Alonso Not Surprised By Ferrari extending Raikkonen's contract till 2010

Fernando Alonso says he is not ruling out joining the Ferrari team in the future after the Italian squad confirmed both their drivers for 2010.

The two-time champion had been linked with a Ferrari seat for some time, with Kimi Raikkonen delaying an announcement about his plans after the 2009 season.

But the Finn extended his contract with Ferrari until the 2010 season, closing the door to Alonso at least until 2011.

Alonso said he was not too surprised by Ferrari's announcement.

"No, because there was talk that it would be like that, so in a way I knew that they would renew his contract," Alonso told Cadena Ser radio.

"And once you know it, you have to think of 2009. I was not too worried about 2010. The most important thing is too see what is the best place to be in 2009."

The Spaniard is yet to announce his plans for 2009, with Renault, BMW and Honda hoping to secure his services.

The Renault driver insisted the French squad are his first choice, but he made it clear his future could be at Ferrari if the chance comes up.

"As I always say, Renault is my first option because I know the people and I know things can be done right here, even though this year things haven't gone well," he added. "And if not, we'll see what we can do.

"I'm 27 now and life changes a lot and if I race in Formula One for another eight or ten years I might get the chance again to end up there (at Ferrari)."

The Spanish driver said he has not seen much of Renault's car for 2009, and he admitted he has to be cautious when judging the team's optimism for next season.

"I haven't seen much, because we are focused on the remaining races, but I'm sure it inspires confidence because at this point of the year every team is nearly completely sure that next year they will do well," he said. "They are all very optimistic and it's up to you to believe them or not.

"Normally I believe them, because they've given me a lot of joy and two cars to win titles with, so it's easier to believe them than others."

Alonso is currently in seventh place in the championship and is yet to climb onto the podium in 2008
courtsey-autosport.com

New Technical Rgulations to bring smiles??-F1 2009

happy times ahead?:Force India VJM01 at malaysia,sepang(above)

Next year will see the biggest change in the technical regulations for some time. It’s certainly the greatest since the grooved tyre/narrow track switch in 1998, and perhaps the largest overhaul of the rules since turbo engines were banned after 1988.
In 2009 F1 wing sizes will be reduced, movable front wing flaps allowed, slick tyres will return and engines will be allowed to use Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS). It’s a lot for the teams to get to grips with.
Some of those towards the rear of the field see this as their chance to make a leap forward and have sacrificed efforts on their 2008 programmes to get 2009 right. Which ones stand to make the biggest gains?
Honda are the team that seem to have gambled the most on next year. They’ve brought fewer developments to the 2008 car than their rivals and were the first team to test a working KERS. As a result, there have even been rumours that Fernando Alonso may join the team in 2009 as a stop-gap before his widely-expected switch to Ferrari in 2010 - because he considers Honda a better prospect for next year than Renault.
Force India might be expected to struggle in 2009 as one of F1’s smaller teams. However for the first time in several years it looks set to go into a second consecutive year with the same owner, and that consistency will be hugely welcome.
Team boss Vijay Mallya recently said:
Force India have clearly demonstrated that we have caught up and improved. One realises how tough Formula One really is and it reinforces the challenge that I have before me for 2009 to be really competitive.
I’m not only catching up from last season, but from the last three seasons. And we have caught up, even though F1 has become so competitive, which is good.
I am quite optimistic, however, that my experience so far has pointed us in the right direction. I now know precisely what I’m up against, so I can plan better. Maybe I learned the hard way, but it’s good to learn. So 2009 will be much more competitive for the Force India team.
Williams bought a stake in Automotive Hybrid Power, a company which makes Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems, in April. They also invested a lot of effort in their 2009 programme, but a few weeks ago revealed they were switching some efforts back to their 2008 campaign. Has the team lost its way?
Renault was telling everyone this time last year they would do much better in 2008 - but the R28 has scored fewer points so far than the R27 had at the same point last year. Their problems stem from a lack of engine power as recently admitted by Flavio Briatore, and continued difficulties adapting to the Bridgestone control tyres. The switch from grooved tyres to slicks will at least let them start from a clean sheet of paper in that respect.
Red Bull had a fire when they tried out a KERS, and have pointed out that they project is of little value to them, not being a car manufactuter. Given their lesser degree of resources relative to the like of BMW and Toyota, they may struggle early in 2009. What they intend to do with Toro Rosso isn’t clear.
BMW appeared to refocus their efforts on 2009 after achieving their objective of winning a race in Montreal. Rumours suggest Robert Kubica, who led the title race after Montreal, was not happy with this. They had a high-profile problem with KERS when one of their mechanics was electrocuted. But their Albert 2 supercomputer has allowed them to make excellent progress with aerodynamics and you’d expect them to do a good job of adapting to these new rules in particular.
Toyota have been strong supporters of the move to KERS and have encouraged the FIA to increase the power that can be supplied by the device. They manufacturer the world’s most hyped famous hybrid road car, the Prius. Toyota has made great progress in 2008 after a poor 2006 and 2007. But have they diverted enough of their resource to the 2009 aero programme?
Ferrari and McLaren will be pushing their 2008 programmes as hard as possible in an effort to win the championships. Their rivals will be hoping it compromises their ability to prepare for 2009, but Ferrari have said they are already manufacturing parts for next year.
McLaren’s rate of progress with its 2008 car seems to have outstripped even Ferrari’s, and the popular theory is the full resources of its expensive Technology Centre are now bearing fruit.
These two teams have been at the sharp end of F1 for decades and they’ve seen huge changes in the rules before. Are they going to be caught out by this one? I wouldn’t bet on it, but I’d look to the likes of Honda to make big steps forward next year.

