France 2008 : AFTER POLE, IT’S PODIUM FOR FERRARI

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won Formula One’s French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours today to head the drivers’ championship standings for the first time this season.

The Brazilian finished the 70-lap race 18 seconds clear of teammate Kimi Raikkonen, the world champion, who lost the race lead after his exhaust broke. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was third after holding off the challenge of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen. BMW’s Robert Kubica, who started as the leader in the standings, was fifth. Red Bull's Mark Webber, in sixth, and Renault duo Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso were today’s other points scorers.

Massa, after his third win this season, tops the standings on 48 points, 2 ahead of Kubica. Raikkonen is third on 43, and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who failed to score a point, drops to fourth on 38 after a second straight disappointing race.
“That was fantastic, I didn’t expect that,” Massa told the post-race news conference. “Today I had a lot of luck with Kimi having his exhaust
problem, but fortunately for the team he could finish, so this was a good present for me.”

Hamilton was penalized 10 places on the grid after his pit-lane crash in Montreal two weeks ago and started in 13th. There was another setback for the Briton today when he incurred a drive-through penalty for cutting a corner in overtaking the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel at a chicane early in the race. The punishment hit his chances of finishing in the points and he came 10th.

Raikkonen and Massa filled the first two places on the grid after dominating in qualifying, and proceeded to take charge in the race.

Raikkonen led in the early stages as the pair pulled clear of the field, and Massa took over in mid-race when Raikkonen — winner of the event last year — had the exhaust problem. Even so, he managed to get the car to the finish line.
“I had a good car all weekend, was easily on the pole, but then I have a problem with the car,” Raikkonen said. “I almost stopped a few times at the end. I’ve still taken eight points and I am in a more comfortable position in the championship,” he added.

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France F1 2008 - Qualifying : POLE NO 200 FOR THE REDS

World champion Kimi Raikkonen handed Ferrari their 200th pole position in a front row sweep for the Italian team at the French Grand Prix on Saturday.

His Brazilian teammate, Felipe Massa, who took pole at Magny-Cours last year, was second fastest to secure the Italian team’s third one-two in qualifying this season. The pole, the 16th of Raikkonen’s GP career, left the Finn perfectly placed to repeat his 2007 victory at the circuit.

Poland’s Robert Kubica, the championship leader for BMW-Sauber after his victory in Canada earlier this month, qualified seventh but will start sixth because of a 10-place penalty imposed on McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton, who picked up the punishment after crashing into Raikkonen in the Canadian Grand Prix pit lane, qualified third and will start 13th. His demotion left Renault’s double world champion Fernando Alonso sharing the second row with Italian Jarno Trulli in a Toyota.

McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen moved up to fifth. Kubica leads Hamilton and Massa by four points in the championship with Raikkonen a further three adrift after seven races. ‘‘It’s the best possible chance to win the race from the first place and the car has been good all weekend, so hopefully we will get some good points here,’’ said Raikkonen. ‘‘It’s going to be a long race. I'm pretty sure we have a good race car but as we’ve seen before, anything can happen.’’ Raikkonen failed to finish in Canada after the pit lane collision and drew a blank in Monaco after running into the back of Adrian Sutil’s Force India while in fifth place. But he has never failed to finish in France.

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France F1 GP 2008 - Testing : Massa makes Ferrari fly

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa set the pace in free practice for the French Grand Prix on Friday with a time inside the circuit’s race lap record.

The Brazilian, who started on pole position at Magny-Cours last year but has yet to win in France, lapped fastest in the morning with a time of one minute 15.306 seconds.

Renault’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, preparing for the car company’s home race on Sunday, topped the timesheets in the afternoon with a lap of 1:15.778. Massa was second, a mere 0.076 slower.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who will be penalised 10 places on the starting grid after a pit lane collision with world champion Kimi Raikkonen’s stationary Ferrari in Canada, was second and fourth in the two sessions.

Massa’s best time compared to his 2007 pole of 1:15.034 and retired Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher’s 2004 race lap record of 1:15.377.

BMW Sauber’s championship leader Robert Kubica, winner in Canada, was fifth quickest in the morning and sixth after lunch. The Pole leads Hamilton and Massa, who have both won twice this season, by four points with world champion Raikkonen a further three adrift after seven rounds of the 18-race championship.

