August 27th, 2008 at 03:38pm
Under Racing
Last season McLaren found themselves battling on two fronts. But with the courtroom dramas long since decided, this season the British team have been free to focus solely on their racing. And with Lewis Hamilton currently leading the drivers’ standings, so far things are looking up. For team principal Ron Dennis, the temptation to stay and fight on has proved far too attractive and any talk of retirement has been firmly put on hold…
Q: Ron, after the hiccups of 2007, this season must feel like a stroll in the park…
Ron Dennis: Last year, McLaren won eight Grands Prix, and the combined total of the world championship points scored in the world drivers’ championship by Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso exceeded the combined total scored by any other team’s two drivers. That statistic is something that people who like to describe 2007 as a bad year for McLaren would do well to remember. Having said that, of course, 2007 was a year of downs as well as ups, but that’s all in the past now. McLaren, Ferrari and the FIA have all drawn a line under the events of 2007, and relations between those three entities have never been more cordial than they are today. This year is also shaping up to be a good year for us, with five victories so far. But we never underestimate our opposition, and we’re looking forward to an exciting, sporting and close-fought battle for championship honours as we move into the final third of the season.
Q: Was there ever a moment over the past 12 months when you simply wanted to walk away, sensing that there must be more to life than dealing with daily aggravations?
RD: I’ve already said on the record that at the beginning of 2007 I’d privately decided to step aside at the end of that year, moving to the role of Chairman of the McLaren Group, leaving the role of Chief Executive Officer of the McLaren Group to Martin Whitmarsh, currently Chief Operating Officer of the McLaren Group. But, as the great economist John Maynard Keynes once famously said, ‘When the situation changes, I change my mind.’ Well, the situation did change, so I did change my mind. Now, I remain unflinchingly committed to the McLaren Group and the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, and remain passionately engaged in leading the McLaren Group into exciting new areas of business, exemplified by, but not confined to, the groundbreaking projects currently being evaluated by McLaren Automotive. Having said that, the McLaren Group’s senior management team is a fabulously impressive one, and I have complete faith in their ability to take the McLaren Group, working with all our shareholders, on to pastures even more exciting over the next generation. As I so often say, I regard myself as merely in charge of one of the chapters in the McLaren book, not the book itself.
Q: Last year Fernando questioned the McLaren drivers’ pecking order, blaming the team for failing to concentrate all its efforts on him, saying that Lewis was at that time too young and inexperienced to realize his chances for the title. Have you learned something from last year’s situation?
RD: Fernando said a lot of things last year, and so did many other people, and most of it was said in the heat of battle. That’s inevitable. That’s racing. You never stop learning in this sport, and that applies to everyone - including me. As for Lewis, he drove brilliantly last year and he’s driving brilliantly this year.
Q: Isn’t the sublime pretence of ‘equal opportunity’ for your drivers obsolete when compared with the policies of a rival team, which could perhaps be regarded as practising something approaching team orders?
RD: Our policy regarding equal opportunities and team orders is well known. We always aim to hire the two best drivers available, and we always then aim to give them equal opportunities to optimize their chances to win Grands Prix and world championships. Sometimes that policy has been criticised by those who believe that a policy of running a number-one driver supported by a number-two driver, with or without team orders, is a better strategy. Well, we don’t accept that. We exist to win - and all our employees, including all our drivers, buy in to that.
Q: To ask the same question in a different way, was the decision to extend Heikki Kovalainen’s contract inspired by the thinking that he is the perfect back-up for Lewis Hamilton?
RD: No. Heikki is doing a fabulous job this year - as his recent victory at the Hungaroring showed only too clearly. His qualifying pace has been extremely strong all year, and his race pace is improving all the time. He’s a pleasure to have in our team, and he and Lewis have a very good relationship with each other. I’d describe them as competitive and co-operative in equal measure, which is exactly what every team wants from its driver line-up. That being the case, it was never in any doubt that we’d take up the option on Heikki’s services, and we’re delighted to have been able to knock the silly-season speculation on the head by announcing our 2009 driver line-up so early. To repeat, then: Heikki is doing a very good job for us this year, and he’ll continue to do a very good job for us next year.
Q: We have a similar situation in the championship standings as last year: Lewis leading Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. Is Lewis now ready to go for the title?
RD: Of course.
