rFactor: Driving Simulator

The recent discovery of a simulator racing game called "rFactor" has taught me a lot about car control. As the name 'simulator' implies, cars are all made with physics as authentic or as close as their real-life counterparts. Driving each and every car can be a real challenge and fun, because you will learn about what different engines and tunings can do to one's car. This game can be downloaded from rFactor's own website. Just Google "rFactor download". Even cars can be downloaded and added into the game yourself. If you know what you want, again just Google it.

For me, I play this mainly for the sake of racing. Most of the time though, I am learning and practising drifting, putting all the drift theories that I have learned by myself to test. Playing in game also allows me drift without the need to worry about crashing a real car. It all works as I know, although some of the drift skills does not work well in this game and requires some re-think of my own to make them work.

Overall though, this is a very good game and I highly recommend it to any petrolheads out there who is looking a driving game that is real and challenging.

Some screenshots from the game.

Achilles Radial Formula Drift Malaysia 2012: Return Of The Prince!

March 19th and 20th marks the return of Achilles Radial Formula Drift Malaysia. While it may seem that the Malaysian round of  last year's race was only held in November, this year Malaysia has been given the honour to host the first round of the series. After 2 years of drifting in the heart of Kuala Lumpur at Dataran Merdeka, the Formula Drift circus moved to Speed City KL, a place dedicated to hosting motorsport events. SCKL, as it is known to petrol heads, opened its doors to the public nearly 2 years ago. Located at the car park of the Selangor Turf Club in Seri Kembangan, the place was given a thorough revamp just for this event. This year's race saw the return of Malaysia's very own Drift King, Tengku Djan Ley to the high-profile drift series after taking a year's hiatus to compete in the Thailand All-Star Drift Series. "The Prince of Drift", as he is affectionately knowned to his legion of fans, marked his comeback with a new car and sponsor in the form of M7 Japan. The 2009 and 2010 champion certainly lived up to his much-hyped return, earning the top spot in qualifying and pretty much obliterated the competition, only to be stopped by reigning champion Daigo Saito of Japan.

Although the number of competitors are smaller than last year (only 28 driver were in this race), there were no shortage of drama and excitement dished out by them. Many drivers also came with new and drool-worthy machines, including Daigo Saito's wild Achilles Radial-sponsored 1200 bhp Lexus IS250 C and a Chevrolet LS1-powered Nissan Silvia S15 driven by Singaporean Jansen Tan. Rain on race day also provided spectators with awe-inspiring races as drivers have to pull out all stops to drive as best as they could on a wet track. At the end of the day, Daigo Saito won the competition in a thrilling finale against fellow countryman Manabu Orido, which is very much like last year's final (also the same drivers against each other). Tengku Djan took 3rd to step on the last spot of the podium.

Revival Of A Momentum

Hello again guys! It's been a tough start to the 2012 year as I am not able to keep to my resolution to blog more often. But nevertheless, I'd try to write here as much as I can whenever I'm free. Life is college can be tough and stressful. Lots of assignments and quick deadlines. I failed my first semester and was lucky enough not having the need to re-sit the whole semester, as my chosen course (Product Design) is the less preferred course and thus, has lesser students (4 in total for my semester including myself, to be exact). Thus, all that was required of me was to re-submit the works for my failed subjects before semester 2 ends. I did that, and I passed both the first and second semester. Well, how's that for a revival? ;-D Hopefully I can keep this great momentum up.

2012 - End Of The World?

Happy New Year everyone! After a long period of inactivity on this blog of mine, it's time to bid farewell to 2011 and say "Hello" to the new year. Now, do allow me to do a little self-reflection of the year that has gone by.

2011 has been a pretty quiet year from me, as there wasn't many resolutions for me to fulfil. But that doesn't mean I never had much fun altogether! Fun number 1: I've finally made my way to study in college! YEAH!! The most surprising thing about attending college is that I made many friends pretty quickly on the first day itself. It used to take me a few days to get acquainted with my classmates during high school. Fun number 2: I've managed to hook up with a few real pro drifters as well as finally fulfilling my wish to meet my favourite drifter, who's also Malaysia's very own "Drift King", Tengku Djan Ley. He is a very friendly guy and easy to approach, as opposed to my initial first impressions of him. :P The other drifters that I've got to know are Ariff Johanis and his wife Jane Cheah. One of the surprise meets this year has got to be one of Japan's top racing drivers and drift legend, Manabu "Max" Orido. He was in town for the Achilles Radial Formula Drift Malaysia race, and had the opportunity to have his autograph and a picture taken with him too! Fun number 3: 2011 is also the year I start back my hobbby of collecting Hotwheels cars after many years of inactivity, and a great kick-start did I get when one of the first few cars I purchased happens to be one of my favourite Hondas ever. Fun number 4: I've finally visited Penang for the first time in my life! I was actually there for my cousin sister's wedding, but me and my family took the opportunity to visit wherever we can when our tight schedule permits.

