Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has released the calendar for the 2013 season, following a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris, France on Friday.
It features 20 races, the same number as 2012, but with the omission of the European Grand Prix in Valencia and the provisional addition of a new US round in New York.
The FIA’s calendar in full:
17/03 Grand Prix of Australia
24/03 Grand Prix of Malaysia
14/04 Grand Prix of China
21/04 Grand Prix of Bahrain
12/05 Grand Prix of Spain (Barcelona)
26/05 Grand Prix of Monaco
09/06 Grand Prix of Canada
16/06 Grand Prix of Jersey (New York) *
30/06 Grand Prix of Great Britain
14/07 Grand Prix of Germany
28/07 Grand Prix of Hungary
25/08 Grand Prix of Belgium
08/09 Grand Prix of Italy
22/09 Grand Prix of Singapore
06/10 Grand Prix of Korea
13/10 Grand Prix of Japan
27/10 Grand Prix of India
03/11 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi
17/11 Grand Prix of USA (Austin)
24/11 Grand Prix of Brazil
* TBC
The final street circuit for the season. Also, the toughest circuit on the calendar.
The 14th grand prix in 2012 Formula 1 will be coming to Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit. It is known as the toughest circuit of the year which requires maximum downforce setup for the car and maximum concentration for the drivers to negotiate all 23 corners in one lap.
The track will be a whopping 309.316 km race distance of 61 laps and due to the low average speed of the circuit, it is one of the longest race in the season for about 2 hours of battle on the track. One of the unique chicane in Marina Bay Street Circuit is the Singapore Sling at Turn 10 which is being described as the worst corner in F1 by Lewis Hamilton. The high and harsh kerbs may damage the suspension and pitch the cars into the wall. The bumpy surface combined with the hot and humid weather makes the circuit twice as hard to negotiate as the Monaco street circuit. If it rains, the absence of sunlight will cause the track to dry up more slowly and add some unpredictability to the race.
Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tyres and P Zero Red super-soft tyres will be used in Singapore where traction is the main priority here. The track is hard on tyres so a three-stop strategy is expected for most of the teams. McLaren may have an advantage here due to its lightning pit stop which is about 1 second faster than most of the teams. The deployment of safety car is almost a “tradition” in Singapore which means strategy have to be very flexible to take advantage of it.
McLaren is on a winning streak since Hungary and all eyes are on Lewis Hamilton challenging Fernando Alonso where he is 37 points off the lead. At this moment, every win counts and may decide whether Lewis Hamilton will stay in McLaren. Not to mention, currently on the drivers’ standings, there is a one-point-difference between 3 world champions which makes Singapore Grand Prix more exciting than before. Kimi Raikkonen, the lap record holder, says that he has some unfinished business there. Maybe we will witness his first victory in Singapore since his comeback in 2012?
Lap Record : 1:45.599 – Kimi Raikkonen (2008)
Marina Bay Street Circuit Diagram.
Click here to see the pictures of Singapore Marina Bay Street Circuit on normal days before race weekend.
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Here is a intertwining graph showing the positions of every driver throughout the race in 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton took his first victory here at Montreal.
Every driver’s starting position is shown at the bottom of the graph, going up until the end of the race. Hamilton is being represented in gold, as you can see, he was leading throughout the race with the lead lost briefly to Felipe Massa. Impressive driving from a rookie driver!
All drivers that failed to finish the race are represented with dashed line.
If you ever wonder how a pitstop looks like from the driver’s view other than from the onboard cam, you can watch the video below to find out. The most important and basic thing : TOTAL CONCENTRATION !!!
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Majority of the F1 teams have agreed to change the rules regarding the “double DRS” on F1 cars. It is believed that the ban will be imposed starting from next year. The official announcement will be made by FIA’s World Motor Sport Council later this year.
The ban is part of the plan to reduce the costs in Formula 1 for the sport to remain viable in a long run. Mercedes did not support the ban and claimed that it is cost-effective.
After the failed protest in Chinese Grand Prix, Lotus has begun to develop and test its own version of “double DRS” since German and Hungarian Grand Prix and is expected to race it during Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Lotus has explained that the development of “double DRS” will carry on for this year since it will benefit for the second half of this season.
For more technical details of the “double DRS”, you can view it here on our earlier blog post.
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2012 German Grand Prix in Hockenheimring is Lewis Hamilton’s 100th grand prix. Here’s a video from Johnnie Walker that accelerate through his career at the speed of an F1 car.
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The 10th grand prix in 2012 Formula 1 will be coming to Germany at the Hockenheimring. As everybody knows, Nürburgring and Hockenheimring will host the German Grand Prix each year alternatively. This year, we have come to Hockenheimring where it was known to be redesigned due to disagreements from the drivers.
The track will be a whopping 306.458 km race distance of 67 laps with a famous hairpin design from Hermann Tilke. Lap record is currently held by Kimi Raikkonen in 2004 at 1:13.780. Lotus cars are suitable in the hot temperatures in Hockenheimring and the tyres won’t go off easily. Maybe we’ll see his first win here after he has been on so many podiums this year? Another focus in German Grand Prix is Michael Schumacher where he will be racing in his home country. We have seen him improving his pace since his comeback in 2010. With almost all the supporters on the grandstands supporting him, can he grab the win in his own country?
During the Friday practise sessions, a new hard compound tyre will be tested in Hockenheimring provided that the weather is fine. Two sets of the new compound will be available for every team for evaluation. According to Pirelli, the new tyres are designed to have a slightly wider working range, which is easier to get the tyres up to temperature and maintain them in the optimum operating window.
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