Spyker 2nd Seat Shootout!

Spyker F1 have decided that the easiest way to sort out the driver for their 2nd Race Seat is to hold a shootout.  All drivers shortlisted will have to race against the clock and possibly each other and Spyker bosses will use this to form the basis of the final decision.  Christijan Albers has been confirmed as the Number 1 driver, some say this is because he is Dutch and the team is too.  The shootout will take place at the Jerez circuit

At the shootout, we expect to see:

Christian Klien, Tiago Montiero, Gary Paffet, Alex Prematt and possibly Pedro De La Rosa and Robert Doornbos.

They will fight to get their hands on the orange machine

Brawn leaves Ferrari

We can tell you exclusivly that Ross Brawn, the mastermind with Ferrari has left the team.  It was apparantly announced in the debreif after Sunday’s Interlagos Grand Prix.  Before leaving the track he hugged members of the gaare that were very tearful.  It will be the second major departure for Ferrari and nobody knows who will replace him in that position.  Without Schumacher and Brawn can Ferrari be as powerful as before?

There has been no official confirmation, we expect that within the next few days but he announced that “He would not be a part of the preceedings in 2007”.  Bad day for Ferrari and the Tifosi.

No Schumi nor Brawn for 2007

3 World Championships Enough; says Alonso

Fernando Alonso has taken a very interesting step to say that he will be happy to retire after winning a thrid world championship.  He compared himself to the great Ayrton Senna as he said this “Senna won 3, and he never went ot Ferrari.  I want to do the same”.  If he managed to pick McLaren out of the duldrums and onto the top spot of the podium and win a thrid worl title, would he really retire? I doubt it greatly.  Oh an remember, Senna only won 3 because he died whilst in the championship. Would he have won more?  Who knows…

 Is Alonso trying to emulate the great Senna?  Maybe this is not such a good idea…

Honda F1 Target World Title

We have recieved a reoprt that Honda F1 are going to settle for no less than a World Championship challenge next season.  Drivers and Team staff have proved themselevs well this year and with Jensen Button scoring podium finishes and Barichello getting vital points, Honda believe next year they will mount a serious challenge.  They might have a chance though but where have we heard this before?  Well when BAR entered F1 their boss clearly stated that they would win the world championship in the first season.  They of course did not and never actually won a race.  Now Lucky Strike have gone from the team, Honda F1 can now shake off all of the past and start again.  Does it sound familiar??  Well, we will just have to wait and see whether they are going to be able to do it.  Who knows especially with Renualt not having Alonso, Ferrari without Schumacher and McLaren without reliability.  Is the door open??

Will we be seeing much more of this in 2007?

COMMENT FROM GIL DE FERRAN

“Every decision we are making now with regards to next year is with the world championship in mind; We want to put on a strong challenge for the World Championship.

“We don’t know what the other teams will do, but we must focus on what we can do – and that is to improve everything. Every decision we make, no matter how small, will be with the championship challenge in mind.

“We will be thinking what we need to do to put a strong challenge together, and I think we are capable of that. We’ve learned a lot with the way the second half of this season panned out for us, and hopefully that will help us in making a competitive car for next season.”

Button, who celebrated his podium finish with the team at a club in downtown Sao Paulo on Sunday night, is equally focused on that title challenge next year.

“After Hungary, the team want that buzz of winning again,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling.

“We have that feeling within the team that a championship is within our grasp. We’ve got it from everything we’ve done over the last few races.

“You feel ‘wow, we’ve got the best out of what we’ve got’ and I don’t think any other team does that.”

Button thinks that two factors will play into his team’s hands in 2007 – Honda’s new Brackley wind tunnel, plus the driver and staff changes elsewhere in the pit lane.

“There is a lot of change around and that does help us. The wind tunnel is going to make a huge difference to us next year as well.

“We want to win every race next year. That’s our aim – to challenge for every race. You’ve got to be positive. Whether it’s a reality we’ll see when we get to the first race in Melbourne.

“But it has to be the aim to want to be the best.”

Tobacco Shown The Door. New Sponsors In

A symbol of Formula One they may be but tobacco sponsored F1 cars are becoming a thing of the past.  Lucky Strike and Mild Seven will not be used next year byt their respective teams.  Renault will instead be sponsored by Dutch financial firm ING and Honda have yet to announce a new deal. 