However, Kubica could struggle to match the pace of the Ferraris this weekend. The Italian team have won for the past two seasons at Magny-Cours and seven times in the last 11 years. Raikkonen led Massa in a one-two finish in 2007. Alonso, who has scored just nine points this season with Renault struggling to match the pace of the top three teams, had pulled over with two minutes remaining of the morning session with smoke billowing from the engine. The Spaniard was still sixth fastest however.

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Canada 2008: Petronas wins Montreal F1

Robert Kubica made a triumphant return to Canada on Sunday, storming to his maiden grand prix victory exactly a year after suffering a horrific crash on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Pole led a shock BMW Sauber one-two in Montreal after pre-race favourite Lewis Hamilton took himself and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen out of the fray in an early pit lane collision.

Nick Heidfeld took second place and Red Bull's David Coulthard was third but the day belonged to Kubica, now four points clear at the top of the world championship.

"It is fantastic to win for BMW Sauber," he said. "We grew up together and thanks to the team for providing a good car - we managed to do first and second.

"Winning in Canada where I had big shunt last season and achieving the goal to win a grand prix this season... We have done it and I'm leading the championship, so I hope the team will give me 100 percent support to defend it until last race.

"It's fantastic for me, the team, my country and my fans. It was a great race. It is always chaotic here with the safety car and it is not easy. I have never struggled so much before, I was pushing so hard."

The win was the first by a team other than McLaren and Ferrari since October 2006 and fulfilled the BMW Sauber's pre-season ambition to win their first Formula One race.

Toyota's German Timo Glock took fourth place, the best result of his first full Formula One season and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa did well to claim a highly eventful fifth.

The Brazilian now joins Hamilton in second place in the driver's title race.
Italian Jarno Trulli completed a good day for the Toyota team with sixth place with Honda's Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel filling the other point-scoring positions.

The race started amidst serious concerns over the state of the circuit. Patches of the track surface had crumbled badly during qualifying on Saturday and although running repairs were made overnight, many in the paddock were expecting trouble.
Those concerns translated into a generally cautious attitude amongst the drivers and the start passed without incident.

Nico Rosberg did manage to slip his Williams into fourth place around the outside of Fernando Alonso's Renault at the second corner; but it was a clean getaway for Hamilton's McLaren, Kubica and Raikkonen who started first, second and third respectively.

Raikkonen began to put Kubica under serious pressure, the Finn quickly setting the fastest lap of the race, but Hamilton was moving well clear in front.
His lead was erased though, when the safety car was deployed after German Adrian Sutil's Force India car caught fire.

As the field bunched up, the leaders ducked into the pits to refuel. Raikkonen and Kubica emerged from the garage ahead of Hamilton, but were held up by a red-light at the end of the pit lane.

Inexplicably, Hamilton did not realise that his two rivals were stationary ahead of him and after pulling away from his garage he barrelled into the back of Raikkonen ending his own race and that of the reigning world champion.

"I don't know what happened to be honest," Hamilton said. "I was comfortably in the lead, it was looking like an easy win. Then I went in for the pit stop. It was not a good stop and I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane.

"I saw the red light but by that time it was a bit late. It was not exactly a racing incident as such, it was unfortunate.

"It was one of those things. It is different to if you crash into the wall and you are angry. It is not like that. I apologise to Kimi for ruining his race."

Rosberg was also caught up in the incident and though he was able to continue after some hasty repairs to his front wing, his chances of a points finish were ruined.
Heidfeld was now leading the grand prix, with Barrichello and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima lying second and third.

Heidfeld, his one-stop strategy working perfectly, soon pitted and could not stay ahead of Kubica who had emerged unscathed from the pit lane chaos. Kubica knew he would need one more fuel stop, so he pushed his BMW to the absolute limit to establish a significant margin between himself and his teammate.

With 22 laps remaining the Pole pitted for the final time, emerging safely in front of Heidfeld.

Scottish veteran Coulthard was now in third place with a mad scramble for points unfolding behind him.

There was no catching Kubica though, and there were scenes of joy in the BMW garage as he crossed the finish line to become the first ever Polish grand prix winner.

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Canada F1 GP 2008 - Testing

Germany's Nico Rosberg was fastest in Saturday's final free practice for the Canadian Grand Prix after late crashes interrupted the session.

