Alguersuari wins Massa’s kart tournament

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Jaime Alguersuari wins the Desafio Internacional das Estrelas kart race against a host of F1 stars.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Surpreso, Alguersuari vence o Desafio das Estrelas (Desafio Internacional das Estrelas)

Alguersuari headed the points standings after the two races ahead of Felipe Massa, Lucas di Grassi, Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari development driver Jules Bianchi.

A bit of a “whodunnit” at Massa’s kart race (Ferrari)

“The two legs were won by Jules Bianchi, but he was disqualified after the second leg when his kart was found to contravene the weight regulations, being 600g under the regulation minimum.”

Sebastien Ogier crowned Champion of Champions (Race of Champions)

Michael Schumacher was the only F1 driver to reach the semi-finals of the Race of Champions. He was knocked out by Tom Kristensen, who lost to Sebastien Ogier in the final.

Button defends Hamilton’s performance (Autosport)

“I feel that I was driving better, and I obviously can’t speak for Lewis [Hamilton]. He had some pretty tough races but he also had some great races. In Abu Dhabi he was untouchable. He’s still got the speed.”

Bahrain jails bodybuilding champion, other sportsmen (Reuters)

“They were found guilty of illegal congregation, inciting hatred for the system, and not obeying orders regarding involvement in politics.”

Bomb blast close to British embassy in Bahrain (BBC)

“A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman said it was aware of a small blast, in the capital Manama, which had caused no casualties nor damage to the embassy.”

Add $125,000 for drinks to the cost of the Grand Prix (The Age)

“The Baillieu government said it had requested that the Australian Grand Prix Corporation reduce its hospitality expenses.”

Vettel, Webber for FIA Awards Gala in Delhi (Deccan Herald)

[Sebastian] Vettel, who won the inaugural Indian GP, will be officially crowned the 2011 Champion at the award ceremony which has been moved to India from the traditional venue in Monaco.”

Runners revel in Webber race (The Mercury)

“The inaugural Mark Webber Adventure run was a smash-hit among the 233 competitors who turned out on a wintry summer’s day for the 6.5km fun run from Henry Jones Hotel, over the Queens Domain, and return.”

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

Dizzy spots a trend in the ten most popular nominations for Pass of the Year:

Note how none of the best overtakes this year had anything to do with DRS.

Proves what I’ve been saying all year about DRS creating boring and unexciting passing. Ditch it!
Dizzy

From the forum

Happy birthday!

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On this day in F1

I’ve often been told that fans would like to see teams and drivers get to keep the same numbers from year to year. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not hard to see the appeal of F1 going down this route, which is widespread in other top motor racing categories.

At the moment the FIA assigns the teams’ numbers based on their finishing positions in the previous year’s championship. This means all the teams’ numbers can change from year to year.

Ten years ago today the FIA decided it would return to letting teams keep the same number from year to year. However, there was a change of heart before the beginning of the 2002 season, and the current system has remained in place ever since.

It wouldn’t make a great difference next season anyway as several teams finished in the same position they did last year.

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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98 comments on “Alguersuari wins Massa’s kart tournament”

  1. I bet we can all guess who’d end up with 1 and 2 on their cars, forever, under the proposed system?

    1. exactly. F1 is far too political for that system to work, and historically there is too much value associated with the #1.

      1. I’m pretty sure under the ‘pick your own number’ system the #1 is reserved for the current world champion only but they have the option to not use it and keep the number they originally picked.
        Ie. Vettel picks to be #21. He wins the world championship. Next year he can choose to have #1 or keep #21. If he picks #21, no one else can pick #1

        1. In that case, I kinda like it.

          1. I’d be hesitant about it though, the current number system works.

            There is also the problem on conflicting ideas about who gets certain numbers. I’d rather miss that argument.

        2. It’s definitely a bad idea in my eyes, F1’s number allocation is the only one in sport that makes sense! It’s nice and simple – from 1 to 25 (no number 13) from world champion at No1 to the back of the grid 25, if you mess that up it’s just an unnecessary pain, lets at least have something simple in this sport for new/casual viewers to understand!

          1. I DON´T BELIEVE IN BACK LUCK…. but I wouldn´t like to get the number 13 ;) (or 17)

          2. OOOOOpssss…. I mean *bad

      2. Letters would be quite nice as 26 cars on the grid sounds about right. No unlucky 13 either.

        My other stupid idea is to have Roman numerals instead.

    2. Yes, but I think the idea would be that the WDC and his team-mate would get the #1 and #2, as per the “old system”

    3. I’m glad they finally decided to add driver names to steward investigation coverage, making car numbers completely irrelevant for spectators.

