Formula1 Mania

Race analysis - bitter pills commonplace in Hungary.

2007-08-06T13:44:00.000+01:00

McLaren’s first came in the form of the grid place penalty that moved Fernando Alonso from the pole down to sixth place, guaranteeing that he had no chance of victory. Their second was the stewards’ decision that the team would not be eligible for any constructors’ points after the qualifying incident. Considering that they ‘scored’ 15, that had to hurt.

Ferrari had some nasty things to swallow, too. The first pill for them was the oversight in not refuelling Felipe Massa’s car in the second session of qualifying. They don’t normally have to do two runs in Q2, and that caught them out.

Starting from 14th, of necessity with a heavy fuel load, Massa was damned from the get go and never made any inroads into the bunch of cars ahead. He was quite right when he described his race as “horrible”.

Their second pill was the knowledge that their F2007 had the pace to have won the race, after struggling in qualifying. Kimi Raikkonen traded fastest laps with winner Lewis Hamilton, and set the best one on the very last lap.

Nevertheless, there were silver linings in both sets of clouds. Hamilton put McLaren back in the winner’s circle for the second consecutive race, and increased his championship lead. And Alonso, for all that he had a very tough afternoon, added a further five points to his score. And Raikkonen added eight to his, and eight to Ferrari’s, so they now have 119 points to McLaren’s 138.

One of the obstacles that Alonso could not overcome was Nick Heidfeld and his BMW Sauber. The German, ironically, was one of the men who did not benefit from Alonso’s penalty, since it moved him from the clean side of the grid to the dirty side. This was a double blow, because it meant that he was slower away and, conversely, Raikkonen was faster. The net result was that he got stuck with third place, when he might have been able to have defended second. With team mate Robert Kubica making a great start, driving as strongly as he ever does, and some excellent pit work, the Swiss-German squad were on track for another healthy dose of points, their 10 actually outscoring everyone else and bringing their score to 71.

Ralf Schumacher hung in for sixth place, having fended off Alonso for a long time early on, and the Toyota driver was very happy with his car once front flap adjustments during his first stop had eliminated some nervousness. He was also satisfied that his two-stop strategy was the right one. Team mate Jarno Trulli, however, faded down to a 12th place finish and was highly disappointed to find himself stuck in traffic almost all race. Unlike Schumacher, he found his TF107 a handful on the super-soft tyre in the final stint.

Williams’ Nico Rosberg looked likely to do better than the two points he got for seventh place, but his three-stop strategy dropped him back in the final analysis. He was far enough ahead not to be troubled by Heikki Kovalainen, who once again took the final point after a better run in the race than he’d had in qualifying. Interestingly, he ran and Renault team mate Giancarlo Fisichella (together with Honda’s Rubens Barrichello) were the only runners to start on the Bridgestone super-soft tyre, which had demonstrated a tendency to grain quickly in practice, and the Finn’s R27 loved them. He did 27 laps on the first set, and 22 on the second, before doing his final stint on the soft prime tyre. And no sign of graining at all. Fisichella’s chances disappeared pretty much when his penalty for impeding Yamamoto in qualifying dropped him to 13th, but going off track and losing a place to Trulli, and later colliding with Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson as they left the pits together, did not help his cause.

This time there were no points for Mark Webber and Red Bull, but at least the RB3 was reliable. The Australian felt he got the best from the available package on his way to ninth place, but David Coulthard, who finished 11th behind Trulli, found his RB3’s behaviour very inconsistent on the three sets of tyres he used.

Renault thus remain fourth with 33 points, Williams have 20, Red Bull are still on 16, and Toyota have 12.

Behind Coulthard, 12th place was the subject of an intense fight between Fisichella, Massa and Williams’ Alex Wurz. None of them were happy, for their different reasons, and Wurz felt he lost out when Spyker’s Adrian Sutil inadvertently brushed him on to the grass at one point as he was being lapped by the trio.

Takuma Sato was Super Aguri’s only finisher, struggling with low grip on a heavy initial fuel load. He was happier with his SA07’s balance on the super-soft tyre in his third stint, but by then it was too late. He nearly distinguished himself by tripping up Hamilton in Turn One as he rejoined after a pit stop; fortunately Hamilton just missed him.

Davidson had the upper hand at Super Aguri all weekend, and did well to fend off Wurz for so long. But his race ended in a collision with Fisichella exiting Turn One, which broke his rear suspension.

