F1-Blog

Istanbul is another of the Hermann Tilke new tracks, with the exception that it is a counter clockwise track.

Filipe Massa has enjoyed the track in the past, winning here twice since it’s opening race in 2005, and Ferrari have typically been strong here.

The track temperature will again be high this weekend, and the teams will almost all be bringing new aero updates to the car to help with this and also to improve performance, we may even see some of the car take the Ferrari nose hole concept on.

It’s also the fifth race of the season, so teams are allowed to use a new gearbox at this race, and they were probably starting to feel a little tired after the end of the Spanish weekend.

The Ferrari team will again be the team to beat, and are likely to be fastest here all weekend, however it will be interesting to see if Filipe has got the TC issues he seemed to be having under control, especially at turn 8.

McLaren were again back to the front of the chasing pack last race alongside BMW, so it’s good news that Heikki has been cleared to drive. Lewis will want to get back to winning ways as well, so expect them to be strong. Let’s hope they get the qualifying strategy right this weekend, as it hurt the team starting so far back last race. McLaren have also released the result’s of the Heikki investigation saying -

It has been established that, owing to a process fault during manufacture, the outer clamp surface of the wheel was given a clear lacquer coating. As a consequence of this fault, the clamp load that attached the wheel was not to specification.

In running, the consequent loss of load caused the wheel to fret and distort, leading to its eventual failure.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and the wheel supplier have now established new procedures designed to prevent a re-occurrence of this issue. McLaren Press Statement.

BMW will be in contention too, they have openly been playing with the Ferrari nose concept, and it may make an appearance, but probably needs more testing. Both drivers should go well here, and the team will certainly score points, keeping them in the constructors championship race.

As for the other teams, Toyota and Red Bull will probably still be the best of the rest behind the top 3, with Red Bull possibly just sneaking ahead of Toyota in the development race so far this season. Let’s hope their drivers have a little more luck this weekend, as both have had their fair share of race stopping problems.

Renault again could be a dark horse, they proved the new car’s speed credentials in Spain, and Fernando is certainly looking more at home again in the cockpit of the car. His young team mate seems to be starting to settle down as well, so expect them to run in the Q3 session on Saturday, and at least worry some of the teams on Sunday.

Super Aguri will not be at this event, Aguri Suzuki ended the team during the week after failing to get the money to continue. Honda were also not willing to help out, and took the cars off the team. What is going to happen to Anthony and Taku is still unknown, but it is known that Anthony is covered by clauses that links him with Honda, and after all the team was setup up for Taku, so I should think they are both safe.

So we should get a decent race, the Istanbul track is well liked, and has overtaking opportunities, plus it’s ‘back to front’ so has that to add challenge to the drivers.

See map in Google Earth!

Stats :

Fastest Lap : 1:24.770 (Juan Pablo Montoya, McLaren, 2005)
Pole Time : 1:26.797 - Kimi Raikkonen (2005)
Most Wins : 2 Filipe Massa

Link to ITV Web Simulcast for the GP and Practice/Qualifying sessions.

Broadcast Times for Turkey in UK time

First practice Friday 08:00
Second practice Friday 12:00
Qualifying Saturday 12:00
Race Sunday 13:00

The Spanish GP turned out to be a bit of an interesting beast. Yes the racing was not amazing (as it rarely is at the Circuit de Catalunya), but from a technical and strategy standpoint it was a very interesting mix.

The first European GP of the year is always where strange things turn up, not only in the car designs, but in the changes to where the teams perceived performance.

This year is no different, going into the race everyone was saying that the Ferrari’s with their new nose design would run off and hide all weekend, this was shock number one, they didn’t, in fact the other teams where a lot closer than we thought they would be.

The Renault’s were the next shock, looking pacey all weekend, then Fernando getting second spot on the grid. Everyone dismissed this, saying Fernando was doing a glory run on low fuel for his fans, it turned out he was not as light as people thought, pitting only two laps ahead of the Ferrari’s.

Then we have McLaren, everyone thought they were going to be playing catch up all weekend, but after working out fuel differences it seems that they were not far off the Ferrari qualifying pace, if at all, and it seems they just misjudged the amount of fuel the other teams would run in Q3 as they went the longest of the front running teams in the first stint. The cars did not look as planted as the Ferrari’s, but then Lewis like his car setup to be loose, so not really a big issue.

Almost all teams however brought changes to their cars, Honda being the most visible with the dumbo wings nose design, reminiscent to what we got a glimpse of last year.

So with the off track stuff dealt with, let’s get onto the race.

It started well for the Ferrari’s, with Massa getting the jump on Alonso’s Renault, and went into the first corner in second spot. It was also a good start for Lewis Hamilton, jumping ahead of Robert Kubicca up the inside into turn one, giving him fourth spot behind the Renault and two Ferrari’s.