There is a downside to 2011, though: my best friend, Mas Adrianna has migrated to Australia with her family. Although I feel happy for her that she's able to go to somewhere good and start her life all over again, I felt kinda lonely at times because I don't have anyone to talk and share my problems with. Other than this, everything's pretty much the same as before.

All in all, it's been a year that's filled with mixed emotions for me. While there wasn't as much for me to accomplish compared to 2010 (possibly my most productive year thus far), here's hoping that 2012 will be an even better year to me. And although many people believe 2012 spells the end of the world, I certainly wouldn't be sucked into such beliefs and will keep trying to achieve greatness in everything I do. So, first resolution for this year: to keep blogging more often! So here's me, signing out with the picture of me with "Max" Orido.

A Busy Month

I've had a pretty busy month. Well, pretty in the sense that I've managed to meet some famous Malaysian personalities! :P

First up: Goodyear Malaysia Drift Team's Ariff Johanis and Azrina Jane

Then I finally managed to meet my favourite drift racer who is also Malaysia's "Drift King", Tengku Djan Ley!

In the process, I also managed to get Abang Djan's (as I'd call him) autograph as well! Thanks Abang Djan! :D By the way, the car in the drawing is Abang Djan's car. :)

And finally, we have Felixia Yeap, Malaysia's first Playboy Bunny whom I met at the Falken Roadshow 2011 in 1 Utama.

The Passing Of A Great Man

Apple Inc. co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has passed away on 5th October 2011 at the age of 56, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Mr. Jobs was a visionary man, as he was one of the few people who saw into the future of the I.T world and almost single-handedly changed the landscape of it. His visions has seen Apple rolling out game-changing and iconic electronic devices such as the portable music player iPod and tablet computer iPad. There's no denying that these products have changed the way many people lived and communicate. It is an irony that Steve Jobs passing came a day after Apple launched the new iPhone 4S smartphone. Some people reckoned that Jobs lived to see that the company is now in the right hands and is going strong. Eventhough I am not a fan of the Apple iPhone, the iPod is one of my dream gadgets that I wished to own one day.

R.I.P Steve Jobs. You truly are a genius.

Waiting For A Beginning

How long has it been since I last blogged here? I have no idea. Looking back at my last post, it has been nearly 3 months already. Looks like my blog is being abandoned day by day. I really don't know what to blog about actually, plus all my college days are getting in my way. I can't believe the amount of work being piled on everyday for every single subject. College has been such fun! I realized that what my Uncle David told me last year was true, that art and design students think differently from the common crowd. This was somehow proven when I managed to click with so many new people on my first day and already made best friends with a few people. Compared back to my high school that would've taken me days. Indeed, me and my newfound friends are constantly agreeing on a lot of things and we rarely criticize each other. Indeed, a new era has begun. Anyways, one of my best friends will be leaving Malaysia at the end of this month, migrating to Australia with her mother. Hopefully I will be able to go to the airport and bid her my final farewell. While there is a light illuminating my path forward, there is one thing that I can never leave behind: regrets.

An Outing With A Best Friend

Back on Saturday, 16th July I had an outing with my best friend. It was a deal between me and her that I'd treat her to lunch if she gets better result than me during SPM (I placed the bet on her intentionally, because I know very well that she'd beat me at the end of the day and because I wanted to treat her to a meal before to migrates to Australia at the end of the year). After many months of delays due to her busy schedule, she was finally free on Saturday. I had only intend to treat her to lunch and then go shopping, but she then decided to treat me back to a movie as well because I had got my driving license a few weeks ago. So it was a fun-filled day for the both of us, going to Pizza Hut for our meal and watching 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2'. The movie was kinda good, and she kept telling me how she sad she feels that the whole Harry Potter movie series has come to an end because "it has been part of my life since 10 years ago". As for me, I'm just gonna miss the characters themselves, but both of us agree that the ending is kinda too simple to our liking. After the movie we went to the arcade, where she first-handedly see my driving skills in a game. She commented on the amount of seriousness I put into the game, to which I replied "it's just my concentration that makes me look serious". Later when it was time to part ways, I felt so reluctant to say farewell to her. Who knows it might be the last time we'll ever meet face-to-face?

