Sunday, October 21, 2007

Practice result

Raikkonen leads wet practice 1

Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two in the damp opening practice session at Interlagos, with Lewis Hamilton taking fifth and Fernando Alonso choosing not to participate.
Drizzle fell throughout the session, occasionally increasing to a heavier rain shower and ensuring that a dry line never appeared.
The title contenders sat out most of the morning, allowing Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli, Sebastian Vettel, Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher and Nico Rosberg to all take turns on top as the weather fluctuated
The Ferraris eventually emerged in the final 15 minutes and swiftly moved into first and second. Felipe Massa was the faster of the pair initially, before Raikkonen moved ahead by half a second with his last lap.
Hamilton made two comparatively tentative runs near the end of the morning, eventually taking fifth position. But his McLaren teammate Alonso decided to limit himself to an installation lap, as did the BMW pair and Giancarlo Fisichella.
Heikki Kovalainen ultimately took third for Renault, 1.2 seconds off the pace and just ahead of Rosberg and Hamilton.
Schumacher was sixth despite a quick spin late on, with Vettel moving back up to seventh near the end having been pushed back into the midfield as others improved.
Mark Webber, Trulli and Vitantonio Liuzzi completed the top ten.
Despite the treacherous conditions, there were few incidents. Along with Schumacher's spin, Sakon Yamamoto also had a quick trip off the road, while Adrian Sutil explored the run-off at the Senna S on two consecutive laps during one of the harder showers.Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:19.580 9
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:20.062 + 0.482 10
3. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:20.829 + 1.249 19
4. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:21.064 + 1.484 14
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.121 + 1.541 10
6. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:21.243 + 1.663 22
7. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:21.598 + 2.018 22
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.104 + 2.524 12
9. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:22.104 + 2.524 26
10. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:22.250 + 2.670 17
11. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:22.434 + 2.854 23
12. Button Honda (B) 1:22.477 + 2.897 22
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.667 + 3.087 16
14. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:22.929 + 3.349 19
15. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:23.248 + 3.668 30
16. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.261 + 3.681 26
17. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:23.551 + 3.971 20
18. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:24.366 + 4.786 25
19. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1
20. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1
21. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1
22. Fisichella Renault (B) 2






Hamilton tops practice 2




Championship leader Lewis Hamilton beat title rival Fernando Alonso to the fastest time in Friday afternoon practice at Interlagos.
Despite the looming prospect of a post-session visit to the stewards to find out if he will be penalised for using too many sets of wet tyres earlier on, Hamilton set the fastest time by 0.122 seconds when both McLarens tried the softer Bridgestones in the final minutes.
The Ferraris only managed third and fourth places.
After the rain that affected first practice, only a few damp areas remained when the second session began. A few drivers experimented with intermediate tyres initially, but once Mark Webber had gone quickest by 2.6 seconds on dry tyres, the rest of the field swiftly followed suit.
With track conditions improving all the time, the top spot quickly changed hands during the following half an hour. Alonso's early 1:16.081 benchmark did not last long before Hamilton embarked on a long run that eventually took him down to a 1:14.949 lap.
Felipe Massa then took a brief turn on top before Alonso reclaimed first place. The BMW drivers were next to lead the way when they tried the softer tyres, with Robert Kubica holding a six tenths of a second advantage over the rest of the field at the halfway point.
Alonso's first run on soft tyres was spoilt by traffic, but on the second attempt he produced a 1:13.239 and beat Kubica by 0.3 seconds.
That proved insufficient when Hamilton switched to softs five minutes later. The championship leader lapped in 1:12.767, half a second quicker than his teammate.
They were briefly split by Felipe Massa, before Alonso found more time on a new set of tyres and closed the gap to Hamilton to 0.122 seconds.
Kimi Raikkonen lost time on his soft tyre run when he locked up while trying to pass Hamilton. He could only manage fourth place.
Giancarlo Fisichella completed the top five for Renault, ahead of Kubica and the two Williams. Kazuki Nakajima had been as high as fourth during the session, before ending the day 0.009 seconds slower than teammate Nico Rosberg.Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.767 27
2. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.889 + 0.122 28
3. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:13.075 + 0.308 30
4. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:13.112 + 0.345 30
5. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:13.549 + 0.782 22
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:13.587 + 0.820 34
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:13.655 + 0.888 33
8. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:13.664 + 0.897 38
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:13.706 + 0.939 30
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:13.785 + 1.018 44
11. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:13.829 + 1.062 29
12. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:13.879 + 1.112 28
13. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:13.892 + 1.125 45
14. Button Honda (B) 1:14.095 + 1.328 44
15. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:14.152 + 1.385 33
16. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:14.179 + 1.412 25
17. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:14.409 + 1.642 37
18. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:14.431 + 1.664 27
19. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:14.477 + 1.710 31
20. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:14.543 + 1.776 35
21. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:15.095 + 2.328 35
22. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:15.715 + 2.948 32




Massa fastest in practice 3




Felipe Massa shaded the title contenders in the final free practice session at Interlagos.
The Brazilian dominated the hour, ending up a tenth clear of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, while Fernando Alonso only managed eighth.
There was no repeat of Friday's inclement weather, with a dry track and hot conditions greeting the field.
Massa set the early pace with a 1:12.653 lap, which at that stage put him four tenths of a second clear of Raikkonen and six tenths ahead of the evenly-matched McLarens.
Raikkonen responded with a 1:12.358 on his second run, but this was swiftly beaten by Massa's 1:12.136. Alonso found 0.4 seconds and improved to 1:12.817, while Hamilton did not gain on this run and was pushed right back to 15th as midfield runners improved their times.
As usual the field then switched into qualifying preparations and used supersoft tyres for their last runs, and again it was Massa who set the benchmark by lapping in 1:11.810 with four minutes to go. That was 0.132 seconds quicker than Raikkonen managed on his soft tyre flying lap moments later.
Hamilton then vaulted up the order to split the Ferraris with his soft tyre run, but Alonso's gain was much smaller, and he ended the session down in seventh place, 0.8 seconds off the pace.
Mark Webber showed strong form throughout the session and eventually took fourth for Red Bull, with Jarno Trulli bringing his Toyota up to fifth with his last run.
Rubens Barrichello also had a promising morning at his home track and spent much of the hour in the top ten before taking sixth.
BMW had a disappointing time, with Nick Heidfeld only seventh, and Robert Kubica falling to 20th after stopping on the exit of Cotovelo with a mechanical problem.
Sebastian Vettel and Vitantonio Liuzzi took an impressive ninth and 11th for Toro Rosso, sandwiching Williams' Nico Rosberg.Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:11.810 + 22
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:11.934 + 0.124 18
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:11.942 + 0.132 21
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:12.446 + 0.636 14
5. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:12.461 + 0.651 23
6. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:12.478 + 0.668 24
7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:12.579 + 0.769 25
8. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.594 + 0.784 12
9. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:12.767 + 0.957 18
10. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:12.823 + 1.013 20
11. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:12.893 + 1.083 20
12. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:12.913 + 1.103 20
13. Button Honda (B) 1:13.015 + 1.205 22
14. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:13.046 + 1.236 23
15. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:13.090 + 1.280 20
16. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:13.117 + 1.307 12
17. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:13.299 + 1.489 16
18. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:13.331 + 1.521 16
19. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:13.474 + 1.664 17
20. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:13.525 + 1.715 14
21. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:13.684 + 1.874 21
22. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:13.872 + 2.062 21


Source - http://www.autosport.com

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

History of Autódromo José Carlos Pace (Brazilian GP)

