IMPORTANT: rFactor Mod Update

An updated version of this year's mod is now available. The mod now features updated 3D models. The version available at the moment is considered a release candidate for test purposes. There will be a full release in time for the German Grand Prix, and there will also be a patch to upgrade from the release candidate to the full version. Please take your time to download the new mod and test it as thoroughly as you can, and report any bugs you may encounter in the F1BB F1 WC 2010 general discussion thread on the forum.

Note that it is mandatory to install the new mod to be able to participate in the German Grand Prix and any events where the updated mod is used in online sessions.

Published 2010-07-23 by Jörgen Ekroth

Scuderia Toro Rosso looking to fill second race seat

The Scuderia Toro Rosso team is looking for a driver to fill their second race seat, since Philipp Klar has now been absent for well over two months without any notice. Please notify us about your intentions by posting on the forum if you are interested.

Thanks,
The f1-simracing.com and Scuderia Toro Rosso managements

Published 2010-07-25 by Jörgen Ekroth

Summertimes, oh summertimes

The world of F1 have taken a month long vacation after the British Grand Prix. And even though the fans around the globe miss the action on track the drivers themselves seem to really enjoy this much needed time off. We have tried to track down some of the drivers who seem to be scattered around the globe in search for the sun, excitement and of course those wonderful umbrella drinks.

Some drivers of course take their vacations in their home countries as they travel more than are at home. Kristoffer Holm and friend Fredrik Berglind went back to Gävle and was seen racing motorcycles at the local track. The duo seemed to really push hard even though Berglind needed to take it a bit safe as he was badly injured last year in a motorcycle accident. Younger brother and championship leader Adrian Holm though went to the Caribbean. He seemed to enjoy the time there with friend and race engineer Andy Shovlin. Pascal Kreischer was there too but was seen more on the beach rather than the more extreme activities made by Holm and Shovlin such as mountain climbing and parachuting.

Europe is under an extreme heat wave right now and German and Toyota duo Markus Walter and Falko Riemer spent time in the German alps in Bavaria. According to the drivers they are keen outdoors men they said while having some sips of the very fine Bavarian beer found in the area. Red Bull driver Jorgen Ekroth was photographed in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. He had apparently bought a new Iphone 4 and he looked very pleased. McLaren duo and Finnish aces Markus Tynkkynen and Jonathan Gronqvist was seen at Gronqvists mansion on the island of Åland in the Baltic. What goes on inside no one knows, but rest assured a lot of Koskenkorva is being consumed and some heavy sauna bathing is taking place.

Jonas Andersson went back to his native Brazil and strolled the beaches of Copacabana with an unknown beauty at his side, wearing extremely tiny bathing trunks. He looked very satisfied. Flamboyant driver Hans Mortsjo went back to his hometown of Säter in the middle parts of Sweden. He will celebrate the first birthday of his young daughter and the entire Mortsjo clan was seen in the neighborhood.

Ferrari have rented a big yacht for the drivers as well as the team leaders. They have been cruising the Mediterranean for a week now and have been showing up on some very nice places such as Capri and Sardinia. There are even rumors that fellow Italian Christian Waltgard is on the yacht too, leading to some speculations. The yacht is of course full of lovely ladies too seemingly leading to some very relaxed times indeed.

No one knows how to vacation as F1 stars, lets hope they all have a good time and come back utterly relaxed for the German Grand Prix at legendary Nürburgring.

Published 2010-07-06 by Kris Locksey

British GP: Adrian Holm wins at Silverstone

The British Grand Prix was to be the last big fight before the summer break, and the relatively close practice and qualifying times were hinting towards a pretty close affair. Pole sitter Adrian Holm had shown exceptional speed right out of the box though, so the question was if someone else would be able to keep up with his pace. Bohlin and Kreischer were the obvious picks judged by their qualifying pace, but behind them there were others with high ambitions too.

McLaren were struck by an immense amount of bad luck as Markus Tynkkynen's car stopped with an electronics failure after leaving the pits, and the team never managed to restart it. The hopes were left to Grönqvist, who came off the grid well, as did the rest of the field, but on the second lap he lost the car in turn 1 after hitting the curb too hard and ended up in the barrier with a broken rear suspension, thus resulting in an unfortunate double zero for the home team.

Up at the front Adrian Holm set up a furious pace as many had expected, and he slowly left Bohlin behind, who was tightly chased by Kreischer. Behind the top trio it was Locksey in P4, followed by Ekroth and Andersson, Walter, Holkedahl, Waltgård, Olofsson, Ignatius and Nilsson. Nilsson had been higher up but lost a front wing at the exit of Stowe corner and had to repair. The third victim of the race turned out to be Holkedahl, who had been involved in a position fight with Walter, but after Priory he clipped the outer curb too hard which spun the car around and stalled the engine.