      The only thing that ****** me off is that for some medieval reason they refuse to use #13. This sort of superstition in a sport so technologically advanced is pathetic.

      1. This sort of superstition in a sport so technologically advanced is pathetic.

        Agreed.

        1. Pathetic? Really? I find it a bit endearing, actually. Makes the sport seem a little more human. :)

          1. @Journeyer Assuming that other people share the same superstitions and hang-ups as everyone else?

            Human, maybe, but not in a good way.

          2. Thats for the drivers no other reason. They ARE superstitious. If you are it’s not really fair to be competing in something that you automaticly believe will be bad for you or give you bad luck. End of the day it’s better to remove number 13 for the teams as well than have drivers saying oh I couldn’t do my best because i was hexed.

          3. TheBrav3 I find that both patronising and silly.

            Firstly the idea that all the drivers are or should be superstitious is clearly nonsense.

            Secondly the idea that, if they are, they all fixate their hang-up on the same number is preposterous. We know that some people of different cultures consider different numbers ‘unlucky’ or ‘lucky’ – indeed, some consider 13 ‘lucky’.

            All of which serves to illustrate my wider point that the whole ‘lucky’/’unlucky’ numbers thing is complete bunk. McLaren’s MP4/13 was pretty handy as I recall…

            In short, just let them choose whatever number they like. (Within reason, of course – let’s say positive integers of no more than two digits.)

          4. In Italy it’s number 17 that is unlucky. Italian drivers wouldn’t like to drive car #17, but would welcome driving car #13. Luca Filippi drove the #17 Super Nova in the first part of the 2011 GP2 Series season, and as he thought it was bringing him bad luck he added a small dot in between the numbers, to separate them.

          5. I find it a bit endearing, actually. Makes the sport seem a little more human.

            I can’t agree more!

          6. I totally agree with you @Journeyer – I find it quite endearing and quaint.
            Personally, I find luck and “fate” bizarrely integral to the sport in my eyes. Many drivers admit to their own superstitions and so on – I mean the legend of Ascari’s helmet for an extreme example and much of the premise of the Senna movie, to simply what side of the car they get in from. For me, what else could explain Rubens Barrichello’s run of form in Interlagos over his career – the boy is cursed! Science, money and rational thought have their ever increasing power of F1, but let us have our love, passion and luck for a bit longer!

          7. Does the numbering system really matter? Seems strange to get worked up about something so trivial. I agree with @Journeyer – we say no to the #13 campaign!

          8. Keith you’re preaching to the choir I’m well aware if you went through all the superstitions from all countrys you probably couldn’t find a single number below the 20’s that was considered only lucky or at least not unlucky.

            I wasn’t saying every driver is superstitious and i certainly wasn’t saying that every driver on the grid fears number 13. I do however know for instance lewis only gets into his car from one side jenson button and ant davidson are the same. Schumacher at the very least only likes odd numbers some drivers are superstitious, not all by any means but the fact is some are and everyone knows about number 13. It’s the most widely known superstition in western culture. If you’re still angry with me let me at least say i didn’t make the rules just trying to explain them because for what ever the reason there is no number 13.

          9. In short, just let them choose whatever number they like. (Within reason, of course – let’s say positive integers of no more than two digits.)

            Aw, that would be a shame, I would have been craving for the guy/gal to clinch “pi” or “e” or something like that ;-)

          10. If you’re still angry with me

            I’ve never said anything of the sort.

          11. I appreciate that, as @john-h points out, this is not a serious problem. Still I find it disturbing to see so many people coming to the defence of something that is self-evidently irrational.

            I’m all for making F1 more human but that isn’t what this is – this is imposing the beliefs of one set of people onto a group that does not necessarily share the same views.

            This relates to the point @Fixy made – why do some people’s superstitions matter more those who hold different superstitions, and those that none?

          12. Definately endearing. If keeping number due to tradition is a good idea, why not keeping a number out? This is clearly now done as a tradition too, even if the initial reason was rather sillier.

        2. I disagree. It shows that we’re still human and we sometimes have stupid irrational beliefs! F1 is too robotic… its nice to have a quirky little bit of nonsense now and again. Long may it continue I say.

          “Number 6: I am not a number, I am a free man”

        3. Agreed, but in France 13 is lucky at least for a Friday 13th.

    4. In MotoGP the #1 is only available for the world champion IF he decides to use it (Rossi doesn’t use it, for instance).

      It’d be great to let the drivers pick the number they like. It’d associate them like in Indy or MotoGP, and that’s great, gives a bit of personalization.

