Hamilton, Mclaren missing Alonso's input?

We admit it, last season Mclaren was superior to challenge Ferrari until the last race. With Hamilton, the most sensational rookie last season on board alongside second time World Champion Alonso. But this season, starting the last Bahrain GP, everything seems not alright with Hamilton. Kovalainen on the other hands did manage to be consistent but not tough enough to challenge Ferrari.

When asked to Hamilton if he is missing Alonso's technical experience, who said to guide Hamilton car's setup last season, he replied: "Nonsense,Fernando and I have a similar driving style, but with the setup we usually went our separate ways."

While Alonso's former manager, Adrian Campos have a different view about that.

"Fernando arrived last year, put the car on the right track, and they thanked him by basically kicking him out," said Adrian Campos to the Spanish El Mundo.

"And look where they are now," he added.

Kimi on pole, Alonso is second?

Kimi grab the pole position today for tomorrow's Spanish GP. Meanwhile, countryman Alonso got 2nd place, just 0.091 second slower than Kimi. It seems that Renault has now got the momentum to challenge the top runners. Massa is third and BMW's Kubica fourth. Mclaren seems to be struggling with 5th and 6th position. The rest are as below:

Results:

1. K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.813
2. F. Alonso Renault 1:21.904
3. F. Massa Ferrari 1:22.058
4. R. Kubica BMW 1:22.065
5. L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.096
6. H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:22.231
7. M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.429
8. J. Trulli Toyota 1:22.529
9. N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.542
10. N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:22.699
11. R. Barrichello Honda 1:21.049
12. K. Nakajima Williams 1:21.117
13. J. Button Honda 1:21.211
14. T. Glock Toyota 1:21.230
15. N. Rosberg Williams 1:21.349
16. S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.724
17. D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:21.810
18. S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.108
19. G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:22.516
20. A. Sutil Force India F1 1:23.224
21. A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:23.318
22. T. Sato Super Aguri 1:23.496

Some new photos

Little flower

This is the collage of the four black & white photos. I've also put the photos on my Flickr!

Heidfeld leads 3rd Free Practice on Saturday

Today, Ferrari didn't dominate the free practice as Heidfeld was fastest followed by the Red Bull of David Coulthard. The full standing for today free practice as below:

Results:

1. N. Heidfeld BMW 1:21.269 19
2. D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:21.465 16
3. F. Alonso Renault 1:21.599 16
4. R. Kubica BMW 1:21.717 23
5. J. Trulli Toyota 1:21.771 21
6. S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.942 19
7. N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:21.992 18
8. J. Button Honda 1:22.060 17
9. F. Massa Ferrari 1:22.075 16
10. T. Glock Toyota 1:22.081 23
11. L. Hamilton McLaren 1:22.094 15
12. N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.174 19
13. K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:22.176 18
14. K. Nakajima Williams 1:22.189 16
15. H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:22.220 16
16. S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.292 20
17. R. Barrichello Honda 1:22.350 17
18. G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:22.466 22
19. A. Sutil Force India F1 1:22.689 21
20. T. Sato Super Aguri 1:23.726 16
21. A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:23.921 15
22. M. Webber Red Bull no time 2

How to manage information overload?

The 'OFF' button? No way..

Alonso would damage Ferrari?

President of Scuderia Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo told the Italian newspaper 'Gazzetta dello Sport' that partnering Kimi and Alonso would not be desirable and he believes that with two world champions, it would damage the team.

He is quoted saying: "To line up a Raikkonen-Alonso double act would mean wanting to damage yourself. I want two equal drivers that work together."

Sharp Willcom D4

Sharp and Willcom had launched the new Willcom D4 UMPC on 14th April. It is touted as the coolest UMPC ever produced.

Weighed at 470g, with a size of 84x188x25.9mm, it has 1GB of RAM, 40GB HDD and using Intel Centrino Atom Z520 with the speed of 1.33GhZ. The display is 5" touchscreen LCD (1024x600) with LED backlight. It also featured a full keyboard with PHS support and Wifi B/G and also Bluetooth. While the camera on D4 is 2megapixel in resolution and can record videos. This UMPC will be running Windows Vista Home Premium.








via Akihabaranews | other source

Webber fastest on the last day of Barcelona testing

The last day of testing at Barcelona on Thursday, we saw Mark Webber was fastest ahead of Kovalainen on second place and Raikkonen on third. The third and last day of testing was on a wet track. Now all teams will be preparing for Spanish GP next week.

