McLaren China

Throughout the 2010 F1 season Johnnie Walker Black Label celebrated their partnership with the Vodafone McLaren F1 team by shooting a series of short films that offer an intimate and unique insight into the world of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton alongside the unsung heroes of the McLaren team as they prepared on and off the circuit for what was probably tyhe best F1 season in a long time.

Johnnie Walker Black Label are making the films available via their Step Inside the Circuit series, enabling fans to travel with the drivers to some of the most famous and exciting race locations in the Grand Prix calendar.

Exclusive behind the scenes photographs are also scheduled for release which capture the stylish and sophisticated world of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button as Grand Prix drivers.

Buzzin F1 will feature the videos here on this blog with Johnnie Walker Black Label promising content that no race fans will have seen before.

Former World Champion and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team driver Jenson Button said: “This is a unique opportunity for people to see me, Lewis and the team in our natural environment and should give people a true appreciation of what we get up to behind the scenes and the hard work and effort that goes into creating a winning team.”

The Legend of Mclaren

Meet the Vodafone McLaren F1 team

To coincide with the launch a Johnnie Walker Black Label limited edition pack has been produced. The Johnnie Walker Gold Pass pack will provide opportunities to win ‘one of a kind’ motorsport experiences and prizes, including an incredible money can’t buy chance to live the glamorous lifestyle by joining Lewis and Jenson in Monaco over the Grand Prix weekend in May 2011. Others can also visit the Johnnie Walker Step Inside Facebook page for the chance to win spot prizes and see the films first as they are released.

This video features fans favourite Mark Webber and young driver Daniel Ricciardo putting the RB6 through its paces on the race track in Perth.

Asked to define one moment that stood out this season, Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey says he would pick the moment when he knew that Red Bull had produced a fast car with the RB6.

‘Wind-tunnel testing is one thing, but you can never be sure. Not even pole position at the first race will guarantee you’ll still be competitive at the last race. The development race between the teams during the season has become so tough, this is something people outside of Formula One don’t fully realize.

So my ‘Magic Moment’ has to be the Brazilian GP, when we fought back after that disastrous Grand Prix in Korea two weeks earlier, where we lost both cars. Brazil showed how strong this team really is,  it proved our character and it was very, very special.’

Fernando Alonso

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso couldn’t manage to pass Sebastian Vettel in Abu Dhabi in the race for the 2010 F1 World Championship title, but off the track he has been voted the Driver Of The Year by the Principals of the F1 Racing Teams.

Using the exact same scoring system as is applied to the racing on the track, the Team Principals handed the verdict to Alonso with 229 points to Vettel’s 220.

Nothing could take the place of acheiving the World Championship Drivers title on the track of course, but the consolation was accepted by the Spanish driver as recognition for what he himself considered a remarkable first year with the Ferrari team.

Alonso said;

“I am very pleased to learn that the majority of team principals chose me as their best driver of the year, even if it goes without saying that I would have preferred to receive that accolade in the guise of world champion,” commented Fernando. “It is yet another reason to claim this has been an amazing season, despite the disappointment at the final hurdle. The team and I fought all the way to the very end, without ever giving up, even when it all seemed like a lost cause: we staged a remarkable comeback. Next year, we will be looking to do better, but I will still remember 2010 as a wonderful year.”

Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali made no secret about where his vote went and said;

“I am pleased and proud that Fernando has been rated by my fellow team principals as the best driver of this past year: he had a fantastic season. It is hardly a secret that he is a talented driver, but I must say, on behalf of everyone at Ferrari, that it was an honour for us to work with him from the human perspective. Fernando was a driving force and our aim next year will be to give him and Felipe a car which is competitive at the very highest level, right from the first race.”

While finishing first on its own did not ensure Vettel would win the title, team tactics at Red Bull of bringing team mate Mark Webber in early for new tyres and a change of strategy although effectively ending the Australian’s own title bid, played right into the hands of the young German.

It was Ferrari’s response to the early pitting of Webber, in choosing to cover the move by bringing their own title favourite Fernando Alonso in, that was surprising and ultimately cost both drivers dearly.

One could be forgiven for thinking it was the best team tactic of the season by Red Bull, a huge bluff that caught Ferrari off guard and their needless response in following suit would have put a huge smile on the faces of the Red Bull team.

Of course it would be wrong to make that assumption as both drivers should have had the pace and experience to put themselves back into contention during the race, despite being compromised by their teams when rejoining the race behind a string of cars that had already made their own pit stops on a track renowned for its lack of overtaking.

