f1 zone magazine

WRCKimi factor

ISSUE 3 SUMMER 2010

Ferrari’s Technical Upgrades Explained

SILLY SEASONWho is going where for 2011?

LE MANSFirst Hand Experience

PLUS

MID SEASON REPORT

Race Report from the Canadian & European GP

COPYRIGHT 2010 F1ZONE.NET

EDITORIAL

Cast your mind back to the 14th of March earlier in the year. 49 laps of a tedious race had been completed and there was a fear that 2010 would be a repeat of 2002. Not one bit. 2010 has so far been a tremendous season with highs and lows for all the drivers, some stunning drives, fantastic moves and even a flip! The most recent race in Valencia highlighted how safe modern day Formula One cars are considering the monumental accident which befell Mark Webber and the fact he could just walk away, only feeling “tender”.

IIn the first issue of the magazine, we have some great features lined up as we’ve made a magazine by members, for members. We have analysis from the latest events, features about elements of the sport and also sections dedicated to other Motorsports.

So I hope that you enjoy the read and we aim to release an issue every three months or so.

WITHWITH THANKS TO: Shailesh Ghimire for designing pretty much everything, formatting the articles, putting up with a pestering editor and bring reliable – it wouldn’t have been possible without your help. Felipe Arubes for being an Australian with (some) common sense. Joost Lamers for managing to have a job which means he handily ends up in Le Mans when there’s some car race going on. Nicole for being a Kimi-nut! Khodr Rawi for, er, erm, yeah, Khodr Rawi. Mark Webber for flipping in the European Grand Prix, meaning that something exciting happened in Valencia.

FFor the next issue, we'd like to have articles from a variety of members so if you wish to write one please do and let us know!

Philip HortonEditor / Chief Correspondent

Design editor shailf1

Correspondents cformula1 Joost Lamers Wolfie bar555

Adverstising Khodr [email protected]

MaterialMaterial Published in F1zone.net Magazine is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced (or photocopied) other than Personal use.


CONTENTS

Table of Contents

2011 Silly Season...................................................................... 1 How is 2011 driver Market shaping up?

Review: Canadian GP ................................................................ 3 Montreal Magic starts 5 way title battle.

Review: European GP ............................................................... 6 Red Bull gives you wings

Classic German GP 2000Classic German GP 2000 ........................................................... 8 Barichello wins at last

Classic Hungarian GP 2006 ....................................................... 10 Button takes a supreme victory.

Driver Rankings ........................................................................ 12

Sauber, 2010 Disaster ............................................................... 17 How the minnows have fallen.

F1: F1: Tracks ................................................................................ 19 Critical assessment of the newest additions to the F1 calendar Racing in the pitlane

F1: Broadcast .......................................................................... 21

Tech Zone ............................................................................... 23 Ferrari’s upgrades explained

WRC ....................................................................................... 27 The Kimi Factor

Le Mans Diary ......................................................................... 29

Quiz ........................................................................................ 31


2011: SILLY SEASON

McLaren Mercedes: McLaren will sck with champions Jenson Buon and Lewis Hamilton for a second season. Both have contracts unl the end of 2012.

Red Bull Renault: Sebasan Veel is ed to the team unl 2012 whilst Mark Webber has signed a one year contract extension to remain with the team. Rumour has it that Helmut Marko is lining up Sebasen Buemi for the second seat in 2012.

Ferrari: Fernando Alonso will remain with the squad. Felipe Massa signed a two year extension on his contract, quashing any rumours linking Kubica to Maranello.

MeMercedes: Michael Schumacher probably won’t leave, especially with an improving car. Nico Rosberg likely to stay, Nick Heidfeld is the outsider should either leave the team.

Renault: Robert Kubica now has a few years to build a championship winning team around him whilst the second seat is up for grabs. Expect Petrov to stay with improved maturity and the need for stability.

Force India: Any beer seats are looking unlikely for Sul, who will remain with the squad for a fih season. Liuzzi has been unimpressive – if Paul di Resta doesn’t replace him this year then he will in 2011.

Williams:Williams: Should remain unchanged. Only queson is whether Barrichello would commit to another possibly disappoinng season – second half of the season crical to 2011 line-up

Toro Rosso: Impressive Jaime Alguersuari should remain with the team whilst second seat is less clear. STR has been harsh with their drivers over the years – Bourdais, Speed, Liuzzi – so they will expect more from Buemi. Daniel Ricciardo is waing in the wings

Sauber: A case of whoever coughs up the most. Pick anyone from GP2, F3, F1 rejects. Pedro de La Rosa has already admied that a 2011 race seat is unlikely.

Lotus:Lotus: Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen have contracts for 2011

Virgin: Depends whether Glock will put up with another season. Project is long terms but 2010 has been disappoinng. Might be heading to Renault but will probably stay on at Virgin. Di Grassi is likely to stay in order to get some stability. Andy Soucek is likely to leave his role as reserve driver.

HRT: Like Sauber, it may well be two pay drivers. Chandhok, Senna, Yamamoto and Klien are the 2010 drivers. Wouldn’t put it past Colin Kolles to bring back Chrisjan Albers.

How the 2011 Driver Market is shaping up

249 Starts 91 Victories

Can he leap for a 92nd time in 2010?


REVIEW: CANADIAN GP

run of pole posions was at an end but by qualifying on the harder of the two tyres, they were a genuine threat for victory on a track which was pinpointed to be one of their weakest of the season. There would be no one stopping as the tyres wouldn’t last that long, but the varying lengths of snts that drivers were to use them for was the talking point before the start. An early sasafety car period would undoubtedly win the race for McLaren whilst a clean first lap would bring Red Bull back into contenon.

McLaren’s engineers though had analysed the data thoroughly and were convinced that they had made the right decision. Why? Well, higher track temperatures on race day combined with the rubbering in of the surface would mean that the difference in degradaon between the super so’s and the mediums would be less than those experienced in pracce. That was the prpredicon and it turned out to be uncannily accurate.

As the lights went out, Hamilton led away with the knowledge that his lead would be short lived as he was due to pit on Lap 9. Sebasan Veel moved across on Fernando Alonso whilst Jenson Buon sloed in behind the double champion. Behind the leading four though, a few incidents ruined some people’s races. Vitantonio Liuzzi – one of the stars of qualifying – was trying to sneaksneak through on the inside of the Ferrari of Felipe Massa and they touched not once, not twice but three mes, in a sequence that looked like it had come from a touring car race. Liuzzi was sent spinning to the back of the field and Massa would have to pit for repairs. Behind the leading bunch, Vitaly Petrov made an over

A lot is said about Formula One around the world and a vast majority of it consists of the following: ‘It’s so boring’; ‘It’s only excing when it rains’; ‘That Hamilton guy is quite good’ (or that’s the way a lot of Brits view it).

ButBut in Montreal, something happened. For the first me since, well, Turkey was quite excing, but let’s say quite a long me ago, a dry qualifying session and a dry race without a safety car period delivered an absolute classic.

TheThe signs of a thriller were there from the start of Friday pracce. Drivers remained secured in their garages, waing for the new teams to clean up the track. The new teams duly obliged – only to head back in aer an installaon lap. HRT’s Karun Chandhok commented on the levels of grip and how it was the slipperiest track that he’d ever driven on. Heikki Kovalainen was more concernedconcerned – he compared it to a special stage on Rally Finland.

It was obvious that the tyres weren’t going to last long. During Friday pracce, they were being destroyed within a maer of laps. And in the race there were to be 70 of them.

Before the start of Q3, McLaren team principal had a crucial decision to make: Super sos or mediums. In the end it didn’t maer as Hamilton’s stunning pole lap proved, even if it did raise doubts over the fuel levels in the car. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining end to qualifying at a cost of $10,000 for McLaren. Red Bulls’s

McLaren win the tactical war to claim back to back 1-2s.Montreal magic starts five way battle


REVIEW: CANADIAN GP

way through the midfield and had yet to pit. His interfe-rence would have a key outcome in the race results. Behind him, Alonso and Hamilton were fast and were pushing each other along. They quickly came up to Buemi and at the hairpin, Alonso went defensive whilst the Toro Rosso picked up the throle late on in order to give himself the best opportunity of retaining the lead. AllAll of this was good news for Hamilton, who got a beer run onto the back straight. The former team mates were side by side again but this me it was Hamilton who got through and with Buemi peeling off into the pits, he retook the lead.

Hamilton and Alonso duelled for a few laps. Hamilton faster in one sector, Alonso pegging him back in another. Behind them, Buon was nursing his tyres, but in doing so he was edging ever closer to the front two. Veel was back in 4th, but closing in on Buon and sll only 5 seconds off the lead. Veel asked his team “Do I have to pass Buon for the win?” The response ulma-telytely disappointed Sebasan as the response was “Buon and the next three cars.” By now, the track had rubbered in sufficiently enough to ensure that the race would be a two stopper rather than a three stopper. McLaren blinked first and Hamilton pied on Lap 26. In clean air, Alonso set a lap 1.5s faster than anything he had done before. Hamilton’s stop was good but on fresh rubberubber, he wasn’t as fast as Alonso. It looked very much like Alonso was going to pit and emerge into the lead. He pied, came out in front of a McLaren and that was

opmisc move on the Williams duo, took too much grass and smashed into the side of the unfortunate Pedro de La Rosa. It was another sign that Petrov needs to tone down his aggression in order to progress as a driver.

AsAs the replays of the start ended, the TV cameras cut straight to a fight between Buon and Webber, the Australian overtaking the reigning champion into Turn 8. “He was absolutely flat out and I was surprised to see that, because as far as we could see even the mediums needed looking aer” the Briton said. Buon realised that his super so’s were gone and pied on Lap 6, swiswitching to the medium tyres.

By Lap 7, Hamilton’s tyres were also useless. He was seriously holding up Veel, which was good news for Alonso whose tyres were equally wrecked. By now, Webber was staring at the intricate details of the Ferrari’s double diffuser, so it must have been a relief to see Alonso pit at the end of Lap 8. Ahead of him, Hamilton had done the same.

McLaMcLaren’s pit stop was marginally slower than the Ferrari’s which meant that the former team mates exited the pits side by side. Alonso had the inside line and had therefore gained the upper hand on Hamilton. However, all of this seemed rather irrelevant as this was now Red Bull’s race as they were due to sele in to a long snt on the medium tyres. But their pace suddenlysuddenly dropped. Alonso and Hamilton were se ng lap mes of 1 minute 20, whilst both Bulls were lapping in the 1 minute 21s. The duo had also emerged from the pits in clean air meaning that Red Bull needed to pit and they did so on Laps 13 and 14 respecvely, Webber before Veel. Interesngly though, whilst the cham-pionship leader chose the mediums, his younger team mmate decided that a snt on the super so’s would be more advantageous.