History Made

July 9th 2011 was the day another story was added into Malaysian history. What am I talking about? It's the Bersih 2.0 march, an event created to call on the government for a fair and clean General Election. Supported by various NGOs and Opposition parties, the march saw people taking part going around town to create awareness of the campaign and later hand over a memorandum to the King. This caused downtown KL to become a deserted ghost town and motorist heading to town were caught in massive traffic jam due to police road blocks. Just by the severity of the gridlock can you already imagine how big the event was.

Back on my personal front and rewinding back to 4 days earlier, I had finally passed my driving test! Now if anyone asks if I have got a driving license, I can proudly answer them "yes". Too bad I won't be having my own car any sooner though (which also meant that my plans to buy that junked Datsun 240Z near my house and turn it into the "Devil Z" has gone up in smoke)... :(

Guilty - The Rasmus

I feel guilty
My words are empty
No signs to give you
Don't have the time for you
You say I'm heartless
And you say I don't care
I used to be there for you
And you've said I seem so dead
That I have changed but so have you

Guilty wohooooo...
Guilty I feel so
Empty yeaaaaaah...
Empty you know how to make me feel

I put a shield upon you
Didn't mean to hurt you
I would have only poisoned your mind
Never meant to make you cry
You've been so thoughtless
I can see right through you
You used to be there for me
Don't you leave say goodbye
Cause you have changed but so have I

Guilty wohooooo...
Guilty I feel so
Empty yeaaaaaah...
Empty you know how to make me feel

I never thought that the time and the distance between us made you so much colder
I'll carry the world on my shoulders

(Guilty) Wohooooo...
(Empty) Yeaaaaaah...
(Guilty) Guilty wohooooo...
Empty yeaaaaaah...

Guilty wohooooo...
Guilty I feel so
Empty yeaaaaaah...
Empty you know how to make me feel

Guilty wohooooo...
Empty yeaaaaaah...
You know how to make me feel

Guilty... (wohooooo...)
So guilty...
Empty (wohooooo...)
So empty

You know how to make me feel

In The Shadows - The Rasmus

No sleep... no sleep until I'm done with finding the answer
Won't stop... won't stop before I find a cure for this cancer
Sometimes... I feel like I went down and so disconnected
Somehow... I like I am haunted to be wanted

I've been watching, I've been waiting
In the shadows, for my time
I've been searching, I've been living
In the shadows, all my life...

In the shadows...

They say... that I must learn to kill before I can feel safe
But I... I'd rather kill myself than turn into their slaves
Sometimes... I feel like I should go and play with the thunder
Somehow... I just don’t wanna stay and wait for a wonder

I've been watching, I've been waiting
In the shadows, for my time
I've been searching, I've been living
In the shadows, all my life...

Lately,
I’ve been walking, walking in circles, watching, waiting for something
Feel me, touch me, heal me, come take me higher

I've been watching, I've been waiting
In the shadows, for my time
I've been searching, I've been living
In the shadows, all my life...

I've been watching.....
I've been waiting....
I've watching....
I've been living... for tomorrow...

In the shadows...

I've been watching.....

Back To December

It seems like it was only last month that I finished high school. Finishing high schools gives us more freedom to express our true selves through our appearances. Going to college opens up a new chapter in my life. Even then, some things just cannot change, and will not change. Forever.



I'm so glad you made time to see me
How's life? Tell me, how's your family
I haven't seen them in a while...
You've been good, busier than ever
We small talk, work and the weather
Your guard is up and I know why...
Because the last time you saw me
Is still burning in the back of your mind
You gave me roses, and I left them there to die...

So this is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you
Saying I'm sorry for that night...
And I go back to December all the time
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December turn around and make it all right
I go back to December all the time

These days, I haven't been sleeping
Staying up playing back myself leaving
When your birthday passed and I didn't call...
Then I think about summer, all the beautiful times
I watched you laughing from the passenger side
And realized I loved you in the fall...
And then the cold came, the dark days
When fear crept into my mind
You gave me all your love and all I gave you was goodbye...

