Monday, 4th August 2008

Former double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso will switch teams from Renault to Honda in 2009, it is claimed – partnering Jenson Button and replacing Rubens Barrichello.

Fernando Alonso is on the verge of agreeing terms to a $15m USD (£7.6m) deal to race for Honda in Formula 1 in 2009 in place of veteran Rubens Barrichello – but whether it will be for just next season or for longer remains uncertain.

According to British newspaper The Guardian, the former double F1 World Champion, frustrated by a season spent behind the wheel of an uncompetitive car in Renault’s R28, will partner Jenson Button at the big-budget Japanese outfit, which many expect to take a leap up the grand prix grid when the sport’s sweeping new technical regulations – including the return of slick tyres and the new KERS energy regeneration systems – are introduced next year.

Part of the reason for that is the fact that team principal Ross Brawn is renowned for possessing one of the sharpest brains in the top flight, having helped to mastermind all seven of the record-breaking Michael Schumacher’s world championship successes at first Benetton and then Ferrari between 1994 and 2004.

The Englishman has made no secret of his desire to see Alonso in one of his cars, describing the Spaniard as ‘the only [driver] that I see as totally complete, as Michael was’ [see separate story – click here], and believing that the 19-time grand prix-winner would be a major coup for the team with his test and development skills in F1’s new dawn.

Though the widespread belief within the paddock is that the 27-year-old will switch to Ferrari sooner or later – likely depending upon how much longer defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen chooses to remain in the sport, at the moment unclear – Honda could offer an attractive stop-gap option for him.

“Fernando is a wonderful driver who would be a fantastic asset to any of the top teams, including this one,” the Brackley-based outfit’s CEO Nick Fry told The Guardian. “The job Ross and I have is to build a world championship-winning team.”

Sunday, 3rd August 2008

Felipe Massa looked odds-on to both triumph in the Hungarian Grand Prix and reclaim the F1 World Championship lead in Budapest – until the engine in his Ferrari cruelly decided otherwise with just three laps left to run…
Felipe Massa was left to walk away from both his smoking Ferrari and the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend having scored no points, despite leading for virtually the entire race around the tight and twisty Hungaroring just outside of Budapest.

The Brazilian – whose post-qualifying suggestion that the Scuderia was not out of it yet had been dismissed in many quarters as merely trying to put a brave face on an unpalatable situation – proved to be every bit as good as his word come race day, producing a storming start to aggressively drive all the way around the outside of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton into the first corner after the red lights went out.

He then proceeded to gradually eke out a small advantage over his pursuer, seeming to have an answer to everything the McLaren-Mercedes star had to throw at him, and his position looked to be more comfortable than ever when Hamilton suffered a puncture just over midway through, gifting Massa a gap of more than 20 seconds over the sister Silver Arrow of Heikki Kovalainen.

Indeed, such was his advantage that the 27-year-old São Paulista was able to back off towards the end of the race, safe in the knowledge that he would not only break his Hungarian Grand Prix curse, but with it reclaim the championship lead. And then, just three laps from the chequered flag and having not put a foot wrong throughout, his engine went bang…

“It happened completely without warning,” he related, “without giving the slightest indication. I was managing the race, because I had a good advantage over second place after Hamilton was delayed with a problem, and I was taking no risks whatsoever.

“I am very frustrated at the moment, because today we had a great car and we had done everything perfectly until just a few kilometres from the finish. Unfortunately, racing can be a cruel sport. We had given it our all, but these things can happen.

Tuesday, 15th July 2008

Michael Schumacher, the most successful F1 driver of all time, reveals why he walked away at the end of 2006 – and it wasn’t because of Kimi Raikkonen, he claims…

More than a year-and-a-half on from his retirement from Formula 1, Michael Schumacher – the most successful driver in the sport’s history – has revealed that he walked away to save his team-mate and friend Felipe Massa’s career.

The German – who claimed a record-breaking seven world drivers’ crowns in the top flight, the product of an unrivalled 91 victories, 154 rostrum finishes, 68 pole positions and 1,369 points – hung up his F1 helmet at the end of his 16th season in 2006.

At the time many had surmised that he had quit rather than run the risk of being out-performed by Kimi Raikkonen, who had been signed up to drive for Ferrari the following year. Schumacher, though, insists this was not the case.

“I stopped because I didn’t want my friend Felipe Massa to be unemployed,” the 39-year-old is quoted as having said by Swiss newspaper Blick. “I would have had no problem going up against Kimi Raikkonen.”

Schumacher will be in evidence throughout the forthcoming German Grand Prix weekend – around a circuit at which he triumphed on four occasions during his career in the uppermost echelon – fulfilling his role as a special consultant to the Scuderia. The outing will mark only his second paddock visit of the season, following his appearance in Barcelona almost three months ago. He is also due to play football in the 1 drivers’ team on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the alternating agreement that currently sees the German Grand Prix shared between 2008 home Hockenheim and the Nürburgring looks set to continue until at least 2011, when the scheme is contractually fixed to end.

The move was made as more and more countries clamour for the right to welcome F1, making it more difficult to justify Germany having two seasonal slots on the calendar, as had been the case in 2006 and a number of previous years.

source: crash.net

Saturday, 28th June 2008

Australian Grand Prix receives a fresh blow as Melbourne’s local council argues it does not benefit the country, despite suggestions that a new deal to take the race through to 2015 is all-but signed and sealed.

The Australian Grand Prix – a mainstay on the Formula 1 calendar since 1985, firstly in the South Australian state capital of Adelaide and now in Melbourne’s Albert Park – has come in for severe criticism as its future remains up in the air, with claims that local residents have ‘had more than enough’ and that the race ‘does not benefit’ the country.

There has been considerable debate over the event’s future for a number of months, with no guarantee that its current contract – set to expire in 2010 – will be renewed. F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone is demanding that the race be held at night in order to capture greater European viewing audiences, a move circuit promoters have repeatedly insisted is not a viable option.

The cost of welcoming the grand prix – including the fee payable to Ecclestone’s Formula One Management company – has risen steadily each year, climbing by a staggering $8 million AUD (£3.9 million) from $33 million AUD (£15.9 million) in 2006, funded by Victorian taxpayers.

Indeed, the race is now running at a considerable loss, even if the state government has pointed to clear economic benefits generated by the kudos of staging a Formula 1 event, in terms of visitors, publicity and widespread international television exposure.

In a new twist, however, the local Melbourne council which hosts the race has crucially withdrawn its support and is asking the Victorian state government to get rid of it, arguing that the grand prix ‘does not benefit Victoria as a whole’ or the rest of the country.

“After 14 years, residents have had more than enough,” City of Port Phillip mayor Janet Cribbes stressed in a statement. “Why should they have to suffer the noise and the inconvenience of a car race in a park, a race whose public price tag blew out to $41.3 million AUD (£19.9 million) last year? It simply doesn’t stack up on economic, social or environmental grounds.

source:crash.net