In the meanme though, Toro Rosso led a race for the first me since 2008 as Sebasen Buemi had worked his


REVIEW: CANADIAN GP

Webber turned everything down in the closing snt and coasted along in 5th. Mercedes had a relavely disappoinng race, although Rosberg drove a fine race to be running 6th despite having lost a lot of me avoiding the first lap shenanigans. His team mate on the other hand had a shocker.

SchumacherSchumacher made a good start from a lowly 13th and ran 3rd during the pit stop phases. A poor strategy though had le him to do 37 laps on the super so tyres. He was therefore a sing duck in the closing stages and thus went very defensive.

HHaving earlier tangled with Kubica’s Renault, he put Massa on the grass in the braking area for the last turn and the Ferrari’s front wing was wiped off. Massa had to pit for repairs and emerged out of the points. He later received a 20 second penalty for speeding in the pits. BuemiBuemi passed Schumacher for 8th whilst Liuzzi was desperately trying to get past for 9th. It got a bit argy-bargy on the final lap, Schumacher running wide and Sul nabbing the final point for 10th. It was a woeful performance aer a few promising races.

But up front, Lewis once again owned the streets of Montreal. You wait 40 years for an English 1-2, then 3 turn up at once.

70 laps; 309.396kmWeather Sunny

Top 10 classificaon

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Hamil 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h33:53.456 2. Buon McLaren-Mercedes + 2.254 3. Alonso Ferrari + 9.214 4. Veel Red Bull-Renault + 37.817 5. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 39.291 6. Rosberg Mercedes + 56.084 7. Kubica Renault + 57.300 8. Buemi 8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 9. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap10. Sul Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Kubica, 1:16.972

that. But it wasn’t. When the TV cameras zoomed in it was clear that Alonso was ahead of Buon, so where was Hamilton? Somehow, the other McLaren was leading the race. Suddenly there was a replay of Alonso being baulked by Kovalainen’s Lotus at Turn 7. It cost him around two seconds and possibly the win.

WWebber now led the race, lapping faster than Alonso and the McLarens. However, he couldn’t afford to push too hard as it was only Lap 28 and he sll had to use the super sos. Veel managed to make his tyres last 13 laps but even with a beer track, it was unlikely that Webber would be able to make the tyres last more than 20 laps, so a pit stop before Lap 50 was out of the quequeson. Webber had to push hard to get a lead of around 18 seconds before Lap 50. It was looking good around Lap 35 when he had a 12 second lead but this was when the tyres peaked. Aer that, they lost grip and Webber was helpless to prevent Hamilton, Alonso and Buon from closing in. Backmarkers didn’t help.

Hamilton eased past Webber on Lap 50 and the Austra-lian pied for the second me at the end of that lap. He came out in 5th, behind Veel, who had developed a problem earlier on in the race. The German was suffe-ring from an oil leak from his gearbox and had been instructed to turn the engine down. He did so but it failed to improve his already poor mood. He connued at a reasonable pace and was able to keep Webber at bay.

Jenson Buon had now stopped preserving his tyres and was hounding Alonso. For seven or eight laps, he pressed Alonso but he didn’t blink. Alonso went defen-sive and Buon couldn’t get through. But again, the Ferrari was to be hindered by traffic.

On Lap 56, Alonso caught Karun Chandhok at Turn 6. He lied off the throle and that enabled Buon to close him down and pass him before they even reached Turn 8. McLaren were now 1-s, but in four laps, Hamilton’s lead was cut from 3.6 seconds down to 2. Did he have a problem? No, he didn’t, he was just managing the pace and he set a fast lap to respond to his compatriot’s agaggression.

Fernando Alonso had looked to sele for third whilst Veel radioed his team and asked them what the fastest lap of the race was. He is very conscious of se ng records but it was not the right me or place. ‘Don’t even think about it’ was the response.


REVIEW: EUROPEAN GP

Lap 9 of the 2010 European Grand Prix strengthened the view that Formula One is a very safe sport. Mark Webber had made, quite frankly, a wretched start to the race as he dropped from the front row to 9th place in a single lap. The car was fast and he was being held up by Nico Hulkenberg. His team mate, Sebasan Veel, was proving this as he was slowly pulling away frfrom Lewis Hamilton, despite the former champion complaining of a vibraon aer slight contact at the start. Red Bull therefore decided that the best strategy would be to pit Webber and hope that he would emerge in clear air and be able to put in a string of fast laps before the rest of the field pied. In addion, a Safety Car then would have worked a treat.

The pit stop was the second part of a trilogy of disas-ters. The le front wheel was slow to come off and the stop lasted in excess of seven seconds, rather than the usual three or four. The team claim to be the best at pit stops but this was another error in a catalogue of minor mistakes.

But Lap 9 was not a minor mistake.

The TV cameras were following the onboard of Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren as he radioed his team through the fast kinks of Sector 3, asking to change his front wing. His team responded that they were trying to calculate what the best strategy would be. Seconds later, their calculaons would prove to be meaningless.

TheThe World feed cut to a trackside camera of Mark Webber closing in on the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen – a car he should have been in front of but for a botched stop. Then came the moment of horror, when millions of fans stared at their televisions in uer disbelief.

Webber lis off aer hing Heikki’s Lotus

Red Bull gives you wingsVettel and Webber both fly around Valencia with different consequences

Heikki jinked one way and ever so slightly moved another. Webber followed suit and what followed resulted in a monumental accident that was uerly horrifying being shown at full speed. Whilst Webber was having his own accident, flying through the air at a triple figure speed, Heikki didn’t escape lightly. He got a hard thump and made contact with the concrete to put him outout of Lotus’ 500th race. But the main concern was with Mark Webber and fortunately, he had escaped uninju-red. F1’s first flip since Canada 2007 had come a maer of hours aer GP2 backmarker Josef Kral had suffered an exact replica of Webber’s crash at another point on the track. Kral was slightly injured but relavely unharmed.

SC joins the track behind Hamilton

WithinWithin seconds of Webber’s car coming to a rest, the Safety Car was deployed. This in itself caused the centre of the race’s controversy. Whilst the world was watching replays of Webber and Kovalainen’s crash (including the rather frightening Onboard shots), the Safety Car had been sent out on track behind Veel, but just in front of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton made a split second decision toto pass the Safety Car, something which would have been legal had he not hesitated slightly. As he lied off the throle around Turn 1, he noced the Mercedes in front of him. He slowed a lot but accelerated ahead of the Safety Car just aer the second Safety Car line – an illegal move. The Ferrari’s got held up and had to pit in formaon. The resulng mess meant that Alonso was 10th10th and Massa 17th. Mercedes also got caught out as Schumacher had to wait in the pit lane as the field passed, dropping to the back of the pack. The running order aer the safety car period was as follows: Veel, Hamilton, Kobayashi (yet to pit), Buon, Barrichello, Kubica, Sul, Buemi, Hulkenberg, Alonso.

At the restart, Veel was slow to get them going again and he pounced at Turn 21, speeding away but then, drama! Heading into the final turn, he locked up and slid off the racing line. Luckily for him, Hamilton wasn’t quick enough to react and the German retained his lead.


REVIEW: EUROPEAN GP

Further back, Alonso passed Hulkenberg for 9th whilst Schumacher breezed by Lucas di Grassi for 17th place. Michael was to stay there for the majority of the race aer ping for fresh tyres, eventually classified 15th.

SuddenlSuddenly, Alonso’s pit to car radio message was transmied. Aer being deciphered, it became clear that he felt that Hamilton had done something wrong relang to the Safety car. The message flashed up “Car 2 under invesgaon...” Immediately, that means a penalty. McLaren radioed Hamilton to put the hammer down. Once the penalty was confirmed, he would have ththree laps before he had to serve it. As it was, the gap between him and Kobayashi was around 12 seconds – not enough. By the me he served the drive through, the gap was large enough such that Hamilton emerged in second place. Ferrari and Alonso were naturally livid. Alonso in parcular was outspoken in his views of what happened: “It's a shame, not for us because this is rracing, but for all the fans who came here to watch a manipulated race." A few hours later and Ferrari’s statement was along the same lines. "A scandal, that's the opinion of so many fans and employees who are all in agreement: there is no other way to describe what happened during the European Grand Prix," said the Ferrari statement. "The way the race and the incidents duringduring it were managed raise doubts that could see Formula 1 lose some credibility again, as it was seen around the world." Ferrari themselves of course felt hard done by with the decision, but perhaps with hind-sight they may feel that their comments were slightly childish. Either way, at the me of wring (Sunday evening aer the race), I wouldn’t be surprised if a certain Luca di Monzemolo says something in the coming days.

Up front, Veel was sll in control, but Hamilton was trying all he could to hunt him down. A 16 second lead was soon whiled down to 11 and despite losing 1.5s avoiding the bale of the new teams (in which Glock and Senna tangled rather stupidly); Hamilton was suddenly only 6.6 seconds behind Red Bull’s protégé. Hamilton’s penalty had possibly robbed fans of a classic babale.

Alonso at this point was sll trying to be calmed down by his race engineer and he was helped by a noce from race control: “Cars 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 22 are being invesgated”. The reason was for “failing to stay above the minimum me set by the FIA ECU when the Safety Car was deployed.” McLaren once again sent the message to Buon but the reigning Champion couldn’t dodo anything as he was stuck behind the sll-yet-to-pit Kamui Kobayashi, whose pace was impressive in the C29.

Lap 52 and finally Kobayashi pied. This unleashed Buon by which point he started reeling off fast laps. In the end it wouldn’t have maered as the five drivers behind him were also penalised – a measly five seconds. Nico Hulkenberg’s day had come to an end though as reliability problems put him out of a points paying posion with only a few laps le to run. Hulkenberg was furious and kicked the barriers in anger. It was a moment of impetuosity aer a rather impressive performance. KKobayashi, on fresh rubber and low fuel, was now seriously hounding Fernando Alonso. In a superb move, he slid down the inside of the double champion into Turn 18 to the delight of his team. At the final corner on the final lap, he also nabbed Buemi. It would be irrele-vant as the Swiss driver was penalised 5 seconds but it was a bold move nonetheless.

ButBut nothing could stop Sebasan Veel. In 2009 the same track severely hampered his tle bid but 10 months on it has reignited his charge. Silverstone offers a very different challenging to the drivers, but on the basis of this performance, the rest should be wary. However, McLaren’s 2nd and 3rd place finishes are ominous as the team prepare for a major upgrade for the nthe next event.

A classic season just keeps ge ng beer and beer.

