F1 German Grand Prix

Ferrari have been fined $100,000 by the FIA for implementing team orders during today's German Grand Prix.

Team principal Stefano Domenicali, team manager Massimo Rivola and drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were summoned to face the stewards following the race at Hockenheim.
After what appeared to be a coded message from Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley on lap 47, the Brazilian then let Alonso past two laps later, the Spaniard going on to claim the 23rd win of his career.
After meeting with the stewards, Ferrari were deemed in breach of article 39.1 of the FIA 2010 sporting regulations that states "team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited".
They were also charged with a breach of article 151c of the FIA International Sporting Code.
That relates to "any fraudulent conduct, or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally".
The stewards have also referred the matter to the FIA World Motor Sport Council for further consideration.

Ferrari could be banned from Formula One after Sunday's German Grand Prix
The Italian team were found guilty by race stewards of 'bringing the sport into disrepute' for ordering their other driver, Brazil's Felipe Massa, to relinquish the lead to his team-mate.

The FIA hearing is expected to be held in Paris next month, when the range of options open to the Council extends to expelling Ferrari from the world championship.
Although that is unlikely, the sport's most famous marque could realistically expect to have yesterday's result expunged. A suspension for a number of races is another possibility.

Condemnation rained down on Ferrari last night. Former team owner Eddie Jordan said: 'It was unlawful and theft. They stole from us the chance of having a wheel-to-wheel contest between the drivers.Ferrari should be ashamed. This was a team order. For me it is cheating and the two cars should be excluded. It looks as if a young Spaniard acted petulantly and Ferrari have reacted.'
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: 'That is the clearest team order I have seen. It's wrong for the sport. The regulations are pretty clear - team orders are not allowed.'
A Ferrari spokesman said the team will not be appealing the stewards' verdict.

Australian Grand Prix: Jenson's back for more

Jenson Button injects excitement back into F1 with McLaren win

Boring? Who said anything about boring? Formula One rediscovered its vroom Down Under on Sunday as Formula One's "cool guy"

Jenson Button claimed his maiden victory for McLaren in an incident-packed, rain-affected Australian Grand Prix.

An inspired call from Button to switch to dry-weather tyres on lap six, one lap before the rest of the field, paid off as he moved from seventh place into second. Sebastian Vettel's brake failure midway through the race completed the job as Red Bull were once again left ruing their lack of points on a weekend in which they had the fastest car.
As thousands of race fans trudged off into the Melbourne rain, chattering excitedly about the thrilling drama they had just witnessed, back in the paddock McLaren's luminous orange victory shirts lit up the night sky as Button celebrated wildly with his team and inner circle.

This was the eighth victory of the world champion's career but arguably the most important given the "Lion's Den" he was presumed to have entered at McLaren; the house that Ron Dennis built around Lewis Hamilton.
Poor Hamilton. A wretched weekend, in which he was nabbed by Melbourne traffic police performing "burnouts" before struggling to 11th in qualifying, was nearly consigned to history with a truly magnificent drive that saw him climb as high as third at one point. "It was probably the drive of my life," he said.
Unfortunately, a poor call from McLaren to bring him in for a change of tyres backfired and he eventually finished sixth after a less-than-brilliant shunt from home favourite Mark Webber.
It was tough luck on Hamilton, although his radio outburst at the team's "freaking terrible" decision to bring him in, while borne of understandable frustration, only served to highlight the fact that Button had made his call unaided.

Button's experience showed on this occasion, although he admitted he thought his "game-changing" call might backfire badly as he struggled to stay on the track immediately after switching rubber.
"When I went into the pit lane I thought I had made a catastrophic decision as it was soaking wet," he said. "I then had a little off at turn three but generally the pace was good and I was able to overtake three or four cars when they stopped."
Button's win was his second in succession at Albert Park after his emotional victory on debut for Brawn GP last year, but the 30-year-old said it was impossible to make comparisons.
"The emotions are completely different," he said. "But this is very special. It has taken me a little while to get to grips with the car but the team have been fantastic. They have really welcomed me in.

