at Oulton Park

4. MATT NEAL'S KAMIKAZE SWOOP
So there they are, two Honda team-mates heading serenely for a comfortable 1-2 in a British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park, when second-placed Matt Neal suddenly decides to overtake leader Gordon Shedden at the last corner.
But he cocks it up, both Hondas shoot off the track and a giggling Jason Plato bombs through for the win.
Just as well Matt made amends several times over to take the BTCC crown.

LOVELY BUBBLY ... McLaren's Lewis Hamitlon celebrates winning in Abu Dhabi

5. HAMILTON'S ABU DHABI TRIUMPH
After a string of bizarre clashes with Felipe Massa, swipes at his lifestyle and general puzzlement over the malaise that gripped him in mid-season, Lewis answered his critics in the best way possible by sweeping past the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.
"Lewis is back!" we all shouted. Question is: Where had he been?

SUPER SEB ... Sebastien Loeb was crowned World Rally champion for the eighth time

6. SEB VERSUS SEB
While Sebastien Loeb won the World Rally Championship for the eighth time, which on the face of it could have induced yawns all round, the series was enlivened by the acrimonious duel between him and his Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier.
It got to the point where each was SLOWING DOWN on day two of rallies to make sure they didn't sweep the road clean for the other on day three.
It was clear only one Seb would be at Citroen in 2012. Exit Ogier to join VW.

FLYING START ... Ferrari's Fernando Alonso flew out the traps but ended up finishing fifth in Spain

7. ALONSO'S SUPER START
Fernando Alonso started from fourth on the grid in Spain but was in the lead before the first corner.
It looked even more breathtaking from his Ferrari's on-board camera, as he stormed past Lewis Hamilton, then jinked to the right to squeeze through a tiny gap to shoot by both Red Bull drivers.
The home hero led for the first 18 laps but eventually finished a lapped fifth as the Ferrari struggled desperately on hard tyres. What a let-down.

GLORY ... Dan Wheldon celebrates his stunning victory at the Indy 500

8. DAN WHELDON'S INDY 500 WIN
Wheldon did not land a seat for the 2011 IndyCar series but picked up a ride for the Indianapolis 500 with old mate Bryan Herta's little team.
No one — except perhaps Dan — expected much.
But going into the last lap he was second and when the leader, Indy rookie JR Hildebrand, made the mother of all goofs in the final corner, the Brit swept by for his second guzzle of the 500 winner's pint of milk.

BACK OF THE PACK ... Williams' Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello cuts a solitary figure during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

9. WILLIAMS ON THE BACK ROW
Saddest sight of the F1 season was in Abu Dhabi, where the back row of the grid was made up of both cars from the once dominant and still much-loved Williams team.
It wasn't quite how it seemed, as Pastor Maldonado had a grid penalty for exceeding his engine allocation and Rubens Barrichello did not run in qualifying thanks to an oil leak.
But it summed up the team's wretched year.

FORTUNATE ... Jason Plato had a luck escape when he crashed his Chevrolet Cruze at Donington

10. PIT CREW'S DAY OF GLORY
After SunSport columnist Jason Plato rolled his Chevrolet Cruze into a mangled ball of metal in race two of the BTCC round at Donington, his undaunted RML pit crew rolled up their sleeves and glued it all back together in the garage inside a couple of hours.
It was an achievement that astonished all who witnessed it.
Plato, who had changed into his civvies, pulled his racesuit back on and swept up to sixth in race three from the back of the grid.

HORROR ... Robert Kubica was involved in a serious accident during a rally in Italy

11. KUBICA'S KO
F1 drivers like to have a bit of fun over the winter — and Renault's Polish star Robert Kubica thought he would try rallying.
Alas, he crashed his Skoda into a barrier on the Ronde di Andora event in Italy, emerging with life-threatening injuries including a smashed right arm that may yet end his career.
The accident was also a blow to Renault's F1 challenge, from which the team never really recovered — although their radical exhaust system didn't help.

