F1 Fanatic round-up: 30/5/2010

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It’s a bumper day of motorsports action today with not just the Turkish Grand Prix but also the Indianapolis 500 this evening. And I’ll being keeping an eye on the GP2 and GP3 action from Turkey as well.

Here’s today’s round-up:

Links

Michelin makes last minute bid to wrest F1 tyre contract from Pirelli (Adam Cooper)

“A further complication is that not all the teams are as keen as others to have identical contractual arrangements with the supplier. It’s rumoured that there was also some consternation in a recent meeting when it emerged that one top team has been enjoying a different arrangement with Bridgestone than its rivals.”

Vettel’s car hit by roll-bar failure (Autosport)

Yet another problem for Vettel.

More races on the calendar – if people are willing to pay (The Times)

“Some think this year’s 19 is too many; most are rolling their eyes at the idea of India making it 20 next year. And if no race is dropped for 2012, the addition of the US Grand Prix at Austin, Texas, would make it 21. Well, Adam Parr, the CEO of Williams, suggested there could be as many as 24 in the future.”

Hamilton has been ‘manufactured’, contends Mansell (Crash.net)

“People have said to me ‘what do I think of Lewis Hamilton?’ and I’ve said ‘Well, it’s fantastic what he’s achieved, but he’s been manufactured’. How many people from seven years of age have been given £2.5million to go karting? I know drivers now are being signed up at seven, eight, nine years of age. They’re all being picked now, and this is the incredible thing that is so disappointing for me, to be grand prix drivers in five and seven and ten years’ time.”

Comment of the day

Have Renault turned the top four into a top five? HounslowBusGarage thinks so:

I’m equally impressed by Petrov being less than half a second away from his team leader. There are lots of possibilities here -Petrov might be learning quickly, Kubica might have had a problem, Renault might have made significant improvements etc…

Who cares? We might have five horse race from here on.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Ted Tofield and Wesley!

On this day in F1

Back when the Indianapolis 500 was part of the F1 calendar the race also used to be held on the same day every year – May 30th.

In fact ten of the 11 Indianapolis 500s that counted towards the world championship from 1950 to 1960 were held on this day – the only exception being the 1954 race.

Today the classic race is once again being held on May 30th. Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Dario Franchitti occupy the front row of the grid. Former F1 driver Justin Wilson is 11th and Takuma Sato starts 31st in the gorgeous Lotus-liveried car.

In Britain you can see the Indianapolis 500 live on Sky Sports 4 from 5:30pm.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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38 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 30/5/2010”

  1. newnhamlea1
    30th May 2010, 0:22

    I am now of the opinion that after fading away a bit the possibility of a tyre war is now back on the cards, michelin seem to be the favourite with renault, McLaren and Ferrari and pirelli with the rest.

    1. What I want to know is which team is in talks with Bridgestone? I’m not looking forward to a tire war. I think they should all be on the same rubber, or else we could end up with a season like 2004 where one team dominates far more so than Brawn last year or Red Bull this year. Let’s keep it competitive.

  2. I agree with Mansell; it’s fantastic what Lewis has achieved and the driver he is, but he was groomed, “manufactured”, all through his career. In comparison his teammate, Button, did it the old skool way and, in my view, was more successful in the lower formulas. Ok, Lewis achieved more, but he spent longer doing it.

    Let the flaming begin… ;)

    1. We want turbos
      30th May 2010, 1:04

      I’ll agree with you, but the guy has talent aswell that can’t be manufactured!!

      1. yes, very true.

        But as a sport becomes more professional things like this will happen, anyway Lewis had to win on track, where talent separates the men from the boys. He wasnt picked by McLaren because he was just some average Joe.

        1. But at the age they picked him surely it can’t be a good indicator of potential in the future! I agree with Mansell, I don’t mind them picking up a driver in GP2 or similar, but I don’t like the idea of 12 year olds being signed….. It’s to plastic.

    2. you’re right, Hamilton undoubtfully has got talent, but his career advance has been easier than a lot of his colleagues. Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon that is striking more and more sports.

    3. the same happens in every other sport. you get premier league clubs keeping tabs on 8-9 year old football players.

      it is just that Hamilton was the first example of a similar system in F1. That, and Mansell is jealous :)

  3. Speaking of Indy and America etc, thought this may be of interest to some people:

    http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/columns/story?columnist=blount_terry&id=3407489

    I’ve always said this – theres two forms of sport in the world, one for Americans, and then theres the sports the rest of the world are into.

