Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: German GP

Controversy reigns supreme in this year's German GP. The 25th July race was won by Scuderia Ferrari's Fernando Alonso ahead of his team-mate Felipe Massa, the team's first one-two of the season. But the victory was shrouded by controversy of team orders within the famous scarlet team when Massa, who was leading for 49 of 67 laps, was ordered by team boss Stefano Domenicalli and chief engineer Rob Smedley to let Alonso pass him. "Alonso is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand the message?" Smedley radioed to Massa. After the move 18 laps from the end, Smedley radioed Massa again, "Good lad - just stick with it now, sorry." A stony faced Massa told the media after the race that he would not comment on the messages, but said he was just helping the team. On the other hand, a jovial Alonso commented that the car was perfectly set-up and that he thought that Massa was having gearbox problem and that he was just doing what was natural: overtake his team-mate. During the start of the race, pole-sitter Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel tried to block off a charging Alonso, who started 2nd. Massa, directly behind Vettel in 3rd, took advantage of the front duo's antics and ran to the front without much problem. From then Massa was leading the race until the controversial overtaking move. Vettel finished 3rd from the sluggish start and was emotional for taking a spot on the podium in his home race. Lotus Racing F1 Team on the other hand endured another disappointing race with both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen retiring due to gearbox problem and accident damage respectively after a strong qualifying performance on Saturday, with Trulli starting from 18th and Kovalainen on 19th.

Charity Concert 2010

With this year being my last, I thought it'd be a great idea for me to attend my school's Charity Concert this year. Held at SRJK (C) Choong Wen's badminton hall on the 25th of July, the event was actually better than I had initially thought. There were shows and stuff, but the saddest thing about the event is it was also Mr Ong Poh Lye and Mr Lou Boon Chai's retirement party of sorts. Mr Ong is my Bahasa Malaysia teacher and Mr Lou is my Physics teacher. Although I admit that we don't really pay much attention during their class, they are probably the best teacher in their respective field. There isn't much else I could say besides that the event was successful and fun, so here's two pictures that I took at the event.

Hari Pameran 2010

My school's Hari Pameran this year would be my last. After much hype by my friend Timothy Tan, I was hoping to see our very own police force's Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X highway patrol vehicles up close and get a feel of the car by sitting in it. But all that came was the Federal Reserve Unit's Scania truck. Initial thoughts was, "Damn it! Where's the Evo?!". All things considered, it was quite cool to see it, actually. How often do you get to see an FRU truck, let alone being able to climb up and sit in it? My thoughts exactly. My day started out waiting for my club to set-up our exhibits of the day, but the officers from the Jabatan Penerangen was not there until almost noon, so all I did was hang around with the police cadets and wait for their show vehicles to come while at the same time running around doing errands for teachers. After assembly was over I took my time walking about the school with my Form 6 friends, talking lots of craps and dissing things that desn't fancy us (what's so nice about the 'Haunted House' anyway? It's been the same every year after all!). Come 11.30 a.m when I was supposed to be on duty for 2 hours at my club's exhibition booth, I was told that I can discharge myself at 12.00 p.m because the officers will be off by that time (WOW!! That was some easy job, eh? XD ). By almost 12.30 I stationed myself at the school gates and watched out for people trying to run out of school before 3.00, the time when everyone goes back. Pandemonium broke out when one of the teachers said that we would be going back at 3.30 instead. Everyone got pretty angry when we heard that because according to the letter of informant issued the day before it says that school would be over at 3.00. More problem ensued when some parents came up to me and demanded to know what was this about. As I have no clear idea on what caused that change, I brought them to the principal's office to discuss the problem. But alas all was settled and the school gates were finally opened to all at the original time of 3.00. All in all, this year's Hari Pameran is better than the years before not just because it is my last year in school, but in terms of exhibits and fun that everyone had.

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: British GP

Controversy, team favouritism and unpredictable weather became the focus of the British GP on the 11th of July. Race winner Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing had an unhappy weekend as he believed his team was treating him as a number two driver after team management decided to take his car's new rear wing and hand it to team-mate Sebastian Vettel after the German damaged his on Friday practice seesion. To rub salt to the wound, Vettel managed to qualify ahead of him on Saturday afternoon. But all that changed from the start of the race. Vettel had too much wheelspin upon acceleration and lost his position to Webber on the first corner and struggled throughout the race, finishing his race in 7th place. Current championship leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren finished in 2nd with Mercedes Petronas GP's Nico Rosberg behind him. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa of Scuderia Ferrari had a race to forget after finishing 14th and 15th respectively, with the Spaniard running afoul with the Safety Car again after the previous round in Valencia of the European GP. Lotus Racing F1 Team, meanwhile managed to get both cars to cross the chequered flag for the first time since the Australian GP in March.