Q: Lewis became famous overnight - he’s got a pop star girlfriend, all kinds of people are whispering in his ear about business opportunities and so on - how are you helping him deal with all those distractions?
RD: Lewis is a thoroughly well brought-up individual, who is both grounded and intelligent. His father, Anthony, is also his manager, and both of them have been part of the McLaren ‘family’ for a very long time. As such, although Lewis’s global appeal is growing all the time, and understandably so, he remains as polite and as unassuming now as he’s always been. As regards business opportunities for him, the McLaren Group numbers a workforce of 1300 expert and experienced individuals, specialising in all sorts of disparate yet discrete disciplines; as a result, I feel confident that no other team has the infrastructure to offer its drivers the level of support that McLaren Mercedes does, across a wide variety of areas. Those areas encompass the sporting, fitness, marketing, and communications dimensions and, of course, the commercial dimension - and many other dimensions besides.
Q: Onto a different subject now - Formula One racing will see regulation changes next season. The one that seems to be causing the most controversy, if you can call it that, is KERS. As it doesn’t seem to be a financial issue - what is the issue? And what’s McLaren’s stance on it?
RD: Any area of technical development and/or innovation inevitably has an impact on every team’s finances - and KERS is no different. Having said that, we support any initiative that will genuinely enhance Formula One’s environmental credentials. We at McLaren take our environmental policy extremely seriously - just as we’ve always supported the excellent work done by the FIA in this area. Since 1995, for the avoidance of doubt, the FIA has been engaging in a tree-planting programme in Mexico, supervised by the appropriate forestry commissions, and that programme has taken into account not only the fuel used by Formula One cars themselves, but also the fuel used by the planes, trains and automobiles that take Formula One cars, drivers and other personnel to all four corners of the globe. Just as important, Formula One is uniquely well-placed to help make production cars leaner, cleaner and greener in the future. How so? Because, riding on the back of environment-focused initiatives such as KERS, the Formula One engine manufacturers will have not only a) the opportunity, but also b) the budget and c) the technical inventiveness with which to develop green technologies that will find their way into the engines of production cars in years to come.
Q: This year we’re seeing quite an open playing field, with drivers on the podiums and in the points whom we haven’t seen before. Next year’s regulation changes could undo all that, as the advantage may once again lie with the big teams. Isn’t that counter-productive, especially as history has also shown that changes rarely save money?
RD: I’ve often said that the way to encourage close and competitive racing is to maintain regulatory stability - for exactly the reason indicated in your question. Technical development costs money, and the bigger teams will always be better placed to fund those technical developments. In turn, as a result, it logically follows that the performance gap between the bigger teams and the smaller teams tends to widen in periods of regulatory instability - and the consequence of that is inevitably racing that is less close and/or competitive than spectators, viewers and sponsors would ideally like it to be. Having said that, we and our partners at Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines are working closely with the FIA, in co-operation with our competitors, within the context of FOTA (Formula One Teams Association), to ensure that the regulation changes will trigger as seamless a transition as possible.
Q: Finally, isn’t it about time that McLaren grabs the title again?
RD: As I’ve already said, we exist to win. Does that answer your question?
By admin
August 27th, 2008 at 03:32pm
Under Racing
McLaren may not have left the inaugural European Grand Prix with the victory they wanted, but the British team were well-satisfied with their haul of 13 points. Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren’s Formula One CEO, reveals how the weekend unfolded and looks ahead to the rest of the season…
Q: After several weeks’ simulation and preparation, did the European Grand Prix weekend play out largely as you had expected?
Martin Whitmarsh: It’s fair to say we predicted more drama from a track lined with concrete walls and had factored the appearance of at least one safety car period into our pre-race calculations. The reality is that the race had its moments of controversy but never quite delivered the level of incident we’d been anticipated beforehand. I don’t know whether that’s down to us misinterpreting the level of risk involved in racing around this track or whether it was just a testament to the good driving standards of modern Formula One drivers. Nonetheless, we came away from Valencia having made gains in both championships, which was very encouraging.
Q: How close did Lewis Hamilton come to not taking part in the race?
