Why women are not featured on the Formula One circuit? (Assignment 4)

Considering the amount of research anyone does on this topic-which does not take much- along with the observation of the media, it is evident that females rarely compete in the motorsport industry let alone in Formula One competitions. There are stereotypes that perceive men as better drivers than women. Women are labelled as inexperienced with no desire for speed, whereas men are viewed as adrenaline junkies as well as safer drivers than women, especially when it comes to operating any sort of vehicle.

Surely this stereotype should never have existed in the first place since Bertha Benz, a female, was the first person to ever drive a motor vehicle back in 1888. A controversial statement was made from Sir Stirling Moss, regarding females’ abilities’ in a male dominated industry. The icon made his statement on BBC radio interview on April 5th (2013): “I think they have the strength, but I don’t know if they’ve got the mental aptitude to race hard”.

A man of Stirling’s generation would be astonished to be racing against a female in the racing industry, but currently, the cars which are raced, are based on technological advancements rather than purely based on the individual’s skills to handle a car.
Two female drivers participated in Formula one since 1976. To date only five women have competed in the Formula One racing.

Danica Patrick became the first women to win an IndyCar race when she won the Indy Car race in Japan in 2008, she proves that women are competitive with their male counterparts; she is also a model and advertising spokeswomen. In 2009 she finished third while competing in India. Her win was not just a lucky strike as she has the record of the most consecutive race holder in points since she had completed 50 races to take the title. Danica started her racing career with go karting like so many other passionate drivers have. Even though she is currently racing Formula Ford, she has still not been offered a racing seat for any Formula One manufacturer. Tiff Daniels is another potential star to be weary of the 24 year old is highly motivated to pursue the racing Formula industry. Climbing the ranks to Formula One is a process considering that one would need to surpass five levels of categories.

Women who do feature in the Formula One scene are those behind the scenes. Sir Francis Williams- founder and principal of the F1 Williams team- daughter, Claire Williams, is currently the CEO of Williams Racing. No doubt that there are many people who are fervent about females entering the industry, but the question still remains; why are there no women on the racing track driving the Formula One car? It goes as far as Susie Wolff, who is now a development driver, for the Williams Formula One team, but she is not placed in the competition along with the big boys.

Women just need to be given a chance but no company or manufacture is willing to take the risk and possibly failing at the choice where they get classified as the team that hired a female and she folded by not finishing a race. It is easily viewed as wasting resources, especially money; but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and many male drivers do too fail; it is inevitable at first.

Of course one cannot overlook the typical gender inequality of physical strength. A Formula One driver has to sustain a well-trained and fit physical ability. Often women are often oppressed by this in the sense that they will never be able to endure what men have to endure. The gravitational force requires a certain peak of fitness and it is claimed that women would not be willing to endure the protocol for this lifestyle. Training in the gym extensive hours, weight lifting, eating healthily and staying away from their families for long durations is the workmanship “only the male species” can do. Also, the amount of pressure women would have to tolerate in a social capacity, just because they are not males, they have to work so much more harder to considered on the same par as a man.

Opinions of a few females feel that they enjoy watching races but to put themselves in the driving seat, speeding at 180km/h is already asking too much, let alone competing in a racing car that has no difficulty reaching 300km/h.
There are only a few women that race locally of all the thousands that do race: and only a few are selected to move up in the ranks, due to the ratio difference in men and women racing only a selected few of the females are chosen.

Maybe it is due to a female’s nature, maybe instinctively females are what they generally get stereotyped as; family orientated and concerned with the risk factors of death, hence not many are actually willing to put their lives at risk on the track as their vocation.
There are women that have the ability to race equally to men but they have not been marketed properly to obtain the correct exposure or given equal opportunities as men do. This is the way Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Fillepe Massa (just to name a few) got into the Formula One industry by being sponsored or accepted at racing academies. Yes they are skilled drivers, but they developed the skills at the academies and had been given many chances to prove their racing abilities. So if women were given the same opportunities as men would they not also prosper the way men do?

Image: http://www.allleftturns.com/tiff-daniels-pics Tiff Daniels, 24 year old engineer. Up and coming racing driver.
Sources:
http://formula1.about.com/od/drivers/a/Many-Women-Work-In-F1-Why-No-Women-Drivers.htm
http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/othersport/2013/04/16/women-lack-mental-aptitude-for-formula-one-says-moss (Johannesburg paper?)-Stirling Moss: BBC radio interview broadcast that took place 15 April 2013]
http://formula1.about.com/od/drivers/a/Many-Women-Work-In-F1-Why-No-Women-Drivers.htm

Renault or Ferrari?

