Luca Di Montezemolo:Singapore GP an Humilation to F1!!

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has claimed that the Singapore Grand Prix 'night race' did little for F1's image.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is not a man afraid to hold opposing views to the majority of the Formula One paddock, but felt that he would differ by speaking out against Formula One's visit to Singapore.

However, having seen one of his championship contenders finish 13th on the road and the other end his night in the barriers having been set for minor points, new FOTA chairman di Montezemolo branded the event 'humiliating for Formula One' - in contrast to the majority who felt that it had been a breath of fresh air and a unique experience - and slammed both the Marina Bay street circuit and the use of the safety car, which appeared twice during the 61-lap night race.

"When you race on a track that would work better as a circus ring or something along those lines, anything can happen, because the real show was put on yesterday by the safety car," he fumed in an interview with Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport, "This is humiliating for the F1 world and, during the next few weeks, I would like discuss this with all the other teams."

Ferrari's biggest rival, McLaren, has also claimed that the timing of the first safety car, called when Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on lap 14, had a decisive effect on the outcome of the race, but accepted that 'the lottery' had a habit of evening itself out over the course of the season. While Lewis Hamilton came through to finish third in the race - behind Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg, who both benefited from the pace car period - Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who had been leading until that point, saw his chances of victory disappear in yet another botched pit-stop from the Scuderia.

Despite watching a near repeat of the incident that saw one of the team's refuelling crew injured in Valencia, di Montezemolo reserved his vitriol for the circuit and not for the maligned automated pit release system.

"We have fantastic mechanics who can also make mistakes and, of course, whoever made the mistake won't be anyone's favourite person these days," he said, "But, in any case we need to support him and all the others because, in other situations, there were other people who tipped the scales. We are the reigning world champions and we can still win again this year. Who knows if we won't make it with these outstanding people. You will see how there will be a big comeback already in the next race."

di Montezemolo's confidence will require both Massa and Raikkonen to be on top of their game at the same time, something that has rarely been the case in 2008. And, with the Finn now 27 points adrift of championship leader Hamilton, more than a little teamwork will be needed too as the Briton can afford to finish one place behind Massa in the remaining three races and still take the title.

"I hope Massa and Raikkonen pull a 1-2 in the remaining three races and, in any case, that they finish ahead of McLaren," he insisted, "The car is the best one around, Massa is the best and I hope Raikkonen can show his world champion class in the last few races. It was clear throughout the weekend that our car was the best one and, when the car was working well, Massa made a fantastic qualifying lap, proving his form is the best amongst all the drivers in the championship.

And with regard to Raikkonen now having to play second fiddle to the Brazilian?

"That's obvious," the president claimed, "We have gone through very rough times, but all drivers know they must race for their team. Then, we'll see what happens at the end."

yahoo.com

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

2008 Italian Gp-Monza -Qualifying session Results

Sebastian Vettel the toro rosso driver took an brilliant pole position in the italian gp-Monza,both the toro rosso were sensational in the rain through out the session and one of the fastest drivers on the grid,Vettel put up an brilliant show of his rain driving skill's in the Q3(3rd qualifying session) and his toro rosso wasn't far behind in supporting him...working flawlessly in the rain.Heikkii Kovalaienen was another great performer during the session...ending the first session (Q1) topping the timing sheets and finally concluding the session by finishing on P2,Mark webber struggled in the first qualifying session but did an awesome job finshing the Q3 session on 3rd position,reiging world champion Kimi Raikkonen and championship contender Lewis Hamilton would like to forget the qualifying session as an bad dream as they werent able to finish any of the 3 sessions on an high note and even after trying multiple times Lewis could only do best as 1.39.265 during the Q2 which caused him to be relegated out of the Q3 session also Kimi Raikkonen had similar fate and ended up one position ahead of hamilton,Massa too couldnt do anything great but however just saved himself from being relegated for Q3 when he finally clocked 1.36.676 but finally was able to lift his performance and finshed the Q3 at 6th position.

The Qualifying session looked really great for the mid fielders but was an nigtmare for the frontenders or the top teams like Ferrari,McLaren and BMW.

1	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:35.464	1:35.837	1:37.555	28
2	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.214	1:35.843	1:37.631	24
3	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:36.001	1:36.306	1:38.117	23
4	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:35.543	1:36.175	1:38.445	28
5	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:35.485	1:35.898	1:38.767	28
6	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:35.536	1:36.676	1:38.894	29
7	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:35.906	1:36.008	1:39.152	26
8	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:36.297	1:36.518	1:39.751	28
9	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:35.737	1:36.525	1:39.787	28
10	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:35.709	1:36.626	1:39.906	26
11	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:35.553	1:36.697		21
12	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:36.280	1:36.698		19
13	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:36.485	1:37.284		21
14	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:35.965	1:37.522		21
15	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.394	1:39.265		19
16	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:36.510			12
17	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:36.630			13
18	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:36.653			13
19	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:37.006			13
20	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:37.417			12

Kimi Raikkonen Renews His Ferrari contract: Will Race With Ferrari till 2010 end

Ferrari have extended world champion Kimi Raikkonen's contract to the end of the 2010 season, ending speculation about the Finn's future at the team.

Raikkonen's deal had been due to end at the end of 2009, and there had been reports that Fernando Alonso was set to replace him either then or next year.

But Ferrari said in a statement on Friday that their line-up would remain unchanged for the next two seasons.

Raikkonen's team-mate Felipe Massa also has a contract until 2010.

Raikkonen has produced a string of unconvincing performances this season, when he has often looked a shadow of the man who made a spectacular late charge to win his first drivers' title last season.

The 28-year-old, who is the highest-paid driver in F1, has often been overshadowed by Massa this season and lies third in the championship, 17 points behind the Brazilian and 19 behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, heading into Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen has so far indicated his reluctance to help Massa's title bid while he still has a mathematical chance of winning the championship himself.

It remains to be seen whether his new deal will have any effect on that approach.

So lacklustre have some of his performances been that there had even been claims that he might leave the team at the end of this season, freeing up a space for Alonso.

The Spanish double world champion is known to be a favourite of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and is keen to drive for Ferrari in the future.

Alonso has an option to get out of his two-year Renault contract at the end of this season if he wishes and is being courted by the struggling Honda team, as well as BMW Sauber.

He remains the key to this season's driver market, but his options for the future have narrowed considerably now he knows that there will likely be no seat at Ferrari available until at least 2011.

Can Kimi Still win the Championship??-Mathematically YES!!

Yes still can win the championship if- (kimi wins each and every race remaining in the calendar) hamilton finishes 3rd in each and every race from now
or he finishes 2nd in 3 races and finshes 5th and 8th in the other two...!
or he finishes 1st in 3 races and retires in the other two or finishes 9th..or less..;-)

and please dont forget massa......maybe in the battle of two cats an monkey may steal the bread..!!!!....like what happened at SPA!!!!

why Hamilton's +25 sec penalty issued by race stewats Fair-Though it seems Unfair?

On Sunday 7th september Lewis Hamilton who had unofficially won the Belgian GP at SPA Francorchamps was issued an 25seconds penalty which caused him being stripped off his 10 championship points and an race win to his name.

Though the decision of stewards seemed quite unfair,especially from the point of view of hamilton fans,still legally the descision is quite fair,According to the rules-'A driver may not cut an corner until and unless the driver has an fair advantage as compared to the driver he overtook or he has already passed',but in the case of Lewis hamilton,Kimi overtook him and (lewis)had no advantage and rather he took advantage by cutting the bus stop chicane.

Hence the Stewards issued an 25sec penalty which means 25sec were added to Lewis Hamilton's race finish time hence causeing him to be third .The 25sec penalty ws given as an substitute to drive through penalty,as the incident was investigated after the race,an drive through penalty couldnt be passed.This year itself Hmilton was penalised with an drive through penalty for cutting the corner 1 at Magny-cours-France during the French GP.

2008 Belgian gp-SPA Francorchamps-Race results

1	22	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	44	Winner	1	10
2	2	nick Heidfeld	Ferrari	44	+14.4 secs	2	8
3	3	Lewis Hamilton	Mclaren Mercedes	44	+25.8 secs	5	6(penalised +25sec)
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	44	+28.9 secs	6	5
5	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	44	+29.0 secs	10	4
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	44	+29.4 secs	8	3
7	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	44	+31.1 secs	9	2
8	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	44	+56.5 secs	13	1
9	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	44	+57.2 secs	7
10	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	43	+1 Lap	3
11	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	43	+1 Lap	14
12	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	43	+1 Lap	15
13	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	43	+1 Lap	18
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	43	+1 Lap	19
15	16	Jenson Button	Honda	43	+1 Lap	17
16	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	43	+1 Lap	11
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	43	+1 Lap	20
18	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	42	+2 Laps	4
Ret	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	19	+25 Laps	16
Ret	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	13	+31 Laps	12

To sponsor the race results
contact me- utkarshkks@msn.com

Telefonica European GP-Valencia,Spain-Race Review

Last Sunday we had the European GP again(which have been in the f-1 calendar since Schumacher was an rookie and kimi,alonso were school going boys),but it was not on the historic Nurburgring but on an newly opened circuit named 'Valencia Street circuit' situated somewhere in Spain.

Well talking about firstly the circuit which is created in the midst of the city using obviously the city road(or streets!!) and designed by Herman Tike(of istanbul,sakhir,shanghai fame),Though the circuit is quite wide but its an very difficult circuit and where overtaking is next to impossible,the only way being slipstreaming and slingshot,but thanks to the aerodynamics the 2008 f-1 cars use the car slipstreaming the one at front may more difficulty in overtaking than gettting any help.

Lap1-The race started off quite well and brilliant start by massa who promptly kept his well earned pole and converted it into lead as the five red lights went off,though his team mate Kimi Raikkonen had not so good start with the Mclaren of Heikki Kovalaienen over taking himin the start itself,after which kimi just couldnt find a way past Heikki,the first corner saw couple of spins as the train of cars entered it as the race begun with David Coulthard with Rubens Barichello spinning out of the track...but sustaining no damage to the car.Kazuki Nakajima spoiled not only his but alos fernando alonso's race when he shunted the renault 's back causing the rear wing of renault to give away and also causing rear right suspension damage in the renault and prematurly ending the spaniard's race,Nakajima's Williams though only sustained an front wing damage and he joined back after changing the nose of the car.

lap 2-37-
The rest of the race saw no major changes and everything was going in the same flow,except Sebastien Bourdais breaking a part of his front wing with the help of BMW's Nick Heidfeld

Massa came into the pits in lap 37 and so did adrian sutil,its not that sutil was fighting for the lead that am mentioning him but because he was the reason for Massa becoming $10000 poorer at the end of the weekend,the reason is in lap 37 after Sutil had his stop he was crawling down the pit lane but as he came near the ferrari pit garage suddenly an scarlet car emergedand it was none other than massa's f2008 which came wheel to wheel with him,adrian being at no fault didnt back off(as expected by massa and massa had to back off to prevent his Ferrari from banging wheels with Sutil's Force india or the Pit wall!!!,

lap 38-Chequered Flag

Lap 42 saw Adrian Sutil kissing the left side tyre wall at turn 2 in his force india and hence breaking the front wing of his VJM01 in the due process.Lap 45/46 saw kimi raikkonen's pit stop which caused an pit crew member(refueller) beimg hit by the rear wing of the Ferrari and the crew member being stretchered off to the hospital,In lap 48 later Kimi's Ferrari F2008's engine blew up while on the start finish straight,the Final Lap saw Massa Winning the Race Hamilton being 5sec(approx) behind and BMW sauber's Robert Kubica scoring his first podium after Canada by finishing 3rd.

Why/How does the wheel cover on f1 cars dont spin??

,wheels,

So you guys been wondering why doesnt the wheel caps in those ferraris,BMW's and Mclaren's donot spin,i too was wondering for sometime,but then you know i dont like to wonder for a long time....and you too don like either so i wrote this post

The above image shows the total description of the stud or the bolt(slang) which keeps the axel and the wheel of an formula 1 car together,the part marked with yellow colour marker is the whole set which keeps the wheel attached with the axel,its also the same thing which is screwed out by the 'power spanner' used in the pits by the mechanics while changing tyres.

According to technical regulations in F-1 there must be no moving Aerodynamic parts in the car,keeping up with the regulations the wheel covers are attached to the 'Stud',since the stud doesnt rotate anything attached to it may too not rotate,hence the wheel cover/cap attached to stud is never found to be roating!!

Stud is not only found in f-1 cars but is almost in every road vehicle,but the difference is that in road vehicles the stud doest keep the wheel attached to the axel but there are (usually) 4-bolts which attach it,below is an image showing the stud in an normal road car and in f-1 cars-
Please Post an Comment,if you found this information true and/or useful and/or if you may have any querie about this post u can ask it as an comment.'POST AN COMMENT'

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!!!

Hugarian GP

click to enlarge image

The first Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungarian: Magyar Nagydíj) was held on June 21, 1936 over a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) track laid out in Népliget^[1], a park in Budapest. The Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union, and Ferrari teams all sent three cars and the event drew a very large crowd. However, politics and the ensuing war meant the end of Grand Prix motor racing in the country for fifty years.

A major coup by Bernie Ecclestone, the 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix was the first Formula One race to take place behind the Iron Curtain. Held at the twisty Hungaroring near Budapest, the race has been a mainstay of the racing calendar. Run in the heat of a central European summer, it also holds the distinction of being the only current Grand Prix venue that had never seen a wet race up until the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. The first Grand Prix saw 200,000 people^[1] spectating, although tickets were expensive at the time. Today, the support is still very enthusiastic, particularly from Finns.^[2].

Due to the nature of the track, narrow, twisty and often dusty because of under-use, the Hungarian Grand Prix is associated with processional races, with sometimes many cars following one another, unable to pass. Thierry Boutsen demonstrated this perfectly in 1990, keeping his slower Williams car in front of champion-elect Ayrton Senna, unable to find a way by. The secret to a winning performance at Hungaroring, as well as qualifying well, is pit strategy, best demonstrated in 1998, where Michael Schumacher's Ferrari team changed his strategy mid-race before Schumacher put in one of his finest drives to build up a winning margin after all the stops had been made. Passing is a rarity here, although the 1989 race saw a famously bullish performance from Nigel Mansell in the Ferrari, who started from 12th on the grid and passed car after car, finally taking the lead in splendid opportunist style when Ayrton Senna was baulked by a slower runner. The circuit was modified slightly in 2003 in an attempt to allow more passing.

Other notable occasions in Budapest include first Grand Prix wins for Damon Hill in 1993, Fernando Alonso (in 2003), the first Grand Prix winner from Spain, who also became the youngest ever driver to win a GP and Jenson Button in an incident-packed race in 2006. Also noteworthy is Damon Hill's stunning near win in the unfancied Arrows-Yamaha in 1997, when his car lost drive on the last lap causing him to coast in second place.

In 2001, Michael Schumacher equalled Alain Prost's then record 51 Grand Prix wins at the Hungaroring, in the drive which also secured his 4th World Title.

The 2006 Grand Prix was the first to be held here in wet conditions. It also saw Mansell's seventeen-year-old record of winning from 12th broken, as Button took his victory from 14th place on the grid.

Santander....joins ferrari will Hamilton and/or alonso follow suit????

Santander is poised to join Ferrari as their sponsor after the contract with McLaren expires at the end of this year,actually i wont have been discussing this on my blog...but the twist is Santander also has(or rather always had) an sponsorship deal with Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.Santander Joined hands with McLaren in a bid to make the best of their sponsored driver Fernando Alonso's stay at McLaren...but things went against them when alonso having a bad time with McLaren quit McLaren to join ING Renault...which is sponsored by ING an Dutch bank...which is an possible Rival of Santander an Spanish bank.

Now Santander as is Joining Ferrari in 2009 it wants it sponsored drivers(Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton) to join Ferrari too.Santander is reported to be paying both the drivers Alonso and Hamilton an extrobidant amount and both wont be really happy to lose the sponsor(Santander).
But the Fact is Ferrari doesn't have an vacant seat for any driver(test driver seats...may be...lol fernando alonso and Lewis hamilton leaving Mclaren and Renault repectively...to join ferrari as test drivers...what a funny line it is!!! ;-) LOLz).Kimi Raikkonen has an contract till the end of 2009 and Felipe Massa having his contract lasting till the end of 2010,if lewis(doubtful) or Fernando(he's despirate) wan to join ferrari(in 2009) than maybe Ferrari would have to terminate the contract with Kimi or Massa....and i don't find a reason why massa would want to leave ferrari(that to terminating contract mid way) as no team(not even Force India would be intrested in him...you could ask them....ya if Sutil quits..but replacement with fisi or sutil...Mr.Mallya or Gascoyne no one would be as much keen...aah leave it..!!!) and after this bad show at particular circuits and a lot of show of immature driving...Massa would have surely lost his seat this year but thanks to the big trust of Ferrari on him(that was once there) they had signed a contract with him till 2010....
So Fernando may get to race with ferrari not before the start of 2010 season...that to if Kimi(who was rumoured to be retiring from f-1 at the end of this season) intends to quit...as ferrari wont be happy throwing out Kimi and replacing him with Alonso....

Felipe Massa;Anthony Hamilton having a talk with Stefano Domencali

Talking about Lewis Hamilton joining ferrari...as recently many had reported that his dad cum manager Mr.Anthony Hamilton was seen talking to ferrari official Stefano Domenicali...and it could well be possible that they were talking about Lewis's switching to ferrari in near future may be after Kimi quits...it could again be nothing less than impossible cause Hamilton firstly has an 5yr contract with McLaren which ends in year 2011(starting in 2007)and again the boy who was supported by Ron Dennis and has some really big favours from him wont be most probably leaving McLaren....but still you cannot predict anything unless we are ferrari or Mclaren officials!!...
But the conclusion is that Alonso will be joining Ferrari for sure at least by 2010(but considering that Renault doesnt deliver an championship winning car in 2009 and Kimi quits F-1) and Hamilton surely not till 2012 so...the only one that's joining Ferrari at present is 'Santander'...!!!!

Article sponsored by guideformoney.blogspot.com

Ferrari's wrong sixth sense

(above)Ferrari f2004

Here's the ferrari gamble...ferrari boss luca montzemolon got so emotionally attached with the ferrari f2004 that he went on to describe it to every one he met including the press that it was the best car to roll out of maranello ever...now till that its ok..and could be true...as they had won something of 17-18 or some high amount of races that season....ok.....now what they did is that they took the same f2004(with minor modifications) and raced it in 2005 season...now that f2004 showed that its now old grandpa and he was promised a holiday in ferrari museum after the end of 2004 season(it had worked so hard that season) but ferrari broke the promise and u see what happened...after that ferrari quickly (i think at san marino) introduced the f2005 and things got a bit(i mean it) a bit better but not as much....and hence the season was spoilt....

ferraris this unwanted risk taking habit had recently caused raikkonen a possible podium..or maybe even a win at silverstone...(u knw kimi and hami left pits together) if they may have put wet weather tyres on kimis car instead of leaving the intermidiates on....