MW: At 8am on Saturday, I received a phone call from the team’s doctor, Aki Hintsa, telling me that Lewis was in some difficulties - he’d woken up with a severe migraine and with his neck in spasm. Aki treated Lewis but, when he arrived at the circuit on Saturday morning, he could barely move his neck at all, so things looked very severe. As a precaution, we readied Pedro (de la Rosa) to take over - but, despite delaying his start to Saturday practice, Lewis was able to continue with his full race programme. His physical problems are unlikely to disturb his fitness programme and we expect him to make a full recovery for both the Monza test and next week’s Belgian GP.
Q: Was the race pace of the MP4-23 largely what you had been anticipating?
MW: Lewis felt a lot better on Sunday but was still slightly sore and tender. We are delighted he was able to sustain the performance of a full race in hot conditions. We did not have the package to beat Felipe Massa but we feel we did a first-rate job and secured a very useful haul of world championship points. Lewis extended his lead in the drivers’ championship and, in the constructors’, we extended our lead over BMW Sauber and closed down the gap to Ferrari.
Q: Heikki Kovalainen’s victory in Hungary and fourth place in Valencia suggest he’s become a more complete driver - would you agree?
MW: Most definitely. The reality is that Heikki’s particularly strong when he’s got the car in front in his sights. When he homes in on another competitor then his natural competitive instincts really come alive. Heikki’s much more adept at switching effortlessly between engine-saving, brake-saving and tyre-saving modes and knows exactly when to push - so the situation he encountered at the start of the year when he was dealing with slightly more tyre degradation is no longer a concern.
Q: How do you see the remainder of the championship playing out?
MW: I think Ferrari were pleased the sun came out on Sunday as I’m sure they feel when the track temperature really heats up that’s when their car really comes to them. We’re now entering extremely interesting territory where we won’t be entirely certain what sort of temperatures we’ll be encountering at some of the future races: Monza is likely to be hot and Singapore will probably be cooler, but the races at Spa, Fuji, Shanghai and Brazil could just as easily be sweltering as torrential. Regardless, we will continue to make changes to our car right through until Brazil.
By admin
August 25th, 2008 at 05:10pm
Under Racing
As in Hungary, Felipe Massa controlled the European Grand Prix from the front. But this time he stayed there to win - despite that controversial pit stop - as Ferrari’s technical gremlins chose to pick on team mate Kimi Raikkonen instead.
The world champions had the pace, but not the reliability. Their second engine failure in as many races left McLaren victorious in the numbers game. Lewis Hamilton extended his advantage atop the drivers’ standings, while Ferrari’s constructors’ lead diminished into single figures.
Further down the grid, Toyota proved their Hungaroring form was no fluke with another excellent performance, while Toro Rosso’s superb showing throughout the weekend put their supposedly ‘senior’ sister squad, Red Bull Racing, firmly in the shade. We take a team-by-team look at the European Grand Prix…
Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 38.708s, P1
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 39.424s, retired lap 46, engine
Massa and Ferrari owned this one right from the start, and once it became clear that Hamilton and McLaren were on a similar fuel strategy it also became clear that a victory for the latter was going to be unlikely. The win gave Massa the same number of outright successes this year as Hamilton (four), but there are still serious concerns over reliability within the Scuderia after Raikkonen’s engine blew asunder like Massa’s had in Hungary, shortly after the Finn botched his second pit stop and ran over refueller Pietro Timpini.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 38.884s, P2
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 39.112s, P4
Hamilton revealed that a serious neck spasm on Saturday had almost kept him out of the race, but once he had won the drag race over Kubica to the first corner he settled down to chase Massa. The MP4-23 didn’t quite have the pace of the F2008 towards the end, but eight points in the circumstances were a healthy haul. Kovalainen struggled in his first two stints on the Bridgestone prime tyres, and only found his car coming alive on the super-softs late in the race, by which time it was too late to challenge Kubica for third.
BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica, 1m 39.330s, P3
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 39.526s, P9
Once worries had receded about inability to steer because a plastic bag had become lodged beneath the front of his F1.08, Kubica was able to maintain a strong third place throughout the race, and to take his first podium finish since Canada. Heidfeld, however, struggled with low grip and described his race as one of the worst of his career en route to ninth.
Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 39.657s, P5
Timo Glock, 1m 39.535s, P7
Toyota are the consistently most improved team in recent weeks, and a great run from Trulli to fifth and Glock to seventh, despite feeling unwell, endorsed the strength of the TF108. Six points now place them 10 ahead of Renault in the fight for fourth place overall.
