First F1

Nothings ended, just moving on...

2008-09-15T20:14:00.006+01:00

Many, many apologies for my long-term silence. As you may have guessed, First F1 has ground to a hault as I've shifted my attention over to a brand new site - The F1 Files. Not a clue why I haven't mentioned this earlier. Perhaps testimony to this blogs trademark lateness? Anyway, duties will continue over there. All the news plus guides the sports notable drivers and teams, a review of the sports history and recent seasons, and more when I got fully stuck in. It's a big project and it's already started so make sure you head over there now. Hope to see you! First F1 has been a lot of fun and a perfect starting point. The blog will remain here for ever more and I'll make sure to move the posts over there too. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll return here. For now at least, goodbye. See you at The F1 Files.

A little more info?

7 Days and counting

2008-07-30T20:49:00.000+01:00

Just a quick heads-up to say I'm not gonna be around for the next week or so. Unfortunately this means no Hungarian Grand Prix coverage, mainly because I'm likely to miss the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Also a note on First F1's race coverage. Today I posted the coverage of the German Grand Prix weekend, over a week after the race. Although I'd rather not draw attention to this, it probably seems a bit pointless. That's why from the European Grand Prix onwards I'll be (hopefully) posting the race coverage during the weekend. Who ever heard of coverage like that? Not particularly interesting news, I know, but more info to come soon.

Tis all for now, I'll be back next week with plenty of blog posts coming up.

German Grand Prix '08

2008-07-30T10:59:00.002+01:00

The Hockenhiemring has made a successful return into Formula One with yet another action-packed race, mostly thanks to Timo Glock and McLaren. The race marks some significant changes in the seasons setup but lets take a look at all the action last week in Germany.

Free Practice One
Formula One made its return to Hockenheim in the rain. The rain stopped in time for the start of the session, but the track stayed wet. The usual routine began, Adrain Sutil was first out for an installation lap followed by most of the other drivers before they all dived back to the pits. The real action started quicker than normal, especially considering the conditions. Sebastain Vettel was keen to get started at his home race and set the first time of the day. He was shortly followed by Lewis Hamilton who promptly spun. Once most drivers were out, the wet conditions on track began to dry quickly making each lap a fastest lap. Nearly 15 drivers led the session at some point including all 5 home German drivers. BMW's Robert Kubica tried to restore some normality in the time but failed after spinning at the first turn and becoming the only driver of the session to make contact with a wall. Normality was restored, however, when the Ferraris left the pits and Felipe Massa came out on top. The Brazilian was still leading by the end of the session but a lap from McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen pushed Massa down to second. Lewis Hamilton then showed McLarens superiority taking first from his teammate and ending the session in a McLaren 1-2.

Free Practice Two
The track dried up and the weather improved for the second session of Practice at the Hockenheimring. Hamilton wasted no time in going strait back to the top of the time sheets with Kovalainen again slotting in behind. Honda's Rubens Barrichello attempted a fight with McLaren but spun on track. The Ferraris the headed out, with Kimi Raikkonen visibly struggling. He couldn't get enough pace to beat his Ferrari teammate who pushed his way into second. Barrichello then had another spin followed by a few problems at the last turn for Hamilton and German driver, Timo Glock. Glock caught a bit of air before hitting the ground with a bump. Massa was not nearing Hamilton's time, getting closer with each lap. He eventually took first but not by enough as Hamilton once again stole first place with his final lap. Massa and Raikkonen completed the session second and third with Kovalainen fourth and Webber coming out on top of Alonso in the battle for fifth.

Free Practice Three
The weather stayed dry for the final session of practice in Germany. Honda's Jenson Button set the first benchmark with the Toyotas following behind. Toro Rosso were next out and Sebastian Bourdais set the first time before leaving the track and letting Vettel through to go fastest. Hamilton quickly took the top spot before Vettel forgot he was in a Toro Rosso and beat the McLarens time. The Finnish drivers then left the pits, Kovalainen easily taking first whilst Raikkonen continued to struggle in fifth. The last 10 minutes were filled with action, Massa went fastest and this time Hamilton couldn't match the time but his teammate could. Kovalainen finished first and Massa, Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel made up the top five.

Qualifying
The wind picked up for the start of qualifying and the possibility of rain increased later on.
Session One
With five minutes of the session gone, Vettel set the first notable time in front of Rosberg and Glock leaving three German drivers on top. The Ferraris were on top for most of the session with Webber hanging on to third. Hamilton made a little error at the hairpin but still too first from Massa. The Brazilian fought back to first and stayed there with Raikkonen also beating Hamilton's time and ending up in second. Attention then focused on the battle for survival. Coulthard, Boudais, Trulli, Rosberg and Glock all made in into Quali two with some fast times. Nakajima scraped into 14th leaving Button with it all to do. He also could only manage 14th. Alonso moved up to tenth leaving and Button just made it though. Nakajima, Piquet, Barrichello, Sutil and Fisichella were excluded from the rest of Qualifying.
Session Two
Surprisingly, Ferrari were the first to head out in session two of qualifying with Massa still faster than a struggling Raikkonen. The McLarens then sandwiched Massa with Hamilton first and Kovalainen second whilst Raikkonen slipped to fifth behind Alonso. Vettel made his way into the pole shootout in eighth whilst Robert Kubica moved up to fifth. Coulthard also got through but Heidfeld, Button and Rosberg couldn't get out of the drop zone. Glock, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Button and Bourdais failed to make it into the pole shootout.
Session Three
Trulli was the first to set a time for the deciding 10 minutes of qualifying, faster than the Red Bull drivers and Vettel. Raikkonen was now visibly struggling to set fast times and only just went faster than Trulli. Massa then crossed the line nearly a second faster. Raikkonen's final and deciding lap put him in second right behind Massa. Massa then went even quicker. Kovalainen slipped in between the two Ferraris but Hamilton was going even faster and took pole. Trulli and Alonso took fourth and fifth pushing Raikkonen down to sixth and Vettel finished between the two Red Bulls in ninth.

Race
Massa pressured Hamilton of the the start but he turned defensive when Kovalainen tried to pass and let Hamilton go. Kubica had a good start and when the cars reached the hiarpin, Kovalainen hit the breaks early allowing Kubica to get past both Alonso and Trulli into fourth. Alonso was desperate to get past Trulli and when he reached the second lap he pushed to hard and ran wide allowing Raikkonen past. Coulthard had a terrible start and had dropped to 14th behind Button. He was right behind the Honda but Button was putting up a fight and not letting him through. After a few failed attempts Coulthard did get past. Hamilton had now built a big lead and entered the pits. It looked like he would come out in front of Trulli but the Toyota driver went defensive and Hamilton ended up behind. The Brit then overeacted slightly and nearly crashed into the back of the Toyota. Trulli pitted on the next lap. Within the next few laps everyone pitted except Piquet who was on a one-stop strategy. The race then settled down with Hamilton pulling away further each lap. As Glock attempted the final turn his right rear suspension failed and he hit the concrete wall on the other side of the track and crossed the track again. He was winded and debris was left all over the track. The Safety Car was deployed. Everyone entered the pits except Hamilton and Piquet. Piquet had left the pits just before the safety car was released and had moved up to third behind Hamilton and Heidfeld. McLaren said Hamilton would not pit during the safety car which caused confusion as he still needed to make his second stop. Button came out just behind Hamilton and when lapped cars overtook, he was unable to as he had not been lapped by the race leader. Mark Webber left the pits with smoke pouring out of his Red Bull and was forced to retire. The saftey car returned to the pits and Coulthard ended up behind the second Honda of Barrichello. They crashed and Rubens retired. Hamilton finnaly had his pitstop around 15 seconds ahead of Piquet. It wasn't enough and he rejoined in fourth behind Piquet, Massa and Kovalainen. He easily passed Kovalainen in what looked like team orders. Massa didn't put up too much of a fight and was passed. Piquet was happy to settle for second. Hamilton won the race in front of Piquet, Massa, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Kubica and Vettel.

Championship
The Championship order stays the same but the points stretch out with Hamilton on 58, Massa on 54, Raikkonen on 51, Kubica on 48 and Heidfeld on 41. Piquets season changes for the better. He is ahead of the Williams and Toro Rosso drivers plus Coulthard and Button McLaren once again close up to BMW, two ponts behind.

Four drivers, Nine races, One title

2008-07-20T10:51:00.003+01:00

As the 2008 season arrives at the half-way point, three drivers were left on equal points. Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen are all on 48 points with Robert Kubica only 2 points behind on 46 heading into todays race. At the moment, this years world champion is any ones guess with the competition far more fierce than ever predicted. Lets take a look at how this four-way battle for the top-spot has come about, with half the races completed.

Kimi Räikkönen

The reigning world champions still looks to be in the best position to retain his title, with his pace being proved after managing to set the fastest lap in every race since the Spanish Grand Prix. Still, the opposition is pressuring him and an unexpected challenge from his Ferrari teammate is letting the McLarens and BMW though. The Ferrari is the faster car, but McLaren are catching up quickly and the advantage of pure race pace in the car is rapidly disappearing. Perhaps one crucial advantage for the Finn, he has the experience. He has been in a championship battle 3 times and not come out of it on top. He is still the favourite, but for how long?

Felipe Massa

Massa is almost definitely the improvement of the season. How far hes come, not just since 2007, but since the start of this season, is quite astonishing. At the start of the season his poor performances, retirements and disability to drive without traction control were likely to give him the boot from Ferrari, with some saying he wouldn't last the season. Somehow he has completely turned his season around and has now equaled his teammates points tally and is a firm championship contender, starting to really worry his world champion teammate. Hes the outside chance, but after each race he looks more and more likely to be able to take the 2008 drivers trophy, as the season progresses.

Lewis Hamilton

The 21 year-old Briton has gone from being a rookie GP2 driver to a megastar in just 2 years. He has shown hes capable of getting the results he needs for a championship contender but, despite some brilliant performances, some bad mistakes have left him equal with the Ferraris, rather than pulling away into the distance. Last year he was in a position which most drivers could only dream of. He would easily won the championship but unnecessary mistakes in China and Brazil undid all his hard work in the previous races. He has carried the great performances and bad mistakes into the 2008 season but has not yet mastered the art of ignoring the press. The tabloid stories this year has affected him. As long as he can put the pressure behind him and get on and drive, he will bring this championship down to the very end.

