Ferrari question FIA notification method

Ferrari have questioned the method by which the FIA race stewards informed the teams they must use extreme weather tyres prior to the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Maranello-based team claim they failed to receive an email informing them on the new rule prior the race, which is why they made the decision to start Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa on intermediate tyres.

And although they received no explanation for the missing email, Ferrari said they could not understand why the FIA would not use a formal method of notification.

Ferrari sporting director Stefano Domenicali said: "The habit of using the email between 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."

Domenicali said that the team only became aware of the tyre situation on the second lap of the race, when FIA race director Charlie Whiting informed them over the radio that they were on the wrong tyre.

Ferrari press officer Luca Colajanni then obtained a copy of the stewards' notice, which had been circulated in the media centre, from Italian television channel RAI and delivered it to the pit wall.

A team member was then dispatched to race control to check on the situation and, once it was confirmed, the team took the decision to change the tyres on both cars.

Domenicali said that he had visited the stewards immediately after the race to try and find out what happened with the email.

"We went straight away at the end of the race just to understand what had happened," he said. "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 email for normal communication also for this thing, and that's what they said."

Ferrari team principal Jean Todt ruled out his team taking any action to try and rectify the positions the team lost as a result of the tyre situation.

"It would not solve the problem," he said. "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."

Todt did think that it would be a good idea, however, for a new rule to be written in the regulations stipulating that teams start races with extreme tyres in the event of a safety car being used.

"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," he said. "That would probably be a good rule."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Ferrari informed late about tyre rule!

Ferrari have confirmed they only received the FIA notification about a new tyre rule after the Japanese Grand Prix had already started.

The race direction informed teams that they were forced to start the race with extreme weather tyres given the poor conditions at Fuji.

Ferrari, however, decided to start the race with the standard wet tyres and both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were forced to pit with the safety car on track if they didn't want to be excluded.

The pitstops sent both drivers to the back of the field, effectively ruining all their chances of fighting for victory.

The Italian squad said after the race that they had not been informed about the tyre rule until after the event had started.

"We did not receive email notification of the stewards decision until after the race had started. We have checked and on Stefano Domenicali's laptop it shows that he only received the message at 1.37pm," a Ferrari spokesperson said after the race.

"We then were told over the radio that we had to change the tyres, and that if we did not we would be black-flagged.

"There is nothing we can do now. There was a lack of communication, and that is why we took the decision to go with the standard wet tyre."

Raikkonen went on to finish in third place, while Massa finished down in sixth, meaning he is now mathematically out of contention for the title.

Felipe Massa says it is "unacceptable" that his Ferrari team were not informed in time that they were forced to start the Japanese Grand Prix with extreme weather tyres.

Both Massa and teammate Kimi Raikkonen had to pit at the start of the race, when the safety car was still on track, after choosing the intermediate tyre option without knowing the FIA had asked teams to put the extreme weather tyres on.

Ferrari said after the race that the e-mail informing them about the new rule arrived after the event had already started.

The Maranello squad's drivers had to pit in order to avoid being black-flagged, Ferrari said, dropping down to the bottom of the field.

Massa, who finished in sixth place, said it was unfair that his team were not informed in time.

"We together with the team decided. I went to the grid with heavy rain and Kimi went to the standard. And he said it was okay to start on the standard," Massa told reporters.

"Then the rain was stopping when we were on the grid, so we took the decision to start on the standard, which is intermediates for both cars. And especially for me, to win the championship was if some miracle happened. I prefer to risk and if it was fine then maybe I still had a chance to fight (for the title).

"But the biggest problem is that he was not permitted to start on intermediates and the Ferrari was not informed. So that was the biggest mistake we had. If you have the information that everyone has to start on the extreme and not to start on standards - we were not informed.

"It's unacceptable because every team has to be informed. We weren't and now we are investigating what happened and why it happened because this is not fair."

The Brazilian admitted, however, that Ferrari had made a mistake with their tyre choice, and reckons the intermediates were not the way to go.

"No, because when we went out it was raining heavy - so it was not possible," he said. "When we leave the grid it was possible, but then after it was raining heavy. I spun after two laps."

The Ferrari driver defended his team despite the error, and said even tactical mastermind Ross Brawn could have made that mistake.

"I had Brawn and we made mistakes in the past. In conditions like that it's difficult to make the right decisions, so it's not down to Brawn. We are a good team, we worked in the right direction, but it was difficult to find the right decision every time."

Hamilton wins chaotic Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton took a huge step closer to the world championship title by winning a sodden and chaotic Japanese Grand Prix, while his teammate and title rival Fernando Alonso crashed out.

The result puts Hamilton 12 points clear of Alonso with only two races to go.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen came through to second and third, despite Raikkonen falling to the rear of the field early on.

The first 19 laps of the race were run behind the safety car due to the appalling visibility at Fuji. Despite instructions from race control that the field must start on extreme wet tyres, the Ferraris were both fitted with intermediates, and had to stop during the caution.

Both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen also had spins while behind the safety car, with Massa incurring a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow after his rotation.

The McLarens eased away when the race began, while in their wake Jenson Button tapped Nick Heidfeld into a half-spin at Turn 1, dropping the BMW to 10th and breaking the Honda's front wing.

Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel avoided the mess and moved up to third, followed by Mark Webber. Button persevered in fifth with no wing for several laps before admitting defeat and pitting, which moved Giancarlo Fisichella and Kovalainen up to fifth and sixth.

Having run light fuel loads in their battle for pole, both McLarens had to make pitstops within eight laps of the race getting underway. Alonso pitted first and emerged behind the Renaults and Robert Kubica, but Hamilton ran one lap further and was able to extend his lead sufficiently to come out between Webber and Fisichella.

That put Vettel into the lead for the first time in his short Grand Prix career, where he stayed for four laps before pitting and handing the advantage to Webber, who stayed out a further four laps at the head of the field.

Meanwhile the McLarens were having a bruising time in traffic. Running light on fuel, Kubica passed both Renaults and then attacked Hamilton, but tagged the McLaren into a spin. Both were able to resume after a seven second delay, and Kubica was later given a drive-through penalty for the incident.

Just one lap later Alonso was also in trouble, as Vettel ran into him at Turn 1. The second McLaren also spun, and sustained bodywork damage, before continuing in eighth behind Raikkonen - who had made determined progress through the field early on but would lose many of the places gained when he had to pit again on lap 40.

