Webber handed pole as Schumacher penalized

RedBull's Mark Webber will start tomorrow's Monaco GrandPrix from pole position after Michael Schumacher, who was fastest in qualifying was handed a five place grid penalty for causing an accident with Bruno Senna two week's ago in Barcelona.

As a result it hands Webber his first pole of the 2012 season and it also means that Mark is 5 - 1 in qualifying to his team mate and reigning double World Champion Sebastian Vettel who will start tomorrow's race from 10th on the grid having not set a time in Q3 opting instead to save his tyre's for the race.

After setting the pace on Thursday in practice Lotus were left disappointed as Romain Grosjean qualified 4th while team Kimi Raikkonen only just managed to get into Q3 having been forced to use a set of the super soft tyre's in Q2. The Finn will start the race from 8th on the grid just behind Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

It was a mixed day for McLaren as Jenson Button went out in Q2 and will start the race from 13th on the grid unlucky for some but Monaco is so unpredictable anything can happen as JB said himself he has only finished in the points on three occassion's a second, third and a win so watch out for him in the race.

Meanwhile team mate Lewis Hamilton faired a bit better he will start the race from the second row of the grid in 3rd alongside Romain Grosjean.

Michael Schumacher's loss is his team-mate Nico Rosberg's gain as due to Schumacher's penalty Nico will start from the front row in second alongside Webber.

It is certainly set to be an extremely interesting race and fingers crossed history will be made with 6 different winners in the first six races. I reckon Lewis Hamilton could win it but I would love to see Kimi come through to win for Lotus but from 8th place we shall see what happens.

Qualifying is one thing but the race especially in Monaco is a different story altogether.

Breaking News suspect device destroyed in Monaco paddock

Some Breaking News from Monaco this evening, as a suspect device was found in the paddock complex. The device was found outside the media centre and close to Bernie Ecclestone's motorhome aswell as the FIA's and McLaren's motorhomes.

It's the second time in two years that a device has been found in Monaco.

Meanwhile Jenson Button was fastest in a damp second free practice session. Romain Grosjean was 2nd for Lotus.

Formula One valued at $9.1 Billion as CVC sell 20 percent of the of the sport

Formula One has been valued at a staggering $9.1 Billion ahead of it's expected flotation on the Singapore Stock Exchange next month. The news came as CVC Capital partners a majority shareholder in the sport announced that it had sold a 20 percent stake in the sport in preparation for the flotation.

Do I think the flotation is a good idea? Yes and no. Yes because hopefully it means that the team's will get more control of the sport and any decisions that will be made about the sport. And no because it means that Bernie Ecclestone will just get more money, as he owns shares in CVC.

However there is light at the end off the tunnel as it has been suggested that the top team;s in the sport ie RedBull, Ferrari and McLaren will be allowed to nominate team representatives to the new Singapore board.

In other F1 news, the Williams F1 team have announced that they will be ready for this weekend;s Monaco GrandPrix despite the massive fire in their garage in Spain, due to the great support and offers of equipment.

Biggest Motorsport weekend of the season this weekend

Before I started today's entry I would firstly like to congradulation Irish boxer Katie Taylor who became Amateur Feather weight world champion in China giving her a bye to the quarter finals for the 2012 London Olympics.

Anyway back to Motorsport, this weekend as I said in my headline is the biggest racing weekend of the year firstly we have the Monaco GrandPrix the most glamourous race of the calendar where everyone is hoping that firstly we won't see a repeat of the dramatic scene's following the Spanish GrandPrix two week's ago and secondly we'll get to see our sixth different winner out of six race's.

Ok many pundits are tipping Lewis Hamilton to win this weekend, however you can never discount Mark Webber at Monaco the Aussie won there in 2012 leading home a RedBull one two. We must also take into account the Lotus team's strong performance in Bahrain and again in Spain. Can Kimi take the win? Or indeed will Romain Grosjean be the one to take Lotus' first win?

Will Felipe Massa make the breakthrough he desperately needs to silence his critics for the moment at least? We will find out when the light's go out on Sunday.

Now for the second major racing event of the weekend, The Indianapolis 500, which for the first time in 7 year's will not feature Danica Patrick the NASCAR driver opted not to attempt to qualify the race due to a busy stock car schedule.

Firstly, this year's race will be a somber and poignant event as Dan Wheldon, who was so tragically killed in the final race of last season is the current Indy 500 champion. Penske's Ryan Briscoe will stat Sunday's race from pole position while the Ganassi Racing driver's Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti will star from 15th and 16th place's respectively.

This year also sees the largest number of ex F1 driver's taking part in the race at one time. Jean Alesi, Takuma Sato, Justin Wilson and Rubens Barrichello all qualified for the race. So it will be extremely interesting to see what happens.

Relief for Williams after a huge fire mars their victory celebrations

The Williams team who today took their first win since 2004 at the Spanish GrandPrix in Barcelona had to cut short their celebrations as a huge fire engulfed their garage. The team's up and down the pitlane rushed to help put out the fire however 31 people including 4 Williams mechanics were injured.

The fire broke following a fuel and KERS explosion while the team were draining a car for transport. In a dramatic scene smoke swept across the paddock complex in Barcelona and the FIA, Williams and local police have launched separate investigations into the incident.

The race itself was won by Williams driver Pastor Maldonado, who scored his first ever podium and as I said in the introduction the team's first win since 2004. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was second in a heavily revised car while for the second race in a row Kimi Raikkonen was on the podium again for Lotus as the Iceman finished 3rd.

Lotus are really having a very strong season so far and with five different winners in the first five races as the team's head to Monaco could Lotus be next? We'll have to wait and see. I would love to se the Lotus team win.

Hamilton on Pole as F1 returns to Europe

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrows Spanish GrandPrix from pole position after a thrilling qualifying session full of surprises. The Mclaren driver will be joined on the front row by the Williams of Pastor Maldonando who, was the star of qualifying. Fernando Alonso, lines up 3rd while the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen continued the team's great run with 4th and 5th. 

Sebastian Vettel is in 8th with team mate Mark Webber 12th. Meanwhile Jenson Button will start 11th after a very disappointing quali

Spanish GrandPrix Preview

This weekend se's the F1 circus roll into Barcelona for the start of European leg of the 2012 F1 season. A season which so far in the four race's we've had has produced fours. There is a very strong possibility that we could have a fifth different winner this weekend a feat which F1 has not since the 1983 season.

Despite Sebastian Vettel winning last tie out in Bahrain, the race belonged to the Lotus F1 team who scored a double podium finish with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean finishing second and third respectively. Kimi should have won the race but for the fact that during his final stint his tyre's gave up and Vettel was able to pull away.

However if preseason testing is anything to go by Lotus are going to be right on the pace this weekend as they were topping the time's and the testing was in Spain.