BMW have become the next team to confirm their driver lineup for 2009 and it remains unchanged. Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld line up beside Christian Klien as test driver. BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen said, of the pairing: “We are in no doubt that we will again achieve our ambitious aims with them in the team’s fourth year.” Of course, this news narrows down Alonso’s options for next year, with his main choice now being between Renault and Honda.
Elsewhere today, Bernie Ecclestone has hit back at the statements Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo made regarding Singapore. The team boss said the safety car rules make F1 a circus. Ecclestone has apparently responded to this with: “After the weekend Ferrari had, their president should have shut up and kept his head down. If Massa loses the world championship, he will know the team were responsible. He would have destroyed everybody in Singapore if he had kept going.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
After an intense two hour race, Fernando Alonso emerged the surprise winner of the Singapore Grand Prix following two safety car periods.
The first few laps were nice and clean, and running got underway with Massa stretching a lead from Hamilton. Alonso started on soft tyres, and pitted really early for hard tyres, having changed his strategy because it wasn’t working. Then Renault team mate Piquet smashed into the wall and the safety car came out. Kubica and Rosberg had to pit for fuel, although the pit lane was closed, so they received penalties. As more drivers took their stops, Alonso worked his way to the front.
Despite serving his penalty, Rosberg managed to finish second, and Hamilton picked up third. Massa suffered another Ferrari pit stop blunder as he was sent on his way into the path of another car and with the fuel hose attached. He finished way down the order. Raikkonen was running fifth but crashed into the wall in the last few laps. At the end of the race, they all looked pretty exhausted.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Massa has scored pole position for the very first F1 night race at Singapore, beating Lewis Hamilton by six tenths of a second. Hamilton pulled out an impressive lap at the end of qualifying, especially considering the fact that he almost didn’t make it through to Q3. His first lap in the second session went wrong, and he had to abort it, and his second lap saw him tenth. Once again, he had to abort the third, and thankfully for him no one managed to push him out. Alonso finished 15th in that session, as he had to retire his car moments after hitting the track.
In team mate comparisons, Vettel pulled out an impressive 7th to Bourdais’ 17th, and Button finished in 12th to Barrichello’s 18th. Fisichella finished last having only managed to complete two laps due to a gearbox problem from Free Practice 3.
We also learned today that Kovalainen is using up his free engine joker for this race, and will therefore start with a fresh motor.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
This is F1 Minute and it’s the 25th September 2008.
It’s a simple countdown until Singapore now, as the drivers have spent today preparing for the race on the new circuit. Most will have walked the track at some point, and there have been a couple of concerns.
Bourdais has already expressed his opinion that the chicane at Turn 10 is not a particularly good corner, and the high bumps on the kerbs may cause a problem. Alonso, having walked the track today, agrees, and goes so far as to say that the bumps could end a driver’s race. “It is not the best solution that they could find. We worry that if you miss the chicane or miss the line then you have to go over the kerbs - and then perhaps you damage the chassis or damage the bottom.” The FIA are aware of the situation and apparently race director Charlie Whiting has already inspected the corner.
Elsewhere today, Massa has said that if he won this year’s championship by the points margin taken from Lewis Hamilton in Belgium, essentially winning off track, he still believes he is a worthy champion, having fought a hard season.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
From an unexpected pole position to a superb victory, Sebastian Vettel has become the youngest ever F1 race winner by taking his maiden win in Italy.
The race got underway with a safety car start due to the weather conditions, but it was only a couple of laps before racing began proper. Vettel pulled out an early lead, whilst team mate Bourdais was a lap down having stalled on the grid.
The first few laps were amazingly clean, with very few incidents. In fact, the race itself only saw one retiree in the form of Fisichella. He collided with Coulthard during an overtaking manouvre that dislodged his front wing. The wing went under the car and the Force India headed straight into the tyres.
Hamilton one-stopped his way up the field, but made another bad tyre decision by taking on extreme wets when the rest of the field had inters. He had to pit an extra time, but finished a respectable 7th, just behind Massa. Raikkonen woke up towards the end of the race and finished 9th.
Congratulations to Vettel, and the other podium finishers Kovalainen and Kubica. I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
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.
Hello and welcome to the second F1 Minute for the 7th September.
A quick update on the FIA investigations into the Belgium Grand Prix results. That’s right, investigations plural. Earlier I mentioned that the stewards were looking into a Hamilton incident, but before that they announced that Glock would receive a 25 second penalty for overtaking under yellow flags. Presumably this was on the last lap with the waved yellows for Raikkonen’s crash. That drops him out of the points and promotes Webber to 8th place.
Hamilton’s investigation was for not handing back the advantage to Raikkonen after cutting across the chicane. The stewards investigated and have now handed Hamilton a post-race drive-through penalty, meaning he is demoted to third. Massa inherits the win, and Heidfeld takes second. This decision is causing a lot of controversy, as Hamilton was fully behind Raikkonen before overtaking him on the straight, but has apparently still been deemed to have taken an advantage. McLaren have lodged an appeal.
There’s plenty of discussion in the comments at Sidepodcast.com, or start afresh and let me know what you think at F1Minute.com.
Today is the 7th September 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
The story of Spa is one of the first lap and the last lap. As the lights went out, Raikkonen had a great start and jumped into second behind Hamilton. Kovalainen had a poor start and dropped from third to 13th. Raikkonen managed to overtake Hamilton and dominated the race from there.
There were only two retirements during the race, Piquet spun out and crashed into the barriers, and Barrichello pulled into the pits with a gearbox problem.
As the last laps got underway, it began to rain, and Hamilton had closed up the gap to the Ferrari considerably. The pair were battling corner to corner, one second Lewis was in front, the next it was Kimi, until ultimately, Raikkonen spun in the wet and hit the wall. Hamilton and Massa crawled round the last lap in the wet on the wrong tyres and McLaren got the victory.
It has been reported that the stewards are investigating an incident between the pair where Lewis had to give a place back to Kimi, but as yet, we don’t know.
Therefore, I will be back later 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.
You’re listening to F1 Minute and it’s the 5th September 2008.
The Belgian Grand Prix weekend got underway today with two free practice sessions, one led by Massa and the other by Alonso.
Free Practice 1, Massa was fastest ahead of Raikkonen and then Hamilton. It stayed dry for most of the session, although the track started out wet after overnight showers. There were no major incidents but Trulli had some electronic problems and Kubica moaned to his team for pretty much the entire morning.
Free Practice 2 saw some rain, and some incidents. Webber, Fisichella, Raikkonen, and Piquet all came off track, with the first two unable to continue. Alonso was fastest ahead of Massa and Kovalainen.
After both sessions, drivers were allowed to practice starts from the grid. In FP1, Bourdais couldn’t take part because his car came to a stop at the end of the pitlane, and in FP2 Kubica couldn’t take part because he stalled it. How embarrassing.
That’s everything for today. Join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.