Toro Rosso
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 39.485s, P6
Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 39.639s, P10
A great race for Toros Rosso saw Vettel take an excellent sixth place, which might have been fifth until Trulli and Toyota slipped ahead during the opening pit stops. Bourdais could have been a points contender too but for an early clash with Heidfeld which obliged him to run 17 laps to his first stop with a damaged front wing.
Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 39.577s, P8
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 39.803s, P15
Rosberg was happy and relieved to win a point for eighth after a competitive showing, but Nakajima’s first-lap clash under braking with Alonso won’t have done him any favours.
Red Bull
Mark Webber, 1m 40.264s, P12
David Coulthard, 1m 40.978s, P17
Red Bull never got on the pace this weekend, and fingers were pointed at their Renault engines since the near identical Toro Rossos were flying with their Ferrari V8s. Coulthard’s case wasn’t helped when he got taken off on the first lap, and later spun trying to make up ground. He raced throughout with a damaged bargeboard.
Renault
Fernando Alonso, no time, retired lap one, hit by Nakajima
Nelson Piquet, 1m 39.544s, P11
Renault will want to forget this one in a hurry. Alonso got taken out on the opening lap courtesy of Nakajima removing his rear wing, while Piquet also damaged his front wing in the early race traffic and couldn’t better 11th place by the finish on a day when arch rivals Toyota bagged another six points.
Honda
Jenson Button, 1m 40.763s, P13
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 40.593s, P16
A horrible race for Honda, as Button and Barrichello both ran one-stop strategies. The former found overheating rear brakes having a deleterious effect on his option tyres in the second stint, while the latter also struggled with braking problems after starting from the pit lane with revised gearing.
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 40.353s, P14
Adrian Sutil, 1m 40.661s, retired lap 42, accident
One-stopping Fisichella challenged Button for much of the race on his way to 14th, running the team’s new seamless-shift transmission for the first time in a race. Sutil started from the pit lane on a two-stop strategy after unscheduled suspension set-up changes, had a spat in the pit lane with Massa on the 37th lap, then became the only Formula One driver to hit the wall all weekend when he lost it under braking in Turn Two five laps later.
By admin
August 24th, 2008 at 10:40pm
Under Racing
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on his controversial win in Valencia; Force India’s Adrian Sutil on narrowly avoiding the Brazilian in the pit lane before ending his race in the barriers; and Renault’s Fernando Alonso on exiting his second home race of the season on the first lap. All 20 drivers report back on Sunday’s action…
Felipe Massa, Ferrari (1st):
“It’s fantastic having won this race, especially after the disappointment of Budapest. The team did an amazing job in preparing for this Grand Prix and the benefits of that could be seen right from the very first day. Yesterday, I got pole and today the win, with the race fastest lap as the icing on the cake. You cannot ask for more especially at my one hundredth grand prix with every single one of them powered by a Ferrari engine. I got a good start and I pushed to the maximum right from the early laps. In the second part of the race, the car was exceptional, but also in the final stint, when I had the softer tyres, I could do the lap times easily. This is an important moment in my career and I must continue to work in this way. I am sorry for what happened to Kimi: we have to look very carefully at our reliability. I am confident the team knows which countermeasures to take to react to this issue, as it has always done in the past.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (2nd):
“I can’t complain with second place today. This was a strong weekend for us despite my having a few problems health-wise, but we pulled through. The track was pretty difficult to overtake on, but I maintained the gap - our lap times showed that our overall pace was good, which was encouraging. Heikki (Kovalainen) and I scored 13 points today, which is very positive for the team, so I’d describe it as a satisfactory weekend for us.”
Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber (3rd):
“I started pretty well but in corner one I went over the kerb and Lewis was closing. In the second corner I was going to overtake Lewis, but I saw Felipe braking quite early. It would have been too much of a risk, as I could end up overshooting the braking point and crashing into him. Over the next few laps I was consistently a bit slower than Lewis. Suddenly I saw a white plastic bag flying across the track, but could not avoid it and it went under the car. I couldn’t steer for two corners, which was extremely dangerous. Fortunately most of the bag soon flew away, but my confidence was very low over the next sector, and I lost around three seconds. In the end I finished third. Eventually I think my good qualifying result yesterday was crucial for today’s result.”
Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren (4th):
“My start was good, and I was consequently able to overtake Kimi (Raikkonen) before the first corner. However, I’m not really happy with how the race went for me after that, because I had grip problems with the prime tyres in the first and second stints - whereas with the option tyres in the last stint I had much better grip and traction. As a result I could close the gap to Robert Kubica a little. At least I scored five points, but a podium would have been much nicer. Having said that, it’s good that the team scored a lot of points with Lewis’s second place and my fourth place.”
Jarno Trulli, Toyota (5th):
“That was a good result and a great performance by the team. The weekend started badly for me but it has finished really well today so I’m happy. I could drive a strong race without attacking much. I pushed very hard when I needed to while paying attention to taking care of my tyres and my brakes throughout. This shows how good we are getting and how nice it is to race with a competitive car every weekend. Toyota is doing a very good job this year and looking strong and more competitive at every circuit. The team is still pushing with the development work so I’m confident that we can maintain the form in the coming races and keep the points coming.”
Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso (6th):
“Incredible! A perfect day. It was fun but tough and hot out there. It’s a nice race track. My start was not so good on the dirty side and going into Turn One I was right on the limit and very close to Kimi (Raikkonen) and could defend my position against Jarno for the first stint, but he had a bit more fuel on board and stayed out an extra lap and he overtook me in the pits. But we can be very very happy with this result. We made no mistakes, no mistakes all weekend and maximised our performance. The whole team can be very proud of what it has achieved and hopefully, for the next races we can be in the top ten again.”
Timo Glock, Toyota (7th):
“That was one of my hardest races ever because I have had a bad cold for the last two days. But I had a good car and the right strategy and I think P7 was the best result we could have achieved today so I’m really happy. I made up some places at the start and then just tried to do my race. It was tough in the middle of the race and in the last 10 laps I pushed as hard as I could to stay concentrated. Considering our qualifying and my condition, I am happy. It’s a great result for the team to get both cars into the points for the constructors’ championship.”
Nico Rosberg, Williams (8th):
“I’m pretty happy with that. It’s good to be going home with a point today as it’s been a long time since it happened. The race went quite well for me and I was giving it my all, driving what felt like qualifying laps one after the other. The result is also good for the team as it shows we are getting back on track. Once again, I would like to say that Valencia has done a great job here and the race was good fun.”
Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber (9th):
“This was one of the worst races ever for me. To finish ninth in a car which is obviously good enough for third is a disaster. After qualifying I was pretty confident because we realised we could go well. But in the race I had big problems with the harder tyres during the first two stints, and it was only better at the end with the softer compound. I lost one position after the start and later in the race I couldn’t gain any. The pace wasn’t there.”
Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso (10th):
“That was a very nice race, apart from the fact that I touched with Heidfeld which broke my wing, which was a real shame, as I had to do 17 laps like that, losing around 20 seconds to the group I was in. The next two stints were good quality and I had a good pace. But I am happy with the result and I think we had the right strategy. It’s my best result since Australia and especially from the second stint onwards I felt much more comfortable and confident with the car and felt I could push as the track rubbered in. As for the next races, I continue to tackle them one at a time and hope that next time out in Spa I can make it into the points.”
Nelson Piquet, Renault (11th):
“The first lap was rough as I was in the middle of the pack and lost several positions. After that I tried to fight back, but my front wing was damaged and it was difficult to overtake. It’s a shame that we couldn’t get into the top ten, but I hope we can have a better race in Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix in a couple of weeks time.”
Mark Webber, Red Bull (12th):
“We just weren’t quick enough. We were hoping for a few safety cars to come out during the race, so ran a one stop strategy, but it didn’t happen. It was a difficult race pace wise and we’ve got a lot of analysis to do.”
Jenson Button, Honda (13th):
“I had a good start to the race and gained three places to 13th but that was the highlight of my race really. We made things difficult for ourselves by qualifying so far back on the grid after we had expected to perform a lot better. I was heavily fuelled compared to most others and running long on a one-stop strategy, but I was stuck behind Heidfeld when he had already pitted which cost me some time as I didn’t have the pace to overtake him. We ran the option tyre for the second stint, which was initially fine but then the rears went away quite badly due to the rear brakes overheating.”
Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India (14th):
“It was a difficult race with the very hot conditions, but overall I think it was a good performance. The strategy wasn’t bad, but we did expect a safety car after seeing the other support races, but there weren’t any incidents so it didn’t come. Our pace was good, it wasn’t far off the others, and we made a step forward with the gearbox. We now have to keep focussed and keep moving forward.”
