You may remember back when the Max Mosley scandal first broke that Bernie Ecclestone was one of the first to call for the FIA President’s resignation.
Now it seems like Bernie is going back on his earlier opinion. Talking to the BBC, Ecclestone has said he no longer thinks that Max will cost the sport in terms of financial backing and popularity. He said: “I thought and was told it would, but people have come to the conclusion that whatever happened with Max was Max and it has nothing to do with anything else. I don’t think they care any more, people forget all these things. At the time it was a shock, if it had happened to other people it probably wouldn’t have been a shock.”
Notably, Bernie says his requests for Mosley to step down were only because pressure was being put on him to do so, and at the time he wished Mosley had left the organisation. Now he’s sure there’s no need for any resignation. Let me know what you think at F1Minute.com
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Today is the 30th August 2008 and you’re listening to F1 Minute.
The speculation about Kimi Raikkonen’s desire to remain in Formula 1 has been rife recently, almost as much as the question of whether a seat is available for him at Ferrari next year. Well, now we have the answer to both questions.
Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo has confirmed to the Italian media that their driver line up will be the same in 2009 as it is this year. He also said that Raikkonen is as motivated as ever and continues: “It can’t be forgotten that he’s the world champion, and that last year he won in his first season with Ferrari, while many people never thought he would do so. Now he has 17 victories and I hope he’ll get back to winning ways in the next Grand Prix in Belgium. Anyway, he’s not a driver in crisis.”
Meanwhile, concerned about the expanding calendar, BMW boss Mario Theissen has said he thinks it would be okay if Friday practice was revamped into a test day, with in-season testing scrapped altogether.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Sad news to begin with, ex-F1 champion Phil Hill has died aged 81. Hill is the only native-born American to have won the title, and did so in 1961 driving for Ferrari. He won three Le Mans races, and started 48 F1 races, winning just three of them. He retired in 1967. Hill died yesterday due to complications from Parkinson’s Disease.
Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo issued a statement after hearing the news, saying: “I, as well as all employees of Ferrari, am extremely saddened by the news of the passing of Phil Hill, a man and a champion who gave so much to Ferrari and who has always greatly represented the company’s values inside and outside the racing track.”
Finally, a quick update on the test at Monza, Hamilton has finished the final day with the fastest time, followed by Raikkonen and then surprisingly, Fisichella in the Force India.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
It was just yesterday that I told you about BMW’s desire for Nick Heidfeld to start getting some better results, and the German driver has made a good start. He topped the timesheets for Day 2 at the Monza test, pipping Rosberg in the Williams by just two tenths of a second.
Kovalainen was third ahead of Vettel and then Massa, who caused the one red flag throughout the day, having a quick trip into the gravel.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Ferrari, team principal Stefano Domenicali has been talking about the dynamic within the team. Whilst they’re not ready to put their full support behind just one driver yet, Domenicali is quoted as saying that Raikkonen is more than happy to support Massa if it should fall that way. He also said he has faith that Raikkonen can pick up his game once more, it’s just a matter of the team giving him a car that he likes.
And talking of the championship, McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh believes a big part of the title this year will come down to the uncontrollable factor of the weather.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Today is the 27th August 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
Day 1 of the test at Monza has wrapped up with a fine showing from Felipe Massa. He topped the timesheets just ahead of Kovalainen in the McLaren and then Rosberg in the Williams. Piquet did the most work, 117 laps, but he ended the day as the slowest car.
Having said that though, Renault seem to think that going slowly can actually help them get better results. We’ve seen the two Renault drivers posting painfully slow lap times during practice at the last two Grands Prix, and we’ve not really known why. Now it seems that Renault are convinced their tyres do better after running a couple of slow laps. They’re using data from the German race when Piquet finished second having run some laps behind the safety car. Apparently Alonso will be testing this phenomenon when he gets his turn in the car this week.
And very quickly to finish, BMW have apparently told Heidfeld he needs to start getting some better results if he is to keep his race drive for next year.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
It’s the 26th August 2008 and you’re listening to F1 Minute.