The land on which the circuit is built was originally bought in 1936 by property developers who wanted to build accommodation. However, it was discovered that the land was unsuitable for housing, so a racing circuit was built instead.
The traditional name of the circuit (literally, "between lakes") comes from the fact that it was built in a region between two large artificial lakes, Guarapiranga and Billings, which were built in the early 20th century to supply the city with water and electric power. In the 1970s it was renamed to honor the then recently deceased Formula One driver José Carlos Pace. There is a kart circuit inside it named after Ayrton Senna.
In 2006, multiple Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher drove in his final Grand Prix at this circuit before retiring. He finished fourth in the race, driving for the Scuderia Ferrari team.
Facilities, organisation and general safety at Interlagos and its surroundings are often criticised.
Notably, during a qualifying session for the 2000 Brazilian GP, the session had to be stopped three times due to advertising hoardings falling onto the track - one straight into the path of Jean Alesi's Prost. A practice session for the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix had to be stopped because a stray dog had found its way onto the track. The circuit is also criticised for being very bumpy, and despite attempts to smooth the surface, drivers still complain.
Besides the facilities of the circuit, the area around the circuit does not carry the best reputation. Though Formula One drivers generally move between the track and the center of São Paulo by helicopter, general team staff, the media, typically do not travel in this fashion, leaving them open to potential jeopardy. In one incident, Toyota's team staff was attacked by gunmen on a nearby road at the 2006 Brazilian GP.[1] The traffic congestion surrounding events such as the Formula One, Stock Car, and Fórmula Truck races are also a source of trouble for São Paulo city officials.
Race start is in front of the "Tribunas" section and features a pretty long straight section, then comes "S do Senna" ("Senna's S"), a series of turns (left, right, then left again) that are considered extremely difficult because each of them has a different angle, a different radius, a different length, a different inclination (inward or outward) and a different shape (besides the terrain goes down and then up again).
"Senna's S" connects with "Curva do Sol" ("Sun Turn"), a round-shaped large-radius left-turn that leads to "Reta Oposta" ("Opposite Straight Line"), the track's longest (but not the fastest) straight line. Reta Oposta is succeeded by two leftwise, downhill turns that are called "Descida do Lago" ("Down to the Lake") and then "Mergulho" ("Dive"), a short straight sector that goes down again.
After "Mergulho" comes a slow and difficult section, with small, kart-like turns and unpredictable ups-and-downs. These turns are "Ferradura" ("Horseshoe") rightwise and downhill in two steps; "Pinheirinho" ("Small Pine Tree"), an S-type section (right, then left) on a plain field; "Bico de Pato" ("Duck's Beak"), two rightwise turns (one easy, the other very slow and difficult); and then two leftwise turns forming a section called "Junção" ("Junction").
After the slow section begins the long, thrilling and dangerous top-speed section. The first step is "Subida dos Boxes" ("Up to the Pits"), a long, left-wise turn that sometimes seems straight and sometimes bends in more clearly. As the name implies, Subida dos Boxes is uphill (quite steep, indeed) and demands a lot of power from the cars. At the end of it there are two turns (14 and 15) that form what was once called "Cotovelo" ("Elbow"). At this point the track seems inclined inwards (or somewhat crooked).
Pit Lanes
Interlagos has one of the longest pit-lanes ever used in Formula One, starting just before the start line and rejoining the main course after Curva do Sol. Entering the pits is not a trivial task, as the high speed and the left turning may force the car rightwards, out of the pits.



New contract a confidence boost for Massa!

Felipe Massa believes his new Ferrari contract will finally give him the chance he needs to become a Formula One world champion.
The Brazilian's future at the Maranello team has been subject to great speculation all season, amid suggestions that his place could be under threat from Fernando Alonso.
But Ferrari brought a swift end to those rumours on Tuesday when their announced they had extended Massa's deal until the end of 2010 - adding two further years to his contract.
"I'm proud," Massa said at a press conference in Sao Paulo, ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.
"It's important for me and for F1 in Brazil. Now I can really chase the dream I've had since I was a kid: to become world champion."
Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni added that the team announced Massa's new deal as a way of bringing an end to the rumours about his future.
"We've decided it was the right time to kill off any speculation: we believe in Felipe and this is the demonstration," he said.
"It's true he is out of the championship fight, but it's not just his fault but everyone's. And in two years with us he's won five races and got eight pole positions."
Source - http://www.autosport.com

Kimi Raikkonen: supersofts won't be a problem

Kimi Raikkonen dismissed suggestions that his Ferrari team will be disadvantaged by Bridgestone's supersoft tyres in Brazil this weekend, and reiterated his intentions to win the season finale on Sunday.
Raikkonen trails championship leader Lewis Hamilton by seven points and Fernando Alonso by four. The Finn will only be able to win the championship if he finishes the Brazilian Grand Prix at least second while Hamilton scores no points and Alonso finishes no higher than fifth.
And with McLaren previously proving the better car on Bridgestone's supersoft tyres, paddock pundits have speculated that Raikkonen could be disadvantaged at Interlagos. But Raikkonen believes this is no longer the case.
"I've been reading stories that the supersoft tyres should be better for our competitors," Raikkonen said on Ferrari's official website. "That might have been true early in the season. But then things improved for us in terms of the set-up. So we just have to wait and see how it goes in Brazil.
"We go to Brazil in position three, so I'm not really the favourite for the title. But as we saw at Shanghai two weeks ago anything can happen. Whatever will happen, it's going to be a very exciting race. We will give it all.
"We couldn't do very much to prepare ourselves for Interlagos," Raikkonen continued. "We have just done some simulations and analysed the data.
"At Interlagos we need a strong package, especially the engine is very important for the long rising main straight. Let's hope that everything will be all right for this demanding and bumpy track. I know that the track has been redone, but we have to wait and see.
"I think that our competitors have done their job as we did. There's lots of pressure on both sides. They have two drivers in the race for the title and they also fight each other. Hopefully we can benefit from that.
"I go into this race the same way as into the last two: my aim is to win, and the rest is not up to me. It is a similar situation as in 2003, when I lost the title to Michael [Schumacher].
"Hamilton has seven points more than us: there's not much to calculate. We have to win and that's it."

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Michael Schumacher in Interlagos 2003 (video)

Formula 1 Onboard with Michael Schumacher in Interlagos 2003

Felipe Massa to stay at Ferrari through 2010

Ferrari have announced that they have extended Felipe Massa's contract until the end of the 2010 season.
There had been rumours that Massa would have to leave the team to make way for Fernando Alonso if the Spaniard split with McLaren after this year, but Ferrari boss Jean Todt dismissed this speculation last month and insisted that the team were committed to Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.
Massa's new deal is also set to end continued suggestions that Alonso could join Ferrari for 2009, when the Brazilian's previous contract would have expired.
Raikkonen's Ferrari deal runs to the end of the 2009 season.
Massa has been contracted to Ferrari since 2001, but was initially placed with the Sauber team.
He was promoted to the Ferrari squad alongside Michael Schumacher last season, and has now taken five victories and eight pole positions for the team.

Ferrari customers to get engine boost

Spyker and Toro Rosso have been promised a step forward in engine performance next year as Ferrari express their confidence in making progress.
This season has been the first since 2001 when Ferrari have supplied two customer teams, and their head of track engineering for engines, Mattia Binotto, thinks the company have faced a learning phase on that front.
But with him now confident they are reaching a good performance level, he is eyeing even more steps forward in 2008.
"The freezing of engine development has helped a lot in allowing us to provide this service, because again you are able to schedule and manage the full activity quite some time in advance," explained Binotto. "We have done a great job this year and part of that is down to the engine freeze.
"On the other side I would say that our collaboration with both Toro Rosso and Spyker has worked very well. Also in terms of performance we made a significant step forward through the season, as can be seen especially by Toro Rosso's performance in the last couple of races.
"At the start of the season, life was quite difficult on the customer front because we had a very short time to prepare and work out the installation of the engine in the chassis.
"But with both these teams, we caught up and made some good steps forward. Now we are looking to move forward again with both teams next year.
"We have enjoyed a good relationship and a good collaboration. Our engine guys in Maranello are very happy to have had four Ferrari engines in the top six at the last race in China.
"Ferrari is supplying these two other teams mainly for technical reasons, as it is a benefit to be able to run each race with six engines. The amount of feedback is important in terms of reliability and engine usage."

