27-Apr-08: Ferrari Take 1-2, Whilst Kovalainen Crashes in Spain
It’s the 27th April and this is F1 Minute.
From pole position to the chequered flag, Kimi Raikkonen won a relatively easy race at the Circuit de Catalunya, and was joined on the podium by Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. Alonso lost out a place on the start but was keeping up with the front runners. Unfortunately he had an engine failure about halfway through the race and had to retire in front of his home crowd.
The big news of the weekend was for Heikki Kovalainen, though, who suffered a wheel failure at 150mph and crashed into the tyre barriers. The car seemed to be heavily embedded in the tyre wall, and the safety car was brought out whilst the situation was cleared up. Kovalainen was stretchered to the medical centre, giving the thumbs up to the crowd as he went, and later airlifted to hospital for further checks. Ron Dennis has told reporters that all the scans are clear, and Heikki has suffered only a concussion, after losing consciousness at the scene for a moment. He’ll stay in hospital overnight and Dennis is confident he’ll be cleared to race in Turkey.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
shaun on Mon, 28th Apr 2008 17:22
I asked a Spanish chef friend of mine what happened to his man Alonso at the weekend?.He said Alonso must have blown his engine on purpose because he wanted a new one.A bit far fetched i thought?…but perhaps not.Michael Schumacher used to rip his pre-2000 Ferrari’s to pieces trying to get as much speed out of them as he could.The engineers saw the lap times and new the car was capable of incredible speed in the hands of the German ace; it was just a matter of making the car withstand his demands, which they did.
Alonso seemed to be demonstrating the same principle.And you’ve got to admit : he was bloody quick before the engine ran out of breath…
Raikkonen was also known as a car breaker when he was in the McLaren.In the Schumacher proof Ferrari he has no such reputation any more.Kubica has had the same things written about him in Autosport by Mark Hughes.The pole is a live example of this ‘build me a car and i will deliver a championship’ happening right in front of our eyes.If Renault do the same this season with Alonso, that will be another driver and team giving McLaren something to worry about…
me on Mon, 28th Apr 2008 18:28
it is because alonso was on his 2nd engine!