Karun Chandhok - HRT F1 2010

The 2010 HRT F1 driver Karun Chandhok is to be replaced at the German Grand Prix by Sakon Yamamoto following his impressive performance at the Silverstone Grand Prix when he drove in place of  Bruno Senna.

The 28-year-old driver ended the British Grand Prix in 20th position for the Hispania Racing team and has been given a second opportunity to drive this time alongside Senna.

Chandhok is expected to race again later in the season with team test driver Christian Klein stating that from now onwards any of the four drivers may get a chance at the race seats.

The Japanese driver has completed 15 Grand Prix starts, initially with the Spyker team now Force India and then the Super Aguri team before joining the HRT F1 team as a test driver in April of this year.

Yamamoto said in an interview;

“The last race weekend was very exciting for me. Now, the team has given me another chance to race on Sunday and I will do my best to prove that it was the right decision.

“I have a lot of good memories of the circuit in Hockenheim. I like the track layout with the passing point at the end of the long straight and also the Stadium sector, which is very challenging. There is always a nice atmosphere with the spectators at the grandstands and I am always looking forward to come back to Hockenheim. Compared to Silverstone, I think we are more competitive and we can achieve a good result again.”

Mark Webber - Red Bull's No.2 Driver

Mark Webber is now lying in third place in the F1 championship standings after crossing the line to take the chequered flag at yesterdays British Grand Prix at the newly modernised Silverstone circuit.

Webber was still smarting from the team decision to give his Red Bull team mate the newly developed front wing off of his car just before the start of the qualifying session after the one fitted to Sebastian Vettel’s car broke during the morning session, leaving the German driver to go on and secure pole position.

The Australian driver led the race from the very first corner as he squeezed his car in front of his team-mate Vettel, who in turn touched wheels with the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, damaging the rear wheel of the Red Bull and was forced to return to the pits for new tyres.

Webber set fastest lap after fastest lap ahead of Hamilton and third place man Robert Kubica in the Renault, Nico Rosberg for Mercedes and Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari.  Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa appeared to make contact as they battled for position resulting in the Brazilian driver heading back to the pits after a puncture.

Kubica retired from the race after suffering a driveshaft failure on his car leaving Rosberg the chance at the third step of the podium while a challenging Jenson Button stayed on his tail after moving up from fourteenth place on the grid to fourth.

The safety car was deployed on lap 28 of the race after Force India driver Adrian Sutil ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa in the BMW Sauber as they headed down the pit straight, littering the circuit with debris.  The incident played nicely into the hands of Vettel who began to work his way back through the field despite making contact with Sutil after finally getting past without either drivers suffering any problems.

Webber, who had created a gap of over 7 seconds on Hamilton until the safety car, finished the race 1.3 seconds ahead of the McLaren driver who was followed by Rosberg and Button.

In fifth place was the Williams driver Rubens Barrichello ahead of the BMW Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi and Vettel who finished in an impressive seventh place from the back of the field.

Adrian Sutil crossed the line in eighth place followed by Michael Schumacher in ninth and the second Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg in tenth.

It was a disastrous weekend for the Ferrari team after Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa’s starting incident and then later Alonso was given a drive-through penalty for taking a short cut when overtaking Kubica on lap 17.  His penalty coincided with the deployment of the safety car which moved him from 4th place back to 15th and out of the points.

The Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari suffered brake failure just 7 laps from the end of the race while Lucas di Grassi failed to finish the race due to an hydraulics problem in the Virgin car.

Here are the results;

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 52 laps 1hr 24m 38.200s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1.3s
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +21.3s
4. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +21.9s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +31.4s
6. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +32.1s
7. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +36.7s
8. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +40.9s
9. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +41.5s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +42.0s

all times unofficial

The two British drivers take time out from their hectic training schedules to give their thoughts on the track at Silverstone, their preparations for this weekend, and what their expectations will be for a Grand Prix on home soil.

The pair also speak about what they’ve been doing in their down time whilst back home in Britain since Valencia two weeks ago.

Jenson Button MBE

This years British F1 Grand Prix takes place on the weekend of 9-11 July at the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire despite the 2009 Grand Prix being hailed as the last before moving the location to Donington Park for 2010.

Donington Park, having failed to raise the required funds for the event, returned the Formula 1 race back to the newly improved circuit of Silverstone.

With Jenson Button being awarded an MBE recently from Buckingham Palace will his winning streak continue at the British Grand Prix for the McLaren team or could it be his team-mate and fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton that stands on the top step of the podium?

Last years British Grand Prix was won by the Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel who dominated the race from start to finish after starting on pole position.

Vettel was followed across the line by his team-mate Mark Webber for a Red Bull 1-2 finish and without any of the problems faced at this seasons last round, when Vettel took Webber out while the Australian, who is currently the championship leader was out in front at Turkey.

The Silverstone circuit has recently had a make-over with many of the new grandstands now completed as part of the multi-million pound investment to modernise the circuit.

Silverstone Circuits Limited along with its owners the British Racing Drivers’ Club unveiled the new circuit with a major new section of the track, tested out by David Coulthard in a Red Bull F1 along with Damon Hill who had a special passenger in his two -seater, His Royal Highness the Duke of York.

Also on circuit were the motorcycling father and son combination  Ron and Leon Haslam representing the worlds of MotoGP and World Superbikes.

The circuits new Stowe Complex, a collection of customer focused test track facilities is based along with hospitality units and Pit garages, has also now been officially opened and work on the new Silverstone Pit and Paddock complex is now well underway.

The majority of the circuit has remained the same under the new designs but now drivers will turn right at Abbey before heading into the new Arena Complex, rejoining the existing track at Brooklands where previously the drivers would have headed into Farm Straight, Bridge and Priory.

Silverstone claims to have created three new overtaking opportunities with the new layout which got the approval of David Coulthard after his first test session who said,  “I’ve raced at Silverstone since 1989 so I’ve seen many different tracks, configurations and this one is one of the best they have come up with.”

The British F1 GP is an event not to be missed, where you can watch some of the greatest Formula One drivers of our time in an exhilarating battle of speed and determination as the teams and compete for the 2010 Championship titles.

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Damon Hill

A press conference in London today confirmed that the British Racing Drivers’ Club have reached an agreement to host the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for the next 17-years.

The BRDC president Damon Hill said;

“It is not easy to enter into a contract of this magnitude and you have to take on a lot of responsibility, but the BRDC wanted this relationship to continue – we were prepared to back the negotiating team with the level of risk satisfactory for the deal to go ahead.

The title of Silverstone as home of motorsport has come true. It is a place for all motorsport. Everyone in the BRDC loves motorsport and we are looking forward to the MotoGP as well as the British Grand Prix.

This long-term contract will enable us to continue with our plans to develop Silverstone into a world class facility, bringing the venue into line with the very best sports facilities in the world for the benefit of all race goers, teams, drivers and fans.”