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Hamilton fastest in Malaysia GP practice

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:27:07 +0000

Hamilton fastest in Malaysia GP practice

Mclaren\’s Lewis Hamilton has set the fastest time in opening practice for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix.
Hamilton\’s time of one minute, 34.921 second was the quickest around the Sepang circuit today, just under two-tenths of a second faster than Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.
Their respective teammates, Jenson Button at McLaren and Mercedes\’ Michael Schumacher, were third and fourth fastest respectively.
Renault\’s Robert Kubica was fifth on the timesheets, ahead of Red Bull\’s Mark Webber, Force India\’s Adrian Sutil and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

F1 mirrors set to be moved

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:26:07 +0000

F1 mirrors set to be moved

Mirror placement on Formula One cars is expected to change after this weekend\’s Malaysian Grand Prix, putting the emphasis back on rear vision rather than aerodynamic advantage.
While no announcement was made by F1 authorities, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel and Williams\’ Rubens Barrichello both said yesterday that mirror placement would be changed for the following race in China.
\”As far as I\’m concerned it\’s agreed that we need better visibility, so the change could come as early as the next race,\” Barrichello said.
\”Everyone is having problems with the mirrors and hopefully we are going to get that changed quite soon.\”
Drivers have complained that having mirrors on the sidepods of the cars, to aid aerodynamics, makes them vibrate too much and provides poor rear vision.
The change would move the mirrors back inward, onto the main body of the chassis, adjacent to the cockpit, where they would be less subject to vibration.
Vettel was concerned that the change may cost Red Bull its speed advantage over the rest of the field, with all teams having to make aerodynamic adjustments as a result.
Asked about the general reliability of his car yesterday, Vettel said: \”We are much more concerned that from the next race we\’ll all have to run the mirrors inboard and our car is losing quite some performance due to that.\”

Hamilton hugs Button, makes peace with team

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:59:07 +0000

Hamilton hugs Button, makes peace with team

Lewis Hamilton has mended fences with McLaren a day after castigating his Formula One team for denying him a podium with their \”fricking terrible\” pitstop strategy at the Australian Grand Prix.
\”The team has explained to me its reasoning behind the second pitstop, and I can understand what it was trying to do,\” the 2008 world champion said on his website (www.lewishamilton.com) on Monday.
Hamilton had been chasing Renault\’s Robert Kubica for second place when McLaren told him to come in for a second change of tires.
That dropped him back down the order and he ended up sixth after colliding with Red Bull\’s Australian Mark Webber on the penultimate lap. Kubica finished second behind Hamilton\’s winning teammate Jenson Button.
Hamilton, who had told BBC television after the race he wanted to know who had made the call, said he now accepted McLaren had been trying to protect him from being passed later in the race by Webber and Mercedes\’ Nico Rosberg.
\”We are still learning about this year\’s tires and the degradation and perhaps we over-estimated the wear the frontrunners were expecting to suffer,\” he said.
\”It\’s something you learn from and we\’ll use that knowledge to help us improve throughout this season.\”
Hamilton, whose eventful weekend included being stopped by police for what he called \”over-exuberant\” driving in Melbourne on Friday night, said he was proud of a race that still ranked as one of his best.
\”My race was awesome. I really enjoyed it. I drove one of the hardest races I\’ve ever done,\” said the 25-year-old.
\”I think it was a very clean race – I had some fantastic battles, made some passes and showed good pace. It\’s the sort of race I love.
\”Hopefully, too, it will have looked good on the television. While you\’re never racing purely for the crowds, we really wanted to be able to put on a show for the spectators and the people watching at home on TV. I hope they enjoyed it.\”

Button wins Australian GP

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:53:07 +0000

Button wins Australian GP

McLaren\’s world champion Jenson Button won the Australian Formula One Grand Prix the second straight year on Sunday.
Robert Kubica finished second in a Renault and Felipe Massa was third in a Ferrari. Fernando Alonso was fourth to retain the world championship lead.

Alonso scoffs at boring F1 label

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:02:07 +0000

Alonso scoffs at \’boring\’ F1 label

Fernando Alonso had some advice for viewers turned off by the underwhelming spectacle of Formula One\’s season-opener in Bahrain – \’go watch something else!\’
New rules, including a ban on refuelling, designed to inject excitement into the championship and discourage drivers from playing safe, fell flat at Sakhir, resulting in a procession decided at qualifying.
\”I think we need to be calm, we need to wait some races to see if the new rules have some impact in the show,\” Alonso said.
\”Last year, (in the) first seven races, Jenson (Button) won six or seven. It was boring? Maybe yes, maybe not, this is Formula One.
\”Michael (Schumacher) won five championships consecutively, it was boring? Maybe yes, maybe no, this is Formula One. \”This is about technology, about how precise everything is in terms of driver, mechanics, engineering, everything,\” continued Alonso. \”So people that want extra show, maybe they should reconsider whether they want to watch F1.\”

Button cautious after poor first race

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:01:07 +0000

Button cautious after poor first race

Formula One world champion Jenson Button has set his sights on the successful defense of his title, but remains less certain about his path back to the winner\’s podium after a disappointing season opener.

