Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 30th September 2008.
If you ignore the slight marshalling issue, all reports regarding the Singapore Grand Prix have been good. Until now. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has some pretty harsh words about the race, and Formula 1 in general. He’s reported as saying: “When we race on tracks which should be used for the circus, anything can happen. This is humiliating for F1 and it is an aspect I want to talk about with the other teams in the next few weeks.” In particular, he’s annoyed about the safety car, as are many of the teams.
Elsewhere today, Renault believe they have done enough to convince Alonso to stay with them for next year, including a rumoured replacement of Piquet with tester Lucas di Grassi. Alonso, in turn, says that his lack of enthusiasm on the podium this weekend was because he was tired, and not because he wants to leave the team. But, he’s still going to leave us waiting for a decision until the end of the season.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for 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.
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.
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.
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.
Today is the 19th August 2008, and you’re listening to F1 Minute.
We’ve heard from Red Bull recently that they are aiming to finish fourth in the constructor’s championship this year, but now it appears they’re not the only ones with such an ambition. After a couple of strong race finishes, Renault have said that fourth is the position they have their eye on as well. Director of Engineering Pat Symonds said: “So the performance in Hungary reinforces the belief that we are moving in the right direction and gives me confidence that we can finish fourth in the championship and end the season with the third fastest car.” Not quite sure of his maths there, but it sounds good to me.
Still with Renault, Piquet is looking to qualify well in Valencia and finish with a good points haul. He reckons that he’s had to learn a lot of new tracks this year, but as everyone else is in the same boat at this circuit, it will level the playing field somewhat.
And away from Renault, just a note that Glock says he is still smiling after his second place finish in Hungary. Three weeks later.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow 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.
Today is the 1st August 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
The Hungarian Grand Prix weekend kicked off to a slow start today, with a dull Free Practice 1 session. There was barely any action for the first 30 minutes of the hour and a half session, but things did get going eventually. Not for Vettel, though, as he struggled to get through four laps, and his Toro Rosso broke down at the side of the track. Massa was fastest ahead of Raikkonen, Kovalainen and then Hamilton, but things were pretty close at the top. Raikkonen began the session without the shark fin engine cover, and had it fitted to his car towards the end of the allotted time.
In the second session, Lewis Hamilton managed to get his McLaren to the top of the timesheets ahead of, wait for it, Nelson Piquet, and Kovalainen. Renault afterwards said that it was an ultra-low fuel run and should be taken in context as such. Vettel, again, suffered from problems, and after 5 laps this time, pulled to the side of the track. Everyone else got plenty of laps in, testing out tyres, and longer runs, and basically making up for the slow start this morning.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Well, the result is in, and Max Mosley has won his court case against the News of the World. The High Court decided that Mosley’s privacy was invaded, and he deserved a £60,000 settlement in damages. Mosley has said he is delighted with the result and the money will go to the FIA Foundation.
Now, in real F1 news, Webber topped the timesheets in Jerez today, ahead of Piquet for Renault and Raikkonen in the Ferrari. Piquet did manage to bring out a red flag after hitting the wall, and de la Rosa, Glock and Barrichello also saw red flags. Glock was returning to action today after his accident and thankfully didn’t crash, but simply stopped out on track.
Also, we don’t appear to have had any KERS related incidents today, but fears about the safety of it continue. Webber has said that he doesn’t want to look into the technology too much as it makes him nervous, and the drivers are happy to let the engineers sort it out. From his position within the GPDA, he said they won’t be getting involved just yet.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Having led all but one of the session this weekend, it’s no surprise that Hamilton took a dominant win at Hockenheim today. It wasn’t all plain sailing, though, as a safety car brought out by Glock put a bit of a spanner in the works. The Toyota spun on the exit of the last corner and crashed into a concrete wall backwards. Glock climbed out of the car, and was taken to the medical centre and then on to hospital. He appears to be okay, but there’s no official word just yet.
The safety car reduced Hamilton’s lead to nothing, and McLaren decided not to pit the race leader until after the safety car had gone. That meant Hamilton’s final scheduled stop saw him return behind his teammate, Massa, and Piquet. The Renault had been one stopping, and came in just before the safety car appeared. A nice bit of luck and some strong driving from the rookie.
Hamilton made short work of Kovalainen, Massa almost handed the place to the McLaren, and Piquet couldn’t put up much of a fight. A great race, and a fascinating podium. The championship remains the same as post-Silverstone, although the points are more spread out now.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.