Monday, October 15, 2007

Massa sets sight on Brazil victory


Felipe Massa says he is heading to his home Grand Prix in Brazil next weekend with his sights firmly set on victory - even though teammate Kimi Raikkonen is still battling for the world championship.
The Ferrari driver thinks it would be wrong for him to approach the weekend thinking only of supporting Raikkonen's title situation - and he believes the Finn's hopes will be best served if the pair dominate from the front.
Writing on his official blog, Massa said that he was determined to end the season on a high, despite having dropped out of the title chase.
"If you look at all the elements of my season, the pace I showed, the results I obtained, the wins, then the overall outcome was a positive one, even without the title," said Massa.
"Now, I say to myself let's try and finish the championship in a fantastic way.
"The fact I will not be fighting for the title does not really change anything for me about my home race. It is a very important race for me on a personal level and we need to do the best we can to win, as I do in every race.
"But this is my home race and the final one of the year which adds something to it. Once the season has come to an end, it will be time to focus already on next year and to concentrate on starting and finishing the 2008 championship at the right level.
"At Interlagos, I will be trying to win the race. For sure, Kimi still has a chance of winning the championship, even if it is a small one and it will be difficult.
"My personal target is victory, but if we see any possibility of helping the team to win the driver's title, then of course I will be doing what I can.
"But this is not the way to approach the race weekend. The best way to approach it is to do what I have done at every race which is to think in terms of winning the race. If the miracle happens and maybe both McLarens are nowhere, then me and Kimi could finish first and second respectively and still give Ferrari the result it wants.
"There are so many possible permutations of what could happen that it is not worth thinking about all of them now. Of course the team will have done the maths for every possible situation."
Massa believes that qualifying will be crucial to the outcome of the title battle, with so many of this year's races having been won by the man who was first into the first corner.
"As for the racing, obviously the last two Grands Prix in Japan and China were not so great for me," he said. "After the first of those two races, I accepted the fact that I could no longer be in contention for the drivers' title, having to leave the fight to the three guys I have been battling with all year long.
"One aspect that has become ever clearer with every passing race is that qualifying and especially the ability to get a position on the front row of the grid is the most important key to the win this year with everything being so closely matched.
"In the end, neither of those two races produced a nice result, but in the difficult conditions in which they were run, it is always going to be tough with an element of luck playing its part."

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Kimi Raikkonen win keeps title battle alive!

Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso kept the world championship battle alive by finishing first and second in the Chinese Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton retired after going off the road in the pit entry.

The result closes Alonso to within four points of Hamilton going into the final round, with Raikkonen a further three points adrift.

Hamilton had dominated the wet opening stages, but stayed out too long on extremely worn intermediates tyres, and ran wide into the gravel in the pitlane entry when he finally tried to make a stop. The McLaren became beached in the gravel and the championship leader was out of the race.

Until then, Hamilton had looked on course to clinch the championship in China. Repeated showers in the build-up to the start and during the opening laps meant the whole field started on Bridgestone's 'intermediate' wet, and Hamilton was able to pull out a comfortable lead in the conditions - lapping as fast as one second per lap quicker than the rest of the field.

Raikkonen held an increasingly distant second, while Alonso went around the outside of Massa at the first corner only for the Ferrari to dive back in front further around the opening lap. With Massa unable to match the leaders' pace, Alonso fell 17 seconds behind his title rival in the first stint.

Hamilton had the lightest fuel load of the leaders and came in on lap 15. Raikkonen ran four laps further, allowing him to narrow Hamilton's lead from nine to four seconds by the time he rejoined after his stop. Although the rain had stopped by this time, the track was still sufficiently slippery to encourage the leaders to stick with their worn intermediates.

Within six laps the midfield runners were beginning to experiment successfully with dry weather tyres, but with another shower forecast, the top teams were unwilling to risk a premature tyre change.

As Hamilton began to suffer badly with tyre wear, Raikkonen closed right in on the leader. The McLaren was sliding around wildly and lapping 10 seconds slower than it had earlier on.

After rebuffing several of Raikkonen's passing attempts, Hamilton eventually ran wide at Turn 8 on lap 28, allowing the Ferrari through.

Raikkonen then pulled away by up to six seconds per lap as Hamilton struggled, and Alonso - who finally passed Massa at the hairpin on lap 26 - closed in on his title rival at an even faster rate.

With the anticipated shower passing within a couple of laps, Hamilton finally decided to pit on lap 31, but with his rear tyres now virtually down to canvas, he slithered wide at the bend in the pit entry and ran into the gravel at low speed.

He could not find enough traction to get out, and despite urging the marshals to assist him, the championship leader had to give up and retire from a Formula One race for the first time.

The two leaders then pitted for dry tyres on the next lap, with Alonso only just getting out ahead of Massa, who had made the switch immediately after losing third to the McLaren.

All three were now behind BMW's Robert Kubica, who had taken dry tyres at his lap 25 pitstop and then gained massively as Hamilton and Raikkonen's pace slowed. He was leading Raikkonen by three seconds, but pulled off and retired with a mechanical problem just two laps after hitting the front.

Alonso initially started catching Raikkonen, gaining by up to 0.8 seconds per lap. But the Ferrari driver, who was running on soft dry tyres, unlike Alonso, stabilised the gap at around eight seconds and had a straightforward drive to victory.

Sebastian Vettel also timed his tyre change perfectly to rise to fourth place - making up for his Fuji disaster with Toro Rosso's best ever finish. His teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi charged to sixth in the wet early on, but his two-stop strategy cost him ground. He eventually took sixth place.

Jenson Button lost a lot of ground in the wet early on, but also flew on the slippery track after taking on dry tyres. He ran fourth and was catching the leaders for some time, but unlike Vettel he could not stretch his fuel load to the end and had to make an additional pitstop, dropping him to fifth.

Nick Heidfeld stayed out too long on dry tyres and could only manage seventh.

Red Bull lost out in the pitstops, limiting David Coulthard to eighth place. He resisted Heikki Kovalainen in the final laps as the Renault picked up speed after struggling in the wet. Mark Webber had to make three stops after changing from dries back to intermediates in the brief shower and ended up 10th.