Robert Kubica

The Polish driver has amazed everyone this year including himself. A massively improved BMW has left the driver that everyone had written off before the season come only 2 points away from the top three. Has has completely out performed his more experienced teammate, who is struggling with tyre temperatures in qualifying. He grabbed his first win in Canada and came close in Monaco but being 10 points ahead of his teammate has left his well and truly in the battle. As usual, the pole is saying he wont stand a chance when it comes to the championship decider and the car isn't far enough. But hes come this far and he does stand a chance if he can keep up the results for the remainder of the races.

So there we are. Four drivers all with a shot at the championship. The next nine races will decide who comes out on top. The more immediate battle is who will come out on top at the Hockenhiemring. Hamilton is on pole with Massa right behind him and Kubica and Raikkonen having their own battle, which they could bring forward. Who will get the best start of Part 2 of the championship? Its been a very long time, but these four drivers won't be going anywhere. Its gonna go down to the wire.

Preview - German Grand Prix

2008-07-19T12:04:00.001+01:00

The Hockenheimring hosts the 55th German Grand Prix and the tenth round of the 2008 World Championship. After negotiations with the rival German circuit, the Nurburgring, broke down the German Grand Prix was canclled for 2007. But it's back now and will alternate between the circuits each season. This year its in the Hockenheimring at Hockenheim, Germany. This is what to expect from a crucial half-way point in the season, with three drivers on equal points.

Last Years Race

There was not a German race in 2007.

Information

The German Grand Prix has a long history, with the early history dominated by the second world war. It has also seen many battles between the Hockenhiemring and the Nurbugring for the rights to the Grand Prix. After the war, Germany was disallowed to host an Grand Prix for the inaugural season, so hosted a F2 event at the Nurburgring before moving to F1 in 1951. In these days the original 12-mile Nurburgring Nordschleife was used. Often known as 'The Green Hell', the circuit saw many serious accidents and in 1970 the Hockenheimring hosted its first Grand Prix due to safety issues at the Nurbugring after the fatal crash of German driver, Gerhard Mitter. The Grand Prix returned to Nurburg but with increased safety concerns, the 1976 race would be the last one. Ironically, F1 Champion, Niki Lauda, was very nearly killed at that race but was saved by fellow drivers. The race went back to the Hokenheimring, making one more appearance at the newly designed Nurburgring before the circuit was given the European Grand Prix and F1 in Germany has remained at Hockenhiem ever since.

The 2008 Formula one Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland is the 796th F1 Grand Prix. It is hosted between the 18th and 20th of July. The race will be 67 laps. Pole Position in 2006 was McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen with 1:14.070. Ferrari's Micheal Scumacher set the fastest lap of the race, 1:16.357.

Circuit

Big changes have been made to the Hockenheimring in recent years. These changes have been mostly unpopular, with a fast sweeping forest section cut-off making the track much shorter. The main strait is very short so it can fit in, what is effectively a stadium surrounding part of the track. The first corner is very fast with a decent exit being vital. Turns two and three lead out to the parabolika. The longest strait on the circuit, which comes as a result of cutting-off the large forest area of the track. The strait leads up to the tight hairpin where heavy braking is needed after the high-speeds of the parabolika strait. Turn five is flat-out as is the exit of the apex at turn seven. The cars then re-enter the stadium and slow down for the last few corners, where spinning an F1 car is all too easy to do. The drivers then arrive at the short main strait to complete the lap. The current distance of the circuit is 4.574km or 2.842 miles. The lap record is held by Kimi Raikkonen in a McLaren with 1:13.780 in 2004.

Championship

With the race at Germany starting the second half of the season, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa are all tied at the top of the championship with 48 points and Robert Kubica is only two points behind on 46. Its anybodies guess at the moment, but each driver will want to pull away as the deciding part of the season gets underway. The German Grand Prix has always been a unpredictable one but McLaren have been waiting ten years for a win here and they look to be the favourites. Heikki Kovalainen is in a good position to become the 100th Grand Prix winner this weekend.

News

Yet again, rain could play a deciding part of the weekend. Although forecasts are sketchy at best, some drivers will once again be wanting rain for a more unpredictable race. Five drivers have there home race in Germany, more than any other race, with Nico Rosberg, Sebastain Vettel, Nick Heidfeld, Adrian Sutil and Timo Glock wanting to impress in front of their fans.

Not new news, but confirmed news

2008-07-18T19:49:00.000+01:00

Red Bull have finally announced, to nobodies surprise, that Sebastian Vettel will take David Coulthards seat at Red Bull from 2009, ending any interest from double world champion Fernando Alonso. The young German started his F1 career in 2006 testing for BMW. He has been racing for Red Bull's sister team, Toro Rosso, since the sacking of Scott Speed in mid-2007. Although having a drive at McLaren blocked by Toro Rosso's Gerhard Berger, he has remained focused at Toro Rosso in the hope of getting a seat at the main Red Bull team. He will be second driver to Mark Webber.

In a statement yesterday, Vettel said: "I am very proud to be joining Red Bull Racing and it’s always good to have an early decision on what you are doing next year. I have been part of the Red Bull family for a long time, with its Junior Team since 2000. Throughout my career, they have offered me great support and now, to drive for their senior F1 team is a dream come true and I am looking forward to having a great season next year, even if I still have a lot to learn about F1.”

This ends rumours of Red Bull being interested in filling Coulthard's seat with Fernando Alonso. This means the Spaniard's chances of leaving Renault for a more competitive team next season are fast running out. This also leaves a spare seat at Toro Rosso for next year. GP2 driver, Bruno Senna, who is challenging for the GP2 title this year, has been heavily linked with Toro Rosso and has also said he wants to enter F1 in 2009. Other hopefuls include A1GP champion for Switzerland, Neel Jani, GP2 drivers Karun Chandhok and Roman Grosjean and also Red Bull test driver, Sebastien Buemi who would also successfully fit the current trend of Sebastiens in Toro Rosso.

Toro Rosso have not yet issued a statement but Red Bull team principle, Christian Horner said: "We are confident that Red Bull Racing will make the most of these attributes and believe that, in Mark and Sebastian, we have a very competitive driver line-up for 2009.” The 21 year old German driver will be staying at Toro Rosso for the remainder of the season and will hope for a strong result this weekend at his home GP.

What about the Aussies?

2008-07-13T18:18:00.000+01:00

Bernie Ecclestone has one again changed his mind over the future of F1 in Australia when the FOM announced that the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne will continue to host the Australian Grand Prix until 2015 last week. From 2009 onwards the Grand Prix will start at 5:00pm local time (6:00am GMT), one hour and a half later than this years race start.

At the beginning of the season, Bernie had said he wanted the Australian race to take place at night to make viewing times more appropriate for European audiences. This year the race start in GMT was 4:30am which was described by Bernie as "Unacceptable." Just before this years race, Bernie threatened to kick the Melbourne race off the calendar after 2010 saying "At the moment, it is ridiculous that people are asked not to sleep in order to see it live. That can't carry on. The alternative is to pull the race completely from Australia. I've spoken to (Australian prime minister) Kevin Rudd and he's told me it would cost too much to re-stage the race, so I guess that's it. We won't be going to Australia for too much longer."

When offered a 5:00pm race start, Ecclestone insisted that was not enough to keep the race. "A 5:00pm start doesn't help a lot, that's not really what we are looking for. It needs to be a night race" but the event organisers responded saying "We've made it absolutely clear that there will be no night Grand Prix race in Melbourne. We don't support it now, we don't support it post-2010. We can't be more unequivocal than that." It turns out that the Australian race organisers were right to stand there ground as Bernie turned his opinion of a 5am start around saying last week "I'm satisfied that the decision to move to a later start time for 2009 races is a win for television audiences in Europe and Asia, a win for Melbourne and a win for Formula One as a whole."

The Australian Grand Prix is likely to remain the first event on the calendar for the next few seasons, but this is just another example of the head of the FOM's threats coming to nothing.

Preview - British Grand Prix

2008-07-04T22:59:00.002+01:00

Seeing as the British Grand Prix marks the half-way point of the season and that it is First F1's home race, I thought it would be a good idea to try a new layout for this week's race preview. All feedback is encouraged.

The 59th British Grand Prix marks the ninth round of the 2008 championship hosted at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. This years race marks 60 years of racing at Silverstone, but it was announced this week that next years race will be the last when the Grand Prix goes to Donnington Park in 2010. In this new style First F1 preview, I'll guide you through all the facts and preparation for the weekend.

Last Years Race
Lewis Hamilton started on pole in the 2007 British race, with world championship rivals, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso in second and third. Massa qualified fourth but stalled on the grid and started from the pit lane. Raikkonen was close but not close enough to take the lead form the Briton when the race began. Kubica, Kovalainen and Heidfeld were behind Alonso in fourth, fifth and sixth. Felipe Massa began his way back through the grid with an impressive display of overtaking. First was Albers, who was followed by Davidso, Button, Barrichello, Luizzi, Wurz, Speed, Rosberg, Coulthard and Trulli. Meanwhile at the front, Raikkonen was not letting Hamilton out of his sight, following his every move with Alonso close behind the Finn. Hamilton came into the pits but made a mistake and tried to leave too early. He recovered but lost time. Raikkonen pitted and comfortably took Hamilton for the lead. Kimi wasn't leading for long, as Alonso got in front of both of them after his pit stop. Alonso laps Scott Speed from the lead but Speed wasn't paying attention and made contact with Wurz giving the Austrian the position and retiring. Kimi Raikkonen got the jump on Alonso during his second pit stop and won the race in front of Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Heidfeld, and Kovalainen.

Information
The first British Grand Prix was held in 1948, before the official FIA Formula One World Championship began. When it did begin, in 1950, the Grand Prix was the first race on the calendar, making it the first official F1 Grand Prix. Since the inaugural season, the British Grand Prix has been included in every world championship season. The Italian Grand Prix is the only other race to have that statistic. From 1964 to 1986 the race alternated between Silverstone and Brands Hatch. The circuit at Aintree has hosted five Grands Prix with Silverstone hosting the rest.