Everyone seemed to squeeze through turn one unscathed, but the carnage did not hold up for long, Adrian Sutil caused a short stint for the safety car when he tried an adventurous undertake at turn four touching David Coulthard’s car and spinning out, Sebastian Vettel was the unlucky driver to collect Sutil, destroying both drivers chances.

After the race resumed it seemed to be a rather status quo affair, with nobody seeming to be able to get better than 2 seconds behind the car in front. This is a problem at this track, as the high levels of downforce required completely hinder close quarters running.

There were a few scraps up and down the field, with Nelson Piquet having an off in his Renault, putting him back to 18th spot. He then went and added insult to injury, when trying to overtake Sebastien Bourdais with a run up the inside of the French driver he managed to take both cars out of the race. It seems Bourdais just did not see him coming, and the result was two more cars retiring. The earlier off from Piquet also took Anthony Davidson out of the race, as the gravel that was brought back onto the track managed to get through the Super Aguri’s radiator protection, and cause a leak that ended the Brit’s race.

The front runner Pitstops started on lap 16, when Fernando brought his Renault in for it’s first stop, later than a lot of people had predicted, it seems he was not running quite as light as some expected, as Felipe Massa only lasted another three laps, then we had Kimi coming in on lap 22, with Lewis on Lap 23, showing that the McLaren should have been further up the grid if it had run a more aggressive strategy in Q3.

While all the stop were happening, Heikki was leading the race, and before he could make his stop for fuel, he suffered a massive accident at turn nine, when his front left wheel failed on entry to the 140mph corner. The wheel failure allowed the tyre to instantly deflate, and Heikki had no chance to slow the car down before skipping through the gravel and hitting the tyre barrier. The worrying thing was that the McLaren had managed to go underneath the tyre wall, the modern ‘conveyor belt’ design is supposed to stop the cars going underneath.

The marshals did a fine job pulling Heikki’s car out, and getting him to the medical centre quickly. But the damage to the car was very telling, with the car picked up to be carted off, you could actually see the floor underneath the drivers cell from above. Heikki is ok though, some bruising and concussion, but nothing broken.

However, as this all happened during most of the midfield teams scheduled pit stop sessions, there was carnage, with Nick Heidfeld having to pit whilst the pit lane was closed, giving him a 10 second drive through penalty when the safety car session was over. Rubens Barichelo also had another pit lane incident, he seemed to catch the nose of the Honda when he left his pit garage, and had to tour a complete lap with the nose wing stuck under the floor of the nose, damaging many of the aero parts in that section of the car. This forced the Honda out of the race, as it was deemed too damaged to continue by the team.

The race continued through all the teams second stops, with only retirements to be interested in. Fernando’s Renault lump let go on him in a big way, forcing him to retire from his home GP.

The Toyota lump in Nico Rosberg’s Williams also let go on the pit straight, forcing him to retire as well.

David Coulthard was again the target of another driver, Timo Glock tried a manoeuvre on the Brit, and was far too fast, clipping the rear wheel of the Red Bull, this caused a deflation of the tyre and forced both cars to pit for repairs. A stewards investigation deemed it a racing incident, but it ruined the race for both drivers.

All the retirements and accidents did mean that drivers who have not yet scored managed to get of the mark this race. Most notably Honda’s Jenson Button who finished sixth.

The race was all but over at the start though, as the track is notoriously difficult to overtake at, and with Kimi winning it made it eight in a row for pole starters winning. Hopefully the new aero and slicks next year will negate this a bit.

Right back to doing something on the site, after sorting out our ‘technical problems’ (note to self, don’t annoy the FOM), let’s get back to race news and issues.

The Spanish GP is the first of two proposed Grand Prix’s in Spain this year, however the Valencia GP has bumped into some issues of late.

So with that all dealt with, what are we looking at this weekend?

It might be a little more hazey this weekend, as almost all of the teams tested at the track earlier this week and last week, so the teams should have an idea of the settings they will use over the weekend. It’s not however completly clear cut, as rain is forcast, as well as the track getting rubbered in differently.

With that said, it will be the same names at the front, with McLaren playing catchup to the Ferrari and BMW’s. The cars will almost all have new aero parts on them this weekend, and even some that were not shown off last week in testing, with the Ferrari ‘nostrils’ probably being the most visible change to the big teams.

The 4.655 km track is suited to well balanced cars, and cars that look after their tyres well, so the Ferrari’s should certainly be quick here this weekend. That will suite Filipe as he was fastest all weekend last year, and took the top spot, he just has to make sure that he makes no mistakes this weekend, and he will be in with a good chance of repeating the results.

