Owner: Formula One Blog URL:http://formula1.blogvasion.com Join Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 08:09:17 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog dedicated to Formula 1 motorsport. Site statistics:Click here
Massa Scoffs at Rumours 2007-09-29 07:36:00 Ferrari driver Felipe Massa denied rumours about his leaving Ferrari by the end of the season. The Brazilian driver said that his contract with Scuderia is valid up to the end of 2008 season. Moreover, Massa is negotiating prolongation of the contract till beyond 2009.According to the rumours, the Brazilian driver would move to Japanese team Toyota next year, leaving room for Spanish two season world champion Fernando Alonso to move over to Ferrari from arch rivals MacLaren.
Villeneuve is Heading Towards Nascar 2007-09-28 11:51:00 Formula One 1997 season world champion Jacques Villeneuve is following Colombian Pablo Montoya and will debut at Nascar on 5-7 October. Villeneuve's debut will be at the famous Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in the UAW-Ford 500.The Canadian's career ended last year in the BMW Sauber team right after German Grand Prix. Read more:Heading
Will Alonso Join Scuderia Ferrari? 2007-09-26 04:10:00 Will Alonso
join Scuderia Ferrari
by the end of the season?There are rumours out there that the two-time world champion Alonso has already accepted a $40 million per year contract from the Maranello team. According to the sources, Fernando will replace Felipe Massa who in turn will be heading to Toyota.To admit, I have not idea whether Alonso will join Ferrari or not, but one thing is for sure that he's stay at the British-German team will not last long.Ron Dennis, McLaren team boss has extremely cold relationship with Alonso. According to Dennis, he and the driver are not "on speaking terms".
The Only Russian Formula One Pilot Injured In Bomb Attack 2007-09-25 15:57:00 Sergei Zlobin, a test driver for the Minardi Formula
One racing team, has miraculously escaped when his car exploded on Monday morning.The blast tore through the floor of Zlobin's Mercedes G500, causing the driver minor leg injuries but he was able to get himself out of the car and phoned the police himself.According to Zlobin, he has no idea who might have wanted his assassination.The Russian
driver has connections with large sponsors like the state controlled oil company Gazprom. Read more:Pilot
Spyker F1 Team Was Sold for 88 Million Euros 2007-09-20 15:04:00 Spyker Cars NV has agreed to sell its Formula One team for 88 million euros. The buyer of the Spyker Formula 1 team is a group of business people with Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol on board. The news spread today.Spyker shareholders meeting is scheduled for 29th of September. The sale decision will be voted as well.Unfortunately Spyker has not been able to turn the Formula 1 team into a profitable business since the dutch company acquired it from Midland for $10.6.6 million last year. Read more:Spyker
Scandals in Formula One Carry On 2007-09-19 05:48:00 While not directly affecting Formula
1, this time a juice scandal has arisen around Yu Zhifei, the former boss of Formula 1 motor racing in China. Yu was found guilty of embezzling public funds on Monday by the Wuhu Intermediate People's Court.Specifically, Yu has purchased a 172-sq-m apartment from Shanghai Wenhui Estate Developing Company through an agent for 2.43 million yuan (approx. $320,000). It turns out that Yu has used funds from a Shenhua soccer club, where Yu served as a legal representative in 1997.Yu's case was originally scheduled to be heard on August 16, but was postponed because the defendant wanted to call witnesses.Source: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/6266221.html Read more:Carry
, Formula One
Changes to the Formula One 2008 Calendar 2007-09-19 05:33:00 The FIA has released a revised calendar for the 2008 world championship.The Belgian Grand Prix will now take place on September 7 and the Italian will take place on September 14. The Japanese event, will take place a week earlier than previously announced on October 12. The Chinese Grand Prix has been switched to October 19.The only explanation for FIA's decision is the clashing of events in the regions. So, the new schedule must draw the maximum number of people to the events.So, the new 2008 calendar looks as follows:6 Mar Australia23 Mar Malaysia6 Apr Bahrain27 Apr Spain11 May Turkey25 May Monaco8 Jun Canada*22 Jun France6 Jul Great Britain20 Jul Germany3 Aug Hungary24 Aug Europe**7 Sep Belgium14 Sep Italy28 Sep Singapore**12 Oct Japan19 Oct China2 Nov BrazilCanada is still provisional. European and Singapore races are subject to circuit approval. Read more:Formula
, Calendar
India Will Host Formula One Race in 2010 2007-09-17 10:53:00 Ink has not yet dried on the agreement, but the seal is already placed. India
will host its first-ever Formula
One race in 2010. Period. This news was announced by the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi today.It looks like Hermann Tilke has provided the Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone with a positive report about the situation in India. Thew new circuit will be built either at Greater Noida or Sohna, the final decision still pending.I believe this is wonderful news for every Formula One in India. Congratulations guys.
