Category: Motor Racing

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa became Formula One’s second newest winner (after Jenson Button) with a superb lights-to-flag drive in the Turkish Grand Prix. The Brazilian didn’t make any mistakes throughout the weekend after his fantastic pole position in qualifying. His race pace was consistent and fast compared to his team-mate Michael Schumacher, who finished a very close third behind his main title challenger Fernando Alonso.

In fact, in the last few laps, everyone’s attention was focused on the duel between Schumacher and Alonso. The Renault was suffering a tyre wear issue but Alonso was in complete control of the situation despite the pressure of Michael in the faster Ferrari directly behind…

This duel reminded me of the closing stages of the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. At that time, Alonso was in the lead and Michael was close behind and was seeking a way through in order to win the race in front of the Tifosi. In both cases, the German was desperate to get past but Alonso absorbed the pressure exceedingly well.

Indeed, Alonso was well comfortable in the tricky situation that he was adjusting the revs of his Renault RS26 engine according to how close Schumacher was… It got a little precarious at times, but Alonso knew Schumacher couldn’t afford to take them both off, since it was he who had a ten point deficit to worry about.

Despite that, going into the tight last corner on the final lap, Fernando protected the inside line just in case. But the Spaniard compromise the exit… And Michael had the momentum… In the end, Alonso just finished ahead of his championship rival by half a car’s length to create a dead heat finish. The time gap splitting the two contenders was less than one-tenth of a second!

By finishing second, this was a crucial boost to Alonso’s title defence, extending his lead from 10 to 12 points with just 40 available over the remaining four Grands Prix.

But the true significance of Alonso’s runner-up finish was to bring about a six point swing in his favour since, had Schumacher been ahead of the Spaniard, he would almost certainly be given the race win and the maximum ten points for victory.

In hindsight, Schumacher’s race was comprised by his errors during qualifying. He should have qualified the Ferrari 248 on pole position as he had the fastest package – chassis and Bridgestone tyres – to win the race. But Massa did a better job and it was a rich reward for the Brazilian after 67 Grands Prix. If Michael did get ahead of Alonso, then Massa would pull aside to let his team leader through to take the win, thereby closing the championship gap significantly… But it all went wrong during the Safety Car period.

Vitantonio Liuzzi spun his Toro Rosso at the first corner and stalled it. Forcing the race director to bring out the Safety Car so that the track marshals can remove Liuzzi’s car. This prompt the Ferrari team to conduct the first round of pitstops for both cars during this period. But Massa was ahead of Michael at that point and it was the Brazilian who was served with fresh fuel and new Bridgestone tyres. Michael was forced to wait behind and this delay cost him the track position and more importantly the race win…

With two Ferraris in the pits, Renault decided to call Alonso in for his first stop at the same time. And with Michael stacked behind Felipe, the Spaniard made the most of the opportunity to get ahead of his title rival.

So a ‘dream result’ for Felipe Massa winning his first Grand Prix for Ferrari. With Alonso in second after admitting he was lucky to finished in the runner-up spot thanks to the Safety Car. Without that, I would reckon he would have finished a distant third… As for Michael, he was frustrated to come away with only third after showing he was the fastest driver thoughout the weekend. But the German is determined to win the next race, the Italian Grand Prix so that he can close the 12 point gap…

As for the others, Jenson Button drove another impeccable race, but in dry conditions his Honda RA106 was no match for the Ferraris and Renaults and he had to make do with fourth. McLaren’s Perdo de la Rosa drove a solid race to fifth despite stopping once for fuel. While Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella recovered well from his first lap spin at Turn 1 to take sixth.

Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher also recovered well after being involved in the first corner incident. While the last point finisher was Rubens Barrichello in the Honda.

As for the start, there was mayhem at Turn 1. Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella spun after team-mate Alonso had to brake hard to avoid contact with the two Ferraris. The Spanaird had slipped ahead of his title rival, but was forced to brake as Massa moved across in front to take the lead.

Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber lost its nosecone on the stricken Renault, and behind them there was carnage as Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren) was hit from behind by Ralf Schumacher (Toyota). Then Scott Speed (Toro Rosso) hit the back of Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren), and a sideways Takuma Sato (Super Aguri) was hit by Tiago Monteiro (Midland), who retired on the spot.

While that was happening, Ralf Schumacher swept across the track and collided lightly with his Toyota team-mate Jarno Trulli… R. Schumacher, Fisichella, Heidfeld, Speed, Raikkonen and Sato all pitted at the end of the lap before resuming. A lap later Raikkonen crashed heavily in Turn 4 after running off the road, possibly because of associated problems…

I do feel sorry for Raikkonen as he was trying to avoid the spinning Renault at the start but was hit from behind damaging his car. I really hope he can end his time at McLaren with a high by scoring a final win before joining Ferrari next year (the rumours are that the Finn will definitely drive for them and the announcement should take place during the Italian Grand Prix weekend).

Ferrari will be looking for a strong result at their home Grand Prix in Monza in two weeks time. Michael Schumacher will probably announce his decision whether or not to continue in Formula One next year. But in terms of this year’s championship, he is now 12 points behind Alonso with the Italian team only two points beind the leading constructor, Renault. The battle for the title continues in the remaining four races.

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Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve has left BMW Sauber with immediate effect in a move which could bring his Formula One career to an end.

The French-Canadian’s contract was due to expire at the end of this season, but has been terminated by mutual consent.

Vileneuve was replaced by test driver Robert Kubica for last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix after the Canadian told the Hinwil-based squad he was not ready to race following his shunt at Hockenheim.

But it now seems that the crash hastened his exit from the team, although he still had five races to run on his contract.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen said in a team statement: ”Jacques has performed well for us this year, scoring the team’s first grand prix points in Malaysia.

“He has made a significant contribution to developing the newly formed BMW Sauber F1 Team and the performance of the car.

“However, after Jacques’ accident in the Hockenheim race the team decided to review its options for next year, including assessing Robert Kubica in a race environment.

“Our decision to look towards evaluating our driver line up has naturally impacted Jacques’ position for the remainder of this season.

“We fully understand that it is difficult for Jacques to maintain his natural level of commitment in circumstances of uncertainty.

“We respect his position and wish him well for the future.”

Such a shame to see Villeneuve go as he was driving so much better this season compared to 2005. I will miss the Canadian’s driving in Formula One and his unique, fun personality. I wish him all the best and would love to see him drive a race car again…

…And if the rumours are true, we could see Jacques racing in NASCAR, like a certain Colombian who left Formula One last month. Two F1 stars racing on ovals? Oh yes.

Finally Jenson Button has won a Grand Prix. After 113 starts in Formula One, the Honda driver charged though to take his first win of his racing career and it amazing considering he started the race in P14 on the grid!

The Hungarian Grand Prix was filled with incidents and action throughout the 70 lap race. It was the first time in 21 years that the Hungaroring was a wet race and the first rain-effected Grand Prix this year. Wet weather conditions always provide a real challenge to the drivers and can often provide top racing entertainment. And in this case, the Hungarian Grand Prix was the best race of the season and it surprising to say the least considering how difficult to overtake on this narrow and twisty track.

Anyway, at the start McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen led the 22-car field from pole position. The Finn was leading in the early stages, but lost the lead to the flying Renault of Fernando Alonso (who started in P15). Then on lap 26, he collided into the back of Vitantonio Liuzzi’s lapped Toro Rosso.

His team-mate Pedro de la Rosa was close behind and witness the shunt between the two cars. Kimi retired on the spot – bringing out the Safety Car – while Liuzzi returned to the pits and was out of the race.

After the Safety Car period, it was a race between Alonso and Button, who both drove superbly from the mid-pack to the front. Alonso held track position and was looking towards a well-deserved victory (to keep his lead in the championship) but after his second pit-stop, his Renault suffered a rare driveshaft failure… And Alonso was out! Now Button is in the lead and the Brit held on to score an emotional victory.