So far the top 3 drivers have won the 4 races in the Grand Prix, so is it Red Bull versus Ferrari or Renault versus Ferrari?
Lotus driver Kimmi Raikonnen has won the first Grand Prix held in Australia, Red Bull Racing driver, Sebastain Vettel has won the second in Malaysia and fourth Grand Prix in Bahrain- Ferrari’s Fenando Alonso won the third race in China.

Red Bull Racing and their engine supplier, Renault have been successful since 2009, even though Ferrari has caught up to Red Bull Racing, they are being dogged by unforeseen problems.

In the second Grand Prix in Malaysia, Alonso damaged his car’s front wing, he continued to race for 2 more laps before the wing came off and went under the car, Alonso lost control of the car and it went into the gravel where the car was embedded.

In the last outing in Bahrain, the Spaniard down force from its rear wing was compromised as its Drag Reduction System flap, which is attached to the rear wing jammed in an open position. This led Alonso to frequent the pits that result him to finish in 8th position. Alonso believes that he is still a strong contender for the world driver’s title and Kimmi Raikkonen seems to agree.

Sebastian Vettel who drives for Red Bull Racing (which is powered by Renault engine) won in Malaysia and Bahrain and has both third and fourth place finishes with a lead of 77 points.
Kimme Raikkonen who drives for Lotus (that is powered by a Renault engine) is 2nd with a win in Australia along with two other 2nd place finishes and one 7th place which indicates that Raikkonen is thus far, the most consistent driver.

Fourth is Fernando Alonso with 47 points, he has won at the Chinese Grand Prix and has a 2nd and 8th position finishes.

Lewis Hamilton is in 3rd position with 50 points, but the Mercedes do not seem to have the race pace to compete with Ferrari, Lotus and Red Bull Racing.

Three of the races won was accomplished by Renault powered engines and one with the Ferrari engine.
On the manufacturer’s standings, Red bull Racing is first with 109 points, second is Lotus with 93 points and third is Ferrari with 77 points.
Since most of the top teams have come to understand how to apply a strategy on how best to utilize the new Pirelli tyre, it is now up to the driver’s skill and the reliability of the car

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/www.telegraph.co.uk/www.formula1.com
Image: http://www.carexpo.info/kimi-raikkonen-from-lotus-renault-f1-wins-the-2013-f1-rolex-australian-gp/

Gravitational Force in F1 Cars

A Formula One driver has to be extremely fit to in order to race. Why? It is due to the excessive gravitational forces- better known as g-forces which is the force a moving object will have on the human body. In acceleration within the car, a driver experiences an average of 3 g-force. This is the mass of the driver and the car along with a gravitational force of 9.8ms^2 multiplied by 3. At the apex of long bends, drivers in a Formula One car can experience up to 4.5 g- force. Research indicates that the human body could blackout, or even dies if it should be consistently exposed to gravity exceeding 7 g’s.

This is due the gravity sucking the blood and oxygen from the lungs, brain and heart.
A manner in which to counter act this tremendous force against the human body, drivers hold their breath while experiencing great g-forces.

Many safety factors have been introduced into Formula One racing. Mentioning only a few, Formula One cars have been made shorter and narrower, along with the narrower tyres and rear spoilers are made smaller, engines capacities have been reduced from 12 cylinder to 10 to 8 and at present, it is 6 cylinders. However, even with the safety precautions, there is no racing speed limit within Formula One.

So even though all these safety factors have been introduced, the technicians are still being able to let the Formula One cars go faster by discovering new technology.

An example- the DRS technology introduced in 2011. The Drag Reduction System (DRS) is a flap on the rear wing that is controlled by the driver, which is used to reduce the aerodynamic drag of the car in front of him which will give the driver more grip and speed to overtake.

Even though cars are not allowed turbo boost any longer, cars are going even faster than when they did use turbo boost. Pirelli International- the tyre manufacturer that is supplying all Formula One tyres.
The tyres are of an inferior nature compared to those of previous years. The tyre was introduced in order to slow vehicles down as tyre degradation took place as soon as 5 laps on the circuit.