Toro Rosso debutant Sebastian Vettel took 16th after a tough afternoon in which he found the STR02 to be a very different proposition to the BMW Sauber F1.07. He ran a lot more fuel than team mate Tonio Liuzzi, who was ahead of him when he suffered electronic gremlins.

Spyker lost Sakon Yamamoto early on, when he crashed into the tyre wall in Turn 11, but as Sutil survived some off-track explorations to finish 17th the Dutch team drew succour from beating Honda on a terrible day for the Japanese enterprise. 2006 winner Jenson Button had a torrid time trailing round at the back until a throttle sensor problem put him out of his misery after 35 laps, while Barrichello was obliged to soldier on for another 33 laps on his way to 18th, two laps down.

With no testing and a three-week gap to Turkey, everyone will now work away in their factories, ready to regroup for battle in Istanbul at the end of the month.

taken from formula1.com

Hungarian Grand Prix 2007

2007-08-05T21:40:00.000+01:00

Lewis Hamilton drove a copybook race to win a close battle with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Englishman led from start to finish but the McLaren driver was pushed hard throughout the race by the Finn.

But Hamilton stayed cool in the face of intense pressure in the closing laps to extend his championship lead over team-mate Fernando Alonso to seven.

The world champion was fourth after being dropped to sixth on the grid for delaying Hamilton in qualifying.

Alonso spent the last 12 laps right behind the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld, but despite fighting hard was unable to pass the German.

Heidfeld's team-mate Robert Kubica was fifth, with Toyota's Ralf Schumacher, Red Bull's Mark Webber and Williams's Nico Rosberg filling the final points positions.

Hamilton looked comfortable in the first stint of the race, quickly building a lead of three seconds and holding it there as he and Raikkonen pushed their cars to the edge.

But after the two men came in for fuel and tyres together on lap 19 Raikkonen began to close in on Hamilton, and by lap 27 the Ferrari was just a second behind the McLaren.

On a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult, though, Raikkonen was never close enough to pass and the Ferrari driver's hopes faded when he came in for his final stop before Hamilton, on lap 46.

Hamilton did not make his stop for another three laps, but was still not able to break free of Raikkonen's challenge.

The Ferrari again closed to less than a second behind Hamilton, but again the McLaren star held his nerve to take his third win of the season.

Hamilton said: "It's been an eventful weekend and quite emotional for all the team.

"With all the drama that has gone on over the weekend, it would have been easy to lose focus. It's been a bit of a downer for the team.

"It was one of the hardest races I've ever had. Just to get the points is so important for me and for the morale of the team. We've shown that we can beat anyone.

"We made a really good step forward with a great package but we still weren't sure whether we'd be ahead of the Ferraris. You could see in the race they had great pace.

"Kimi was on my tail for quite a long time, he drove a great race. But I know how to win races."

Raikkonen fell to 20 points behind Hamilton with just 60 still available in the remaining six Grands Prix.

But he said he had not given up hope of winning the title.

"There are many races to go," Raikkonen said. "One bad race and everything can change.

"It was kind of a boring race, just waiting behind (Hamilton), waiting for something to happen.

"When two cars are very close the guy in front has to make a big mistake for you to pass."

Alonso's actions in qualifying have increased the tensions within McLaren, with Hamilton saying after the race: "He doesn't seem to have been speaking to me since yesterday, so I don't know if he has a problem."

Alonso spent much of the race stuck behind the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher.

The Spaniard finished the first lap in eighth place after being blocked by Williams's Nico Rosberg as he attempted to make up places at the start, and then sliding wide at the last corner.

Alonso passed Red Bull's Mark Webber and Kubica on consecutive laps to move up to sixth by lap three.

But, his car's aerodynamics hampered by following the Toyota, Alonso could not get past the German before their first pit stops for tyres and fuel on lap 17 of 70.

Alonso was given a heavy fuel load, the plan being for him to do a long middle stint and leapfrog some of the slower cars in front of him during the first pit stops.

Even so, he quickly closed in on Schumacher, but again the McLaren was unable to pass - and only got a clear track when the Toyota came in for its final stop on lap 48.

Alonso pitted on the next lap, and emerged comfortably ahead of Schumacher in sixth place.

Suddenly, though, he was in contention for a podium place, when the cars of Heidfeld, Kubica and Rosberg came in for their third stops - one more than used by McLaren and Ferrari.