"I feel I am just building in confidence and hopefully when we get to the next race we can do something similar as this feels too good."
Button's team principal Martin Whitmarsh was similarly thrilled, saying his new acquisition had made a "fantastic call" to come in early.
"He's got to take the credit. He was the cool guy," said Whitmarsh who also defended Hamilton, a man he had described as "fragile and distracted" 24 hours earlier. "If Lewis didn't feel disappointed and frustrated, I'd be worried," he said.
At least Hamilton later recovered his poise to give his team mate a generous hug. That bonhomie was not being played out at all teams. In fact, little niggles and rivalries that promise to boil over at some point this year are now simmering nicely.
Nico Rosberg's continued dominance of Michael Schumacher at Mercedes is particularly intriguing. The returning seven-time world champion's woes continued on Sunday as he suffered an early prang and then spent most of the race stuck behind 20-year-old Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari.

Schumacher was even passed by Virgin Racing's Lucas di Grassi at one point, which inspired an almighty and telling cheer from the press room.
Over at Ferrari, championship leader Fernando Alonso bore the brunt of a frantic start and spun 180 degrees after being clipped by Button.
The Spaniard recovered well but could find no way back past slower team mate Felipe Massa. That must have rankled.
A disconsolate Vettel, meanwhile, could not hide his disappointment at all. This was the second race in succession the young German was denied almost certain victory by a technical glitch. "It breaks my balls to be honest," the Red Bull driver said candidly of his brake failure.
A special mention must go to Renault's Robert Kubica and Hispania Racing's Karun Chandhok for finishing second and 14th respectively, but it was Button who had the final word on proceedings.
Such was his control as he opened up a 10-, then a 15-second lead over Kubica that he confessed he was in a unique position to pronounce on the rebirth of F1 as an exciting global spectacle.
"I could see quite a bit on the TV screens and it did look like a very exciting race," he said cheekily. How's that for Mr Cool?

www.telegraph.co.uk

Could Kimi make a shock return to McLaren?

With the political rows that have dominated this Formula 1 season more or less over apart from a few late skirmishes, attention in Valencia has turned to the driver market.

The key move this season is Fernando Alonso's prospective switch to Ferrari. This has not been officially confirmed yet, but it is considered a given. And it will trigger a series of swaps that will significantly change the look of the F1 grid next season.
Among the top teams, only Red Bull are not changing their line-up and there are attractive seats available at Ferrari, McLaren and Brawn.
In the wake of Alonso's move, the key men in the market place are Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica.

Assuming Jenson Button stays at Brawn - which is not 100% certain, but looks very likely - they are the A-listers who will be top of most teams' shopping list.
The driver market is always complicated - but the injury suffered by Felipe Massa has made it more Byzantine than usual this summer.
Ferrari have actually got themselves into a bit of a pickle. Alonso's arrival means they have three of the top drivers in F1 for next season and only two cars to put them in, as both Felipe Massa and Raikkonen are under contract until the end of 2010.
They intended to partner Alonso with Massa, but the Brazilian has a fractured skull following his accident in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Although he is expected to make a full recovery, in terms of living a normal life, it is impossible to know right now whether he will be able to race in F1 again, even if Brawn driver Rubens Barrichello and Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley, probably the two people closest to him in the paddock, are optimistic.
Massa is talking about an emotional return for the Brazilian Grand Prix in October, but many feel that may well be over-optimistic, even allowing for the traditionally astonishing powers of recovery of F1 drivers.
And if Massa cannot drive until after the end of the season - which means he might not be able to do so until January, because of the testing restrictions in December - that makes getting rid of Raikkonen less immediately appealing.
Despite that, it does appear that the Finn will be the one to leave Ferrari, for whom one solution would be to gamble on Massa being fit and, if he isn't, take one of the experienced drivers who may be left standing after the game of musical chairs finishes.
Jarno Trulli looks certain to leave Toyota - whose entire future in F1 may be in doubt - and the futures of Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella and Nick Heidfeld are all up in the air. All would make a more than decent one-year stand-in.
In that eventuality, the question is where Raikkonen will end up.
There are a number of interesting possibilities. His advisors are known to have had talks with Brawn, which interests him, and Toyota, which does not. And another obvious possibility is Renault, who need a top-liner to replace Alonso.
And there is one intriguing possibility that I have not heard discussed on the paddock rumour mill - could Raikkonen make a shock return to McLaren?