The 2008 Formula One Santander British Grand Prix is the 795th F1 Grand Prix. It is hosted between the 4th to the 6th of July. The race will be 60 laps. Last years pole position lap time was set by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton with a time of 1:19.997. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest lap time in the race was 1:20.638.

Circuit
The Silverstone Circuit is a very old circuit which has seen many changes over the years to adapt to Formula One. Copse is the first corner which spreads the field out strait away, making first corner incidents less likely at Silverstone. A small mistake round the first turn will send you off the track in a strait line. The S bends of Maggots, Becketts and Chapel follow with the Hangar Strait taking the cars down to stowe. Silverstone is not very heavy breaking but Stowe is the heaviest braking corner on the track with deceleration of around 100 km/h. This also makes Stowe a good overtaking spot. After a few more short straits, drivers arrive at the Abbey chicane before entering the fast right-hand turn of bridge. Once past the final few corners the drivers head though turn 17 of Woodcote to complete the lap. The current distance of the circuit is 5.141km or 3.194 miles. The lap record is 1:18.739 set by Micheal Schumacher in a Ferrari in 2004.

Timetable

Championship
With four different drivers having led the championship, the 2008 season proves to be much wider open than last year. As expected, Ferrari brought home a 1-2 finish in France two weeks ago, and with Silverstone being another Ferrari circuit the Italian team should be happy. One thing the Italians don't have is the overwhelming support that is brought to Silverstone for the British drivers. Jenson Button, David Coulthard and Lewis Hamilton will all be hoping for a strong performance in front of their fans.

News
Silverstone always attracts a great atmosphere and often produces some great races but the British weather can always play a part. Rain has been stated as probable for Sundays race with the whole weekend overcast. In other non weather-related news, it has been confirmed the British Grand Prix will leave Silverstone after the 2009 race for Donnigton park in 2009. Bernie Ecclestone has said that the move will put British motor sport back on the map.

One last British GP for DC

2008-07-03T23:23:00.001+01:00

David Coulthard has enjoyed 15 years of Formula One, but has announced today that 2008 will be his last. The Scot has said this weeks British Grand Prix will be his final race at Silverstone and he will leave his Red Bull team with a spare driver seat in 2009. In a press conference today, with fellow British drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, Coulthard said: "After 15 years I am clearly not going to battle for a World Championship and am
unlikely to win another grand prix unless something remarkable happens this year. I feel fulfilled in the role I have played at Red Bull. I just think it is a good time [to retire]. I will be 38 next year and nothing lasts forever. I have enjoyed my racing and now is the right time." As for David's future, he also said today "I will have a test development, consultant role with Red Bull Racing which will enable me to have an interest in F1 and the paddock. I will look at the other opportunities that might be there when the time is appropriate." He is also rumoured to join the commentating team when F1 returns to the BBC in 2009.

David started his career in 1994 at Williams as a replacement to Ayrton Senna after his tragic death at Imola. In his second season in F1 he came third in the championship before moving to McLaren until 2005. Red Bull have built a more competitive car this year, which achieved a third place for David in Canada behind the BMW 1-2. He'll be hoping for a strong set of results for the rest of his last season. I'll make sure I post an F1 Focus feature for Coulthard's career once his F1 duties end in November.

Meanwhile David's teammate at Red Bull, Mark Webber, has signed a contract to stay with the team for 2009 and become the first driver. The Australian said “Continuing with Red Bull Racing for 2009 was a very easy decision for me to make, as I enjoy being part of this team and that has shown through in my driving."

I'll leave you with one last quote from Coulthard. "For nice, emotional reasons I wanted to wait until Silverstone to make the announcement and now that it’s out, I can just get on with the racing. I hope we have a good weekend and that Red Bull can score some points. Maybe there can be a British winner and maybe we can all go home and think that was a good weekend for the sport."

F1 Focus - Allan McNish

2008-06-30T22:00:00.003+01:00

The First F1 Focus post follows Allan McNish. A man who spent his whole career chasing an F1 drive, only to end up becoming a successful sports car driver. He won this years 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks ago, but lets take a look at all his other achievements.

McNish was born on the 29th of December, 1969 in Dumfries, Scotland where he grew up. Like most racing drivers, his career began at an early age, 11, in karting. For the five years he was in karting, until 1986, he was fairly successful and moved up to the next stage in racing. Formula Ford. In 1988 he made his first major achievement, winning the Vauxhall Lotus Championship. As a result, he entered Formula Three. In his first season in British Formula Three he came second, winning five events. He won the Autosport National Driver of the year and was tipped as a future Formula One driver.

The next step for the 21 year old driver was the F1 feeder series, Formula 3000. Before the F3000 season started he landed a test drive at McLaren. He joined the DAMS team in F3000 with his teammate, Érik Comas. The first race of the season was at Donington Park. Comas won the race, but McNish retired. He fared better at Silverstone for the second round, getting pole and winning the race, but his teammate still lead the championship with a second place finish. The next three races were disappointing for McNish with a second place and a win in the middle of the season before a string of retirements left him in fourth at the end of the season, with Érik Comas, his teammate winning and moving up to F1 the next year.

He stayed as McLaren test driver and F3000 driver for the next 2 years. 1991 was a nightmare year for him in F3000 with 1992 not an awful lot better. He was dropped by the McLaren team and moved to Benetton to continue testing. By now, McNish was 24 and past the prime age for drivers to enter F1, however the Scot and his fans remained confident he would make it to F1. He devoted 1993 to his testing duties at Benetton and in 1994 he took part in only 1 F3000 race in which he retired. In 1995 he tried to get his Formula 3000 career back on track, in one last attempt to enter Formula One. He joined the Paul Stewart Racing team. Allan came third in the first race at Silverstone. He got pole during the second race at the Circuit de Catalunia but retired and then came second in France. That was the end of his good results and he finished seventh overall. He once again left F3000 but stayed on as Benetton Test Driver for 1996. When he didn't get a race seat at the end of the season, he gave up on his Formula One ambitions and left the Benetton team.

He moved his career to sports car racing and by 1998 had entered the Le Mans 24 race with Porche. He won the 1998 24 hours of Le Mans with fellow porche drivers Laurent Aïello and Stéphane Ortelli. In 1999, McNish joined the Toyota team for the 24 hour race with Thierry Boutsen and Ralf Kelleners but retired during the race. However, he was asked by Toyota to join their F1 Project. For the 2000 race he moved once again to Audi with the two drivers he won the 1998 race, Ortelli and Aiello. The team finished second. Toyota had been given permission to enter Formula One in 2002 and made their first F1 car, the TF101, for testing purposes in 2001. Allan McNish became their official test driver. In 2002, when Toyota became a Formula One team, McNish was given the role of Second Driver for the entire season.

McNish was joined at Toyota by the Finnish driver, Mika Salo, who became the first driver. The Australian Grand Prix was the first round. The Scot qualified in 16th with Salo in 14th. McNish was forced to retire, along with seven other cars, in a chaotic first corner crash. Mika Salo went on to finish sixth and score a point. For round two in Malaysia, McNish qualified in 19th but had a great race, just missing out on points in seventh. Brazil was the next race, with Salo again scoring points in sixth, whilst McNish again retired. San Marino was no better with the Scot retiring again. Results started to look up with McNish completing the Spanish and Austrian races in eighth and ninth but the next race at Monaco saw the Toyota teams first double retirement. The next race was another double retirement followed by another disappointing result at the Nurburgring followed by another double retirement at McNish's home Grand Prix. By now, Toyota F1 had performed worse than expected with less pace than the testing at the beginning of the season would have suggested. Another retirement was the end result of the German race after an 11th place in France. Arrows did not compete from the Hungarain race onwards, meaning there were less cars at the back of the grid. 14th place was the end result with his teammate behind him. Belgium was a better race with Salo very nearly getting a point before Jaguar's Eddie Irvine beat him to it. McNish had his best result in a while, coming home ninth. However a retirment and a fifteeth place followed in Italy and the US. The final race of the season was the Japanese Grand Prix. The Scotsman needed a good result here as he was yet to score points, and serious doubts were starting to be raised about his position in the team. Toyota wanted a points finish at their home race, but the scottish drivers final race weekend was ended with a big crash in qualifying. He did not take part in the race.

McNish and his 2002 teammate, Mika Salo, were both dropped by the Toyota team, replaced by Frechman Olivier Panis and Brazilian Cristiano da Matta. Martin Brundle described the change as a step backwards for Toyota F1. Allan landed an official test drive at Renault F1 for 2003 but moved back to sports car racing the following year.

He won the 2004 12 hours of Sebring, and came fifth in the Le Mans 24 hour race, again with Audi. He won the Autosport Sportscar driver of the year. He came third at the next two Le mans races, but took place in many other endurance races and became hugely succesful. In Le Mans 2007 he teamed up with the 7 time winner, Tom Kristensen at Audi but retired from the race. Despite this, he became Autosport sportscar driver of the year for the third year in a row. Two weeks ago, he won his second 24 Hours of Le Mans, ten years after his first win, with Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello at Audi.

Calm down dear, it's only provisional

2008-06-26T20:09:00.000+01:00

Most of us probably wont want to think to much about 2009 yet, but yesterday the FIA released the provisional calendar for the 2009 season. The races are yet to be confirmed and changes can still be made, but there are no real surprises on the first draft of 2009.

I'll look at the races in a moment, but first I want to mention the dates. At the moment, the season looks to be starting much earlier than normal, and ending much later. I'm struggling to find an F1 Grand Prix that has been held as late as November 15th. Perhaps a reason will be provided when an official calendar is released.

The debut race for 2009 is once again Australia. No complaints from me, but if Bernie gets his way this could be the last one in Melbourne. It all depends whether they decide to hold a late or night race, which is unlikely. Malaysia is still next, no further word on the possibility of an Malaysian night race but it looks likely.

The British Grand Pix leapfrogs the French, with no week gap. Another race under threat but with Sliverstone's forthcoming improvements, F1 looks like it will stay in the UK. France somehow remains on the calendar after two final GP's. The German Grand Prix switches back to the Nurburgring and Turkey returns to it's later season date.