The hope was that drivers would stay out on the circuit longer on the degradation tyres so high speeds could not be reached, but the drivers are going in more often to change the tyres whereby they are always on a ‘fresh’ set which they are able to still set fast lap times.

Formula One cars will be racing with 1600 cc powered engines from 2014.
This should be very fascinating to observe the speeds at which the cars will be reaching.

Sources: Acceleration that would kill a human
WIKIPEDIA
Formula One drivers feel the g-force
F1 TYE RANGE- PIRELLI INTERNATIONAL
Image:http://inextlive.jagran.com/f1-driving-i-nteresting-facts-201110260010

ALONSO/ FERRARI’S HUNT FOR THE TITLE

Is this the beginning for Fernando Alonso and Ferrari to dominate the 2013
Grand Prix?

After the pre-season practice, Ferrari had showed good competitive pace and Alonso had stated that Ferrari is the most improved car for 2013 season at the start of the Australian Grand Prix.

Ferrari was more than a second slower compared to Red Bull Racing last year, but had lost by 3 points to Sebatian Vettel of Red Bull Racing. Before the start of the 2013 Formula 1 Grand Prix, Ferrari’s team principal stated that they had huge improvements done on the car before the Chinese Grand Prix.
Sunday April 14, Ferrari positioned first on a dry circuit since 2012 in Germany, even though Alonso was (still is) battling to get good grid position especially over his team mate, Filepa Massa. However, he is always able to get ahead on race day.

Ferrari have been having excellent starts and gained a few positions from the grid. Alonso accomplished the goal when he was third on the starting grid in Chinese Grand Prix but managed to get to second place after the Lotus of Kimmi Raikkonen had software problems.

The tyre strategy or choices are a major factor in winning Grand Prix or settling for 2 place or even 3rd place. It was due to the correct tyre choices and staying out longer on the track that gave Riakkonen the win in Australia,

This time however it was Ferrari who made the correct tyre choices. Due to the competitiveness in 2013 Formula 1 Grand Prix, lots of attention has been given
to Sebastian Vettel, who started 9th on the grid.

Ferrari showed that they have the pace to set that is equal to and maybe better than Red Bull Racing, who dominated Formula 1 racing since 2009.

Alonso opened a 19 second gap between himself and 2nd place Kimmi Raikkonen, driving a Lotus.

Alonso’s team mate Filipe Massa, who is still very much confused as to the fast degradation of the tyres finished sixth place.

Ferrari was the first manufacturer to have both cars over the first finish line. Red Bull Racing is leading the construction championship on 78 points, merely 5 points ahead of Ferrari. Bear in mind that even though Ferrari had a slower car last year, they still managed to win races especially in the beginning of the season. But toward the latter part of the season they lost out to Red Bull Racing.

Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali, hope to improve the car still further, and to be more consistent throughout every race and score maximum points.

Source: The Telegraph-UK – News for F1 results – Chinese Grand Prix 2013 Ferrari working well

Image:http://smartautocar.com/alonso-and-ferrari-a-love-story-in-search-of-the-world/

Assignment-Feature Article: Sleep: “Is the eight hour sleep pattern really that essential?”

Jaimee in the afternoon after a 9hour rest during the night

Parasomnia, insomnia, hypersomnia, narcolepsy, pathogeneses, sleep-onset delay, restless leg syndrome , somnambulism, night terrors; are all associated with sleep disorders. Based on the amount of research I have done with the aid of the Dr Irshaad Ebrahim from the London Sleep Centre, I am sure we all have or had some sort of sleep disorder as there is plenty more than the above mentioned. Jaimee-for example- a 19 year old UCT student; sleeps 9 hours a night every night, she cannot stay up late over weekends nor does she need an alarm clock to wake up. Some may say she has established the correct sleeping patterns. But on the other hand this sort of sleep pattern can also be classified as hypersomnia- excessive sleepiness.

From the day we are born, we spend a third of our lives asleep. So what is the reason for this mandatory biological activity that enables us to living? We know the popular affects lack of sleep, such as decreased concentration, forgetfulness mood swings –the most common being grumpiness. Individuals in this circumstance tend to indulge in alcohol, nicotine and caffeine more frequently than those who are well rested. Sleep deprived people are also prone to skin problems such as acne and aging. Some serious effects of sleep deprivation can dumb you down, it prohibits learning and health problems such as heart attacks, irregular heart rate, and diabetes have a higher probability of occurring. Food consumption increases up to up 30%, but in some instances, the body looses weight due to sustaining the functioning and prevention of dying from hyperthermia. Schedule

The modern westernized lifestyle is fast past. Individuals within this globalised community have become career driven setting materialistic assets, achievements, spending money and leisure time as priority over sleeping the recommended eight hour shift a night.

