Good to see Michael earning his millions! Too bad Kimi was stuck behind in the pack or it could of got very interesting.

OMG,..Ide,.....that guy is a nightmare!!!

I was pretty happy that webber got a fairly solid result.... pitty theBMW's came up a bit short fisted.

-Dan

great race last night. One thing that caught my eye was the different ways schumi and alonso use their pedals mid corner. Did anyone notice it?

I'm pretty sure what he's doing is blipping the throttle to gain downforce, senna used to do the same thing, though at that stage exhausts exited through the diffuser so he would hold partial throttle to keep the exhaust gases flowing through the diffuser and sucking the rear of the car down.

Huh... good pick-up Elie... Micky and I wer discussing that exact topic yesterday...

-Dan

Yeah....Its Michael left foot braking and Alonso is'nt. Helps keep the revs up when exiting corner. Very tricky to do. Senna was a master at it! (I think Ive got a video, should be on google, of Senna testing the NSX and it shows his crafty footwork.)

Hah! Found it : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8561369878817702526&q=senna+nsx&pl=true

Ahh ha.. very tricky then....

-Dan

i was watching it with a mate, and its amazing to see how michael was alternating the amount of throttle while braking. He can still think about how much the revs should stay up while under huge braking and cornering forces. I thought he was blipping to shift some of the weight to the rear of the car, to adjust it's attitude mid corner. But micky's and nick's explanations definately sounds about right to me.

JPM quickest at damp Silverstone


McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya topped the times as the major three-day Silverstone test got underway on Tuesday.

Unsurprisingly for Northamptonshire in April, the weather conditions were a far cry from the balmy sunshine that usually accompanies F1 tests at the likes of Jerez or Valencia.

Morning rain disrupted the teams’ planned tyre testing and the circuit did not dry out until early afternoon.

Montoya used the latest evolution Mercedes-Benz engine to pip Jenson Button for the fastest time while conducting short runs on new tyres at the end of the day.

The Englishman concentrated on chassis set-up work in a bid to better understand the reasons for the RA106’s inconsistent pace this season.

Before arriving at Silverstone Button stopped off at Honda Racing’s factory in nearby Brackley to rally the troops after the morale-sapping race at Imola.

Renault was represented by test driver Heikki Kovalainen and world championship leader Fernando Alonso, who were third and fourth quickest respectively.

However, the team was not able to complete the Michelin tyre development and selection programme it had planned due to the inclement weather.

Alonso only completed 31 laps before his R25 was thwarted by mechanical problems, although the Spaniard was still only a quarter of a second off the ultimate pace.

Honda’s third driver Anthony Davidson was fifth quickest ahead of his Williams opposite number Alex Wurz, with Christian Klien seventh for Red Bull Racing.

Nico Rosberg was the day’s busiest driver, completing some 108 laps for Williams.


Tuesday testing times from Silverstone

1. MONTOYA McLaren 1m21.076s

2. BUTTON Honda 1m21.131s

3. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m21.241s

4. ALONSO Renault 1m21.311s

5. DAVIDSON Honda 1m22.085s

6. WURZ Williams 1m22.216s

7. KLIEN Red Bull 1m22.228s

8. ROSBERG Williams 1m22.256s

9. VILLENEUVE BMW Sauber 1m22.258s

10. KUBICA BMW Sauber 1m22.712s

11. JANI Toro Rosso 1m23.350s

12. DE LA ROSA McLaren 1m23.527s

13. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m23.770s

14. MONDINI MF1 1m24.471s

PMSL


http://www.meols.com/index.php/David_Coulthard

Bwahaha... although how they can call Shuey the chin over David I'm not sure...

David Coulthard.. the only man who wears helmet box rather than the helmet.

He's actually the real-life version of SpongeBob Square Pants.

And the 12th team for 2008 is…


…Prodrive. Former BAR team boss David Richards is set to return to the Formula One grid after it was confirmed on Friday that his Prodrive motorsport group have had their entry for the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship accepted. Prodrive will join the existing 11 teams, all of whom have retained their places in the series.

“This is wonderful news for everyone in the company,” Prodrive chairman, Richards, told the group’s official website. “We have won World Rally Championships, British Touring Car titles and the GT1 class at Le Mans, and have been saying for some time that we would also like to be in Formula One with our own Prodrive team. We are now one step closer.”

