F1: US and Mexico GP

[WEC] Audi to leave WEC after 2016 season

Shocking news from the world of endurance racing: Audi is going to leave the WEC after the current season. After a 18-year long commitment to endurance racing in the LMP class, they will shift their focus to other racing classes.

Source: Click here

As 2-times WEC champions and 13 time overall winners in the 24 Hours of Le mans since 2000, Audi have announced to withdraw their cars from the WEC after the current season. With only 1 win so far this season and a couple of podium finishes, this year hasn't been a success for Audi. They were not even close during the 24H, the highlight of the season.

Audi wants to put their focus on other racing series, especially the DTM and the FIA Formula E. They just lost the drivers title in the DTM to Marco Wittman, but won the title in the team championship with Team Abt. They also work together with Abt in the Formula E, the team that lost the drivers championship during the last weekend last season.

There are still 2 races left this season: Begin November in Shanghai, China and the last race will take place in Bahrain. They can still win the WEC titles, but will need a bit of luck in the process. They are 59 points down on Porsche in the constructors championship and the driver combination Duval/Di Grassi/Jarvis are 28,5 points down on the leadings in the driver standings.

[F1] EMy expectations of the US GP

Force India released Nico Hülkenberg, confirmed by Renault F1! [UPDATE]

What seemed to just be a rumor for the last couple of days, have now been confirmed by Force India on Twitter: Nico Hülkenberg is released by Force India. After a 3-year-stint with the team, Nico is going for a new challenge. 

What seemed to be a suspicious tweet from Nico Hülkenberg about a Borussia Dortmund match, now may be more likely a tweet about his future. A future that seems to be with Renault F1, his first true factory team. After Williams, Force India and Sauber, this is his fourth different team he will be part of.

The rumor started during the weekend of the Japanese GP, in which the story was that Nico wasn't paid salary for a couple of months. One of the stakeholders, Dutchman Michiel Mol, could not confirm or deny any part of the story, as he stated in the dutch show F1 Fans Only following the Japanese GP. He was not informed about this situation or could not talk about it.

Though the signing still has to be confirmed, it's more than likely. Any other topteam is not in need of a new driver, whereas Mercedes GP, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are all set in terms of 2017 line up. Williams Martini Racing is in need for drivers, but does not seem to be a better team at the moment. Renault doesn't seem as well, but has the financial backing to develop towards the front of the field and has stated to have a long-term project on it's hands.

[Update] Renault has officially confirmed that Nico Hülkenberg will join them from 2017 onwards. The deal is for multiple years. Good luck to Nico in this new challenge!!

Renault says it needs 5 years to return to the top

Source: Click here

Since it's return, they have only scored 8 points. The return to Formula 1 with a factory team hasn't been a great success, but there is no panic around. They were not expecting wonders and they still do not expect those. Renault has stated that the target is to get back to the top within 5 years, of which this one is the first one.

Even though Renault only scored 8 points, it's a great overall performance though. Renault took the unstable Lotus team late December over, so they has just over 2 months to get ready for Melbourne. In terms of development, they were quite a bit down on both the performance of the car and the power unit. The power unit seems to be quite competitive, as Red Bull is close to Mercedes and seems to be ahead of Ferrari, but the performance of the car is still a bit down.

Goal for the next couple of seasons is to slowly improve that performance. Next year is all about being in midfield and point-scoring positions. For 2018, podium finishes are expected to happen and in the further 2 years the team should be competitive enough to race for race wins and perhaps a world championship.

With the liking of Nico Hülkenberg, who is rumored to have interest from Renault, the Enstone-based team is making steps the right way. Although he has not yet scored a podium finish, his performance is the classes towards F1 showed this true talent. And of course, not to forget about his Le Mans win last year, in his first entry.

What are your expectations? Can Renault return to competitive form within the next 5 seasons? Leave it down in the comments!!

Renault interested in Hülkenberg?

Source: Click here

After both Carlos Sainz Jr. and Sergio Perez not joining Renault F1 for next season, the next possible target is 29-year-old Nico Hülkenberg. The talks between the French/British formation and the Germany driver have been confirmed by team principal Vasseur.

Hülkenberg, who was confirmed for a Force India seat in 2017 earlier this year, might have the opportunity to get released from this contract. Rumors are going around that his team hasn't paid him his salary and therefor, he could be on his way to Renault, which would be his first works team in F1,

The German has been part of the F1 grid since 2010, as part of the Williams team back then. Being part of that formation for just one year, he than joined Force India as a test and reserve driver, being promoted to a race seat for 2012. He stayed with Force India one season, moving to Sauber for the 2013, only to return to Force India the year after. His best season has been 2014, finishing 9th in the driver championship with 96 points. His most impressive performance was during his first 24 hours of Le Mans, winning in the Porsche 919 Hybrid in a team with Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber.

F1 2016: Japanese GP

The Japanese GP: The only one going around in a 8-figure. A challenging 8-figure. A grand prix with a lot of history: The immense battles between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the bold moves from respectively Alonso on Schumacher and Räikkönen on Fisichella, both in 2005. But the most recent happening might be 2014, sadly enough. The horrible accident with Jules Bianchi, eventual leading in is death, is still a black page for this event. But enough of the history, let's review the highs and lows in terms of driver performances of this years Japanese GP.

