F1-Blog

Qualification

Qualification ended in Imola with a few surprises to mull over. First off (and not really a surprise) Ferrari performed well at their home race with Michael getting his first pole of the season, and Massa finishing the session in fourth.

The one turn up for the books was not the performance of Button in the Honda, or even the Honda in general. No it was the resurrection of Rubens Barrichello's season with his 3rd on the grid.

The other 'not quite expected's' are. Renault - The team certainly did not perform as was expected, as Pat Symonds said "We are either going to go long in the first session, or we are slow". Championship leader Alonso will start from fifth on the grid with Fisichella starting eleventh even though he had an uprated engine available to him.

Toyota definitely performed above their previous attempts, Ralph will start from sixth even though he struggled on Friday with car issues, and Trulli will start from ninth, the first time this season both Toyota cars have been in the final qualifying session.

Prodrive the 12th?

Rueters have reported that the 12 team that will be entering the F1 championsip is likely to be the Prodrive team.

"We have heard rumours of letters flying around but we have been told that the formal announcement will come next Friday and we await that with bated breath," David Richards said. However Paul Stodard has gone on record as saying "We got a 'not at this time but stay in touch' sort of letter," he added that he thought the Prodrive team was the front runner for the last position, but added "It's not over until the fat lady sings and they (the manufacturers, governing body and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone) have got to get through a very interesting round of negotiations yet,".

So if the GPMA members or even a subset of them decide that a decision cannot be reached some of the other teams that applied may just get a chance.

Variante Alta

The Variante Alta is being changed for this weekends Imola GP. The Chicane which is apparently one of the most incredible spectator standpoints of the season has been modified for safety reasons.

The kerbs that used to cause the cars to 'fly' have been re profiled to allow the cars to straight line the corner without causing damage. The kerbs used to be high in an attempt to make the cars go around them, but it just ended up in the cars making a leap of faith over them in an attempt to cut the lap times.

Most of the drivers who have inspected the changes to the corner have given it the thumbs up, and have said that the safety of both car and driver should be improved by the changes.

Let's just hope it makes the chicane more and not less interesting to watch.

Carlin to buy Penske UK site

Carlin Motorsport is looking to purchase the UK site of Penske Racing. The factory in Poole, Dorset would be a major boost to their chances of being picked for a place in the 2008 championship.

The team who currently compete in F3 and the Renault World Series have said that they are capable of resourcing the team is allowed to move up to the F1 series. If Carlin purchase the factory they would add 25 staff to the team of 60 they already have, with the site having the ability to build F1 chassis.

Renault to stay in F1

Alain Dassas has stated the Renault team's intention to stay in F1. Dassas has said that the team has applied for the 2008 season, and as long as cost can be controlled the Renault team has a long term future in the series.

Dassas has stated that the team (A GPMA Member) needs the cost of the 'Development Arms Race' to be reduced, and also would like to see a better distribution of the TV rights. He said “At the moment, Renault pays 60% of the team's costs, and 40% are covered by sponsorship and television rights money, We can make savings in these direct costs while maintaining our sponsorship levels and improving the central distribution of revenue from television rights.”

That is good news for F1, the worry was that if one of the major manufacturers pulled out of F1 that some of the other teams may have thoughts of following.