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Archive for the tag “F1 Racing”

06 Mar 2014
9 Comments

Rob Wilson Picks Eight!

IMG_1817Regular readers of this site will be familiar with the GP Tours logo to your right.  It’s there because I’ve been a GP Tours fan for many years.  I like the people who run the business from Newport, California, and I like the tours they generate. They’re about race fans travelling with other race fans to some of the greatest circuits in the world – Monaco, Spa, Silverstone, Austin and many more.

What I’m particularly excited about this year is a new free-to-enter competition they’ve put together, the prize for which is a fully-catered trip for two to the 2015 Monaco GP. How to win? Choose your top eight finishers for each of the 2014 F1 races; points will be awarded when you select the right driver for the right finishing position, with bonus points if you make your choice prior to FP1 or Q1. Go to http://www.gptours.com/pick8 for more details – and where you’ll find the list of runners and riders and your entry form for the 2014 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.

Who to select for Melbourne?  On our YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/peterwindsor) you will find recent interviews with three of Autosport’s top journalists – Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman and Ben Anderson.  I asked all three to predict their AGP winner, so that should be of help.

In addition, I asked Rob Wilson (above, with a disguised F1 Racing Editor, Anthony Rowlinson, pictured after a recent TRE filming session) for his top eight. Rob is not only one of the world’s leading driver coaches and regular guest on The Racer’s Edge but also a remarkably perceptive motor racing observer. His list is a little specialized, as you would expect with a guy who also plays bass for Grand Prairie, but he nonetheless diligently exercised his grey cells when we asked him for his selections. And don’t forget that Rob has worked closely with ten of the F1 drivers who will be starting the 2014 season in Melbourne. This is his top eight for the Australian GP:

1  Kimi Raikkonen

2 Sergio Perez

3 Valtteri Bottas

4 Jenson Button

5 Felipe Massa

6 Nico Rosberg

7 Esteban Gutierrez

8 Kevin Magnussen

Obviously Rob’s counting on a few of the fancied runners (Lewis, for example, and Fernando) having mechanical dramas and he’s also clearly discounting the Renault runners at this stage (although he did nominate Daniel Ricciardo to finish P9).

Anyway, that’s Rob’s list.  Now you have a go.  There are 20 races from which to accumulate points, so don’t be too discouraged if you don’t get it right first time. (Indeed, seeing as how I think Lewis is going to win in Melbourne, I guess this is something I should be saying to Rob!).

Disclaimer:  Although I’m a GPTours fan, I should make it clear that I work with the company at selected races on the F1 calendar, talking to the guests and interviewing drivers.

 

 

Posted in F1, The Racer's Edge and tagged , , , , , ,
24 Nov 2013
3 Comments

The final race

I was fortunate to be able to spend a little time with Mark Webber as he prepared for his last F1 race – the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.  We met early on Friday morning, at the Grand Hyatt in Sao Paulo, and chatted together en route to the circuit.  Mark’s demeanour, I think, said it all:  he was happy with his decision to retire from F1;  equally, he is looking forward not only to some time off with family, friends and menagerie but also to a new challenge with Porsche in 2014.

Posted in F1, The Racer's Edge and tagged , , , , , , ,
24 Oct 2013
2 Comments

From F3/GP3 straight into F1…

We had a lot of fun with this week’s show, which probably explains why it’s a little bit longer than normal.  So many excellent people with whom to talk!  I won’t give too much away, but suffice to say that we catch up with Scuderia Toro Rosso’s new signing for 2014 (Daniil Kvyat); with the versatile Alex Wurz (after his win for Toyota in last Sunday’s Fuji Six Hours); with the eloquent Karun Chandhok (on the eve of his home Grand Prix, hoping, obviously that the race will be on again in 2015); with the talented Italian, Raffaele Marciello, the new Euro F3 Champion; and, in the studio, keeping me honest, the Editor of F1 Racing, Anthony Rowlinson. In between all of this we also manage to look at some amazing retro F1 colour schemes (as applied to a current F1 car); to see some recent footage shot from a drone over Brands Hatch (it’s amazing, believe me); and to compare start-line reaction times with Pastor Maldonado. But that’s enough of me. Enjoy Episode 34.