TOUGH LUCK ... Chevrolet Cruze's Rob Huff just missed out on the World Touring Car title

Picture: JIM MUNRO

12. HUFFY'S LAST HURRAH
Rob Huff went to the World Touring Car Championship's last round in Macau knowing he had to win both races to have any chance of overhauling his Chevrolet team-mate and arch-rival Yvan Muller.
It had never been done at Macau before — but Huffy pulled it off with a pair of brilliant drives around the treacherous street track.
Frustratingly, it still wasn't quite enough for the title. But Rob, another SunSport columnist, earned the BRDC's Gold Star for top British racing driver of the year.

BRAVE ... Red Bull's Mark Webber performed a superb pass on Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in Spa

13. WEBBER'S BRAVE PASS
Spa's Eau Rouge is one of the most daunting bends in F1.
But that didn't stop Mark Webber from slicing his Red Bull inside Fernando Alonso's Ferrari going into the flat-out uphill sweep.
Lewis Hamilton is fond of telling anyone who'll listen that he has "big cajones".
But judging by Webber's raw courage in making the pass of the year, Mark's are bigger.

SECRET ... Doctors found a tumour on Andy Priaulx's thyroid - thankfully it turned out to be benign

14. ANDY'S SECRET SCARE
Andy Priaulx kept a chilling secret to himself throughout the Le Mans 24-hour classic, where he drove BMW's fabulous M3 GT car.
Little did we know that before the race, doctors had found a tumour on his thyroid during a routine health check.
Andy, yet another super SunSport columnist, bravely drove on at Le Mans not knowing if the tumour could be the worst news for him and his cherished family.
Mercifully, it proved to be benign in a further test and was removed. Phew!

STRUGGLE ... Michael Schumacher has failed to impress since returning to Formula One with Mercedes

15. MERC IN THE MIRE
Pre-season testing quickly showed that Mercedes' new F1 car, on which such high hopes were pinned, was two seconds or more off the pace of the front-runners.
It was a bitter blow for the car giant, for F1 fans who yearned for Merc to challenge at the front — and for Michael Schumacher, who quickly realised his comeback was doomed to failure for a second year.
Will it be third time lucky? Don't hold your breath, as Schuey was again outperformed by Nico Rosberg.

MIKK SHOT ... Andreas Mikkelsen on the glory trail

16. ANDY MICK NICKS IT
He crashed seconds after the start in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, but by mid-year Andreas Mikkelsen had shrugged off that disaster to become the Intercontinental Rally Challenge's fastest driver.
"Andy Mick" was still prone to gaffes, though, and it looked like his championship hopes were over — until the last handful of events, when he was simply unstoppable and took the title at the last gasp for The Sun's motorsport partners Skoda.

RANT ... McLaren's Lewis Hamilton blasted F1 officials after the Monaco Grand Prix

17. LEWIS'S RACE RANT
The most bizarre incident of a bizarre season for Hamilton came at Monaco.
He was given two penalties after colliding with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado.
Afterwards he branded both "stupid". Asked why the stewards had singled him out, he replied: "Maybe it's because I'm black."
And he described his frequent visits to race officials as "an absolute fricking joke".
Hamilton's inner demons stayed with him through most of the season, resulting in a series of untypically crass incidents such as his crazy tangle with Kamui Kobayashi at Spa. Roll on 2012, eh Lewis?

SPAT ... Jason Plato was involved in a row with his old foe Matt Neal

18. THAT SPAT
Old foes Jason Plato and Matt Neal played out the bust-up of the year after the BTCC's qualifying session at Rockingham.
After returning to the pits, Plato gave Neal the finger. Neal, a martial arts expert, responded by raising a fist and threatening to rip Plato's face off.
Luckily, Plato's dad Tim was there to separate them before too much damage was done.
The warring pair tried to patch it up afterwards but the years-old flames of fury are still burning brightly.

TOP CLASS ... McLaren's Jenson Button produced the race of his life to win in Canada

19. BUTTON'S DRIVE OF THE YEAR
On Lap 37 of the wet-dry Canadian Grand Prix, Jenson Button was last of the lot after clashing with Hamilton and Alonso, and pitting three times over punctures and a speeding penalty.
Just 33 laps later, he won the race after a mesmerising drive through the entire field, boosted by a series of cleverly-timed pit stops.
The icing on the cake came at turn six on the very last lap when leader Sebastian Vettel, spooked by the ever-closing Button, slid wide and let the Brit through to win what he described as "definitely my best race ever".