Results:

1. Webber Red Bull 1:21.953
2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.589
3. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:23.619
4. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:24.715
5. Button Honda 1:24.873
6. Nakajima Williams 1:24.927
7. Piquet Renault 1:26.100
8. Trulli Toyota 1:32.150

Some other photos of Barcelona test

Here are some photos from pitpass.com of the Barcelona test.

Hmm.. different perspective huh?

Everyday People - a weekly cartoon about real women

“11 - the beautiful game” fusball

This “11 - the beautiful game” by GRO Design is out of normal design. Mimicking the grandeur of actual football stadiums around the globe, this polished and slick design takes the game of gaming to a whole new level.






product page

Nikon Coolpix P80

On last Thursday, Nikon introduced the new Coolpix P80. It's a superzoom digital camera that Nikon didn't ever cover before. So this one will have a quite same lens to the Olympus SP-560 and Fuji FinePix S8100. It also includes many of the features you can find on the Coolpix digital camera. Other specification as below:

• 10.1 effective Megapixel CCD
• F2.8-4.5, 18X optical zoom lens, equivalent to 27 - 486 mm
• Optical image stabilization (which Nikon calls Vibration Reduction)
• Most compact body in its class, according to Nikon
• 2.7" LCD display with 230,000 pixels + electronic viewfinder
• Full manual controls; ISO 3200 and 6400 available when resolution is 3M or less
• Sport Continuous mode lets you take up to 30 shots in a row at 13 fps
• All the usual Nikon features: redeye reduction, D-Lighting, and face detection
• VGA movie mode with sound (or at least I think it's VGA)
• 50MB onboard memory + SD/SDHC card slot
• Uses EN-EL5 lithium-ion battery; 250 shots per charge
• USB 2.0 High Speed support

New designs at Barcelona

Some of new designs on F1 cars showed to public at the Barcelona tests. These includes Honda with the front ears just like BMW but higher, Ferrari with the nose hole and Renault copying Reb Bull's engine cover.

Honda's ears

Ferrari's nose hole

Renault's engine cover

F1 on Slicks, Barrichello fastest

The second day of testing at Barcelona, Barrichello of Honda Racing Teams was fastest on the slick tires. Followed by Fisichella and Massa. It seems that it will be tough for the drivers to make use of this slick tyres. Depending on their experience. The full lists as below:

Results

1. Barrichello Honda 1:18.928
2. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:19.721
3. Massa Ferrari 1:20.283
4. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:20.392
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.452
6. Alonso Renault 1:20.616
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:20.800
8. Glock Toyota 1:20.870
9. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:20.981

One-Two Finish for Ferrari at Bahrain

Felipe Massa won the Bahrain GP today after starting second behind Kubica. He manage to get pass Kubica on the first corner and his team mate Raikkonen did the same on the third lap. Kubica however remains on that position until the end of the race. Lewis Hamilton however didn't get a very good start and ended up 10th in the first lap. Heidfeld did a good job to secure fourth place just behind Kubica. It is a good day for both Ferrari and BMW. BMW now leads the constructors' championship by one point over the Ferrari while Raikkonen leads in the drivers' championship with 19 points, Heidfeld seconds (16), Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen with the same points, 14. The best of McLaren goes to Kovalainen who'd finished fifth behind Heidfeld. The full results as below:

Results:

1. F. Massa Ferrari 1:31:06.970
2. K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 3.339
3. R. Kubica BMW + 4.998
4. N. Heidfeld BMW + 8.409
5. H. Kovalainen McLaren + 26.789
6. J. Trulli Toyota + 41.314
7. M. Webber Red Bull + 45.473
8. N. Rosberg Williams + 55.889
9. T. Glock Toyota + 1:09.500
10. F. Alonso Renault + 1:17.100
11. R. Barrichello Honda + 1:17.800
12. G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 1 laps
13. L. Hamilton McLaren + 1 laps
14. K. Nakajima Williams + 1 laps
15. S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
16. A. Davidson Super Aguri + 1 laps
17. T. Sato Super Aguri + 1 laps
18. D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1 laps
19. A. Sutil Force India F1 + 2 laps