What happens when we fall asleep?

Generally there are two main stages of sleep that alternate at 90 minute intervals. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a period when the brain is active and the body is paralyzed (except for eye movements, and respiration). In non-rapid eye movement (Non-REM) sleep, the brain is less active but the body can move. Non-REM sleep is composed of four stages. The levels of sleep: Stage 1 is a light doze, not very restorative, stage 2 is middle or mild restorative sleep and Stage 3 is slow-wave deep sleep, the most restorative of all.

Understanding the concept of sleep:

Your body and brain does not shut down when asleep, instead, the brain stays busy, administrating a wide variety of biological maintenance that sustains your body to run in top condition and to prepare for the following day. Scientists discovered that whilst asleep our brains can be more active than when we are awake. Without enough hours of recuperative sleep, you won’t be able to work, learn, create, and communicate at a level that is even close to your true potential. Frequent lack of sleep can lead to a mental and physical crash. Hence we are programmed to sleep every night to restore our body’s and mind’s health

I was informed that these following tips should help with sleep routines: Firstly, make sleep a priority naps can invigorate you to work more efficiently, but only if correctly planned. Naps that are too long or too close to bedtime can interfere with your regular sleep. Bedrooms are a haven that should be exclusively used for sleep and sex, so cool temperatures, quiet and dark environment is key. Bright light in the morning signals your body to wake up. Avoid consuming caffeine close to bedtime, can interrupt sleep so avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate late in the day so you can get to sleep at night. Nicotine and alcohol will also interfere with your sleep even exercising at night will interfere because when you are sleep deprived, you are as impaired as driving with a blood alcohol content of .08%.
So what are the alternative sleeping patterns?

There are roughly five different sleep patterns, Most common is Monophasic; 6-8 hours of sleep at night. But most common for the westernized student life is polyphasic sleep.

Polyphasic sleep is the practice of sleeping multiple times in a 24hour day. The point is to achieve more awake time in a day although this can cause irregular sleep-wake syndrome.

The uberman cycle consists of 6 naps a day every 4 hours for 20-30 min. The body automatically enters REM so one bypasses the stage of 75 to 90 min trying to fall asleep once awaken; you feel refreshed and energised.

An easier adaption is the everyman cycle; this allows one to skip naps and won’t necessarily feel exhausted if skipped. It allows for non routine individuals who need to stay up more frequently in unplanned circumstances.
A typical student will most likely adapt to a biphasic sleep pattern also known as sietsa cycle, it consists of 4.5 hours of sleep during night and a 90min nap during the afternoon. I do too find myself in this sleep pattern during the week of campus.

If I could have my way, I would indulge in a 12 hour sleep schedule, but as a university student, that is only ever a dream during semesters. With the aid of stay-awake drugs, caffeine and physical exercise allow us to accomplish an adrenaline that will sustain the need to stay awake as desired. However not getting any sleep 48 hours will cause hallucinations and by 72hours, it can lead to a fatal death.

TEAM ORDERS; SHOULD ALL TEAM ORDERS ARE PROHIBITED?

The first controversy, started with Michael Schumacher while driving for Ferrari. Michael Schumacher was the golden boy of Formula 1 racing as he had the greed to win races. Drivers such as Rubens Barrichello and Filpe Massa -who was Schumacher’s team mate while he was driver for Ferrari, was given orders during races to let Schumacher pass them. In doing so, Schumacher was able to set records as being the best drive ever.

Schumacher went on to win the world driver’s championship for five consecutive years while being at Ferrari. Barrichello and Massa most of the time gave way to Schumacher so he could overtake them, in doing so they (the team mates) would end up with fewer points than Schumacher. But since Formula1 is about racing, the actual race between Schumacher and his team mates would never be. So were the fans being cheated out of a racing showpiece? Especially since both cars being identical, all that is left is a driver’s driving skills.