As for Michael Schumacher, who started the race ahead of Alonso and Button on the grid (P11), the German was struggling for grip with his Bridgestone tyres. In fact, he was lapping a couple of seconds slower than the leading Michelin runners (Raikkonen, Button and Alonso). The wet tyres (intermediate) from Michelin was working a treat – offering grip and confidence to the drivers.

Michael Schumacher was overtaken by his championship rival Alonso not once, but twice! The first time for race position and the second time, to lap him! In the later stages, Micheal’s Bridgestones was wearing out and he was losing grip. This allowed McLaren’s De la Rosa to close up and challenge the Ferrari driver for a podium position. The Spanaird had the grip – after changing to groove (dry weather) tyres when the track was drying out – and Michael was in a desperate situation to defend his race position. The McLaren driver made his move on Michael at the chicane, but the seven-time World Champion refused to give way and cut across the chicane. Michael had to let him through but didn’t… A lap later, De la Rosa passed the Ferrari with a clean move at the same corner and he was now in second position.

Now it was Nick Heidfeld’s turn to overtake the slow Ferrari. Nick was watching closely at the Perdo and Michael battle in his BMW Sauber. Once De la Rosa was passed, it was his turn. He went down the inside of the Ferrari at the same chicane but contact was made! Michael turned into him (possibly?) and came out the worst. Heidfeld gained the track position – third – and he went on to finish. But Michael had damaged his 248 Ferrari and had to retire…

With Michael and Fernando not scoring any points this weekend, the championship battle remains the same – 11 points between them – and will resume the duel in Turkey in three weeks time.

But a fantastic day for Jenson Button. Not since the Australian Grand Prix three years ago when David Coulthard was victorious (in his McLaren) has a British driver won in Formula 1. Sixty-three long races past and it so nice to see a new winner on the top step of the podium. Jenson drove faultlessly from fourteenth on the grid. Avoiding trouble and incidents. Was setting faster laptimes than Fernando in the middle stage of the race and held on to a popular win. Will this be the first of many for Jenson?

Perdo de la Rosa finished his career-best with second in the McLaren. His only mistake was spinning during the formation lap! The Spanaird drove a solid race and can be proud of his achievement in the MP4-21. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld came third and this was the team’s best result since rebranded as a BMW team.

Honda’s Rubens Barrichello finished fourth ahead of David Coulthard’s Red Bull Racing (P5) and Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota (P6). Polish superstar Robert Kubica drove an impressive race to finish in the points with seventh, despite spinning twice and damaging the front nose of his BMW Sauber! And in eighth, it’s Felipe Massa who had a frustrating time in the Ferrari. The Brazilian was struggling for grip. Spun twice and got lapped… At least he set the fastest lap as a small consolation.

UPDATE: Michael Schumacher has gained a valuable single point after the race stewards disqualified Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber from the result. His car was found to be underweight…

Schumacher is now 10 points behind Alonso as we take a three-week break. Battle continues in Turkey on August 27.

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher won his third race in succession and his fourth German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. The German’s victory is significant in terms of closing the points gap to championship leader Fernando Alonso, who struggled with blistering rear tyres and could only finish in a distant fifth.

If Michael wins the last six Grands Prix then he will be the 2006 FIA Formula One World Champion. Unbelievable to say the least a month ago, when Fernando Alonso looked comfortable with a 25 points advantage. But after three poor races (USA, France and Germany), I believe the Spanaird is feeling quite tense about the form of Ferrari and Schumacher recently.

Schumacher’s 89th Grand Prix victory has reduced the gap to Alonso to 11 points. Ferrari scored a perfect 1-2 result with team-mate Felipe Massa doing a splending job in supporting his team leader. The Italian team is now ten points behind Renault in the Constructors’ championship.