Ralf Schumacher starred in the early laps by recovering back into the top ten after a first corner spin. But he was delayed again by a tangle with Vettel, and then spun out for good at the final corner.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai International Circuit, China;
56 laps; 305.066km;
Weather: partially wet.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time

1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1h37:58.395
2. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 9.800
3. Massa Ferrari (B) + 12.800
4. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 53.500
5. Button Honda (B) + 68.600
6. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 73.600
7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 74.200
8. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 80.700
9. Kovalainen Renault (B) + 81.100
10. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 84.600
11. Fisichella Renault (B) + 86.600
12. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 Lap
13. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1 Lap
14. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 Lap
15. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 Lap
16. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 2 Laps
17. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) + 3 Laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:37.454

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap

Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 34
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 31
R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 26
Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 25
Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 12

World Championship standings, round 16:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Hamilton 107 1. Ferrari 186
2. Alonso 103 2. BMW Sauber 94
3. Raikkonen 100 3. Renault 51
4. Massa 86 4. Williams-Toyota 28
5. Heidfeld 58 5. Red Bull-Renault 24
6. Kubica 35 6. Toyota 12
7. Kovalainen 30 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
8. Fisichella 21 8. Honda 6
9. Rosberg 15 9. Super Aguri-Honda 4
10. Coulthard 14 10. Spyker-Ferrari 1
11. Wurz 13
12. Webber 10
13. Trulli 7
14. Vettel 6
15. Button 6
16. R.Schumacher 5
17. Sato 4
18. Liuzzi 3
19. Sutil 1

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Video: Kimi Raikkonen on GP China

F1 Onboard 2007: Lap of Shanghai with Kimi Raikkonen


Massa says error cost him shot at pole

Felipe Massa blamed a mistake at Turn 11 for costing him the chance of pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Brazilian had been at the top of the timesheets after the first runs of Q3 but slipped to third after failing to improve on the final runs.

"I did a very good lap on the first run but I lost the car on the second lap," he said. "For sure I felt I was able to fight at the front.

"The car was pretty good but at Turn 11 I came too quick and too aggressive, and I lost the rear. So it was not a good lap on the last set of tyres."

Despite being third, Massa said he was upbeat about his prospects for the race - whether it is wet or dry.

"We start top three so let's see what is going to happen with the weather," he said. "If it is raining we know it is going to be a lottery like in the last race.

"Let's try to be good in the rain tomorrow, just try to be good tomorrow, and have the right car and set up for rain or dry."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Lewis Hamilton storms to Chinese GP pole position

Lewis Hamilton put himself in the ideal position to clinch the world championship title by taking pole position at Shanghai.

His McLaren teammate and title rival Fernando Alonso could only manage fourth position, six tenths of a second off the pace.

Kimi Raikkonen - who had dominated the weekend until Q3 - will start second ahead of Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa.

The first two sessions of qualifying suggested that Raikkonen was on course for a commanding pole position.

After suffering a hydraulic leak at the end of final practice, the Finn began Q1 with an installation lap to check his Ferrari before setting the fastest time of the segment by exactly a tenth of a second.

In his wake, Massa, Hamilton and Alonso were all within 0.017 seconds of each other's times.

Raikkonen then proved dominant in Q2. While his three main rivals remaining tightly-bunched, lapping 0.102 seconds apart, the Finn was quickest by a comfortable 0.415 seconds.

But in Q3 it was Massa who emerged fastest by 0.4 seconds after the first flying laps, with Raikkonen second ahead of Hamilton.

The Briton then found another 0.7 seconds on his last run to leap up to pole position, and Raikkonen's response fell short by 0.136 seconds.

Massa failed to improve on his initial flying lap and had to settle for third, with Alonso a further three tenths of a second slower on the outside of the second row.

David Coulthard secured his best qualifying position of the year by taking fifth for Red Bull - two places and half a second clear of teammate Mark Webber.

Ralf Schumacher split the pair, the Toyota driver continuing his strong practice form by securing sixth on the grid. He will start seven places ahead of teammate Jarno Trulli, who did not get beyond Q2.

The BMWs had a less successful qualifying than usual and ended up eighth and ninth, with Jenson Button completing the top ten after a strong run for Honda.

After their dramatic race at Fuji, Toro Rosso produced their best dry qualifying performance yet in China. Vitantonio Liuzzi and Sebastian Vettel will share the sixth row, having comfortably got through Q1, where they had been eighth and ninth fastest.

Several big names were eliminated in the first session as the incredibly close times in the midfield - where just 0.284 seconds covered eighth to 18th places - punished any slightly imperfect laps.

Honda's Rubens Barrichello, Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella and Williams' Alex Wurz were pushed down to 17th, 18th and 19th positions in the final seconds of Q1.

While Barrichello and Wurz had both been knocked out in Q1 on six occasions already this season, this was Fisichella's worst qualifying performance in over three years, although he had only been 0.065 seconds slower than teammate Heikki Kovalainen in the segment.

Kovalainen did not get much further, running wide at the final corner on his last lap in Q2 and ending up 14th, ahead of Anthony Davidson and Nico Rosberg - whose run of five consecutive Q3 appearances ended as he struggled to 16th for Williams.

Takuma Sato could not match his Super Aguri teammate Davidson's performance and was 20th ahead of the two Spykers, who had not been able to replicate their Fuji pace at Shanghai and remained at the back of the field.

Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:35.908
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:36.044
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:36.221
04 F. Alonso McLaren 1:36.576
05 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:37.619
06 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:38.013
07 M. Webber Red Bull 1:38.153
08 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:38.455
09 R. Kubica BMW 1:38.472
10 J. Button Honda 1:39.285
11 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36.862
12 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36.891
13 J. Trulli Toyota 1:36.959
14 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:36.991
15 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:37.247
16 N. Rosberg Williams 1:37.483
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:37.251
18 G. Fisichella Renault 1:37.290
19 A. Wurz Williams 1:37.456
20 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:38.218
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:38.668
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:39.336

Kimi Raikkonen tops third practice - China

Kimi Raikkonen completed his domination of Shanghai practice by setting the fastest time in the final session, despite stopping on track in the closing moments.

Having been quickest in both Friday sessions, Raikkonen proceeded to hold the top spot for most of this morning's practice as well.

The Ferrari driver's first run was half a second clear of the opposition, and although his main rivals closed in during the second runs, Raikkonen remained on top by 0.026 seconds from Fernando Alonso.

None of the top four managed to improve their times on soft tyres at the end of the session, despite new fastest times being set in the first two sectors.

Raikkonen completed his lap first, but then slowed dramatically on the following lap and had to pull off the track at Turn 10.

With no one else able to improve, his position at the head of the times remained safe, but the apparent mechanical failure will be a concern with two hours to go before qualifying.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, 0.127 seconds slower than Raikkonen. Felipe Massa completed the top four.

Toyota showed good form during the session, with Ralf Schumacher in the top six for much of the hour and ultimately taking fifth.

Red Bull's David Coulthard moved up to sixth near the end of the hour, ahead of BMW's Robert Kubica.

Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen narrowly beat Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld to eighth, with Mark Webber putting the second Red Bull in 10th.

The times were typically close in the middle of the field, with less than a second covering Schumacher in fifth to Alex Wurz in 19th.

The session saw relatively little incident apart from Sebastian Vettel and Sakon Yamamoto having quick spins. Both rejoined without difficulty.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:36.100 15
2. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.126 + 0.026 13
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.227 + 0.127 14
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:36.405 + 0.305 14
5. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:36.959 + 0.859 18
6. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.964 + 0.864 13
7. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:37.024 + 0.924 23
8. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:37.106 + 1.006 14
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:37.176 + 1.076 18
10. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:37.315 + 1.215 13
11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:37.323 + 1.223 16
12. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:37.463 + 1.363 18
13. Button Honda (B) 1:37.564 + 1.464 19
14. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:37.679 + 1.579 20
15. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:37.732 + 1.632 15
16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:37.759 + 1.659 19
17. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:37.791 + 1.691 17
18. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:37.920 + 1.820 20
19. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:37.926 + 1.826 16
20. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:38.577 + 2.477 16
21. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:38.868 + 2.768 20
22. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:39.517 + 3.417 21

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Friday, October 5, 2007

Raikkonen stays cautious for Saturday

Kimi Raikkonen is staying cautious ahead of tomorrow's qualifying despite topping the times in both practice sessions in China on Friday.

"A good day, even if the Friday results have to be considered for what they are, given that we do not know what our main rivals are up to," said the Ferrari driver, who just edged world champion Fernando Alonso is both sessions.