It comes a bit out of left-field and might seem outlandish, but bear with me on it for a moment.
Lewis Hamilton is locked in there until 2012, but the second seat is open. Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen is under pressure because of his unconvincing performances in races and there has been talk of Nico Rosberg moving over from Williams.
But, if you were McLaren, why replace one guy who is not as quick as Hamilton with, in Rosberg, another who isn't either but might be more disruptive?
Raikkonen, on the other hand, is well known by McLaren having driven for them from 2002-6, and he is low maintenance - he just gets in the car and drives and couldn't care less who his team-mate is.
Rosberg is known to be wary of facing Hamilton in the same car - he was his team-mate in karting and knows how quick he is - and Kubica has a reputation as hard work and demanding.
Raikkonen is the total opposite. He would not be bothered about the team's focus on Hamilton. He would just do his job and go home - just like he always has.
Not only that, but he left McLaren largely because he fell out with Ron Dennis, but the former boss has no involvement in the F1 team any more.
So a fresh link with Raikkonen could be an appealing idea for McLaren - and vice versa.
And read this quote from team boss Martin Whitmarsh after Sunday's European Grand Prix: "Kimi's really raised his game and all weekend has done a great job and Heikki has always been a fantastic team player and a good asset in our team but his race pace hasn't been good enough."
Of course, all of that might be hugely wide of the mark, in which case Raikkonen will probably end up at Brawn or Renault - at both of which Kubica must be considered a contender.
The Pole has been strongly linked with a move to Williams following BMW's decision to quit F1. But this weekend he has opened negotiations with Brawn, which would surely be a more appealing option considering the two teams' respective performance this season.

It is a difficult decision for Brawn. Given that Raikkonen has been a little off the boil in the last couple of seasons, Kubica is arguably the best driver on the market this season.
But he has a reputation for being disruptive inside a team and Ross Brawn might prefer not to disturb the equanimity of Button, the man who still looks likely to be world champion this year.
On top of that, Kubica is understood to want a one-year contract so he has the ability to move on for 2011 if a better drive becomes available, while Brawn would almost certainly want him to sign for two seasons.Traditionally, early September is the time the big pieces in the driver market puzzle begin to fall into place. But given the inherent complications, this season it could be a good deal later than that.

Andrew Benson

European Grand Prix Preview - Valencia GP

The 11th round of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship sees yet more driver changes. Of course, the original plan was to have Michael Schumacher making his return to Formula One for Ferrari amid much fanfare, but the multiple champion’s neck injury ruled him out.

Instead, Luca Badoer returns to the category for the first time in almost 10 years, intent on finishing the race and scoring the first world championship points of his F1 career. At the same time, GP2 star Romain Grosjean takes over from Nelson Piquet at Renault, who will be racing after the suspension handed down to them by the stewards in Hungary was overturned by the FIA Court of Appeal in Paris on Monday.

Both teams ran well here last year, and have high hopes now, but Red Bull and McLaren both fancy their chances and Brawn are desperate for Jenson Button to increase his points’ lead which has been seriously eroded in the past three events.

“The track is quite fun when it goes round the edge of the marina and over the bridge,” Button says. “It's quite challenging for the drivers with so many turns and the added factor of being surrounded by barriers means you have to maintain your concentration. There's been a lot of work going on at the factory following our shutdown and with the cars at the front being so close at the moment, it will be an interesting weekend."

It remains to be seen whether Brawn have got to the bottom of their tyre temperature issues, and the signs are that Valencia won’t be as warm as Hungary, where they struggled.