Alonso leapfrogged Kubica and Rosberg in the pits, and Heidfeld emerged not far in front of the Spaniard, a gap Alonso quickly reduced to almost nothing.

Alonso tried everything to pass, but Heidfeld managed to hang on.

"It's a lost opportunity because I think this weekend I was faster [than Hamilton]," Alonso said.

"I got pole and today when I was in clean air I was very fast, so I think I could have won, but it was not to be. In three weeks there's another race and I'll try again."

Hungarian Grand Prix result after 70 laps of Hungaroring:

1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes one hour 35 minutes 52.991 seconds
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +0.715 secs
3. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +43.129
4. Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes +44.858
5. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +47.616
6. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota +50.669
7. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +59.139
8. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault +1:08.104
9. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +1:16.331
10. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota one lap behind
11. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1 lap
12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1 lap
13. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1 lap
14. Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota 1 lap
15. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1 lap
16. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 lap
17. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari 2 laps
18. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 2 laps
R Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 52 laps completed R Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 51 laps
R Jenson Button (GB) Honda 45 laps
R Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker-Ferrari 4 laps

Key: R = retired

Fastest Lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:20.047, lap 70.

taken from news.bbc.co.uk

Hamilton triggered pit controversy

2007-08-05T04:38:00.000+01:00

Alonso making back a lap from the fuel burn phase...

More than four hours after the incident at the end of Hungarian GP qualifying, the Fernando Alonso versus Lewis Hamilton pit stop controversy is still sizzling.

Pole sitter Alonso, under investigation from the stewards, told Spanish publications including the newspaper Marca that the intricate timing of McLaren's qualifying strategy got out of sequence because Hamilton ignored an instruction from the pit wall.

Team boss Ron Dennis, who was visibly angry despite seeing his cars qualify first and second, confirmed the news to reporters in Budapest.

"Lewis should have slowed and let Fernando past," Dennis said. "And he didn't. He charged off."

But Alonso has threatened to widen the tension with his British teammate and team even further by speculating as to why so many long faces could be seen in McLaren overalls after qualifying.

"Because I am first and Hamilton is second," he told Marca. "This is something that is very hard for me to say, but that is what I see.

Alonso added that Hamilton had been asked during the 'Q3' phase on Saturday to let him past, "but he did not do it," the Spaniard said.

"That was the only problem within the team today. The annoyance of Dennis and the annoyance of everyone was because Hamilton did not accept an order that was repeated to him on the radio five or six times," Alonso added.

After Hamilton's radio order refusal, Alonso said the pit stop delay was to rectify the fact that he had lost a lap in the crucial 'fuel burn' phase.

Apparently... However it is not clear why that is relevant in terms of qualification ‘blocking’, which traditionally earns a penalty...

E.A.
Source GMM

taken from f1-live.com

Todt turned down offer to solve spy crisis

2007-08-05T04:34:00.000+01:00

Dennis busy protecting his racers from media distractions...

Ron Dennis on Saturday said his Ferrari counterpart Jean Todt turned down an offer to settle the espionage scandal away from the courts.

The Spanish news agency EFE quoted the McLaren CEO, Chairman and Team Principal as confirming that he had spoken to Todt in recent days to also investigate ways to resolve the dispute away from the circus of public spotlight. Ferrari 'did not want' to explore those avenues, Dennis said.

He also explained that he barred drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton from media engagements in Budapest on Thursday to protect them.

Asked specifically about Alonso's cancelled attendance at the official FIA press conference, Dennis said: "It's a shooting gallery. If Fernando had gone, all the questions about the spy issue would have been a considerable distraction for him.

"I try to be a good head of this team and I believe that I have dealt with this subject in an appropriate way."

Mercedes Benz's head of competition Norbert Haug also confirmed that the cancelled media dates were to 'reduce the pressure' on Alonso and his team-mate.

"Ron Dennis thought this was the best thing to do and so that is what we did," the German told the Spanish newspaper Marca. "Of course there are discussions about what we decide, and if we are criticised for that, we will have to live with it."

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

taken from f1-live.com

Alonso stripped of the Hungarian Pole - Update 4

2007-08-05T04:23:00.001+01:00

Lewis Hamilton will replace Fernando Alonso on pole position for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix after a stewards' investigation into a qualifying incident between the McLaren teammates.

McLaren have also been pre-emptively stripped of any constructors championship points they might earn from the race.