"The car quickly proved to be well balanced, but there is still room to improve the handling.

"The track was very slippery, but luckily, there are plenty of escape roads that any mistakes don't cost a driver anything. I'm expecting a very close fight tomorrow," added the Finn, who trails championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 17 points with only 20 at stake.

Raikkonen's teammate Felipe Massa was third fastest and the Brazilian was also happy with his day's work.

"We are all very close, given that both in the morning and in the afternoon, the first four in the order were all within around two tenths," he said. "I am happy with the first day of free practice and I hope to continue in the same way for the rest of the weekend.

"We worked a lot on set-up and I think we are on the right track. The track was very dirty and slippery, but it improved over the course of the day."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Raikkonen tops first practice - China

Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in the first practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver beat McLaren's Fernando Alonso by 0.084 seconds at a dry Shanghai, with their teammates Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton taking third and fourth.

Hamilton had been the first leading driver to set a flying lap, moving to the head of the field with a 1:37.510 after half an hour. The championship leader only spent a few minutes on top before Massa beat his time by 0.014 seconds.

The top four all gained 0.3-0.5 seconds on their second runs, and this time it was Raikkonen who emerged fastest on a 1:37.094.

Alonso - who had been four tenths of a second adrift of the other three earlier on - improved to second, 0.014 seconds behind Raikkonen. At this stage, all four of the leading contenders were covered by just 0.116 seconds.

Only Raikkonen improved when all four rejoined for their final runs, with the Finn extending his advantage by 0.070 seconds. His teammate Massa had a spin at Turn 1, while Hamilton also took a brief trip off the road on his last lap.

Raikkonen and Alonso had got their mistakes out of the way earlier on - both running wide on to the run-off at the final corner on their first flying laps of the morning.

For much of the session the McLarens and Ferraris had been a second clear of the rest of the field, but at the end of the morning Williams' Nico Rosberg used the softer Bridgestones to vault to fifth, 0.6 seconds off the pace.

Rosberg's lap pushed Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) back to sixth place. His teammate Nick Heidfeld came to a halt on track after developing a gearbox oil leak with 35 minutes to go, but was returned to the pits in time to rejoin for a final run and take 10th.

Jarno Trulli had been fifth for much of the morning, but ended up being edged back to seventh, ahead of Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella and Williams test driver Kazuki Nakajima, who replaced Alex Wurz for the session.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:37.024 24
2. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:37.108 + 0.084 18
3. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:37.128 + 0.104 21
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:37.210 + 0.186 20
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:37.707 + 0.683 23
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:38.055 + 1.031 23
7. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:38.208 + 1.184 30
8. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:38.217 + 1.193 16
9. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:38.270 + 1.246 30
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:38.445 + 1.421 13
11. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:38.551 + 1.527 17
12. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:38.661 + 1.637 23
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:38.700 + 1.676 25
14. Button Honda (B) 1:38.942 + 1.918 18
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:38.945 + 1.921 22
16. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:39.238 + 2.214 23
17. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:39.497 + 2.473 22
18. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:39.535 + 2.511 23
19. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:39.539 + 2.515 20
20. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:39.898 + 2.874 24
21. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:40.126 + 3.102 27
22. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:40.149 + 3.125 26

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Jean Todt: Ferrari have nothing to hide

Ferrari team boss Jean Todt says the Italian squad have nothing to hide, despite suggestions from Nigel Stepney that the Maranello team were in possession of McLaren information.

"I have read so many times 'wait until you know all what Ferrari has been doing', but I'm quite [happy with] my conscience over the past 15 years and, believe me, if Ferrari had been [doing anything], after all these controversies, it would have come out," Todt told The Times in an interview on Thursday.

Sacked Ferrari engineer Stepney has been accused of passing Ferrari information to McLaren's suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan, in a scandal that led to McLaren being excluded from this year's constructors' championship and fined a record $100 million.

Stepney, who has denied passing the information to McLaren, faces criminal charges in Italy.

This week, the Briton claimed Ferrari had also been in possession of McLaren data and said Ferrari had gotten off lightly in the spying affair.

"I got information on them [McLaren]," Stepney was quoted as saying by grandprix.com. "Ferrari got off lightly. I got information about when they [McLaren] were stopping.

"I got weight distribution, I got other aspects of various parts of their car and I was Ferrari's employee at the time.

"I was aware of certain stuff they [McLaren] were doing at tests, fuel levels for example. I think Ferrari should have been docked points personally.

"The question is: did I use the information, did I talk about it? I spoke to some people [at Ferrari] about it. I can't prove it, there are no e-mails or anything, points about the fuel and the differences between the teams were discussed inside.

"But as well as McLaren having an advantage, did Ferrari have an advantage? I think so. It looks like information was flowing only one way. No one has been balancing the argument, no one has asked the question."

Todt said he was aware of Stepney's unhappiness following the exit of technical director Ross Brawn.

Todt admitted Stepney was not an easy person, but the Ferrari boss defended his professionalism.

"He was a difficult character. He was not an easy person, but he was a good professional," Todt added. "When Ross left he was probably aiming for a stronger position than the one we were suggesting for him. He was calling into us and saying, 'I don't want to come to races any more.'

"Then, after a good night, the emotion would calm down and he would say, 'OK, I am happy to come'.

"We could not change our organisation every week, so I said, 'Finished. He will not come any more.

"In this sense I did defend him, it is true, but I was never expecting the guy to lose his head. He lost his head, that's all. Unfortunately, sometimes you have people who lose the sense of things and it's a shame because we all have some personal responsibilities.

"You should have some limits, some discipline and he did not know how to place limits on himself and the problem is that there is a high price to pay."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Chinese Grand Prix: history

The Chinese Grand Prix is a round of the Formula One World Championship, held towards the end of the season in October. It is currently is held at the Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, designed by Hermann Tilke. It is the most expensive Formula One circuit facility, costing $240 million.

The vision of a Chinese grand prix started in the early 1990's. The Chinese government had originally planned for an F1 circuit to be located in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, southern China. A racing circuit was designed and built and was provisionally added to the 1999 F1 World Championship calendar, but the track failed to meet standards set by the FIA. However, the Chinese government, with assistance from the organisers of the Macau Grand Prix, set about organising a successful race track. In 2002, it was announced that the Shanghai circuit had signed a 7 year contract to host the Chinese Grand Prix starting in 2004, and ending in the 2011 season. The Chinese Grand Prix debuted on the Formula One calendar on September 26, 2004, and was won by Rubens Barrichello. The following year it hosted the final race of the Formula One championship, where world champion Fernando Alonso emerged victorious, and with it claimed the constructor's title for Renault F1. In 2006, the Grand Prix became the final race in which Michael Schumacher was victorious.

As the number of F1 World Championship Grand Prix cities increase, it wasn't going to be long before a Chinese Grand Prix entered the calendar for Asia. In October 2002 FIA announced that Shanghai had signed a seven year contract to host F1's Chinese Grand Prix. This will add to the already existing Malaysian Grand Prix and long-standing Japanese Grand Prix in Asia. The number of Asian F1 fans continues to grew each year, especially among the young Chinese, for whom owning their own car now is a reality, and adding the dazzling city of Shanghai to the F1 line-up will no doubt increase the exposure of F1 exponentially.

Initially, the F1 circuit was to be located in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, southern China. The government had spent more than nine years in developing a racing circuit there and was originally scheduled to join the F1 World Championship calendar in 1998, but the track failed to meet international standards and subsequently went bankrupt in 1999. The second time around, the Chinese were going to do it right. They promptly signed a cooperation agreement with the organizers of the Macau Grand Prix, which has a 50 year racing history, to learn about organizing and developing a race track.