McLaren Gets a $100 Million Fine and No Points in the Constructors' Championship 2007-09-14 08:23:00 $100 million in fines and 0 points in the 2007 season's constructors' championship is FIA World Motor Sport Council's final verdict for the McLaren-Mercedes team. McLaren-Mercedes drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have not been penalized and are free to continue their fight for the drivers' title.We expect the FIA to explain the reasons behind the Council's decision today. This should be followed by McLaren's decision to appeal or not.On the Formula1.com website there is a poll about the verdict. It seems that the public opinion is divided evenly with a slight advantage to those who think that the decision was fair. I too believe that the decision was fair. I would be extremely disappointed if the verdict had affected McLaren drivers. Both Alonso and Hamilton should have a right to fight for the title. Ferrari is satisfied with McLaren verdict. No surprise here. Scuderia has practically secured the championship title in this year.Hopefully, the spy saga will be over and Read more:Points
Sir Jackie Stewart Accuses FIA of Conducting a Witch Hunt Against McLaren 2007-09-13 04:43:00 Yesterday, former Formula One world champion Sir JackieStewart
accused FIA of witch-hunting the McLaren-Mercedes team.According to Stewart, Formula One power people are more aligned to Ferrari than any other team.Yes, it is true that historically FIA has been quite close to Ferrari. Nobody argues that the Ferrari-McLaren spy case is having extremely negative effects on the sport. Moreover, not only this season may get ruined, but the next season as well. After all, Formula One without the British-German team is a way less interesting. But we, passionate Formula One fans have a right to know the truth. This was clearly conveyed by Ferrari boss Jean Todt, speaking at Monza at the weekend. "It’s a taint on the sport. I think that we are sorry that it is happening in Formula 1, but we want the truth to appear." Mr. Todt, We all want the truth to appear once and for all.It will be extremely unfortunate if McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton's dream gets wrecked because of the Read more:Witch
Please Don't Ruin Formula One 2007-09-12 16:48:00 It looks like that in Formula
One the battle from the circuit has shifted towards the court rooms and FIA World Motor Sport Council summits.Tomorrow may prove to be a crucial day for the leading team. If the McLaren-Mercedes team is found guilty, not only does the team face multi-million dollar fee, but potential punishment includes disqualification from this season and from the next as well. Not a promising outlook for the British-German team.Unfortunately, some sources speculate that McLaren will drag other teams as well in the case and will require adequate sanctions against such teams. According to the sources, Flavio Briatore's team is the one that McLaren will try to drag into the case. But the Renault boss is calm and accuses his vis-a-vis at McLaren Ron Dennis of “throwing stones everywhere” in an attempt to deflect pressure. This might prove to be a good strategy for McLaren to shift attention from the main point but it might turn to be a critical decision as well.But wha Read more:Please
Ferrari-McLaren Spy Case Culmination is Not Far 2007-09-06 05:39:00 The International Automobile Federation has issued a statement according to which, the federation had summoned their World Motor Sport Council again for a hearing in Paris on September 13th to consider the development of a Ferrari
-McLaren spy case.The meeting on the 13th is in effect replacing the appeal hearing, which has been filed by Ferrari after the WMSC decided not to punish this year's leading team in July.The situation up to date is that McLaren was found to be in possession of Ferrari's confidential 780 page material. However, as the WMSC has found, the team has not benefited from it in the championship battle. FIA's representative has mentioned that new evidence had emerged in the spy case but the representative has not made any comments.The bottom line is that if McLaren is found guilty, the team may get disqualified not only from this, 2007 season, but from the 2008 season as well. So, quite much is at stake for the McLaren-Mercedes team, which at the moment is leading t
Spyker Has Been Acquired by Vijay Mallya - India's Back 2007-09-02 16:47:00 An India