Kimi will not make it easy for him though, and will want to show his dominance over his team mate with another win this weekend.

Lewis should be trying to show that his lackluster 2008 start is just a blip in the radar, he came in second last year, and will certainly want to go one better this year, that is if his McLaren will let him compete. But the McLaren team are in bigger trouble if their car is not competitive, as the Ferrari will certainly have moved on a step.

BMW are probably going to be there or thereabouts again, they are certain to have found some more performance in the car, and their drivers are looking strong and reliable. It’s only a matter of time now before they win their first race.

Further back, I still see it close between the Williams, Toyota and Red Bull teams, so the mid field will again be an interesting watch. It will be good to see how much development work all three of those teams have done, and how much performance they have found.

Honda are steadily improving as well, so let’s hope Jenson and Rubens see some battle action this weekend. The team deserve to get a decent result.

Further back it’s not good news for Super Aguri, Honda seem to have bailed them out again, but that will not continue for much longer. Let’s hope the new deal they are doing comes through for them this time.

Force India are fighting above their weight, and it will be interesting to see if they have managed to move the car along enough to get out of the back of the pack, and into the midfield. Toro Rosso have been testing their new car, and as it’s a clone of the Red Bull for all intense and purpose, but with a Ferrari lump it should be at least as competitive, if not more so.

So this will be an interesting weekend, lets see who has got the development right, and who made a mess.

Google Earth View of Circuit de Catalunya / Windows Live View

Stats :

Fastest Lap : 1:15.641 (Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault, 2005)
Pole Time : 1:21.421 - Filipe Massa
Most Wins : 6 by Michael Schumacher

Link to ITV Web Simulcast for the GP and Practice/Qualifying sessions.

Broadcast Times for Spain in UK time

First practice Friday 09:00
Second practice Friday 13:00
Qualifying Saturday 13:00
Race Sunday 13:00

At the end of the Chinese GP, we have the following results.

1. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
2. Fernando Alonso - McLaren
3. Filipe Massa - Ferrari (Fastest Lap)
4. Sebastien Vettel - Scuderia Toro Rosso (F1-Blog driver of the day)
5. Jenson Button - Honda
6. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Scuderia Toro Rosso
7. Nick Heidfeld - BMW
8. David Coulthard - Red Bull
9. Heikki Kovalainen - Renault
10. Mark Webber - Red Bull
11. Giancarlo Fisichella - Renault
12. Alex Wurz - Williams
13. Jarno Trulli - Toyota
14. Takuma Sato - Super Aguri
15. Rubens Barrichello - Honda
16. Nico Rosberg - Williams
17. Sakon Yamamoto - Spyker
18. DNF - Robert Kubica - BMW
19. DNF - Lewis Hamilton - McLaren
20. DNF - Ralf Schumacher - Toyota
21. DNF - Adrian Sutil - Spyker
22. DNF - Anthiny Davidson - Super Aguri

Also a well done to Ferrari on their 200th race victory.

Full race report soon.

Lewis Hamilton will not walk away from the Chinese GP with the world championship. It seems that his rear right tyre delaminated, and in a strange twist of fate it seems that either the tyre gave up as he entered the pit lane, or Lewis just plane overcooked his entry. Either way Lewis finished up in the gravel trap just in front of the pit lane.

With his race ended Alonso will catch up to his younger team mate with one race to go.

We will have to wait to see where Alonso finishes, at the time of writing he was running in second behind Kimi, and ahead of Filipe.

If it ends in the current way then Fernando will be four points behind Lewis. This means Lewis will have to finish third to take the championship at Interlagos.

Looks like the FIA/FOM will get their last race showdown between the two McLaren drivers.

Lewis Hamilton has for the second time in a row, pulled a marvelous lap out of the bag in the dying minutes of qualifying.

Lewis looked every bit fourth fastest all the way through the 3 sessions, then managed to hook a near perfect lap up in the last moments of Q3 to take the pole spot.

Kimi Raikkonen took the second place, with the Ferrari looking sorted in sectors 2 and 3, but a little out of sorts in the tight sector 1.

Massa sit’s his Ferrari in third spot, with Fernando popping the second McLaren into fourth.

Behind the top four is where the interest starts however. David Coulthard put’s his Red Bull on the fifth spot, and after announcing he wont be driving for Toyota in 2008, Ralf Schumacher put’s his car sixth.

The second Red Bull of Mark Webber is in seventh, followed by the two BMW cars (Heidfeld/Kubica) who’s cars just did not look their usual hooked up self.

Last but by no means least, is the Honda of Jenson Button, who drove superbly just to make it into the Q3 session. He looks to be carrying a lot of fuel for the race.