The Japanese Grand Prix is back in Suzuka (yes!) after a two year break and the season finale leaves Brazil and heads off to the newcomer, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The GP will take place around the Yas Island circuit as a further expansion into the middle east. Of course this calendar is only provisional and everything I've just said could be irrelevant depending on what changes are made. The official calendar will be released later in the season around September/October time when more minds are on 2009.

French Grand Prix '08

2008-06-25T23:33:00.001+01:00

Although the Magny-Cours circuit does not usually produce the most exciting races, with the Ferrari dominance seeming never-ending, this years French Grand Prix proved much more entertaining then predicted. First F1 takes you through the events of the race and all the other action of the weekend.

Free Practice One

Nico Rosberg set the first flying lap but it took nearly half the session for free practice one to really get going with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen taking the early top spot. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, beat just beat his time, but it wasn't long before Ferrari took the top spot that seems to be reserved for them at the French track. Massa consistantly beat Hamilton's time and finished on top whilst Kovalainen went off track, very nearly hitting the wall. He hung on to second until Hamilton shoved him down to third. Kimi Raikkonen completed the session in fourth with the star of Canada, Robert Kubica, just behind. Jarno Trulli continued his art of spinning but held on to seventh and Fernando Alonso kept sixth despite a rather spectacular engine failure.

Free Practice Two
Unlike FP1, we weren't left waiting around for action, as the drivers headed out for flying laps immediately. Kubica set the first time, beaten by the McLarens of Kovalainen and then Hamilton. Alonso found himself in second until Ferrari decided to join the fun and the next best spot was taken by Massa and then Raikkonen. The drivers then began to take to the gravel with Hamilton going very wide. Trulli and Sutil both followed the McLaren in the gravel and Alonso also went a bit too far off the track whilst Toyota's Timo Glock caught a bit too much air through the chicane. The Ferraris did get the jump on the McLarens but their efforts were overshadowed by that of Fernando Alonso who pulled out a terrific lap, taking fastest of the session. Raikkonen, Massa and Hamilton were behind in second, third and fourth whilst an impressive drive from the Toro Rosso of Sebastain Vettel left him in fifth. Robert Kubica rounded of the top six.

Free Practice Three

The third and final practice session of the week dawned at Magny-Cours in fine weather. The normal lengthy wait kicked off Saturday morning. Toro Rosso's Sebastian Bourdais set the first timed lap at his home Grand Prix. Vettel joined him to have a short-lived battle at the top before Raikkonen came out. The world champion couldn't manage to beat Renault's Nelson Piquet. The Brazilian driver quickly took first, before Hamilton ended his stay at the top. David Coulthard squeezed into the top 3 but Piquet was the big surprise, taking first place back. Many tried, but nobody could beat Piquet's time. He finished first in front of Webber, Vettel and Rosberg. Raikkonen settled for fifth.

Qualifying

Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will suffer ten place grid penalties from wherever they qualify, after the now infamous pit lane crash in Canada.

Session One

Just a few minutes into the first session of qualifying and to nobodies surprise, the Ferraris were on top with Massa leading Raikkonen. They were both beaten by the McLarens but Felipe Massa managed to split them in half a few seconds later. The British team felt they had done enough and headed back to the pits but Ferrari stayed out. Massa went even faster near the end of the session, beating Hamilton. Heidfeld found himself in a dangerous place, 18th position on his final lap. He lived to fight another day after securing 12th. Massa, Raikkonen and Trulli finished as the top three. Nakajima Button, Barrichello, Fisichella and Sutil ended their day.

Session Two

With seven minutes left in the second session of qualifying, Hamilton became the first of the front-runners to set a time. He arrived in second, below his former teammate, Alonso. Both Toyotas, Red Bulls, Toro Rossos and Renaults had completed a lap time with few surprises. Raikkonen led Ferrari back to the 1-2 spot they keep returning to, with Massa behind going 1 tenth faster. Kovalainen could only manage 8th. Ferrari went back to the pits to get ready for Quali 3. With the time nearly up, Coulthard, Vettel, Bourdais, Piquet and Rosberg were all in the drop zone with both BMW's in serious danger of joining them. Rosberg and Vettel did not improve, Piquet did and knocked Heidfeld into danger. Piquet went strait back down, thanks to Coulthard. Kubica stayed safe meaning Piquet, Heidfeld, Vettel, Bourdais and Rosberg failed to make the cut for the third and final session.

Session Three

The session started with yet another one of Jarno Trulli's spins, ruining Mark Webbers lap. With only 4 minutes of the pole shootout left, the first of the pole contenders set a time. Felipe Massa went to the top with Alonso and Coulthard slotting in behind him. Raikkonen then completed his first lap to beat Massa's time whilst Hamilton could only manage sixth after going wide. Once the session ended, Raikkonen was on provisinal pole but all his rivals still had a lap in hand, as did he. Massa just went slower to take second with Alonso taking third. Raikkonen aborted his final lap to save fuel as he already had pole. Hamilton finished in third with Kovalainen in sixth and Kubica seventh.

The 10 place penalties from Canada mean Hamilton would start from 13th whilst Rosberg would start from last. The other McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen, got a 5 place penalty for blocking Webber in Quali one and would start from 10th. Jenson Button had some last minute problems and started from last.

A light shower hit the French circuit during the warm-up lap and rain was predicted over the next 30 minutes.

Race
Raikkonen kept Massa behind him from the start. Alonso had a terrible start from third being taken by Jarno Trulli and then Robert Kubica. Button had a good start but made contact with Sutil, damaging his Honda. Hamilton didn't make any places up round the first few corners. He took Sebastain Vettel but then ran off the track and could have taken an advantage. He then made contact with his teammate, Kovalainen, and passed him a few laps later. Hamilton's next target was Piquet but he simply could not get pass the Renault, despite Piquet going wide a few times. The Ferrari's were now in a class of thier own with Trulli filling the gap between the Italian cars and the rest of the field. Hamilton was issued a drive-though penalty for gaining an advantage when passing Vettel. He dedided to take it while he was stuck behind Piquet and rejoined thirteenth. Jenson Button ran wide and broke off his front wing. He was forced to retire. Hamilton was now behind Alonso, who had pitted, and forced his way past the Reanult making contact. Kovalainen pit and rejoined just behind Piquet. The Brazilain had problems starting his car and Heikki took the place. In the lead of the race, Kimi Raikkonen was slowing enormously allowning Massa to catch up right behind him. The problem was a loose exhaust pipe and he let Massa though to take lead of the race. Raikkonen managed to continue. Kovalainen was now up to fourth and when it started to rain lightly, Trulli's Toyota slowed down to allow Heikki to pile the pressure on him. After a few failed attempts to get past, on the final lap, Kovalainen looked like he would get past but Trulli went defensive. They almost touched but the McLaren went wide, handing the podium place to Trulli. Massa won the race, Kubica finished in fifth, with Hamilton only managing tenth.

Championship
With Massa winning the race, the drivers championship get another new leader with Kubica splitting the Ferraris and hanging on to second. In the constructors, Toyota climb into the top five, removing Williams. Ferrari again pull far ahead and with the next track also a Ferrari one, the Italian team should be happy. With the championship so open, it'll be intresting to see which way it'll swing next time at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.

Preview - French Grand Prix

2008-06-20T20:35:00.000+01:00

The French Grand Prix is back for the 58th time, and the very last time at Mangy-Cours, to hold the eighth round of the 2008 championship. This post looks at last years race (also meant to be the last at Magny-Cours), the facts and figures and the news, preparations and recent history of the French race.

Last Years Race
Felipe Massa got pole last year with Lewis Hamilton behind in second. Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica lined up on row 2 with the Renaults on row 3. Fernando Alonso started back in tenth. Raikkonen passed Hamilton on the start, taking second. Further back, Anthony Davidson made contact with Viantonio Luizzi sending his car out of control colliding with Davidson's Super Aguri. Luizzi retired but Davidson made it back round to the pits. Heikki Kovalainen nearly made a move round Giancarlo Fisichella but was spun from behind by Jarno Trulli. Kovalainen continued but Trulli retired. Meanwhile, Christijan Albers was pitting for Spyker but left the pits before the lollipop went up with the fuel rig still attached. He also retired. The Ferrais then pitted from the lead. Raikkonen got the jump on Massa to take control of the race. Hamilton finished in third, behind the Ferraris with fourth and fifth going to BMW. Fernando Alonso took seventh with Jenson Button getting Hondas first 2007 points in eighth.

Information

Official Name: 2008 Formula 1 Grand Prix de France
Date: 20-22 June
Round: 8
Circuit: Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
Location: Magny-Cours
F1 Race Number: 794
Grand Prix Number: 58
First Race: 1950
Laps: 70
Lap Distance: 2.74 miles (4.41km)
Lap Record: 1:15.377, M Schumacher

Preparations and Predictions
With a Canadian Grand Prix that shook the championship standings around, things should begin to settle back to normal in France, but not to McLarens favour. McLaren do not have a good track record in the French race with only 3 French GP wins to their name. Hamilton being penalised ten places from wherever he qualifies, after the pit lane crash in Canada, will not help turn their record around. Ferrari do have a good track record at the circuit and will be hoping for a 1-2 finish to put some distance between them and their rivals. BMW will be wanting to continue their good form and will also now be battling for the championship. Ferrari looks likely to dominate in France, but we could be in for a surprise.

News
After the pit lane incident in Canada two weeks ago, both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will start ten places back from where they qualify. Hamilton still seems optimistic about his chances saying “We’ve already looked at the best ways of optimising the strategy to help us move up the field and I guess I’ll just have to pass some cars if I want to get into the points." Bad weather is once again being predicted with Thunderstorms being predicted on Saturday and more heavy rain on the Sunday.

Canadian Grand Prix '08

2008-06-15T21:39:00.003+01:00

Although perhaps not matching up to Monaco or Canada '07, the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix proved to be the race of the underdogs with a result that leaves the championship wide open. The threat of Rain, Marmots or a destroyed track all stayed away, but that didn't stop some super action over the weekend. Its that time again to look at all the action.