n businessman and a member of the upper house of the Parliament of India, VijayMallya
has acquired the Spyker
F1 Team.Mallya, who is the chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines puts India back on the F1 circuit. Not only will India be mentioned in the updated name of the company, but this will give a perfect chance to Indian drivers to be on the circuit. Especially, this might turn to be a golden opportunity for Narain Karthikeyan.India still hopes to secure a place in the Formula 1 calendar. The nearest opportunity is 2009. However, Mallya is already expecting a German designer Herman Tilke, who has done Bahrain, Istanbul and is now working on Singapore. Tilke will be flying to Delhi on Monday and will check the suitability of two-three sites.Photo copyright Jonathan Drake/Bloomberg News /LandovThis post has been featured on BLOGVASION.COM
Singapore Grand Prix: a Day or a Night Race? 2007-08-31 05:40:00 The international governing body for motorsports, FIA, will announce next month whether SingaporeGrand
Prix will proceed with a night or day race.Meanwhile, the work at the circuit has been going at a wild pace and instead of a muddy area of the land at the Marina Promenade we'll see an ultra-modern pit building in exactly nine months. Not much time time but Mr. Lim Neo Chian, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board is confident that the infrastructure for the Grand Prix will be fully ready by the deadline.Simple yet modern and environmentally sustainable structure will accommodate 36 garages for the 12 race teams on the first floor. The second floor will be taken by the Media Center, hospitality lounges, race control center and the winners’ podium. Read more:Night
Fernando Alonso - The National Hero 2007-08-28 16:46:00 The 26 year old Spanish driver has become a national hero. The reigning double World Champion has accumulated some impressive statistics over his career.The 2007 Turkish Grand Prix marks the 100th Formula 1 race for Alonso
.At the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix he became the youngest driver to ever win a Formula 1 World Championship. He was 24 years and 59 days old.In 2006 he became the youngest ever driver to win double World Championship title in a row.The record for the youngest driver to win a race goes to Alonso as well. When he won the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2003 it was 26 days after his 22 Birthday.Alonso has stood on the top step of the podium a total of 18 times in his Formula 1 career to date and he has finished on the podium on 44 separate occasions.He has scored a total of 16 Pole Positions and 454 points in his 99 Grands Prix to date. Easy calculation shows that his average score is 4.58 per race. With Vodafone McLaren Mercedes his average score is 6.63 so far.Over the five and Read more:Fernando
, National
, Fernando Alonso
Scott Speed - The Last of the Mohicans 2007-08-01 16:46:00 As expected, Indianapolis is out of the Formula 1 2008 calendar and the only American driver, ScottSpeed
has shared the Brickyard's fate.The Scuderia Toro Rosso team said that Sebastian Vettel would replace Speed for the rest of the season starting with Sunday's race in Budapest, Hungary. Vettel, who is 20, had been a test driver for the BMW Sauber Formula One team.Why American drivers have this challenge in succeeding in Formula One is a mystery to me. Speed is not a bad driver, yet he has not earned even a point in Formula 1. His double 9th position is his best result. Scott Speed has shown considerable promise, much more than Michael Andretti from the mid 90's but not enough to keep his stay in an European-dominated sport.Let's hope that we see American drivers in the royal motor sport as well as the US Grand Prix in the future.Photo courtesy of http://www.f1fanatic.co.ukThis post has been featured on BLOGVASION.COM
Three-time Formula One World Champion Piquet Loses His Driving License 2007-07-31 16:45:00 Nelson Piquet, a Brazilian racing driver, who was Formula
One world champion in 1981, 1983, and 1987 has loses his driving license. According to O Globo, Piquet's Brazilian driving license has been revoked after a series of speeding and parking offenses.Can you imagine an ex-F1 driver without a car? I can't. So, the 54-year old driver began a driving reeducation course. Funny, but Piquet is not a lone. His wife, Viviane, also joined her ex-champion husband in the class after having her license taken away for bad driving.The couple will have to attend mandatory classes over eight days and pass an exam before getting back their licenses. I don't think Piquet will have trouble with that.Photo courtesy of http://www.goodwood.co.ukThis post has been featured on BLOGVASION.COM Read more:Three