At the Malaysian, 2 manufacturers were in the four top places, one manufacturer being first and second while the other was third and fourth. Both manufacturers instructed their drivers to hold positions.
This was done via their two-way radios enabling an international broadcast to the audience to hear the conversations on a medium. Both drivers behind their team mates thought their cars and tyres were in a better state to pass the team mates ahead of them, however, the team principals stuck to their initial decision and reiterated their decision and to turn down the engines.

However Red Bull Racing team drivers, consisting of Mark Weber and Sebastian Vettel had other ideas;
not much from Weber as he was in first place. Vettel decided to pass Weber- Weber’s engine was down so response for challenge was a delayed. They raced for a few corners before the youth and exuberance of Vettel out done Weber. Weber was furious to say the least, but overall the viewers saw a showpiece of utter beauty that only big race enthusiast would understand and appreciate.

In 2010 Mark Weber was ordered to slow down so that his team mate, Vettel could pass him, Weber refused and raced Vettel, The two cars collided and both were out of the race, they were first and second respectively and at the end of it all, the drivers are all challenging for the driver’s championship and it is early in the season.

However with that said, it is rather debatable if the team orders are acceptable. Would it have been fair that a manufacturer should risk the chance of both drivers being eliminated from the race due to them racing each other by colliding accidently or by mechanical failure due to high revs and speeding?
Is it fair of the public to expect teams to race each other when there is also a manufacturer’s title at stake?

Source: http://www.formula1.com

News analysis of Anene Booysen

This analysis will evaluate the manner three articles of different news sources have portrayed the rape and death Anene Booysen. The three sources of news reports are; Mail & Guardian, City Press and Cape Argus. The analysis will refer to agenda setting, bias and objectivity, framing, propaganda, priming and news setting. Anene Booysen is one of many young women, who had been a victim of a brutal rape case. The 17 year old was found on a construction site early hours (2013) February 2nd morning in Bredasdorp. She was rushed to a hospital nearby but died 6 hours later, fortunately she was able to mention her perpetrator before she passed away (Swart, 2013). There has been activism toward abuse and rape in South Africa especially against women, but this was elevated to a greater level after South African celebrity, model Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by athlete Oscar Pistorius (Frost, 2013).

Mail & Gaurdian : Will Anene Booysen’s brutal rape and murder shake the nation into action?
The lead to this article: “While India raged, South Africa’s response to Booysen’s rape has been muted by comparison. Why? This is the first of a five-part series on rape.”

The article passes judgement on how South Africa is not proactive enough in comparison to India who took drastic measures when one of their own citizens- Jyoti Singh Pandey, a 23 year old- was brutally raped and killed in similar conditions to Anene Booysen, a 17 year old. Both these young women were eviscerated and both died from the wounds their attackers inflicted on them revealing the subjectivity of the journalist imposing a bias perspective onto the readers (Bull, 2010).

The article describes how both Pandey and Booysen landed up in their gruesome death. India and South Africa both broke in an outcry of disgust, but India had taken more action on a regional bases. India-week of protest in several cities such as-Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Latchicharge, Nashik, Vadodara and Faridabad.- that clashed with the police force.

This is an example of agenda-setting as the article depicts a diagram indicating violent activity and rape in South Africa comparing between Gauteng and East London. They do not display India’s statistics indicating that this information is not relevant to the point the journalist is trying to convey. Agenda setting focuses on a selection in a story to issue the importance certain coverage for the public to regard as an issue (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007).

According to the article, after Pandey’s death, violence in India had subsided for brief weeks, but then started to increase by January. In South Africa however, it was different case. Jacob Zuma spoke out in protest to violence, but mainly after more attacks like Booysen’s had taken place. When sympathy mattered most such as the funeral of Booysen, there was no sign of any political leader at the burial. However, Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) and the president of the ruling Indian National Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, were at the New Delhi airport to receive Pandey’s body at 3.25am on December 30th. Her body was transported to the funeral in escort with more than 20 police vehicles. The journalist framed the way readers regard South African government as insensitive and not competent to show compassion toward citizens of the country they are in charge of. This is also regarded as a priming technique as it depends on cognitive processing of readers (Bull, 2010).

Within the article, picture of Pandey and Booysen are displayed. Booysen is conveyed as sad, neglected (possibly an Identification book or convict photo type) and with no prosperous future, whereas Pandey is showed in a happy positive light, dressed in traditional Indian gear with a broad smile. Anyone reading it, would automatically feel differently for both girls a liking would much rather be taken to Pandey than Booysen.