Renault was left to trail home in fifth (Alonso) and sixth for Giancarlo Fisichella and for most of the race could not lap within one second of the flying Italian cars. The pace of the Ferraris at Hockenheim was impressive. Michael and Felipe could even lap the whole field if they wanted to, but decided to drive safely and finish the race.

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen finished in third place after starting on pole position. His qualifying lap was based on an unrealistically light fuel load, as was evinced when the Finn pitted on just lap 16. But the Woking-based squad seemed to have the legs on Renault throughout the weekend, and Raikkonen’s eventual third-place finish was a fair reflection on the two teams’ relative performance.

Jenson Button drove a good race in the Honda to come home fourth and even though he was beaten to the third place by Kimi Raikkonen (in the closing stages of the race), he was still delighted to finish in the points for the first time since May.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli drove another strong race to charge from the back of the grid to seventh, making up much of his ground on an incident-filled opening lap. And Christian Klien earned his second point of the season with a solid performance (P8) at a critical moment in his contract negotiations with Red Bull Racing for next year.

Special mention to Mark Webber in the Williams. The Australian was driving superbly and was racing against Raikkonen and Button for the final podium place. Alas, the unreliability of the FW28 let Webber down and yet again under non-points finish. A shame really…

But the end feeling is that Ferrari are on a mid-season charge in it’s quest to win this season’s championship. Renault and Michelin are under pressure to return to winning ways and they needs to find a dramatic improvement in pace to keep their championship hopes alive.

The next race is the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest next Sunday (August 6th) and if Ferrari score another one-two result then we could have an exciting and tense championship finale.

As a passionate fan of Formula One motor racing, I like to write detail accounts on this year’s FIA World Championship. I have created a long thread on the main Eternal Sunset forum and will continue to post Grand Prix stories on the forum and here (plus eMagi).

For those who haven’t read my views on the pinnacle of motor racing, you can start reading this here: http://www.eternalblade.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=578&st=0

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher won his eighth French Grand Prix (an impressive race statistic) after a dominate lights-to-flag victory over Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa finished in third position.

Schumacher’s victory has significantly reduced the points gap to championship leader Alonso to 17 points. And with seven races to go, this will mean that we will have a tense and exciting duel for the title.

In the early part of the race, Ferrari were running one-two with Michael ahead of team-mate Massa. But Renault changed their pit-stop strategy (from three pitstops to two), which allow Alonso to jump ahead of the Brazilian and gained that all-important extra points with P2.

Bridgestone was the fastest tyre package in Michelin’s home race, judging by the pace of the Ferraris and the Toyotas. But the Williams team did suffer a tyre problem especially for Mark Webber, who had to retire with a left-rear running over temperature…

Ralf Schumacher finished in a good solid fourth in the Toyota with McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen in fifth. Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella drove a low-key race and finished a distant sixth, ahead of Pedro de la Rosa in the McLaren. The last point scorer was Nick Heidfeld in the BMW-Sauber.

As for Honda, it was a weekend from hell. Terrible qualifying performance from Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello and then in the race, a lack of race pace which ended in retirement for both drivers…

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya has announced that he is leaving Formula One to join NASCAR racing in America.

The McLaren driver will reunite with Chip Ganassi Racing, with whom he achieved spectacular success when racing in the United States, winning the 1999 Champ Car (CART) title and the 2000 Indianapolis 500.

The shock news was announced by Montoya and Ganassi in a press conference at the Chicagoland NASCAR event on Sunday morning (July 9th).

Montoya’s future has been one of the key talking points of the feverish F1 ‘silly season’.

McLaren had not taken up its option to retain him for 2007 and after a disappointing 2006 campaign to date his place in the Woking team was in jeopardy – especially with a list of other candidates in the frame for the high demanded seat alongside new arrival Fernando Alonso (the current championship leader).

With Toyota expected to re-sign Jarno Trulli for another three years and Red Bull Racing’s interest apparently on the wane, Montoya’s options to remain in Formula One were looking limited.

Ganassi recently expressed an interest in renewing his association with Montoya but it was assumed any overtures would be in connection with his IRL IndyCar squad.