TRAGIC ... A host of stars from the Motorsport community paid their respects to Dan Wheldon

20. THE DAN WHELDON MEMORIAL KART RACE
It was grotesquely ironic that Dan Wheldon only became a household name in his homeland after his death.
But the motorsport community was in no doubt about the chirpy Buckinghamshire man's supreme ability.
And the most moving moment of the year came on December 5 at a kart track in Milton Keynes.
The cream of British racing talent, including Jenson Button and IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti, turned out for a charity event in Wheldon's memory.
It was a fitting tribute showing that although there may be fierce rivalries on track, there is a passionate comradeship off it.

So, that's it then, apart from a couple of fantastic personal memories of being whipped around Silverstone at blinding pace by Allan McNish and Oschersleben in Germany by Rob Huff.
If YOU want to reveal what you thought was 2011's most magic moment, add a comment below. And let's see if other fans agree.

end-of-season verdict

2011-11-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

SITTING PRETTY ... world champion Sebastien Vettel with his Red Bull team

RED BULL

NEAR faultless campaign. Design genius Adrian Newey's RB7 rocket propelled Sebastian Vettel to a second drivers' crown in a row — with four races to spare.

The German finished with 11 wins from 19 with team-mate Mark Webber getting his only victory in season finale in Brazil.
Vettel and Webber confirmed for next season. 5/5

McLAREN

LEWIS HAMILTON and Jenson Button found themselves playing catch-up right from start after pre-season testing was virtually written off.
Hamilton finished a roller-coaster of a season with three wins — as did Button whose victory from the back of the field in Canada was his highlight.
Hamilton and Button confirmed for next season. 3/5

FERRARI

A MASSIVELY disappointing season for F1's most famous and successful team. No poles and just Fernando Alonso's solitary victory at Silverstone to celebrate.
Spaniard did not have machinery this year while Felipe Massa has not looked the same since his horror shunt in Hungary in 2009.
Alonso and Massa under contract, but Massa threatened. 2/5

MERCEDES

WILL be disappointed not to have got at least one podium finish but car was just too slow.
Nico Rosberg again got the better of Michael Schumacher, but it was much closer this year.
Rosberg does not look like a world champion in waiting and Schumacher will be 43 by start of next season.
Rosberg and Schumacher confirmed. 2/5

RENAULT

LOSING Robert Kubica before season after his rally crash was a blow. But even the Pole would have struggled as team faltered after podiums in first two races.
Nick Heidfeld was replaced midway in season by Bruno Senna.
Vitaly Petrov has contract but Romain Grosjean could replace Senna. 2/5

FORCE INDIA

ANOTHER solid year and they clinched sixth place in the constructors' championship in Brazil.
Scotland's Paul di Resta was Rookie of the Year after a fine first season, though team-mate Adrian Sutil edged him in later races.
Di Resta seems certain to stay with reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg stepping up as his partner. 2/5

SAUBER

HAD tight battle with Toro Ross for seventh spot in the Constructors' standings — and the vital extra millions that brings in prize money.
Mexican Sergio Perez had a fine maiden season, apart from his horror shunt in Monaco, while Kamui Kobayashi again showed he can race.
Perez and Kobayashi have kept seats. 2/5

TORO ROSSO

TEAM targeted eighth in the constructors' but came so close to pipping Sauber for seventh.
Drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi had their moments, their highlight both finishing in the points in Korea.
It's take your pick between Buemi, Alguersuari, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne for the race seats in 2012. 2/5

WILLIAMS

SAD to see one of the giants of F1 suffer the worst season in their history — scoring just five points after bagging 69 in 2010.
Even Rubens Barrichello struggled to develop the car and rookie Pastor Maldonado finished with one point.
Maldonado's sponsors will make sure he keeps his seat with Sutil set to make switch from Force India. 1/5

LOTUS

FINISHED top of F1's three newest teams but still looking for first point.
Drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli have plenty of experience but did not have the pace.
Will be expected to take the next step in 2012 and challenge mid-grid teams when name changes to Caterham.
Kovalainen and Trulli already confirmed. 1/5