Heidi Swart questions that if India had not had the outcry, would SA have displayed any objection to the brutal fate of Booysen. The article implies South African government are ignorant and are followers to what other countries do.
Swart concludes by opening old wounds by bringing up previous rape incidents that were just as brutal but so easily forgotten about.

Cape Argus: Mom recalls Anene’s dying moments
The headline is very sentimental as it uses ‘Mom’ instead of mother, more colloquial, referring to victim on first name bases as indicating a personal relationship with the reader (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007)

The introduction is specific; it indicates the place of report and the town that Anene Booysen was from. The objectivity of the report; residents of Bredasdorp are prepared to take the law into their own hands if they find more suspects that are connected to Booysen’s murder and rape.

The article introduces Booysen’s aunt and her living conditions with her mother. Quotations are used to indicate the realism from Anene’s foster mother which also indicates that the journalist is trying to be objective and un-bias however; the headline of the article is subjective (Bull, 2010). The article depicts the loving relationship between Booysen and her mother. Mother and daughter worked together and bonded during the evenings after work. The article mentions how television was not priority this could mean two things; either they were in great poverty that television could not be afforded or that it was by choice to rather live without this social connection.The article is written more of an ‘in memeory of Anene’, allowing the reader to understand who Booysen was and the impact she had on her loved ones.

There are two visuals used in the article; one of Booysen- the same picture as in the Mail & Guardian article, except it is indicated that it is extracted from her Identification book. We can see the South African registration and her date of birth. This illustrates that Booysen is simply another statistic the picture in her Identification book resembles a sombre expression. The other picture is of Booysen’s mother, composed but one can still sense the emotional battle she must be dealing with, she is not making eye contact with the camera.

The article makes use of priming which refers to cognitive way of processing information (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). The journalist makes reference to a rape case prior to Booysen’s that had taken place four years ago, emphasising how something needs to be done and change should occur to prevent these tragedies. However, this ignites that somehow the case of Anene Booysen will simply dissolve and not much will be resolved, which is ironic because the way the article concludes is with that date and venue of Booysen’s burial.

The third article is published by City Press, the headline; “Hundreds say goodbye to Anene Booysen”.
City Press established the essential details in a nut shell. It uses direct and impersonal terms with no finer details making the write up very brief, much like a summary. The opening sentence established the scene of a funeral and the reason of death inflicted onto the victim. Complete objective writing, no emotional stimulation from the victim’s family, except for a quote from her brother describing the relationship he had with the perpetrator. There is no agenda-setting within the article as the details are objective and to the point.

The article concludes with stipulating facts regarding two previous rape cases. This indicates no hope, not much will be resolved by Anene Booysen’s brutal death as she is just another unfortunate statistic which can be seen as a bias perception from the journalist that is imposing this same mindset onto the reader. This strategy is similar to the way the Cape Argus concluded their article as stated above. In comparison to Mail & Guardian who took the route of an outcry for help within their conclusion indoctrinating a sort of optimism onto the readers viewpoint regarding the catastrophe of violence and abuse against women.

As can be seen through analysing these three articles, even though it is published in different styles of writing, the message behind them concludes to the same. Not much hope or change will evolve from the brutality of innocent young women in South Africa. It is appalling how high rape statistics are, and yet they keep increasing as time progresses. One would think that violence would be decreasing considering how societies continuously speak of progressive nations. South African authority is not using their power correctly and when change is spoken about, it is only temporary movements.

REFERENCE LIST:
Anonymous. (9 February 2013). Hundreds say goodbye to Anene Booysen. Available: http://www.citypress.co.za/news/say-goodbye-to-anene-booysen/ [2013, March 31].

Bull, A. (2010). Multimedia Journalism: A Practical Guide. London: Routledge. 317-320.

Frost, C. (11 March 2013). TV Review: Oscar Pistorius-What really happened. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/11/tv-review-oscar-pistorius-reeva-steenkamp-rick-edwards_n_2856010.html [2013, April 1].

Knoetze, D. (9 February 2013). Mom recalls Anene’s dying moments. Available:http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/mom-recalls-anene-s-dying-moments-1.1466446 [2013, March 31].