“It’s great to be getting back to business after the four-week break,” Hungarian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton says. “I’m still buzzing from the win in Hungary and I’m hopeful of being able to carry that pace into the Valencia weekend - particularly with our new upgrades to the car. It’s a very demanding circuit, the kind of place that punishes any mistakes hard. It’s quite tight and relatively slow, so it should suit our package. It’s also very difficult to overtake, as we discovered last year - but, with our KERS, Mercedes-Benz has proved that anything can happen and I’m once again hoping that it will provide the difference in the race.”

The 5.419-kilometre (3.367-mile) street course uses roads that run through the recently refurbished Juan Carlos I Marina, formerly the base for the 32nd America's Cup in 2007. It features 25 corners and a minimum width of 14 metres all the way around the lap, and incorporates sufficient run-off for the expected top speeds of more than 300 km/h (186 mph). Even though it’s a street track, drivers are on the throttle 68 percent of the time, and with relatively high levels of downforce and high brake wear teams must be canny with their set-ups.

The race will mark the 150th race win for Bridgestone’s F1 tyres. “This is an interesting track,” says Hirohide Hamashima, their director of motorsport tyre development. “It has the high-speed configuration of a permanent circuit, however the track surface gives away that this is only a temporary facility. There are numerous turns, yet there are also many high speed sections and we see speeds of around 300 km/h five times during the course of a lap. There are low-speed corners too, so some heavy braking does take place. On the slippery surface that accompanies a street course it is difficult to find grip off line.

“Last year we saw a lot of circuit surface evolution over the weekend and it was very much a learning process for everyone who attended the race. We also found last year that the infamous gap between the bridge surface and the road surface presented no difficulties for our Formula One tyres. Last year our visit to Valencia was a momentous one as it was here that we celebrated our 200th Grand Prix participation since our entry in 1997.”

As in Hungary, Bridgestone will again bring their soft and super soft compounds.

Massa will not rush his F1 return

Ferrari's Felipe Massa insists he will not rush back to Formula 1 ahead of his return home to Brazil on Monday.
"Thank God, I'm feeling very well," the 28-year-old Brazilian said in a statement. "I've only a bit of swelling in the region of my left eye.
"It is important to be fully recovered before returning to the track."
Massa, who will undergo more tests in Brazil, had surgery for multiple skull fractures after a crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The accident appeared to be caused by a spring that had fallen onto the track's racing line from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn and collided with Massa's helmet.
With Massa no longer steering and the throttle still engaged, the car then crossed the gravel before hitting a tyre wall.
He is expected to continue his rehabilitation in a Sao Paulo hospital for another two days upon his arrival in his home city on Monday evening.
After undergoing further tests he is then likely to be allowed to go home.
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has been brought out of F1 retirement by Ferrari to race in Massa's place for the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
The German, a team-mate of Massa during his final F1 season in 2006, will stand in until the Brazilian is ready to take up the seat again.