FIA officials were moved to investigate the chain of events which saw Alonso claim pole position after waiting in front of Hamilton in the pits for 30 seconds ahead of the pair's final qualifying runs.

The delay meant that when Hamilton returned to the track he did not have enough time to respond to Alonso's final quick lap.

After a marathon deliberation, the FIA stewards found Alonso and McLaren guilty of acting improperly in holding up Hamilton.

McLaren explained that they held Alonso in the pits for twenty seconds with Hamilton waiting behind because they were waiting for Alonso to have an opportunity of a traffic-free lap.

Mindful of the fact that there was only one car on the track at the time in question the FIA stewards dismissed the explanation.

"The actions of the team in the final minutes of qualifying are deemed prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motor sport generally," said the stewards in a statement addressed to McLaren boss Ron Dennis.

Also swept aside was Alonso's feeble excuse that he waited in front of Hamilton for a further ten seconds because he was checking whether the correct tyres had been fitted to his car.

"The stewards find that he (Alonso) unnecessarily impeded another driver, Hamilton, and as a result he will be penalised by a loss of five grid positions," added the statement.

Alonso's punishment cannot be reversed but McLaren have made it known that they plan to appeal against their constructors points penalty. They have until Tuesday to state their case.

Championship leader Hamilton will now be joined on the front row of the grid by BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen moving up to third place. Nico Rosberg will now be fourth on the grid for Williams with Ralf Schumacher of Toyota fifth ahead of Alonso.

Earlier Saturday, Dennis had blamed Hamilton for the controversy and claimed the Briton defied team orders. Dennis had said that Alonso was held back by team engineers because of Hamilton upsetting a pre-arranged strategy.

"It's extremely difficult to deal with two such competitive drivers," said Dennis. "There are definite pressures within the team. We make no secret of it. They are both very competitive, and they both want to win, and we are trying our very hardest to balance those pressures."

On Saturday, it had been agreed that Alonso would make the final pit stop before Hamilton, but the 22-year-old championship leader disobeyed team orders by not letting the Spaniard pass him. According to Dennis, the resulting confusion led to the situation where Hamilton did not exit the pits in time to challenge Alonso's late fastest lap.

"They were out of sequence because Lewis should have slowed and let Fernando past. And he didn't. He charged off," said the McLaren chief. "In this instance, it was Fernando's time to get the advantage of the longer fuel burn. The arrangement was, okay, we're down at the end of the pitlane, we reverse positions in the first lap. That didn't occur as arranged. That was somewhat disappointing and caused some tensions on the pitwall."

"We were, from that moment on, out of sequence because the cars were in the wrong place on the circuit and that unfolded into the pit stops. It complicated the situation into the result, which was Lewis not getting his final timed lap."

Hamilton admitted that he did disobey the team orders but he felt that there had still been enough time for both he and Alonso to squeeze in the extra lap.

"I didn't want to mess up my opportunity by changing places or whatever there was to do, and be open to being overtaken by Kimi and losing my place," said the Briton. "Then it would have not allowed me to get an extra lap. So that's why we had the disagreement, because I didn't agree with it and I didn't do what they wanted me to do."

The facts

With 2 minutes 14 seconds remaining of the session, Alonso pulls his McLaren to a halt in the pit lane.

The car is serviced and is dropped off the jacks with 2m 08s remaining. The lollipop is turned to signal ‘get ready’ with 1m 50 sec remaining. Hamilton is now waiting behind. Two seconds later the lollipop is raised to signal to Alonso it is time to go.

After a further 11 seconds, Alonso leaved the pit (1 min 37 sec) allowing Hamilton to take service. Hamilton leaves the pits with 1m 26 remaining and it is too late...

E.A.
Source AFP

taken from f1-live.com

Handling an issue for Kimi Raikkonen

2007-08-03T18:10:00.000+01:00

Hungarian GP - Ferrari - Practice

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa ended the first day of practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix with the sixth and seventh fastest times respectively, just over six tenths off Fernando Alonso's pace. Raikkonen in particular was less than thrilled with the handling of his F2007 and was unable to get to grips with the super-soft and soft Bridgestone Potenza available this weekend.

Kimi Raikkonen
“I am not very happy with the handling of my car in these two sessions and obviously we have a lot to do in order to improve. But this is only Friday and there is no point in making a drama out of it as far as qualifying and the race are concerned. I wasn’t able to get a really clear picture of the performance of the two types of tyre, especially on the first lap, firstly because of traffic and secondly because of that quick short shower.”