With warmer temperatures heating up the track and most of the teams working on their fuel strategies for Sunday's race, the times were slower than Friday. The Williams driver, son of Finland's 1982 world champion Keke, lapped the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in one minute 16.555 seconds., a long way off defending race champion Lewis Hamilton's fast lap of 1:15.732 on the opening day of practice.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen was close behind at 1:16.589 in his Ferrari, followed by current championship leader and last year's Canadian GP winner Lewis Hamilton of McLaren third at 1:16.725, Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari at 1:16.787 and Kazuki Nakajima at 1:16.898 in the second Williams.

It was a messy hour. Renault's Nelson Piquet hit the wall and spun twice. And both Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers — Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais — also hit walls as several other drivers bounced off the concrete barriers that line the 12-turn Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The session was halted after Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel crashed into the barrier at the exit of turn nine and his Ferrari-powered car had to be towed away, leaving plenty of debris to be cleared.

The session resumed with just six minutes remaining, the drivers switching to their softer tyres but having little chance to give them a real workout.
The session was again interrupted after the other Toro Rosso driver, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, clipped the wall on turn five and brought out the yellow warning flags preventing any further flying laps.

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F1 2008 - Canada Grand Prix Preview

It’s off to the Canadian Grand Prix and the only stop in North America. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a temporary circuit with a combination of street and track racing. As you see by the track pic, it has long fast straights always leading to heavy breaking where great traction and great acceleration are so important.

Aerodynamics
Not much downforce required at this circuit so a low downforce setup is the package of the day. With a top speed of over 320 km/hr drag is a drivers nightmare, but at the same time, some downforce is required to keep the car just stable enough that when under heavy breaking the car doesn’t get away from the drivers. This means a very twitchy car that can be tricky to handle if not smooth and easy with brakes, throttle and steering.

Brakes
One of the two most demanding tracks on breaks. The other of course is the high speeds of Monza. There are serious demands on the brakes in Montreal which include 4 breaking points from over 300 km/hr and 2 from over 250 km/hr. With this in mind, break wear is the biggest concern to the team and monitoring of them is a high priority throughout the race.

Suspension
The combination of chicanes and slow corners require responsiveness and stability and brake locking is an issue in Montreal. Too much break locking at either the front or the rear of the car is serious time lost.

Engine
When looking at the track map, it doesn’t seem that only 60% of the track is at full throttle, but that is exactly what it is. An over heated engine is not an issue, but the demand on the engine in the longest full throttle section of 14 secs is high. The engine has to be strong to respond to 6 full throttle accelerations separated by the chicanes.

Tires
Green is the word for this circuit by virtue of it being temporary so grip levels on Friday morning will be low, but slowly improve throughout the weekend. Because this circuit is not particularly demanding on tires and the surface is fairly smooth, soft and super soft tires will be used.

Rain can always be an issue in Montreal and the high speed nature of the track poses some risk to the driver if putting a tire off track. We remember Robert Kubica last year with his explosive crash. The walls are close on the street section and many a car have wiped against them exiting corners. I do see that happening more than once this year.

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Monaco 2008: Hamilton- The new King of Monaco

Monaco struck and Raikkonen was the prey or should I say Adrian Sutil. Anyway, Lewis Hamilton was the man of the day winning the race in fine style. Ironically it was an early mistake that set the tone for his win. Just a few laps into the race when rain was pouring down, Lewis got out of shape and brushed the wall. Punctured tire was all the damage, but when in the pits, the crew loaded him with fuel to go late in the race and possibly take advantage of the others taking earlier second stops. It did the trick! Hamilton drove quicker and quicker as the rain finally stopped and the track dried out. He switched to dry tires at just the right time and built a lead over Felipe Massa to almost 39 seconds. He then pitted and of course came out in the lead and went on to win easily.

It didn’t seem that this year’s Monaco Grand Prix would be Hamilton’s to win. Qualifying was good, but not good enough and Ferrari looked bullet proof. Last year a little controversy between him and Alonso sealed Hamilton’s fate to second when he felt he could have won the race. This is what you do with a disappointment, you take it and use it to motivate you next year and Lewis did just that.

I thought he drove a great race from his mistake on in. He was fast, on line, smooth and seemed to have little trouble in the changing conditions. He also stayed out of trouble. Love or hate him, he drove like a champion.