View the 2009 FIA Sporting Regulations here

View the 2009 FIA Technical Regulations here

Alonso set for Honda drive in 2009???

News-

The former double world champion suffered a disappointing year after moving to McLaren in 2007 while he has failed to reignite the glory days with a relatively uncompetitive Renault this season.

However Honda have not matched France-based Renault in 2008 and speculation still reigns that the 27-year-old driver will switch to ferrari, perhaps in 2010 when Scuderia world champion Kimi Raikkonen retires.

That raises the possibility of a one-year deal between the Spaniard and Japanese-owned Honda.

The Guardian said veteran racer Rubens Barichello would be the one to make way for Alonso in 2009.

"Fernando is a wonderful driver who would be a fantastic asset to any of the top teams, including this one," said Honda chief executive Nick Fry.

"The job [team principal] Ross [Brawn] and I have is to build a world championship-winning team."

My Take-

Well looking at the present situation.....staying at Renault would be better(he has no where to go...Mclaren-no seat,Ferrari-no seat,BMW-no seat[i think]....).....but again HONDA is not a bad idea....rather i would say a brilliant idea....Jenson Button would become an brilliant and competitive team mate and Honda has the resources but their efforts are not gettin in the proper direction...Alonso's entry could make things change...for good......my intuition says ....Honda+Alonso would be brilliant...as Renault team is really very stingy(if not team at least the CEO of Renault Auto. Carlos Goshn...who isn't much keen on investing in f-1) hence they have been running in a bad form ...mainly due to lack of proper development due to limited funds.....Even in 2005 Renault may not have won the championship but thanks to the underperforming Ferrari and the quick but unreliable Mclaren-Mercedes!!!

Why the fuel nozzel had fire on it at Hungary???

The 2008 Hungarian GP at Hungaroring-Budapest was an really hot race with soaring temprature's and which was agreed up on by the drivers,pitcrew,the visitors....and everyone present there...people also agreed that the fire in the pits especially seen during the pitstop of STR of sebastien bourdais,Williams of Kazuki Nakagima to name a few had fire in the fuel nozzle. The reason probably given by the teams were -'The reason for the fire was the volatile nature of the fuel and th high temprature at Hungary. But the inside story is diffrent.
The Inside Story-
The real reason is that as we all know losing position at the Hungarian GP(Hungaroring) is like never getting it back and vice-versa....The teams didnt wanted to lose any position of theirs due to pit-stops and/or wanted to gain a few due to the pit-stops too.
The way of guzzing the fuel into an f-1 car is-

thefuel to be inserted into the fuel tank is set beforehand,consider 5L....but due to the mechanical constraints the fuel comming out of the nozzel is usually a bit more than the set amount...as the fuel comes out really at a high rate of speed its difficult for the fuel delivery system to deliver exact quantity of fuel especially due to its liquid nature.
According to the right way of putting fuel in the car the refueller must not take the nozzel out until the fuel which is comming out is completely out of the guzzler but to save valuabe seconds the teams decided that they would remove the guzzler before all the fuel is put into the car......maybe they have been doing this for quite a few races but their trick backfired due to the high tempratures at Hungary!!