Felipe Massa
“Overall, I am happy with the day. In the final series of laps I could have done a good time but there was a yellow flag and I had to slow. It’s hard to say at this stage of the weekend if we are faster or slower than our closest rivals, but we are definitely competitive. We worked a lot on the set-up and towards the end of the day we found some good solutions.

There is still a slight unknown as far as tyre performance is concerned, especially on the softer ones over a long run, while the harder ones however are more consistent.”

Luca Baldisserri
“The way these three hours of free practice went revealed a slight difficulty on our part when it came to finding the right balance for the car, especially on Kimi’s. We picked up a lot of data and we will have to analyse it very carefully to improve the situation for qualifying and the race. On top of this comes uncertainty over the weather and the influence that could have in terms of set-up, especially for qualifying which is so important. Therefore, it is easy to see why it is really difficult to make predictions for the rest of the weekend. The handling of the two types of tyre we have available is rather unusual so far: we have a big difference in terms of consistency of performance, while on the first lap the results are very similar.”

E.A.
Source Ferrari

taken from f1-live.com

Alonso sets the Friday pace Hungarian GP - Second practice

2007-08-03T17:45:00.000+01:00

Fernando Alonso set the Friday practice pace ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix for McLaren Mercedes as he lapped the 4.384 KM circuit in 1:20.919s, three-tenths ahead of Heikki Kovalainen who was impressive in his Renault and Lewis Hamilton who spun off late in the final minutes.

The 90-minute practice session started in sunny conditions but the clouds moved in and there were actually a few spot an hour into the session. This didn’t really create much of an issue, but the track temperate did drop off, and as a result, few were able to improve in the final 30 minutes.

The McLaren MP4-22 was expected to be well suited to this tight and twisty circuit and it was no surprise to see Alonso at the head of the timesheets. Hamilton looked to make it a McLaren one-two, but spun his McLaren off track and beached the car in the gravel with four minutes remaining.

Kovalainen and Renault will be happy to end the day second fastest, just 0.364s slower than Alonso and a fraction ahead of Hamilton. Team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella was eighth fastest in the second Renault, but there was an awful lot of activity amongst the mechanics at the back end of his car late in the session, suggesting a problem.

Nico Rosberg was a solid fourth fastest in his Williams Toyota and should he repeat the position when it really does count, it would be a big boost for the team. Team-mate Alex Wurz was 12th fastest with what was probably a more representative time at a second off the ultimate pace.

Nick Heidfeld set the fifth best time in his BMW Sauber with Robert Kubica back in the tenths position. Kubica in particular spent a lot of time running on the worn soft tyre while most of his rivals worked mostly on the harder option.

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were sixth and seventh fastest for Ferrari. The team struggled massively at Monaco earlier in the season compared to rivals McLaren and this circuit is similar, minus the Armco and the harbour…

Jarno Trulli set the ninth best time in his Toyota with team-mate Ralf Schumacher 11th ahead of Wurz and the Red Bull Renault duo of Mark Webber and David Coulthard. Anthony Davidson was one of the few to improve in the final 30 minutes as he posted the 15th best lap in his Super Aguri ahead of fellow Honda-powered runners Jenson Button, Takuma Sato and Rubens Barrichello.

Tonio Liuzzi and Sebastian Vettel were 19th and 20th for Toro Rosso Ferrari ahead of Adrian Sutil who had a few grassy moments in his Spyker Ferrari and Sakon Yamamoto.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

taken from f1-live.com

McLaren respond to appeal decision

2007-08-02T05:39:00.000+01:00

McLaren have admitted they are disappointed that the World Motor Sport Council’s recent decision not to sanction the team for having access to confidential Ferrari data, is to be referred to the FIA's Court of Appeal.

The Council agreed at a hearing last week that, while McLaren had been in possession of documents belonging to rivals Ferrari, there was not enough evidence to prove that the team had made use of the material to punish them. Following a plea from the Italian Automobile Club and Italian Motor Sport Commission (ACI-CSAI) on Ferrari’s behalf, however, FIA President Max Mosley has now referred the case to the Court of Appeal.

“Having considered in great detail the full submissions of both Ferrari and McLaren, the World Motorsport Council determined that there was no evidence that any information, passed by a Ferrari team member to a McLaren employee, had been brought into the organisation or provided any benefit whatsoever to the McLaren programme,” read McLaren’s press release on Tuesday.