Did not finish

• N. Piquet jr. Renault + 16 laps
• J. Button Honda + 37 laps
• S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 0.057

Drivers' Championship Points:

1. K Raikkonen 19
2. N Heidfeld 16
3. L Hamilton 14
4. R Kubica 14
5. H Kovalainen 14
6. F Massa 10

Constructors' Championship Points:

1. BMW 30
2. Ferrari 29
3. McLaren 28
4. Williams 10

Loeb won Rally Argentina

It's quite late for this update.. But I need to update this as a reference.

Sebastian Loeb for the fourth time won the Rally Argentina after he won the previous Rally Mexico. The event was held on 28-30 March. He now leads the championship by five points over Mirkko Hirvonen. Even though, Ford still leading in the constructors' championship by only three points over Citroen.

Top 20 overall times after SS21 / Day 3:

1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC 4hours 05mins 48.6secs M
2. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007 +02mins 33.2secs M
3. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +04mins 04.5secs M
4. Conrad Rautenbach Citroen C4 WRC +20mins 03.5secs A8
5. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +25mins 15.3secs M
6. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 07 +27mins 42.0secs M
7. Gigi Galli Stobart Ford Focus WRC 07 +27mins 51.8secs M
8. Andreas Aigner Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +28mins 59.3secs P
9. Sebastian Beltran Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +30mins 04.9secs P
10. Jari Ketomaa Subaru Impreza N12 +31mins 52.6secs P
11. Fumio Nutahara Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +32mins 58.4secs P
12. Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07 +34mins 55.6secs M
13. Martin Rauam Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +38mins 27.4secs P
14. Amjad Farrah Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +47mins 15.8secs P
15. Martin Prokop Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +47mins 19.2secs P
16. Walter Rodriguez Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +1hr 01mins 39.8secs N4
17. Gaston Genovese Mitsubihsi Lancer Evo IX +1hr 03mins 38.6secs N4
18. Bernardo Sousa Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +1hr 07mins 13.8secs P
19. Simone Campedelli Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +1hr 08mins 21.4secs P
20. Gabor Mayer Subaru Impreza +1hr 08mins 42.8secs P
21. P-G Andersson Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC +1hr 12mins 32.9secs M

Constuctors' standings

1. Ford 44
2. Citroen 41
3. Subaru 33

Drivers' Standings

1. Sebastian Loeb 30
2. Mirkko Hirvonen 25
3. Chris Atkinson 22

Squeezable USB Drive

Design student at Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Jacek Ryn had designed this concept of flexible usb-drive. It's casing was made of colored silicone and it's elasticity be used to reveal the plug to be pushed into the socket. When removed, the casing will slip back automatically.

Kubica on pole

What a great day was today for BMW garage as their driver, Robert Kubica secured the pole position for tomorrow's Bahrain GP. He did his fastest lap while in the last part of the qualifying, faster than Massa who's somehow dominated the Friday Practices and second quicker on Saturday's practice. The full grid position for tomorrow as below:

The Full Grid Position:

1. Robert Kubica 1′33.096
2. Felipe Massa 1′33.123
3. Lewis Hamilton 1′33.292
4. Kimi Raikkonen 1′33.418
5. Heikki Kovalainen 1′33.488
6. Nick Heidfeld 1′33.737
7. Jarno Trulli 1′33.994
8. Nico Rosberg 1′34.015
9. Jenson Button 1′35.057
10. Fernando Alonso 1′35.115
11. Mark Webber 1′32.371
12. Rubens Barrichello 1′32.508
13. Timo Glock 1′32.528
14. Nelson Piquet 1′32.790
15. Sebastien Bourdais 1′32.915
16. Kazuki Nakajima 1′32.943
17. David Coulthard 1′33.433
18. Giancarlo Fisichella 1′33.501
19. Sebastian Vettel 1′33.562
20. Adrian Sutil 1′33.845
21. Anthony Davidson 1′34.140
22. Takuma Sato 1′35.725