Champ Car and Indy Unite

Finally the day came when the two major open wheel racing series united. Both series have been going downhill since the separation between the two. Nascar became the most popular racing series after the split of the series. Along with the increasing popularity of Nascar, many top contenders and fan favorites switched to nascar from open wheel racing. All open wheel racing fans hope that this unification will bring back the glory days for open wheel racing. The unification came just in time as open wheel racing seemed to be dead in the U.S., with the cancellation of the formula 1 race at Indianapolis and the only North American F1 GP in 2008 will take place in Canada. Hopefully the dynasty of open wheel racing in the U.S. will come full turn and regain the popularity stolen by Nascar.

2008 Malaysian Grand Prix

Compared to Australia, the Malaysian Grand Prix was a successful for the Ferrari team. Even though both their cars didn't take the checker flag they still claimed top spot on the podium. Kimi Raikkonen Looked like the champion he was last year. After taking the lead from his teammate after his first pit stop, he turned cruise control on and glided to the checker. It could have been a dream finish for Ferrari if Felipe Massa didn't spin out on lap 30 while chasing Kimi. The true winners of the Malaysian Grand Prix have to be the BMW Sauber team. They confirmed to the racing world that they have what it takes to compete with Ferrari and Mclaren with back to back second place finishes. Lewis Hamilton was playing catch up from the start of the race due to the fact he was penalized 5 grid positions for impeding a driver during qualifying. For Sebastien Bourdais his race ended almost as soon as it started when he spun out on the first lap and had to retire. His teammate, Sebastian Vettel, brought him company after his hydraulics failed on lap 39. This was the second straight race that both STR cars retired from the race, not a great way to start the season off. The surprise of the weekend had to be Jarno Trulli. He qualified in 5th position and started third due to the penalties handed to the Mclaren cars. He finished in 4th position which seemed to be a mirage, due to the fact that Toyota has been less than stellar in the recent years. Next stop...Bahrain
Results:
1. Kimi Raikkonen
2. Robert Kubica
3. Heikki Kovalainen
4. Jarno Trulli
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Nick Heidfield
7. Mark Webber
8. Fernando Alonso
9. David Coulthard
10. Jenson Button
11. Nelsinho Piquet
12. Giancarlo Fisichella
13. Rubens Barrichello
14. Nico Rosberg
15. Anthony Davidson
16. Takuma Sato
17. Kazuki Nakajima
RET. Sebastian Vettel
RET. Felipe Massa
RET. Adrian Sutil
RET. Timo Glock
RET. Sebastien Bourdais

2008 Australian Grand Prix

In the opening race of the 2008 Formula One Season, only 6 of the 22 drivers finished the action packed Australian GP. To Top it all off, no driver with a Ferrari engine crossed the finish line under the checker flag. For the Ferrari team to only grab 1 point in the opening race has to be a disappointment. Felipe Massa retired from the race after completing 29 laps with an engine problem. Then 24 laps later both Ferrari's were in the garage after Kimi Raikkonen's engine failed with 5 laps remaining. Unlike Ferrari, Williams had to be very pleased with their results. They finished the race with both drivers in points with Nico Rosberg reaching the podium for the first time in his young F1 career. Among the highlights of the race were Fernando Alonso, and Heikki Kovalainen battling it out over the last few laps. Kovalainen seemed to have the better finish after he passed Alonso at the tail end of the 57 lap but on the straightaway it appeared that Kovalainen slowed down and Alonso jumped ahead of him and was able to hold off Kovalainen for 4th place. This Grand Prix had to the most eventful race in recent years with over half of the field receiving DNF.

Results

1. Lewis Hamilton

2. Nick Heidfield

3. Nico Rosberg

4. Fernando Alonso

5. Heikki Kovalainen

6. Kazuki Nakajima

7. Sebastian Bourdias

8. Kimi Raikkonen

Ret. Robert Kubica

Ret. Timo Glock

Ret. Takuma Sato

Ret. Nelsinho Piquet

Ret. Felipe Massa

Ret. David Coulthard

Ret. Jarno Trulli

Ret. Adrian Sutil

Ret. Mark Webber

Ret. Jenson Button

Ret. Anthony Davidson

Ret. Sebastian Vettel

Ret. Giancarlo Fisichella

DSQ. Rubens Barrichello