The Renaults - Kovalainen ahead of Fisichella after passing his teammate on lap 30 - ran at the head of the field for several laps before making their sole stops on laps 39 and 40.

That put Hamilton back to the front of the field, ahead of Webber and Vettel, who had swapped places during the pitstops, with Alonso fourth and 10 seconds behind his teammate.

Alonso was starting to edge back into contention, but then aquaplaned into the tyre wall on the approach to Turn 6 on lap 42. The McLaren was wrecked in the massive accident, which scattered debris across the track and prompted another safety car period.

As the field prepared for the restart four laps later, Red Bull's potential superb day fell apart as Vettel ran into the back of Webber at the final corner, taking both out and leaving Vettel distraught and Webber furious.

Kovalainen therefore ran second behind Hamilton when the race resumed, followed by Massa, who had not pitted since topping up with fuel under the long first caution.

The Brazilian had to come in on lap 58, which moved the recovering Raikkonen onto the podium, the Finn having passed David Coulthard around the outside of Turn 5 two laps earlier.

Raikkonen continued to push hard - taking several trips over the asphalt run-off areas - and closed in on Kovalainen in the closing laps, but had to settle for third despite vigorous efforts to pass the Renault.

Kovalainen therefore clinched his first podium, and Renault's first of 2007.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Japanese Grand Prix
Mount Fuji, Japan;
67 laps; 305.721km;
Weather: Wet.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  2h00:34.759
2.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +     8.377
3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +     9.478
4.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +    20.297
5.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +    38.864
6.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +    49.042
7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +    49.285
8.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +    55.622
9.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +  1:00.129
10.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +  1:28.342
11.  Button        Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    2 laps
15.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:28.193

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)    56
Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    55
Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)    50
Vettel        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    47
Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)    47
Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)    42
Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)    20

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Todt rules out Alonso move to Ferrari

Ferrari team principal Jean Todt has ruled out any talk of reigning world champion Fernando Alonso moving to his team next year.

Speculation since the Belgian Grand Prix has been rife that Alonso could be on his way to the Maranello outfit in the future, with serious doubts emerging that he will remain at McLaren.

But speaking to ITV before the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, Todt ruled out any change in Ferrari's driver line-up of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa for next year.

"We have both drivers, Felipe and Kimi, under contract with Ferrari for 2008 and we respect our contracts," he said. "Both did a fantastic job.

"Alonso is a great driver, he's now fighting for a third drivers' world championship. He's a great driver, I have a lot of respect for him as a driver, but we are very happy with our contracted drivers."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Q & A with Felipe Massa on Japanese GP

Q. How was qualifying for you?

Felipe Massa: It was very competitive, all three sessions. The first one I was straightaway with a good lap time. The second one was okay but I didn't have a clean lap. There were always people in front and we didn't have a really good lap. So it was very, very competitive.

And then in the third one it was a little bit more difficult. I was struggling a little bit with more oversteer, especially at the end of the session when everyone was improving and I expected to be in the right moment to fight for pole. But the car was a bit difficult in that moment and I think I did a good job also for the strategy as well.

We need to see tomorrow and how it is going to be, because when you have a difficult day like this it is very difficult to find the right strategy for the race. We don't know how the race is going to be tomorrow, so if you have a good strategy it could pay off a lot. I think I have a good strategy, I hope I have a good car and also we have a good speed in the straight, which can be important.

Q. Has Fuji been more fun and any more difficult than anticipated?

FM: I think it is fun. For sure it is an interesting circuit. Honestly I like it. It is better than I expected. Suzuka is always a very nice track and although I prefer a little bit Suzuka, but I like this circuit. Even in the wet I expected to have more slippery asphalt than we had. So it was okay to drive in these conditions.

Q. How do you view the balance of competitiveness between McLaren and Ferrari here?

FM: I think it is very close in whatever conditions. In the dry, it was very close even if the lap times did not show it. In the wet it was also close, so tomorrow will be an interesting race.

Q. You have talked about the speed on the straight here. Are you able to run with less downforce than the McLaren?

FM: It looks like we have, because we have a quicker car on the straight. So I think we have lower downforce, but you never know in the race. In Spa we had lower downforce and a good car, so let's hope we can repeat having a better balance in the race.

Q. You obviously need to finish ahead of Lewis (Hamilton) tomorrow to keep your championship hopes alive. Does that dictate an all-out aggressive approach?

FM: Let's try to do the best in the race and afterwards we can then think about it (the title). If it is finished then we will try again next year. Hopefully we can still fight, but if it is finished then we will try again next year.

Q. Do you think what happened between the two McLaren drivers at the first corner at Spa could prove to be an important factor in the world championship?

FM: I think it will be very interesting, the first corners at each of the last three races. We saw that they are fighting really hard with each other, and you never know. Maybe it can be good, maybe not. We need to wait and see. It is difficult to plan things like this before.

Q. Do you think about their rivalry?

FM: No. You cannot think before, because you don't know how it is going to be. We need to think after, when we see if we were lucky and were able to pass them. You cannot plan for these sorts of things. We need to wait and see if it is good or not for us.

Q. Is this is a track where it is easier to overtake, which means the pitstops are not so important in the fight for position?

FM: Yeah, I think so. I think it is a very long straight. For sure the only place where it is easier to overtake is on the straight. But having a good speed, it is possible. It is possible that we can have plenty of overtakes during the race.

Q. It could pay to have a car with less downforce then?

FM: It depends how much less downforce you have. If you are in the reasonable optimum for your car, and you see that you are quicker than the others on the straight then you are in the right optimum for your car. Then it pays, for sure. But if you don't, then maybe you struggle with the tyre wear.

Q. Have the team said anything to you about needing to play a supporting role to Kimi Raikkonen tomorrow in terms of helping him out with the title chase?

FM: No. We need to wait and see how the race goes. For sure if I have no opportunities, and if I see a McLaren in front for example, then it will be difficult. We need to finish in front of them for our championship.

Kimi is in a better position than me, but for both it is very difficult. We need to put both cars in front but we need to see how the race goes. I need to also be in front, and if I am first and Kimi is behind a McLaren then I cannot change anything.

So we need to put both cars in front and we need to decide the best for the team, and the best to improve the championship situation.