Pos Driver Team 1. Veel Red Bull-Renault 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 3. Buon McLaren-Mercedes 4. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 5. Kubica Renault 6. Sul Force India-Mercedes 7. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 8. Alonso Ferrari 9. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari10. Rosberg Mercedes


CLASSIC GERMAN GP: 2000

BARICHELLO WINS AT LAST

and 32 seconds ahead of Barrichello. The sole remaining Ferrari passed de la Rosa for fourth but he was 8 seconds behind Trulli and a whopping 31 behind the one stopping McLarens. He closed the gap to Trulli just four seconds but was sll exactly half a minute behind the silver Arrows.

But there were dark clouds looming.

HHowever, it wasn’t the threat of rain that was to make an impact on the race – not yet anyway. Suddenly, a disgruntled ex-Mercedes employee appeared at the side of the track with a banner that read “Mercedes Benz, who knew about my health problems, offered me a job I could not do and then sacked me for physical ineptude aer 20 years service”. He crossed thethe track as marshals tried to catch him. In order to ensure that there were no casuales, the safety car was deployed. However, the ming of the deploy-ment came at a disastrous me for McLaren.

Most drivers dived into the pits, but Coulthard, who had not seen the protestor and thought team mate Hakkinen had mistakenly pied, stayed out. It would prove a costly error.

WhenWhen Coulthard realised his mistake, he pied and rejoined at the back of the pack. The order at the restart Häkkinen, Trulli, Barrichello, de la Rosa, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Zonta, Mika Salo, Jenson Buon and Nick Heidfeld. However, the safety car came out again on Lap 29 as Alesi and Diniz collided. In the meanme, Coulthard overtook Heidfeld and Buon, gaininggaining 4 places. When the safety car went in, BAR team mates Villeneuve and Zonta collided, pping the former into a spin. Coulthard passed Salo for sixth as the rain began to fall on Lap 34.

Trulli was given a 10-sec stop and go penalty for overking under yellow flags, but aer the race the FIA deemed that they had made a mistake. It is fair to say

For the first me in 2 years, the Hockenheimring hosts a round of the Formula One world championship. The track has hosted a few classic races along the years since the circuit was truncated in 2002. However, the most excing German Grand Prix of recent years took place in late July in 2000, which was the penulmate me the old layout was used. The length of the track itselfitself was to have a huge impact in the outcome of the race.

Qualifying saw David Coulthard (McLaren) claim pole posion with home favourite Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) alongside him on the front row. Giancarlo Fisichella (Beneon), Mika Hakkinen (McLaren), Pedro de La Rosa (Arrows) and Jarno Trulli (Jordan) rounded out the Top six.

RaceRace day dawned dry with the drivers facing a challenging race which was to last for 45 laps. When the red lights were exnguished none of the top three made a good start, but reigning champion Hakkinen made a supreme getaway and stormed into the lead. Coulthard moved le to block Schumacher. As the field ducked and weaved into the first corner, Schumacher cutcut in front of Giancarlo Fisichella, leaving the Italian nowhere to go but straight into the Ferrari's rear end. For the second race in a row, Schumacher was out at the first corner. Both of them blamed each other for the incident and Schumacher was naturally unimpressed at having crashed out of his home race. The order at the end of lap 1 was: Häkkinen, CoulthaCoulthard, Trulli, de la Rosa, Johnny Herbert, Eddie Irvine, Jos Verstappen, Jacques Villeneuve, Ricardo Zonta and Rubens Barrichello. The laer had made a cracking start from a lowly 18th on the grid to be in the top 10 and in with a chance of points.

Hakkinen and Coulthard were pulling away from the rest of the field, but behind them, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Rubens Barrichello were charging through the field. By Lap 11, Barrichello had caught up with fourth placed de La Rosa, who was eight and a half seconds behind race leader Hakkinen.

VVerstappen passed Herbert for fih on lap 12 and soon aerwards Barrichello edged past de la Rosa with Frentzen started to close in on de la Rosa as well. Herbert rered on lap 13 with gearbox problems

BarrichelloBarrichello hunted down Trulli and nipped past on Lap 15. At one-thirds distance, Hakkinen led Coulthard by 1.1s with Barrichello a further 13 seconds back. The Brazilian’s charge was astonishing – 15 places in 15 laps. Barrichello’s rapid pace was confirmed as he started eang into the McLaren’s lead before ping on Lap 17 and re-emerging in sixth place. Frentzen also pipied, but not aer he passed De La Rosa. Häkkinen and Coulthard were now 18 seconds ahead of Trulli


CLASSIC GERMAN GP: 2000

that Eddie Jordan was less than impressed.

The rain connued to fall, but only on half of the track. With the circuit being so long, nobody knew what direcon to go. Pit for wets and risk the rain dissipa-ng? Or stay on dry tyres and risk sliding off of an increasingly damp track?

HakkinenHakkinen pied for wets, Barrichello stayed out.Only four men took the same chance, but Frentzen went out of second with electrical problems, Ricardo Zonta spun on the wet part of the track, and Coulthard even-tually decided that enough was enough and he too would come in for wets.

Hakkinen was faster than Barrichello on the wet parts, but lost the me that he had gained on the dry secons, this was partly due to Hockenheim being one of the longest tracks of the year and so different parts of the circuit had different levels of wetness. It did not rain unl the end of the race, so Barrichello walked a ghtrope and aer 7 years and countless misfortune, hehe finally took the chequered flag. It was the first Brazilian victory since Ayrton Senna won the 1993 Australian Grand Prix.

Jenson Buon driving for Williams BMW. He equalled his career best result with 4th pace.

Rubens Barichello celebrates on th slow down lap.

Years of expectancy, self belief and the weight of a naon's dreams erupted inside the much-loved Brazi-lian and as he heard his naonal anthem playing at the end of a Formula One race for the first me in 7 years, he burst into tears. Having started 18th on the grid,made some brilliant moves and gambled on dry tyres, no-one could take the victory away from him. It hadhad taken some me, but he had done it. Barrichello had won at last!

1 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:25'34.418 2 M.Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes +7.452 3 D. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes +21.168 4 J. Buon Williams-BMW +22.685 5 M. Salo Sauber-Petronas +27.112 6 P. dl Rosa Arrows-Supertec +29.080 7 R. Schr Williams-BMW+30.898 8 J. Villeneuve BAR-Honda +47.537 9 Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda +50.901 10 Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth +1'19.664 11 G. Mazzacane Minardi +1'29.504 N. Heidfeld Prost-Peugeot - Alternator HH FHH Frentzen Jordan-Honda Gearbox Jos Verstappen Arrows-Supertec Spun off Ricardo Zonta BAR-Honda Spun off Marc Gene Minardi Engine Alexander Wurz Beneon-Playlife Electrical Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas Collision Jean Alesi Prost-Peugeot CollisionJohnJohnny Herbert Jaguar-Cosworth Gearbox Michael Schumacher Ferrari Collision Giancarlo Fisichella Beneon-Playlife Collision


CLASSIC HUNGARIAN GP: 2006

BUTTON TAKES SUPREME VICTORY AS TITLE RIVALS STUTTER

But the controversy was not over yet. During Saturday’s free pracce session, Jenson Buon’s Honda engine blew, bringing out the red flags. Fernando Alonso was lapping dubiously slowly whilst heading back to the pits and Robert Kubica was cruising around behind him. Schumacher quickly caught up to both of them and overtook around the outside of the penulmate corner. AlonsoAlonso quickly radioed his team to inform them of what happened and Schumacher was slapped with the same penalty that had been dished out to Alonso. The 7 mes champion was fuming.

With many of his main rivals out of contenon, Kimi Raikkonen stormed to pole posion, with Felipe Massa (Ferrari) alongside him on the front row and Honda’s Rubens Barrichello 3rd. Schumacher, Buon and Alonso lined up 11th, 14th and 15th.

Race day dawned wet, making it the first wet Hungarian Grand Prix for the 21st running of the event. AAt the start, Kimi Raikkonen led away from pole during his 100th race whilst the two champions made a stunning start. Schumacher was up to 6th whilst Alonso wasn’t far behind. On Lap 3, the superior tracon of the Michelin tyres meant that Alonso could cruise around the outside of Schumacher at Turn 5. Alonso subsequently took the lead during the pit stop ststop.hase. Soon aer, Michael Schumacher was baling with Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) for 5th place. Schumacher tried a move, but Fisichella cut across, dislodging the Ferrari’s front wing and forcing Schumacher to pit for repairs. Meanwhile behind them, Jenson Buon was making steady progress from

The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix will forever be remembered as the race in which Jenson Buon finally ended his winless streak and claimed victory in his 113th race. Four years later and with a championship to his name, it seems unthinkable that Buon was slowly becoming a laughing stock courtesy of never having graced the top step of the podium. Whilst his winning mamargin was sizeable – 30 seconds – it was not only Buon that had reason to celebrate. Pedro de La Rosa took his first podium of his career and Nick Heidfeld’s 3rd place was BMW’s first podium as an independent manufacturer. Whilst there was a happy Spaniard and German on the podium, their respecve compatriots had a nightmare of a weekend, an event in which the tletle race stepped up a gear and took a few controversial turns. For once, Hungary turned out to be anything but boring.

During Friday’s free pracce sessions, Red Bull test driver Robert Doornbos was lapping in front of reigning world champion, Fernando Alonso. Having already overtaken under yellow flag condions, Alonso was not in the FIA’s good books. Alonso felt that Doornbos had blocked him on a fast lap. He passed him down the main straight, only to brake test him at the first corner. The FIAFIA took a dim view of Alonso’s acons and gave him a two second qualifying penalty for dangerous driving. Heading to the race, the pressure was increasing on the reigning champion. Despite 6 wins and 3 second places in the opening 9 races, Michael Schumacher had won three in a row with Renault hindered by the banning of the mass dampers, a system which worked brilliantly on thethe R26. Having held a 26 point advantage aer Canada, the Spaniard’s lead was now just 11. This incident put the ball firmly in Schumacher’s court.


CLASSIC HUNGARIAN GP: 2006

A few laps later and it was Heidfeld’s turn to take advantage of his ailing compatriot. But as Nick made his move, Michael defended aggressively and they banged wheels. He cut the chicane again, but this me the car was damaged and there was no fix. His suspension was damaged and he was out of the race on the 67th lap.

SoSo aer a fraught 70 laps, Jenson Buon claimed his first victory ahead of De La Rosa and Heidfeld. Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard (Red Bull), Ralf Schumacher (Toyota), Robert Kubica (BMW) and Felipe Massa rounded out the Top 8. Massa had had a parcularly bland race as he struggled in the wet and made a couple of errors. Kubica put in a strong race to finishfinish 7th and claim points on his debut, despite losing his front wing in the opening stages.

However, a few hours aer the end of the race, Kubica was disqualified from the race as his car was found to be underweight. This, coincidentally, elevated Schumacher to 8th place as all the cars behind Tiago Monteiro (Midland) were at least 3 laps down.