Coulthard once again crashed out. It’s a thing with him these days, he either attracts other cars or smacks a wall like in this race. Lap 8 was his bad break when he lost it in the wet and side swiped the wall. That wasn’t all, Sebastien Bourdais did the same thing right behind Coulthard; into the wall and rear ending Coulthard and finishing him off. Bourdais was also gone in the crash. This is probably Coulthard’s last year and I think the broadcasters box may be a bit safer.
Now the first problem for Raikkonen. He was served a drive through penalty for get this, not having his tires fitted before the 3 minutes mark before the start of the race and drove through the pits on lap 13. Not entirely his fault, but he may have asked for a different set of tires too late and got caught. From there on in, Raikkonen wasn’t up to the task and never recovered.

Nick Heidfeld who qualified like an amateur had battled back from 13th to 5th when an over aggressive Alonso tried what I think was the 2nd most stupid move of the race. At the hairpin, he tried an impossible pass on Heidfeld, the 2 tangled with Alonso t-boning Heidfeld causing substantial damage to his sidepod. Heidfeld continued the race, but the car was so out of shape he ended up lapped not once but twice. This wasn’t the first incident for Alonso, he smacked the wall on lap 8 sending him to the pits for repairs.

I didn’t like the way Alonso drove this race. He was too aggressive for the conditions and overdrove his car. The move on Heidfeld was just plain stupid. The opening to take Heidfeld wasn’t there, but he took it anyway and ruined Heidfeld’s race.

Robert Kubica was one of the drivers of the day. After Hamilton had to pit on lap 8, Massa regained the lead and drove well. That moved Kubica up to 2nd. It wasn’t long before Kubica was pushing Massa. Massa made his one mistake of the day at Ste Devote running wide into the run off area and Kubica took the lead of the race. Kubica drove a perfect race and it showed. No mistakes and it seemed he had a relatively easy time driving Monaco in wet or dry. The lead wasn’t to be though as when both he and Massa pitted, Hamilton who was only 16 seconds behind took over the lead he wouldn’t give up.

On to Raikkonen again, at Ste Devote he went off again and damaged his front wing and had to pit once again for a nose change. Raikkonen wasn’t on in this race and hasn’t been on for a while now. Adrian Sutil, yes Force India’s Adrian Sutil started way back and by the last few laps was running in 5th place. A place gained by loads of attrition and solid driving with no mistakes. His lap times were up there with the leaders and was set for Force India’s first points of the season. That is until coming out of the tunnel, Raikkonen behind him loses control and rear ends Sutil. Raikkonen had exited the tunnel all day long knowing what lay ahead on the track, but this time he lost it. This has to be the number one stupid mistake of the race. Not only did he take himself out of contention (he was able to continue), but he damaged Sutil’s car badly enough he had to retire. After the race Raikkonen did apologize to Sutil, but I’m sorry, this was the most hollow apology I’ve heard in a long time. I’m sorry I hit you but, but, but, but. It was almost like he was justifying his mistake. Not the words of a champion.

Sebastian Vettel was another driver of the day. He drove a mistake free day with steady pace. After not having a good time at all with the new car, Vettel’s day looked doomed before it began, but he drove really well and ended up in 5th.
In the end, my driver of the day has to go to Adrian Sutil. Even though he was a ‘dnf’ due to Raikkonen he was set for a great finish and good points. I was sickened when I saw the crash that took him out. It almost seemed unbelievable that it happened.

Another driver driver of the day has to be Robert Kubica. This guy is set to be a real threat in F1. If not for Hamilton’s mistake early on, he could have won the race.

1 L. Hamilton McLaren 2:00:42.742
2 R. Kubica BMW + 3.064
3 F. Massa Ferrari + 4.811
4 M. Webber Red Bull + 19.295
5 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 24.657
6 R. Barrichello Honda + 28.408
7 K. Nakajima Williams + 30.180
8 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 33.191
9 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 33.792
10 F. Alonso Renault + 0 laps
11 J. Button Honda + 0 laps
12 T. Glock Toyota + 0 laps
13 J. Trulli Toyota + 0 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW + 0 laps

Did not finish
15 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 7 laps
16 N. Rosberg Williams + 17 laps
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 31 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 40 laps

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