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Kimi Räikkönen on Fuju, 2007

F1 Onboard Lap with Kimi Raikkonen @ Fuji 2007

Raikkonen stays hopeful for the race

Kimi Raikkonen is still hopeful about his chances for the Japanese Grand Prix despite being unable to secure a place on the front row.

The Ferrari driver, winner of the last race in Spa two weeks ago, had to settle for third place behind the McLaren's of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Raikkonen, who is 13 points behind Hamilton with three events to go, finished less than two tenths behind the Briton in the wet conditions.

Despite missing out on a front row start, the Finn is confident he has a car capable of fighting for victory in tomorrow's race.

"It was okay. I had traffic on last lap and we had a small problem with the gearbox so I hope we can fix it for tomorrow," said Raikkonen.

"I think we are in good shape. We don't know the weather but it is the same for everybody. The circuit is going to be different after the rain.

"I am confident we have good car for the race. I think it will be a tight race between all four cars."

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Qualifying Report: A wet pole for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position in the wet at the Fuji Speedway on Saturday as McLaren locked-out the front row of the grid.
The McLaren rookie, who spent much of the session trailing in his team-mate's wake, found the pace in the dying seconds of the session, clocking a 1:25.368.
Alonso, who looked the most likely to take pole position up until his team-mate's last ditch effort, was just 0.070s off the pace.
And given recent tensions at McLaren, the 1-2 off the start-line offers the promise of an intense battle.
Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were third and fourth ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg.
However, the star of qualifying has to be Sebastian Vettel, who brought his Toro Rosso home in ninth place.

Times

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:25.489
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:25.438
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:25.516
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:25.765
05 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:26.505
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:26.728
07 J. Button Honda 1:26.913
08 M. Webber Red Bull 1:26.914
09 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.973
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:27.225
11 G. Fisichella Renault 1:26.033
12 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:26.247
13 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:26.247
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:26.253
15 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.948
16 R. Schumacher Toyota no time
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:27.323
18 A. Wurz Williams 1:27.454
19 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:27.564
20 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:28.628
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:28.792
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:29.668

Source - http://www.planetf1.com

Final practice abandoned due to fog

Final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix had to be abandoned due to poor weather conditions at Fuji.

The session was initially delayed by 15 minutes due to low cloud that would have prevented the medical helicopter from flying in the event of an accident.

The start was then postponed by a further quarter of an hour as the cloud failed to lift.

The field was finally allowed out onto the wet track with 30 minutes remaining, but the rain worsened immediately and with visibility declining again, the red flag was shown after just four minutes.

After announcing a further series of five minute delays, race control eventually bowed to the inevitable at 11:53 local time and decided not to attempt to restart the session.

Only three drivers managed flying laps in the few minutes of running that took place. Williams' Alex Wurz was fastest on a 1:32.746, two seconds clear of teammate Nico Rosberg. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was third, 3.4 seconds behind Wurz.

All the other drivers bar Kimi Raikkonen managed at least an installation or out-lap before practice was finally called off.

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen set 3 and 5 position on afternoon practice at Fuji

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time as McLaren dominated Friday afternoon practice at Fuji.

McLaren were only briefly headed during the session when the two Renaults vaulted up to first and second after 15 minutes, beating Hamilton and Fernando Alonso's initial times by a few fractions.

While Giancarlo Fisichella used the softer tyres for his 1:19.926 lap, teammate Heikki Kovalainen was running the hard compound when he outpaced the Italian by 0.030 seconds a few moments later.

Within seven minutes the McLarens had reclaimed the leading positions, with Hamilton lapping in 1:19.198 and then improving to 1:18.734 shortly afterwards.

Alonso remained slightly slower than his teammate on both runs, finishing the session on a 1:18.948.

The session saw significantly more activity than morning practice had, with even the front-runners taking to the track immediately and most completing longer than usual runs as they evaluated tyre performance on the unfamiliar track.

This meant that the majority of quick times were set early on before the field focused on race preparations.

Ferrari were not quite on McLaren's pace during this session, and both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen ran wide across the run-off areas on several occasions - Massa leaving the road twice on one lap. He took third, 0.749 seconds behind Hamilton and 0.231 seconds ahead of Raikkonen.

They were split by Jarno Trulli, who put in a headline-grabbing performance for circuit owners Toyota to end the day in fourth place.

The Renaults were edged back to sixth and seventh, ahead of David Coulthard and Trulli's teammate Ralf Schumacher, who had a half-spin at Turn 10.

BMW's Robert Kubica completed the top ten.

After his impressive morning performance, Spyker's Adrian Sutil starred again early on, holding seventh for the first half of the session. He was eventually edged back to 16th.

His teammate Sakon Yamamoto had a bizarre incident after 15 minutes when he had a spin in the final complex and was clipped by Rubens Barrichello's Honda as he tried to rejoin. It appeared that the Spyker had escaped damage, but its front wing then fell off as it arrived in its pit box.

Barrichello continued after the incident but struggled for speed all afternoon, remaining at the very bottom of the times until improving to 17th in the closing seconds.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time               Laps
1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:18.734            38
2.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:18.948  + 0.214   34
3.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:19.483  + 0.749   36
4.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:19.711  + 0.977   35
5.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:19.714  + 0.980   29
6.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:19.789  + 1.055   40
7.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:19.926  + 1.192   39
8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:19.949  + 1.215   33
9.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:19.969  + 1.235   40
10.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:20.069  + 1.335   45
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:20.069  + 1.335   35
12.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:20.233  + 1.499   37
13.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:20.270  + 1.536   43
14.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:20.336  + 1.602   44
15.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:20.462  + 1.728   36
16.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:20.736  + 2.002   37
17.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:20.889  + 2.155   33
18.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:20.985  + 2.251   44
19.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:20.997  + 2.263   38
20.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:21.007  + 2.273   34
21.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:21.305  + 2.571   38
22.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:21.352  + 2.618   34

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Kimi Raikkonen tops first practice - Japan

Ferrari led the way as the Formula One field got to grips with the new Fuji circuit in the first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

After trailing teammate Felipe Massa for most of the morning, Kimi Raikkonen grabbed the fastest time with a 1:19.333 lap in the closing minutes of the session, and then improved to 1:19.119 with his last lap.

The McLarens had to settle for third and fourth, and also swapped places on the final laps.

Lewis Hamilton had held the upper hand over Fernando Alonso during their first runs, but in the end it was the reigning world champion who secured third place - half a second off Raikkonen's pace and 0.140 seconds ahead of his teammate.