So this is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you
Saying I'm sorry for that night...
And I go back to December all the time
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine...
I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time

I miss your tan skin, your sweet smile
So good to me, so right
And how you held me in your arms that September night
The first time you ever saw me cry
Maybe this is wishful thinking
Probably mindless dreaming
But if we loved again, I swear I'd love you right

I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't
So if the chain is on your door, I understand

This is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you
Saying I'm sorry for that night...
And I go back to December...

It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn around and make it all right
I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time

All the time...

Team Lotus Launches Their 2011 Formula 1 Car

Team Lotus, formerly known as Lotus Racing F1 Team, unveiled their latest F1 car online on January 31st 2011. Christened the T128, the new machine was completely new, with a split airbox design similar to the one seen on the Mercedes Petronas GP's 2010 car. The Lotus T128 will be the one of only two teams this year to use this airbox design (the other is Force India. Mercedes Petronas GP has reverted back to the conventional design for this season). It is also interesting to note that the T128 will run on Renault engines with Red Bull Technology gearboxes, which should boost their chances to achieve the team's aim to get around 50 points this year. Here is a sampling of what the people involved in the build of this project has to say:-

“I think that basically this car looks like a front-running car in every area. We said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams and I think that’s very achievable. The 2011 challenger is almost a totally new car.” – Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer.

“We’re definitely going to take a step forward with this car. Quite how much we’ll close the gap to the teams in front of us we’ll see, but my hope is we’ll be competing with the teams that were a second or two ahead of us last season.” – Elliot Dason-Barber, head of R&D and vehicle dynamics.

“You can just see that this car will be faster than last year’s. It’s got the right sweeps and curves on it – it’s the very latest iteration of what an F1 car should be.” – Keith Saunt, chief operating officer.

“The biggest design challenge was trying to package everything a bit smaller. We were trying to get that area around the driver really tight so the aerodynamicists were happy with it.” – Lewis Butler, chief designer.

“I think the front half of the car is quite a big step away from the 2010 car. Last year’s car was a bit blocky in the sidepod area, but this one looks a lot racier – it’s a lot smoother and curvier around the sidepods.” – Marianne Hinson, head of aerodynamics

“T128 takes Team Lotus in exactly the right direction. We have said since day one of the Team Lotus dream that the plan for our second year was to take the fight to the midfield, and with this car we are all confident that is what we will be able to do.” – Riad Asmat, chief executive officer.

And of course, let’s not forget the man.

“There has been so much focus off-track, it’s a thrill to be able to get back to talking about racing. The launch of the T128 is a big step forward for Team Lotus and I want to thank the whole team for the amount of hard work that has already gone into the car, and I want to thank Renault and Red Bull Technology for their tremendous support in helping us make this step forward and for being such great team partners.” – Tony Fernandes, team principal.

An Incredible Journey

Every Chinese New Year spells the need for my family and relatives from my mother's side to return to Ipoh, Perak for the reunion dinner. This year's edition was more special than I could remember in my memory. Here's a recap of the events.

January 3rd
Drove up to Mentakab, Pahang to my 2nd uncle's house for lunch. What was supposed to be a three car convoy trip with my 3rd and 8th aunt's family became 2 when my 8th aunt's husband couldn't catch up with my dad's car, got lost and pulled out of the journey. Upon arrival, we were greeted by my 2nd uncle's loud, cheerful voice and my cousins as well. We had a good lunch served up by one of my cousins who works as a cook, but little did I know this meal would be the start of a nightmare for the next few days. Later in the night, after returning from KL, my youngest uncle came back from Sabah and stayed with us overnight.

January 4th
Our 2nd day started with the journey to Ipoh as early as 8.15 a.m. My family travelled with my youngest uncle, who drove the car graciously loaned to him by my 3rd uncle the night before. For the first time in my life, my dad had to drive at around 90-100 km/h on the highway so that my youngest uncle could keep up with us. Halfway through the journey, we caught up with my 3rd uncle and his family. It was quite surprising to see them actually, as we didn't expect to catch up with him because he started off earlier than us. Arriving at my eldest aunt's (who is also my godmother) house at Chemor two-and-a half hours later, me and my dad got sleepy because we slept quite late last night. We quickly grabbed fourty winks and by evening we went over to my grand-aunt's house in Sungai Siput for dinner. There I also learned to play some card games, but I still stand with my 'no gambling' rules.