, World
, Driving
, License
, One World
Formula One 2008 Calendar 2007-07-28 16:44:00 The FIA has confirmed the calendar for the Formula
One 2008 world championship.Valencia, Spain, will host the European Grand Prix on a street circuit on August 24, subject to approval. Singapore will also stage a street race on September 28, subject to circuit approval. In Singapore we may witness the first night race.The 2008 calendar in full looks like this:16 Mar Australia23 Mar Malaysia6 Apr Bahrain27 Apr Spain11 May Turkey25 May Monaco8 Jun Canada (Provisional)22 Jun France6 Jul Great Britain20 Jul Germany3 Aug Hungary24 Aug Europe (Subject to circuit approval)7 Sep Italy14 Sep Belgium28 Sep Singapore (Subject to circuit approval)12 Oct China19 Oct Japan2 Nov BrazilPhoto courtesy of f1istanbulturkey.comThis post has been featured on BLOGVASION.COM Read more:Formula One
, Calendar
Legitimizing Dishonest Behaviour in Formula One? 2007-07-26 16:43:00 The FIA World Motor Sport Council acknowledged that McLaren had breached the sporting regulations by having unauthorised Ferrari documents in their possession.I believe this is what every Ferrari fan was expecting. However, McLaren went unpunished. This is almost a comical situation indeed and I am deeply disappointed with the FIA's decision. And this is why.Formula
One is a sport where a verge of success and failure may lie in a thousandths of a second. In Formula One
every detail is important. In Formula One there are no unimportant details.Even if McLaren declares that they have not benefited from possessing the secret material, it might still have an impact on the outcome. If nothing else, it is psychologically devastating realising a fact that your competitor possesses your confidential material.FIA, please bring justice to this case by imposing appropriate sanctions on McLaren. One of the reasons why we love Formula One is that it is extremely fair sport. Formula One is more tha Read more:Behaviour
Formula One 2008 Calendar 2007-07-23 16:42:00 Today I was checking visitor statistics and to my amazement over 80% of all visitors coming to Blogvasion.com from Google during past couple of days were searching for Formula
1 2008 Calendar
.Dear friends, unfortunately the 2008 calendar has not been confirmed yet. Moreover, there isn't even a preliminary schedule. Need a speculated one? Oh dear, here it is found on Wikipedia.However, there are a couple of facts.Fact number one is that we won't see the US Grand Prix. I've already written a post about this.Fact number two is that Australia has lost the pole position and that Bahrain will host 2008 season opener.Fact number three is that Bridgestone will be the official tyre supplier for the 2008 season and probably up to 2010.The article on Wikipedia provides more "facts" but I don't take anything on Wikipedia as a fact. As soon as the Formula One
2008 schedule is confirmed, I'll publish it and where the hell I wrote down Bernie's cell phone... :)This post has been featured on BLO
Spyker Opts to Go with the German Rookie 2007-07-18 16:41:00 It was believed and anticipated that Christian Klien would take the vacant seat at Spyker
F1. However, the team management opted to go with the Spyker reserve driver Markus Winkelhock. Markus Winkelhock will make his Formula One debut at Sunday's European Grand Prix and we will see one more rookie in this season.To Winkelhock this is a dream come true. The driver admitted that while he hadn't have much time in the car this year, he is prepared both physically and mentally.I think Markus' appearance on the track is some kind of an experiment. This can be a one-off race or we may see Markus in subsequent races, maybe even for the rest of the season. One thing is clear that the team must make a decision who will be Adrian Sutil's partner for the rest of the season. Therefore, it will be an extremely important moment in German
driver's career.(Photo courtesy of http://www.motorsport-live.de)This post has been featured on BLOGVASION.COM Read more:Rookie
Brickyard Drops off the Formula One 2008 Calendar 2007-07-12 16:41:00 Brickyard drops off the Formula