Williams showed strong form with Nico Rosberg in fifth and Alex Wurz seventh, the pair split by BMW's Robert Kubica.

Jarno Trulli took eighth for track owners Toyota, but his teammate Ralf Schumacher was only 15th, and had a spin at Turn 6 with half an hour remaining.

Spyker's Adrian Sutil was one of the few drivers to try soft tyres during the session, and leapt to a remarkable fifth place with ten minutes to go.

Even as others improved, the German rookie was still able to hang on to ninth position, ahead of Anthony Davidson and Rubens Barrichello, the latter also using softs in the final moments.

Heikki Kovalainen had held fifth for most of the session, but did not make a sufficient improvement on his last run and was shuffled back to 12th. Nick Heidfeld ended up 13th, but had also shown better form earlier on.

Several drivers had their mornings interrupted by mechanical problems.

Both Sakon Yamamoto and Sebastian Vettel stopped on track, although the Toro Rosso was returned to the pits in time to rejoin before the end of the session, while local favourite Takuma Sato spent the first hour in the Super Aguri garage with the mechanics attending to the rear of his car.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:19.119           26
2.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:19.498 + 0.379   27
3.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:19.667 + 0.548   27
4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:19.807 + 0.688   24
5.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:20.058 + 0.939   26
6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:20.297 + 1.178   26
7.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:20.411 + 1.292   24
8.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:20.483 + 1.364   32
9.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:20.516 + 1.397   29
10.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:20.601 + 1.482   22
11.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:20.686 + 1.567   24
12.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:20.718 + 1.599   27
13.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:20.728 + 1.609   26
14.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:20.808 + 1.689   29
15.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:20.828 + 1.709   28
16.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:20.851 + 1.732   23
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:21.186 + 2.067   15
18.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:21.437 + 2.318   18
19.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:21.541 + 2.422   22
20.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:21.854 + 2.735   18
21.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:22.436 + 3.317   18
22.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:22.902 + 3.783   17

Kimi to ride the wave of Spa success

Q. Do you think that Ferrari has arrived with a number one at the team too late?

Kimi Raikkonen: I don't think we have number one and number two. We are racing. It is not why we are in this position.

Q. Last year you were in McLaren and you had a lot of problems with reliability. This year you are at Ferrari and you have these problems. Any regrets?

KR: No!

Q. Is the atmosphere at Ferrari better than it is at McLaren?

KR: The atmosphere here is very good. I cannot say what it is like at McLaren, because I don't know. I am happy with how things are going here. We had some little issues with the reliability, but that is part of racing unfortunately and it has cost us too many points. But we still have a little chance and we try to use it.

Q. You are 13 points behind now. How would you rate your chances now, especially when you see the last three tracks?

KR: This one is still a question mark, and tomorrow we know more. We still have a chance. We know it is going to be very difficult, but you never know when there can be issues with other cars, and maybe a surprise. But we try to do the best that we can and then just see where we end up. There is nothing else we can do.

Q. How did you learn this track?

KR: I went around just five minutes ago, two laps. It is a nice circuit.

Q. At races this year it seems that either McLaren or Ferrari have had a big advantage over the other team. At Spa, and in a situation where you are ahead, does it actually feel quite easy?

KR: I don't know what you mean by easy, because it is never going to be easy. For sure you would rather be in front, but it is always tricky.

Q. But you looked like you had quite a bit in reserve in Spa?

KR: I had enough, so I think after the first pit stop it wasn't too difficult. I knew what I needed to stay ahead (of Felipe) and that made it easier.

Q. When you look back on your career, did you find it easier to hunt somebody or be hunted down?

KR: I haven't been often in the position to be hunted, so I don't think that it makes much difference to me. Unfortunately we always seem to be in a position where we need to catch up, and hopefully we can turn it around.

Q. Do you expect Felipe to play a supporting role to you this weekend?

KR: I don't know anything about it; you need to ask the team. I expect to be in the same position as before.

Q. Is it realistic to have Ferrari win the next two races, like in Spa with a 1-2?

KR: I don't know. I know as much as you guys. We try, for sure, to win every race. But it is going to be very tricky, and we just need to see what happens.

Q. In France you were allowed to use your strategy to beat Felipe, which surprised him a bit. Would you be surprised if that was allowed to happen the other way around in the final three races?

KR: It was done in qualifying already, so it wasn't like it happened in the middle of the race. It was already in the first pit stop and the second pit stop, so everybody knew in our team that I had a bit more fuel. It is a normal thing. Either one of us can choose when we want to stop. If it happens, it happens. It was a similar situation in the last race, but it didn't work out for him.

Q. After what happened in Spa between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, do you think this close fight can be helpful for you?

KR: I don't know really. It is nothing to do with us. I saw what happened between them, but nothing really happened. It was just a racing thing, and they both came out with pretty much the same speed. Maybe it will happen...

Q. If at some point in the future, maybe the distant future, that you were told that your teammate was going to be Fernando Alonso. What would your reaction be?

KR: It wouldn't change anything for me. I don't expect it to happen, anyhow. I have never been in a position to say who I want my teammate to be. I don't really care too much who it is. It really doesn't make my life any different.

Q. Would you enjoy the chance to beat him?

KR: It would be nice, for sure. But like I said, I don't know. It is more talk than anything else.

Q. Looking at Fernando, he is fighting against you, he is fighting against Lewis and he is fighting against the team. Are you surprised how well he is handling the situation psychologically?

KR: It is nothing to do with me. I don't have any interest to answer questions about him. It is nothing against him, but I am not here for that reason.

Q. The weather could be tricky here. How would you like the rain?

KR: For sure it could be tricky here because it is a mountain but it is the same for everyone in the end. It would be nice to be either wet or dry. When it is the middle conditions it is always a bit more of a question mark, and more luck is involved.

Q. You get a lot of pleasure out of racing…

KR: Yeah, I wouldn't do it otherwise.

Q. So how do you rank this year?

KR: I think it has been good. Of course with a new team it is always a bit different from a team you have raced with before for many years. So I enjoy the racing, and it has been easier anyhow. It has been a good year. Okay, the results could have been a little bit better but there are different reasons for it. Otherwise for racing, and working with the team, it has been very good.

