Injured F1 racer Massa back in Brazil
Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa of the Ferrari team poses for photographers as he arrives at a hospital in Sao Paulo August 3, 2009. Massa suffered a head injury on July 25 at the qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix and spent several days in a coma and on a respirator. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Red Bull and Williams against Schumacher test
Red Bull and Williams are opposed to Ferrari’s request to let Michael Schumacher test in Felipe Massa’s F60 car as the seven-times world champion prepares to return to Formula One in place of the injured Brazilian.
Formula One regulations do not allow track testing during the season, although Schumacher completed 70 laps in a 2007 version Ferrari at Mugello near Florence last Friday and there has been speculation the sport’s bosses may bend the rules given the circumstances.
Red Bull’s team principle Christian Horner said yesterday the 40-year-old Schumacher should not be treated any differently to Spanish teenager Jaime Alguersuari who made his F1 debut for Toro Rosso in Hungary last month despite previously only having driven the car in a straight line speed test.
“Jamie Alguersuari had never sat in a Formula One car before his first race last weekend in Hungry. I am sure that Michael Schumacher who is a seven times world champion and has won 91 races won’t have a problem getting up to speed,” he said.
“Also Michael has driven a two-year-old Ferrari last week in Mugello so I have no doubt that he will be on the pace quickly.”
In a statement, Williams chief Frank Williams said the FIA would be setting a precedent if Schumacher was allowed to test.
“While we welcome Michael Schumacher back to Formula One, the fact is that any form of in-season circuit testing is strictly prohibited; a regulation clearly laid out by the FIA and adhered to by all of the teams,” Williams said.
“It was for this reason that Alguersuari, who drove an F1 car for the very first time in Hungary, did not have the opportunity to familiarise himself with the Toro Rosso before he made his race debut.
“Williams F1 sees no distinction between Alguersuari’s situation and Schumacher’s and feels that any deviation from the rule would create a precedent for the future.”
So far Williams and Red Bull have received little support from the other teams, with McLaren confirming yesterday they would go along with whatever FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) decides.
German Schumacher came out of retirement after Massa’s horrifying accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix last month, which left him with a fractured skull, and is expected to drive for Ferrari at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Aug. 23.
Brawn Faces Ban For Speeding
The head of Formula One’s Brawn GP team could be banned from driving after being accused of breaking the speed limit on a public road.
Police accuse Ross Brawn of driving his Mercedes at 161kph on a road in southwest England where the limit is 113kph.
The 54-year-old Brawn was due to appear in court later yesterday but the case was rescheduled for September 4 because he is overseas ahead of his team’s races in Spain and Belgium.
The Brawn GP team heads this year’s constructors’ championship, with Jenson Button leading the drivers’ standings.
Massa released from Sao Paulo hospital
Brazilian Formula One ace Felipe Massa was released on Tuesday from the Alberto Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo.
Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa of the Ferrari team gives the thumbs up as he arrives at a hospital in Sao Paulo August 3, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
The Ferrari driver arrived in Sao Paulo on Monday after the nine-day stay in the AEK Hospital in Budapest, Hungary following his skull surgery.
Massa had his stitches removed from his left forehead where his eyebrow split open and he received his cranial fractures due to the serious crash he suffered during the time trails at the Grand Prix of Hungary on July 25.
After passing a series of tests carried out over the past 24 hours, Massa was released and free to go home.
Dino Altmann, personal physician of injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, speaks to the media at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, August 4, 2009. Massa suffered a head injury on July 25 at the qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix and spent several days in a coma and on a respirator. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Leaving from an alternative exit from the hospital, Massa eluded the media and fans and went home in Botucatu in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo where he will begin his physical therapy on his road to recovery.
Massa was expected to stay at the Albert Einstein Hospital until Wednesday. However, Massa’s quick recovery earned him the right to finally go home and rest for the first time in 11 days.
Race wins to decide F1 crown
Formula One’s championship will be decided by the number of race wins and not accumulated points.
Governing body FIA decided yesterday that the current points system will remain in effect to determine the driver’s title in the case of a tie, with points also determining the order of the drivers who finish the season behind the overall champion.
Under the new system, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa would have won the 2008 championship instead of Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. The Brazilian driver won six grand prix races to Hamilton’s five.
The 10 F1 teams have been looking to change the points to a 12-9-7 scoring system for first through third place, from its current 10-9-8 allocation. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone had initially preferred a medals tally, but FIA approved Ecclestone’s revised proposal, which will not affect the constructors’ championship.
FIA’s World Motor Sports Council also approved further regulation changes to decrease costs in the face of the worldwide economic crisis.
“All teams will have the option to compete with cars built and operated within a stringent cost cap,” the council said.
A proposed cap of 30 million pounds (US$42 million) would cover expenditures of “any kind” and to give such cars greater technical freedom. That would entail “a more aerodynamically efficient upper body, movable wings and an engine which is not subject to a rev limit or a development freeze.”
Car weights will be published following Saturday’s session and would rename tire grades for better clarity to spectators. Drivers must also be available for further autograph sessions and better media availability.
In-season testing
F1 teams will also be limited to eight one-day aerodynamic tests during the course of the season instead of a total ban on in-season testing, and allowed three one-day “young driver” tests featuring pilots who have not raced more than two GPs in the preceding 24 months.
The council, meeting before the start of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 29, also rubber-stamped Brawn GP’s purchase of Honda while waiving the new entry fee that usually accompanies a new team on the starting grid.