Free Practice One
The track had been declared wet at the beginning of the session and was still lightly raining. As you would expect, the action got underway slowly, with nobody interested in risking the conditions despite the option of a free gearbox and engine change. The Williams, Hondas and Toyotas were fighting for the top spots when the cars did start to leave the pits, but the front runners stayed in the comfort of their garages whilst the track dried out. With 15 minutes to go, most drivers had set a fast lap and the Ferraris were about to put themselves at the top. McLaren were yet to set a time. Raikkonen went quickest, he was demoted to second by Rosberg, until Raikkonen finished his second lap stealing first place back. Hamilton eventually left the pits but was unable to match Kimi's time, pushing himself in third. Massa was the only one capable of taking first from his teammate, setting the fastest time of the session. Kubica, Kovalainen and Heidfeld were behind in second, third and fourth with the World Champion in fifth.

Free Practice Two
The track had dried during the lunch break and teams looked likely to head out earlier than the in morning session. The front runners headed out almost immediately once the pit lane light went green. Hamilton took the early lead after a few minutes of chaos with most drivers setting times. The Ferraris came out to join his at the top of the time sheets a little later. A few drivers struggled slightly with Glock, Fisichella and Kubica all coming too close to the walls. Webber, Kovalainen and Alonso also spun their cars with Glock and Alonso being forced to retire from the session. Piquet stopped before the entrance to the pit lane with smoke pouring out of the Renault. Felipe Massa also retired after being forced to pull off the track. The car was undamaged but was still at threat from the marshalls after some embarrassing attempts to remove the car off track, seeming completely unaware of how to get the Ferrari out of the way. Massa ended up pulling his own car to safety as the attention began to turn back to the times. Kubica set the fastest time, but had to settle for second, again. This time it was Lewis Hamilton that took the top spot for McLaren. Raikkonen, Kovalainen and Massa took third, fourth and fifth.

Free Practice Three
Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Kubica were the drivers taking the top spot once Saturday's action got underway. Hamilton, Nakajima, Glock, Piquet and Barrichello also set some fast times during the session but couldn't manage to get past second. With roughly 15 minutes to go, everyone was out to show their pace for qualifying and just as the battle at the top started to take shape, the session was red-flagged. Sebastain Vettel had made heavy contact with the wall in his Toro Rosso and the track was covered in debris. The session was restarted but once the drivers had headed back out and began their flying laps, Sebastain Bourdais hit the barriers, leaving Toro Rosso with two cars to fix for Qualifying. His impact was much lighter but it still brought out the yellow flags, leaving Rosberg as fastest for the Saturday practice. Behind him were Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa and Nakajima.

Qualifying

After his crash in Free Practice Three, Sebastian Vettel would not take part in qualifying as his car was not fixed in time. He will start from the pit lane on Sunday. His teammate, Sebastain Vettel, would be given a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after his crash.

Session One

The Ferrrais were the first to set a few quick laps, with Raikkonen and then Massa taking first during the session. McLaren couldn't match that with Hamilton only just scraping his way into fifth. The McLarens eventually broke the first place barrier and secured a 1-2 position. There were no real surprises in the mid-field but the biggest surprise of the session was Jenson Button who had been struggling all weekend so far. He was having a hard time in 19th (last) place. He returned to the pits with gearbox problems. In the last few minutes, Trulli spun at turn one but still made it through comfortably. The last five places would be taken by Bourdais, Sutil, Fisichella, Button and Vettel.

Session Two

Kovalainen was the first to set a time in session two of qualifying with Rosberg taking first not long after. Jarno Trulli ruined drivers attempts to knock the Williams driver off the top, after spinning again. He managed to avoid damaging his Toyota and continued. Rosberg did eventually leave first as Hamilton and Raikkonen made appearances on top. Lewis stayed on top with the Ferrari's behind and Alonso in the Renault in second. Jarno Trulli failed to make Session three for the first time this season after spinning for the third time. Webber also spun but made contact with the walls. He had made it into Q3 but his car was now damaged. Eliminated from the rest of Qualifying were Glock, Nakajima, Coulthard, Trulli and Piquet.

Session Three

Mark Webber's car was not fixed in time for the start of Session Three so he would start from 10th on the grid. Hamilton took the early lead with Renault's Fernando Alonso joining him in second. Alonso was eventually pushed down by Raikkonen though. With Massa in fifth and Rosberg in fourth the Pole shootout was on. At the end of the session, Kimi Raikkonen competed his fastest lap but it was not enough to beat Hamilton and he slotted in second. Everyones attention suddenly turned to BMW as Robert Kubica had unexpectedly beaten Hamilton's time. Lewis was still on a lap though, and he took pole by a massive margin, over half a second. The top ten from Qualifying in Canada were:

During qualifying the track had been unable to cope with the F1 cars and was breaking up. This had been seen before at Canada but never this early in the weekend. Serious worries were beginning to rise and emergency repairs were made to the track overnight, with the surface at turn 10 looking a complete mess. Just prior to the race, many teams and drivers were unsure whether the track would last the duration of the race.

Jenson Button had a gearbox change after his qualifying problems and would start behind Sebastain Vettel in the pit lane.

Race
The race got underway cleanly with no incidents and no position changes with the top three. Nico Rosberg passed Fernando Alonso for fourth whilst Rubens Barrichello moved into seventh after taking Nick Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen. Heikki took the place back quickly, and eventually Nick did too. Timo Glock and Mark Webber dropped back, whilst Nelson Piquet made contact with Jarno Trulli forcing his way through. Lewis Hamilton was now pulling away from Robert Kubica at the front. Adrain Sutil pulled off the track with problems. His car was partly on the track but not on the racing line so the saftey car did not come out. His car then caught fire and the saftey car was brought out ruining Hamilton's lead. The top five then entered the pits in order. Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Alonso. Hamilton had a bad stop and Kubica and Raikkonen were released in front of him and next to each other. They drove down the pit lane side by side but stopped at the end as the red light was on. Hamilton did not realise the red light was on and didn't see the stopped cars until it was too late. He steered away from Kubica but crashed into the back of Raikkonen. Rosberg was following Hamilton and crashed into the back of him. Kubica pulled away whilst the championship leaders retired from the race. Rosberg continued but pitted after the next lap for a new front wing. Once the saftey car returned to the pits, the top ten in the race were yet to pit leading to some unuasal race leaders. Barrichello, Coulthard, Trulli and Glock all lead the race before pitting. Heidfeld also lead, he pitted and came out in front of his BMW teammate, Kubica. They were now the main race contenders. Heidfeld's car was full of fuel and Kubica passed him quite easliy, Heidfeld was probaly asked to let him pass by the team. Once everyone had pitted, Kubica took the lead with Heidfeld second and Alonso third. The Spaniard immideatly put pressure on Heidfeld and it looked like Fernando would take third before he pushed too hard and spun. He made contact with the wall and was forced to retire. Then Kubica pitted for his final stop. If he came out in front of Heidfeld then he would stay in front until the end of the race. He stayed in first comfatbley making a BMW 1-2 look highly lightly. Meanwhile at the turn 10 hairpin, Barrichello was taken by Kovalainen for fourth but Massa managed to slip past both of them round the hairpin and made it stick, giving Ferrari some relief. Fisichella then spun and hit the wall, retiring, and the question of the saftey car was once again raised. Massa and Kovalainen were brought in on the belief there would be a saftey car but there wasn't and the drivers dropped back down the order. Jenson Button was having a good race in fifth despite starting in last but he also came in, ending his chance of points. Massa made his way back to fifth, but attention turned back to the front as BMW and Robert Kubica secured thier first win, and with Heidfeld behind, it was a BMW Sauber 1-2 finish. David Coulthard took the remaining place on the podium.

Championship
Kubica's win now puts him in control of the Drivers championship. Massa pushes in front of Raikkonen and is joint second with Hamilton. BMW are now only three points away from Ferrari in the constructors championship with McLaren now 20 points clear of the leaders. Red Bull leapfrog Williams with David Coulthard third place. After the pit lane incident, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be penilised 10 places from wherever they qualify at the next race which is in Magny-Cours, France.

Preview - Canadian Grand Prix

2008-06-02T22:52:00.000+01:00

The 39th Canadian Grand Prix is the venue for the seventh round of the 2008 championship. This weekend is the 30th anniversary of the Grand Prix being held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Lets take a look at the events of last year and the details of what to expect this year.

Last Years Race
The McLarens of Hamilton and Alonso lined up in on the first row with Heidfeld in third and Raikkonen in fourth. Kimi had a poor start and was quickly passed by his teammate, Felipe Massa. Alonso has a lock up from second and goes strait on a turn one. Hiedfeld moves up to second, whilst Raikkonen is taken again by Nico Rosberg. Jenson Button stalled on the grid. Mark Webber spins whilst taking Robert Kubica and Scott Speed retires after flying up the back of Alexander Wurz. Alonso again goes off a turn one giving his position to Massa. Adrain Suitil hit the barriers at Turn 8 and the safety car came out. Both Massa and Fisichella ignore the red light at the end of the pit lane and drive through. Kubica waits patiently, but too patiently and gets taken by Jarno Trulli when the green light come back on. Robert Kubica tries to take Trulli but gets it wrong and launches into the air. He slams against the barriers with high force and flips back across the track. Its a big accident and Kubica is helped out of the car and into an ambulance. He was unhurt but missed the next race. The safety car returns to the pit lane after Kubica's accident for the second time. Alonso and Rosberg are given 10 second stop-go penalties for entering the pit lane whilst it was closed. Fisichella and Massa are black flagged for leaving the pit lane under the red flag. They are disqualified. Luizzi brings out the safety car for the fourth time after hitting the wall of champions. Takuma Sato gets the better of Ralf Schumacher, but hes not done and overtakes Fernando Alonso on the strait. He takes sixth. Lewis Hamilton wins the race with Heidfeld second, Wurz third, Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Sato in fourth, fifth and sixth.