  2. I would love to see the return of classic numbers. Who wouldn’t want to see Ferrari back in numbers 27 and 28, McLaren using numbers 7 and 8 and Sauber using 29 and 30 again, and beyond that there are loads of new teams and drivers able to start new traditions. While for me the only thing that could possibly be cooler than seeing Alonso in a no. 27 Ferrari would be seeing him in a no. 1 Ferrari. :p

    1. Would love to see McLaren use 7 and 8 again, but knowing them, they’d go for 11 and 12…

      1. It would be a nice little touch if they added the number’s to the 2013 rules.

        Turbos, slicks and classic numbers: It’d be the 80s all over again!

    2. Although a ‘new’ team I think it would be nice to see the Mercedes cars with 3 and 4 in honour of the team’s Tyrrell ancestry.

      http://f1colours.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/numbers-nostalgia/
      A Good article theorising what numbers the modern day teams would use under the old system, and why the current system is certainly a lot less confusing.

    3. It would be wonderful if Ferrari had the numbers 27 and 28 again. I’d burst with joy. I hate the numbers as they are now. It’s also harder to identify drivers now because of it and is just another way in which F1 lacks a bit of personality.

  3. Great for Ogier to pull off that win after switching teams. Can’t argue with comment of the day, DRS is clearly not the answer for having more exciting races, I think the higher degradation Pirelli’s have done substantially more to aid overtaking.

  4. I find it interesting how F1 drivers get regularly beaten by drivers from other disciplines. Perhaps it’s in the nature of F1 that it’s rather specialised, whereas rallying seems to require a wider range of driving skills due to different surfaces and so forth.

    It bursts a romantic bubble, doesn’t it?

    1. Team germany =vettel+schumacher have won the nations cup 5 years straight against drivers of very nearly every series thats a roc record. It was a roc record wen they got 4 and when they got 3. I would hardly call that being “regularly beaten”. They have won every year they have entered bar schumis run in 2004 when im not even sure if he was in the nations cup. Plus the race of champions is almost identical to some rally special stages. There are 3 rally cars in the line up and a wtc which is closer to rally and dtm than a f1 car and the buggy which is probably slightly like a go kart. That still means 4/5 cars they are at a disadvantage with. The track is always low grip as well since it is made the week roc is on for 3 days use and rally drivers spend their entire careers almost with out grip. JB and DC are both finalists heikki won it alonso won the nations they do pretty dang well actually.

    2. @victor

      I wouldn’t read too much into the results of the RoC. A race over a distance that short isn’t exactly a crapshoot but it’s not far off.

      That’s why, despite the stellar driving line-up. I find it so hard to enjoy. I don’t think the format does justice to the talent involved.

      1. @keith,

        “isn’t exactly a crapshoot but it’s not far off”

        Much like qualifying then!! Schumacher got a bad start against Vettel but still beat him. If two drivers in the same car done a qualifying lap and one made a slight mistake its over. Would be better though if at least for the quarters and semis they done 3 or 4 laps.

        Over all I enjoyed it apart from were they tried to fix the nations cup result by having Vettel race in the buggie rather than the Skoda.

      2. So Tom kristiensen is the most unlucky driver in roc? 11 years worth of entrys and no championship? I agree it is down to luck at some point but it’s an even ammount of luck either driver could slip anytime. It shows what it shows that you have 16 of the finest drivers in the world and anything could happen.

  5. The nom’s for pass of the year and results tally prove what I said about DRS last week, not what Dizzy say’s about DRS. In fact Im wondering how a “pass” such as Alonso “passing” Button can even be eligable for pass of the year, Button admitted he let Alonso past. Thats not driver skill, nor pressure, Alonso took his usual racing line, Button slowed for him. That,s not good passing.

    1. Mate Jenson can say what he wants Alonso’s move on jenson was the best of 2011. jenson didnt let him pass alonso just made a great move and jenson had no reply.. Until DRS.

      1. Except he DID let him past. There was a ton of debris on the inside of the corner and he was forced to back off and give up the place when going over it

        1. Or maybe Alonso had it all figured out and did a Senna-esque thing: giving Button the choice of yielding, or risking debri damage.

          Both of them had already had a few laps to see that damage there, so when he made the move, Alonso knew it was there to trouble Button, after all, and that helped decide to do it there, and in that way.

          Since the move looked great, I prefer to see it this way ;-)

        2. The move was certainly less impressive than it originally looked, but it wasn’t as easy as Button waving Alonso past.

          Alonso got a better run out of the previous corner than Button, enough to force Button onto the inside line and enable the pass. We’ll never know how the move might have played out had Button not spotted the debris, but passing around the outside of that corner is not impossible.

