Malaysian F1 GP Summary

The Malaysian F1 GP did not saw any enthusiasm by any driver. The race went in a different way than most had anticipated and in several cases the situations were badly managed in strategic terms.

Against everything that was expected, the tires were less decisive than all feared, in spite of the deterioration that forced several teams to have 4 pit stops, instead of the 3 that were initially defined.Those who went with the intermediates with the track still wet won six to eight seconds, which gave advantage to the Red Bull and  Mercedes teams, which were with major problems in the tire management department, penalizing the Ferrari and Lotus teams, which in normal conditions could have taken advantage.

As if this were not enough, the Ferrari was the first to make a mistake in their pit stop strategy. After the touch with Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) in the first corner, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) was left with a damaged front wing. The spanish and his team did not realized the extent of the damage, and they believed that he could manage the situation until the 1st pit stop, but, in the beginning of the 2nd lap he was forced to abandon the race as his already damaged front wing simply destruided itself at the end of the finish straight. The F138 however, continues to have a good behavior and could have gave a fight to the Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Indifferent to all this, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel spearheaded an exciting fight. The decision of who would win seemed pretty done, until the German ignored the team orders and overtaked his team mate Mark Webber in a not very safe way, an act that could have ruin both drivers.


Final Classification

1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1h38m56.681
2.	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	+04.2s
3.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes GP	+12.1s
4.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	+12.6s
5.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+25.6s
6.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	+35.5s
7.	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	+48.4s
8.	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	+53.0s
9.	Sergio Perez	McLaren-Mercedes	+1m12.3s
10.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	+1m27.1s
11.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	+1m28.6s
12.	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1 volta
13.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	1 volta
14.	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	1 volta
15.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1 volta
16.	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	2 voltas
17.	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	Tático
18.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	???
D	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	???
D	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes
D	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes
D	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari

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Australian F1 GP Summary

Australian GP: Kimi Räikkönen was the only one of the favorites who managed to make only two pit stops, which allowed him to enter the 2013 season in the best way possible, winning.

Kimi Räikkönen started from seventh on the grid, and climbed all the way to the top for winning the Australian Grand Prix, making a more efficient management of the Pirelli tires than his direct opponents. Fernando Alonso, 2ND in the race, and Sebastian Vettel, 3RD, ended without a clear idea of how they could have finished the race with only two pit stops, instead of the three exchanges of tires that they did.

With this result, Kimi Räikkönen is the first leader of the 2013 F1 World championship and will stay as such, at least until Sunday the 24TH of March, for the Malasian Grand Prix.

 1.  Kimi Raikkonen                     Lotus-Renault                            1h30m03.225s
 2.  Fernando Alonso                     Ferrari                                               + 12.451s
 3.  Sebastian Vettel                      Red Bull-Renault                               + 22.346s
 4.  Felipe Massa                           Ferrari                                                + 33.577s
 5.  Lewis Hamilton                      Mercedes                                            + 45.561s
 6.  Mark Webber                         Red Bull-Renault                                + 46.800s
 7.  Adrian Sutil                            Force India-Mercedes                    + 1m05.068s
 8.  Paul di Resta                          Force India-Mercedes                    + 1m08.449s
 9.  Jenson Button                        McLaren-Mercedes                        + 1m21.630s
10.  Romain Grosjean                  Lotus-Renault                                + 1m22.759s
11.  Sergio Perez                         McLaren-Mercedes                        + 1m23.367s
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne                 Toro Rosso-Ferrari                         + 1m23.857s
13.  Esteban Gutierrez                Sauber-Ferrari                                             + 1 v
14.  Valtteri Bottas                     Williams-Renault                                        + 1 v
15.  Jules Bianchi                       Marussia-Cosworth                                     + 1 v
16.  Charles Pic                          Caterham-Renault                                       +  2 v
17.  Max Chilton                        Marussia-Cosworth                                     +  2 v
18.  Giedo van der Garde           Caterham-Renault                                       +  2 v

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Toyota puts his money on Europe

