uyo bryant

Nothing to lose for Massa

2008-10-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

The Ferrari team head to Interlagos this weekend with one hand already on the constructors' championship. The defending champions enjoy an 11 point advantage over rivals McLaren Mercedes, but all eyes will be on Felipe Massa as he looks to overcome a seven point deficit in the drivers' championship.

Massa remains upbeat ahead of the finale and is vowing just to go for the win and then see where Lewis Hamilton finishes - acknowledgement that his title hopes are pretty much out of his hands. For Kimi Raikkonen, his task is o help team-mate Massa where he can and try and secure the title for his team.

Felipe Massa
"Over the past few years, I've got used to the idea of preparing for the final race of the season at home here in Sao Paolo and I'm making the most of it, as next year there will still be one more grand prix to go after the round at Interlagos."

"As for the final race, yes it's true I have a tougher job than Lewis in terms of the points situation, but my own objective for the weekend is much more straightforward than his. I only have to focus on winning the race on Sunday afternoon, hopefully with my team-mate second behind me. The only thing I am thinking about is winning. After that, the matter is not in my hands and we will have to wait and see exactly what and how much we have

won.

"

"It is impossible to predict what will happen in the Brazilian Grand Prix, but I think our car has always been very good at this circuit, even if I cannot explain exactly why. We have always gone well here and I expect that to be the case at the weekend, whatever the conditions, in the dry or in the rain and in qualifying and in the race. For sure, Lewis will try and put pressure on me, but I have zero pressure, because I have nothing to lose. I have my people behind me and all the pressure will be on him, especially when you think about what happened at this race last year. I can't wait for the final Sunday of the season."

Kimi Raikkonen
"I want to fight for victory in Brazil and celebrate a good result with the team: this would give me a good feeling for the winter and the upcoming season. There are not so many positive things for me I achieved over the last season. We have to analyse every single detail of what happened and try to learn from our mistakes to improve everything for next year. But now we have to give it all at the last race of the 2008 season."

FIA respond to the Ferrari threat

2008-10-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

It really does seem that communications between FOTA and the FIA are not at their best for the time being with both sides seemingly willing to publish responses to each other in the media. This of course is good news for hard-core race fans, as we do get to see what is going on at the highest levels within the sport.

Yesterday evening the Ferrari stated that the board of directors ‘expressed strong concerns regarding plans to standardise engines as it felt that such a move would detract from the entire raison of a sport with which Ferrari has been involved continuously since 1950, a raison d’etre based principally on competition and technological development. The Board of Directors expressed the opinion that should these key elements be diminished, it would have to re-evaluate, with its partners the viability of continuing its presence in the sport.’

In other words, if the FIA decide the sport must have a sole engine supplier, Ferrari would no longer compete in the series, probably along with many others.

This afternoon the FIA put out a press release claiming that the Italian carmaker had not seen the big picture and that the governing body was not all about forcing unwanted off-the-peg kit on the teams, but that is one of the options should there not be progress on cutting costs within the sport.

"It seems the Ferrari Board were misinformed," the statement began.

"The FIA has offered
the teams three options, one of which is the so-called standard engine, and another that the manufacturers should jointly guarantee to supply power trains to the independent teams for less than €5m per season."

Ferrari announced increased revenues and profit yesterday in the same statement, something the FIA was keen to pick upon to ram home their view that costs are currently too high and cannot be sustained.

"The FIA is delighted by Ferrari's financial success and hopes this will be maintained," it continued. "However a number of teams find themselves facing costs which greatly exceed income. This is not sustainable. It is now for the manufacturers to agree one of the three FIA options or themselves produce concrete proposals to reduce costs to a sustainable level. If neither happens, the FIA will take whatever measures prove necessary to preserve a credible world championship for both drivers and constructors."

The ball is now back with FOTA as the FIA claim they have laid out the options and it is up to the teams to essentially decide the regulatory framework the sport must adhere to from 2010.

David Coulthard - the men that shaped the man

2008-10-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Of all the drivers not to have won the world championship, Red Bull’s David Coulthard has scored the most points - a total of 535 to date. And although this bittersweet statistic is not what Coulthard hoped for when he embarked on his Formula One career 15 years ago, perhaps the Scot can draw some solace from it as he retires from F1 competition this weekend.