“McLaren is not aware of any new information or arguments that have arisen since the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council and therefore assumes that these same materials will now be considered by the FIA International Court of Appeal. Whilst this is both disappointing and time-consuming, McLaren is confident that the FIA International Court of Appeal will also exonerate McLaren and we will in the meanwhile continue to focus on our current world championship programme.”

taken from formula1.com

2007 FIA Formula One World Championship Race Calendar

2007-08-02T05:34:00.000+01:00

01	2007 FORMULA 1™ ING Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)	16-18 March
02	2007 FORMULA 1™ Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix (Kuala Lumpur)	06-08 April
03	2007 FORMULA 1™ Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix (Bahrain)	13-15 April
04	FORMULA 1™ Gran Premio de España Telefónica 2007 (Catalunya)	11-13 May
05	FORMULA 1™ Grand Prix de Monaco 2007 (Monte Carlo)	24-27 May
06	FORMULA 1™ Grand Prix du Canada 2007 (Montreal)	08-10 June
07	2007 FORMULA 1™ United States Grand Prix (Indianapolis)	15-17 June
08	FORMULA 1™ Grand Prix de France 2007 (Magny-Cours)	29 June-01 July
09	2007 FORMULA 1™ Santander British Grand Prix (Silverstone)	06-08 July
10	2007 FORMULA 1™ Grand Prix of Europe (Nürburgring)	20-22 July
11	FORMULA 1™ Magyar Nagydíj 2007 (Budapest)	03-05 August
12	2007 FORMULA 1™ Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix (Istanbul)	24-26 August
13	FORMULA 1™ Gran Premio d'Italia 2007 (Monza)	07-09 September
14	2007 FORMULA 1™ ING Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps)	14-16 September
15	2007 FORMULA 1™ Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix (Fuji Speedway)	28-30 September
16	2007 FORMULA 1™ Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai)	05-07 October
17	FORMULA 1™ Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2007 (Sao Paulo)	19-21 October

FIA press conference schedule for Hungarian Grand Prix

2007-08-02T05:31:00.000+01:00

Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel and Spyker’s Sakon Yamamoto join three other drivers to answer questions on Thursday, while on Friday Red Bull team principal Christian Horner takes to the stage alongside his counterparts from Renault, Spyker and Super Aguri. The line-up in full…

Thursday August 2, 1500 local time (1300 GMT):
Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) and Sakon Yamamoto (Spyker).

Friday August 3, 1600 local time (1400 GMT):
Flavio Briatore (Renault), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Colin Kolles (Spyker) and Aguri Suzuki (Super Aguri)

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

As always, Formula1.com will bring you full transcripts.

taken from formula1.com

Bourdais still hoping for Toro Rosso call Champ Car star free to look at options

2007-08-02T05:27:00.000+01:00

Toro Rosso's 2008 'option' on the services of Sebastien Bourdais expired on Tuesday.

No news about the multiple Champ Car title winner's possible future in Formula One was forthcoming, but 28-year-old Bourdais admitted to the media that rumours of a link with a possible switch to NASCAR did have some substance.

"As of right now, I'm trying to pursue everything I can in the F1 world, and we should have some news pretty soon," the Frenchman told the Tampa Tribune.

He added: "If it doesn't come through, then yeah, NASCAR is definitely something I would be interested in."

Bourdais had been strongly linked with American STR driver Scott Speed's seat for 2008, but that will almost certainly now be filled next year by Sebastian Vettel.

His hopes now rest on Tonio Liuzzi also being dropped by the Faenza based team.

Bourdais said the fact that Toro Rosso had yet to take up its option on him just hours before it expired was not necessarily a bad sign.

"They announced Vettel today, I think that was probably enough to occupy them quite a bit, so all it says right now for us is that it doesn't mean it's not going to happen," Bourdais said.

"It means we don't only have a door open at Toro Rosso; now we can try to see if there are other opportunities."

Asked if he already had other F1 opportunities on the table, he answered: "No, not really. But at least now we can talk."

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

taken from f1-live.com

Wurz admits rivals for 2008 seat Well funded drivers approaching Williams

2007-08-02T05:24:00.000+01:00

Alex Wurz admits that he faces competition to keep his seat at the Williams Toyota team in 2008.

The Austrian veteran revealed to the news agency APA that he is yet to secure a contract beyond the end of 2007.

"I sleep very calmly at night, although many people are knocking on the Williams door - and some can offer a lot of money," the 33 year-old said.