Also, in this way, I'd like to congratulate Mercedes with the 3rd consecutive constructors title. Though we all expected it for so long, it's still a massive achievement to do it.

Winners:

Max Verstappen:

Source: Click here

Again voted as Driver of the Day, he was eventually the only one who managed to stay close within the both Mercedes drivers and even managed to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton, to finish 2nd for the second race in succession. He is now also ahead of Vettel in the world championship standing, perhaps the biggest surprise for now. His defensive line in the second-to-last lap on Hamilton was a bit on the edge, but Lewis wasn't on his inside yet and he would probably not have made the corner anyway. The battle with Lewis also showed how intelligent he is in his racing: He used lots of energy onto the straight, getting away enough to keep Lewis at bay every time he got this DRS. The clever usage of it is the demonstration of what he is capable of.

Williams Martini Racing:

They took the gamble to start on the Medium tire and it eventually worked out, sort of. A longer first stint gave them a little edge over the others, which paid out with a double points finish with P9 and P10. I do believe that finishing fourth in the constructors is still possible, although they do need to raise the game for the last 4 races of 2016 to overhaul Force India. The gap is only 10 points, but in the current situation Force India seems to be in a stronger position. 

Losers:

Mclaren-Honda:

Source: Click here

In the home GP for Honda, Mclaren struggled for race pace. They did not finish close to the points with a P16 and P18 as results. It's a shame, as I felt they were getting close to usual point-scoring positions, but this race showed this might not be the case yet. There is still plenty of work to do for 2017, but they stated that they are ahead with their work for next season. 

Haas F1:

Qualification went great for the both drivers for Haas F1, with both cars in the top 10 qualifying.They could not keep that line up; Grosjean were just behind the 2 Williams drivers in P11, so that wasn't too far away from a single point. But Gutierrez made it even worse: Not even dropping back further, but also a overenthusiastic on Sainz going into the last chicane, leading to a spin and massive time loss. It seems like he is trying his best, but wanting it too much. 

[REVIEW] World Rally Championship 6

Today was the release date of the newest virtual part of one of the biggest motorsport classes in the world: World Rally Championship 6, shortened WRC6, has been released for PC, Xbox One and PS4. I've tested the game for about 2 hours now and in this review, I'm looking to what this new game has to offer compared to it's earlier parts.

Positives:

+ Introduction of the game: A feature I loved, is the fact you start in a introduction in which you will get the opportunity to get used to all the things you will have to face in a rally. Also, this introduction will be used to base the difficulty on, although you can still change it to your own liking. The introduction exists of 2 individual stages; The first really as a introduction, the second is already more of a competitive stage.

+ Head-to-head stages: Something I really missed in WRC5: The Head-to-head challenges. It's a great thing to really have a point to aim for; Though not all rallies have this option, I'm a huge fan of it's return for (at least) the Portuguese rally.

+ The addition of soft and hard tires: 1 thing I actually did not miss in earlier version, but which I do love in this version is the tactical war between the soft and hard tire. As most of you know, the soft tire is faster, whereas the hard tire is more durable.

+ Improvement of details: One thing that has been taken care off in the good sense, is the fact that the small details have been worked out. The drive to the starting line for instance, a small thing that makes the experience much more fun. Also, the punctures in this game can give you headaches when taking risks.

Negatives:

- AI isn't set properly: I felt that the AI isn't set up properly. Though that has been an issue in WRC5, in this case I feel it might be even worse. In Junior WRC, where I started in my career, I was at least 5 seconds faster per stage on the AI, winning the first rally almost 2 minutes ahead of the rest of the field (On a 27 minute rally)

- Standard settings set up weird: Also, the standard controls are set weird. I had to set the controls completely by myself; Gear buttons were normal push buttons, the handbrake was set on the extra console of the G27 and also the lights of the rev limiter don't work (Though I don't mind, my steering wheel is positioned too low for me to even see those lights)

- New weather conditions: There are some more detailed weather conditions. It's good to see that the game gets better in terms of graphics, but on one of the stages in Portugal I could not see a thing. I went so slow, that I was able to improve that time on the second run on that stage by over 30 seconds.

Overall:

I'd say, overall this game is better than WRC5. Details are worked out better than before, I experienced a bit more feeling with the car and the return of Head-2-head stages is great. 

Still, there are a couple of things that need attention. Especially the level of AI; In the lower classes (Junior WRC), the AI is just way too easy on Simulation difficulty, with easy victories guaranteed. 

Is it worth the price? If you are a hardcore WRC fan, it is. It can give you a massive challenge in terms of getting better. Also, the fact you can compete against a virtual Ogier, is a great reason to purchase. If you are just in it to have a new racing game, you might want to wait a little more to see if there are patches being brought up. The game itself is more than decent, but it's a little raw. And to pay €40 for a game like this, may be a little high, especially for people who don't particularly buy it for the WRC itself.