So it was left to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button to try and spoil the party for Red Bull and for a while in the race it looked as though one or the other might just be able to pull something out of the bag.

But as he has proved all season, Vettel is a tough driver to beat and so long as his car is running it is a safe bet that he will win the race.

For the other contenders, Hamilton, Button and Alonso will have more chances to add to their own titles in the future, but you can’t help but feel for Webber, the oldest of the group who may never have a better chance of claiming a title.

I feel that the fastest, most consistent driver over the season eventually got his just rewards in winning the title, but I also feel that Webber has been treated as second best, if that, by the Red Bull team throughout.

Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg who was the surprise pole sitter at Interlagos, was soon overtaken by the drivers competing for this years title and as expected it was Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso who led the rest for most of the race.

While Lewis Hamilton kept his name in the frame for the championship his chances of winning his second world title this year will rely on the top three drivers failing to finish the race in Abu Dhabi.

Which is more than can be said for his McLaren team mate Jenson Button, whose fifth place on Sunday effectively rules him out of the title hunt and dreams of back to back titles.

Looking ahead to Abu Dhabi this coming weekend, Ferrari driver Alonso leads the way with 246 championship points, with Red Bull’s Mark Webber on 238 and Vettel 231. Outsider Lewis Hamilton has amassed 222 points.

Alonso has said that he is 100% confident of claiming the title in Abu Dhabi, knowing that if he finishes second in the final race of the year it will be enough to secure his third world championship.

Should Vettel win the last race Alonso will only have to finish in the top four places, so you would imagine the perfect result for Red Bull would be for Webber to win the race and effectively the championship by being followed home by his team mate Vettel, relegating Alonso to a maximum third place finish.

There is bound to be a lot of pressure on both teams on Saturday as the limited overtaking possibilities in Abu Dhabi will mean that each of the drivers will drive the wheels of their cars to get on pole position, but even that will count for nothing if they are unable to capitalise on that in the race.

With both Hamilton and Button out of the hunt I imagine most British fans will be rooting for Mark Webber on Sunday, many feel he has been treated a s a second driver to Vettel despite team boss Christian Horner saying otherwise and it would be a great to see the Australian have the last laugh.

Vettel and co will have other opportunities in the future, but for Webber you can’t help feeling this maybe his final chance to claim the ultimate prize in F1.

For Button to succeed it would need the top four drivers to either not finish, or finish out of the points in the final two races and even then Button would have to do what frankly seems impossible and win both races.

McLaren team mate and 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton is better placed to pull something out of the bag, but historically the McLarens have not been strong enough in Brazil to expect the British driver to get a win.

The Red Bull’s of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel have been fastest all season and had they managed to finish all of the races would surely be in pole position for one or the other to clinch the title.

They are the real contenders in my view along with Fernando Alonso, who is the only driver currently able to claim the title in Brazil.

Alonso is indeed the man in form going into the weekend having won three of the last four races in a Ferrari that has proved itself in previous seasons in Brazil.

In this interview Lewis Hamilton sums up his race in Korea and his thoughts on the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend.

Heavy rain had led to a ten minute delay in the start of the Korean Grand Prix and when it was deemed safe to start the race it was done so under the Safety Car, lasting just three laps before being red flagged.

It was forty eight minutes before the race got back under way and even then it was necessary to start behind the Safety Car, with half hour passing before normal racing was able to begin.

With Sebastian Vettel controlling the race from the front and Red Bull team mate Mark Webber in second, Fernando Alonso was able to keep in touch with the leaders in third place.

Light rain was still falling when on lap nineteen, Mark Webber lost control of his car, spinning across the track and bouncing back on narrowly avoiding the following Ferrari of Alonso, but collecting the fourth place Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and ending the race for both the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers.

It was all the more upsetting to see Rosberg involved through no fault of his own after displaying some brilliant aggressive driving to force himself past Lewis Hamilton into fourth place earlier on, in what was the Mercedes drivers best drive for some time.

Another frustrating Safety Car period followed as the debris was cleared from the track conditions appeared to be improving, McLaren’s Jenson Button was the first intothe pits to switch to intermediate tyres, emerging behind a traffic jam of cars in what was already a dreadful day for the current World Champion.

Another crash involving Sebastien Buemi and Timo Glock brought the Safety Car out yet again and Alonso and Hamilton entered the pit lane together for a change of tyres.

