Hamilton Cutting The Chicane at Spa 2008

The teams and drivers of the Formula One series, were packing up their equipment on Sunday evening and heading for the Spa-Francorchamps circuit for this weekends Belgian Grand Prix.

Known for it’s unpredictable weather patterns, the circuit is a favourite amongst drivers with it’s fast curves and long straights.  While one part of the track can be totally dry, rain can begin to fall on another section leaving the tyre selection a nightmare.

Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello, crossed the line at the European Grand Prix last week, to claim his first win in five years.  Despite the rumours that Barrichello, 37,  will retire at the end of the season, the Brazilian very much wants to continue and is still aiming to win the championship.

The Brawn GP team are adamant that there will be no team orders after Barrichello’s victory, despite carrying a heavier fuel-load than his team-mate.  Jenson Button and Rubens are separated by only 18 points on the leader board with Jenson acknowledging that his team-mate will now be even keener for wins after last weekend.

Red bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel, still intends to give it his all and has vowed not to give up his chances of winning the championship.  Vettel retired from the European Grand Prix after blowing another engine, leaving him with 5 retirements this season in just 11 rounds.  However, there is still 60 points up for grabs and Vettel feels that he is still in the running.

The Toyota team are looking forward to the race this weekend, with Jarno Trulli saying;

“Spa is a fantastic track and definitely my favourite in F1.  It is a real driver’s circuit and that suits me perfectly. There is almost every type of corner, so all the way around the lap you are challenged and I love that. Every time you drive around Spa it is amazing but I have to say it was special to get pole position there a few years ago.”

Team-mate Timo Glock confirmed his love of the circuit and said;

“Along with Monaco, Spa is my favourite circuit.  To drive a Formula 1 car around it is a fantastic experience and it’s one of the best feelings you can have in this sport. It’s one of those circuits you dream about racing on when you are growing up; it’s just a very impressive track.

Even though I really enjoy the circuit, I have some frustrating memories of the place; being taken out by another driver on the warm-up lap in 2007 and being penalised last year when I did one of the best final laps of my career to get into the points. That was all down to bad luck so I am due a change!”

The BMW Sauber team are expected to be running with a medium-downforce specification at this weekends meeting, and their cars will be featuring special wings.  Nick Heidfeld is running in 13th place in the championship with his team-mate Robert Kubica, right behind in 14th place.

Lewis Hamilton claimed the win at the Belgian Grand Prix last year for the McLaren team, however, after the race the British driver was demoted to third after it was deemed that he had gained an unfair advantage after cutting the chicane as he battled with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton and his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, both started on the front row at Valencia and are keen to continue although Hamilton claimed that they have not got the best car at the moment.

Fernando Alonso feels that the Belgian circuit is the greatest challenge of the year and intends to push the Renault to it’s limit.  His new team-mate Romain Grosjean, won his GP2 feature race at the track last year and is eager to push to get closer to Alonso’s times.

Adrian Sutil, Force India driver, confirmed that the cars new aero package has given the team a great boost and is aiming for another top ten finish.  His team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, has driven at the circuit many times and recalled his first time at the track for the Jordan team, where he finished second to Mika Hakkinen in 1997.

The Ferrari team have confirmed, that for the second time, Luca Badoer will be in the driving seat as a replacement for the Brazilian driver Felipe Massa.  After struggling to get to grips with the F60 at the Valencia circuit, Badoer qualified in last place and finished the weekend in 17th, while Kimi Raikkonen made it onto the podium.

Badoer was given four speeding fines in the pit lane in Friday’s practice session and incurred a drive-through penalty during the race on Sunday for crossing the white line on the pit lane exit.  The team have put last weekend down as Badoer’s learning weekend, seeing him improving the more track time he got and have given him the second drive to prove himself.

Williams driver Nico Rosberg, thinks that the Spa circuit will suit their car perfectly with it’s strong aero package for the quick corners.  His team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, was disappointed with their results in 2008 but feels that the weather made it difficult for everyone.

This weekend, rain is expected at the circuit although race day is expected to be overcast but dry.

Honda 2008

Richard Branson’s Virgin Group have emerged as the mystery ‘global brand’ bidder for the Honda Racing Formula One team, the Japanese car maker has confirmed today. The F1 news from Honda says that they “are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group.”

Honda announced that it would pull out of Formula one in December because of the effects of the financial crisis on it’s core car manufacturing business, the team was immediately put up for sale and has attracted global interest. In recent weeks Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry had suggested that there were ‘around a dozen’ offers that he considered sustainable and would be inviting those businesses to present themselves to the Honda Motors board, in Japan.

Rumours emerged at the end of last week that a management buyout led by Honda Racings Nick Fry and Ross Brawn had been launched and some reports even suggested that driver Bruno Senna, who brings a considerable sponsorship package with him,  had been contracted to the team to drive this season. These allegations have since been refuted.

