In the F1 blogs this week some rare video footage of Ayrton Senna karting in 1982. Plus one writer’s thoughts on meeting Jenson Button, the perfect T-shirt for Lewis Hamilton and more worries over that divisive ten-year engine development freeze.
In the F1 news this week an EC investigation could put next year’s European Grand Prix at the new Valencia street circuit in danger. Silverstone is getting a lick of paint and the row continues over the McLaren-Ferrari spy saga and the future of Ron Dennis despite the FIA officially finishing the matter. All this … Continue reading F1 news review: Threat to Valencia Grand Prix
I sometimes wonder what the FIA are setting out to achieve with their spoilsport rules. In particular, what is gained by raising the entry fee from $100,000 to $50,000,000? Sure a few bad apples slipped in through the net, but it?óÔé¼Ôäós now nigh on impossible for a privateer team to enter F1. Of the bad … Continue reading Lapped Legends: Andrea Moda
I’ve seen a few details on F1 forums about changes to next year’s qualifying regulations that apparently were agreed by the teams last week. I encourage you to take the following with a pinch of salt, but the changes seem sufficiently odd and unnecessary to convince me this really is something the FIA has suggested. … Continue reading Rumoured qualifying changes for 2008
Lewis Hamilton has had some unwanted negative publicity after being caught speeding in France. Although I can’t condone speeding, nor can I say ‘I’m holier than thou’ – I picked up a ticket of my own this year. Ironically enough I was returning from the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the time… Hamilton is not … Continue reading Speeding Hamilton joins Fisichella, Button, Montoya…
Audi fielded the winning team in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours and the German Touring Car Championship (DTM). But why aren’t they racing their two major German luxury car manufacturing rivals – BMW and Mercedes – in Formula 1?
The FIA has formally ended its investigation into McLaren’s use of Ferrari intellectual property by cancelling the meeting of the World Motor Sports Council planned for February 14th. However the fall-out from the McLaren and Renault hearings continues. The sport’s governing body also published the full transcripts from the December 6th hearing on whether Renault … Continue reading FIA end McLaren investigation and publish Renault report
The latest Max Mosley master plan to cut costs in F1 involved banning teams from using their wind tunnels. On January 11th proposals will be put to the team principals requiring that they reduce their wind tunnel use as follows: Each team may have only one wind tunnel operating five days per week, eight hours … Continue reading How do you stop teams from using wind tunnels?
Hanlon’s Razor says you should: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” When McLaren first investigated Mike Coughlan’s possession of 780 pages of Ferrari information they found little evidence of its widespread use within the team. But after two hearings the team were found guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute … Continue reading Poll: McLaren – was it a cover up?
New Formula 1 tracks usually have two things in common: they’re designed by Hermann Tilke, and they get criticised by F1 fans and commentators for being dull, sterile and unchallenging. Inevitably Tilke gets the blame, but I read something in Autosport recently that made me wonder whether that’s fair: Current F1 track design rules limit … Continue reading Don’t blame Hermann Tilke, blame the rules
“Cars at Speed” – what a fantastic title. I’d like to think that if the TV programme “Top Gear” had been created in the 1950s it would have been called “Cars at Speed” and presented by plummy-voiced Raymond Baxter instead of rant-meister Jeremy Clarkson. But no, “Cars at Speed” is a book about motor racing … Continue reading “Cars at Speed” (Robert Daley, 2007 reprint)
This week F1 bloggers asked how Fernando Alonso will get on with Nelson Piquet Jnr – and why McLaren got punished ahead of Renault. Plus a great video review of the F1 season and interview with Lewis Hamilton, and much more…
Heikki Kovalainen will be confirmed as Lewis Hamilton’s team mate at McLaren for 2008 according to today’s Times.
In this week’s round-up of F1 news and articles there’s stacks of prizes to be won including F1 2007 DVDs, Autocourse 2007 annuals, Lewis Hamilton books and more. Plus a fatality at Interlagos, new plans for a night race in Australia, more tests for Michael Schumacher, the battle for the last few 2008 F1 drives … Continue reading F1 news review: Win 2007 DVDs, Autocourses and more
Max Mosley has proposed that the proceedings regarding McLaren’s possession of Ferrari intellectual property be brought to a close following McLaren’s public apology earlier today. This comes following the publication of the FIA’s technical report which casts new light on how McLaren engineers were planning to use the material obtained from Ferrari’s Nigel Stepney by … Continue reading Mosley proposes halt to McLaren spy investigation
McLaren has taken the surprising step of issuing an apology over the spy scandal for which it was thrown out of the 2007 constructors’ championship. In a statement on its website the team said: It has become clear that Ferrari information was more widely disseminated within McLaren than was previously communicated. McLaren greatly regrets that … Continue reading McLaren apologises over Ferrari spy scandal
Ordinarily I wouldn’t bother writing a separate post about a sponsor leaving a team, such as today’s news Spanish insurance group Mutua Madrilena are leaving McLaren before the 2008 season. According to Autosport: Mutua Madrilena said in a statement that its decision to leave McLaren was not linked with Alonso’s exit and that they had … Continue reading Spanish sponsor quits McLaren for 2008
I’m still trying to get everything that happened in F1’s two spying scandals straight in my head at the moment. While doing some work on it tonight I came across a passage that give further insight into Max Mosley’s thinking on the FIA’s pursuit of the Sunday Times and Martin Brundle over the ‘witch hunt’ … Continue reading ‘McLaren witch hunt’ discussed at second spy hearing
Here’s one for those who like chuckling at floppy youth hairstyles: six videos showing 2007 F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen and runner-up Lewis Hamilton in their karting days. Some of their strongest characteristics are already plain to see – Raikkonen’s laid-back reticence and wry smile are much in evidence. Behind the wheel Hamilton’s attacking, opportunistic race … Continue reading Video: Raikkonen & Hamilton get started in karts
In the same way that accidents will always attract onlookers, so there is a degree of vicarious pleasure in observing an F1 team in its dying throes. What ridiculous sponsorship deals will they sign? Which drivers, thought retired, will pop-up for a cameo? At what point will they draw the line and shut the doors … Continue reading Lapped legends: Philippe Adams