The Ferrari team had trouble with the front right wheel nut, giving McLaren the edge as Hamilton emerged from the pit lane some distance ahead of Alonso. But as the race got back underway Hamilton lost his car going into the first corner allowing the wiley Spaniard to claim the place back.

A hapless Button was forced back even further down the field following one of the many incidents in the race involving Adrian Sutil, who appeared to be having the time of his life spinning his car off the track and forcing other drivers to take evasive action with his uncontrolled late braking manoeuvres, totally oblivious to the madness of it all.

The Force India driver was penalised after the race with a five place grid penalty as well as being fined $10,000 for his irresponsible driving while knowing that he had a brake problem! Torro Roso’s Buemi also penalised for his crash with Glock and taking a five place grid penalty.

Back to the race and Alonso looked to be closing the gap on Vettel but still some way behind the German driver as dusk started to close in, the Red Bull driver understandably moaning on the radio to his team complaining that visibility was getting bad.

And then on lap 46 the Red Bull engine gave up, ending Vettel’s race and the Ferrari breezed past to lead the Grand Prix. Darkness was descending by the time that Fernado Alonso took the chequered flag, winning the race and putting himself in the driving seat for the Drivers Championship.

Korean Grand Prix Results:

Position     Driver     Race Time
1     F Alonso     2:48:20.810
2     L Hamilton     2:48:35.809
3     F Massa     2:48:51.678
4     M Schumacher     2:49:00.498
5     R Kubica     2:49:08.544
6     V Liuzzi     2:49:14.381
7     R Barrichello     2:49:30.067
8     K Kobayashi     2:49:38.699
9     N Heidfeld     2:49:40.917
10     N Hulkenberg     2:49:41.661

Drivers Championship Leaderboard:

Driver     Points
1      F Alonso       231
2     M Webber     220
3     L Hamilton    210
4     S Vettel          206
5     J Button        189
6      F Massa       143
7      R Kubica     124
8      N Rosberg   122
9      M Schumacher     66
10      R Barrichello     47

The race is far from over for the McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and anything can and does happen in F1, but they will certainly need a good result on the new track in Korea to have any chance of topping the drivers championship come the end of season.

Lewis Hamilton takes time out to reflect on his first race finish in three at the Japan Grand Prix and gives his thoughts on the new and untested circuit in Korea and how he has prepared for a track that he has never raced on.

Still optimistic over his chances of winning this years championship, listen to what Hamilton has to say here;

Britons Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth and fifth respectively, with Hamilton’s recent run of poor results continuing in Japan when he lost third gear during the race while well ahead of his team mate.

Hamilton had already been penalised for the McLaren team illegally changing the gearbox prior to the race and had paid the penalty of a five place grid penalty.

The former World Champion fought his way into contention as Button paid the price for making the wrong tyre choice and can count himself lucky that he was able to pass Hamilton with ten laps of the race remaining.

The race at Suzuka had started in spectacular style from the off when Petrov in the Renault clipped Hulkenberg’s slow-starting Williams, and Massa, trying too hard to make up for an appalling qualifying, lost control after putting a wheel on the grass trying to cut through on the inside and wiped out the unfortunate Liuzzi’s Force India.

Robert Kubica in contrast had made a spectacular start in his Renault, edging into second place ahead of Webber, but under the Safety Car the rear right wheel of the Renault disappeared down the track leaving Kubica stranded as the race got back under way.

Webber now has a 14-point championship lead, with Alonso second, tied on points with Vettel in third. Hamilton slips to fourth, with Button in fifth, with just three races remaining.

Japan Grand Prix result:

1      S Vettel      1:30:27.323
2     M Webber     1:30:28.228
3     F Alonso     1:30:30.044
4      J Button     1:30:40.845
5     L Hamilton     1:31:06.918
6     M Schumacher     1:31:27.256
7     K Kobayashi     1:31:31.361
8     N Heidfeld     1:31:36.971
9     R Barrichello    1:31:38.136
10     S Buemi     1:31:40.187

Mark Webber is currently leading the race for the F1 title and Button has one eye firmly fixed on the Australian’s performance in Japan this weekend, hoping to outperform the Red Bull cars on the Suzuka circuit to close the gap between himself and the championship leader.

As well as loving Japan as a country, Button reveals that Suzuka is his favourite track on the calendar and how much he is looking forward to racing there this weekend.

He gives his thoughts on the controversial f duct design, obviously considering it a great thing, but also his belief that it will help McLaren in their quest for victory over the last four races.

Watch Jenson Button’s Inside Track interview here: