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.

2008 FORMULA 1 TELEFONICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE

(above)Felipe Massa delighted after winning the European GP,Valencia,Spain

2008 FORMULA 1 TELEFONICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	57	1:35:32.339	1	10
2	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+5.6 secs	2	8
3	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	57	+37.3 secs	3	6
4	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+39.7 secs	5	5
5	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	57	+50.6 secs	7	4
6	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	57	+52.6 secs	6	3
7	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	57	+67.9 secs	13	2
8	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	57	+71.4 secs	9	1
9	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	57	+82.1 secs	8
10	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	57	+89.7 secs	10
11	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	57	+92.7 secs	15
12	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	56	+1 Lap	14
13	16	Jenson Button	Honda	56	+1 Lap	16
14	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	18
15	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	56	+1 Lap	11
16	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	56	+1 Lap	19
17	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	56	+1 Lap	17
Ret	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	45	Engine	4
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	41	Accident	20
Ret	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	0	Accident damage	12

Qualifying Session results-Valencia,European GP

1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:38.176	1:37.859	1:38.989	19
2	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.464	1:37.954	1:39.199	15
3	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:38.347	1:38.050	1:39.392	18
4	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:38.703	1:38.229	1:39.488	21
5	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.656	1:38.120	1:39.937	18
6	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:38.141	1:37.842	1:40.142	19
7	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:37.948	1:37.928	1:40.309	21
8	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:38.738	1:37.859	1:40.631	19
9	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:38.595	1:38.336	1:40.721	18
10	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:38.622	1:38.417	1:40.750	18
11	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:38.667	1:38.428		15
12	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:38.268	1:38.435		12
13	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:38.532	1:38.499		14
14	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:38.559	1:38.515		15
15	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:38.787	1:38.744		15
16	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:38.880			6
17	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:39.235			9
18	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:39.268			10
19	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:39.811			10
20	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:39.943			9

Force India's Seamless shift Gear-box-seems need more mileage

Force India have confirmed they will not race their seamless shift gearbox at the Hungarian Grand Prix, although the team will run it on Friday.

The team tested the new gearbox at Jerez last week, and technical chief Mike Gascoyne said it received positive feedback from the drivers.

Gascoyne feels, however, that the gearbox needs more mileage before it's raced, and the team are aiming to have it ready for the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

"We had a very successful introduction of the seamless shift gearbox at the test last week in Jerez, with very positive comments from the drivers, and obviously we would like to introduce it as soon as possible," said Gascoyne.

"We do however need to accrue more mileage before racing it, but we will run it on the Friday in Hungary. As both gearboxes are three races into their four race cycle, we will use it on the Friday, but we'll race the standard box with the view to introducing the seamless version in Valencia.

"This solution is therefore a chance to gain more mileage without incurring the penalties of changing a box with one race left, and to make sure we are fully prepared for a race introduction after the summer break."

Gascoyne admitted he is hopeful the team can have a stronger outing this weekend in Hungary, following their promising showing at the Monaco Grand Prix.

"We have struggled in qualifying compared to our race pace, and Hungary is a place where overtaking is very difficult so qualifying is even more important than usual," he said.

"But let's not forget that we had a very competitive outing in Monaco, which is very similar in set-up to Hungary with maximum downforce and few overtaking opportunities, so we have to look to do this again; have a good strategy and take advantage whenever we can."