After a dismal (by their standards) start to 2005, Ferrari have pressed their new car into action two weeks ahead of schedule. Can they close the gap to Renault, or will the technical Bahrain circuit reveal that their true weakness is their Bridgestone tyres? The 2004 Bahrain Grand Prix won the FIA’s award for best … Continue reading Bahrain Grand Prix 2005 Preview
According to Autosport-Atlas Ferrari have decided to cancel their testing session at Silverstone in June. It is a response to the near-universal criticism of their refusal to pursue cost-cutting reductions in testing. However there is still no sign that they will back down from their two somewhat contradictory stances on testing: that their reduction in … Continue reading Ferrari offer testing truce?
Michael Schumacher has finally gotten behind the wheel of the F2005 and immediately after getting out of the car told the journos from Autosport-Atlas and that this was the super-fact, razor-sharp machine that would allow him to renew his crushing domination of F1: “This car has been driven quite a lot, it’s not as if … Continue reading Schumacher drives F2005
Ferrari are in trouble – there is no doubt about it. They never looked like running with the leaders all weekend long, and by the end of second qualifying Michael Schumacher was four seconds behind, languishing in 13th. After 56 laps he was 1m 20s behind Alonso, and had been lapped at one stage. A … Continue reading Editorial: So what’s it gonna be this time?
Few drivers split opinion in the way Jacques Villeneuve does. Some see him as a mercurial genius who livens up the Grand Prix paddock with his bravery and outspoken antics. Others feels he is a waster who talks better than he races. When he left BAR towards the end of 2003, most people agreed that … Continue reading Villeneuve: Should he stay or should he go?
Depending on who you ask, the Grand Prix World Championship is either ‘the promised land’ for F1, or an idle threat made by a small group of manufacturers who want more money out of the sport. The ‘GPWC’ acronym has been echoing around the paddock for a few years but perhaps never more than in … Continue reading Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC)
Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum believes he has spotted a gap in the motorsport market, and he may well be right. His A1GP series, due to launch this September, will be of great interest to F1 fans. Maktoum’s vision is of a ‘World Cup of Motorsport’ which will compete during the F1 off-season, principally … Continue reading A1 Grand Prix
Ferrari are under pressure on and off the track. On track the F2004-M has not proved up to the job of supporting Schumache’s bid for an eighth title, and off track the manufacturers are blasting Ferrari for refusing to sign up to the testing ban agrred by the other nine teams in Brazil. Of those … Continue reading ‘Group of nine’ write to Ferrari
It’s the Monday after a race, so it must be time for our fortnightly game of “hunt the bits of F1 coverage in the national press.” Or, if you prefer, the Media Review… First up we have to give special mention to Stan Piecha of The Sun for simultaneously aggravating F1 anoraks and belittling the … Continue reading Malaysian Media Grand 2005 Media Review
Fernando Alonso staked a claim to the 2005 world championship with a crushing display in the Malaysian heat, while Michael Schumacher could only manage seventh as Ferrari’s poor start to its title defence continued.
The Autosport & Atlas F1 merger has finally happened and the new combined site is up at www.autosport-atlas.com. Issue 4 of F1Fanatic will give the site a full review. Both Autosport-Atlas and ITV-F1 are running the story that David Coulthard is criticising the way Michael Schumacher beckoned marshall’s assistance to escape from turn three at … Continue reading Autosport-Atlas merger
Autosport and ITV-F1 are talking up BAR’s hotshoe tester Anthony Davidson again, this time as a replacement for 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve at Sauber. Neither BAR nor Sauber have confirmed the rumour. Davidson is clearly more deserving of a race seat than a substantial number of F1 drivers, but in spite of this and the … Continue reading Villeneuve out, Davidson in?
According to Autosport, Ralf Schumacher thinks the relibaility of the Toyota will help him score points in Malaysia. Has he overlooked the fact that only Minardi posted a mechanical retirement in Melbourne? Being charitable, perhaps he’s just banking on a lot of engine failures as they are required to two full distances for the first … Continue reading Ralf & Toyota
It’s everywhere at the moment, that Volkswagen advert. I do rather like the funked-up Mint Royale mix of Singing in the Rain but I must confess the motion-captured impression of Gene Kelly is downright scary and I have to hide behind the sofa when it’s on. But when the public is used to the same … Continue reading Editorial: Singin’ in the Rain
The Grand Prix greats are household names. Ayrton Senna, Juan Manuel Fangio and Jim Clark are legendary names throughout the world, and all three appear in our list of all-time greatest wins. But what about those drivers who never got to show their talent, had a career stuck in uncompetitive machinery, never made the big … Continue reading The Nearly Men
Jim Clark’s performance in the 1967 Italian Grand Prix is disqualified from our list on one crucial point – he didn’t win the race. But he came so close, and his drive was so spectacular, that it deserves passing a brief tribute. Clark had taken the pole but was edged out by Dan Gurney’s Eagle-Westlake … Continue reading The Greatest Almost-Win: Clark
The greatest win? Perhaps, but certainly the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park gave us the greatest single lap in F1 history. Formula One cars reached a technological pinnacle in 1993, and many of the driver aids seen that year have since been banned – active suspension, ABS brakes and more. Williams’ FW15 was … Continue reading The Greatest Wins: Senna
Gilles Villeneuve was an extraordinary driver, one perhaps without parallel in any era of Formula One. He was outrageously demanding of his car’s capabilities to the point that he often drove them to destruction. And although his racecraft was sublime and his capacity for seemingly impossible overtaking manoeuvres was limitless, he was also scrupulously fair. … Continue reading The Greatest Wins: Villeneuve
Peter Gethin’s 1971 victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza used to be a benchmark of speed and time – the fastest ever Grand Prix at 242.51 kph (150.75 mph), the closest ever finish with just 0.01s* between first and second, and a staggering 0.61s covering the first five cars. The modern era has … Continue reading The Greatest Wins: Gethin
1950s-era Formula 1 was very different compared to how it is in 2005. Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio (aged 46, ten years older than Michael Schumacher is today) arrived at the sixth round of the 1957 season having already won three races that year. With each driver only counting their best five results towards the championship, … Continue reading The Greatest Wins: Fangio