1 2008 calendar, though the Indianapolis door is left open for potential future races. This was the mutual agreement between Tony George, the CEO of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Formula One
Management Ltd. CEO Bernie Ecclestone.In June this year, at the 2007 event, George and Ecclestone agreed to a mid-July deadline for a decision about future events. According to the speedway officials, they needed a long term solution and not the one-year agreement the speedway officials achieved with Ecclestone last year. According to the estimates, the attendance at Indianapolis has always been good at around 125,000 people. It is believed that the inaugural race in 2000 drew more than 200,000 people. Exact figures have never been published but it was apparent the US Grand Prix has been a popular event. But in 2005 the event was spoiled. 14 of the 20 drivers pulled off the track just before the start over concerns about the safety of the Michelin tires used by se Read more:Calendar
, Drops
If You Go Against Ferrari, It's Like Going Against the Vatican 2007-07-12 05:43:00 A controversy between Scuderia Ferrari
and the McLaren-Mercedes team reached High Court in England this week.Ferrari are accusing their former engineer Nigel Stepney in supplying the rival team McLaren's chief designer Mike Coughlan with secret Ferrari technical information in April. It is believed that the 780 page secret material was stored on two computer disks.Ferrari representative, the lawyer Nigel Tozzi told judge Michael Briggs that the Coughlans should not have had documents which were found during the search.Stepney does not plead guilty and denies any wrongdoing. But he is facing a criminal investigation under a separate process in Italy where Ferrari is based. Moreover, Stepney says that Ferrari is terrified that what he has in his mind is valuable. "I guess I know where the bodies have been buried for the last 10 years, there were a lot of controversies." continues Stepney.The FIA is conducting its own investigation into the allegations. According to their representatives Read more:Going
, Vatican
Christijan Albers Replaced at Spyker F1 2007-07-10 05:44:00 No matter how hard decision it was, the Spyker
F1 team management has confirmed that Christijan Albers will no longer race for them in this season. According to the Spyker F1 team boss, Colin Kolles the decision has nothing to do with Albers' performance. Banal it may sound, but the main reason of such a tough decision was a problem with the driver's personal sponsors.It is still unknown who will replace Albers. Possible alternatives are Honda's third driver Christian Klien, Ferrari tester Marc Gene and Williams tester Narain Karhtikeyan.This post has been featured on BLOGVASION.COM Read more:Replaced
Kimi Raikkonen's Magnificent Victory 2007-07-08 16:40:00 Ferrari's successful start in this season of Formula 1 World Championship was followed by a series of failures. As a Scuderia Ferrari's passionate fan, I was extremely disappointed by this. But Kimi Raikkonen
's success at Magny-Cours last week, followed by today's magnificent victory made me happy :) Ferrari showed that it's way too early to consider this season's fate decided. Both last week and this week, Ferrari showed that their cars were equally fast, if not faster than those of the rival McLaren-Mercedes.It was extremely unfortunate that Kimi's teammate Felipe Massa had to start from the last position because of his Ferrari stalling on the grid in the original start. But Massa did a little miracle and finished the 5th. Had he not had to start from the pit lane, Hamilton's podium would have been under a question. All in all, the British driver continues his record by "renting" a place on the podium.While the gap between McLaren and Ferrari is considerable (25 points), the Read more:Magnificent
, Victory
Was Alonso Sabotaged at the Japanese Grand Prix? 2007-10-01 05:55:00 As you may have noticed I am not a big fan of Alonso
. However, after the JapaneseGrand
Prix I had a feeling that the Spanish driver has been sabotaged. The race (dubious pit stop, pressure in tyres to mention some) has clearly showed this and no deep analysis is required to notice signs of sabotage. The feeling is further strengthened by the fact that McLaren's boss Ron Dennis does not like the Spanish driver. As for his teammate Lewis Hamilton, his opinion is widely known as well - McLaren must sack Alonso.Right from the start of this season it was clear that the rookie Hamilton had pretty good chances for winning the title. At the same time, Alonso's performance was quite impressive. Thus, the two drivers were giving a clear lead to the McLaren team. However, now, when the team has no points in the constructors' championship, Alonso's "value" to the team has become zero and Ron Denis is clearly biased to Hamilton.One way or another, the prestige of sport is getting damaged and t Read more:Grand Prix