1 J.Buon Honda 1:52:20.941 2 P.de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes +30.837 3 N.Heid3 N.Heidfeld BMW Sauber +43.822 4 R.Barrichello Honda +45.205 5 D.Coulthard Red Bull +1 Lap 6 R.Sch Toyota +1 Lap 7 F.Massa Ferrari +1 Lap 8 M.Sch Ferrari +3 Laps 9 T.Monteiro Midland +3 Laps 10 C10 C.Albers Midland +3 Laps 11 S.Speed Toro Rosso +4 Laps 12 J.Trulli Toyota +5 Laps 13 T.Sato Super Aguri +5 Laps R.Kubica BMW Sauber Disqualified F.Alonso Renault Wheel V.Liuzzi Toro Rosso Collision K.RaikK.Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes Collision N.Rosberg Williams Electrical G.Fisichella Renault Spun Off C.Klien Red Bull Spun Off M.Webber Williams Spun Off S.Yamamoto Super Aguri Engine

14th and overtook three cars in the space of two laps.

Despite helping team mate Alonso, Fisichella was not to make further progress as he spun off on the 18th lap and got stuck in the gravel .

UpUp front, the outlook was bright for McLaren, who had endured a torrid season so far with no wins and a car that was underperforming. Raikkonen was struggling on his second set of tyres, but he maintained the lead unl Lap 25 when disaster struck. As he came to lap the Toro Rosso of Vitantonio Liuzzi, he misjudged the speed difference and ploughed into the back of the Italian. WithWith debris strewn across the track, the safety car was deployed. Raikkonen and Liuzzi joined Rosberg (Electrics), Fisichella (Spun), Klien (Spun), Webber (Spun) and Yamamoto (Engine) on the sidelines.

Behind the safety car, Alonso pied and Buon did not. This allowed the Brit to climb to second place behind Alonso although he had to pit a few laps later. The order seled down for a while for the next 15 laps, but the key factor was that Buon was closing in on Alonso. It was clear that the victory would be between those two.

OnOn Lap 50, Alonso made his final stop but the usually flawless Renault mechanics made a catastrophic error. The track was dry enough to make the transion to dry tyres. This in itself was not where the mistake happened. Coming out of the pits, Alonso was slow. Heading down to turn one and he had a snap of over steer and his acceleraon was slow. The world could see ththat there was an issue. Heading down to Turn 2 and the car snapped sideways slightly and his right rear wheel nut flew off. Alonso was powerless to stop his car from sliding into the barriers and into rerement. It was a monumental turning point in the championship. Buon now led comfortably, no one was to challenge him.Behind him though was Schumacher, who had mademade his way up to 2nd thanks to having stayed on Intermediates rather than pit for dry tyres.The gamble backfired though and cars behind him caught up. Pedro de La Rosa was challenging Schumacher for 2nd and controversially Michael cut the chicane on consecuve laps whilst defending his posion. He escaped without a penalty. On the third aempt, De La Rosa got through.

Button engine blows up during qualifying.


DRIVER RANKINGS

distance were in full flow early in the season.

FA: Indeed. Their failure to use a wind tunnel has cost them dearly, and it wouldn't surprise me if Branson pulls the plug on the Virgin sponsorship in the next 2 years

PH:PH: Well, it seems as if we're both in agreement as to which new team has performed the best then.

FFA: Yes, assuming you mean Lotus, who have been by far the most compe ve and also the most professional of the teams. Apart from minor brain fades by Trulli (think Monaco) they've proven to be very impressive and compe ve. I see them only improving in the future

PH:PH: Of course, but it’s not just down to the drivers but they have good team members there as well. Tony Fernandes knows they can't be instant winners and has set his sights on the Top 5 by 2013. Mike Gascoyne knows how to build a decent car and he has done just that. Although he also has a tendency to leave teams frequently, so Lotus will hope to hang on to him. ConsideringConsidering they only had 180 days between being given the green light by the FIA and Bahrain, they've done a tremendous job. They're now fully focusing on 2011 and that’s a good sign.

FA: Fully agree, they've done an outstanding job.

PH: Their drivers have also been quite commied to the project, although Kovalainen in parcular has stood out as being fully of posive energy all the me!

FA: Indeed, considering he's gone from a major team (McLaren), his posivity and a tude has really given me a new respect for him

PH:PH: I think he realises that it’s his best opportunity for the future - he can build the team around him and be almost the saviour of Lotus. I can't see Trulli hanging

PH: So shall we start at the boom or the top?

FA: Boom

PH: I guess that means HRT then?

FA: Yep

PH:PH: So what have you made of their progress, considering that about 2 weeks prior to Bahrain, all hope was lost?

FFA: They've done quite well, considering the circums-tances. They've impressed me by ge ng up to a reaso-nable speed really quickly, they've been beer than Virgin - they’ll only improve. Karun Chandhok has been surprisingly good though but Bruno Senna has prey much been Mr Anonymous so far

PH: That’s very true, although part of Senna's problem has been the team giving Chandhok the new parts before him.

FFA: True, although I feel as though he's slipping under the radar and needs to draw aenon to himself in some way if he wants to have a future in F1. For all we know though, the car could be the problem, and Senna could be a brilliant driver in the right machinery

PH:PH: Well I think it’s prey obvious that the car is the problem! You can't take a car that has done no pre-season tesng to the first race and expect it to be any good. They both did a remarkable job in Bahrain and Chandhok's drive in Melbourne was quite good, even if it was only for 14th. Although, he has been involved in a few scrapes, as has Senna.

FA: Indeed, although I was talking relave to Karun. They've both done a fantasc job; I'm simply nong that it seems to be Karun that gets all the aenonPH:PH: So on to the next new team, and we said we'd start at the boom but I honestly think that Virgin have been the worst team - they had much more preparaon in winter tesng and an experienced driver in Timo Glock. Lucas di Grassi hasn't been able to show his potenal and they're just about managing to finish races

FFA: Fully agree, they've been rubbish to be honest. They've made many silly mistakes and the car has proven to be both slow and unreliable. They need to improve significantly if they are serious about becoming a good F1 team. I'm expecng Hispania to overtake them by the end of the year at the current rate.

PH:PH: I think that Virgin made a mistake by not using a wind tunnel. Their pre-season tesng was a disaster whilst the bad puns about them not lasng the

PH= phil1993 and FA= cformula1 discussing the 2010 season


DRIVER RANKINGS

PH: Malaysia in parcular was a good drive as he made some moves that you wouldn't expect from someone in only their 11th race

FA: His performance with Schumacher in Melbourne also impressed me

PH:PH: I think that if he [Alguersuari] can maintain his current form, Buemi might be out of a drive by the end of the season, as Red Bull has Daniel Ricciardo waing in the wings

FA: I can see Buemi out if he doesn't step up, although it wouldn't surprise me if he was snapped up by another team (Sauber?)

PH:PH: What would he bring to Sauber though? I doubt that he would bring spsonsors

FA: Experience and youth all in one, which is desirable for a new team

PH: Experience and youth has to be combined with pace as well though

FFA: but he does have some pace, not enough for a major team though

PH: Precisely. On to the midfield teams now and I guess a good place to start is at Williams. They were the dark horses prior to the start of the season but any evidence of pace has failed to materialise

FFA: Williams have been woefully disappoinng. They're very poor at the moment and have failed to impress me, especially as they have 2 very good drivers in Barrichello and Hulkenberg

PH:PH: Hulkenberg, for me, is a very good driver. He's done what Hamilton has done and a lile bit more! However, unlike Lewis, he doesn't have a car capable to show his full potenal. He's overdriving the car at the moment and has made a few errors. I suppose this is where experience comes into play from Barrichello as he can drive the car on the limit but sll within his control.

FA: Trulli is a solid driver, very experienced, but I feel that his me is just about up, and that his seat could be beer used by a rookie

PH: Possibly, it all depends on the performance of the 2011 car I think.

FA: Very true

PH:PH: Moving on to the exisng teams and I guess we have to start at "BMW" Sauber - they’ve disappointed me massively so far this season.

FFA: They've been rather inadequate: they looked strong in tesng but simply have failed to deliver so far, disappoinng as they have Kobayashi, who I feel is very talented. De la Rosa though should be replaced; he's been rather poor so far

PH:PH: Yeah, what happened to that nuer who turned up in Brazil and Abu Dhabi and put some of the experienced guys to shame? He's wrecked a few cars this year, although not all the me his fault. De La Rosa has been abject, but then again, he hardly starred when he was in a compe ve McLaren. I sense that their 2011 drivers will be dependent on whoever can wriwrite the largest cheque. There was a rumour of a e up with ART Grand Prix

FA: I'm scepcal of the ART rumour

PH: You also raised the possibility of replacing De La Rosa. I agree with you that he's been poor, but what will replacing him gain the team (unless it’s with a GP2 hotshot with a $10m cash boost!)

FA: Not too much for this year, but more so experience for next year

PH: STR next, what have you made of their progress?

FA: They've become very much a Red Bull extension, but their drivers are quietly achieving and may get decent drives in future

PH:PH: Thats true, but remember that the STR5 isn't a customer car

FA: That's also true!

PH:PH: Yeah! What has parcularly caught my eye this year has been Jaime Alguersuari. He had a torrid me at the end of 2009. This year though, he has driven with maturity and outperformed Seb Buemi. He's only 20 years old and he has a very bright future ahead of him

FFA: Indeed, he's been very impressive and I feel that his me last year was more or less a preparaon for this year, where he's been very strong and beer than the more experienced Buemi


DRIVER RANKINGS

FA: I'd like to see di Resta get a drive

PH: Same here. His record is prey decent in junior formulae

FA: No denying that

PH:PH: Vijay Mallya stated in 2008 that their aim was to get a podium at the Indian Grand Prix. Do you think they can do that, bearing in mind that although they reached the podium in 2009, they aren't troubling the top 3 places this year, despite having an improved package

FFA: think it all depends on their car next year. If they connue at this rate, they'll be definitely in contenon but if they struggle with next year's car, it'll become unlikely

PH:PH: From one team on the up to another - Renault. We've talked a lot about disappointments of 2010, but for me, Renault is one of the surprises of the season. They ended 2009 on such a low but have bounced back this year, parcularly with the impressive Robert Kubica on board. The Pole hardly ever makes a mistake and he can build a championship winning team around him

FFA: they've been a pleasant surprise and they seem to be improving. Kubica has done a superlave job and Petrov has been decent.

PH: Pre-season, everyone wrote Petrov off and only said he was there for his pay driver role. Whilst the money helped (quite a bit in fact), he has been the best rookie and doesn't have as many points as he should do

FFA: He's shown that despite paying for his drive, he is talented enough to deserve the drive on the basis of talent alone

PH: Definitely. It might also help Renault in the Russian market. And to see Lada on an F1 car is quite amusing

FA: Yes it is.