Bye Mild Seven, they had been sponsoring Benetton and Renault for years 

Although it may be good for everyone’s health that these sponsors have gone, i do fear that some teams may be left without a lot of their money.  Tobacco firms could afford to foot majority of the $200 million bill each year and without these or big money sponsors which we have yet to see could some teams be squezzed out??

In other sponsorship news, AT&T have signed a title sponsors deal with Williams F1 and Vodafone have left Ferrari for McLaren.  Martini are now set to make a bigger sponsor presence on the Ferrari than this season, with a mere single logo on the nosecone.  Williams had not really had a titale sponsor all year with the Side-Pods being empty except in China, when sponsored by the “Bank Of China” and Brazil when they carried a “Save The Children” logo.  Ferrari are also going to be sponsored by a large diamond mining company and “Alice” which is a brand of Italia Telecom.  They used to sponsor ferrari in the late 90’s with the logo “TIM”.

Vodafone will be a title sponsor at McLaren, so they leave Ferrari where there was little opportunity after the Phillip Morris Deal.  

Brazillian Grand Prix – Circuit Carlos Pace 20th-22nd Oct

Here is a round up of the whole weekend of the final race of the 2006 FIA Formula One season, held at the Circuit Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

FRIDAY PRACTICE 1

1	K. Räikkönen		McLaren		1:13.764
2	A. Davidson		Honda		1:13.902
3	A. Wurz		Williams		1:13.922
4	S. Vettel		BMW		1:14.204
5	P. de la Rosa		McLaren		1:14.237
6	J. Button		Honda		1:14.487
7	J. Trulli		Toyota		1:15.159
8	N. Jani		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:15.159
9	R. Barrichello		Honda		1:15.661
10	M. Ammermuller		Red Bull		1:15.711
11	R. Schumacher		Toyota		1:16.168
12	T. Sato		Super Aguri		1:16.534
13	E. Viso		Spyker MF1		1:16.737
14	S. Speed		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:17.047
15	V. Liuzzi		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:17.311
16	S. Yamamoto		Super Aguri		1:17.388
17	F. Montagny		Super Aguri		1:17.744
18	N. Heidfeld		BMW		no time
19	R. Kubica		BMW		no time
20	C. Albers		Spyker MF1		no time
21	T. Monteiro		Spyker MF1		no time
22	D. Coulthard		Red Bull		no time
23	R. Doornbos		Red Bull		no time
24	G. Fisichella		Renault		no time
25	F. Alonso		Renault		no time
26	M. Schumacher		Ferrari		no time
27	F. Massa		Ferrari		no time
28	M. Webber		Williams		no time
29	N. Rosberg		Williams		no time

FRIDAY PRACTICE 2

1	A. Wurz		Williams		1:12.547
2	A. Davidson		Honda		1:12.643
3	S. Vettel		BMW		1:12.870
4	J. Trulli		Toyota		1:13.483
5	J. Button		Honda		1:13.485
6	M. Schumacher		Ferrari		1:13.713
7	R. Schumacher		Toyota		1:13.765
8	F. Montagny		Super Aguri		1:13.792
9	K. Räikkönen		McLaren		1:13.803
10	F. Alonso		Renault		1:13.820
11	P. de la Rosa		McLaren		1:13.926
12	G. Fisichella		Renault		1:14.053
13	R. Barrichello		Honda		1:14.434
14	M. Ammermuller		Red Bull		1:14.436
15	T. Monteiro		Spyker MF1		1:14.468
16	R. Kubica		BMW		1:14.510
17	F. Massa		Ferrari		1:14.561
18	N. Heidfeld		BMW		1:14.793
19	M. Webber		Williams		1:14.839
20	E. Viso		Spyker MF1		1:14.972
21	T. Sato		Super Aguri		1:15.023
22	C. Albers		Spyker MF1		1:15.086
23	N. Rosberg		Williams		1:15.124
24	D. Coulthard		Red Bull		1:15.214
25	V. Liuzzi		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:15.737
26	S. Speed		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:15.855
27	N. Jani		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:15.868
28	R. Doornbos		Red Bull		1:16.251
29	S. Yamamoto		Super Aguri		1:18.321