Kazuki Nakajima, Williams (15th):
“I had a bad start and we have to find the reason for that. On lap one, going into turns four and five, I was just behind Alonso, but there was a bit of a battle going on in front and I couldn’t avoid him going into the corner. After that, I just tried to be consistent. My pace was ok, but I was behind Barrichello and it was really difficult to overtake. Eventually I made it past him and my pace improved, but it was too late.”
Rubens Barrichello, Honda (16th):
“After qualifying, we took the opportunity to start from the pit lane and work on the car to try and resolve the issues that we had yesterday. We changed the brakes completely so the car was very different to drive but it did improve a little bit during the race. We need to get to the bottom of the brake problems that we have had all weekend as these cost me a lot of time and positions. It was a poor weekend overall.”
David Coulthard, Red Bull (17th):
“I was hit from behind on the first lap. I came back and passed a couple of cars, but when I tried to pass one of the Force India’s, I aborted the manoeuvre and made contact with them, so sorry to them for that. That damaged my barge board and the side of the car, so after that the balance and downforce were very poor.”
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (DNF):
“Not much to say after a day like this. It was definitely not the weekend I was hoping for but I do not believe that, despite this negative result, I am now out of the running for the title. There are still six races to go and sixty points up for grabs. We have seen that the situation change really quickly, even if I realize things are now more complicated. Today, I lost a place at the start and I was stuck in traffic for all of the first stint. Then, when I had a clear track ahead of me, I was able to push and was doing good lap times. At the second pit stop, I made a mistake and left before I should have done. Fortunately, Pietro (Timpini) is not too badly hurt. I wish him all the best and hope he gets better soon. In any case, it would not have changed anything as then the engine broke. Now we must concentrate on preparing for the next rounds and on improving our qualifying performance.”
Adrian Sutil, Force India (DNF):
“The first stint was okay as I was closing the gap to the rest of the field and then I could pass a few cars in the hairpin. It was a shame that I couldn’t pass Giancarlo quickly enough to take full advantage of the two stop strategy and lost a little time. Once I passed him it was getting better but it was still difficult to pass more cars. Then under braking I lost the rear and tried to avoid a crash, but the barrier was too close and that was it.”
Fernando Alonso, Renault (DNF):
“After qualifying yesterday, I knew that me weekend was going to be difficult. At the start I was touched by Nakajima and I lost my rear wing. My mechanics did everything to try and allow me to continue, but my race was already compromised. I am extremely disappointed because I was hoping to have a special race in my second home Grand Prix and for the supporters who came here this weekend to support me. I now want to concentrate on the rest to the season and the next race in Spa.”
By admin
August 24th, 2008 at 05:25pm
Under Racing
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa celebrated his 100th Grand Prix and made up for his late-race disappointment in Hungary by dominating Sunday’s European Grand Prix at Valencia from start to finish.
However, the stewards are investigating a situation during his second pit stop, on the 37th lap, when he was deemed not to have been released safely by his team. He nearly collided with Adrian Sutil’s Force India, which was already leaving the pits.
It became clear almost immediately that McLaren and Lewis Hamilton would not be able to challenge the Ferrari this time, but he boosted his world championship points lead to 70 with a solid second-place finish, 5.6 seconds in arrears. Robert Kubica failed to get by Hamilton’s McLaren at the start, but brought his BMW Sauber home third ahead of Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren, Jarno Trulli’s Toyota and Sebastian Vettel, who continued Toro Rosso’s strong practice form with a good sixth place.
In a race remarkable for the dearth of serious overtaking, two incidents stood out: the first came on the 43rd lap when Kimi Raikkonen was released from his pit stop before the refuelling hose had been detached from his F2008. A mechanic was struck by the red car’s rear wing in the melee, and as he was being stretchered to the medical centre, the second incident occurred when Raikkonen’s engine apparently exploded as he went into his 46th lap.
That leaves Massa back in second place in the title chase with 64 points, while Kubica is back in the hunt, on Raikkonen’s tail, with 55 points to the Finn’s 57.
The final points went to Toyota’s Timo Glock and Williams’ Nico Rosberg, who led home BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais and Renault’s Nelson Piquet, with Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Honda’s Jenson Button, Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella, William’s Kazuki Nakajima, Honda’s Rubens Barrichello and Red Bull’s David Coulthard a lap down.