Information

Official Name: 2008 Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada
Date: 6-8 June 2008
Round: 7
Circuit: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Location: Montreal
F1 Race Number: 792
Grand Prix Number: 39
First Race: 1967
Laps: 70
Lap Distance: 2.70 Miles (4.36km)
Lap Record: 1:13.622, R.Barrichello

Preparations and Predictions
As the half-way point of the season approaches, the championship is starting to close up. Ferrari will be hoping to continue their qualifying pace and push themselves further ahead. McLaren will want to build on their win at Monaco to make some space between them and BMW. Lewis Hamilton will also be looking for a win only after winning his first race here last year. BMW will also be looking for their first win, as mentioned in this post, they came close in Monaco and after a strong performance last year, this is the Grand Prix where they will want the breakthrough. With the top three teams all determined for a win, Montreal should be hosting a competitive race.

News
Due to my disability to stay in the country, or have any internet access over the week, I'm afraid that this post was written too early to share any pre-race related news.

Too many second places?

2008-06-01T12:37:00.000+01:00

BMW have come a long way since their takeover of the long-running Sauber team in 2005. In the twelve year history of the Swiss team, they not once finished a race in second or higher. Although BMW's first season in the sport wasn't quite what they hoped, they were consistence point finishers and did get a couple of podiums. They improved on Sauber's last season finish, completing 2006 in fifth place. The improvement in 2007 was clear to see. They began battling with the Ferraris and McLarens with Heidfeld starting the season with three consecutive fourth place finishes. The real ability of the F1.07 car became clear in Montreal, Canada. Nick Heidfeld performed solidly to finish in second. Robert Kubica, however, had a less satisfying race. His massive crash at the hairpin put him out of the next race. Nevertheless, Heidfled's second remained their best result in 2007. Whilst they finished best of the rest in the 07 championship, this year they are fighting for top status. Robert Kubica just missed out on pole in Australia, he got pole in Bahrain and he very nearly won the Monaco Grand Prix. Having now secured 3 second places this season, it cant be long before they do one better. Canada was the scene of their best 2007 result. Will it be the scene of their first win this year?

Madness at Monaco

2008-05-29T15:27:00.000+01:00

The last wet race at Monaco was in 1996 (before traction control was re-introduced). Oliver Panis won the race in his Ligier after starting 14th. The race set a Formula One record as only 3 drivers managed to finish. Nobody was expecting quite as manic a race last Sunday, but only 6 cars retiring doesn't tell the whole story. Can rain really make that much difference at Monaco?

Last years race was uneventful at best. I really can't think of anything interesting to say about the 2007 outing. The McLarens lead the whole weekend and Alonso completely dominated. Far more happened off the track than on it. The same could be said for 2006 with Micheal Schumacher's antics in qualifying being the talk of the weekend. It seems this year the sport is slowly returning to the track action. There are still big stories going around behind the scenes about Max Mosley and so on but only 6 races have gone and there is still plenty of racing to talk about. The Monaco Grand Prix has always been a strange one though. It seems to require maximum concentration, yet when it rains, maximum concentration isn't enough. Maybe this is the reason for Ayrton Senna's success at the streets. It requires a little something more in the wet that not all racing drivers have. Whatever it is, it makes for great racing, and with two more Monaco-Style street races still to come we should hopefully see more. Last years most eventful race was arguably the Canadian GP, so with Montreal returning next week, we should be in for a cracker.

Monaco Grand Prix '08

2008-05-27T22:16:00.001+01:00

Last weekend saw an epic Monaco Grand Prix take place in the streets of Monte-Carlo. The Teams and Drivers faced changing weather conditions as the Monaco circuit once again proved its self to be the most challenging track and the Ultimate in street racing. Lets try to calm down enough to take a look at the whole weekend in detail.

Free Practice One
The first two practice sessions took place earlier than normal on Thursday. The Torro Rosso's were the first out, with Sebastain Bourdais beating his teammate time. The other teams began to join them and eventually the Ferrari's and McLaren's made their way out of the pit lane. The Ferrari's went strait to the top but didn't stay there long as Lewis Hamilton jumped up into first. Meanwhile, David Coulthard was halfway round his first full lap when he pulled to the side of the road, failing to set a time. Red flags brought a halt to the session with half an hour left. A drain cover had become loose on the circuit and was leaking. 17 minutes later the session restarted. The yellow flags were waved not long after, as Jarno Trulli became the first casualty of the Monte Carlo barriers. He broke his rear suspension. Nick Heidfeld also had to retire around the same time, due to a mechanical problem. At the front, Hamilton was still leading but with ten minutes remaining it was Kimi Raikkonen that stole his lead. Hamilton failed to respond and finished second. Kovalainen was third ahead of Massa and Rosberg.

Free Practice Two
Free Practice two got underway in slightly warmer conditions to FP1. The Williams drivers were first to set quick time, knocking BMW's Nick Heidfeld to third. Raikkonen and Hamilton continued their fight for the top from the Morning session. Hamilton's first lap was faster than the world champion's time. Nico Rosberg wasn't happy in third, however, and pushed his way back up to second in front of Kimi Raikkonen. Felipe Massa was trying hard to match his team mate's time. He ended up trying a little too hard, though, and collided with a bollard on the track. Then Nico Rosberg was pushed back down to third by Fernando Alonso. Rosberg switched to the super-soft tyres and forced his way past Hamilton into first. Trulli hit the wall for the again but his car was undamaged and he continued. Piquet spun into the barriers but, surprisingly, he also continued. His team mate then did exactly the same thing at exactly the same corner but he was going slightly faster and did damage his car. The rear wing was hanging of the car and he had to shake it off to get round the lap. The session was red flagged whilst the debris was cleared. When the session was restarted, most of the drivers had switched the the super-softs. Raikkonen pulled himself back up to third and Hamilton did one better than in Session one, finishing on top. Rosberg stayed in second with Massa and Kovalainen in fouth and fifth.

Free Practice Three
Heavy rain had fallen overnight and when Saturday dawned, the track was wet. The session was declared wet with more rain expected during FP3. Felipe Massa was first to set a time, with Rosberg behind in second. Raikkonen came out to go right up to first but Massa took the position back. The McLarens stole Ferrari's limelight, however. Hamilton went to the top, continuing his performance from Thursday. Kovalainen was going even faster and forced Lewis down to second. He continued his pace and just before he finished a second faster lap, he spun. The rear of the car was damaged but he was unharmed. The session was red flagged whilst the car was removed. Once the session was restarted, it had begun to rain heavier. Everyone stayed in the pit lane until the last few minutes but nobody could match Heikki's time. He finished first with Hamilton in second. Raikkonen, Rosberg and Kubica were third, fourth and fifth.

Qualifying
The track had dried between the morning practice session and quali one there was a 20% chance of rain throughout the whole of qualifying. The air temperature was slightly hotter.
Session One
Heikki Kovalainen was the first of the front-runners to set a time. The Ferrari's then came out and Massa stole first from Heikki. Kovalainen took the position back only to be again demoted to second by Nico Rosberg. Raikkonen and Hamilton both had brief apperances at the top but it was Heikki Kovalainen that took the lead towards the end of the session. Felipe Massa wasn't done though and proved that Ferrari were in with a chance by beating Heikki to first. Hamilton finished in third. Eliminated from the rest of qualifying were Bourdais, Piquet, Vettel, Sutil and Fisichella.
Session Two
With the threat of rain increasing, the drivers headed out earlier than normal to get some laps in. Fernando Alonso was the first out to set a time. He was beaten by Kimi Raikkonen who was in turn beaten by Felipe Massa. Nico Rosberg slotted into third. It looked like Lewis Hamilton was about to smash in first but he had a slight wobble and only managed third. Nico Rosberg moved up into first later on in the session, but most mid-field drivers left it to the last minute. Towards the end of the session, the drivers in danger of dropping out made their last chance flying laps. Before some of the could get round, however, a tyre was seen making its way along the track at speed. The yellow flags came out as David Coulthard had slamed into the barrier at the exit from the tunnel and flown down the exit road. He was unhurt. The top three were Massa, Rosberg and Hamilton. Glock, Button, Heidfeld, Nakajima and Barrichello failed to get to the top-ten knockout.
Session Three
David Coulthard would not take part in the third session of qualifying, despite setting a fast enough time, after his car was was wrecked during the high-speed accident in Quali two. Kovalainen was first to set a time which was pushed to second by Hamilton. It was Raikkonen that had set the fastest time, however, once all the drivers had been out. Both Massa and Kubica made small mistakes put they slotted in third and second. With nearly a minute of the session left, Kimi Raikkonen completed his lap of a 1:15.815. Then, to most peoples surprise, both McLarens failed to match that time. Perhaps even more surprising though, it was Felipe Massa that stole first from Raikkonen with a 1:15.787 to take pole position for the race. Kimi settled for second with the McLarens on row 2.
Race
After qualifying both Giancarlo Fisichella and David Coulthard joined Sebastian Vettel in the list of drivers with 5 place grid penalties. Coulthard started from 15th whilst Fisichella started from last. It had rained in the city streets overnight and just before the drivers headed of on their parade lap it began raining again. It didn't take long for the track to get wet. Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren stalled on the grid before the warm-up lap and was made to start from the pits. All the drivers made their way round the parade lap safely and lined up on the grid with a Kovalainen shaped gap at the back of row 2. Raikkonen didn't get the best of starts when the lights went out. His hesitation let Hamilton take his second place. Massa did get a good start and stayed in first. Rosberg lost his front wing by touching Alonso at the hairpin. Button and Glock also lost their front wings and all three dived into the pits. Hamilton was trying hard to keep up with Massa and he hit the barriers, deflating his right rear tyre. He also pitted by suprisingly came out in 5th. Alonso also damaged his tyre after hitting a barrier and pitted. David Coulthard ended his weekend after aquaplaining in to the same barriers and Sebastain Bourdais ended up copying him, slamming into the back of the Red Bull after aquaplaing himself. The saftey car came out whilst the car was retrived. Raikkonen was given a drive-through once the saftey car went back in the pits. He didn't have his tyres fitted before the three minutes prior to when the race began. Alonso had switched to extreme-wet tyres during his stop and was quickly making his way back up the order. He was being held up by Heidfeld until he had had enough. The Spainard tried to take Nick at the hairpin and got it badly wrong. He collided with the German causing traffic behind. Heidfeld escaped without damage but Alonso returned to the pits for another front wing. Meanwhile, at the front, Felipe Massa made a mistake going into turn one. He recovered quickly but not in time the stop Robert Kubica pass him, and take the lead of the race. Kubica pitted from second and would have come out behind Raikkonen, had the world champion not been distracted and, similar to his team mate, run strait ahead at turn one. Massa pitted from the lead and managed to get back past Kubica, taking second. Hamilton was now leading the race. Meanwhile, Adrain Sutil had stayed out of trouble and was up to fifth. He set the fastest lap of the race so far. Both Renaults pitted and switched to the dry tyres. The track was still wet but drying quickly. It seemed they switched too soon, though. Both drivers struggled and Piquet ended up in the wall and retired. As the track dried, more drivers switched to the dry compound and evantually the race leader, Lewis Hamilton, pitted and changed to the dries. He had enough of a lead to keep first. Massa then pitted but this time failed to stay in front of Kubica, dropping to third. Hamilton's massive lead was about to ruined as the Williams of Nico Rosberg crashed heavily into the barriers spreading debris all over the track. Rosberg was unhurt but the saftey car was released again. Once the race restarted, Adrain Sutil had managed to climb to fourth place in his Force India, leading Raikkonen. With eight laps left, Kimi lost control leving the tunnel. He managed to fight the car down the end of the strait but slammed into the back of Sutil. Both drivers made it round to the pits. Raikkonen rejoined outside the points in ninth but Sutil was forced to retire. Hamilton won the race with Kubica second and Massa third.
Championship
With Hamilton winning the race and Raikkonen failing to score points, Lewis regains control of the championship. McLaren pull ahead in the constructors championship, now ahead of BMW by two points. Montreal, Canada is the next stop on the calendar.