PH:PH: So on to the Top 4, Mercedes. It's certainly been up and down hasn't it?

FA: Fully agree, Hulkenberg will hopefully get beer results throughout the season as at the moment the results don't reflect his talent

PH:PH: The problem for Williams is well, what can they do now? They have probably the best line up they can get and they worked on this car for a while. They seem really insistent on ge ng KERS returned next year so maybe they know that they can ulise an energy unit to their advantage

FFA: Very true, but if I were them, I wouldn't be pinning everything on KERS, as it may backfire horribly

PH: Well what are their other opons! They've gone 5 or 6 years without a win now and its not like they're challenging for victories either.

FFA: I feel it's too risky as I'm certain that most other teams will want to veto it. They need some inspiraon, more than anything, if you ask me

PH: Another one of the midfield teams this year is Force India and their transformaon from backmarkers to point’s scorers has resulted in them becoming a decent team

FFA: they've been quite impressive, with Sul and Liuzzi both racing quite well, and they seem to be ge ng beer and beer as me goes on

PH: You said Sul AND Liuzzi both racing well - Sul, yes, he has matured a lot this year but Liuzzi..?

FA: Liuzzi has escaped my aenon, so maybe I'm wrong!

PH:PH: He's obviously escaped your aenon by not doing anything special!

FA: Haha!

PH: I don't honestly know whether he'll remain at the team next year. Especially with Paul di Resta lurking in the wings


DRIVER RANKINGS

not all their drivers have been performing to their best

FFA: Ferrari has been disappoinng so far, aer their performance in Bahrain they've dropped. McLaren and Red Bull both have had internal issues, Red Bull much more visibly. Hamilton and Buon seem to be fairly equal at this stage, while Webber has a small advantage over Veel IMO. As for Ferrari, Alonso is clearly ahead of Massa, who I feel is sll recovering from his accident. I'm cercertain he will improve as the season connues though

PH: For me, Massa is over his injuries but his issues arewith the tyres. It may only be a few tenths that he loses to Alonso, but those few tenths can make or break a driver. With Red Bull, I think that the crash in Turkey was a sign that Webber has raled Veel. Seb thought he held the upper hand aer the flyaways but in Europe, Webber has been faster and by quite a margin.

FFA: Both their drivers have done a great job, and if their luck keeps improving it will help their chances

PH: I certainly wouldn't rule out both championships for them for the first me in 12 years

FA: Despite my dislike for them, given that they seem to be the most coordinated and with a decent car, I would say that if they did win it would be fully deserved

PH:PH: Of course it would be fully deserved! They're the best team in the world! Ha-ha

FA: Yes, it would be most definitely deserved, possibly even more so than Red Bull, who seem to be squandering many of their opportunies

PH:PH: You have to look at the points they've lost, parcularly Veel. Bahrain - 13 points, Australia - 25 points, Spain - 3 points, Turkey - 25 points. That’s a phenomenally high number and I'm surprised Veel hasn't learnt from 2009 that consistency is the key (noce how Mark Webber has scored in every race). It hasn't been his fault, but Veel does seem to drive on the edthe edge, somemes at a cost

FA: Webber has, via consistency, gained the upper hand from Veel, and it's pressuring Veel to a point where he's making silly mistakes

FA: They've been inconsistent, they've had their moments but have been not outstanding. They'll most likely slowly improve as the year goes on before becoming a fully-blown top team next year

PH: Yeah, whatever Ross Brawn said last year, they were pushing the BGP001 like crazy whilst the other top teams had shied to 2010 and it shows

FFA: Rosberg has been fairly decent, while Schumacher was rusty at first but seems to be ge ng beer as the season goes along. The Barcelona upgrade most definitely helped him

PH: It certainly did and that move in Monaco shows that Schumacher sll has what it takes

FA: He showed us all that he's sll got the moves

PH:PH: Realiscally, I think that Schumacher might win a race this year but Rosberg looks like the man who has the edge

FA: Agreed

PH: Well three teams le - Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren. They've shared the wins between them but


DRIVER RANKINGS

PH: Maybe it is the Italian culture - long lunches with aernoon naps! Whilst McLaren have a quick break for a Ham sandwich!

FA: Nice pun

PH: Well you were on the Buon by nocing it

FA: Oh God

PH:PH: Okay I’ll stop for now! Final championship predic-on? WDC and WCC?

FA: Webber and McLaren, but it will be very close

PH: I'm going with the McLaren becoming a dominant car and it being very close between their drivers. Buon just edging Hamilton to become the most unlikely double champion for different teams. Imagine that...

FPH: Webber got thumped by Veel in qualifying in 2009 - but this year he's turned it around. His Monaco pole lap was something special

FA: If you ask me, Webber struggled in the first half of last year due to his injury, but has bounced back phenomenally this year

PH:PH: Yeah, his drive in Spain was phenomenal, but then came Monaco and he stepped up a gear. Without the safety cars there he would have been in a different country by the end of the race

FA: He'd have been in Nice was it not for the Safety Cars

PH:PH: We didn't really talk that much in depth about Ferrari. Just what has been their problem? A gied win in Bahrain and all was well, but they've slipped down the order and Massa has only been on the podium twice. They abandoned development on the F60 aer the Hungarian Grand Prix last year to focus on the F10 and in season tesng it appeared to be dominant. WheWhere's the problem?

FA: It's a mystery; they seem to have stopped develo-ping, given that they're going downwards at the moment. Maybe they need movaon? It wouldn't surprise me, being a Lan team.


SAUBER: 2010 DISASTER

It was one of the happiest stories of the winter. Peter Sauber’s team would be saved by the man himself. A tumultuous 2009 season had come to an end with hundreds of people in the small Swiss town of Hinwii facing redundancy. The uncertainty was similar to what faced the ex-Honda crew over the winter of 2008/9. The team was in taers. Gone were BMW and Peter SauberSauber had to rescue his team – there was no way he was going to watch them die. He also had to convince the FIA that his team deserved the spot vacated by Toyota – a meeng that can’t have lasted too long considering his previous credenals.

The BMW years must have been biersweet for Sauber. He had taken his loveable team through highs and lows, nurtured some future stars such as Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa and now, reaching rerement age, he could step back whilst sll retaining a 20% share in the team.

BMWBMW Sauber rose from points in 2006, podiums in 2007 and a win in 2008. But that was where it went so wrong. The team crashed in 2009 and BMW pulled the plug. If you’re a cynic, you could say that BMW were too short term and pulled out when it got tough. However, at least they had the decency to give Peter Sauber a few months to save the team.

TheThe start of 2010 looked promising. Tesng suggested that they had a package capable of challenging the Top four. The general public thought that Sauber would be easily finishing in the points with the possibility of the occasional podium.

With hindsight, we were fools.

InsideInsiders in Formula One knew that the C29 was not a good car. Williams’ Patrick Head stood at a corner during tesng; poinng out that the Red Bull looked stuck to the track. Sauber? He said that they looked twitchy and difficult to drive.

WhenWhen the car was unveiled, it was painful to see how blank it was. The BMW livery stayed on except with a complete absence of sponsors. Long me partner Petronas jumped ship to Mercedes.

ThThey ran low fuel throughout tesng in a bid to aract sponsors. This plan tricked Bridgestone, who pointed out that the C29 treated its tyres well. Looking back, it’s obvious – lighter fuel won’t destroy the tyres like heavy fuel will.

MaMarch 13th came and qualifying was disastrous – they barely squeezed out of Q1 and lined up 14th and 16th. Worse was to come in the race though and both cars rered with hydraulic problems. It was an awful

Sauber: How the minnows have fallen.

Kobayshi crashes in Melbourne

weekend and any hope of sponsors being lured to the team had gone up in smoke – literally!

AuAustralia was lile beer, although Pedro de La Rosa managed to finish. But he was 12th out of 14, only ahead of the new teams. Kobayashi was eliminated aer a heavy shunt in which he was lucky to escape. Malaysian qualifying promised points but delivered another two failures. De La Rosa’s engine didn’t even last one lap – it expired as he was making his way to the grid. It was a shockingshocking run of reliability issues but they weren’t over yet. China: A collision and an engine failure; Spain: accident damage; Monaco: Hydraulics issues and a gearbox failure.

Peter Sauber is facing one of his worst F1 seasons.


SAUBER: 2010 DISASTER

De La rosa in Bahrain

AAer Monaco, the team had reached the finish twice out of twelve aempts. They were performing worse than the new teams. What had happened to Koba-yashi? The ‘nuer’ who had usurped the established drivers in Brazil & Abu Dhabi in 2009. He had crashed quite a few mes in 2010 both in the races and in pracce sessions. “That's the price you pay if you start with a nwith a novice” is Peter Sauber’s view.

Why wasn’t Pedro de La Rosa performing? Rumours spread that Sauber (the man) was disappointed in the Spaniard’s performances and the lengthy period of me which he was taking to reacclimase to the sport. What happened to the reliability!? Just two years previously, the same team with the same engineers and technicians had built a car that rered just twice in 3636 starts. Those two rerements? One was when Nakajima hit Kubica and the other when the Pole spun out in the treacherous condions at Silverstone. They were, therefore, bulletproof in 2008. So why has 2010 turned into such a disaster for the team?

Sauber qualified well in Malayasia thanks to a wet qualifying

Aer Canada, the team had finally registered a point – courtesy of Kobayashi in Turkey. But is this really accep-table? You have to look at it from a certain point of view: there are six drivers who are driving for a new team. Therefore there are effecvely 18 compe ve cars. For a team such as Sauber to only get one of their cars in the Top 10 of 18 just once, it truly is shocking. What’s more isis that Lotus – Kovalainen in parcular – are closing the gap. There was only a difference of a few tenths in Canada.

For a man usually so calm, Peter Sauber had a lot to say aer the first eight races. “Let's get to the point," he told Swiss publicaon Blick. "The C29 is a really bad car, we can only adjust it so much. [It is] an unpleasant parng gi from BMW and Willy Rampf (former Technical Director). Our only hope now is on the C30 for next year."

Happier mes in 2001 with 4th in the Happier mes in 2001 with 4th in the WCCTheThere is also the issue of the engines – with only eight per driver per season; penales are inevitable, as Sauber explains. "Five Ferrari engine failures in eight races - that we cannot accept, it definitely won't help make ends meet. We have a rule of eight engines per driver for the season but we'll certainly need more, resulng in 10-place grid drop penales.” You can understand his frufrustraon – he didn’t want to be team principal any more. Aer 2005 he thought that was it but he is in charge again and the ship has hit a rough sea. The problem is that it isn’t Ferrari’s fault. If the engines had been that bad then Ferrari and Toro Rosso would be suffering from the same problems – they aren’t. It indicates that the issues are with the C29 and the design of the said of the said car is what is causing the engines to blow.