Despite feeling \”completely at home\” with McLaren and fellow world champion Lewis Hamilton, the British driver said his new team would still be playing catch-up at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

\”I think Red Bulls are very strong, I think the Ferraris are very strong, and then it\’s probably us,\” Button, champion with Brawn GP, now Mercedes, said in Melbourne yesterday. \”But I\’m hoping with the circuit change and a few little updates we\’ll be closer to them and maybe challenging them here.\”

Button started eighth and finished seventh in a frustrating race in the season opener in Bahrain on March 14, reeling in Red Bull\’s Mark Webber but ultimately being shut out by Mercedes\’ seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher who finished sixth.

Teammate and 2008 champion Hamilton finished third behind a Ferrari one-two after Red Bull\’s Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine problem to drop from first to fourth.

\”The first race for us was difficult. I don\’t think the car suited Bahrain too well,\” said Button. \”I think it will suit this circuit better. It\’s a lower downforce circuit so we have to wait and see.

\”A podium would be fantastic here (in Melbourne). I think that has to be the aim. I think it\’s a possibility and you\’ve got to set your sights pretty high.\”

Despite concerns over McLaren\’s pace in Bahrain – Button has taken some comfort in his return to Albert Park, where he won from pole last year on the way to six victories in seven starts that ultimately led to the title.

\”It\’s great coming back here, because this is all where it started last season. This is where my first pole of the season was and my first win.

\”So it was a very emotional moment last year and hopefully we can have something similar this year. It\’s going to be a very competitive season, but the aim has to be – to be world champion. I need to be in a position that I have a car that can be competitive enough to fight for race wins, and then it\’s more or less down to (me).\”

Button\’s bid for a podium finish this year in Melbourne will start in daylight and end in twilight, something the Briton handled with aplomb last year despite complaints from drivers and his own personal misgivings about safety.

\”It sounds petty, but it\’s not. It can be dangerous if you\’ve got the sun in your eyes and you can\’t see where you\’re going. \”But I\’d rather be racing in the day, even a twilight race for me, I\’d rather that than the night-time.

\”Out in front\’s probably not such a bad place to be (as the sun sets), so hopefully we can put ourselves in the same place and won\’t have to worry.\”

Schumacher revealing little about title hopes

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:00:07 +0000

Schumacher revealing little about title hopes

Severn-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher refuses to divulge his personal goals on his return to the circuit after three years in retirement as he fears they could come back to bite him.
The German\’s first race back yielded a sixth place finish at the season-opener in Bahrain, one behind fellow German and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, a performance the 41-year-old said yesterday he was satisfied with.
\”This is the first race in the beginning of a new challenge to me so I\’m quite relaxed by that,\” Schumacher told reporters ahead of Sunday\’s Australian Grand Prix.
\”(Rosberg\’s) a very good and fast driver so I don\’t think I need to be ashamed of where I have been in Bahrain.\”
When asked to elaborate on his aims for the season, Schumacher replied: \”Why do you want to fix me on something that you can come back by the end and tell me \’ah, you were much worse than you said and much later, da da da… \’?\”
\”Keep trying but I don\’t go with it,\” he smiled.
\”I think it\’s fair enough to be judged on results, absolutely, but I don\’t feel I need to give guidelines or references, when and how I will achieve them.\”
While Schumacher\’s fellow drivers welcomed him back to the fold as a positive for the sport they have expressed concerns that the German might tarnish his legacy if Mercedes was unable to perform against the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari.
\”I\’m mainly here for the enjoyment but at the same time, I\’m not only here for being last, I want to win. That\’s natural,\” Schumacher continued.

Beware F1 ticket scam

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:59:07 +0000

Beware F1 ticket scam

The Shanghai operator of Formula One Racing warned yesterday against buying \”gift tickets\” for the 2010 F1 China Grand Prix from scalpers. They\’re probably fakes.
Shanghai Juss Event Co Ltd, the local operator of the F1 event, said it used to offer a small number of free tickets to staff and other companies as a reward for contributing and supporting the event. However, the quantity of these tickets will be slashed by at least 80 percent this year to prevent them from getting into scalpers\’ hands.
The company didn\’t disclose the number of gift tickets available for this year\’s event.
Bao Sigang, ticket manager of Juss Event, said the gift tickets were never meant for the market. He said the company had to cut back on the free tickets to protect customers who buy tickets.
Bao urged fans to buy tickets at authorized box offices or Websites and reminded residents to be careful if meeting anyone or seeing any information that offering very low-priced tickets.
The Grand Prix will be held at the Shanghai Circuit in Jiading District from April 16 to 18. With the return of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, it\’s attracting extraordinary interest.