One of the sport’s true journeymen, Coulthard has made connections with some of its biggest hitters over the years. As the 37 year-old bids farewell, we take a look back at the relationships that have shaped his Formula One career…

Frank Williams
Coulthard recently revealed that ‘he owes his Formula One career’ to the Williams team principal, and it’s no exaggeration. Back in 1993, Coulthard was steadily making a name for himself in Formula 3000, and although he had enjoyed a brief test with Benetton, a long-term Formula One opportunity had been hard to pin down. But then Williams decided to take a punt on the young Scot, offering him regular testing slots with his team. In fact, he was so impressed with Coulthard’s pace and maturity that he went on to name him as the squad’s official test driver for the 1994 season. It was the big break Coulthard had been waiting for.

Ayrton Senna
In ‘94 Coulthard duly took up his first permanent Formula One role, clocking up mileage and honing his skills alongside Williams’ star line-up of Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill. It would have been a first-rate apprenticeship, but Senna’s tragic death saw Coulthard abruptly promoted to the team’s frontline. Despite the difficult circumstances, he rose to the challenge admirably and would have finished on the podium on his Grand Prix debut but for a technical problem on his FW16. Williams, however, were cautious of allowing a rookie to take over full-time and decided to split the seat between Coulthard and former champion Nigel Mansell, who was tempted out of retirement. It was the Scot, however, who finished the season with the greater points tally and who was retained on a permanent basis. He would go on to reward Williams’ faith with a maiden race win at the 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix and third place in that year’s championship.

Mika Hakkinen
In 1996, Coulthard joined McLaren to compete alongside Mika Hakkinen, who was already well established with the team. Their partnership would ultimately last seven seasons, making it one of the most enduring - and successful - in Formula One history, even though the Finn proved to be more of a nemesis than a friend to the Scot. After a trying first season, Coulthard seemed to be gaining the upper hand in 1997, with two wins and a nine-point advantage over his team mate. All that changed, however, when he effectively gifted Hakkinen his first two wins after obeying team orders and a pre-race agreement. It established Coulthard’s reputation as a man of honour, but also started Hakkinen on a winning habit that would lead to two drivers’ titles and de facto number-one status at McLaren. Without Hakkinen, could Coulthard have won the championship? Possibly. With him, the Scot was hamstrung not just by the Finn’s strengths as a driver, but also by his close relationship with team principal Ron Dennis. It was only in 2001, when Hakkinen’s enthusiasm had started to fade, that Coulthard was able to get a real handle on the team and finish runner-up in the championship to Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher.

Ron Dennis
From Colin Chapman and Jim Clark to Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher, Formula One racing has seen some pretty firm friendships established between team bosses and their drivers. Hakkinen and Dennis were one such pairing, and Coulthard arguably lost the most from their camaraderie. Despite picking up the team’s first win in four years at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, the Scot found it difficult to supplant the ‘flying Finn’ in Dennis’s affections during his time at McLaren. Nevertheless, Coulthard proved himself to be a consummate team player, testing hard and wowing on track whenever the opportunity presented itself. And when Coulthard left the team in 2004, Dennis thanked him for doing a ‘tremendous job’.

Kimi Raikkonen
With the departure of Hakkinen at the end of 2001, Coulthard had his first opportunity in seven years to step into the limelight. However, he had not counted on Hakkinen’s replacement - a newer, younger flying Finn named Kimi Raikkonen. Initially Coulthard was the unspoken number one, but Raikkonen was not a driver to stand on ceremony and quickly sized up his older team mate, outclassing him in qualifying and scoring four podium finishes in his first season with McLaren. Coulthard still doubled the youngster’s points tally, but nobody expected the same to happen a year later. Sure enough, in 2003 Raikkonen beat Coulthard’s score by 40 points to thoroughly supplant his team mate. Coulthard was on the losing end the following year too. Over just three seasons, Raikkonen had effectively sealed the end of Coulthard’s almost decade-long relationship with McLaren, who drafted in Juan Pablo Montoya as his replacement for 2005.

Dietrich Mateschitz
Montoya’s arrival left Coulthard without a drive for 2005. Although offered a testing role at Ferrari, he wanted to keep racing - and thanks to Red Bull billionaire Mateschitz, he could. Swapping from the monolithic McLaren to a set-up still in its infancy was a brave move for Coulthard, but also a leap of faith for the team itself. True, Coulthard had heaps of experience, but many thought he was past his prime. Those fears, however, were soon pushed aside. The Red Bull-emblazoned Coulthard was a different person. With his career gifted a new lease of life, he felt valued. As a result, the once world-weary Scot visibly relaxed amidst the razzamatazz of the paddock’s self-proclaimed ‘party team’ and has gone on to clinch two of their three podiums to date. At times, neither party has been completely satisfied with the other’s progress, but the fact Coulthard will stay on after his retirement as a technical consultant shows just how embedded he has become within the Red Bull family.