Prodrive’s previous Formula One involvement with BAR spanned the 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons, during which time they managed the team, taking them to second place in the constructors’ championship in their final year, prior to Honda’s takeover. Richards was also team principal for the Benetton’s Formula One squad back in 1998.

Prodrive are currently awaiting planning permission for a new purpose-built facility in Warwickshire in the UK where they plan to house their Formula One operation. Should that permission be granted, the group intend to commence construction at the end of this year. In the meantime, Prodrive will run their Formula One programme from their existing facilities in Banbury.

“An entry is just the beginning,” added Richards. “We now have less than two years to build a team and put two competitive cars on the starting grid for the first race of the 2008 championship. The task is enormous and the expertise and experience of the established teams well recognised. However, Prodrive has more than 20 years of motorsport experience and all of us relish a challenge.”

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, is introducing new regulations for the 2008 season, designed to make the sport cheaper and more accessible to smaller teams. This prompted no less than 22 entries for the 2008 championship, with Trevor Carlin’s Carlin’s Carlin Motorsport and former Minardi boss Paul Stoddart among those to miss out.

“We are confident that the new regulations will not only allow Prodrive to be competitive on an affordable budget, but will also make Formula One more exciting and, ultimately, even more entertaining for spectators and TV audiences around the world,” concluded Richards.

Since their formation in 1984, Prodrive have won more than 200 international rally and race events, including six World Rally Championship titles, five British Touring Car Championships and a GTS class win at Le Mans in 2003.

Cool!

And the 12th team for 2008 is…

Muahahhahahahhaa:D :D

Cool!

I think Prodrive will make a very nice addition to F1.

-Dan

Muahahhahahahhaa:D :D
But will they make the rims to suit?!

But will they make the rims to suit?!

:p :p not if they're made by OZ racing:D

The Super Aguri F1 team have confirmed that Yuji Ide will not race at the European Grand Prix this weekend.

As such he will be replaced by former Renault third driver, Franck Montagny, who had originally been scheduled to drive the third Honda-powered SA05 in practice at the Nurburgring. A statement from the Leafield based squad explained that the decision had been taken following advice received from the FIA, the sports governing body this week.

"We accept the advice offered by the FIA to allow Yuji to accrue the mileage he requires to improve in Formula One during our testing days only," said team boss, Aguri Suzuki.

"The team has made every effort to ensure that Yuji settled into his new F1 surroundings and I think that he has coped incredibly well under the circumstances. I wish that I could have given Yuji more time in the car before the start of the season, but with the team being put together so rapidly we were unable to allow him the proper testing that he should have experienced. As a result, Franck Montagny will drive for us in the second race seat at the European Grand Prix."

Ide will now participate in the teams' testing days only - however they have pledged to do all they can to get him back on the grid in the future.

"I will continue to look after Yuji's interests and support his continuing efforts within the team, including his path back to a Formula One race seat," concluded Suzuki.

Super Aguri meanwhile have confirmed to Crash.net that will not run a third car in practice now on Friday, despite having originally intended to do so.


A bloody good move I say.

Renault seat still available for 2007


Mark Webber would rather keep working to take Williams and Cosworth to the front of the field than switch to world champions Renault. Webber said that although his links with Renault boss Flavio Briatore could make him a candidate to replace departing champion Fernando Alonso, he was quite happy with his current team.

"Flavio manages me so he has got control of the hat in many ways!" said Webber. "We talk about it a lot, as we did before I came to Williams. We will see what Frank (Williams) thinks in terms of taking the option up on my contract.

"He has the decision to keep me next year, so it is very straight forward. I just find it hard to go through learning another 250-400 people again."

[ITV-F1] Kimi weighs up his options for 2007

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=35775&PO=35775

About time Ide is out, was just a mess.

I'll put my hand up for the Renult spare seat thought ;)

About time Ide is out, was just a mess.