Whatever the problems, it doesn’t look like they’re going to get any easier. It looks possible that they may be embarrassed further by the new teams at some point in the season. The C30 needs to be a good car and with James Key in charge in place of Willy Rampf, there is a reason to be opmisc.

Many teams have been read the last rites over the last 60 years, but Sauber will cling on – for now at least.


F1: TRACKS

Since 1999, there have been 7 new addions to the Formula 1 calendar, and they all appear on the 2010 Formula 1 calendar (not including the provisional South Korea circuit). All have been influenced by Hermann Tilke in some way, with most of them being designed by Tilke. The quality of these circuits is varied, and many suffer from posives and negaves. Here are the Pros and Cons of each tand Cons of each track.

SepangSepang is the home of the Malaysian Grand Prix, first used in 1999.

Pros-Very excing layout-Very popular with the drivers, very challenging--Very good to watch on TV, in a very natural atmosphere -Generally provides very good racing-Weather is unpredictable, one minute it could be sunny and ten minutes later it is pouring with rain

Cons-Mal-Malaysian locaon means that the me zone isn’t suited to European audiences-Generally there are poor crowds, this is due to the high price of ckets

Circuit Rang: 8/10

BahrainThe Bahrain Internaonal Circuit is the home of the Bahrain Grand Prix, held since 2004.

Pros-Some corners are designed well, Turn 1, and Turns 18 and 19 are parcularly challenging-One of the s-One of the safest tracks on the calendar-Desert locaon means that heat is a significant factor throughout the weekend

Cons-Very few high speed corners-Racing is generally dull--Very large amounts of run-off mean that mistakes go unpunished-Located in an area where F1 isn’t popular, and prices mean that only the rich can afford to aend-Tradional champagne isn’t used as locaon in Arabia means that alcohol is strongly discouraged

Circuit Rang: 4/10

ShanghaiThe Shanghai Circuit is the home of the Chinese Grand Prix, which has been held since 2004.

Pros-Located in a developing market, near a very large city in one of the largest countries in the world.-Race is held in an a-Race is held in an area that rains regularly-Very safe-Track offers a few overtaking opportunies

Cons-Oen provides dull racing, parcularly in the dry-High cket prices mean that grandstands are oen near-empty--Track can be very frustrang- High amounts of run-off mean that mistakes go unpu-nished

Circuit Rang: 6/10

IstanbulThe Istanbul circuit has hosted the Turkish Grand Prix since 2005.

Pros-Challenging track-Many overtaking opportunies-Lots of el-Lots of elevaon change-Many high speed corners-Generally provides good racing

Cons-Poor crowds, a result of high cket prices-Very long run off areas make track less challenging- Dry locaon means that track rarely rains

CiCircuit Rang: 7/10

Valencia The Valencia circuit has hosted the European Grand Prix since 2008.

Pros-Located in area where there’s plenty of fans-Walls are relavely close to track

ConsCons-Lots of tarmac runoff when sand traps would be safer-Provides poor racing-Very sterile atmosphere, no history or tradion, just concrete and tarmac and water as far as the eye can see

Circuit Rang: 4/10

A critical assessment of the newest additions to the F1 calendar


F1: TRACKS

SingaporeThe Singapore circuit has hosted the Singapore Grand Prix, a night race, since 2008.

Pros-Night race- makes the track unique- Plenty of walls so mistakes are punished-Lo-Located in a developing market for F1

Cons-Track doesn’t offer many overtaking opportunies-Track offers rather dull racing, with lile overtaking-Night race means that heavy rain would most likely result in a cancelled race

Circuit Rang: 6/10

Abu DhabiThe Abu Dhabi circuit has hosted the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a twilight race, since 2009.

Pros-Twilight race provides a unique spectacle-Track offers overtaking opportunies--Track is challenging-Unique pitlane exit goes under the track

Cons-Track is located in an area where F1 isn’t popular-Track has plenty of tarmac run-off-Walls aren’t close to the track--Very expensive cket prices mean that many can’t afford to aend

Circuit Rang: 6/10

Racing in the pitlane

Racing in the pitlane is a current major issue in Formula 1 at the moment, and it is an issue that has aracted many varying opinions. The issue has only come to prominence in recent mes as there have been several instances of racing in the pitlane this year.

Notable incidentsTheThe following pitlane racing incidents have occurred this year:-China: Alonso passes Massa on pit entry-China: Veel and Hamilton race side by side down the pits-Canada: Hamilton and Alonso racing out of the pits

SafetyThisThis issue raises many safety issues, and if something went wrong (ie they crashed), they may hit mechanics. Although they are only going 100km/h, which in com-parison to the speeds they reach on the track is very slow, but is sll very fast, and for comparison, it is the speed limit on many highways, and that, as anyone who has been on a highway knows, is very fast and dandangerous as a pedestrian. Any mechanic hit as a result of racing in the pitlane would be injured, and, in the worst case scenario, killed. However, some argue that as the pitlane is a part of the circuit, racing should be allowed on it, and that mechanics know the dangers of the pitlane. Also, in NASCAR, racing in the pitlane is a common occurrence, especially when under full course ccauon. Many argue that given that NASCAR can race safely in the pitlane, there is lile reason why F1 can’t do the same.

OpinionsTom Vandenhove wrote: Of course not ! It might be excing but one day there will be a big accident that'll kill someone while they could have avoid it years before.

JoostLamers wrote: In the pitlane: NoPit entrance and pit exit: Yes

PhilPhil wrote: Yes, I believe it should be allowed as the pit lane is part of the race track. However, I feel that there is going to be a horrific accident soon.

AndAnd R.? wrote: From onboard, it looks like they drive slow in the pitlane. Compared to the track, it is. But sll, an F1 car is doing 80 km per hour. The same speed as we drive in a normal car, outside town. If a person gets hit by this speed, one might not survive it. So in my opinion, racing in the pitlane should not happen, unll the they cross the line.

PPersonal viewI feel that racing in the pitlane itself is very dangerous, with the threat to mechanics being too great, and shouldn’t be allowed, however on the entrance and exit, it is relavely safe and therefore should be allowed.


F1 BROADCAST

Formula 1 has a reputaon for being innovave with the best technology. Unl 2002 this extended to TV broadcasng. However, since then, Formula 1 has fallen well behind and has not even introduced HD TV, something that NASCAR has had since 2005 and even F1 support races have.

The failure of digital pay-per-view mulview TVDigiDigital pay-per-view mulview TV was an idea that Bernie Ecclestone conceived in 1996 as the future of Formula 1 broadcasng. From 1997, this was offered to broadcasters across Europe such as Germany's Premiere and France's Canal +. In the UK it was only introduced in 2002 by Sky at a rather expensive fee (£12 per race on top of the monthly Sky subscripon), withwith as lile as 9,000 viewers subscribing to some races. These high prices meant that many people watched the free, but inferior, terrestrial coverage, which more oen than not broadcast both qualifying and the race live, and at the end of 2002, the service was shut down due to the enormous cost coupled with the low subscribers. Since then, I feel that Ecclestone hashas taken a very conservave view to TV innovaons, with FOM controlled race direcng for most races from only 2005 onwards, 16:9 only introduced in 2007 and HD yet to be introduced. Internet broadcasng is restricted to third party illegal streaming (which is oen shut down), live streaming from some broadcasters which is restricted to the country of broadcast only. ThisThis is unfortunate, as it means that viewers in most countries are le out.

The Present: TV BroadcasngCoverage varies throughout the world, with the UK having comprehensive coverage from the BBC of every session live, and most countries having qualifying and the race live, more oen on free TV but oen on pay TV, especially in markets where F1 isn't popular. The coverage by pay TV broadcasters tends to be more comprehensive, with several showing every session lilive, and some even showing alternate feeds, most commonly the onboard and data channel feeds. Aus-tralia is a rare excepon, and qualifying is rarely shown live, although since mid-2009 every race has been avai-lable live in most of the country. However, despite the high support from fans for HD broadcasng, and many broadcasters having HD capabilies, HD is not set to be implemented unl at least 2012.

Internet BroadcasngInternet broadcasng is widely seen as the future of broadcasng. Many popular sports worldwide offer legal live streaming but Formula 1 isn’t one of them. Indycar and MotoGP are notable examples of sports offering live streaming on their website. Indycar has opted for the free model, and live streaming of Indycar races is free to watch.

However, Indycar is struggling for viewers in recent years and this may have played a major role in their decision. A fairer, and more accurate comparison to Formula 1, would be MotoGP, which is effecvely the “Formula 1 of motorbike racing”, and their fanbases overlap. MotoGP offers packages on its website, offering, at a small cost, everything from live streaming ofof pracce and qualifying to digitally remastered versions of classic MotoGP events from past years. These packages offer an alternave to TV coverage, which varies in standards from country to country, and is commercially viable for Formula 1 as well. However, Formula 1 has taken the much more complicated and inconsistent method of simply awarding live streaming rigrights to the current TV channels, generally as a part of the newest rights deal. The BBC, for examples, offers live streaming of all its content on its website, while One HD, the Australian broadcaster, does not, however next year One HD will, as a part of the new rights deal, be able to provide live streaming, all at this stage it is unknown whether or not they will actually do so. It mumust also be noted that the BBC offer live streaming of MotoGP too on their website, so it shows that both methods can be used alongside each other, and they are not mutually exclusive. Illegal streaming, such as Jusn TV, is also a very popular alternave, but unfortu-nately these streams oen suffer in picture quality and/or are shut down very oen and very quickly as a rresult of protests from FOM. Many sites and user-generated video services also offer replays of the race for download, but these are also oen targeted for removal by FOM, making things complicated for a fan that wants to watch a replay of the race if the race isn’t being replayed on TV.

The future: HDTV and 3DTV

HDTV is becoming increasingly common, and more and more homes are being equipped with the technology to view HDTV broadcasts. Many sports are now broad-cast in HD, including NASCAR (since 2005), and even the Formula 2 races. However, despite even having LG, a producer of HD technology, as a major sponsor, Formula 1 has not yet adopted HDTV, and will not unl aat least 2012. There is some good logic behind this, as many analysts feel that Bernie is being very cauous as a result of the F1 Digital + failure. However many fans feel that Bernie is living in the past, and that the lack of HDTV is turning F1 into a ‘laughing stock’ in the sports broadcasng world. This also means bad news for 3DTV fans, as judging by the FOM reacon to HDTV, even if 33DTV is a commercial success, Formula 1 will not be broadcast in 3D for a very long me. I think that 3DTV however will fail, and that it will be resigned to a minority enthusiast group only, thus significantly reducing any demand for F1 in 3D that may exist, which, in my opinion, is a pity, as I feel that F1 will be one of the few things that would be suited to 3DTV.