January 5th
This day saw my family and a few of my relatives going to Taiping in the afternoon to visit another relativeand return to Chemor by evening for a big dinner. Everything was pretty fine until the journey back came. There was massive jam everywhere and just when I thought my family were the latest to arrive, some of my other relatives weren't even there yet! That proves that the jam was MASSIVE! Food for dinner includes yee sang, Thai-style fried chicken, shark's fin soup, steamed fish and then some. Remember I mentioned the word 'nightmare' ealier? Well, my nightmare meant that for the 3rd successive day I've been eating lots of chicken and fish. To make matters worse, I had to finish almost the whole chicken dish myself. Dinner was finished near 10 p.m and we returned to my aunt's house. Later at almost midnight one of my cousins suggested that we go and have a drink or two at the coffeeshop nearby. We had a cup of herbal tea to clear the oil accumulated in our stomach from all the food we had for the past few days, but then one of them wanted to eat burger and we walked over to a nearby burger stall for a burger and two. After buying, we headed over to the area's recreational park to feast on their food. The park was pretty dark by that time (there was a lack of lighting facility) and we just sat there eating, joking and talking about lots of things before heading back to the house at nearly 2 a.m.

January 6th
This day was my last day at Ipoh. Had to wake up pretty early to start the journey to avoid traffic jam. The way back was greeted early by a leaking left rear tyre on my dad's car. The journey home was a pretty boring affair, with traffic jam right not far from the exit to the highway to Ipoh. To avoid fuel wastage, we turned off at Bidor to use the trunk road right up to Tanjung Malim before turning down to the highway again. We arrived home in KL at 1 p.m. and had chicken rice (sigh! gasp!) for lunch.

As a summary, this year's Chinese New Year journey doesn't look like a repeat of every other years, perhaps due to the fact that I am no longer studying as of now. But this time I've had my fair share of bad and good experience, mixed emotions and inheritance of more knowledge, this year's journey is more akin to one of premier automotive show Top Gear's challenges: a road trip.

Seeing Green

I set a personal new record of watching a new movie a few days after it's released. "The Green Hornet" was just brilliant! Seeing Jay Chou speaking English for the first time was the main reason I wanted to catch the movie. The story of "The Green Hornet" revolves around playboy Britt Reid (Seth Rogen), whose hard-partying life disgusts his newspaper publishing father (Tom Wilkinson). However, when his father was found dead from an allergic reaction to a bee sting, Britt inherits the newspaper publishing company and decides to change for the better. In the process, he also gains the services of this father's most inventive and industrious employee Kato (Jay Chou). After befriending Kato and knows of his impressive technical knowledge and martial arts expertise, Britt proposes to the Asian manservant that they go fight crime in the city. When they learn of a Russian mobster (Christoph Waltz) that intends to take full control of the city's crime network, they established the identity of The Green Hornet and began driving around in their heavily customised 1965 Chrysler Imperial Crown called the Black Beauty to stop the villain's big plans. On a whole, I'd give this movie a 8/10 rating. Rogen's acting as the main man is just a little over-the-top. Jay, on the other hand did impressively in his Hollywood debut, although his English could use a little more polish. When he needs to speak very quickly, you can't really hear a word he says. The movie should be viewed from an entartaining approach, rather than serious. The are many jokes and funny moments to enjoy, but some effects are just way too fake.

A New Era

With 2010 gone, here comes 2011. And with 2011 arriving it spells the end of secondary school life for me. 2010 has been a year full of ups and downs to me. I had never imagined myself playing such a big role in my friend's life. Nor had I imagined how fast the year just went by. When the "King Of Pop" Michael Jackson's first anniversary of his death arrived, it felt like it was only 6 months ago that he passed away. But by any means, 2011 is a great year to look forward to in terms of the movie industry is to go. Big titles with big stars are the theme for this year, as well as being 'green'! With movies like "The Green Hornet", "The Green Lantern", "Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon", "Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides", "Captain America" and "Thor", the cinemas are bound to be jam-packed. While I cannot expect to see myself this year to be in any great situation as of now, all I can hope for (and also one of my New Year's resolution) is to get my driving license by March. With this I hereby attach the music video of Jay Chou's song "The Era" as a reference to this post's title.