Up at the top, Holm had opened up a gap to Bohlin, but after a while it didn't grow as quickly as initially. Kreischer was also able to keep up with Bohlin, but the German had started to wear his front tyres badly and had to pit as early as on lap 15, where the team fitted the prime tyres. That choice increased his lap times by almost a second, which effectively caused him to drop out of contention for podium places. Instead, Locksey inherited third place, but Ekroth slowly started to reel him in and also slowly pulled away from Andersson. Right before Ekroth's first pit stop however, his RB5 decided to call it quits after losing the hydraulics, which made him victim number 4 in a race that proved hard on the material.

Once the first pit stops were over it was Adrian Holm who maintained the lead, followed by Bohlin, Locksey, Kreischer, Andersson, Walter, Waltgård, Nilsson, Olofsson and finally Ignatius. The latter was forced to retire from the race during his second stint after hitting the barriers at the exit of Stowe corner. The BMW was simply beyond repairs after Ignatius returned to the pits, so the team decided to retire the car, leaving debutant Olofsson as the team's remaining driver, and he did a really good job considering that it was his Grand Prix debut.

On lap 31, Andersson had snuck up behind Kreischer and put enough pressure to stress the German to a mistake going into Luffield where he spun, leaving the door open for the Renault driver. Some laps later however, Kreischer pitted for option tyres again and started to close the gap to Andersson considerably. Andersson then suddenly started to suffer from engine problems and had to turn down the revs considerably, and on lap 47 Kreischer was able to pass easily and reclaim P4. Just a lap later the Mercedes engine started to give away smoke, a sign of what was about to happen, and on lap 49 the engine gave up. Andersson was able to pass again and was able to stay in the race for two more laps until his Renault engine quit too, a bad end to a weekend full of engine disasters for the Renault team.

Up at the top, Bohlin had given it a go to pass Adrian Holm since the Brawn driver had to pit three laps before the Italian, but without luck. The two followed each other into the last stint with Holm ahead, closely followed by Bohlin. Locksey was close to Bohlin late in the middle stint but dropped behind at the pit stop and he was never able to close that gap again. Meanwhile, both Walter and Nilsson had been forced to abort the race too, after crashes. P4 was then inherited by Waltgård, who had driven a fairly lonely race, and Olofsson climbed to P5 and a good points finish, an inspiring start of his career. Bohlin charged furiously at the closing stages of the race but was never able to get a good grip on Adrian Holm who won the race with Bohlin in second and Locksey in third. P4 was Waltgård, and P5 was Olofsson, the last driver to take the checkered flag. Andersson, Kreischer and Nilsson rounded off the points finishers, ahead of Walter, Ignatius, Ekroth, Holkedahl and finally Grönqvist.

Formula One now takes a well earned summer break and returns in the beginning of August for the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring. See you all there.

Published 2010-06-27 by Jörgen Ekroth

Adrian Holm scoops up British pole

Adrian Holm proved unbeatable in the qualifying for the British Grand Prix. The Brawn driver topped both Q2 and Q3, but his pole advantage turned out to be less than a tenth of a second. Adrian was one of the early runners in Q3 and he put up his best lap time already on his first flyer, which was followed by three slower laps.

Ferrari's Peter Bohlin stayed inside the top three for the whole Q3 segment but it wasn't until late in the session that he managed to surpass the second Brawn of Pascal Kreischer for second place, while Pascal had to settle for third place.

The top three looked to be in a class of their own as fourth-placed Locksey was distanced by over half a second. The field was however bunched up tighter behind the Ferrari as another half a second covered the cars down to ninth place. Mattias Holkedahl for Force India was the top man in that group in fifth, just a hundred of a second ahead of Red Bull's Jörgen Ekroth who complained about traffic after the session.

Jonas Andersson in eighth found his Renault squeezed between the two McLaren cars, as Jonathan Grönqvist outqualified teammate Markus Tynkkynen, ending up seventh and ninth respectively. Christian Waltgård rounded off the top ten for his Williams team.

Markus Walter in the Toyota put himself out of contention early as he crashed his car in Q1. He will start from 13th place. This meant that the two BMW Sauber cars became the only cars to end qualifying after Q2, as Baril outqualified his new rookie teammate Stefan Olofsson for eleventh and twelfth.

The 2010 British Grand Prix looks to be a fight between Brawn GP and Ferrari. Will Adrian Holm cope with the pressure of pole? Find out on Saturday as warmup commences at 10.00 CET followed by the race.

Published 2010-06-18 by Jonas Andersson