German Grand Prix Preview

The real action is in the driver’s championship, not in the corridors of power

LEWIS Hamilton pulled a stunt in front of his home crowd after the last race at Silverstone three weeks ago and the fans went wild. The world champion did a doughnut, rotating his McLaren-Mercedes at high revs around the same spot, until a plume of smoke rose up from his rear tyres. It didn’t matter to his fans that their hero ended 16th out of the 18 drivers who crossed the finish. They had fun, so did the 24-yearold Briton. At Nurburgring for Sunday’s German Grand Prix, the McLaren pilot said drivers should be given more freedom to improve the Formula 1 show — just like in MotoGP, where the speed demons do all kinds of wheelies, stoppies and burnouts at the end of a race to the delight of the fans.
The powers-that-be who run F1 ought to listen to Hamilton. Not that they should push drivers to perform tricks. But they need to understand that fans watch motor-racing for fun. The bickering over the past few months between motorsport’s governing body FIA and the top eight teams has left many disturbed. They sighed with relief when both sides seemingly ended their feud in Paris two weeks ago. It was short-lived. At Nurburgring earlier this week, the eight teams walked out of a technical meeting seething after efforts to sort out rules for next year with the FIA broke down. The breakaway series they had threatened to launch resurfaced, and the mud-slinging resumed. Fans are tired, of not knowing what a bunch of men, who have made discord in F1 their life’s goal, will do next. I know I’ve tired of the off-track drama. We’ll just have to let the demons sort themselves out and not lose sight of the fun taking place between Hamilton and company on the track.That is where the real action is. That is where the grown-ups in F1 are today.
Beware the Red Bulls’ charge
Hamilton is effectively out of the running for the drivers’ championship. The real deal is Brawn GP’s Jenson Button, who has taken six of the eight races so far. But the 29-year-old Briton is facing some real opposition from others, rather than just team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who was the only one pushing him earlier in the season. It came from the Red Bull Racing pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, who knocked the wind out of Brawn GP with a one-two finish at Silverstone. They have the talent and now the car to stop the championship leader from taking any more race wins. To do this, Red Bull must come to a bold decision, starting this Sunday in Germany. They must focus the rest of their campaign around Vettel, who is better all around than Webber. The 22-year-old knows how to win races, and his three career wins, including his Silverstone victory, have been nothing short o fGe rman Grand Prix Keep your eye on the tarmac spectacular. In front of his homefans, the German will be fired up to repeat that. Though 25 points behind Button,Vettel has a long shot at the title, and that will require Webber, 3.5 points behind his teammate and who has yet to win an F1 race, riding shotgun. Button’s route to the titleis far easier. All he needs is to register three more wins and be consistently on the podium for the rest of the season.
Ferrari spoilers
The real threat to Button’s bid, however, is from within his camp. Barrichello, second in the championship and two points ahead of Vettel, is in the twilight of his career. At 37, this may be the Brazilian’s last chance to finally be crowned world champion. After playing second fiddle to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari under Ross Brawn, who is again his boss at Brawn GP, Barrichello is not in the mood to be short changed once more. There is no hint that Brawn GP has issued team orders and is forcing Barrichello to give way to his team-mate. But Button must also keep his eye on other drivers such as double world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and 2007 title winner Kimi Raikkonen. Although out of the championship reckoning, their cars are fast improving and could take precious points off him. They can turn out to be kingmakers and hand Vettel or Barrichello the title. This is where the fun in F1 is, on the track and not off it.

By Ian De Cotta ; TODAY Paper

Qualifying analysis - Bahrain Grand Prix

Tyre preservation will again be the name of the game here, but Sakhir is a very different type of circuit to Melbourne and China, where degradation on the super-soft rubber militated in favour of the mediums. They take longer to hit their optimum temperature and have less grip, so everyone will try to go as far as they can on super softs and keep the prime running to a minimum.
But some are more adept at eking out tyre life than others.
On fuel weights, the relevant ones were
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli: 648.5;
Toyota’s Timo Glock 643;
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel 659;
Brawn’s Jenson Button 652.5;
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton 652.5;
Brawn’s Barrichello 649. Which makes Vettel the dangerman…

Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 33.431s, P1
Timo Glock, 1m 33.712s, P2

Toyota were delighted to lock out the front row of a grid for the first time since they entered Formula One in 2002. Trulli reported that things didn’t go as smoothly as planned because of a brake problem that still needs to be rectified before the race. He dedicated his first pole since Indianapolis 2005 to the team for their hard work, and to the people of Abruzzo after the recent earthquake. Glock lost time with an electrical problem in free practice, but was happy with the set-up changes made overnight. A change of wind direction forced him to struggle on the prime tyres in Q1, but he felt more comfortable in Q2. He admitted to a small error in Q3, but said it wasn’t enough to have affected his chances of taking pole from his team mate.

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 34.015s, P3
Mark Webber, 1m 34.038s, P19, will start P18

Vettel was fastest in Q1 and Q2, and said he was very happy with the way things went in Q3. He also harvested a set of option tyres in readiness for the race. Webber was very unhappy after his final runs in Q1 were thwarted by Sutil. The Red Bull was trapped behind the Force India at the end of its first lap, and then Sutil repassed into the first corner to spoiled Webber’s second try. The German was penalised three grid places as a result.