The 2004 season will see the first ever Chinese Grand Prix, at the Shanghai International Circuit. This circuit was designed to be one of the cutting-edge F1 circuits in the world and incorporates many of the most modern technologies, as well as important Chinese symbolism. For the Chinese, as with most Asians, symbolism is an important aspect of life and this is no different at the Shanghai International Circuit. The track itself was designed in the shape Chinese symbol 'Shang', which symbolizes 'high' or 'above'.

The racing complex has four gates which provide the stunning architectural focus of the area. The main grandstand is flanked by two red towers, which will symbolically 'guard' the guests, like the two traditional Chinese lions you see in front of many Chinese buildings. The colors red and gold are important choices and are present throughout the circuit design. They represent good luck and power in Chinese symbolism. Water, is another important factor, and is present at the circuit in the form of a lake, around the team buildings. Water, just as in the now popular interior decorating methodology feng shui, promotes tranquility and reflection. In fact, the team buildings, or rather pavilions, have been designed to resemble the famous ancient Yuyan Garden in Shanghai. The F1 drivers and teams will be competing amidst these very auspicious symbols for the first Chinese Grand Prix.

For the city of Shanghai, simply hosting the F1 Grand Prix was not enough and in July 2003, it announced the launch of its own motor racing team, which it eventually hopes to race on the F1 circuit. The Guangdong based racing team, Formula Racing Development, which was established there for the initial F1 circuit, has agreed to move its operations to Shanghai. The team will race as Shanghai FRD and currently competes in the Asian Formula Renault Challenge and Formula Campus. The aim is to become China's first F1 team.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org

Sporting bets: Formula one

Championship Betting

  1. Any bets placed on both the Drivers World Championship and the Constructors World Championship will stand even if the selection does not compete.
  2. Bets will be settled according to the official Championship result at the podium presentation following the final race of the season. Where there is a tie for the Championship, bets will be settled according to the most races won, followed by most second places, and so forth, as per FIA rules.
  3. In match betting all bets will stand provided that both competitors participate in a minimum of ten World Championship events. The winner will be deemed to be the competitor who collects the most World Championship points with the weigh in considered the podium result of the final race of the season. Should either competitor fail to participate in ten events, then bets on both competitors will be void. Should there be a tie between competitors all bets will be settled in the same manner as Championship bets, as per FIA rules.
  4. Any bets placed on group betting will stand even if the selection does not compete. The winner will be deemed the driver who collects the most World Championship points with the weigh-in considered as the the podium result of the final race of the season.

Race Betting

  1. All bets will be settled on the result at the end of the race, with the podium presentation deemed the official weigh-in for settling purposes. Subsequent disqualifications and amended results do not count.
  2. Any driver who does not start the race will be deemed as a non-runner and bets on that particular driver will be settled as void.
  3. The start of the race will be deemed as the beginning of the formation lap with any driver opting to start from the pit-lane also deemed to be a starter for race purposes.
  4. In the event that three or more teams withdraw after qualifying has been completed and before the first green light to signal the start of the race following the formation lap, all bets on the race will be made void.
  5. Straight forecast betting refers to two drivers to finish first and second in a stated order. The drivers must finish in the first two positions in the classified race results - no other positions will count.
  6. Dual forecast betting refers to two drivers to finish in first and second place in any order. The drivers must finish in the first two positions in the classified race results - no other positions will count.
  7. The first car to retire market refers to the first team to retire a car from the race. The market will be settled based on the lap of the retirement. In the event of more than one driver retiring on the same lap, dead-heat rules may apply.
  8. Winning Car bets will be settled on the team of the driver who wins the race.
  9. Winning Margin bets will be settled according to timings provided by the FIA as the official result.
  10. The Fastest Lap market will be settled on the driver who sets the fastest single lap of the race. Any driver who sets his fastest lap on their final lap, following the leader winning the race, will still be eligible to win this market.
  11. Race Match Bets will be between two named drivers. Bets will be settled on the driver who achieves the highest race placing. If both drivers fail to complete the race, the driver completing the most laps will be deemed the winner. If both drivers retire on the same lap, bets will be made void. If either driver does not start the race then bets on both will be void.
  12. Total Finishers bets will be settled on the total number of classified finishers according to the FIA official results. Drivers who fail to complete 90% of the race distance are classified as non-finishers.
  13. ITV Driver of the Day bets will be settled based upon who is nominated by the ITV as their "driver of the day" following the race. If no "driver of the day" is announced or more than one driver shares the title then all bets will be void.
  14. Should the race start under the Safety Car, then all bets concerning the Safety Car will be made void.
  15. In the event of two drivers recording the same time, all bets will be settled according to FIA Classifications.

Qualifying

  1. The Highest Official Qualifier (Pole Position) market will be settled on the official qualifying results as taken from the FIA, regardless of any demotions or penalties applied subsequently.
  2. In Qualifying Match betting the winner will be deemed to be the driver who scores the best qualification result, regardless of any demotions or penalties applied subsequently. If either driver fails to begin a qualifying lap, then all bets on that match-up will be void. Official FIA places apply if the times are recorded as identical.
  3. In the Fastest Qualifier market only the times set in the final session will count, regardless of faster times being set during the knock-out stages of qualifying.
  4. In the event of two drivers setting identical qualifying times, bets will be settled according to FIA Classifications.
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Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Jean Todt laments lack of reliability in 2007

Ferrari team boss Jean Todt believes their lack of reliability this season is the reason why the drivers' title is unlikely to be won by the Italian squad's drivers.

Brazilian Felipe Massa mathematically dropped out of contention at last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix while teammate Kimi Raikkonen will need a miracle to be champion this year.

The Finn is 17 points behind Lewis Hamilton with only two races remaining.

Raikkonen has suffered two retirements through mechanical reasons, and while Massa has only one retirement, the Brazilian has been hit by reliability issues during qualifying too.

Hamilton has finished all races and teammate Fernando Alonso, second in the championship, suffered his first retirement of the year when he crashed out of the Fuji race last Sunday.

"If we won't bring back to Maranello - together with the constructors' title - also the drivers' title, it is, because we didn't have enough reliability," Todt told Ferrarriworld.com.

"It's enough to have a look at the championship: we lost some very important points - and I'm thinking about the problems Felipe had in Australia, Great Britain and Italy and the ones Kimi had at Barcelona and at the Nurburgring. With these points we would be really close to the actual leader in the championship.

"We have two very good drivers, who have demonstrated that they can work together and know that the concerns of the team come first when it is necessary. This will always remain a positive season, although there were some moments, when we really suffered and which did no good to Formula One.

"In the first year with a new organization of the team, when many expected us to be in decline, we gained 170 points, seven wins and eight pole positions so far and last but not least we could win the constructors' title for the 15th time in our history, the seventh in the last nine years."

Todt reiterated he was disappointed by the tyre confusion that hindered their Japanese race, and he reckons the team could have won the race had it not been for that.

"We had the potential to win and to catch up further in the drivers' championship. But now Felipe has dropped out arithmetically and Kimi needs a miracle to become world champion," the Frenchman added.

"I'm very disappointed about the way of communication of the important instructions from the stewards right before the race. They should have done better.

"Apart from the fact that the procedure has not been formally observed, there is also the regret that certain actions have not been implemented by the ones, who for example had to underline the fact that we had to use rain tyres, while on the monitors the message about the fact that we had to start behind the safety car was transmitted.