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Toyota play down Massa link

Toyota have refuted speculation that they are lining up a move for Felipe Massa, while the Brazilian also denied he was in talks with the Japanese team.

The Daily Mail claimed that the Ferrari driver had 'opened preliminary negotiations with Toyota last weekend' - but ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix - Tadashi Yamashina quashed these rumours.

Toyota's team principal revealed that their 2008 lineup would only be confirmed at "the end of the season".

The German news agency dpa reports that Tadashi said: "We continue to contemplate all of the possibilities. We have still made no decision."

However, when quizzed about the Massa link he laughed and responded: "I know nothing about it".

It appears likely that the key mover in the silly season will be Fernando Alonso. The British media claims that the Spaniard has already agreed a £20 million deal with Ferrari.

But Massa has denied the verity of these reports by claiming that he still has a future in the Scuderia's cockpit.

The 26-year-old driver told the Chinese news agency Xinhua: "This story of me going to Toyota next season does not exist".

Souce - http://www.planetf1.com

Felipe Massa: Ferrari fully deserves title

Felipe Massa has played down accusations that Ferrari's triumph in the Constructors' Championship is tainted by McLaren's exclusion.

The Brazilian driver does not believe that the punishment meted out to the British team detracts from the Prancing Horse's achievements.

He wrote in his official Ferrari blog: "If we have won the championship because another team has not followed the rules, then we can say that at least we did follow those rules and we won," he said.

"I feel the whole team deserves this for the job they have done so far this year. As part of the Scuderia, I am pleased with this result, even if it would have been better to win in a different way, but the final outcome is another constructors' title.

"The team, at the track and in the factory, has done a fantastic job, fighting hard all through the year and so they deserve this success."

The 26-year-old also believes that McLaren were wise not to appeal, while claiming that this also amounted to something like an admission of guilt.

"My personal feeling is that the others probably realised it would not be a good idea to appeal," he said.

"Usually, in any sport, if you do something wrong you have to pay the penalty and I think the decision that they did do something wrong is reinforced as being correct exactly by the fact they did not appeal.

"Ask me if it is a fair punishment, if it is enough, then that is difficult to say, but at least they are paying for their mistakes."

Source - http://autosport.com

Jean Todt: biography

Jean Todt (b. February 26, 1946, Pierrefort, France) is the executive director of Scuderia Ferrari, the Ferrari company's Formula One constructor. On October 25, 2006, he was appointed as the company's CEO.

Biography

Born in the commune of Pierrefort in the Cantal department of France, having some Polish origins, Todt's motorsport career began when he took his father's Mini Cooper S for a ride with a friend. Thence he moved to various driving roles in rally series, but decided his strength was as a co-driver; he continued as such with the Peugeot Talbot Sport rally team until his retirement from competition in 1981.

The team moved Todt into a management-oriented position, charging him to organize the design and construction of the 205 Turbo 16 for the 1984 World Rally Championship season. After a slow start, the 205 won the world title in 1985 and 1986; other Todt-managed models continued to dominate, winning rally championships, hill climbs, and Le Mans into the 1990s. Peugeot, despite Todt's continual urging, refused to enter the Formula One Championship, and when a position opened at the recovering Ferrari F1 team, Todt took the opportunity. He has managed the Scuderia since; he was responsible for hiring Michael Schumacher in 1996, with whom came strategist Ross Brawn, and designer Rory Byrne. The fortunate combination produced a nearly-unbeatable team. Todt and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo have since been considered responsible for turning Ferrari from a has-been team, helpless without founder Enzo Ferrari, into the powerhouse it is today.

Following much speculation as to FIA President Max Mosley's impending retirement, rumors arose in 2004 to the effect that Todt would run for the office. Mosley commented that though Todt would make an excellent president, he was quite happy at Ferrari; however, it had long been assumed that when Michael Schumacher retired from F1, Todt would leave his job. In an apparent bid to maintain Todt's loyalty, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo promoted Todt to the head of the entire Ferrari operation, including street car production.

The French government has made Todt a Chevalier of its Legion d'Honneur. He was further honoured with the Grand Officier rank of the honour in January 2007. Also, in July 2006, Todt was given the official Malaysian title of 'Datuk Seri', which is the Malaysian equivalent of the British 'Sir' - he is now widely addressed in Malaysian media as Datuk Seri Jean Todt.

On September 28, 2005, Todt announced his engagement to former Bond girl and actress Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh has subsequently denied the engagement. As recently as March 2007, Yeoh denied assertions as to an upcoming marriage. At the end of the 2006 season Michael Schumacher did indeed leave Ferrari for retirement and Todt was promoted to be the CEO of Ferrari, taking a step back from active day-to-day running of the team.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/

Fernando Alonso will be drive Ferrari in 2008

Fernando Alonso is reportedly off to Ferrari next season in a £20m per year deal, while Felipe Massa is moving to Toyota.

Alonso's position at McLaren has become more untenable with the FIA's confirmation that it was the Spaniard's emails that resulted in the team being stripped of their 2007 Constructors' Championship points and handed a £50m fine.

And with Ron Dennis admitting that his relationship with his driver is "extremely cold" and that Alonso's unhappy with the team's equality policy, the double World Champion's time at McLaren appears to be running out - and fast.

In fact, according to the News of the World, Alonso has just three more races as a McLaren driver having already agreed to join Ferrari.

According to the tabloid, the Spaniard has agreed a £20 million a year deal to join Ferrari for 2008, leaving Felipe Massa out in the cold.

Massa, though, is already making plans for the future with the Daily Mail claiming that he 'opened preliminary negotiations with Toyota last weekend.'

The newspaper went on to say that Massa's decision to leave Ferrari could be based on team boss Jean Todt's pending (and unwanted) retirement in order to make way for Ross Brawn's return.

The Ferrari tech director, who is nearing the end of his year-long sabbatical, is expected to return to the Scuderia next season as team boss. And should this happen it could place Todt's son, who is also Massa's manager, in an uncomfortable position.

'Massa is acutely aware that if Jean Todt, as expected, loses an impending internal power struggle within Ferrari, he will be instantly vulnerable as he is managed by the Frenchman's son, Nicholas,' the Mail surmised.

On a personal note, P-F1 believes Alonso would do well at Ferrari... after all he already knows all about the car and how to set it up.