Pape, S. & Featherstone, S. (2005). Newspaper Journalism: A Practical Introduction. London: Sage. 15-25

Scheufele, D.A. & Tewksbury, D. (2007). Framing, agenda setting, and priming: the evolution of three media effects models. Journal of communication. 57: 9 -20

Swart, H. (15 February 2013). Will Anene Booysen’s brutal rape and murder shake the nation into action? Available: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-02-15-00-will-anene-booysens-brutal-rape-and-murder-shake-the-nation-into-action [2013, March 31].

The Malaysian Grand Prix.

Almost every challenge or prediction that was put out there to challenge Vettel and Red Bull Racing for F1 Supremacy, were incorrect thus far. With a bit of luck, guts and determination, Sebastian Vettel driving for the Red Bull Racing team has taken the lead in the drivers’ standings. Since it was raining during qualifying (and at the start of the race) it was going to be a bit of a gamble to pit at the appropriate lap and change onto the correct tyres.

Alonso had a bit of bad luck when he drove into Vettel damaging his front wing, he gambled not to come to the pits after the first lap.

However just passing the pit entrance on lap 1 the front wing went underneath the Ferrari which sent him into the gavel where his wheels got lodge resulting the end of his race. Masse qualified 2^nd but was no match in the wet, as he lost time in the early part of the race. Riakkonen, the winner of the Australian Grand prix, qualified 5^th and had a 3^rd place penalty for obstructing Nico Rosburg .

Mark Weber qualified 4^th and had the best race, he pitted 2 laps later than everyone else when the track was wet while the rest of the drivers went onto slick tyres. When Weber had his slicks fitted the track was completely dry and he could set continuous good lap time, with his good strategy, Weber took the lead in the Grand Prix ahead of his team mate, current world champion, Vettel.

The most disappointing teams to date are the McLaren, Force India and Williams. It has been reported that Team McLaren is going to use the Honda engine for next year so Mercedes will not be giving team McLaren the best and latest technology on the upgrades for the engines they are currently using.

Force India is using the Mercedes engine and Williams who is using the Renault engine should only improve from this point. With Alonso out of the race there would have been no competition for the Red bull Team if it was not for the improved team of Mercedes.

The drivers of Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished 3^rd and 4th respectively. With 3 laps remaining, both team principals of Red Bull Racing and Mercedes had asked their driver to hold positions and not to race their team mates as this could risk them taking each other, or both of them out of the race. Even though Rosberg ‘s car seem to be faster than his team mate, he nonetheless  stayed in 4^th position.

Vettel who was 2^nd to his team mate decided to overtake his team mate, Mark resisted and the 2 drivers had  a few  wheel to wheel racing before Weber reluctantly settled for 2^nd place. Massa earned Ferrari valuable 10 point for his 5^th position, the winner of the Australian Gran Prix finishing 7^th position.

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/3/14410.html

Image: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/03/24/2013-malaysian-grand-prix-result/

 

All Drivers stand an equal chance of the 2013 Championship

After the dramatic start to the season with the Australian Formula1 Grand Prix, one can conclude that the 2013 season championship can be won by any of the top  five manufacturers; Lotus, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Force India.The drivers of the above F1 racing teams are current and previous world champions.

Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull  in 2010, 2011 and is the current champion.  Fernando Alonso for Ferrari won in 2005 and 2006, Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes won 2008 champion, Kimi Riakkonen was 2007 champion and Jenson Button racing for McLaren, won 2009 champion. All these drivers, as well as their team mate, have a high probability of winning the 2013 World Formula1 Championship.

Force India was very competitive in the Australian Grand Prix even though they do not have any champions driving for them. The three teams that are very competitive are McLaren, Force India and Lotus even though they still require speed. However, they cannot be ignored because Ferrari was not among the fastest cars last year yet managed to finish 2nd on the championship table with only 3 points behind Vettel (Redbull). Which means that it takes more than speed and good driving skills to win F1 races, car set ups and strategies all contribute to winning or losing races.

Tyre choices, coming into the pits for fresh tyres and not being economical on tyres also plays a huge role in winning races as seen last week in the Australian Grand Prix.

Riakkonen was not the fastest but was clued up on the use of his tyres, which made his tyres last longer. Due to his tyres lasting longer he was able to make one less pit stop which saved him 30 seconds, enabling him to win the race. Alonso placed 2^nd, Vettel 3^rd, Massa 4^th and Hamilton placed 5^th.