F1 BROADCAST

Formula One, one of the most popular sports world-wide, was always desned to appear on YouTube, one of the world’s leading Web 2.0 services, owned by Google, one of the largest corporaons in the world. However, there was a major problem. Formula One Management (FOM), the commercial rights holders to Formula One, didn’t approve of Formula One footage beingbeing shown on YouTube. They have, since at least early 2008, acvely and very successfully lobbied YouTube to remove the videos, much to the annoyance and disgust of Formula 1 fans.

The RiseIn May 2008, many uploaders began to upload full races, and this sparked a major war with FOM, who were trying to remove the videos, but the uploaders were finding new ways of defeang them (modified video names, upside down video etc.). Uploaders such as F1Zone93 (not affiliated with this website), MassaP1, F1Zone1989, and AKarlsson89, amongst otheothers, were major uploaders and contributed to the rise of F1 on YouTube. This also provided a markeng boom for websites that hosted F1 content, as they were acknowledged and linked too. In fact, I, cformula1, actually inially joined F1Zone as a result of a YouTube link.

The Golden EraBetween June and November 2008 was what is widely considered to be the golden age of F1 on YouTube, and races were being uploaded repeatedly at a rate quicker than FOM could delete it. Races uploaded varied widely, from the 1973 German GP to the 1990 Mexican GP, and even dull races were uploaded at this me. However, this era was desned to end.

The FallBBy November 2008, YouTube had developed a techno-logy that detected copyrighted content and rejected it. This, combined with a reducing amount of uploaders and an increasing amount of videos being blocked all meant that videos became rarer and rarer, and very few races remained by May 2009. Many uploaders moved elsewhere, or simply gave up. The fatal blow was the WMG-YouTube dispute, and F1 videos were muted for containing WMG songs, meaning that many credits and intros were blocked, much to the frustraon of F1 fans (most notably, videos containing The Chain were muted).

The PresentTheThe FOM aack on F1 on YouTube seems to have slowed in recent mes, with fewer videos being detected and deleted, although there are few uploaders, and these uploaders are all careful in order to avoid quick detecon and deleon.

The FutureTheThe future is very much unknown, as it is near impossi-ble to predict what will happen next, but I suspect that any major uploading sprees will be defeated by FOM, but that if the rate of uploading at present remains, FOM will not go on any major deleon sprees.

Formula One on YouTube: the rise and fall


TECH ZONE

Our Technical expert Bar555 explains the upgrades to the Ferrari F10 and how they have helped the team

Chinese GP

Updates from Malaysia

1.New set of turning vanes under the nose2.New under nose double decked floor 3.3.Revised diffuser central secon4.A not final version of the rear wing’s stalling system was tested but not finally raced 5.The gills at sidepod sides were vanished as the cooling needs at Sinopec were lesser 6.N6.New rear floor vent

Rear Wing The team tested the F-duct wing’s stalling system but prefe-rred to race without it. Apart from this, there were not any other changes to the rear wing.

Under Nose Vanes: Ne Double Decker FloorTheThe under nose vanes were revised , having now a more rounded lower front secon to smoothen the airflow passing inside the tunnel created towards the rear . The new vanes (second revision since launch) and the new under nose double decked floor offer together a more “appropriate” airflow towards the new diffuser central secon.

ChinaPre China

Ferrari tries hard not only to decrease the speed gap from Red Bull and McLaren but also to stay in front of Mercedes and Renault and therefore brought many changes to China. Firstly a new diffuser central secon, which triggered more changes on the car and especially to the vanes and floor under the nose, elements located froner at the car and responsible for guiding airflow under the car’s body and secondly the deploy-ment of an incomplete version of the team’s F-duct system. It is well understood that revising the diffuser is a more effecve way to produce more downforce, with the least drag penalty possible and the F-duct could boost the car’s top speed in straights up to 7 Km/h.

Ferrari : Techincal Updates Explained


TECH ZONE

Rear Floor The team finally used the rear floor vent - which was already tested at Sepang - a vent similar to the one McLaren raced with from the start of the season, aiming to feed the diffuser’s side secon with more air. The floor’s saw toothed profile inside the rear wheels (orange arrow) helps to reduce turbulence created in this zone when the under floor airflow meets the vorvortexes generated by the wheels rotaon .

China

Pre-China

Side Floor Details It is not the first me that Ferrari experiments with the floor to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the car. During the winter tesng in Barcelona, the team introduced new front floor’s side fences. The vercal fence blocks the upper air flow coming from the inner bargeboard-body zone from exing out of the floor surface and mixing up with the “bleeding” porons of air coming under the chassis. Any contact between the two flow layers would create unwanted turbulence. To reduce drag the old fence featured a small slit. The new fence shape is generally much simpler and it becomes higher towards the rear. Moreover the floor secon underunder the new fence is rising slightly up to ease the air coming out from this point instead of coming later from the back and mixing up with the upper airflow layer. Of course the ideal would be to seal air from exing under the chassis with curtains but this is forbidden by the rules (ground effect).

Apart from the new fence another evoluon took place to the sidepod panel where an addional triangular fin was added to the lower panel surface. This extra fin helps reducing drag by creang creates vortexes towards the rear of the car.

Bahrain Winter Tesng

Diffusor Updates The team placed a new curved main secon’s splier (the previous was straight) between the second and the third deck aiming to increase the quanty of air exing from the second deck. Moreover the splier is placed under a higher aack angle and also features an extended central rectangular part to prevent unwanted flow crossing between the two decks. As menoned before the rear floor vent improves also the efficiency of the diffuser side channels as well.

All the changes to the rear end are probably instructed by the forthcoming race full final version deployment of the rear wing’s stalling system (F-duct) and the need for more rear downforce producon.


TECH ZONE

Spanish GPUpdates from China

1.A more complete F-duct version was launched at Catalunya . This me the team decide to race it 2.Refined rear end 3.New engine spec 44.The mirrors were reposioned inboard due to FIA ban from Spain

Many teams launched major updates at the first European GP at Catalunya but Ferrari had already deployed them a race sooner in China. Nevertheless the great team’s technical stuff had more to deliver at Spain such as a more complete version of the rear wing’s stalling system (a system which was raced for the very first me by the team),team), new refined rear end and a new engine spec to solve the pneumac valve system’s malfunconing.

Monaco GPUpdates from Spain

1.Modified front wing2.Sidepod gills were again used3.A small winglet was added to the shark tail fin end 44.The car re-gained the old pre-Spain rear end spec .5.The F-duct system was not used

Ferrari performed relavely strong at tricky Monaco condions and for even one more race the team had new updates on the car. Nevertheless the lack of the need for F-duct usage at Monaco forced the team to revert to the old rear end spec used pre-Spain.

Rear End All the whole upper rear bodywork of the car was refined, the rear side engine cover slots, the central outlet size and even the engine cover around the gearbox area to reduce the rear volume and drag.


TECH ZONE

Front Wing At Monaco teams usually add flap in order to gain extra downforce but Ferrari instead preferred to reduce the flap’s inner chord probably to improve the airflow under the car and towards the diffuser

RRear Wing - F Duct The F-duct was rejected at Monaco as it would be praccally unneeded at short Monaco straights. Furthermore a small winglet was added to the shark tail fin end, close to the rear wing to add some extra down force. The no use of the F-duct system forced the team to revert to the old rear end spec used pspec used pre-Spain.

Turkish GPUpdates from Monaco

1.Back to previous front wing version used pre-Monaco2.F-duct was brought back to use with a new driver’s knee operated system this me instead of hand operated , in a similar way to Mc Laren . 3.The latest rear end spec already used at Spain , but rejected at Monaco , was brought back to use along-side with F-duct 4.The small winglet to the shark tail fin end was rejected5.Diffuser revisions

Minor changes occurred once again before major updates coming for the European GP at Valencia. It is amazing though how the team pushes at every race to close the speed gap between the F10 and the top cars as the fight for both championships is sll wide open , especially now with the new point system .

Diffusor Aer China and the revisions to the central splier, Ferrari had its lower diffuser’s central wall revised as well. The new design has a stepped inner secon which extends higher than the rest refe-rence line to prevent airflow deta-chment. Due to this extension the V shaped elements, which help the engine starter operator to reach the gearbox, are replaced now by a simple circle hole.


RALLYING:KIMI FACTOR

begins. Even the top drivers somemes choose to go their own way without listening to the co-driver and it usually results in them driving out.

ThThey said that WRC needed to li its profile and was sinking all the me. When Simon Long, who is in charge of the PR-work, heard that Kimi would take part in Finland's WRC-rally last year, he was in bliss. He said that no maer how much promoonal work they would do, it could not be compared to what Kimi Räikkönen did for WRC. According to him the name Kimi Räikkönen spspread in five seconds all around the world and imme-diately aracted aenon to the sport itself.

The official website had 12 million visitors in 2008. This year’s Rally Sweden, Kimi's first rally as a Citroen driver, the website had 8 million visitors. The numbers tell it all - Kimi has taken a lot of people with him to WRC and the fans have their own way of following WRC, it's a combi-naon of an enormous amount of different informa-on, intensively following the rallies stage by stage and minuminute by minute from the live ming, listening to the rally radio, and of course the fan-factor is involved in it too, which is something new I presume?

This makes Kimi-fans bizarre to some and it has been difficult since some 'real' rally-fans look down at us and think that we aren't 'real' rally-fans, some F1-fans think that we have no business in F1-forums and tells us to go to rally-forums - both groups have people who strongly disapprove and object so the only way has been to create the own 'Kimi WRC -community' where we try to learnlearn as much as possible about the sport as well as about the other drivers. We are prey familiar with them already and also cheer for other drivers who are fighng for the victory, hoping Kimi would be there fighng for the victory some day.

Which brings back to the subject of Kimi leaving F1. During Rally Sweden there were sll many who wanted him back to F1 but as me has gone by and we are more familiar with the sport, opinions have changed radically.

WRC was prey much unknown to the majority of Kimi-fans and a lot of us were devastated when finding out that Kimi was leaving F1 and was going into WRC. It is becoming quite clear now why WRC is called the 'pinnacle of motorsport' since it's not that easy. Kimi himself said in an Italian interview recently that if you would put any of the top drivers from F1 in a WRC-car ththey would all be in trouble - with the excepon of Robert Kubica.

Robert Kubica will probably be the next F1-driver who switches over to rally and he has proved his skills in the rallies he has parcipated in. He recently won his own class!

What we have learned is that it's extremely difficult to drive a WRC-car, especially if you just jump into one without having any earlier experience. Drivers in WRC have rallied for years in naonal series and have thousands of kilometers under their belt so it's no wonder that professionals have been astonished over how well Kimi has done so far.