          Button himself managed a stunning pass there on Romain Grosjean two years ago, which was cruelly outvoted (IMHO) for best move of 2009.

        3. If you look at the video, you’ll see debris at corner being picked up by Alonso after he makes the pass on Button…so I guess, Alonso did not care much.

    2. Im wondering how a “pass” such as Alonso “passing” Button can even be eligable for pass of the year, Button admitted he let Alonso past.

      The same way the other nine passes made the shortlist – by garnering more nominations than the others.

    3. Matty no.2, I think it can be a legitimate pass of the year. Yes, Button did concede the place rather than risk the debris. But it was Alonso who put Button in the situation where he could either give up the position or take the risk of going through that debris. Clever thinking to take advantage of the situation I would say.

    4. Funny how only two years ago people moaned and hissed at Kimi’s KERS pass on Fisichella at Belgium. Now, KERS is generally well liked and praised as a passing tool.

      1. yes well that was cos Fisi’s force india didnt have KERS. So at the time it was like DRS, totally biased in favour of those had it/allowed to use it.

        Thats why if DRS was allowed to be used for 7 seconds per lap anywhere in the lap by anyone attacking or defending then it would be a great addition to the sport. But as its totally in favour of the attacker its boring and unfair.

        1. All teams were allowed to use it, only three teams decided it was viable to use.

  6. I’m gonna be awkward and not want a change to the numbering system. I can see why fans want a return to drivers and teams keeping the same numbers year after year and so on, associate it more with the driver (Villeneuve #27, Senna #12, Rossi #46 and so on), but I believe the current numbering system gives a better idea of what can be expected from teams and drivers for more causal fans. If I’m watching a race with some of my mates, of which are casual fans (we don’t have diehards here in Essex), and say like Alonso is occupying 5th on the grid, and everyone asks “Why is Alonso so far down? Ain’t he meant to be like, really good?” the best way I use to explain it is that the lower the number on the car, generally the quicker the car and the better the team. It would also make differentiating between pictures of older or more recent seasons MUCH more difficult… I’m personally not a big fan of weird numbers like 00 and 98 anyhow. I just don’t really see much point. Simply stick with 1-25 (excluding 13). Wouldn’t mind seeing a return to the number 0 though, I like that number!

    1. I believe the current numbering system gives a better idea of what can be expected from teams and drivers for more causal fans.

      I bet casual fans don’t even notice they’re there. It’s not as if they’re easy to see.

      1. Indeed. I remember the big numbers on the Honda’s a few years ago, the only thing good about that car!

  7. Can I just said how much I loved Button and Vettel tonight at the Autosport awards… they were hillarious!!!!!

    Vette speech —- look at 9:32 for a Kimi imitation…


    Button speech

    1. Thanks for the links! :D Hilarious.

    2. That Kimi impression was priceless! I’m still laughing! :-D

    3. Thanks for posting these. I enjoyed them quite a bit.

    4. Haha very good.

    5. Thanks for the links, only realized could watch the awards online last night about 2 minutes before they were over.

    6. @celeste You really have a talent for finding the best F1 links on the web.

      1. @Girts Thank you :)… Is an honor to put my talent to your service ;)

    7. Haha, very good. Poor Steve Ryder was put in his place a bit there by Seb.

      1. He didn’t look happy at all with jenson or vettel I would love if all the drivers flipped the bird to sky next year It would be rather entertaining.

        1. It will be great, but I don´t think it will happened…

  8. Another Oliver won the Mclaren driver prize, Oliver Rowland.
    The forth one I beleive after Gavin (’91), Jarvis (’05), and Turvey (’06).

  9. Which date is the FIA GALA?

    1. Next friday 9th

      1. Why in gods name has it been moved from monaco to india lol? how much did they pay bernie for that i wonder.

        1. I don´t think they pay him, but I guess he is trying to promote his new F1 destiny…

  10. I really thought Liuzzi would do better at Massa’s kart record, as him and Trulli are the only current F1 drivers to have won the Karting World Championship.

    1. Also, I just noticed that Nelsinho Piquet was at the event. That’s quite significant considering how angry Massa was after the scandal of Singapore 2008 was revealed.

    2. He actually took the pole for race 1 but spun on the first lap, dropping the back. Recovered to the upper half of the field.

      1. Thanks for that, I should’ve studied the race report more carefully.

  11. So does this mean Alguersuari’s drive is retained??? (PLEAAAAAAASE)

    1. @shomir

      Alas, not yet!