So what’s the predictions for the race? Well it should be a cracker, there is rain forecast for the circuit, as the tail end of a hurricane is passing not far from the track.

I’m looking forward to the race, and I think that if Lewis takes the championship this season, there will be a national holiday called in the UK.

The Qualifying session for Spa was overshadowed by the whole spying affair, but lets not let that distract us from the session.

The four front running cars of the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s have been close all weekend so far. The qualification session showed no change in that.

Q1 saw the new Mike Gascoyne Spyker show better than it has all year, nearly making it into the top 16. Sebastian Vettel again seemed to struggle in the Toro Rosso, he just doesn’t seem to be able to get to grips with it in the same way as he had with the BMW. There was also some tinkering with Massa’s Ferrari at the back end, perhaps another issue with the dampers like he had in the race last week?

Q2 once again saw the German younger Schumacher brother struggle, it seems the bit of resurgence he seemed to have was short lived, and Toyota must just be hoping for his contract to end so they can get some young blood into the team. Other notable losses are Jenson who’s Honda is still not very quick, but starting to look a little better as the season goes on. David Coulthard also missed out on a run in Q3, however his team mate Mark Webber did make it through into final qualifying. The Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella also did not quite make the grade, so again Heikki showed a better pace than his older and more experienced team mate.

Q3 was sort of the session we expected, Massa overtook the slower Hamilton on the out lap, this it seems is because the McLaren car is going longer than the Ferrari’s in the first stint of the race, it may seem so from his final time.

The Qualifying session was dominated by the Scarlet cars though, locking out their first one-two for a while, and only their second this season. They are then followed by the two McLaren cars.

Robert Kubica qualified in 5th, but has to take a 10 place drop as he changed his engine before the qualifying began. This brings Fisi into the top 10, right behind his team mate.

Results

1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
2. MASSA Ferrari
3. ALONSO McLaren
4. HAMILTON McLaren
5. ROSBERG Williams
6. HEIDFELD BMW
7. WEBBER Red Bull
8. TRULLI Toyota
9. KOVALAINEN Renault
10. FISICHELLA Renault
11. SCHUMACHER Toyota
12. COULTHARD Red Bull
13. BUTTON Honda
14. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
15. KUBICA BMW (after 10 place engine penalty)
16. WURZ Williams
17. VETTEL Toro Rosso
18. BARRICHELLO Honda
19. SATO Super Aguri
20. SUTIL Spyker
21. DAVIDSON Super Aguri
22. YAMAMOTO Spyker

So the Tokyo Launch on the 12 is off. Why may we ask? Is it because Williams and Spyker (to name a few) are hoping to take the team to task if they believe the car is not Super Aguri’s own design (we already know it’s based at least on the 2006 Honda). Perhaps Super Aguri are hoping that if they launch the car at Albert Park on the GP weekend then the teams that will protest will have no time to do so.

If I were Super Aguri I would be less worried about my car, as they are not really a challenge (although I would love to see them perform, certainly Anthony Davidson). I believe all the teams will be complaining more about the Toro Rosso car that is not last years Red Bull, but is rather this years Red Bull with a different engine.

With only this year left of the rules that block chassis and major component sharing, I believe the teams should just buckle down and be done with it, after all it’s not the first time in F1 that teams have shared chassis.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway has announced that tickets for the 2007 GP have gone on sale.

The tickets are $60 for the 3 days, and they are going to mail the people that hold reserved seats for first refusal.

Tickets for general fans will go on sale on the 1st of November for the seats that are not taken by reserve ticket holders.

The race is scheduled for June the 17th (pending final calendar)

Renewing information is online at the Tickets section of www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com or use the Ticket Renewal Form mailed to them. For more information, contact the IMS Ticket Office at (800) 822-4639 or (317) 492-6700. Ticket Office hours are from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.

The European leg of the season kicks off this weekend with the Imola GP. Why is this important? well the European leg of the season usually sees the introduction of the parts that the production and design teams have been working hard on at home while the race teams have been abroad.

We now know from the news and rumours going around already that Imola is going to be an important GP. Renault have admitted to a new evolution on Fisi's engine (Alonso will have to wait a GP or take a 10 place penalty). Toyota admitted before the season started that a team was working on a 'European' car, so expect a step up for them. Williams and engine partner have said they have worked out what the issue with the Cosworth reliability was, and fixed that; and that's already one of the best V8's on the grid performance wise. Honda have put 'countermeasures' in place to solve the exploding engine syndrome that Button suffered. To add to that BMW have increased power to their V8, and Red Bull / Toro Rosso have plenty of money to do something.

Who are we missing? well it's the home team, Ferrari. I can assure you they will be pulling out ALL the stops.