The Japanese brand announced that pretends to expand production in Europe, in order to reduce foreign exchange risks.
The regional director of Toyota announced this past week at the Geneva Salon that Toyota wishes to increase production in European territory with the goal of reducing foreign exchange risks. In an interview with Bloomberg, Didier Leroy has revealed that the objective of the manufacturer is to produce approximately 75% of the cars sold in Europe up to two years from now. Being that today the percentage is 63% and taking into account that all models of the luxury brand, Lexus, are made in Japan.
"We want to have a business model that completely release us from the  exchange rate influence" said the manager, who advanced that the impact of the exchange rate fluctuations on Toyota in this fiscal year will be less than 10 million Euros.
At the same time, Leroy has confirmed that, in the context of the overall strategy of Toyota, that the Lexus division will even leave the production of diesel engines models, with the purpose to concentrate the greater part of its offer on hybrid versions, which will constitute 95% of the range with the 5% remaining to match the petrol.

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Ferrari Enzo's successor presented in Geneva

The successor of the Enzo was finally revealed. The superhibrid is limited to 499 units and has a total output power of 963 bhp.

Ferrari has revealed its new model at the Geneva Motor Show. It's called LaFerrari, the new star has under the hood a V12 engine with 6262 cc capacity able to charge 800 horse power at 9000 rpm and 700 Nm of torque achieved at 6,750 rpm. The electric motor provides an extra 163 hp and 270 Nm of torque. The total combined power is then 963 bhp at 9250 rpm, debited on all wheels through an automatic double clutch DCT of seven speeds. This results in a 0-100 km/h in less than three seconds, and that makes it able to 300 km/h in 15 seconds. Ferrari says that the supercar emits 330g/km of CO2. With 4702 mm long, 1992 mm wide and 1116 mm in height, the LaFerrari still has 2665 mm wheelbase.

The maximum speed is 350 km/h. The package of batteries, which recharges on the top of torque or regenerative braking, weighs 62 kg and is mounted on the car in such a way as to not affect the center of gravity nor the distribution of weight, which is 41% in front and 59% in the rear. The hybrid system Hy-kers has a total weight of 140 kg and the car comes to a total of 1255 pounds. The front of the super-sporter presents a suspension of superimposed triangles, and in the rear the suspension is provided by multiple arms. With 19 inch front wheel rims and 265/30 tires and rear 20 inch tires and 345/30, the new Ferrari has Brembo brakes carboceramics (398x223x36 mm front/ 380x253x34 mm rear). Brings a stability control, EF1-TRAC (a control of electronic traction integrated with the hybrid system, inherited from F1), a third generation differential and magnetic electronic shock absorbers a with dual solenoid valve.

The truth is that practically all these data had already been published, all that was left to do was to show it "the machine". As with its predecessor, the Enzo, the LaFerrari will have a limited production, in this case 499 units costing something like 1.3 million euros. Being that most of them are already sold, the first should begin in the autumn.

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Nissan's new taxi

It is with pride that Nissan reveals  the NV200 taxi still in experimental phase in the streets of New York.

The yellow NV200 in the image will be the next official taxi on the streets of New York, after the Nissan have won the contest for the "taxi for tomorrow" promoted by the company that manages the rental cars in the city. The NV200 will become the official "NYC cab" and is already in the test phase.

After a mini trip around the world, with a passage by their headquarters, in Japan, the first experimental units of NV200 NYC were in circulation in Arizona, for fatigue, resistance and temperatures tests. Now it is on the field it self, where from the next year, the New Yorkers taxis will carry 600 million passengers per year.

"It is impressive the feeling of space that we have on board, with everything made thinking of the passenger, unlike the current taxis which are a kind of 'throw everything inside' and is only fit to carry" were the words of David Yassky, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission commissioner", precisely the company that oversees the rental cars in the American city. He, as an example from other leaders, was invited to walk on the NV200 to make criticisms and suggestions, and thus improving the final product.

Despite the enormous strangeness by the format, and by the end of the traditional taxi mode as the New Yorkers saw him, the NV200 NYC cab is to be received with some curiosity. The fact that you have plenty of space onboard  is even impressing the Londoners who see with good eyes the replacement of the antiquated cars such as the "London Taxi International" or the "Metrocab" by the new NV200 that Nissan is proposing to do, also, with steering wheel to the right.

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