    2. @Shomir Clutching at straws slightly? ;)

    3. No it’ll go to Bianchi, provided he gains about a kilo. ;)

  12. I find that I don’t pay attention to the car numbers at all. As they’re so small on the car in the first place, it’s actually easier for me to look at the either the helmet or the T-bar camera to figure out what driver I’m looking at.

    As is, though, they could number the cars in binary and I’d probably not notice a difference.

    1. @Wonderduck I think this is more a matter of branding than identification for most people.

      Consider how in other series such as Moto GP and NASCAR, drivers are closely identified by what numbers they used because they can retain them from year to year: e.g. 46 means Valentino Rossi.

      1. Oh, no question! If they were easily visible and permanent, that’d be great. But there’s not enough room on a F1 car, what with all the sponsorship branding, to have big numbers.

        Of course, when a car doesn’t have any branding, you can do it, but how long do those teams hang around?

    2. The HRT have big numbers on the engine cover and Williams has put them on the sidepods last year, those were clearly visible.

      1. …and just how often did we have a HRT on the tv screen, unless it was while they were being lapped?

        1. Oh, I clearly remember seeing a HRT stranded next to the track several times @wonderduck :-P

          1. Tell you what they got some good coverage during qualy at australia the first time the car had taken to track all year. It spewed smoke and broke down within half a lap? classic stuff if only virgin would do that kind of thing more often they might have more fans.

  13. “After a complicated year like this one, getting to the podium was a positive feeling,” said Felipe after the second leg, which saw him engaged in a close duel with Alguersuari. “I am sure this result is a good omen for the next Formula 1 season.”

    So, does this mean Massa’s going to be happy next season if he gets stomped on by his teams test driver, also by Alguersuari, and can barely beat di Grassi? If that was a good omen then it doesn’t seem like he’s setting his sights too high for next year…

    1. I was kinda thinking that my self heck i think he may have won this event last year…if he did that didn’t prove to be a good omen.

  14. the award ceremony which has been moved to India from the traditional venue in Monaco

    Not that I ever go to it or have even seen a full event live, but how comes the FIA Gala has moved from Monaco to India?
    Is this some new global thing, to show that the FIA are not elitist?
    I don’t get it. Maybe this will give Bernie the clout to pressure the Monaco GP into paying some money now? Nothing against India, but I thought that the majority of those attending would be nearer to Monaco. I guess, as I work in IT, I should see the funny side of the FIA Gala being off-shored.

    Let’s hope we get a decent highlight show.

    1. I think the FIA might be trying to kick-start something, where different nations bid to host the event, kind of like the Olympics. It’s a little let down by the way the event is not broadcast.

  15. I don’t mind the current numbering system. Makes sense to me. I don’t like the US approach. Too cheesy for my liking.

    Good spot with the COTD! I do believe DRS still serves a purpose though, even if it doesn’t result in a direct overtake. I would heavily revise it for next season though.

  16. I feel a bit silly for not bothering to drive down to Hobart and meet Mark Webber now. I’ve heard that he was actually quite available and approachable! Hopefully he’ll do it next year. Hopefully I’ll be able to run more than 100 metres without passing out by next year, too…

    1. Man if i lived in aus i’d try the tas challenge i think if jb made a charity triathlon tho…i might skip that they are evil.

  17. For how long have redbull run Sky sponsors and is that allowed when sky are the main broadcaster next year?

    1. Red Bull have run Sky as sponsors for the last two (maybe more) Brazilian GP’s and I believe it is Brazilian Sky that sponsors them not Sky here that will be broadcasting F1 next year.

      1. Ah that could be it though i think i may have seen the sky sponsors in abudhabi as well need to check.

        1. Yup you’re correct at least i couldn’t find any sky sponsors on the car at abu dhabi either here or on sutton images.

  18. I miss the traditional numbers! Who would take 25 & 26 now Ligier have gone? 3 & 4 would be Mercedes right? Tyrrell lineage? Toro Rosso 23 & 24?
    So glad Lotus and Lotus didnt have to argue over who got 11 &12 this year…

    Ferrari’s belong to number 27 & 28.

  19. Best passes of the year? caught the 2011 Goodwood revival on TV, more passes in 5 mins of classic sedan and classic GT racing than a year of F1.

  20. I downloaded the tv coverage of this race, and even though i didnt understand the language of the commentators, i enjoyed the racing much more then any of the crap at the fraudulent race of champions meeting, this karting event is so much more entertaining and should be shown worldwide, and it had so many more big names then the race of champions.

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