Ferrari have confirmed that the engine breakdown Raikkonen suffered at the European Grand Prix this weekend was the same problem that Massa had in Hungary. In fact, they’ve admitted that they knew the problem existed but took the risk of breaking down instead of changing the engine and accepting the grid penalty.
The official statement read: “The engineers were aware of a potential risk in general terms with the 056 engine fitted to Kimi’s car, which was on its second race, given that the con rods were part of the same batch used on Felipe’s engine. Changing the engine on Kimi’s car would have seen the Finn start from far down the grid at a track where it appeared that overtaking was impossible, proving it’s not enough to bring Formula One to a street circuit in a fantastic location to produce spectacular racing.”
Even though Raikkonen retired from the race, McLaren boss Ron Dennis has said he still counts the Finn as a championship threat, and he hasn’t written him off just yet.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Today is the 25th August 2008 and this is F1 Minute.
It seems to be the day for sticking up for your drivers, as first we have Martin Whitmarsh saying that Hamilton is getting stronger with each passing race. “Lewis is an intelligent driver, he’s absolutely committed to winning every race and he likes to end every session the quickest, but I think he’s becoming more relaxed and confident in his approach and realising that what really counts is winning the world championship at the end of the year.”
The love-in continues with Stefano Domenicali saying that they still have absolute faith in Raikkonen despite some poor results recently. He says: “It’s easy when things are going well, that everyone close to you puts your arms on their shoulders to say you are number one, number one, number one and then suddenly when you have a difficult situation, then you see, ha ha, this is already a boiled driver. That’s not the case.” That’s a weird quote. I think it’s a good thing, though.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Welcome to an F1 Minute update for the 24th August 2008.
Earlier today, I talked of the European Grand Prix at Valencia, and we were left wondering how the mechanic was that Kimi Raikkonen knocked down in a pit stop incident, and whether Massa was going to receive a penalty for his own pit lane misdemeanour. We know have the answer to both.
The mechanic, Pietro Timpini, has suffered from a fracture to the left foot and is also apparently complaining of back pain, but it does not appear to be too serious. It seems his first words were an apology, as though the incident was his fault, which just shows you how dedicated the Ferrari guys are. Raikkonen has admitted the mistake was his and apologised to the mechanic, so all is well.
Regarding Massa, the stewards released a statement about an hour after the race came to it’s conclusion. They decided that his release from the pit stop was unsafe but that no sporting advantage was obtained, thus the team have been reprimanded and Ferrari fined 10,000 Euros. Massa’s victory is secure.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
The European Grand Prix at Valencia got underway relatively calmly, with Massa holding his lead over Hamilton and the pair streaking away from the rest of the pack. There was a wide field spread and overtaking seemed almost impossible. The expected safety car situation never happened.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t incidents though. Nakajima crashed into the back of Alonso on the first lap, with the Renault having to stop. Sutil spun and hit the wall, and Raikkonen was the other retiree. He had a botched pit stop that saw him pull away with the fuel rig attached, injuring the mechanic on duty. He was stretchered away and we don’t yet have an update on how he is. A lap or so later, and the Ferrari pulled to the side of the track spewing smoke from the engine.
Massa’s Ferrari held together though and he took the win from Hamilton and Kubica. He is under investigation from the stewards, for being released in the pit lane directly into the path of a Force India. We are still waiting for their findings.
With two unresolved items, it looks like I’ll be back later with another F1 Minute.
It looked as though we might have had a strange couple of front rows as qualifying kicked off in Valencia today. Kubica led Free Practice 3 in the morning, adding to the list of drivers who are showing well around this new circuit. In qualifying, Vettel led two of the three sessions, and both Toro Rosso cars got into the final qualifying shoot out.
Unfortunately we lost both Honda and both Force India drivers plus Coulthard in the first session, and with the Toro Rosso’s scraping through to Q3 we also saw some big names knocked out in the second. Alonso finished the day in 12th.
However, it was business as usual for the Ferrari and McLaren boys. Hamilton posted a provisional pole, only to be knocked down by Massa. Kubica slipped into third and Raikkonen finished up fourth.
The pole position has actually been moved this morning from it’s orginal position on the left hand side of the grid to the right, after Charlie Whiting observed the practice sessions and decided that was the more favourable line to take.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.