"But also the FIA personal could have verified on the grid, that all the teams had received the communication. It's true that the press release by the Federation on Sunday evening acknowledged the procedural mistake, but by then the damage was already done."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Raikkonen vows to fight until the end

Kimi Raikkonen has vowed to make things difficult for Lewis Hamilton in the final two races of the season, despite his slim hopes in the championship fight.

Raikkonen is now 17 points behind Hamilton following last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, won by the McLaren driver and where his Ferrari rival finished in third place.

Raikkonen will need to win this weekend's race in China, with Hamilton in sixth, if he wants to keep his hopes alive. The Finn can also finish in second with Hamilton in eighth to go into the final race in Brazil with any option of taking the title.

Despite his slim chances, Raikkonen is vowing to fight until the end.

"We went to Japan in quite a difficult point situation. Now we have to deal with what happened there and, for sure, now it looks much worse. But there is nothing we can do for it anymore," Raikkonen wrote on his website.

"Obviously we have just a little hope for the championship. But it is better to have a slight hope than no hope at all. We will not give up. No way. We are fighters and we will prove it again.

"Now we do our best to win these last two races. It is up to the others how we finish in the championship.

"It looks like Hamilton has wrapped it up, but we will not give up. At least we will try to make it more difficult for them by winning these last two races."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Ferrari boss unhappy about tyre confusion


Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has criticised the Japanese Grand Prix stewards over the misunderstanding that led to the Italian squad not knowing they had to start the race with extreme weather tyres.

Ferrari's drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were forced to pit while the safety car was on track after having started the race with intermediate tyres when the FIA had instructed all teams they had to start with extremes.

The Maranello-based squad blamed a late e-mail for the confusion, saying they hadn't received the notification from the stewards until after the race had started.

Di Montezemolo criticised the stewards' behaviour as unprofessional and said he was expecting an apology from them.

"It was unprofessional behaviour for which I expect them to apologize," di Montezemolo was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Our drivers, in difficult conditions, did a really fine race. Let's see how it goes. Logically I'm not happy about yesterday's result, but I spoke at length with (Jean) Todt: the choice of tyres was a gamble, but it was taken with the premise that Ferrari weren't aware of FIA's decision.

"This is a negative aspect and I expect an apology from the stewards, who acted very badly. Without this order from the FIA, other teams would have started on intermediate tyres.

"I would have preferred a different solution, I'm not happy about this result, but I have the greatest faith in the (Ferrari) men that took those decisions at that point."

Lewis Hamilton will have to thank Ferrari if he wins the Formula One title in China this weekend, according to the Italian team's president Luca di Montezemolo.

"I still think that in the spying affair it was a big mistake not to disqualify the McLaren drivers as well," the Gazzetta dello Sport web site quoted him as saying after Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

"It means that if Hamilton wins the championship, he will also win it thanks to Ferrari because there is a lot of Ferrari in his car."

McLaren were fined $100 million and stripped of all their constructors' points by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) last month for having Ferrari technical information in their possession.

However, the drivers escaped sanctions because the FIA said they had been granted an amnesty in exchange for providing evidence.

Hamilton, 22, can become the first rookie to win the championship as well as the youngest world champion if he wins this Sunday's penultimate race of the season in Shanghai.

The Briton leads teammate and double world champion Fernando Alonso by 12 points after the Spaniard crashed in Fuji.

Ferrari have won the constructors' championship.

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Monday, October 1, 2007

Q & A with Jean Todt and Stefano Domenicali

Q. Can you both clarify the events which led to both cars having to pit at the start of the race?

Jean Todt: I will let Stefano go into more detail, but we simply didn't have the information. I remember talking a few minutes before the start with Hamashima, with the technical direction of Bridgestone, suggesting that he thought that was a more appropriate tyres to start the race. It was a big surprise, it was even a shock to have this information.

I was saying in Italian earlier, it was very easy to give the information on the monitor, as happened very often when there is information that is so information, and when they said to us that the information was given, when Stefano checked on his e-mail, it arrived at 13.37 and you have the document here? So just for the clarity. Unfortunately, it was too late to put on the full wet tyres.

Stefano Domenicali: I just wanted to add one thing, that for sure the habit of using the e-mail within the teams and race control is done by the normal documentations, like information on the classification, on the event or something like that.

But normally when there is some information that is very sensitive, related to the running - in this case, of the race – this information should be circulated as is written on the sporting regulation article 15.1 with the receipt that has to be acknowledged by the team.

This is something that is there, but in any case I think that for sure, you can imagine that it would have been very stupid knowing that and doing the opposite. We didn't know and that's it and it was not possible to take a decision like that. To go on a certain tyre, as Mr Todt said, was a decision done from the strategic point of view, of course.

Q. Stefano, you won in Malaysia back in '01 doing the same thing, starting on the intermediates. Is it not fair to say that, if there is a safety car, you generally think that you probably won't need the extreme wet because the race won't start until the track is in better condition?

SD: That's a consideration from the strategic point of view that for sure teams can do, and this is the reason why maybe we took that direction. If you look at behind the safety, also in Nurburgring you had drivers with normal wet tyres that started and of course this was new and once again, we didn't know.

Q. Did anybody from the FIA say that after three minutes lying on the grid you were on the wrong tyres?

SD: No.

JT: Maybe you can explain after the race when you went to meet the stewards how they commented on this incident.

SD: Very briefly, of course we went straightaway at the end of the race just to understand what had happened. They understood our point and in a way that's a note that has to come from the stewards as you know and basically they were apologising for the fact that they used the usual system of using the e-mail for normal communication also for this thing and that's what they said.

Q. Jean, were you radioed to come into the pits or did they use the black and orange flag?

SD: As is written on the note, the need for the black and orange flag was in case the driver was continuing to drive in that condition but we called the guys in before.

Q. Stefano, does this e-mail information come together to every team at the same time? And some other teams received that at the right time? What could have happened? And the second question is that Massa spun on the second or third lap. Don't you think that they would have had to stop and change tyres because it was too slippery for your drivers?

SD: Given the answer to the first question is once again, I think that with this kind of information we should know through official channels that are page three (on the monitor) or that we take notification by writing that we acknowledge that.

In any case you are sure that you are sending the message at the same time but you are not sure at one time the message is received because we have different systems with different channels and through different controls, firewalls and so on so you are definitely sure what time it arrives but not what time you will receive it.

JT: Let me add something. Before the start of the race, there was a very small drizzle which helped us to make the decision to take these tyres and once the start happened, then the rain got much more intense, so definitely if we would have the choice, knowing that rain would increase as it did, it would probably have been very different.

But we made the choice before the start of the race, from what we saw, and as I said earlier, if we would have been informed about the no choice for tyres, then it would have been easier for us.

Q. At the end, you were ready to call them in anyway, with or without this problem with the e-mail?

JT: No, we were not ready to call them, but I was explaining why we decided on this choice.

Q. Jean, basically it was an error on the part of the governing body, so is there a mechanism where you can make an official complaint or whatever, or you just accept their apologies?

JT: We unfortunately can only accept that it came too late and probably the communication should have been... not probably, surely the communication should have been different.

Q. Can you just clarify the 13:37 time, was that the time that it was sent, or the time that it was received?

SD: Received, on our PC.

Q. Do you know what time it was sent?

SD: No, I cannot see that on my PC, but in any case, I think once again it is important to stress the fact that there are different ways of communication. Very important communications should be issued using a very direct system, because you aren't necessarily in the office at that time.

Q. Is it not only a penalty is involved that you have to sign otherwise…

SD: No, no. There is no penalty. If you look at article 15.1 it's not like that. It's written that during the course of the event, any kind of exceptional information that the stewards can give has to be given to the team and the team has to acknowledge that.