I'll put my hand up for the Renult spare seat thought ;)

I would put my hand up for the Renault spare seat, but I don't think my brain works fast enough to drive an F1 car.....:tongue: :tongue:

Round 5 - Europe (Nurburgring)


http://www.mini2.com/forum/off-topic-sports-fitness-health/116146-f1-guessing-game-round-5-europe.html

Practice 1 - Times


1 35 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1:32.079

2 36 Anthony Davidson Honda 1:32.399

3 38 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:32.852

4 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:32.858

5 37 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari 1:32.944

6 12 Jenson Button Honda 1:33.635

7 11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:34.213

8 3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.402

9 7 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:34.995

10 39 Adrian Sutil MF1-Toyota 1:35.332

11 40 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth 1:35.365

12 21 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:35.612

13 19 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:35.985

14 18 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:36.062

15 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:37.817

16 23 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda 1:37.933

17 1 Fernando Alonso Renault

18 2 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault

19 8 Jarno Trulli Toyota

20 4 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes

21 15 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari

22 14 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari

23 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth

24 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari

25 9 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth

26 10 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth

27 16 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW

28 17 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW

Practice 2 - Times


1 35 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1:32.675

2 1 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:33.579

3 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:33.619

4 37 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari 1:33.799

5 36 Anthony Davidson Honda 1:33.870

6 7 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:33.883

7 12 Jenson Button Honda 1:33.920

8 38 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:33.991

9 2 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:34.030

10 39 Adrian Sutil MF1-Toyota 1:34.179

11 10 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:34.215

12 19 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:34.472

13 3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.536

14 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:34.546

15 11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:34.631

16 9 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:34.825

17 4 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.968

18 15 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:35.066

19 14 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:35.241

20 16 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:35.308

21 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:35.406

22 40 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth 1:35.479

23 21 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:35.669

24 17 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:35.688

25 18 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:35.902

26 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.255

27 23 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.665

28 8 Jarno Trulli Toyota

Understeer hinders McLaren duo


McLaren drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya complained of understeer after languishing a long way down the timesheets on the first day of practice for the European Grand Prix.

Both drivers struggled to find front-end grip – a common complaint at the Nurburgring – and managed only the 13th and 17th fastest times in the more representative afternoon session.

Both are confident of dialling their cars in before qualifying on Saturday, however.

“We have completed our programme as planned and have a good idea on which Michelin tyres we are going to select,” said Raikkonen.

“The car’s balance has not been great today and we have suffered a little from understeer but we are confident that we will find a solution and see further improvement in tomorrow’s session.”

Montoya added: “We struggled a little bit throughout both sessions with a lack of grip which tended to make the car too understeery, but even so we made progress throughout the session.

“Otherwise we are comfortable that we will be more competitive tomorrow going into qualifying and the race.”

itv.com

Alonso: Too early to call it


World champion Fernando Alonso believes it’s too early in the weekend to tell where he stands in relation to his rivals ahead of Sunday's European GP, despite setting the fastest time of any race driver during Friday afternoon's practice session.

Both he and Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella encountered low grip levels and inconsistent handling at the Nurburgring, and while Alonso remains confident he will be competitive he reckons the full picture has yet to emerge.

“The grip level was very low, as is quite usual for a Friday,” he said.

“That makes the car a bit inconsistent to drive but we will make some changes tonight and, as the circuit grip improves tomorrow, I am sure things will come together.

“The pace looks quite good but the times are very close, and we need to do more running to get a clearer picture of who our rivals will be."

Giancarlo Fisichella ended the day half a second away from his team-mate’s pace and admitted that he had struggled with the low levels of grip.

The Italian, who ended the second session ninth fastest overall, fully expects to improve his position on Saturday.

"The low grip was the main difficulty with the car today, but we still managed to make some good changes on the set-up: some worked, some didn’t, but we collected plenty of information to analyse tonight,” he said.

“The consistency was good when I did a longer run this afternoon, so we need to look at how to find first lap performance tomorrow, and to improve the balance of the car to feel completely confident.

"So far, though, it doesn’t look too bad."

Renault technical chief Pat Symonds added that the team, which sat out the morning session to save its tyres and engines, was surprised by how little the track rubbered-in.

"We were rather surprised at the poor grip levels we encountered today, which were lower than expected,” he said.

“In spite of this though, we completed some good tests and collected the data we need to improve the car set-up overnight.

“The balance was as normal in low grip conditions, that’s to say unpredictable, but we are clear on what we need to do to improve the situation tomorrow."

itv.com

Schu talks up win prospects


Michael Schumacher is confident he will be able to contend for a second successive victory this weekend after a strong opening day of practice for the European Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion, who ended a long winless drought on Ferrari’s home turf at Imola a fortnight ago, was quick in both sessions at the Nurburgring on Friday.