If You Come Back - Blue

For all this time
I've been lovin' you girl
Oh yes I have
And ever since the day you left me here alone
I've been trying to find
Oh the reason why

So if I did something wrong please tell me
I wanna understand
'Cause I don't want this love to ever end

And I swear
If you come back in my life
Baby till the end of time
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yeah (in my life)
And I swear
I'll keep you right by my side
'Cause baby you're the one I want
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yes you are (in my life)

I watched you go
You've taken
My heart with you
Oh yes you did
Every time
I tried to reach you
On the phone
Baby you're never there
Girl you're never home

So if I did something wrong please tell me
I wanna understand
'Cause I don't want this love to ever end
No, no, no, no

I swear
If you come back in my life
Baby till the end of time
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yeah (in my life)
And I swear
I'll keep you right by my side
'Cause baby you're the one I want
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yes you are (in my life)

Maybe I didn't know how to show it
And maybe I didn't know what to say
And this I won't disguise
Then we can build our lives
And we can be as one

I swear
If you come back in my life
Baby till the end of time
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yeah (in my life)
And I swear
I'll keep you right by my side (by my side)
'Cause baby you're the one I want
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yes you are (in my life)
I swear
If you come back in my life
Baby till the end of time (come back to me)
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yeah (in my life)
And I swear
I'll keep you right by my side
'Cause baby you're the one I want
(Come back to me, come back to me)
Oh yes you are (in my life)

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: European GP

Once again, the F1 circus returns to Spain on the 27th June for the European GP round. Held at the streets of Valencia, Lotus celebrated their 500th race in a race full of controversy. In the race won by Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel, his team-mate Mark Webber was involved in a huge accident when he ran into rhe rear of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus on lap 8, flipping his car into the air before ending up in the tyre barriers. Kovalainen's race was effectively ended with his rear spoiler flew off in the incident. Soon the Safety Car was called into action for 4 laps, during which 2nd place man Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes pitted for fresh tyres and was deemed to have overtaken the Safety Car illegally when he was exiting from the pits. Lewis was handed a drive-through penalty 15 laps down the road but still kept his 2nd position until the end of the race. Jenson Button had a tough battle with Sauber Ferrari's Kamui Kobayashi for 3rd place, which saw the defending world champion grabbing the final podium spot when Kobayashi had to pit with few laps remaining for tyres. Kovalainen's team-mate Jarno Trulli suffered steering problems early in the race, but managed to soldier the car on, albeit down 4 laps from the race winner. Kovalainen said after the race, "First of all it's good news that both of us are ok. Mark had a hardcore flight, and it could have ended up much worse, so it's good we're both fine. It's such a shame the race ended that early - I was going really well, pulling away from the guys behind by about half a second a lap, and with Mark we were racing for position so I was always going to defend. I didn't do anything wrong and he just ran into me. I think he missed his braking point and he ran into me at a very bad angle - his front tyre hit my right rear and he took off. I had to make a mandatory visit to the medical centre, and shook hands with Mark there, but I'm absolutely fine, and glad Mark is too." Trulli was equally disappointed too. "Obviously it was a very disappointing end to our 500th race. Jarno got hit at the start, and we had to change the nose. He also took a hit at the back, and that caused a gearbox problem. We were able to fix that and send him out again, although he was three laps down. He was held up by some of the other slower cars, but at the end of the race he was able to push and really show the car's pace. Heikki had an accident with Webber - he was defending his line and racing for position, and that's what we will always do in that situation. It's just a great shame, and we're very glad that neither driver was hurt." Team boss Datuk Tony Fernandes sums up the teams feelings, "Heikki's accident is part of racing. It's a shame as both cars are coming on really well, but there is some good to take out of this. Despite being hit, Jarno managed to finish the race, and at the end it was great to hear him say 'the car is bloody good!'. Overall it's been a very positive weekend, with a good Qualifying session and lots of very positive meetings and good decisions made for next year. It's also been a pleasure having the Chapman family here, and now we're all looking forward to bringing Lotus Racing back to the UK and racing in front of the British fans."