Adrian Newey
One of Coulthard’s closest and most enduring relationships in the paddock has been with legendary design guru Adrian Newey. Not only did Newey design his current car, the RB4, the British engineer also penned every car in which Coulthard scored his 13 Grand Prix wins. From Williams to McLaren and finally to Red Bull, Newey has been an almost constant presence throughout Coulthard’s career. As the Scot himself so succinctly put it: “There have been three teams but only one designer, so he deserves special thanks for all the champagne that I have sprayed.”

Karen Minier

Fifteen years in Formula One racing may have failed to bring Coulthard a championship, but he can claim to have found the woman of his dreams through the sport. Once portrayed as something of a playboy by the media - an image Coulthard actually did very little to encourage - he has now happily settled down with Belgian Karen Minier, a former Formula One correspondent, who is expecting their first baby later this year. A bright future awaits…

2008-09-18T04:22:00.001-07:00

orking at home

Mugello - Ferrari - Test Day 1

Zoom
Badoer handled the F2008 today

While every other F1 team is at the Jerez circuit in Spain, with the exception of Force India which will not be conducting on-track tests this week, Ferrari is moving ahead with its own programme at Mugello.

This morning, the final test session prior to the end of the 2008 season got underway; test driver Luca Badoer gave the F2008 its debut at the Tuscan circuit.

The day's programme included the development of some aerodynamic solutions aimed at the final four races of the season, along with some work on car set-up.

Badoer covered a total of 66 laps, the quickest in a time of 1:21.010.

Testing at this circuit continues tomorrow when Kimi Raikkonen takes over at the track.

At the same time, at Fiorano, Felipe Massa will carry out the shakedown of the cars that will be used in the Singapore Grand Prix scheduled for 28th September.

D.B. © CAPSIS International

FORMULA 1

2008-09-18T04:22:00.000-07:00

05 - 07 September 2008

2008 FORMULA 1 ING BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

22 - 24 August 2008

2008 FORMULA 1 TELEFONICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE

01 - 03 August 2008

FORMULA 1 ING MAGYAR NAGYDIJ 2008

18 - 20 July 2008

FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2008

04 - 06 July 2008

2008 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX

20 - 22 June 2008

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2008

06 - 08 June 2008

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2008

22 - 25 May 2008

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2008

09 - 11 May 2008

2008 FORMULA 1 PETROL OFISI TURKISH GRAND PRIX

25 - 27 April 2008

FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA 2008

04 - 06 April 2008

2008 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

21 - 23 March 2008

2008 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX

14 - 16 March 2008

2008 FORMULA 1 ING AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

uyobryant

2008-09-17T22:58:00.002-07:00

McLaren

2008-09-17T22:58:00.001-07:00

Bring on the rain, says McLaren

McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh reckons his team's speed in wet weather conditions could prove to be the key factor in this year's title battle.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa is now just one point behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, but while the Ferrari has struggled to generate tyre temperature in the rain - leaving drivers Massa and Kimi Raikkonen floundering - Hamilton took crushing wet weather wins in Monaco and Britain, and showed outstanding pace in the rain-hit Spa and Monza races.

With nothing to choose between McLaren and Ferrari in the dry, but with rain a strong possibility at all the four remaining grands prix, Whitmarsh is counting on more stunning wet weather performances from Hamilton.

"Last year, we felt the performance differential to our chief rivals was decidedly more marked - there were some circuits where we were clearly ahead, and others where we lacked race-winning pace," he said.

"Given that this year has shown both Ferrari and ourselves to be remarkably evenly-matched, the performance of MP4-23 in unusual weather conditions could prove decisive.

"Looking ahead, while Singapore is something of an unknown quantity, I think we’ve all experienced wet races in Japan, China and Brazil so we feel well prepared.

"And allied to Lewis’s fearsome abilities in the rain, we have every reason to feel confident that we’ll be ready to capitalise on any untoward conditions."

The only wet weather blip for Hamilton so far this year came in Monza qualifying, where a gamble on intermediate tyres left him 15th on the grid.

He still had a shot at victory after charging through the field in the race, until a change in the weather forced an additional stop for tyres and relegated him to seventh.

"I have no problems with it raining again, but I'm going to do my best to make sure we're strong in Q3 for all four remaining races if that is the case," said Hamilton.

"I don't want another weekend like last weekend, that's for sure."