In fact, he ended the day with the fastest time of all the race drivers despite being pipped by Renault’s Fernando Alonso in the afternoon.

“We had a good day and I am reasonably happy with the car,” Schumacher said.

“We are more or less where we expected to be. Looking at the times, the situation seems quite good.

“I opted for just one type of tyre for this first day of free practice, working only on this and the choice seemed to be the best one.

“Our main rivals also seem very strong, so I think it will be a very close fight.

“We are confident and from what we have seen, we are also competitive here.

“If we can put all the pieces of the jigsaw together then we can fight for the win.”

Team-mate Felipe Massa finished a second adrift of Schumacher down in 14th place.

“Overall, I am reasonably happy with the way things went this afternoon and we now have a lot of data to study,” said the Brazilian.

“We know we have a good potential and we have to try and improve the car for qualifying and, most of all, for the race.”

Ferrari’s technical director Ross Brawn echoed Schumacher’s optimism about the team’s chances this weekend.

“Getting the car balanced was a bit tricky at first, but I think both race engineers did a good job with their drivers to improve the situation, to the extent that, come the end of the second hour, both Michael and Felipe were happy,” Brawn said.

“The two drivers used different tyre types so as to get as much data as possible to work with from this afternoon onwards.

“Basically, the cars seem to be competitive and we are confident for the rest of the weekend.”

itv.com

Button upbeat despite low grip


Jenson Button was encouraged by his Honda’s performance despite poor track conditions on the opening day of practice for the European Grand Prix.

Button echoed his fellow drivers’ comments about the difficulty of achieving a comfortable and consistent balance on the low-grip Nurburgring surface.

But after setting the fourth fastest time of the race drivers in the afternoon session, the Briton was optimistic of refining his car’s handling and making further progress on Saturday.

“We’ve had a pretty straightforward Friday in terms of what we’ve been working on – set-up and tyre choices,” he said.

“This is always a very strange circuit to get a good balance on because of the camber changes but the car is working reasonably well.

“There are a few balance issues that we need to solve and it’s just very low grip out there, that’s the biggest issue.

“I guess we will see how we can improve on that for tomorrow.”

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello voiced greater concern about his car’s overall lack of grip after ending the second session down in 15th place.

“The car feels very limited with both front and rear grip to be honest,” reported the Brazilian.

“We’re not worried about the performance on new tyres; we just have to keep working for the race, which is our main target.”

Honda’s third driver Anthony Davidson as usual completed the lion’s share of the team’s Friday mileage and reckoned it had been a productive day.

“The car was reliable and we’ve managed to find a good balance for short runs in the morning and long runs this afternoon,” he said.

“We have gathered a lot of data to look at from the long runs regarding the tyre decision and generally we are happy with our day’s work.”

itv.com

Williams: Everything going to plan


Williams technical director Sam Michael believes his team is on course for a strong result in the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring after test driver Alex Wurz dominated the opening practice sessions on Friday.

The team’s confidence was already high on a track it traditionally excels on and with Wurz completing such a successful first day on the Bridgestone tyres, Michael now faces a tricky decision over which compound will be most competitive for the rest of the weekend.

Alex did his usual job of thoroughly checking the tyre performance of the two Bridgestones available here,” said Michael.

“Both look good, so it’ll be a difficult choice for the race.

With it’s perceived strength at the Nurburgring, Williams allowed both its race drivers Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg more track time than usual on Friday in order to maximise its performance advantage.

“We did more running with Mark and Nico to give them extra track time, which will benefit them by the end of the weekend,” said Michael.

“Both drivers tried some planned set-up changes, so we’ll pool all that data tonight and look at the direction we should take for the remainder of the weekend.

“So far everything is going to plan.”

Rookie Rosberg, who has dazzled F1 with some sparkling performances in his first season, welcomed the extra track time at his home grand prix.

“I put more laps than usual under my belt, and even if I know this track very well, having extra running time is helpful as driving here in a F1 car is very different to my previous experience on this track,” he said.

“We have learnt several things from Alex and all three of us have tried a few variables on the set-up, which proved positive.”

Webber ended the second session 16th, five places behind Rosberg, and admitted he was not so happy with his car’s set-up.

“The pace is obviously there, we look okay here, but I am not happy with the car at the moment, so we have some more work to do tonight on the balance of the car and the tyre comparisons and get ourselves ready for tomorrow,” he said.

itv.com