Brawn GP
Jenson Button, 1m 34.044s, P4
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 34.239s, P6

Button and Barrichello complained of lack of grip in Q3, when usually the Brawn is at its best with a fuel load, and were disappointed not to take a pole that they had expected to contend for. Button said he had wheel locking, Barrichello traffic.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 34.196s, P5
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 33.242s, P11

Hamilton was very happy with fifth place, especially as he is the fastest KERS runner and will have an advantage on acceleration on Sunday afternoon. He even talked of being in a position to challenge for pole position soon. Kovalainen could not explain his relative lack of performance.

Renault
Fernando Alonso, 1m 34.578s, P7
Nelson Piquet, 1m 33.941s, P15

Alonso complained that the closeness of qualifying is stressful in the cockpit but was pleased to have a competitive car after overnight work on his latest diffuser. This time, he said, seventh was about what he had expected. Piquet made it through to Q2 but pushed too hard for Q3 and overdrove.

Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 34.818s, P8
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 35.380s, P10

Ferrari looked very strong in Q1 and Q2 but faded when it mattered. Massa reported a small step forward and was happy to be in the top 10, especially as his F60 was oversteering more than it had in the morning. He is looking forward to maximising his KERS at the start. Raikkonen said it would have been difficult to better his eventual 10th place as he’d run out of fresh super-soft tyres. He also reported that his car behaved better with KERS.

Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 35.134s, P9
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 33.348s, P12

Rosberg was not comfortable in his FW31 and felt he was lucky to make it through to Q3. But he was happy with ninth as he was running a heavy fuel load. Nakajima said he made no errors, and was mystified why he wasn’t quicker.

BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica, 1m 33.487s, P13
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 33.562s, P14

Kubica admitted that BMW Sauber simply lacked performance, and that a radio malfunction made it difficult to fine-tune tyre pressures. The Pole also had two small flash fires in the pits while refuelling, which didn’t help. Heidfeld found his F1.09’s balance inconsistent between runs as the wind changed. Both drivers used KERS.

Force India
Adrian Sutil, 1m 33.722s, P16, will start P19
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 33.910s, P18, will start P17

Sutil reported a drop in grip levels compared to free practice and that the balance of his VJM02 was thus not as good for qualifying. He said the problem with Webber arose because he was trying to make a gap to Alonso to start his own lap, and that he didn’t realise Webber was on a flying lap. The stewards docked him three grid positions.Fisichella felt he’d got close to Q2 but said he wasn’t entirely happy with his car’s balance and that the super-soft tyres made the handling unpredictable.

Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi, 1m 33.753s, P17, will start P16
Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 34.159s, P20

Buemi thought he could easily have made Q2 but for a mistake in the third sector on his best lap in Q1. Bourdais lost track time with undisclosed technical problems in the morning, then picked up a lot of understeer on his second run in Q1. He corrected that with the front wing for the final effort, only to encounter serious oversteer.


David Tremayne@www.formula1.com

FIA Backs down on Proposed Scoring system

Formula 1 has axed plans for a new scoring system in 2009 just nine days before the start of the season.
The sport's governing body, FIA, had earlier this week announced that the driver with the most wins would be crowned world champion.
But following a protest from F1 teams, FIA says it will defer the introduction of the new system until 2010.
The traditional points system will be used when the 2009 season begins on March 29 in Australia.
"The new scoring system has been deferred until 2010, but I'm sure this will be reviewed throughout the course of the season as any new rule changes have to have teams approval before we proceed," an FIA spokesman told BBC Sport.
"We're slightly surprised that the teams have taken this long to come forward as we were under the impression that they were happy with the rule changes."
FIA had argued that the new scoring system would make racing more exciting by encouraging drivers to chase wins.
But after several drivers criticised the change - including defending champion Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso - the Formula One Teams' Association (Fota) claimed the amendment was invalid because the proper protocol had not been observed.
"It is too late for FIA to impose a change for the 2009 season that has not obtained the unanimous agreement of all the competitors properly entered into the 2009 Formula 1 Championship," it said in a statement.
Fota had put forward its own scoring system, with the top three drivers earning 12, nine and seven, rather than 10, eight and six points respectively.
But that was unanimously rejected by the World Motorsport Council (WMSC).
Instead, the WMSC opted for a variant of an earlier idea proposed by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who had suggested an Olympic-style medals system, with the champion the driver with most golds.
The WMSC approved the "race-wins" plan, albeit with no provision to award medals.
Fota, which insists its own plan has widespread backing, hopes common ground can be reached with the FIA.
"The teams wish to reaffirm their willingness to collaborate with the FIA in order to jointly define a new point system for the 2010 season within a comprehensive set of measures aimed at further stimulating the attractiveness of the F1 sport," added the statement.
Hamilton would have finished second behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa had the new system applied last year.