Nakajima was not popular with the Spanish fans after colliding with local hero Fernando Alonso’s Renault on the opening lap and wiping off its rear wing. To the intense chagrin of the crowd, the Spaniard’s car was too badly damaged to continue.
Besides Raikkonen, the only other non-finisher was Sutil, who crashed on lap 42
By admin
August 24th, 2008 at 01:15pm
Under Racing
As at the last round in Hungary, changing track conditions kept teams on their mettle in maximising grip and balance throughout practice and qualifying for the European Grand Prix. The first three runners set their times by sticking with Bridgestone’s super-soft option tyre, while the fourth fastest used the soft prime.
Overtaking remains an unknown quantity on the new Valencia Street Circuit, so by virtue of pole position Ferrari’s Felipe Massa starts as favourite for the race, but expect Lewis Hamilton and McLaren to push him all the way. Toro Rosso will be aiming for their best-ever result after a sensational qualifying, and with a high probability of one or more safety-car periods there may well be other surprises on Sunday. We take a team-by-team look at how they line up…
Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 38.989s, P1
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 39.488s, P4
Massa was very happy with his Ferrari, putting his fourth pole position of the season down to a fantastic performance through the first sector in Q3 which really cemented the result. He reported how slippery the track still was after the overnight torrential rain, but coped admirably. Raikkonen opted to stay on the harder prime tyre, but said that P4 was not what he had been looking for. He locked up on his last run in Q3 and wasted valuable time.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 39.199s, P2
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 39.937s, P5
Hamilton seemed quite unruffled that Massa eventually pipped him to pole, and agreed that most of the damage was done by the first corner where he was already a couple of tenths down. Otherwise he had little to complain of, and believed he is in good shape to challenge for the win. Kovalainen liked his MP4-23’s balance, so was disappointed to be only fifth, especially as his lap was devoid of mistakes.
BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica, 1m 39.392s, P3
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 40.631s, P8
With the right tyre pressures correcting the errors of the Hungaroring, Kubica said he was pretty happy overall after a smooth run, and believed that starting third, on the cleaner side of the grid, would give him an advantage over Hamilton. Heidfeld was blocked again by Glock in Q1, quick in Q2, but while he was generally happier with his car than he had been on Friday, he was disappointed with eighth overall.
Toro Rosso
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 40.142s, P6
Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 40.750s, P10
To the surprise of many, Toro Rosso’s amazing practice form continued in qualifying, with Vettel sixth and Bourdais 10th. Their speed raised many eyebrows, especially as the Red Bulls did not look impressive. The former said all the set-up changes they made overnight were positive, and that he would have been quicker but for a mistake in Turn 12 on his last run. Bourdais struggled for grip on the super-soft tyre, so was surprised to make it through to Q3 for the first time in his career.
Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 40.309s, P7
Timo Glock, 1m 38.499s, P13
Toyota might have expected better than seventh given Trulli’s fastest lap in Q2. The Italian was delighted that set-up changes transformed his TF108, less impressed that a gearbox oil pump problem kept him in the garage all morning in practice. Flying blind in qualifying, he made a mistake on his final run, but was delighted with P7. Glock said he didn’t know why, but he just didn’t get the lap together when it mattered.
Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 40.721s, P9
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 38.428s, P11
Back in the top 10, Williams looked stronger than of late, to the delight of Patrick Head who came out to Spain in place of Sam Michael. Neither Rosberg nor Nakajima had any problems on their way to ninth and 11th respectively.
Renault
Fernando Alonso, 1m 38.435s, P12
Nelson Piquet, 1m 38.744s, P15
Alonso was on target for the top 10 until he ran wide and over a kerb and spoiled his last run, and Piquet was also disappointed with 15th. Not a great afternoon for the Regie.
Red Bull
Mark Webber, 1m 38.515s, P14
David Coulthard, 1m 39.235s, P17
In contrast to the Ferrari-engined Toro Rossos, the Renault-motored Red Bulls struggled badly with Webber 14th and Coulthard 17th. They just weren’t quick enough.
Honda
Jenson Button, 1m 38.880s, P16
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 39.811, P19
Button was very disappointed with 16th after showing so strongly earlier in the weekend, for where Toro Rosso upheld they speed, Honda could not. Quick on the prime tyre in Q1, he found the switch to the option tyre disastrous and failed to get through. Barrichello just couldn’t get his RA108 balanced, and struggled round to 19th.