    1. Got it in one Hamish!!
      I have always said Shirley Muldowney was a much better driver than that wimp Lauda.
      And just think how many more WDC’s Jackie, Alain and Emmo could have won if they had listened to the great John Force for advice on how to set up a car for Spa and the Nurburgring!!
      Ah Americans, we just love em. Just imagine the mess we would be in now if they had’nt won WW1 and WW2 !

    2. Jeezo, I can respect their decisions (just) for the Nascar drivers, at least they have to work for their titles, but FUNNY CARS? Seriously? a 1/4 mile straight line…. seriously?

  4. A 24 races calender in the future sounds good to me. With no in season testing & drivers coming from many new places like Petrov from Russia & Chandok from India will definitely boost their sponsors from their respective country. But one thing the FIA & FOM needs to make sure that they arrange the race in places where they get people coming in the circuit.

    1. Can anyone tell me who asked the questions to the drivers in the FIA post-qualifying press conference in Turkey?

      1. I could have sworn it was David Croft, probably wasn’t but sounded exactly like him.

        1. It is David Croft.

  5. Prisoner Monkeys
    30th May 2010, 4:18

    Twenty-four races?

    Bring it on!

    1. Absolutely :-)

    2. I am all for it as well.

      Nice idea, to have some interesting activities for the fans on friday.

  6. This could be a very good day for Australia. Mark Webber and Will Power on the front row.

    As for 24 races in a year. YES PLEASE!!!!!

  7. Can someone tell me why Webber had to go out before Vettel in Q3 when it should have been the other way around. And still he got pole. That’s karma.

    1. Not sure why he went out first, but as far as why he still got pole, Vettel’s suspension was broken. He still managed a P3.

      1. It wasn’t his suspention, it was his roll bar.

        1. His anti-roll bar – a linkage in the suspension which connects the wheels on either side. It increases the resistance to rolling in turns and has a big effect on the car’s handling.

          Not the rollover hoop behind the driver’s head.

    2. Why should it have been the other way around?

      1. Because Webber was asked in the post qualiy press conference why he went out first and he said it wasn’t ment to be like that, it was ment to be Vettels turn.

        1. I’ve had a little search and this may help you Macca
          “Q: You chose to come out of the garage for your final flying lap ahead of Sebastian. The previous lap you would have been behind Sebastian. Was that trying to put pressure on him at that stage?
          MW: No, I don’t know what happened. It should have been me second. But, anyway, I think we left too early. I don’t know what happened. We need to see what happened on the pit wall. Normally I would go second this weekend.”
          http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/5/10848.html
          Seems Mark himself doesn’t know.

          1. Exactly, thanks Steph.

  8. Mansell is talking rubish. Hamilton had to perform to get sponsorship. If he had under performed he would have been dropped period. No sponsor just hands out that sum of money to an individual.

    1. As much as I dislike Hamilton I back him up in this situation. What kind of idiot wanting to make a career out of racing would turn down sponsorship funds? For anyone who thinks otherwise put it this way – if you were in Hamiltons shoes all those years ago what would have you done?

  9. 24 races in a season , definetely :)

    We need Portimao on the f1 track list soon

  10. Accidental Mick
    30th May 2010, 11:14

    This is what earnt Mansell the nickname of “the Brummie whinger” when he was racing. Always, whenever Mansell was beaten, it wasn’t because the other driver was better on the day it was because that driver had an unfair advantage over Mansell (according to Mansell).

  11. mansell was a 1 hit wonder hes no were near as gud as hamilton is

  12. Mansell was good there’s no doubt about it, he won his title and competed in the 80s against some of the best, he was runner up on 2 or 3 occasions to Piquet and Prost in equal machinery, finishing ahead of Senna. I think that shows how good he was. As for 1 hit wonder, think of all the drivers who only won one title, I beleive a certain Mr Hamilton is in that list ;)

    1. Fastest Milkcart in the West
      26th November 2020, 1:07

      Aged like un-refrigerated in Singapore.

  13. HounslowBusGarage
    30th May 2010, 16:23

    The one day I didn’t read the Round-up until late, I got COTD!

  14. Mansell has a point, but to be fair, would Hamilton have had the money to get so far without backing from a young age? Plus, isn’t Mansell’s son racing? If so, strikes me a bit as sour grapes that his son isn’t performing well enough to get similar backing!

  15. Mansell seems to be forgetting that no poor person gets into F1 these days. McLaren might have invested in him heavily, but for a long time it was just Anthony working day and night to further his and his son’s ambitions. If McLaren hadn’t invested in him it would have been sponsors. He did have a more fortunate route into F1, but why would you not put a promising young kid in the best equipment you could, and why would you except someone into the best teams if they couldn’t do the job? Manufactured? Absolute twaddle.

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