On the track, Renault’s Fernando Alonso ended Brawn GP’s recent Formula One testing dominance in Spain Monday by setting the fastest lap.
Alonso edged Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello by 0.055 seconds with a quickest lap of 1 minute, 18.343 seconds around the Jerez Circuit, where only four teams are performing final tests before the season opener.
Barrichello and teammate Jenson Button had been the fastest over the past three sessions.
Button drove 12 laps and set the third fastest time ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg of Williams.
Formula One driver Webber in hospital after accident
Formula One driver Mark Webber was seriously injured after he collided with a car while riding his bike, Australian police said.
The 32-year-old was competing in his own charity event on the Australian island of Tasmania when he collided head-on with a car, English news agency FA said.
Tasmania police said Webber was airlifted to hospital where he is being treated for a broken leg and other injuries. His condition is believed to be serious but not life-threatening.
The accident happened on a remote road south east of the capital city Hobart at about 12.40pm local time, police said.
Webber was taking part in the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, a 250-kilometre endurance event consisting of mountain bike riding, kayaking and trekking.
Sergeant Jon Ford, of Tasmania Police, said: “At 12.40pm we received reports of a collision between a bicycle and a motor vehicle on the Fortescue Bay Road on the Tasman Peninsula.
“The collision was initially attended by paramedics attached to the event.
“He was airlifted from the scene by helicopter and taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital where he is now being treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries.
“He suffered a broken leg and other injuries and is reported tobe in a stable condition.”
Former employee ends action against McLaren F1 boss
A former air steward apologised to McLaren Formula One boss Ron Dennis at an employment tribunal on Tuesday after withdrawing accusations of racism and homophobia against him.
“I unreservedly apologise to Mr Dennis and all respondents, and to the Southampton Employment Tribunal, for wasting their time with what I now realise were unfounded allegations,” Peter Boland said in a statement to the tribunal.
Dennis had employed Boland on his private plane between 2002 and 2007.
“This case has been hurtful, irritating and unnecessary, in the sense that no impropriety ever took place, which fact Mr Boland now concedes,” Dennis said in a separate statement on the McLaren website (www.mclaren.com).
“Equally, Mr Boland accepts that I have never said or done anything either racist or homophobic.”
Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, Formula One’s first black driver, won the championship with Mercedes-powered McLaren last year.
Dennis and his Saudi business partner Mansour Ojjeh each own 15 percent of McLaren, while Bahrain’s Mumtalakat holding company have a 30 percent stake.
Turkey could lose F1 race after 2011
Turkey could disappear from the Formula One calendar after 2011 due to competition from other potential venues, the head of the Istanbul circuit said on Sunday.
“We are afraid that 2011 may be the last year of the staging of F1 in Istanbul,” Istanbul circuit general director Can Guclu said. “There is serious competition from such countries as South Africa, Russia, Bulgaria and South Korea. If we want the Turkish Grand Prix to stay on the calendar, we need to start working immediately. Or else, we cannot just begin negotiating for the race in the last year of the contract.” South Korea is due to make its debut next year with India pencilled in for 2011.
Massa moves hands after neurosurgery
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa communicated with doctors, moving his hands and feet on request, after Saturday’s cranial surgery, a spokesman for the Hungarian Defense Ministry said on public television (MTV) on Monday.
Massa underwent the surgery on Saturday after suffering a fractured skull when he had been hit by a 700-800 gram spring that flew off another car in a qualifying lap prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix Formula-1 heat. He is at the AEK Hospital in Budapest.
Doctors had repeatedly brought him out of an artificially induced coma for short periods of time, and he responded well, Istvan Bocskai said.
Bocskai added that his doctors were optimistic about his condition although they expected recovery to be lengthy. At this time it appears Massa suffered no brain damage, although it was still a bit early to tell, he said.
Doctors performed an ultrasound scan to ascertain whether there was any excess lymph secretion in his internal organs, Bocskai told, adding that the results were reassuring. Massa will undergo a CT scan later on Monday to see if there has been any change following Sunday’s CT.
“Doctors have seen nothing in CT that gives cause for concern,” Bocskai said, underlining that it was still too early for any definitive conclusions.
He pointed out that AEK was one of the best-equipped hospitals in Europe and that Massa was in the hands of a team of combat-trained military doctors who have extensive experience in trauma injuries. The team of surgeons operating on
Massa gained its expertise treating the “extreme injuries” of personnel wounded during combat missions, he said.
Brazilian Felipe Massa has been a Formula-1 driver since 2002. He finished in second place in 2008.
Massa participates in charity soccer game
Formula One driver Felipe Massa took part in a charity soccer game at the Morumbi stadium in Sao Paulo on Monday.
The event was made up of strictly Brazilian drivers with the goal of raising money for the Support Group for Children and Adolescences with Cancer.
Personally participating in handing out presents for close to 100 children, Massa also took the opportunity to comment on the latest happenings in the F-1 world.
“It was a huge surprise to see that Mercedes bought a majority of Brawn. Brawn is by no means a small team. I am pleased to see that despite some team’s departure from the sport, other big names have returned to the sport,” said Massa.
Massa also commented on the rumors that this year’s F-1 champion, Jenson Button, may be close to signing a deal with team McLaren.
Stating that the team would be a powerhouse with both Hamilton and Button, Massa said that the only thing that he can do is to focus on his race and do his best.
In 2010, Massa will be joined by Fernando Alonso in team Ferrari.