HRT

DID well to finish ahead of Virgin in battle between the F1 minnows.
Moving to new home in Spain and hoping it will bring funding boost.
Tonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo did their best in car only ready just before start of season.
Pedro de la Rosa confirmed to make F1 return with Liuzzi likely partner. 1/5

VIRGIN

TARGETED improved reliability this season and got it — until Timo Glock's wheel fell off in Brazil.
Will soon make move to new factory at Banbury, bringing the team under one roof for first time.
Glock confirmed for next season and Frenchman Charles Pic will replace Jerome d'Ambrosio. 1/5

Mark Webber wins Brazilian GP

2011-11-28T12:46:00.000-08:00

LOVELY BUBBLY ... McLaren's Jenson Button celebrates with race winner Mark Webber

MARK WEBBER claimed victory in Brazil as the curtain fell on the 2011 Formula One season.

Webber pipped Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel to the chequered flag, while McLaren's Jenson Button finished third.

The Aussie's first win for 26 races was largely thanks to Vettel having to drive the bulk of the 71-lap race with a gearbox issue.
But that did not stop the world champion from conjuring a one-two for his team at Interlagos, appropriately so in a year they have dominated from the start in Australia to the finish in South America.
Behind Webber and Vettel, Button continued his stunning end to the year by claiming his eighth podium in the last nine races to finish second in the drivers' championship.
However, it was a sorry end for McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton as he retired with gearbox problems.
With his seventh career victory in the bag, Webber said: "We had a little bit of the rub of the green and it would have been nice to have had a battle with Seb to the line.
"But it's a win and I'll take it because I've had enough bad luck, so it's a very important win for me and the team, to finish on a high.
"I enjoyed doing the last few laps. It was a nice way to finish."
Reflecting on his gearbox problem, Vettel added: "It was a real shame because I had a good start and I was able to pull away.
"But I had to manage the problem, short shifting, using higher gears throughout the race.
"Nevertheless, Mark drove a fantastic race and deserved to win.
"Overall we've had an amazing season and it would be over the top being upset, so we'll take second and a one-two finish for the team.
"Now we're all ready for the winter, to recharge our batteries and come back strong for next year."
After suffering a first-lap puncture in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago that forced him into his first retirement of the season, Vettel's start from his record-breaking 15th pole of the year was smooth enough.
He blitzed the opening few laps and the stage appeared to be set for another romp to the line.
But from the 12th lap the team announced the gearbox problems with the 24-year-old's car that steadily worsened as the race moved towards the halfway point.
Beyond the first round of stops and at the start of lap 30, Webber eased past his team-mate into the first corner.
And from that point there was no looking back as he took a deserved win.
At one stage Vettel kept pace with Webber, even setting a fastest lap at two-thirds distance.
But come lap 50, Red Bull made sure their champion got the message as he was told the gearbox issue was serious and to save the car.
To be fair to Vettel, it was a champion's drive to second as he was constantly having to short shift through the corners in the hope of preserving the gearbox to the finish.
Hamilton's season of strife concluded on lap 46 with his first mechanical retirement due to his own gearbox issue, the other two in Canada and Belgium courtesy of crashes.
It sadly came at a time when the 26-year-old was squaring up for another battle with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
The duo have been magnets for one another this season, colliding six times.
But there was to be no seventh as Hamilton slowed on the back straight before pulling over and out of the race at turn five.
All that remained was to see whether Button, who had lost third early on to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, could reclaim the place.
The Brit pitted for a third and final time on lap 53 and although Ferrari covered the move on the following lap, he was just too quick for the Spaniard and passed him on lap 62.
That also deprived Alonso of third in the championship, losing out to Webber by a single point.
Massa finished a staggering 31 seconds behind his team-mate in fifth and a remarkable 139 points adrift of the double world champion in the standings.
Adrian Sutil claimed sixth for Force India, with team-mate Paul di Resta eighth — securing sixth in the constructors' championship for the team.
Nico Rosberg was sandwiched between the duo in his Mercedes, while Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi was ninth and Vitaly Petrov claimed the final point for Renault.