Shall We Expect a Miracle From One More Rookie? 2007-10-12 14:02:00 Earlier this week, Williams' veteran Alex Wurz announced about his retirement from Formula One with an immediate effect. This gives a perfect chance to a Williams' rookie Kazuki Nakajima, who will be making his Formula One debut in the next weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix at INTERLAGOS.According to the Williams team, the purpose of giving Nakajima the drive is to allow him to develop his Formula One experience rather than to evaluate him for a seat in a 2008 season. As a result the 22-year-old driver will be approaching the opportunity somewhat relaxed.Nakajima’s father, Satoru, has also made his Formula One debut in Brazil (but on a different track) 20 years ago. Satoru senior finished 7th, thus grabbing 2 points. Kazuki's plans are to repeat or even improve his father's result, but the young driver understands that the race will be extremely tough. Read more:Expect
, Rookie
UNICEF Awards Felipe Massa With a Champion for Brazilian Children Title 2007-10-11 02:03:00 Yesterday, Brazilian
Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa received the title of Champion for Brazilian Children
from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF
). The nomination took place during a press conference followed by bicycle the driver took with children and adolescents who live in impoverished communities in São Paulo.Massa has expressed his opinion that his teammate Kimi Raikkonen needs a miracle to win the Formula One drivers' title at next week's Brazilian Grand Prix. Yes, indeed, Raikkonen's chances are pretty slim. Everything could have been finished right in Shanghai if not Lewis Hamilton's mistake, which dropped the British driver out of the race.Raikkonen has only arithmetic chance of winning the title. He needs to win the Brazilian Grand Prix and at the same time the McLaren drivers must fail to finish among the leaders. If we take into consideration statistical probability of McLaren failing at the race, then situation is totally hopeless for Raikkonen. But, miracles Read more:Awards
, Title
Should McLaren Sue Alonso? 2007-10-19 06:36:00 The ITV-F1.com website published Niki Lauda's interview today. Three-times world champion claims that McLaren should sue Alonso
for the damages that the Spanish driver has caused to the team. According to the Austrian driver, Mercedes is losing sales because of Alonso's recent misbehaviour.I don't think such extreme measures are justified, however it is a fact that there is no healthy atmosphere in the McLaren's headquarters. Blaming either one side (the team) or another (Alonso) won't be correct. Dennis is not an easy man. The same can be said about Alonso. It is a situation when two inherently non-compatible people are in the same team. It is a fact that Dennis is favoring Lewis Hamilton. This has become especially visible after McLaren has been taken away all points in the constructors' battle. Simply, Alonso's "help" is not necessary anymore. Moreover, if Alonso does not get a title, he may do everything to prevent Hamilton from getting the title as well and Ferrari's Kimi
Is The Scandalous Season Over? 2007-10-23 02:14:00 Formula One technical regulations say that fuel temperatures are not allowed to fall more than 10 degrees Celsius below ambient air temperature at any time. Yet, post race inspection at Interlagos, Brazil revealed that the BMW-Sauber and Williams cars had fuel irregularities. However, the stewards decided that the evidence was insufficient and thus Rosberg and Kubica escaped penalties.Technically, McLaren can appeal stewards' decision and the British-German team is expected to do so. Theoretically, the final arrangement of things may elevate McLaren's Lewis Hamilton to the 4th position in the Brazilian Grand Prix thus getting the title.Chances of this happening are very slim. However, we have already witnessed how theoretic chances became reality. Let's wait and see what happens. Read more:Season
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