QUALIFYING

1	F. Massa		Ferrari		1:10.680
2	K. Räikkönen		McLaren		1:11.299
3	J. Trulli		Toyota		1:11.328
4	F. Alonso		Renault		1:11.567
5	R. Barrichello		Honda		1:11.619
6	G. Fisichella		Renault		1:11.629
7	R. Schumacher		Toyota		1:11.695
8	N. Heidfeld		BMW		1:11.882
9	R. Kubica		BMW		1:12.131
10	M. Schumacher		Ferrari		no time
11	M. Webber		Williams		1:11.650
12	P. de la Rosa		McLaren		1:11.658
13	N. Rosberg		Williams		1:11.679
14	J. Button		Honda		1:11.742
15	R. Doornbos		Red Bull		1:12.591
16	V. Liuzzi		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:12.861
17	S. Speed		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:12.856
18	C. Albers		Spyker MF1		1:13.138
19	D. Coulthard		Red Bull		1:13.249
20	T. Sato		Super Aguri		1:13.269
21	S. Yamamoto		Super Aguri		1:13.357
22	T. Monteiro		Spyker MF1		no time

RACE

1	F. Massa		Ferrari		1:31:53.751
2	F. Alonso		Renault		+ 18.658
3	J. Button		Honda		+ 19.394
4	M. Schumacher		Ferrari		+ 24.094
5	K. Räikkönen		McLaren		+ 28.503
6	G. Fisichella		Renault		+ 30.287
7	R. Barrichello		Honda		+ 40.294
8	P. de la Rosa		McLaren		+ 52.068
9	R. Kubica		BMW		+ 1:07.642
10	T. Sato		Super Aguri		+ 1 laps
11	S. Speed		Scuderia Toro Rosso		+ 1 laps
12	R. Doornbos		Red Bull		+ 0 laps
13	V. Liuzzi		Scuderia Toro Rosso		+ 1 laps
14	C. Albers		Spyker MF1		+ 1 laps
15	T. Monteiro		Spyker MF1		+ 2 laps
16	S. Yamamoto		Super Aguri		+ 2 laps
Did not finish
17	N. Heidfeld		BMW		Accident
18	D. Coulthard		Red Bull		Gearbox Problems
19	J. Trulli		Toyota		Suspension Problems
20	R. Schumacher		Toyota		Suspension Problems
21	M. Webber		Williams		Lost Rear Wing
22	N. Rosberg		Williams		Double Accident

 It was a very exciting race, filled more so by Michael Schumacher’s retirement.  An accident on the first lap was not what Williams Cosworth needed, especially when it turned out Nico Rosberg had run into team mate Mark Webber.  The season has gone from bad to worse for the Williams boys.  Webber made it back to the pits without a rear wing but Rosberg didn’t having a huge accident in a similar location to Webber’s in 2003.  Out came the safety car.  When the Safety Car returned to the pits Massa pulled fantastically away with the rest of the pack unable to keep up, the Brazillian was on fire!  Michael Schumacher was going well also scything his way up the field and when passing Fisichella into the Senna S’s fisichella tapped Schumacher’s rear tyre and punctured it!  Schumacher had to crawl around the lap for it to be replaced.  Ross Brawn made some good tactical decisions here.  Meanwhile Massa still lead after the first round of pit stops but it was bad news for Toyota, both cars having to retire with the same problem.  It is a suspension failure that is aggrovated by the bumps of the Interlagos circuit.  Fortunatly noticed maening no big accident.  Coulthard also had to retire again in the RBR Ferrari, this time unsurprisingly with a Gearbox failure.  It is a common occurance in the RBR as they are still trying to perfect a seamless shift gearbox that could lower laptimes significantly but it keeps losing gears especially 4th, a vital one.  Schumacher worked his way up the field with some just egtting out of his way, old team-mate Rubens Barichello moved over, and Schumcaher waved in thanks.  He had a great scrap to pass Raikkonen and also with Fisichella, forcing him onto the grass!  Eventually though there were not enough laps left, Massa won, Alonso was second and Schumacher finished 4th.  This race was the final one of the greatest racing driver ever, Michael Schumacher, who will be remembered for years to come!

Ross Brawn, with constructor of the day trophy.

Schumacher takes on a Renault

Rosberg got it really wrong!

Button speeds past a favela

Schumacher reflects on his illustrious career

Hello world!

Hello World!

This is my first post as a blogger.  I am hoping to bring you the latest F1 News, Pictures, Views and videos along with my own personal comment.  What credentials does this blogger have i hear you cry!  Well i have been watching activly Formula One since 1996 and this i think gives me a broad potential of rules and drivers to give a fair comment.  I hope you enjoy the Blog and please, please keep on visiting as it shall be updated very frequently; even over the winter. 

Thanks for visiting!