Hamilton underestimated Button - Whitmarsh

2011-11-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Martin Whitmarsh says that Lewis Hamilton underestimated Jenson Button when the latter joined McLaren in 2010.
Button's third place in Abu Dhabi confirmed his position as the top-scoring McLaren driver for 2011
, the first time that Hamilton has been beaten by a team-mate across a season since making his Formula One debut. With Hamilton recently disagreeing with Whitmarsh that Button's success was affecting his own form, Whitmarsh was asked if he felt Hamilton underestimated Button when they became team-mates.
"Possibly. He probably did, yes," Whitmarsh told the official Formula One website. "Let's be open about it. Lewis, throughout his career, has destroyed every team mate that's come his way. Bear in mind that in many ways he virtually destroyed Fernando Alonso when Fernando was a two-time world champion and Lewis was a rookie. He did the same with Nico Rosberg in karting frankly - and every other team mate on his way into Formula One."
Many commentators believed that Button's move to McLaren would be a mistake, with it regarded as Hamilton's team. Whitmarsh said that Hamilton probably expected to beat Button in the same car, but that the team had left them free to race each other and Button's pace would have come as a surprise.
"He was disarmed by Jenson at the beginning and he probably thought that he was a nice guy, but he'd beat him. And he was probably surprised. Jenson on the other hand is of course also keen to beat his team mate but he would never do it in an underhand manner. For both drivers it's true that there are no politics involved and both want to contribute equally to the team.
"Of course when you join a team as a driver and know that I have known Lewis since he was 11 you might question whether you would be treated equally. But all the talk about who is the number-one driver in the team is media-made, as McLaren have always been a team that let their drivers race. That is our spirit and we remain true to it."

Mystery over Seb's burst tyre

2011-11-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

IT'S THE PITS ... Sebastian Vettel looks on after retiring early from Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

THE mystery over Sebastian Vettel's dramatic tyre failure has deepened after Pirelli said: It wasn't our fault.

Vettel spun off just two corners into last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
A tyre came off the rim and the suspension of the world champ's Red Bull was damaged by flailing rubber as he drove almost the full length of the Yas Marina circuit to return to the pits.
Vettel had to retire for the first time in 20 Grands Prix — ending his hopes of equalling Michael Schumacher's record of 13 wins in a season.
The right rear tyre was part of a set of soft rubber used by Vettel to grab pole position in qualifying ahead of race winner Lewis Hamilton.
The German and bosses of Red Bull and Pirelli inspected the scene of the spin after the race but found nothing relevant.
However, there was enough shredded rubber left on the rim for Pirelli to conduct a thorough investigation.

ON THE SLIDE ... the moment Vettel spun off in Abu Dhabi

And the Italian company's motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "We can confirm a structural failure was not the cause of Sebastian's deflation in Abu Dhabi. "It is a conclusion we have arrived at together with Red Bull Racing following a detailed examination and analysis of the remains of the tyre.
"We cannot rule out debris on the track causing damage to the tyre, which then provoked a deflation. But having looked at the track closely there is no direct evidence of this."
Pirelli's statement suggests the Red Bull team might be to blame.
F1 experts have speculated the tyre could have failed after being overheated by hot gases being blown across it.
Red Bull Racing have not yet commented.

chevy

chevy: Marussia fails crash test with new car

Marussia fails crash test with new car

Top 20 magic moments of 2011

IT was a year of triumph, tragedy — and confusion.

end-of-season verdict

RED BULL

NEAR faultless campaign. Design genius Adrian Newey's RB7 rocket propelled Sebastian Vettel to a second drivers' crown in a row — with four races to spare.

McLAREN

FERRARI

MERCEDES

RENAULT

FORCE INDIA

SAUBER

TORO ROSSO

WILLIAMS

LOTUS

HRT

VIRGIN

Mark Webber wins Brazilian GP

MARK WEBBER claimed victory in Brazil as the curtain fell on the 2011 Formula One season.

Hamilton underestimated Button - Whitmarsh

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Mystery over Seb's burst tyre

THE mystery over Sebastian Vettel's dramatic tyre failure has deepened after Pirelli said: It wasn't our fault.