Whitmarsh agreed that it was now vital to avoid errors and maximise every opportunity.

"I think this world championship will boil down to whichever team and driver makes the fewest mistakes from now on," he said.

"It’s about preparing the cars with immaculate reliability, running them responsibly and not taking any unnecessary risks."

Hamilton flew through the field in the Monza rain

No more mistakes, vows Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he can't afford any more mistakes in the final sprint for the championship title.

An errant tyre choice in qualifying at Monza last weekend restricted the McLaren driver to 15th on the grid, from where he could only progress to seventh in the race - although had more rain arrived when the team hoped, Hamilton could have pulled off a sensational victory.

With his advantage over title rival Felipe Massa now down to just one point, Lewis said it was vital to have an error-free run in the remaining four races."You've got to be smart in what you're doing," Hamilton told BBC Sport.

"We've got to make sure we collect points and don't make silly mistakes, which is very easy to do, but you've just got to make sure you prepare in the right way."There are some drivers who are having more problems than us.

"I think the reason I'm in the lead is because I've probably had similar results to other people, but perhaps slightly less mistakes."But for sure, I can't afford any more."

Hamilton said he was still keen to race for victories, but admitted that finishing ahead of Massa at each grand prix now had to be the priority.

"Obviously you're out there to beat all your rivals, so I've got to beat him all the time, and now that he's my closest rival - just one point behind me - he's the guy I need to make sure I finish ahead of," he said.

"It's not easy: he's in a very good car and he's a very good driver, but also we have a good car and we have a great team, and I'm also not too shabby...

"I feel confident in my abilities, confident in my package and the team."That doesn't necessarily mean I'm sitting here saying 'we're going to win the world championship', but we're in a good position to do so and I think I'm stronger than ever."

Last year Hamilton went into the final four rounds three points ahead of his then-team-mate Fernando Alonso and 18 clear of eventual champion Kimi Raikkonen, but saw his advantage dwindle away after crashing out in China and suffering a technical problem in Brazil.

But he feels he is much better prepared for a title showdown this season and vowed not to stumble at the final hurdle again."Last year I went into these races, I didn't know the circuits, it was my first time there, I was travelling a long, long way away and had to get myself into shape for the weekend with different kinds of pressure," said Hamilton.

"This time I've experienced it before, it's not going to be a shock to the system."Having already done a season in Formula 1 I think it's prepared me for this year."So for the last four races I feel a lot more comfortable in what I have to do, but it's going to be very tough."

Hamilton is determined not to lose the title at the last gasp again

F1

2008-09-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

Reflective tyre markings for Singapore night race

Formula One tyre suppliers Bridgestone will use special reflective paint to mark their super-soft and extreme-wet compounds at the forthcoming Singapore Grand Prix, the first Formula One race to be staged after dark.

The all-new 5.067-kilometre street circuit will be artificially lit - meaning excellent visibility for the drivers - but Bridgestone have taken the unprecedented step to be sure that fans can still differentiate between tyre compounds as easily as they would in normal daylight...

McLaren defends Kovy's performance

Tuesday, 16 September 2008 17:31

McLaren team CEO Martin Whitmarsh has defended Heikki Kovalainen's Italian Grand Prix performance and insisted the squad was not frustrated that the Finn failed to beat Sebastian Vettel.

As the only one of the regular victory contenders to qualify near the front at Monza, Kovalainen was expected to easily turn his second place on the grid into another win.

But instead pole-sitter Vettel and his humble Toro Rosso pulled away from Kovalainen's McLaren in the opening stint, and the Finn never managed to get back on terms - finishing 12s adrift of the shock underdog victor.

Afterwards Kovalainen said he had struggled with low tyre and brake temperatures and had no answer to Vettel's pace.

Whitmarsh said the Finn had nothing to be ashamed of at Monza."Heikki has no reason to feeldisappointed," he said."The reality is that he didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend and looked blindingly fast in dry, damp and full-wet conditions."Fuel-corrected, he would have been on pole position comfortably.

"He struggled a little with visibility in the early stages of the race and had a few difficulties with his tyres and brake temperatures, but we are not disappointed with his result."

He added that Kovalainen was still settling into the team and Formula 1, having joined McLaren this year after a promising rookie season at Renault in 2007."Let’s not forget that Heikki is fearsomely quick but is still very much developing his approach," said Whitmarsh."We have a clearly defined programme for him in the weeks and months ahead and feel certain that he will only grow stronger."

Kovalainen was disappointed to only finish second at Monza