Lots of development and improvements to the cars took place during the off season of Formula1 racing. Mercedes and Ferrari are the main manufacturers that have been able to develop and improve their cars. Mercedes have also sorted out their reliability issues that have inflicted their loss last year.

There are only 3 different engine manufacturers in the top 6 car manufacturers,

That is 1) Mercedes engine used by – Mercedes , McLaren and Force India

2) Ferrari- used by Ferrari

3) Renault- used by Red Bull Racing and Lotus .

It is only obvious that the competition is going to be fierce since the car set up is dependent on driver’s ability, weather condition and being on the correct tyre choice at the appropriate time.

The following races in Malaysia and China are going to be the kind of races where tyre choice is going to be critical due to the unpredictable monsoon weather experienced in these countries.

source:http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/kimi-raikkonen-leads-the-way-in-malaysia-practice-8545223.html

image: http://www.crash.net/f1/picturearchive/186361/13/photos

The establishment of Red Bull Racing.

The Stewart Racing car, also known as The Stewart Grand Prix, was developed by the 70s racing driver Jackie Stewart and his son- Paul Stewart. The car was powered by a Ford V 10 motor and was established as the Ford Work Team.Their 1st race was held in Australia in 1997. Later that year The Stewart managed to place 2nd in Monaco. By 1999 they developed a new engine and both their drivers ended on the podium placing 1st and 3rd, resulting the Stewart’s first win.

In 2000 the Ford Company bought Stewart under the Jaguar brand and Jaguar then raced from 2000 -2004 and acquired Cosworth and Jaguar motor companies to help with the developments. Jaguar used the same car with an upgraded engine for the 2000 season, but the results were below all expectations. The team principal and managers were replaced several times in the hope to increase the performance on the track, but Jaguar went from bad to worst.

The Ford Company decided to sell Jaguar Racing in September 2004 which was then purchased by Red Bull in November the same year. Jaguar Racing was sold for US $1 with a commitment that they would invest US $400 million over the next 3 racing seasons. Jaguar supplied the new Cosworth engine for Red Bull Racing which was developed for the 2005 season. At this stage, Red Bull had shares in the Sauber Racing car as well as a driving academy. They were able to achieve the expertise of David Coulthord , an experienced driver who had left McLaren, as well as 2 other drivers, Christian Klien and Vitatonio Liuzzi to race for them.

Red Bull Racing did well in their 1st year (2005), placing 7th in the manufacturing Construction, with a score of 34 points. In April 2005 the team announced they clinched a deal with Ferrari to use the Ferrari engines for the 2006 season. This was the same period that Adrian Newey, the successful technical director of McLaren, was acquired by Red Bull Racing. The 2006 season was plagued with several problems from overheating to hydraulics that caused the cars to retire; they did however obtain points.

Their highest finish in 2006 was that of Coulthard when he finished 3rd in Monaco, Red Bull managed to place 7th that year in the FIA Constructors Championship. Later that year Red bull ended their contract with Ferrari and negotiated with Renault to supply them with engines for 2007.

In 2007 Adrain Newey helped design a new car for Red Bull racing, using the service of Mark Weber who has also driven for Jaguar in 2003 -2004 seasons. The car and driver did well by placing twice on the podium as well as setting the fastest lap time; Red bull finished 5th for FIA Constructors Championship.

2008 was a great year for Red Bull as they resolved the problems that dogged them for the previous seasons. Half way through the season, they already had 24 points, the same amount they had for the entire previous season. By the end of 2008 season Coulthard retired and Sebastian Vettel took his place for the 2009 season. The team managed to finished 2nd on the FIA Constructor Championship which is a great improvement compared to the previous years.

The 2010 season was their 1st championship year as they dominated most of the races, many times leading from pole positions. Red Bull kept their drivers – Vettel and Webber, and pursued Geoff Willis as the technical director. Red Bull Racing had the best balance car and drivers for 2010, 2011 and 2012 as both the drivers and Constructors Championship were won by the team. Sebastian Vettel is the youngest Triple Crown F1 champion, surpassing Ayrton Senna (former Brazilian racing driver).

Red bull Racing is now officially known as Infiniti-Red Bull Racing, owned by Austrain, Dietrich Mateschtz.

Source: http://formula1.about.com/od/teams/p/redbull.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Racing
wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_Racing

Imgae: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stewart_gp_barrichello_1997.jpg

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121215/f1/121219908

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Webber_usgp_2004.jpg