Preview - Monaco Grand Prix

2008-05-22T22:46:00.001+01:00

The most glamorous Grand Prix is back for the 56th time. Monaco sees host to round six of the championship. Once again all the news, preparation and a recap of last years race in the streets of Monte-Carlo.

Last Years Race
Fernando Alonso grabbed pole for 2007 race, with his McLaren teammate, Lewis Hamilton, behind him in second. Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella lined up on row two. Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber qualified in front of the BMW's on row four. After crashing in Quali one, Kimi Raikkonen started from sixteenth. The race started very cleanly with nobody failing to get round the first corner. Fernando Alonso stayed in the lead, while Nick Heidfeld snatched two places from Webber and Rosberg. Luizzi came very close to taking Raikkonen into the hairpin and had another try at Casino, only to crash into the barriers and retire. Within no time, the McLarens had pulled away and began lapping traffic at the back. At the first round of pit stops, Lewis Hamilton had his strategy changed from a one-stopper to a two-stopper giving him little hope of taking first from Alonso. The Spaniard went on to win the race leading Hamilton, Massa, Fisichella, Kubica, Heifeld, Wurz and Raikkonen.

Information

Official Name: 2008 Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco

Date: 22 - 25 May 2008

Round: 6

Circuit: Circuit de Monaco

Location: Monte Carlo

Race No: 791

First Race: 1950

Laps: 78

Lap Distance: 2.08 Miles (3.34km)

Lap Record: 1:14.439, M.Schumacher

BST Race Start: 13:00

Preparation and Predictions
A good qualifying performance is essential in Monaco. Overtaking opportunities are pretty much non-existent and the chances of the drivers improving on their starting positions are slim, quite the opposite to Turkey. Fernando Alonso has won the past two races, however his chance for three in a row is unlikely. It should all depend on his qualifying strategy. McLaren are the favourites for the race, having finished with a one-two last year. Ferrari are leading the Constructors championship by 19 points, with both their drivers on top in the standings. McLaren need to get a win in Monaco to stop the Italian team getting too far ahead.

News
Toro Rosso's Sebastain Vettel will carry a five place grid penalty after being forced to fit a new gearbox in the new car. The Toro Rosso STR3 makes it's debut in Monaco this week but a new transmission design is incompatable with the gearbox used by Vettel in the STR2B at Turkey. His French teammate, Sebastain Bourdais, will escape the penalty after failing to finish the Turkish race. In other news, Giancarlo Fisichella celebrates his 200th Grand Prix start, just two weeks after Rubens Barrichello made history with his 257th race. Only 11 drivers have broken the 200 race mark.

Turkish Grand Prix '08

2008-05-18T20:43:00.002+01:00

>See our Turkish Race Preview

The Turkish Grand Prix is over. After some of the best overtaking seen in the sport for a long time and strategy choices that made the race go right down to the last laps, the Istanbul Park circuit remains a popular all-round track and a place for Felipe Massa to improve his Career. Lets have look at all the action over the weekend from free practice one to the chequered flag.

Free Practice One
The Turkish Grand Prix got underway with some unusual weather. As well as a chance of rain, the air temperature only was only 14 degrees at the start of the session. This weather was rare for Turkey and not expected by the teams. Giancarlo Fisichella was the first out to start the installation laps in his Force India, however he left the pit lane before the session has began and whilst the red light was still on. Race control decided to penalise him three grid places for the race. Fisichella seemed to be the only driver eager to get going though. Some last-minute track cleaning had left the circuit wet and it took 40 minutes before anybody decided to head out. Sebastain Bourdais was the first out once the track had dried. Kovalainen was the first to set a quick time before the drivers started to struggle with the conditions and low tire temperatures. Trulli, Hamilton and Massa spun whilst many other drivers ran wide. Massa eventually beat Heikki's time, pushing him down to second. Hamilton set third fastest with his former teammate, Fernando Alonso in fourth. Jenson Button finished fifth and his record-breaking teammate started his weekend in eighth.

Free Practice Two
During the Friday lunch break, rain hit the circuit. The rain cleared in time for Free Practice Two however, and most of the track had dried. Kimi Raikkonen wasted no time in setting off and posted the fastest time of 1:27:54. Not long after, the red flags came out after Mark Webber went wide at the exit to turn 6 in his Red Bull. He made heavy contact with the barriers, wrecking the front end of his car. The Australian was unhurt in the accident. Jenson Button continued his good form when the session was restarted slipping into seventh. Alonso and Boudais made a journey on the grass but their mistakes were overshadowed by Timo Glock who lost his Toyota's nose whilst attempting to rejoin the track after running wide in turn 4. Massa failed to beat Kimi's time towards the end of the session slotting in second and so did Heikki Kovalainen with his best lap slower than the Ferrari's. Lewis Hamilton did manage to split the Ferrari's, however, and David Coulthard beat Heikki's time to finish fourth, wrapping up Friday's action.

Free Practice Three
Saturdays action got underway, well, very slowly actually. When the drivers finally left their pit garages it was Lewis Hamilton that set the first time to beat. Eventually all the drivers, but Coulthard, had set a time and the battle at the top were between the Renaults. The McLarens managed to get in front of them taking the top spots whilst Kimi was not where he wanted to be struggling down the grid. Massa manged to get in front of the McLarens taking the lead. With roughly half an hour left, David Coulthard left the Red Bull garage and quickly went up to third. When the last few minutes arrived Coulthard slid into first only to be pretty much immediately beaten by his Australian teammate who finished in first making up for his crash on Friday. Alonso also beat Coulthard managing second meaning the top three all had Renault engines in the back of their car. Rosberg finished fourth in front of Massa, Trulli and Hamilton.

Qualifying
After Super Aguri's withdrawal from the sport, only five drivers will drop out of sessions one and two instead of six. No rain was predicted for the whole of qualifying before session one began.
Session One
Timo Glock was the first to set a quick time and stayed in first until the Ferrari's and McLaren's left the pits. Raikkonen beat the Toyota's time. He was in beaten by Kovalainen who in turn was beaten by Hamilton. Massa was in fourth. Suprisingly, the Ferrari's went out again despite confirming themselves in session two. Massa improved to beat Hamilton's time and finish in first. Trulli slotted in fourth and the BMW's finished 7th and 9th. Knocked out of the first session were Nakajima, Piquet, Bourdais, Fisichella and Sutil.
Session Two
Nothing much happened at the beginning of Quali 2 with nobody bothering to set a fast time until the last ten minutes. Alonso, Webber, Trulli and Coulthard were the first few to set a time only to have them smashed by Kimi Raikkonen who stayed in front for the rest of the session. Massa, Hamilton and Kovalainen failed to beat him time on their best laps. Kovalainen did improve to beat his British teammate whilst Robert Kubica split the Ferrari's pushing Massa to third. Rosberg, Barrichello, Button, Vettel and Glock were refused entry to the top ten knockout.
Session Three
Timo Glock was the first driver to set a time, five minutes into the session. Lewis Hamilton wasted no time in beating the Toyota Driver's time of 1:30.299, taking the lead. Raikkonen, Kubica and Alonso all set times ahead of Hamilton but their efforts were overshadowed by Felipe Massa who set a super fast time of 1:27.896. Hamilton started to have problems keeping control of the car and pitted to change his tyres to the slower harder compound. He failed to beat Massa's time with a 1:27.923. Kovalainen did manage to beat Massa's time, just, with 1:27.808. Massa crossed the line next and smashed the time set by the McLaren driver, securing pole position for the third year in a row with 1:27.617. Kimi Raikkonen finished in fourth in front of Robert Kubica.