Source - http://www.planetf1.com

Fuji Speedway: History

The track was originally designed to be as a 4 km (2.5 mile) high-banked superspeedway, but there was not enough money to complete the project and only one of the bankings was ever designed. Converted to a road course, the circuit opened in December of 1965 and proved to be somewhat dangerous with the banked turn regularly resulting in major accidents. A new part of track was built to counteract the problem, and the resultant 4.359 km (2.7 mile) course proved more successful. The speedway brought the first Formula 1 race to Japan at the end of the 1976 season. The race had a dramatic World Championship battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, and in awful rainy conditions, Hunt earned enough points to win the title. Mario Andretti won the race, with Lauda withdrawing due to the dangerous conditions.

There was less celebration after the second race in 1977 after Gilles Villeneuve was involved in a crash that killed two people on the side of the track. It would be the second and last time the Fuji circuit would host a F1 race and when Japan earned another race on the F1 schedule ten years later, it went to Suzuka instead.

Fuji remained a popular sports car racing venue and was often used for national races. Speeds continued to be very high, and two chicanes were added to the track, one just past the first hairpin corner, the second at the entry to the very long, very fast final turn (300R). But even with these changes the main feature of the track remained its approximately 1.5 km long straight, one of the longest in all of motorsports.

The long pit straight also has also been utilised for drag racing. NHRA exhibitions were run in 1989, and in 1993 Shirley Muldowney ran a 5.30 on the quarter-mile strip at Fuji. Local drag races are common on the circuit.

The track continues to be used for Japanese national races, but plans to host a CART event in 1991 were abandoned and it was not until the autumn of 2000 that the track was bought by Toyota, as part of its motor racing plans for the future.

In 2003 the circuit was closed down to accommodate a major reprofiling of the track, using a new design from Hermann Tilke. The track was reopened on 10 April 2005. Toyota has now won its bid to host a Grand Prix event, replacing the Suzuka Circuit as host to the Japanese Grand Prix in the 2007 Formula One season. It will become the F1 track with the longest straight of the championship, approximately 1.5 km.

The circuit has always hosted the NISMO Festival for historic Nissan racers, since the takeover and refurbishment in 2003, the event took place at TI Circuit. When the festival returned in 2005, the organisers allowed the circuit owner to bring in their Toyota 7 CanAm racer to re-enact the old Japanese GP battle. Toyota also hosts its own historic event a week before the NISMO festival called Toyota Motorsports Festival. Close to the circuit is a drifting course, which was built as part of the refurbishment under the supervision of "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya. The short course nearby was built under the supervision of former works driver and Super GT team manager Masanori Sekiya and there is a Toyota Safety Education Center, a mini circuit. In addition to motorsports, Fuji also hosts the Udo Music Festival.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org

Filipe Massa: biography

Early career

Massa, a Brazilian whose grandfather came to Brazil from the city of Cerignola, Italy, was born in São Paulo, Brazil. Massa began karting when he was 8 years old, finishing fourth in his first season. He continued in national and international championships for 7 years, and in 1998 he moved into Formula Chevrolet, finishing the Brazilian championship in fifth. In the next season, he won 3 of the 10 races and took the championship. In 2000, he moved to Europe to compete in the Italian Formula Renault series, winning both it and the European Formula Renault championship in the same year. Whilst having the opportunity to move into Formula 3, he opted instead for the Formula 3000 Euro-Series, and was dominant, winning 6 of the 8 races to take the championship. He was offered an F1 test with the Sauber team, who promptly signed him for 2002. In the meantime he drove for Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship as a guest driver.

Formula One career

Sauber (2002, 2004-2005)

In his rookie year in Formula 1, Massa was paired with 1999 F3000 champion Nick Heidfeld at the Sauber team. Massa showed he was a competitive driver, but made several mistakes during his rookie season, including spinning off the track on several occasions. Massa scored 4 championship points in his first season, with a best result of 5th place at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya. Massa suffered a one race suspension late in the season, forcing him to miss the United States Grand Prix. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Sauber's former driver drove for Massa in that race. Although Massa returned to the driver's seat for the Japanese Grand Prix, Sauber confirmed that Frentzen would partner Heidfeld in 2003, and therefore, Massa was without a race seat at Sauber. But it was confirmed by Felipe Massa himself that a deal was brokered with the Ferrari F1 Team that he would spend his early F1 career gaining experience in the Sauber Team to move on to Ferrari in the future. After gaining more experience showing signs that his mistake rate had declined, Ferrari dealt with Sauber to re-sign Massa for the 2004 season. In 2004, Massa scored 12 of Sauber's 34 points, with his best result being a fourth place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix. His teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, scored the team's other 22 points. In 2005, Massa remained with Sauber. Although he only scored 11 points, Massa outpaced his teammate Jacques Villeneuve through most of the season, and beat him in the drivers' championship. In 2006, Massa joined Ferrari as a race-driver, alongside Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari (2006-Present)

2006

Felipe Massa got a good start at Ferrari, qualifying second at the opening race in Bahrain, and came from 21st position to 5th in Malaysia, beating teammate Michael Schumacher, who'd started from 14th. However, in Bahrain, in both Saturday practice and the race, he seemed to resume his tendency to spin, narrowly missing eventual winner Fernando Alonso in the race. He kept up his reputation as being a bit on the wild side at the Australian GP when he crashed his Ferrari in qualifying, and then collided with Christian Klien and Nico Rosberg at the first corner of the race. However, Massa scored his first career podium at the Nürburgring, finishing third, behind Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. He also set the fastest lap at Barcelona in 2006. Massa achieved four more podium finishes in 2006, in the USA, France and Germany and took his first F1 pole position and his first F1 win at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, at the Istanbul Park circuit. His future position at Ferrari was secured when Michael Schumacher announced on 10 September 2006, that he would retire from F1 at the end of the 2006 season. On October 22, Felipe Massa won his home grand prix at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, marking the first time a Brazilian driver won at Interlagos since Ayrton Senna in 1993. The Brazilian eventually finished the season third with 80 points, behind world champion Fernando Alonso and Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher.

2007

In 2007 pre-season testing, Massa topped the times five times and set the fastest lap for four out of five circuits. Massa's 2007 season began with problems. At the season opening Australian Grand Prix, he suffered a gearbox problem during qualifying and required an engine change. The combination of a gearbox failure in qualifying, coupled with a 10-grid-slot penalty for the engine change required that Massa start from the pit lane. He drove a recovery race in Australia, using a one pitstop strategy to finish in sixth place. Massa's problems continued in Malaysia, where despite qualifying on pole position, he was passed by the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton by the first corner. An overtaking attempt on Hamilton saw Massa run off the track and lose two more places, dropping down to fifth place, where he finished the race. Massa won the Grands Prix of Bahrain and Spain, both from pole position, and finished third in Monaco.