Ecclestone mulling F1 return to Indy

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:28:07 +0000

Ecclestone mulling F1 return to Indy

Indianapolis is still a logical venue for a US Formula One Grand Prix and an eventual return is on the cards, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said.
\”It is. It\’s only the fact that it\’s all the wrong crowd and the wrong people … nothing worked there really, we\’d have to have a big change round,\” the Briton told Reuters at today\’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. \”But we\’d like to get back there.\”
Asked whether the United States could be back on the calendar as early as next year, the 79-year-old replied: \”We can have a look. Twenty one races, no problem.\”
The calendar currently stands at an unprecedented 19 races, after a previous 17, with Ecclestone committed to India hosting a grand prix for the first time next year. That makes 20 races a possibility.
\”It\’s a round number and easy to remember, I get muddled up now with 19 or 17,\” he said.
American great Mario Andretti, the 1978 world champion, told reporters at Sakhir, where he is attending a reunion of champions for the 60th anniversary of the sport, that Formula One needed to be in the United States.
\”I can\’t write the cheque, all I can do is support it in every possible way that makes sense because I believe in it so much,\” Andretti said of a US Grand Prix.
\”I was just talking to Bernie and he is well aware of that need. He is pretty switched on, he\’s just got to figure out a way,\” added the 70-year-old.
\”Indy was to me the proper infrastructure and place to host that and that\’s probably where it needs to be unless we find some magic investors that could put on something else somewhere else.\”
\’BIG MISTAKE\’
Indianapolis hosted the race eight times until 2007 but Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, former winner of the Indy 500 as well as two F1 titles, said the Motor Speedway had never been the right location.
\”To go to Indianapolis was a big mistake,\” he told Reuters.
He pointed out that the F1 layout on the famed oval circuit ran in the opposite direction, with cars cutting across the infield and looking slow in comparison to Indy cars.
\”The Long Beach Grand Prix was fantastic for Formula One, we had so much fun,\” he said of the race held in California between 1976-1983. \”It was the best, we had the Hollywood stars and the glamour of grand prix racing.\”
The failure of the US F1 team, who were due to enter this season, has also dealt a blow for the image of the sport in North America.
\”The worst that could have happened was that it didn\’t,\” said Andretti. \”It\’s a big disappointment for all of the fans that were hoping to have their own team to cheer about, but it\’s just one of those things.
\”It\’s a huge loss, because there was a hope there and then it fizzled.\”

Victorious Ferrari debut for Alonso

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:27:07 +0000

Victorious Ferrari debut for Alonso

Fernando Alonso won the season-opening Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix and led a Ferrari one-two in a dream debut with the Italian glamour team yesterday.
In a race led for more than two thirds of the distance by Germany\’s Sebastian Vettel before the Red Bull slowed and was reeled in, the Spaniard laid down a marker for the season with his 22nd career victory.
\”There is no better way to start the relationship,\” declared the double world champion after collecting the winner\’s trophy and a bottle of non-alcoholic local fizz. \”I am with the best team in the world.\”
Brazilian Felipe Massa was overtaken by Alonso at the first corner and finished runner-up, 16 seconds behind, on his race return from life-threatening head injuries suffered in Hungary last July.
Britain\’s Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, completed the podium for McLaren, 23.1 behind Alonso, with Vettel slipping to fourth after starting on pole.
\”It\’s a pity but what can you do. All in all it\’s been positive all weekend apart from the failure,\” said Vettel.
\”Everything was running smoothly, but I lost power with about 20 laps to go, we are not sure what it was yet, but it wasn\’t good. Luckily I could continue and finish fourth but we should have won really.\”
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, making a comeback at the age of 41 and after three years away, was sixth for Mercedes and one place behind fellow-German teammate Nico Rosberg.
The former Ferrari ace said his race was as good as it could have been. \”Overtaking here is impossible and that is the action we are going to have with this environment of race strategy,\” he said.
It was Alonso\’s first triumph since he won the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix for Renault and he weaved his car jubilantly across the track as he approached the checkered flag without a rival in sight.
\”We only won the first race but to come first and second is the result that all the guys at Maranello and at the track deserved,\” he told a news conference.
\”I am very optimistic for the rest of the season,\” added the Spaniard, who went on to win the title in both the years that he has previously won in Bahrain.
Ferrari\’s first one-two finish since France in June 2008 also ended a run of three wins in a row by Renault-powered Red Bull, last year\’s overall runner-up.
With no refuelling allowed and after racing in searing temperatures at the newly-extended desert circuit in Sakhir, Alonso collected 25 points for the win under a scoring system that now rewards the top 10 finishers.
After parking up, the Spaniard stood on the car and celebrated – punching the air and beating his chest before hugging mechanics.
In a race low on thrills and spills and with little overtaking as cars burned through their heavy fuel loads, world champion Jenson Button of Britain made a faltering start to the defense of his title with seventh place on his McLaren debut.
Malaysian-owned Lotus, its exalted name returning to the sport after a 16-year absence, proved to be the best of the three all-new teams and the only ones with a car still running at the finish.
Finland\’s Heikki Kovalainen was 15th, two laps down, and Italian Jarno Trulli ended up 17th and last of those who were classified.
\”What an amazing day. Lotus is back,\” said team boss Tony Fernandes.
India\’s Karun Chandhok retired on the second lap on his debut for the Hispania (HRT) team while Brazilian teammate Bruno Senna retired on the 19th.