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 39.268s, P18
Adrian Sutil, 1m 39.943s, P20
Both cars ran their seamless-shift transmissions, and Fisichella reckoned he squeezed everything out of his VJM01 that it had to offer on his way to 18th. Sutil was seven-tenths slower, blaming traffic for his inability to warm up his tyres sufficiently.
By admin
August 24th, 2008 at 11:06am
Under Racing
Sir Jackie Stewart, Patrick Tambay and four-time world champion touring car racer Andy Priaulx were among the racing celebrities. Valencia is America’s Cup country, so it was appropriate that one of Honda’s guests was New Zealander Mike Sanderson.
A sailor since the age of five, Sanderson’s successes include victory in the 1993-94 Whitbread Race and the transatlantic speed record onboard Mari Cha IV. The 34 year-old is also an experienced America’s Cup competitor.
There was drama and heartache in the first GP2 race on Saturday. Polesitter and race-long leader Giorgio Pantano lost out literally within sight of the chequered flag after running out of fuel.
That left victory to Vitoly Petrov over Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean. Pantano did have one stroke of luck when fellow title contender Bruno Senna also fell victim, his iSport car rolling to a halt without fuel on the last lap, too.
The Formula BMW round was also a humdinger, with Tiago Geronimi fighting tooth and nail with series yardstick Esteban Guitterrez. The young Mexican snatched the lead going into the final lap only to make a mistake which put the Brazilian back in front.
Despite a fearsome counterattack from Guiterrez, Geronimi held on for the win. Marco Wittman was third. Title contenders Adrian Tambay and Daniel Juncadella both failed to finish.
By admin
August 17th, 2008 at 05:53pm
Under Racing
Mention the term ‘street circuit’ and the words that normally spring to mind include ‘tight’, ‘twisty’, ‘slow’, and ‘minimal overtaking’. However, the all-new Valencia Street Circuit, venue for next weekend’s European Grand Prix, is set to provide a very different experience.
Winding around the Spanish port’s Juan Carlos I Marina, home to the recent 32nd America’s Cup yacht race, the Valencia track is fast, sweeping and wide, and offers several potential opportunities for passing. Predictions suggest it will be the eighth-fastest race on the calendar, making it more like Monza than Monaco.
“When you think about temporary street races in Formula One, you mainly think about Monaco,” says Mercedes’ Norbert Haug. “However, Valencia does not have very much in common with this classic race; just that both cities are located on the Mediterranean coast and that both circuits lead along the harbour front.”
Official simulations have estimated a top speed of 320 km/h at the end of Valencia’s main straight and an estimated lap time around the 1m 37s bracket. With an expected average speed of 225 km/h, the circuit should be on a par with a venue such as Bahrain (average speed 205 km/h) and far quicker than Monte Carlo.
“This is not typical for a street race; it is more like a version of Silverstone or Monza but located in a city,” adds Haug. “While the Monte Carlo race is the slowest of the year with an average speed of about 156 km/h for the fastest lap, and is also the shortest with a race distance of almost 254 kilometres, we face a race distance of 310 kilometres in Valencia and a track on which the cars will reach 300 km/h or more five times per lap.”
The new venue is likely to prove as tough on brakes as Canada’s Montreal street circuit, with three stops down to around 80 km/h. Engines will also get a demanding workout, with the longest full-throttle section along the harbour-side back straight lasting a full 13 seconds.
“It looks pretty fast, to be honest,” says McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen. “You get used to street circuits being quite slow, with lots of slow- to medium-speed corners and very short straights, but this is almost the opposite. There are a lot of fast kinks and esses, a couple of decent straights and lots of high-speed stuff.”
McLaren’s simulations suggest they will employ downforce levels similar to those used at Hockenheim in Germany. However, there will be less margin for driver error thanks to the combination of relatively high speeds and relatively few run-off areas.
“Anybody who’s studied any onboard footage of the circuit will be mindful of the proximity of the concrete barriers in certain areas,” says McLaren’s Formula One CEO, Martin Whitmarsh. “Clearly, we’ll be packing plenty of spares, but hoping we won’t need to use them!”
Opening practice for the European Grand Prix takes place on Friday, August 22.
By admin
