Apparently, F1 team principals are organising a meeting to get together and discuss the possibility of reinstating Canada to the calendar. They don’t want to lose the only North American Grand Prix of the season, and no one wants to lose the Canada race as it’s such a good one. However, it seems as though a commercial disagreement cut short negotiations between organisers of the Canadian GP and Bernie Ecclestone, and the Montreal circuit officials say the only way it could return is with government help.
Other negotiations are going on, according to autosport.com, who are reporting that Force India, McLaren and Mercedes Benz are in talks to supply engines for 2009. Force India do have a contract with Ferrari for next season, but are clearly keeping their options open. The engine deal proposed could also extend to technical help and Force India running some drivers to eventually make the switch to McLaren.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
We heard earlier in the week that McLaren are pushing forward with development this year and it’s good news to hear that BMW haven’t given up on the title, either. Technical director Willy Rampf said that they will still develop despite Kubica being 20 points down on Hamilton. He said: “We will continue though. We will try to have at least small modifications and updates for the next races and hope to get closer to the top. We are not far away, not the team and not Robert as our leading driver.”
Elsewhere today, Autosport.com is reporting that the FOTA are looking at a new concept of sharing commercial revenues between the teams equally. Currently, teams get a bigger share, the higher they finish up the constructor’s championship. You’d imagine the larger teams wouldn’t appreciate getting less money, but Autosport has asked Frank Williams who said it’s the best way of making things more competitive. I’d love to know what you think about this potential new scheme, leave your thoughts at F1Minute.com.
You’re listening to F1 Minute and it’s the 1st October 2008.
With most teams saying they will be focusing on 2009 now, it’s a refreshing change to hear that some updates will be taking place for McLaren. CEO Martin Whitmarsh says Singapore was supposed to be their last upgrade, but now they’ll be bringing in some more aerodynamic “bits and pieces” for Japan and China. Whitmarsh also had a bit of a moan about the penalty process in Singapore, saying that because the stop/go call for Rosberg pitting under the safety car came so late, that he had been able to pull out enough of a lead to effectively cancel it out. Whitmarsh believes Hamilton could have won it had things been different.
Elsewhere today, Malaysia have reportedly said no to the night race idea. Previously Bernie has said that the 2009 race would begin at 7pm local time, but officials have said they will compromise to start at 5pm. They certainly don’t intend to host a race after dark.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
The result is in, and the FIA have rejected McLaren’s appeal against Lewis Hamilton’s Belgium penalty, deeming it to be inadmissible. The official FIA Statement reads: “Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are ‘not susceptible to appeal’.” McLaren tried to use an appeal from 2007 as a precedent – Tonio Liuzzi at the Japanese Grand Prix, for overtaking under yellow flags – but the FIA didn’t agree.
Hamilton released a statement soon after the announcement saying he was disappointed but ready to move on. “People will probably expect me to be depressed about today’s result, but that isn’t me. All I want to do now is put this matter behind me and get on with what we drivers do best: racing each other.”
McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh added to this that they are also disappointed to have received no ruling on the actual substance of the appeal, as they felt it was a perfectly valid complaint.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
It’s the 19th September 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
Pedro de la Rosa headed up the final day of testing at Jerez for McLaren, just ahead of BMW and Renault. There were no rain interruptions today, and no major incidents. Vettel returned to the Toro Rosso cockpit whilst Buemi returned to work for Red Bull.
Talking of which, it appears that Buemi may be a favourite for the Toro Rosso race seat in 2009, after Franz Tost has been quoted as saying as long as they could find an experienced driver to pair him with, they would want him in the car. Buemi isn’t getting too carried away, but says he is excited and getting into F1 is his main objective for next year.
Elsewhere today, Wurz has finished up testing Honda’s KERS system and declared that it’s quite safe: “Honda has an enormous amount of know how with the battery system and we have some security checks all the time going on, so we are very confident that we won’t be electrocuted.” He said it’s fine in road cars so all F1 teams have to do is work out how to package it correctly.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Vettel led the way at testing in Jerez today, still in the Red Bull car. He posted the fastest time despite only managing 37 laps due to an engine change. BMW were second, and Renault third. There was some rain in the middle of the day, which disrupted quite a few of the team’s programmes.
Someone in particular who was affected by the weather, was Takuma Sato who returned to Formula 1 for a test with Toro Rosso. He completed just under 50 laps and was 6th out of 8 runners. Afterwards, he said: “Although I couldn’t complete the day due to the weather conditions, I really enjoyed driving the STR3. I would like to say a big thank you to Red Bull and to the team for giving me this great opportunity.” What he doesn’t say is: Please give me a race seat next year.
Elsewhere today, Ron Dennis has issued some fighting talk, saying that McLaren are confident to do well at every circuit left on the calendar this year, and he feels they’re closing in on the constructor’s title at every stage.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Today is the 17th September and this is F1 Minute.
BMW climbed to the top of the timesheets for the second day at Jerez, where this time eight teams were in action, instead of just the three we saw yesterday. Klien was at the wheel, and he finished ahead of Vettel. The German was driving for Red Bull, as a pre-cursor to him joining them for next season. To add to the confusion, normal Red Bull test driver Sebastian Buemi was third fastest of the day, but with a Toro Rosso under him. He was under evaluation for a possible race drive in 2009.
Also today, McLaren were testing out their KERS setup for the first time, and Williams hit the track with their 2009 spec rear wing – a much narrower and higher evolution of this year’s wing. Nakajiama finished the day last and 2 seconds off the pace of his nearest rival.
Ferrari, meanwhile, were at their own private test with Badoer in the hotseat, whilst Force India have not joined the testing fun yet.
That wraps up everything for today, 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.
Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 9th September 2008.
McLaren have officially submitted their appeal to the FIA regarding Hamilton’s Belgian GP penalty, and now we have more details to go with it.
Firstly, Ferrari insist they didn’t raise a complaint with the stewards to get the incident investigated. Stefano Domenicali says the team were called to give their version of events to the stewards, but at no point did they instigate the complaint. He wouldn’t be drawn to comment on the penalty, saying simply: “I have often said that the race is not over until the official results are published and that was the case today.”
Meanwhile, Martin Whitmarsh has claimed that the team radioed Race Control twice moments after the incident occurred to check whether Hamilton’s actions were sufficient. He says they were told that Hamilton’s giving back the advantage to Raikkonen was ‘okay’. Therefore, after thinking about the decision for the allotted 48 hours, McLaren are pushing ahead with their appeal.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
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.