Q. In the early stages of the race when you fuelled both cars, if you had stayed under the safety car for the whole race, you probably would have won, so to have to have a dialogue with the FIA about whether you were allowed to refuel at that time, or did you just take it as read that the pitlane was open behind the safety car and you were free to refuel?

SD: The pitlane was open straight away since the beginning because all the cars were behind the safety car in a queue so it was clear that we could have refuelled straight away and we did so, but of course, the length of the safety car period in the race, because of the two hours time limit, makes something to think on the pit wall because you always need to think that if that pace is going to continue for I don't know how many laps, the race could have been shorter for sure. All these points have to be taken into consideration while there is a discussion with the engineers on the pit wall.

Q. Jean. is there any chance of Alonso moving to Ferrari next year?

JT: No, zero per cent, zero per cent, zero. Yeah. We have two fantastic drivers, Kimi, Felipe, we are very happy with them, and they are under contract. As I said before, will respect a contract for a guy cleaning the floor so you can imagine that I will respect a contract. If we have contracts we will respect them.

Q. What is the regulation regarding the tyres for a race started under the safety car?

SD: Honestly there's no rule in that respect because in fact this was a note issued by the stewards for safety reasons, but there was not any kind of rules connected to that. In fact, as we said before, before this note, you have teams with normal tyres or extreme wet tyres so there is no rule in that respect.

Q. Looking at the forecast for this race, especially for Raikkonen, was it not too big a gamble to make him start with a different kind of tyres compared to the others? Specially because I know that Massa wanted to start with the heavy ones but Raikkonen said no, it's better to go with the intermediate ones.

JT: To clarify the situation, we did not know what the others were going to use. We know what they are going to use when you take the blankets off the tyres.

Q. Now you've only got Kimi Raikkonen with a chance in the championship, how will you manage the two drivers and how will you approach. Are you still confident you can attack McLaren?

JT: You know what happened to Alonso today could happen to Hamilton next week. I was told that the weather prediction is maybe rain so we know that so many things can happen. If you see today how many cars had incidents. I think race by race, lap by lap and then we will see. There's definitely now only one driver in the team who can mathematically pretend to be drivers' champion.

Q. Is Massa happy to help Kimi?

JT: I don't know if it's the right word. I don't think a driver can be very happy to know that he cannot pretend to be champion. I have a deep respect for the drivers but they are employees of the company, as we are all employees of the company so we always have to see what is the best for the company. That was the case at the beginning of this race too.

Q. Stefano, what do you feel about the stewards changing the rules regarding the tyres, there isn't really a rule as to what tyre you start on under a safety car.

SD: We can accept the fact that for any reason they may use… consider the sporting code, they can do something, of that there is no doubt, but what is important to know is to know it in advance so we can react. By knowing that in the proper time, it was an easier choice because that was the thing for everyone so once again that's the thing that was not correct today.

JT: Saying that, I think it should probably be very wise to write a rule where you say that if you start under the safety car, then you have to fit full wet tyres. That would probably be a good rule.

Q. Could you clarify for me why McLaren was able to make just one stop and you needed to refuel at the second one. Do you think they were heavier than you yesterday or did you have some more consumption because you had to run and catch all the people?

JT: I think it's quite easy. We stopped on lap 14 for Felipe so there were still 52 laps before the end of the race. With Kimi it was lap 15, so 51 before the end of the race. Alonso stopped lap 27, so 40 laps and Hamilton 28, which means 39. Simply, we don't have the fuel tank capacity which is allowing us to do 52 laps. That was the only reason.

Q. Did you also refuel when you changed the tyres the first time?

JT: Yes, but still, last time we stopped was lap 15, it means 52, you could have stopped every lap from the lap 2 to lap 15 but it was not enough. If you take your piece of paper and write you will understand very clearly. I'm sure you can manage.

Q. If the e-mail was sent to 11 teams at the same time and one of those teams doesn't get it, it would seem to suggest that the team's e-mail system was to blame rather than the FIA's system.

SD: What is simple… is clear in my view, the e-mail system is very good if you circulate documents that are not relevant to the imminent things that are happening. It's easier, instead, to have copies of the document. Once again, you cannot think that everyone is in the office at any time watching for e-mail, that's pretty clear in my view. If you look, the meaning of what can be circulated is quite easy. The reason why there is such a rule is because you have to be sure that everyone knows what is going to happen. Unfortunately this time it didn't happen.

Q. Are you going to review your e-mail system?

SD: Once again, you cannot think we are in front of e-mail system all the time. This is the reason why that it is written in the sporting code that the team has to acknowledge what you are receiving.

JT: And again, we are not blaming the FIA. We simply did not get the information, so we try to understand why did not get the information. We just to put things right. And you know, if we got the information, we would not have challenged the information, we would have put on full wet tyres.

Q. Does it mean you're going to go back to Maranello and look for a place where you can perhaps tighten your organisation, because it does seem like Ferrari versus McLaren, Ferrari were the weaker team when it comes to organisation.

JT: Again, the organisation… if we don't know the information… you know, we could speak the whole night about it. We can not guess… invent the information, so we did not get the information. That's simple, and then our choice was to put on these tyres not having the information.

If we realise that some of our people were sleeping rather than reading the e-mail or something then we can understand but at the moment, and again, without blaming anybody, we feel that such important information ... Yesterday, for example, the free practice was delayed first 15 minutes, then five, then ten so it was very easy to give the information in a way that you are sure that teams will understand the information, will get the information and it was not the case today.

And again, without giving accusation to anybody, when Stefano saw the responsible of the race, they apologised for the way it was done.

Q. Jean, you've seen many drivers, can I just get your comments on Lewis Hamilton, in the 15th race of his career, with a good chance of winning the championship... Can I get your opinion of him?

JT: If you remember, before being in Formula One, he did some incredible races in the wet in GP2 so he has the skill, he has the talent and he has as well the luck which is something you need sometimes, but he did a fantastic job. The only race in which he did not score points this year was the one before because of the rain and this year he got full scores which is great and we can only respect the way he has been driving and what he has been doing this year.

Q. Why don't you protest if you don't like the stewards' apology?

JT: Because I don't think it will give any… it would not solve the problem. The race is over, the race is over. We want to understand better what has happened, the way it has happened but I think to open a new controversy would not be good for the sport. I read already that sometimes in the interest of the sport we feel it's better to leave it like that.

Q. Can you just clarify when you first knew about the stewards information and when did you then check your e-mail?

SD: On the radio, with Charlie (Whiting), that's the first time that we hear that. Lap number two. Then we discussed it because he was referring to a note and I said, 'Which kind of note?' and then after a while, Luca (Colajanni) came to see us on the pit (wall) with a note and then we sent someone to race control to have the evidence of this note which we hadn't seen. Then, after the race, I've been there to discuss about it, and I'm pretty sure next race we will be sent everything.

Q. On the grid, quite a few of the teams had Charlie come up to them and they had to take off their tyre blankets to see what tyres they had on. Did neither of your drivers have that happen with Charlie?

SD: Honestly, I didn't see Charlie on the grid, but normally what they do to check the code, they open the tyre blanket just laterally without showing what is the compound, just to check which is the code we are putting on. It's just the control of the marshals to make that check, that's all.

Q. Are you guys aware of the irony that you've said for the last two months that if you break the rules you must be punished. You guys are now trying to say something different. Do you not feel the irony?

JT: I don't want to open (a discussion) on this subject because you feel that by missing a lot of information or maybe you want to miss information about that so if you feel appropriate to make a comparison, we simply said that we did not get the information, that's all.

Stefano showed to you when he got the information on his e-mail, when he was already on the pit wall. What else do you want? And I said we were not going to complain, that we do accept the way it is, even if we feel that the procedure should be better.

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