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Abu Dhabi GP

After 18 races and 4 drivers fighting for the Driver's Championship title, a surprise winner emerged. The Abu Dhabi GP on the 12th to 14th November once again plays host as the final race of the year. Newly-crowned constructors Red Bull Racing, fresh from their one-two finish at the last round in Brazil, wasted no time to show why they deserve the title by qualifying at the top spot again. Sebastian Vettel started the race from top-spot while team-mate Mark Webber qualified to 5th on the grid. Another driver in contention to take the driver's title, Scuderia Ferrari's Fernando Alonso stopped the clock at 3rd place. McLaren Mercedes's world champion duo of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton took 4th and 2nd spot respectively. Lotus Racing F1 Team's Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen qualified to 19th and 20th respectively. The race on 14th November got off with a bang when Mercedes Petronas GP's Michael Schumacher came in contact with team-mate Nico Rosberg and spun his car on the 6th corner. An incoming Vitantonio Liuzzi of Force India could not avoid the former world champion's car and crashed hard into it, the impact of the crash causing the latter's car to lift off the ground and nearly missing Schumacher's head. This incident brought out the Safety Car for 5 laps, which is when most midfield drivers decided to pit for fresh tyres. One the re-start on lap 6, Vettel pulled ahead and successfully build a decent gap between him and Hamilton, with Button in hot pursuit in 3rd, who jumped Alonso after a cautious start by the Spaniard. In 5th was Webber, who in his efforts to chase those in front of him, gave the wall at turn 19 a warm kiss with his right rear tyres on lap 8, causing minor damage and bringing him into the pits three laps later. The Australian rejoined the race down in 16th in heavy traffic. Alonso pitted on lap 15 on what seemed to be a calculated strategy to baulk Webber's race progress, and rejoined the huge crowd in 15th. These moves by both Ferrari and Red Bull backfired as both Alonso and Webber could not really do much to improve their positions and finished in 7th and 8th. Alonso, furious at being unable to get past the Renault of Vitaly Petrov ahead of him, pulled up alongside the Russian rookie and gestured angrily on the wind-down lap. Meanwhile up ahead of the pack, Hamilton was the first among the top three to take his pit stop before Vettel did his. Button, who had started the race on the softer compound rubbers, ran a longer than expected 32 laps before taking his pit. At the end of the day, a surprise winner emerged. Sebastian Vettel drove a flawless race to take the chequered flag and also the Driver's Championship title. Coming in second and third in the race is Hamilton and Button respectively. Meanwhile, Lotus Racing F1 Team did well by finishing 17th (Kovalainen) and 21st (Trulli) to clinch 10th place in their first season, ahead of the three new teams. And with this the 2010 Formula 1 season draws to a dramatic finish.

Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Brazilian GP

F1 goes back to South America. The Interlagos Curcuit plays host once again to the Brazilian GP from 5th to 7th November. This year's edition saw yet another wet qualifying Saturday when overnight rain drenched the track with water. The session began under light drizzling conditioning, where Lotus Racing F1 Team's drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen qualified 19th and 21st respectively. But the shock of the day came from an unlikely driver in the form of Williams F1 Team's Nico Hulkenberg when the young German took pole position ahead of the five drivers in contention of taking the driver's championship title. Hulkenberg raced to the front of the pack with a time of 1:14.470, more than a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, both of Red Bull Racing. McLaren Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton started 4th while his team-mate Jenson Button ended qualifying on a lowly 11th, citing the car's brake balance as the main problem for his disappointing performance. Scuderia Ferrari's Fernando Alonso began the race next to Hamilton in 5th. Race day on Sunday witnessed Red Bull Racing taking the constructor's title with yet another Vettel-Webber one-two finish while Button, current champion and one of the five title contenders, conceded his chances of defending his title after finishing 5th and saw the other four drivers extending their points in the title race. Current championship leader Alonso has 246 points to Button's 199 with once race remaining and 25 points up for grabs, effectively ending any of his hopes and chances of taking the title back-to-back with two different teams. The race was a pretty straightforward affair with Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi the only racing casualty of the day after getting into an accident on lap 49. The race saw Hulkenberg, who finished 8th, getting overtaken by the others on start-up at the first corner. Alonso, on the other hand, raced a brilliant race to keep his hopes for a 3rd title alive with a 3rd place finish. Hamilton, who ended up 4th and has a total of 222 points remains mathematically still in contention but logically he is already out of the running unless the remaining drivers all did not finish the next final race at Abu Dhabi in a week's time. 2nd in the driver's championship is Webber with 238 points and team-mate Vettel a place behind, 7 points down. Webber could still take the title if the Red Bulls finishes the Abu Dhabi GP with another one-two, only this time with him ahead of his team-mate. Lotus Racing meanwhile finished 18th and 19th, with Kovalainen ahead of Trulli as the team edges closer to 10th place in the constructor's standings.