 

Posted in F1, The Racer's Edge and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
03 Oct 2013
2 Comments

Another one for Seb?

In this week’s edition of The Racer’s Edge I had a lot of fun with some of my favourite people, namely the supremely-talented World Series by Renault Championship leader, Kevin Magnussen; Sweden’s F3 maestro, Felix Rosenqvist; my mate Rob Wilson; and Ant Rowlinson, Editor of F1 Racing.   You’ll know Kevin and Felix from previous shows – and I make no excuse for inviting them on again.  If these guys aren’t serious racing drivers, and future F1 winners, then I’m a soccer-loving couch potato who only likes motor racing when there’s lots of overtaking.  Calm, quiet exteriors belie the razor-sharp minds of both of them. I caught up with Rob as he drove to a speaking engagement in Derbyshire and the conversation took the usual turns:  drivers he’s been training recently, the passing of George Bignotti, the mystique that is Michael Schumacher, the closing of Mallory Park.  You know, the usual things.  And Mr Rowlinson, speaking on what he said was a new, ultra-fast internet link (!), did a very nice job of taking us through the latest edition of his mag.  You’ll love his background story to Fernando Alonso’s “selfie” – a word I learnt only recently (from Sharon Swart, the very attractive and intelligent daughter of Ed and Sally Swart – Sally as in Sally “Jim Clark” Stokes).  Sharon is an accomplished film producer, based in California, you might be interested to know.   Anyway, she encouraged me to take some “selfies” when we drove Jim’s Elan around Goodwood recently and this was the result.IMG_0812  Fernando, for his part, certainly did the job with Lorenzo’s iPhone in Monza.   Anyway, this being the build-up to the – wait for it – Korean Grand Prix, I asked a couple of our guests what they thought about F1 at present – about Seb Vettel’s domination.  The answers, I think, you’ll find amusing.

Posted in The Racer's Edge and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
04 Mar 2013
38 Comments

The Racer’s Edge

TRE_1920x1080Welcome to The Racer’s Edge – your weekly, live, F1 chat show brought to you in association with F1 Racing magazine. You can watch it either here or on our host YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/peterwindsor); on both locations you will find a countdown to the next live show and on the YT channel you will in addition be able to watch previous episodes on-demand. Here we will be featuring comments and updates from some of the show’s regular guests, including Craig Scarborough, Rob Wilson, Enrique Scalabroni and the journalists at F1 Racing. The show will be based from May onwards at a new studio at Haymarket Publishing in Teddington but we’ll be on-the-road, too, starting Wednesday, March 13, when we’ll be broadcasting to you live (on YouTube) from the offices of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation in Melbourne, Australia. A week later we’ll be live from Malaysia.

Already the season is looking mouthwateringly close. You may like to take a look at the latest edition of F1 Racing for your full guide to the season;  it’s a big read, so give it some space. At some point you may come across the  preview feature I wrote (before the recent tests started in Jerez and Barcelona).  Twelve months ago I opted for Fernando Alonso to win the championship, so, this year – rather than stating the obvious (which is that both Fernando and Sebastian Vettel naturally have great chances to win) – I’ve gone for the new Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton. I know many people are expecting him to be ultra-quick in 2014, when the new engine regulations come into play, but I think he’s also in great shape this year, too. I could be wrong, of course – I was last year, by a point or seven! – but there you are.

My column in F1 Racing this month is about how certain races – the Australian and French Grands Prix, to give but two examples – belong on the F1 calendar – and in the next edition of the magazine I’ll be analysing the driving styles of the 2013 F1 drivers and why some of them – but not all – will be well-placed to take advantage of this year’s Pirelli tyres.

I hope you enjoy the new show. You’ll be able to post live comments on Twitter (#trelive) and send in questions to our Facebook wall (www.facebook.com/theracersedgetv). For now, I hope I make you all envious with a shot I took this morning from Newport Beach, Sydney.  Call it  “dawn of the new season”.

S2310027

Posted in F1, The Racer's Edge and tagged , , , , ,

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