The Virgin Group would no doubt tick all the right boxes for Honda, a global and respected brand who would fulfill the financial criteria required by the team, particularly important in securing an engine deal with F1 rivals Mercedes. They also have some connections with the sport already having sponsored the Jordan team in 2002 with the Virgin Mobile brand.

Through Virgin Atlantic Japan, they have also been personal sponsors of the Honda backed driver Takuma Sato for the past four years and he must feel his chances of obtaining a drive for this season could get no better, having missed out on seats with some of the independent teams during the winter. Britain’s Jenson Button will be hoping that he will remain as Honda’s number one driver and I would imagine already has a contract in place from the old team.

Time is fast running out if the team are to start the 2009 season on the Australian grid on March 29th, it has been a long time coming but this Formula 1 news will be a big boost to the sport that appears to have been hit worst than others in the current financial crisis.

Bernie Ecclestone

Former independent F1 team owner Eddie Jordan is flabbergasted by Bernie Ecclestone’s latest medal proposals for Grand Prix wins. Jordan refuses to believe that Ecclestone has thought the idea through properly or that the proposal has won the backing of Formula one drivers and teams.

Having run against the big boys of Ferrari and Maclaren in his many years as boss of the independent Jordan racing team, Eddie will know more than most about how the smaller teams must feel about this latest idea.

Jordan says that points are of vital importance to the smaller teams and drivers further down the pecking order who are trying to get noticed.

“One point is as important to those teams as a win is to McLaren and Ferrari,” he said. “He (Ecclestone) is tinkering with something on which he has lost the understanding. He thinks only wins matter. There has not been enough thought put into this and for him to say that it comes with the full approval of all the teams — I’m sorry, I just don’t believe it.”

Join the club, Eddie!

Eddie Jordan

According to reports, Eddie Jordan could be making a come-back in Formula One in 2009, as a broadcaster when the BBC take over the TV coverage.

The 60-year-old, is expected to be working alongside Martin Brundle and David Coulthard, although no confirmation has yet been given.

The Irish man sold the Jordan Team to the Midland Group in 2005, which has been sold on twice since and is now in the hands of the Force India team.

I reported on the story back in March 2008, when Eddie sold the factory he still owned part of the land it was situated on, he wanted to sell but the Force India team owners didn’t want too buy and so Jordan made his feeling known by dumping a load of concrete at the entrance while the team were away in Australia.  Nice too see Eddie hasn’t lost that sense of humour!

To see more of the original story use this link;

http://www.buzzinf1.co.uk/trouble-for-jordan-and-force-india/67#more-67

Timo Glock - Toyota

Timo Glock in the Toyota was the fastest man on track in the second free practice session in Fuji Speedway in Japan.

Fernando Alonso, winner of the last race at Singapore for Renault, came in second, only 0.043 seconds off of the ultimate pace.

Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren came in third followed by the two Ferrari drivers, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in fourth and fifth respectively.

In sixth place was Mark Webber in the Red Bull, eleven places ahead of his team-mate David Coulthard, while a similar situation occurred with the Williams drivers.  Kazuki Nakajima, at his home race was the seventh fastest man with his team-mate, Nico Rosberg was down in twelfth place.

Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso finished in eighth place followed by the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and Toyota driver Jarno Trulli.

Here are the results;

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:18.383            44
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:18.426  + 0.043   41
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.463  + 0.080   40
 4.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:18.491  + 0.108   40
 5.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:18.725  + 0.342   39
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:18.734  + 0.351   39
 7.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:18.734  + 0.351   36
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:18.761  + 0.378   23
 9.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.803  + 0.420   32
10.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:18.863  + 0.480   45
11.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:18.865  + 0.482   39
12.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:18.888  + 0.505   43
13.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:18.981  + 0.598   41
14.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:19.040  + 0.657   41
15.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:19.258  + 0.875   42
16.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.287  + 0.904   41
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:19.327  + 0.944   36
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.482  + 1.099   44
19.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:19.894  + 1.511   37
20.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:19.999  + 1.616   42

All Timing Unofficial

Toro Rosso

The Toro Rosso team are to test two new drivers after the Italian Grand Prix, Sebastien Buemi and Takuma Sato.  They will have a day’s testing at the Jerez circuit in the STR3 to see if they are up to the job of replacing Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel will be racing for the Red Bull team in the 2009 season, although it has been rumoured that he could actually be racing for them towards the end of this season, but there has been no confirmation as yet.

Buemi is already the test and reserve driver for the Red Bull team, so could have the advantage and still only 19-years of age.  He is also currently running in fifth place in the GP2 series.

Sato, has completed 91 Grand Prix in his career, after changing from motorcycles to racing cars.  He won the British Formula 3 championship in 2001 before joining the Jordan team in Formula One in 2002.

He left Jordan for the BAR team, where he remained for three years until he joined the Super Aguri team in 2006, when the team withdrew he was left without a drive for the rest of the season.

The testing will take place in September with Buemi testing on the 17th and Sato on the 18th.