Current team test driver Narain Karthikeyan, with a swag of backing from India, wants to return to the grid next year, while Nelson Piquet Jr and Giancarlo Fisichella have also been linked with Wurz's seat.

The former long-time McLaren test driver, however, said he prefers to concentrate on his race weekends rather than worry about the future.

"Everything else will then follow naturally," Wurz added. "Anyway, I think it is too early to think about 2008. But that doesn't mean that I cannot keep my eyes open."

Wurz has scored 13 of the team's 18 points secured so far this year.

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

taken from f1-live.com

Punters 'deserting' Hamilton - bookmaker The fickle world of high street gambling

2007-08-02T05:22:00.000+01:00

British punters have gone cold on championship leader and rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Following the McLaren driver's disastrous Nurburgring race two weeks ago, where his run of podium finishes came to an end, betting agent William Hill lists 22-year-old Hamilton as only the third favourite to win in Budapest.

London based William Hill, one of the two largest bookmakers in the UK alongside Ladbrokes, is also offering 4/6 odds that Hamilton will lose his slender two point lead to on-form team-mate Fernando Alonso this Sunday.

Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso are joint favourite to win, at 2/1, and the pair is also at 9/4 to start at the front of the grid.

Hamilton, meanwhile, is 10/3 to win and 11/4 to secure pole.

"Punters are starting to desert Hamilton as Alonso hits form - this weekend's result is make or break for Lewis," said spokesman Rupert Adams.

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

taken from f1-live.com

Josef Dubský wins Renault placement 2007 Altran Engineering Academy

2007-08-02T05:14:00.000+01:00

On July 30th, the Final Presentation held on the ING Renault F1 Team technical centre in Enstone ended with the announcement of the Altran Engineering Academy’s fourth Laureate: Josef Dubský, from the Czech Republic.

Genuinely surprised, the 25-year-old was at a loss for words when Robin Tuluie, Head of R&D for the Renault F1 Team, called his name at the end of a tense day. Earlier, he had held his own when the jury deluged him with questions following his exposé on Automatic Aerodynamic Optimisation based on CFD. This brilliant presentation, coupled with his on the-spot argumentation, allowed him to get ahead of the competition.

“This year the level of candidates was as high as ever but unfortunately there could only be one winner,” commented Robin Tuluie, Head of R&D with the Renault F1 Team. “I was really impressed by the preparation, the passion and research they had put into their work and I am sure they will all have a successful career. I hope all of them will fulfil their dream one day.

Following in the steps of previous winners from the UK, Spain and Sweden, Josef will return to Enstone in September to begin his six-month placement with Renault F1 Team, working in the Research and Development department under Robin Tuluie. Salary, accommodation and a company car will await him when his dream comes true in a few weeks’ time.

Although the six other finalists did not win the ultimate prize, they did not travel so far for nothing. This once-in-a-lifetime experience courtesy of Altran and Renault F1 Team, coupled with an exclusive factory tour and gift bag, was very well worth the trip from Italy, Germany or even Brazil.

Source Renault
CAPSIS International

taken from f1-live.com

Brawn denies Stepney's breakaway claims Ferrari the only team for Ross Brawn

2007-08-02T05:11:00.000+01:00

Ross Brawn, presently on a sabbatical following a long stint as Ferrari Technical Director, on Wednesday denied that he had planned to defect the Italian team to join a rival.

The Briton's sacked former colleague at Ferrari, Nigel Stepney, claimed on Tuesday that Brawn was the ringleader of a band of workers who wanted to take their talents elsewhere in pitlane.

Referring to a breakaway group, countryman Stepney said it 'would have been led by my friend Ross Brawn.'

Brawn responded to the Italian news agency ANSA: "Ferrari is the only team or group with whom I have discussed my future. "

He added: "All the press articles that link me with other teams are either inaccurate or just speculative."

Brawn said he was motivated to speak to the agency because of ‘recent reports about my situation.

He reiterated that he decided to take a sabbatical in 2007 purely for personal reasons.

"After 30 years in motor racing I wanted to dedicate some time to my family and to pursue personal ambitions that I had been unable to do."

Brawn said he has now begun to negotiate with Ferrari in order to explore the ‘possibility to work together again in the future’.

He added: "After ten fantastic years, the people and the culture of Ferrari and Italy are in my heart. Ferrari is my team."

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

taken from f1-live.com