Massa was black flagged in the Canadian Grand Prix for leaving the pit lane while the red light was showing and finished on the podium behind Lewis Hamilton and Alonso in the United States Grand Prix. At the French Grand Prix, he led for most of the race before losing first place to teammate Kimi Räikkönen during the final round of pitstops. Massa later blamed heavy traffic for losing the lead. He qualified in fourth place for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but on the first parade lap his car stalled, and he was forced to start in 21st position from the pit lane. However, he was able to move through the field, eventually finishing in fifth place behind Robert Kubica.

At the European Grand Prix he took third place in the qualifying session while his teammate Kimi Räikkönen secured pole position. Massa finished second in a chatoic, rain hit race. A Torrential downpour during the first lap saw six drivers fall victim to a river of rain at turn one, and span into the gravel. Only Lewis Hamiliton recovered, being controversially towed out. The race was eventually red flagged by the end of lap 4. Massa took a comfortable lead shortly after the restart, but when rain fell on lap 52 he complained of vibrations from his newly shod rain tyres, dropped off the pace, and was passed by Fernando Alonso with just 5 laps remaining. After the race, Massa came to congratulate Alonso for winning the race and Alonso expressed dissatisfaction at Massa's aggressive attempt to avoid being overtaken. This discussion led to a much talked about verbal dispute between the two drivers.

Massa won the 2007 Turkish Grand Prix, which was his second successive win at the circuit. Fellow Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen finished second and Fernando Alonso came third.

External links

• The official website for Felipe Massa
• Felipe Massa profile and statistics
• Felipe Massa statistics

Felipe Massa foto

Massa giving thumbs-up at the 2005 USGP

Massa relaxing at the 2005 USGP

Massa received Medalha do Mérito Desportivo (Medal of the Sport Merit) by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil. (24 October 2006)

2005 British GP	Massa's Sauber C24 at the 2005 Italian GP	2006 Canadian GP
2007 Australian GP	2007 Malaysian GP	Pursuing Nick Heidfeld at the 2007 Malaysian GP

Source - en.wikipedia.org

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Scuderia Ferrari has won Constructors World Championship

Ferrari say they will focus all their efforts in winning the drivers' championship after being confirmed as constructors' champions on Friday.

Rivals McLaren announced today their decision to not appeal their exclusion from this year's constructors' championship, meaning Ferrari were automatically crowned as champions.

The Maranello squad acknowledged McLaren's decision and said they will concentrate on the drivers' title now.

"Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has won the 2007 Formula One Constructors' World Championship, taking its tally in this competition to fifteen, seven of them in the last nine years," the Italian squad said in a statement.

"Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has actually chosen not to appeal against the decision of the FIA World Council taken on 13th September last, thus accepting the sentence handed out for violation of article 151c of the International Sporting Code.

"Ferrari will now invest all its efforts over the final three races of this championship in trying to also win the Drivers' world title."

Source - www.autosport.com

De la Rosa fastest as testing ends

Pedro de la Rosa ended the final official Formula One test of the season with the quickest time at Jerez in Spain on Thursday.

The McLaren test driver was just four hundredths of a second faster than Ferrari's tester Luca Badoer, with the two teams appearing as closely matched as they have been in recent races.

Mark Webber was an encouraging third fastest for Red Bull Racing, with Nick Heidfeld setting the fourth best time despite bringing one of the two red flags of the day out when he stopped out on track.

Nelson Piquet Jr. rounded out his three days of testing with Renault with the fifth fastest time, while Jenson Button continued the evaluation of new Honda concepts to set the sixth best time.

Although Rubens Barrichello had been upbeat about the new Honda parts, Button was not so convinced.

"I cannot tell you much really," said the Briton. "We don't know exactly what we are taking (to Fuji). At the moment we are just collecting data, so we have to see how it goes."

Jarno Trulli was seventh, while Sebastian Vettel was eighth fastest after causing the second flag when he ran off the circuit.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time      Laps
1.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:19.617   68
2.  Badoer        Ferrari             (B)  1:19.656   68
3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:20.067   42
4.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (B)  1:20.184   94
5.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:20.655  120
6.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:20.831   66
7.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:21.621   77
8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.626   82
9.  Rossiter      Honda               (B)  1:21.663   39
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:22.148   57
Source - http://autosport.com

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Luca Badoer was a second time at Jerez

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa dominated the second day of testing at the Jerez circuit, which is hosting the final test of the 2007 season this week.

McLaren driver De la Rosa, whose best time of 1:19.267 after 70 laps was over half a second faster than Red Bull driver Mark Webber's, tested some new aerodynamic components which could be used in the final three races of the season.

Third quickest Luca Badoer was a second off de la Rosa's pace with the Ferrari, the Italian edging Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber. Heidfeld, taking over from yesterday's pace-setter Timo Glock, covered 106 laps.

Scuderia Toro Rosso were the only team with two drivers in action today, with Tonio Liuzzi doing the driving for most of the session. The Italian caused one of the three red flags of the day when he lost a rear wheel, although fortunately he did not crash.

Teammate Sebastian Vettel took to the track around 4:30pm and finished at the bottom of the times.

Jenson Button took over from teammate Rubens Barrichello, driving the revised RA107 car for the first time. The Briton completed 74 laps on his way to the sixth fastest time of the day.

Renault test driver Nelsinho Piquet was seventh quickest and also the busiest man on track with 111 laps completed. The Brazilian caused the other two red flags of the session when he went off track, first in the morning and later in the afternoon.

Ralf Schumacher tried out some new front and rear wing configurations with his Toyota, the German winding up eighth fastest ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg, who only began working around midday.

The session took place until clear skies, with air temperatures of around 30 degrees.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time     Laps
1.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:19.267   70
2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:19.947  106
3.  Badoer        Ferrari             (B)  1:20.249   69
4.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (B)  1:20.318  103
5.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:20.624   47
6.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:20.624   74
7.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:20.804  111
8.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:21.101   76
9.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.608   31
10.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.863    1

Source - http://autosport.com/

Raikkonen takes third straight Spa win

Kimi Raikkonen took his third consecutive victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, comfortably edging away from teammate Felipe Massa in a Ferrari one-two.

