Free Practice 3 was wet, and very little meaningful running took place, although Hamilton and a few brave drivers did take to the track. When qualifying began, it was still raining, but the first session looked like things were going to plan, as both Honda’s, Nakajima and Sutil were all knocked out. Finally, after proclaiming it their target all year, Force India got through to the second session with Fisichella at the wheel. McLaren appeared to make a bad decision in Q2, sending Hamilton out for one lap on intermediate tyres. He returned to the pits for extreme wets, but couldn’t get a lap time together, and finished that session at the back, starting 15th on the grid, just behind Raikkonen.
In Q3, Massa and Kovalainen were the soul representatives of the top two teams, but it was Toro Rosso who made it work. Vettel took an early lead, when conditions were less wet, and as it began to rain once more, no one could beat it. The Italian squad start their home race from their first pole position.
That’s it for today, join me again tomorrow with all the info from what’s bound to be an incredible race.
Free Practice got underway in Monza today, with Sutil leading the first session, and Raikkonen the second. Yes, you head me right. Both sessions were declared wet, but FP1 saw torrential rain, that meant organisers red-flagged the session with just five minutes remaining. The Force India driver’s time was set earlier in less treacherous conditions. Man of the morning, Sutil, let himself down slightly by missing the pit entrance once the second session was over, and he had to complete an extra lap.
Also today, a couple of important announcements were made. Red Bull confirmed they are using their freebie engine on Mark Webber’s car, as both a precautionary measure, and to get him on a better engine cycle for the upcoming races. Ferrari announced that Raikkonen had extended his contract with the team until 2010, which means Alonso won’t be moving there anytime soon. And finally, the date of the Belgium penalty hearing has been set as 22nd September, just before the Singapore Grand Prix.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Welcome to F1 Minute, today is the 6th September 2008.
Hamilton has put McLaren on pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix tomorrow, posting a time three tenths of a second faster than second place Felipe Massa. Kovalainen aimed for the front row as well, but missed, settling behind the Ferrari, with Raikkonen in turn behind him.
For the second race in a row, both Toro Rosso drivers made it into the third session of qualifying, although didn’t get any higher than 9th and 10th. For a moment it looked as though Force India might be able to get into Q2, as Sutil was running in 14th, but inevitably he was pushed down the order. Both Force Indias and Hondas start at the back of the grid, plus Nakajima who had a very poor showing.
Heidfeld had a good day though, qualifying 5th well ahead of Kubica in 8th, trying to ease some of the pressure on him from BMW.
There was no rain to speak of, and no major incidents, and it looks as though tomorrow may be a dry day as well.
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.
You’re listening to F1 Minute and today is the 16th August 2008.
If you happen to be anywhere near Rotterdam this weekend, you might be lucky enough to catch sight of an F1 car on the streets. Toyota, Force India and Renault have all taken a break from their Valencian preparation to head to the Netherlands for the Bavaria City Racing festival.
Trulli will be giving the fans a demonstration in his Toyota, whilst Fisichella, Sutil and Renault test driver Yamamoto all take their respective cars on a trip through the streets as well. With team mate Trulli in the Netherlands, Glock has travelled to California to take part in some Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca. Nice work if you can get it.
Meanwhile, the F1 news doesn’t stop. Rumour has it that Nelson Piquet is having to wait until September this year before finding out whether he has a race drive for 2009 or not. The Renault driver is one in a long line of people having to wait until Alonso makes his move for next season, before finding out his own future.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
McLaren continued their domination in Germany today, with Kovalainen posting the fastest time in Free Practice 3.It was a close one, with Massa just seven hundredths of a second behind and Hamilton back in third. Sutil had a bit of an incident, sliding into the gravel, although he did manage to save it.
Having led all three Free Practice sessions, it was hardly surprising to see a McLaren on pole, this time Hamilton getting the better of the rest of the field. Massa came a close second, with Kovalainen behind. Notably, the next pair of Trulli and Alonso were a surprise, especially as Raikkonen could only struggle into sixth.
Elsewhere today, Formula 1 teams have given the Singapore circuit the go ahead after a successful lighting test took place last week. Eight of the ten teams were represented at the inspection, no McLaren or Ferrari, and apparently all previous fears about the lighting for the night race have now been put to rest.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Hamilton has topped the timesheets for the second consecutive day at testing in Hockenheim. Rosberg was second for Williams, and Raikkonen third in the Ferrari. There were three red flags throughout the day, caused by Sutil, Barrichello and Alonso. The weather was slightly improved from yesterday, although there was a shower in the morning.
During the session, a photographer crossed the track, without an official tabbard on, to take pictures from an out of bounds area. The FIA recalled all the photographers and their tabbards and banned them from taking pictures until they had all sat through a briefing. They were then given new tabbards and allowed back to their posts, although the original photographer is under investigation.
Finally today, Coulthard has said that he has no plans to race in any other series after he retires from Formula 1 at the end of the season. He’s not ruling it out but says his thoughts remain within the F1 world for now.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Today is the 6th July 2008, and you’re listening to F1 Minute.
It’s always hard to get a full picture of what’s happening in a race from the side of the track, but I will do my best for you, and give you a rundown of what happened at Silverstone today.
Hamilton had an amazing start, overtaking a couple of cars to sit behind team mate Heikki who was in the lead. It was only a matter of laps though, before the spirit of the crowd cheered Lewis on to overtake. From then on, despite a few rain showers, and some close calls with spinning cars, Hamilton was cool, calm and collected and took a win at his home Grand Prix.
The spins I was talking about? That would be Webber, Nakajima, Massa, Coulthard, Vettel, Massa again, Sutil, Button, Kubica, Piquet, and probably Massa once more. Essentially, it was a wet race and only those who kept clear heads and more importantly, their cars on track, were successful. The final podium was Hamilton, Heidfeld and Barrichello. The championship now has three leaders all on 48 points, although Hamilton is actually in first place.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Kubica took his first ever win in Canada today, after a pit lane incident knocked both Hamilton and Raikkonen out of the race. Kubica kept his head with a two stop strategy, and finished in front of his one-stopping team mate Heidfeld, and an incident-free Coulthard.
An early safety car was brought out by Sutil who pulled off track and out of the race, and his car had to be retrieved. When the pit lane opened, a stream of traffic took the opportunity, and Kubica and Raikkonen pulled up to the red light at the same time. Hamilton, just behind them, made a mistake, either not realising or ignoring the red light, and crashed into the back of Raikkonen.
Elsewhere, Massa had to pit an extra time after a mistake by the mechanics, but pulled off a couple of outstanding overtaking maneouvres to finish in fifth. Both Renaults retired, along with Fisichella and Nakajima. The track seemed to hold up for the entire race, despite previous worries about it breaking up. Alonso did blame it for his crash, however.
That’s all for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
It is completely impossible to try and fit the Monaco race into 60 seconds so here are the highlights in bullet form:
Lewis Hamilton won the race despite an early brush with the barriers that may have in fact saved his entire strategy.
Alonso was overtaking all over the place and causing problems wherever he went – he almost caused a pileup at the hairpin.
Piquet crashed out, having been put on dry tyres a little too early.
Rosberg suffered a forcible shunt in the last fifteen minutes of the race. He leapt out of the car okay, despite hitting two walls, but has been taken to hospital as a precaution.
The race ran for so long, that the two hour limit was imposed rather than all the laps being finished, meaning we only saw 76 of the 78 proposed laps.
Sutil was running in fourth place at one point, having made some good tyre decisions, but he was knocked out in the last ten minutes by an unruly Raikkonen coming out of the tunnel.
That’s all I can fit in, visit Sidepodcast.com for more info, and join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.