Instead the Colombian will take on a completely new challenge after signing what was described as a “multi-year” deal.

He will become the first big-name F1 regular to compete in NASCAR full-time in the 58-year history of the stock car category.

Apparently Jacques Villeneuve was thinking on the same wave length and joining NASCAR at the end of his F1 career. Even though the Canadian is achieving solid results in the BMW Sauber this season, the team hasn’t made a decision whether he will drive for them in 2007. If Villeneuve leaves, then we have lost another great driver from the ‘pinnacle of motor racing.’

As for Montoya, I think he made the right choice as he seems to be disillusioned by the politics in Grand Prix racing. Plus, since he join McLaren from Williams back in 2005, Montoya has been out-performed by Kimi Raikkonen. It doesn’t help that he had that ‘tennis/motocross’ injury last year…

I will miss Montoya in Formula One as he was an exciting driver to watch. Brave and committed. His passing move on Michael Schumacher at Brazil in only his third race in 2001 was fantastic. And that amazing 160mph+ qualifying lap around Monza in 2002 was simply incredible.

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher won a dramatic United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, closing the championship gap to Fernano Alonso by six points. Schumacher was delighted to win his fifth consecutive US Grand Prix after taking his first win since the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

As for Alonso, the Spaniard had a troubled race. Struggling with oversteer (in qualifying, he was suffering understeer) and could only finish in fifth position. A disappointing result for the current championship leader after winning the last four races.

At the start, on the first corner, there was a big incident that took out half of the Formula One field! It seems that Juan Pablo Montoya caused the shunt, by running into the back of his McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen… Both McLarens spun, hitting Jenson Button (Honda) and clipping both Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) and Scott Speed (Toro Rosso). Heidfeld’s BMW flew into a series of rolls, but luckily the German was unhurt. Further back, a separate accident at the apex of the first turn eliminated Christian Klien (Red Bull Racing), Mark Webber (Williams) and Franck Montagny (Super Aguri).

Such a shame that both McLarens and Scott Speed were out before the race even started. Well, that’s motor racing for you and hopefully a better race for them in the next Grand Prix.

A perfect one-two finish for Ferrari with Felipe Massa scoring his best ever finish with second. He made a great start to lead the first 29 laps, before the first round of pitstops. Schumacher stopped on lap 28 (a lap sooner than his team-mate) but grabbed the lead with a supreme out lap. And that was the end of the lead contest.

Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella finished in a distant third ahead of Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Giancarlo just didn’t have the speed to challenge for the win. But at least he had a better handling Renault R26 over team-mate Alonso…

A fantastic achievement by Trulli, despite starting from the pitlane after suffering a rear suspension failure during qualifying. The Italian stayed out of trouble on the first lap and drove a solid race for yet another finish. Good job!

Rubens Barrichello had a lonely race to sixth in the Honda. The Brazilian was actually catching Alonso near the end of the race… David Coulthard scored another points finish with seventh in the Red Bull, with Vitantonio Liuzzi in P8 for Toro Rosso.

Renault had admitted that third and fifth places was the “maximum” it could have hoped for. As has been the case all weekend, the Michelin-shod R26 – so dominant a week ago in Canada – was unable to match the combination of Bridgestone tyres on the Ferrari chassis.

Giancarlo Fisichella came closest to offering a challenge, finishing in a strong third place to reclaim third in the drivers’ standings from McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Meanwhile, McLaren boss Ron Dennis refused to blame anyone for the first corner accident that took both his cars out of the United States Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen as the pack jostled through the opening turns. Both McLarens spun and collected the cars around them – taking Jenson Button out of the race and sending Nick Heidfeld rolling through the gravel. The race stewards are planning to hold an investigation after the race, and Montoya seems the driver most likely to receive any censure.

My opinion is this was a motor racing incident and these things can happen. A pack of 22 cars racing towards a tight and narrow right corner always bound to cause trouble. Such a shame that so many cars were taken out before the race began.