The McLarens were no match for the Ferraris and had to settle for third and fourth, with Fernando Alonso finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton and narrowing the rookie's championship lead to just two points with three rounds remaining.

The result meant that, pending McLaren's decision to appeal their penalty, Ferrari are constructors' champions.

Massa had briefly challenged Raikkonen on the outside at the start, before settling into second place.

Just behind, the McLarens were also wheel to wheel into La Source. Alonso edged Hamilton onto the extended run-off area, but the Briton found excellent traction and accelerated back on track level with his teammate.

They then ran side by side into Eau Rouge, with Alonso holding on around the outside at the first part of the corner before claiming third as the track turned right.

Raikkonen proceeded to dominate the race, easily establishing a four second lead over Massa and maintaining it to the flag.

The McLarens ran longer stints, but simply lacked the pace to get on terms with the leaders, and fell 20 seconds adrift in the middle stint.

Hamilton went four laps further on his second fuel load in a bid to vault ahead of Alonso, but the Spaniard found more speed on his fresh tyres than his teammate could muster from his very light car, and Hamilton rejoined six seconds behind him.

He pushed hard to close the gap, even going off the road briefly at Pouhon, but had to settle for fourth.

The result means that Hamilton is now two points ahead of Alonso, with Raikkonen closing to within 13 points of the leader.

Nick Heidfeld lost ground running wide at La Source on the first lap, but jumped ahead of Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber in the first stops and then pulled away from them to secure fifth. Rosberg also edged away from Webber and finished sixth.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen used a one-stop strategy to fend off the charging Robert Kubica for the final point. After his engine change penalty in qualifying, Kubica made good progress in the opening laps but lost time behind the one stopping cars in the middle stages.

The two-stopping Jarno Trulli again lost ground at the start and consequently spent the race in traffic. That meant he finished behind his one-stopping Toyota teammate Ralf Schumacher in 11th. Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi took 12th.

The star of the largely uneventful race was Spyker's Adrian Sutil, who used a relatively light fuel load to charge through the field to 12th in the opening laps. He ultimately finished 14th, right behind Honda's Rubens Barrichello.

Jenson Button retired the second Honda with hydraulic problems, the same failure that also eliminated Red Bull's David Coulthard.

Alex Wurz also dropped out after a messy race that saw him spin at the Bus Stop and then fall to last - behind Sakon Yamamoto - when he ran across the grass at Les Combes.

The race hardly even got going for Giancarlo Fisichella, who retired with a suspension problem on the opening lap.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.176km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1h20:39.066
2.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +     4.695
3.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    14.343
4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    23.615
5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    51.879
6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +  1:16.876
7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +  1:20.639
8.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +  1:25.106
9.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +  1:25.661
10.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +  1:28.558
11.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +  1:43.633
12.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:48.036

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Button        Honda                (B)    37
Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)    35
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)    30
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    9
Fisichella    Renault              (B)    2


World Championship standings, round 14:              

Drivers:                    Constructors:
1.  Hamilton      97        1.  Ferrari              161
2.  Alonso        95        2.  BMW Sauber            90
3.  Raikkonen     84        3.  Renault               39
4.  Massa         77        4.  Williams-Toyota       28
5.  Heidfeld      56        5.  Red Bull-Renault      18
6.  Kubica        33        6.  Toyota                12
7.  Kovalainen    22        7.  Super Aguri-Honda      4
8.  Fisichella    17        8.  Honda                  2
9.  Rosberg       15
10.  Wurz          13
11.  Webber        10
12.  Coulthard      8
13.  Trulli         7
14.  R.Schumacher   5
15.  Sato           4
16.  Button         2
17.  Vettel         1

Source - http://www.autosport.com

Ferrari video!

Ferrari F1 vs F50

Shell Ferrari F1

Ferrari F1 2007

F1 SILVERSTONE 2007 - MASSA EXPERIENCE

F1 One lap ferrari massa japan fuji


Enjoy!

History of Ferrari F1 team

Ferrari, one of the longest-serving and winningest Formula 1 teams, is steeped in tradition and exudes charisma. The only Grand Prix team to manufacture its own engine, gearbox and chassis, its internal politics, fanned by the close attentions of the Italian press, continue to amaze and entertain the paddock. Quite simply the Grand Prix world would be completely different without Ferrari.

Some of the top names of the sport, including Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Sheckter, Gerhard Berger, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Gilles Villeneuve have all been associated with the marque.

Team founder Enzo Ferrari initially ran cars for Alfa Romeo, but, after World War II, his racers bore the Ferrari name. First Grand Prix success came in 1951, and the wins have been piling up ever since, with the odd super-successful season punctuated by too many when the red cars have not fulfilled their potential.

Nevertheless, nine Drivers' titles and eight Constructors' crowns are an enduring achievement, and Ferrari continues to be the best-supported marque in the Grand Prix world. The team are still currently the sport’s most succesful, with 113 wins to McLaren’s 107 and Williams’ 103.

Enzo Ferrari ruled the team until his death in 1988, and the latest man to be charged by Ferrari's owner Fiat with regaining the glory days is Luca di Montezemolo, a man who was credited with much of the success enjoyed by Niki Lauda in the mid 1970s.

After several lean years in the early 1990s, ex-Peugeot man Jean Todt was hired to bring some order to the team. The lack of results continued, but Todt steadily brought together the pieces that would transform Ferrari back to a dominant force in motor racing. For 1996, the team had the benefit of the world’s leading driver in Michael Schumacher, but poor mid-season reliability meant they were unable to challenge for the title. Brilliant driving by Schumacher at a drenched Spanish Grand Prix, and victories on merit at Spa and Monza meant that the team looked positively to 1997.

It would turn out to be one of their most succesful seasons to date, with Schumacher almost clinching the team’s first title since Jody Schekter in 1979. Five inspired wins allied with numerous points finishes had Schumacher leading the Drivers’ Championship before the controversial collision with title-rival Jacques Villeneueve at Jerez that left him in the gravel and ultimately excluded from the championship. A new car from ex-Benetton duo Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne has team management demanding a championship in 1999 and they got it as they fought long and hard and took it by 4 points from Mclaren.

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