WhWhat makes it so difficult is that you have to drive as fast as you can without driving out. That's why the co-driver is so important since rally drivers rely on everything co-drivers say, corner by corner, how fast, how slow; all this has been carefully wrien down as pace notes in recce that takes place before the rally

The 'Kimi-factor' in World Rally Championship


RALLYING: KIMI FACTOR

If Kimi hadn’t gone there most of us would have remained unaware of the sport. So once again, the 'Kimi-factor' is something real, not just a cliche.

NNext year cars will change. They will be S2000-cars, a car that Kimi drove last year, they will be a combinaon of WRC- and S2000-cars so in that sense it would serve Kimi to be in WRC next year since he has the experience of driving both cars.

ButBut we don't know what he is going to do and we also don't know what WRC is going to be like next year. So many changes, possible new teams, many things can change. I'm sure Kimi has all the informaon he needs and will make his decision aer thinking it through. If he would be doomed to drive in the mid-field then we will see him in F1 since he is always aiming for the top.

ShouldShould he go back to F1, then the interesng thing to follow would be to see how many Kimi-fans are sold to WRC. I bet quite many would connue following it.

Is it a shame that we need the human factor?

II don't think so since many became interested in F1 because of Kimi. For some the sport is about cars, tech-nology and teams but some also need the human factor, which for us is - Kimi Räikkönen.

So this is from a Kimi-fan's point of view, a mixture of a lile informaon, a lot of driver-support and a lot of passion! The Kimi-factor is a reality.

Now the majority doesn't want him to go back to F1, or at least 50 % of the fans, but sll everybody follows him in WRC. The sport in itself is absolutely super!!!

TheThe biggest change has been that we cannot follow it the way we used to follow F1 - from television. But thanks to the forum, at least F1Zone, we follow it together and 'bond' in a completely new way. I would like to name everyone specifically but the list would be long since it would include each and everyone who writes in the WRC-secon - each and everyone. We alalways get the latest results, videos, arcles, brilliant stories and a special video aer each rally, the list just goes on and on and I would have to menon everyone if asked who is important. Each and everyone contribute to the group-atmosphere just by wring one or two lines - it is unbelievable to follow the rally in a forum with fans and friends.

Kimi's first tarmac rally was in Italy and Momo brought an enormous amount of links and informaon - for the first me we could follow it live on TV and it was some-thing special. Hopefully they will improve the coverage in WRC.

NNow that Jean Todt is FIA's President there is some hope for it since deep down he is a rally-man. He already hired Juha Kankkunen, a 4-me champion in WRC, as his right hand and they will together see what they can do for the sport in the future. Mosley wasn't that inter-ested in WRC so it has been le out in the shadow. Which is a shame since it's so excing and fun to follow.


DIARY: LE MANS

A lot of people want to visit the great races of the world in their lifeme: the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 hours. We have the thoughts of our very own member, Joost Lamers, who shared his experiences with us of his first ever Le Mans 24 hours.

Thursday, 10-6

II didn’t just go to Le Mans as a holiday, I actually had to work! The company I work for build what is called ‘Flexotels’ which are where spectators stay for the event. Tuesday and Wednesday were just spent building the things and it was rather ring! Thursday was when it got a bit more interesng.

AsAs the Flexotels were not completely ready on the inside my boss and I finished them, with just the two of us sll in Le Mans. The other three crew members drove back to the Netherlands on this morning. But four O’clock in the aernoon, we had to finish for an hour, as I heard the cars coming and I had this feeling of: yes, we’re ge ng started! So my boss and I took off toto the Porsche Curves. The locaon of the Flexotels was really at the track, it was like this: track, embankment, Flexotels. The rooms were hired to guys of BMW Motorsport and one of them told me he was working on an iPhone app, with real me data from the cars: revs, gear, speed, etc. He also was very enthusiasc about BMW’s art car, car #79 that was to be driven by AndyAndy Priaulx, Dirk Muller & Dirk Werner. Very cool to talk to team members just like that!

And there I was: watching the first Le Mans pracce at the Porsche Curves with my boss. My first thoughts were that the LMP1 cars were incredibly quick through this corner and that they made the less noise. The Corvees made the most noise; it was a raw grumble, but the #007, #008 and #009 Aston Marns made the best noise. They were the closest to an F1 car as they wewere crying all the way.

Aer an hour or so we went back to really finish up the

Flexotels and made an appointment with 3 really really sweet Brish people. It was the people who hired us: Ben, Helen and Andrew. I think they were around 40 years old. And just before we went to have dinner, I went to the track on my own to watch an hour of Porsche qualifying. And at the end of the qualifying one Porsche braked too late, went straight on at the Porsche curve, mademade a donut and thought to get back on track right away. But the marshals were waving that he had to turn around to drive in front of the embankment to get back on track. So he had to make another donut: I was smiling all the way.

Dinner with our Brish friends was lovely and very good. I even got a compliment from Helen about my English speaking! And another big advantage of our relaonship with these Brish people was that I could get everything I wanted: Le Mans radio, the travel desnaons Le Mans guide and a book with every driver in it.

Friday, 11-6AAt the dinner on Thursday evening, Ben told me that radio Le Mans legend John Hindhaugh would come to the campsite on Friday aernoon and that he would bring three drivers with him who would answer quesons from the fans. One of the drivers was supposed to be Guy Smith, winner of Le Mans in 2003. John Hindhaugh arrived at around 1pm, but he didn’t bringbring any drivers with him which was a shame. But just before he was about to leave to go to another interview, Andrew introduced me to John Hindhaugh. I shook his hand and he was very enthusiasc about the Flexotels. John is a good man and you can have a good chat with him.

Aerwards I went to the pit lane. It was open from 10.00 ll 20.00 and I got a cket from our Brish friends and started walking. The walk to the pits was really incredi-ble! It was a very long straight aer I had turned le on a roundabout. It was a very busy straight, because there was a campsite on the other side of the road.


DIARY: LE MANS

At one point I got to a very crowded 100 meters, which appeared to be the entrance of that campsite. Brish people were spraying water on the surface, I really didn’t have clue. But when a supercar drove past, every kid was shoung: “Spin it ‘round! Spin it ‘round!” The supercar (I saw a Ferrari and a Lamborghini doing it) stopped, put the pedal to the metal and did a burnout: ababsolutely cracking stuff!

I ended the day on my own in the bar. My boss was a bit ill so he stayed in the Flexotel reading a book. I spent the rest of the evening drinking with the Brish kids behind the bar, talking about English and Dutch football, F1, Le Mans and the World Cup. We got along very well.

Saturday, 12-6YYes, there it was: the start of the 24 heures du Mans. My mum said to call me just before the start and she really did call just before the start. The jet-fighters were flying over; really close to the ground and it was very impressive to see the three colors coming out of them. When the cars came past for the first me I was really shaking. I don’t know why, but it was a special feeling. I wawatched the first hour or so, before heading back to the campsite. Aer having a French bread for diner, I was off the tent to watch the F1 qualificaon. Another special thing: watching F1 surrounded by Brish people. It was great that Hamilton could take it in the dying seconds. A big cheer was the result. Immediately aer the qualificaon, England’s match against the USA ffollowed. The Brish people, who were watching in the tent as well, were a bit arrogant when they played USA’s naonal anthem as they were singing: “Who are ya? Who are ya?” all the me. But we all know how that ended up!

I was thinking to end the day the same as Friday evening: drinking at the bar. But when I got there the boys were ge ng ready to go to the track. So I was about to head back to go to bed, when they asked me to join them as they had one spare cket.

No doubt: off to the trackside. We went for a walk to have a look at the start/finish line. On our way we walked over to the funfair, where there was a really good buzz out there. That night I saw the last chicane; I had a look at the pit lane from the other side (the Spyker pied) and walked over the Dunlop Bridge before heading back to the campsite. We had a good me.

SundSunday, 13-6

AAer having slept relavely well, considering the noise at the other end of the embankment, I was shocked by the news I heard on Le Mans radio about the Peugeots – all three had incredibly rered from a dominant posion with mechanical problems. Aer breakfast my boss went to another campsite to take photos of the area there, as that might be a good place for the flexotels in the future. So I had So I had to wait to watch the final few hours.

I went to the Porsche Curves but as soon as I did, my boss returned. At that me they sll had to drive the final hour and the Peugeot #4 just rered. In that last hour nothing special happened, but the finish of the Le Mans I found very special. Every driver was waving and they acng like they were soldiers returning home from the balefield, lovely. I remember car #24 waving the momost. And a thing to be proud of was seeing the last lap of the Spyker, compleng their 24 hours race. In the photo you see the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in one shot.

A few hours aer the finish it was, of course, me for the Grand Prix in Canada. Just like the qualificaon, I watched the race in the tent as well. The funny thing was that just before the start of the race the electricity decided to quit. So we missed the start of the race and the first 3 laps or so. But someone received a text message that Hamilton was leading, so that was quite a relirelief. We all know the rest of the race, so I won’t make any more comments about it. But it was really special for me to watch Hamilton win, amongst all the Brish people who were in the tent as well.

Considering the whole weekend, it was a weekend I can’t describe. I really didn’t want to miss it in a million years and I really enjoyed every second of it. This is what I want to do for a living. Chasing the acon!


QUIZ

1. The 2009 season saw all 10 teams score championship points. When was the last time this happened? 2005

2. What was unique about the unveiling of the Toyota TF109? It was launched online

3. Car number 5 failed to win a race in 2009. When was the last time this happened? 2004

4. After Super Aguri went into administration after the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix, Cars #18 4. After Super Aguri went into administration after the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix, Cars #18 and #19 disappeared from the grid. They were due to reappear in 2009, but why didn’t they? As Brawn was a new team, they were allocated #20 and #21, elevating Force India to #18 and #19. However, FIFI had already produced merchandise with #20 and #21 so Brawn was forced to use #22 and #23.

5. Only one driver who competed in 2008 and 2009 changed teams over the winter. Who? Sebastian Vettel

6. How many different drivers set the fastest lap during a race across the season? 10

7.7. There was only one disqualification from a race all year. Who was it and why? Lewis Hamilton, for lying to the stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.

8. Three drivers shared the unwanted honour of retiring from the most Grand Prix. Who were they? Sebastien Buemi, Heikki Kovalainen and Jaime Alguersuari.

9. What was the reason that led to Felipe Massa losing 2 places in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix? He was running out of fuel

10.10. Jenson Button used the words "absolutely crazy" in describing someone. Who was he talking about? Kamui Kobayashi

Rankings:

0-3 : F1 Newbie4-7 : F1 Enthusiast8-10: F1 Guru

Think You know F1? Here are some quesons based on the 2009 F1 season. Try answering them and test your F1 knowledge.

Quiz

f1 zone magazine

Documents

canadian gp

wingsclassic german

khodr rawi

lastclassic hungarian

canadian european gpcopyright

tremendous season

mark webber

car race