Race
The drivers completed their formation lap and lined up on the grid, waiting for the lights. Which took a very long time to come on. Massa made a good start to retain the lead with no challenges. Hamilton made an even better start behind him, though easily taking his teammate for second place. Both Kovalainen and Raikkonen dropped down another place after Robert Kubica took them for third. Kimi dropped down even more places after being boxed in by Heikki on turn 1. Meanwhlie, at the back, Giancarlo Fisichella went into turn 1 way too fast and flew over the top of Kazuki Nakajima's Williams to retire for the third time in a row in a first corner crash at Turkey. Nakajima managed to get to the pits with no rear wing but was forced to retire. The safety car was brought out whilst debris from the crash was cleared. When the pit lane reopened, Sutil pit for a new front wing after losing it in his teammates accident. Vettel pit for a puncture and so did second place starter, Heikki Kovalinen who re-entered the race in last place. Kimi Raikkonen started making his way back up the field, taking Alonso for fourth. The Spanish Renault driver was the first in the pits rather early. Hamilton had done a good job keeping up with Massa, he was next in the pitlane. His stop was very short, suggesting a three-stop strategy. Meanwhile, Kovalainen began his journey back up the grid, passing Sutil and Vettel. Massa pit and came back out infront of Hamilton. Kubica also pit from third. Raikkonen began his work and after his stop, he left the pit lane infront of Kubica moving him up to third. Meanwhile, right at the front, Lewis Hamilton overtook Felipe Massa to take the lead of the race. He began to pull away at an astonishing rate form Massa, again suggesting he was three stopping and he was lighter on fuel. He wasn't leading for long however, as he made his way to the pits confiming he was on a three stopper. He rejoined third. Bourdais spun and buried himself in the gravel, but then the attention was back on Kovalianen. He took Timo Glock just before the end of the lap, but Glock didn't give up and repassed him. Heikki took him again down the main strait. More action was taking place just ahead. Nelson Piquet was trying hard to get past Jenson Button. Evantually he did and Kovalainen took the advantage and got past Button too. Massa, Kubica and Raikkonen all made thier second stop with no troubles. Then Hamilton made his third and final stop and came out infront of Kimi, snatching third from the iceman. The last piece of action came, rather unsuprisingly, from Kovalainen. He passed Rosberg, only for Nico to come back at him like Glock did. Heikki passed him again for eigth and a championship point. Kovalainen still had to make a stop, however, and finished twelth. Massa won his third Turkish Grand Prix in a row. Hamilton came second with Raikkonen third. The retirements were Fisichella, Nakajima and Bourdais.
Championship
Kimi Raikkonen stays on top in the Drivers Championship and Felipe Massa has pulled himself right back into contention. He is equal on points with Hamilton in second. In the Constuctors, Ferrari are 19 points from BMW and McLaren are now 2 behind the German team. Next we move to the most glamourous and one of the most popular locations on the calendar. The Monte-Carlo street circuit, Monaco.

Preview - Turkish Grand Prix

2008-05-10T19:00:00.007+01:00

The Turkish Grand Prix returns to Formula One for the fourth time. In the first MOF1 race preview I'm gonna give you a glimpse into last years race and all the facts and figures for the weekend plus an idea of what's happening and what to expect from Istanbul Park.

Last Years Race

Qualifying saw Felipe Massa Grab Pole position in a much later stage of the season in August. Lewis Hamilton lined up behind him with Kimi Räikkönen heading row 2 in front of Fernando Alonso. The BMW's lined up on Row 3 with Renault's Heikki Kovalainen behind in 7th. Massa made a brilliant start on the Sunday pulling away from Hamilton immediately and Kimi got the better of the Brit on the line pushing Lewis down to third. Alonso had an even worse start, however, pushed from Fourth down to sixth by the BMW's. Fisichella's Renault went out of control in turn one, touching the back of Janro Trulli in the Toyota. Four to five cars swerved of the track to avoid the drama, leaving Jarno at the back of the field. The Ferrari's wasted no time in pulling away and only Hamilton was in sight in third with Nick Heidfeld in fourth being threatened by Alonso who had managed to pass Kubica in the sister BMW. Alonso got the better of the German BMW driver in the pits and regained 4th. The Ferrari's continued to pull away and as Hamilton tried to catch them up he got a puncture. He left the pits in fifth behind Heidfeld and Alonso. Heikki Kovalainen managed to catch up to Hamilton's McLaren but failed to pass him before the end of the race. Felipe comfortably won the race with Kimi behind him completing the Ferrari one-two. Alonso joined them on the podium. Heikki finished 1 second behind Lewis and Rosberg completed the race in 7th, nine seconds behind the Renault. Robert Kubica couldn't match his teammates performance and finished 8th.

Information

Official Name: 2008 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix
Date: 9-11 May 2008
Round: 5
Circuit: Istanbul Park
Location: Istanbul
First race: 2005
Laps: 58
Lap Distance: 3.32 Miles (5.34km)
Lap Record: 1:24.770, J.Montoya
BST Race Start: 1:00

Preparation and Predictions
The First Turkish Grand Prix was in 2005 and since then every driver that grabbed pole on the Saturday has gone on to win the race. I say every, Kimi grabbed pole and won the first race and since then the honours have all gone to Felipe Massa, winning his first race in Turkey, he has gone on to dominate the Grand Prix, saying on Thursday that he owns the track. With most of the predictions pointing to another wipe out by Ferrari, can Massa continue his run or will he be beaten by the sister Ferrari, McLaren, BMW or even the Renault, looking back to Spain. Unlike Spain, however, pole certainly doesn't guarantee a win. The circuit is widely considered as Hermann Tilke's best and overtaking opportunity's shouldn't be rare. It won't be easy for the pole-sitter to stay leading the pack.

News
Rubens Barrichello makes Formula One history this weekend as the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix marks his 257th Grand Prix start surpassing Ricardo Patrese's record of 256 making him the most experienced Formula One driver ever. He began his F1 Career in 1993 and is the only driver still in the sport to have raced with Ayrton Senna. Out of the current drivers, only David Coulthard is anywhere near his experience level with 30 less Grand Prix starts. In other news Heikki Kovalienen has been declared fit for the Grand Prix after his heavy crash in Spain saying "I am obviously very pleased with the decision by the FIA Medical Team, I arrived here today feeling confident that I would pass the FIA test as I feel 100 percent." and finally Giancarlo Fisichella will be penalised three grid positions for the race after exiting the pit lane under a red light during Free Practice 1 on Friday.

And then there were ten...

2008-05-07T21:54:00.003+01:00

After half a year of uncertainty, Super Aguri have finally announced their withdrawal from the 2008 season. Aguri Suzuki said, after a meeting with the Honda board in Japan, "In order to realize my dream to become an owner of a Formula One Team, I applied for a grid position in the FIA Formula One World Championship in November 2005. Since then, I have participated in the championship for 2 years and 4 months with the Super Aguri F1 team, but regretfully I must inform you that the team will be ceasing its racing activities as of today." The team, which was originally set up by Honda to give Takuma Sato a drive, has struggled from the start by only just making the final cut into their first season in 2006. The team managed to overcome their original financial struggles and by 2007 secured a permanent second driver, Anthony Davidson, and things stated to look up for the Japanese squad with an improvement in their results. The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix was their strongest outing with Takuma finishing in 6th with his British team-mate heading for a 5th place before colliding with a groundhog. At the end of the championship they managed a 9th place constructors position beating the short-lived Spyker team and only just behind a severely under performing Honda (and helped by the exclusion of McLaren). Whilst preparing for their next season, however, their major 2007 sponsor, SS United, breached their contract and failed to payout any of the agreed deal plunging the team into the financial struggles seen at the beginning of the season. But what does this mean for the sport? With the races back down to only 20 drivers and teams with small budgets finding it harder and harder to start up a team with less people interested every month, it seems the FIA have to be more extreme with their cost-cutting plans. All hope for the two drivers may not be over however, with the team going into administration we might yet see a return by some of the core of the Japanese squad in 2009.

Nick's had enough

2008-05-05T22:03:00.000+01:00

The future of Super Aguri is looking grimmer by the minute. Over the past week the Japanese squad has been in talks with the Weigl Group and everything seemed to be going to plan. All that was needed was the approval of Honda. Unfortunately that's when things stated to go wrong. Nick Fry didn't seem to approve of the deal saying "It would appear unlikely that a company the size of Weigl is able to support a competitive Formula One team, unless of course there are other partners of which we have not been made aware." Super Aguri, however, seemed optimistic that Honda would approve the German company's deal and sent their trucks and motorhome to Istanbul. When they arrived they had quite a surprise. The team was denied access to the paddock and were left waiting outside the track for further information. The reason for the refusal of entry was Formula One Management had been informed that Super Aguri would not be racing. The FOM had been informed by Honda CEO, Nick Fry who made it clear that his team could not longer support Super Aguri saying "We tried to help as much as possible and Honda never intended to fund two F1 teams. We've gone way beyond what was ever originally anticipated." Clearly this is the end of Honda's involvement in Aguri Suzuka's team and it looks increasingly lightly that nobody is interested in buying the team. Aguri will be meeting the Honda board tomorrow where it looks likely the team will announce their withdrawal from the sport.

Somebody was bound to bring it up

2008-05-03T14:35:00.000+01:00

The general secretary of the Czech Automobile Association, Radovan Novak, has accused Ron Dennis, in a Prague radio interview, of bringing the Max Mosley scandal to public attention. Max who is currently suing the news of the world tabloid, has not commented on the accusation, however when the scandal broke in March he had said "I understand that over the last two weeks or so, a covert investigation of my private life and background has been undertaken by a group specialising in such things, for reasons and clients unknown." Ron has responded to Radovan's comments saying "I categorically deny that I have anything to do with the News of the World investigation into Mr Mosley. We are writing to Mr Novak and are currently considering the appropriate route via which the remarks that have been attributed to him may be withdrawn or corrected." Hardly surprising Ron has been accused of setting him up after the events of 2007 and the spygate controversy, but it's hard to imagine Ron would be foolish enough to do something on this scale to embarrass Max. The Czech has issued a further statement saying "It's definitely one of the possibilities every intelligent person has to consider. But maybe Mr. Mosley already knows who is behind it." Max will face an FIA vote of confidence in Paris on June 3rd but whatever happens, it is unlikely we have heard the last from Ron Dennis about the scandal.

Welcome to More Online F1!

2008-05-01T19:24:00.004+01:00

Yep, time for another F1 Blog. I've been meaning to set this up since December but only just got round to it. Hopefully I'll be less busy from now on. You can expect Previews, Reviews and Regular updates throughout each race weekend. Latest news, glimpses behind the scenes and General Coverage throughout the week. I'll try not to miss anything. I'll also be taking a look at more F1 Sites and Blogs. It might seem a bit odd to start an F1 Blog during the season, but I'll catch up quickly and hopefully you wont even notice. Thanks very much for visiting and don't go away! The coverage will start soon.