Ferrari unveils New F60 for 2009 Season

World Championship runner-up Felipe Massa described the new Ferrari F60 Formula One car as 'cute' after it was unveiled on the company's official website on Monday.
Massa, who missed out on the world title to Britain's Lewis Hamilton on the final corner of the final race in Brazil last season, was the first to test the 2009 Ferrari model - successor to the F2008 - which has been radically adapted to comply with new International Automobile Federation (FIA) stipulations aimed at encouraging overtaking.
"I feel emotional but I'm also happy to take it out on track for the first time," said the Brazilian.
"With all the new rules I was expecting a different type of car, like 10 years ago with big wings so I was surprised.
"The new F60 seems tiny, very compact and cute."

The car is named F60 in reference to the number of championships Ferrari have participated in and becomes the 55th different F1 car designed by the Italian manufacturer.
Most of the design changes have been imposed by the FIA in order to increase overtaking in a sport often lacking in excitement due to the difficulties in passing the car in front.



A shorter front wing, a thinner but higher and more compact rear wing and standardised central chassis are all modifications introduced by the FIA's Overtaking Working Group (OWG).
Other changes include an improvement to the suspension to make handling in difficult conditions easier, while slick tyres will be re-introduced this year.
The Kers system to recuperate kinetic energy has also been installed on the engine while the transmission has been redesigned to improve aerodynamic efficiency.
Massa took the F60 for a spin around the famous Mugello circuit just outside Florence with Ferrari having changed the original location from Fiorano, their usual test track near their base at Maranello close to Bologna, due to icy conditions there.
Ferrari, the reigning constructors' world champions, are the first team to unveil their new F1 car but will be followed this week by Toyota on Thursday and Hamilton's team and main title rivals McLaren a day later.
The Renault team of former double world champion Fernando Alonso and Williams unveil their cars next Monday with BMW Sauber following a day after that.
Red Bull, however, will not announce there's until February 9.

It is Ferrari and McLaren, though, who are expected to lead from the front again this season and Massa says he is ready to try to go one better than last season, when only a single point separated him from Hamilton following the Briton's late overtaking of Timo Glock in Brazil.
"Every year you feel stronger, better prepared psychologically and physically," said Massa.
"But I feel stronger from the point of view of experience. I feel ready for a great battle.
"Right now it's difficult to say who will be the main rivals but for sure McLaren will make life the most difficult but there's also BMW, Renault and maybe other surprises.
"We don't know how good the Ferrari will be, we've worked very hard but there's still a long way to go before the first race."
The new F1 season opens in Melbourne on March 29 with the Australian Grand Prix, which last year was won by eventual world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Where will Alonso be in 2011 ?

Fresh reports linking Renault driver Fernando Alonso with a move to Ferrari have surfaced.
Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the Spaniard has a secret deal with Ferrari, whereby he will drive for them in the 2011 season.
Following Kimi Raikkonen's disappointing 2008 season it is likely that Alonso will replace the Finn if the reports are true.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was noncommittal, saying: "He's a fantastic driver, no question. I like him. Particularly in Japan he drove a great race. He's a champion and a team leader, but for the moment we don't have any problem with our current drivers.
"That is why we confirmed officially Massa and Kimi until the end of 2010. Life is long and in the future we will see. But for the moment we don't have any grey areas regarding drivers for the next two years."

And in another multitasking world we learn that Fernando Alonso has also inked an agreement with Spain's new formula one broadcaster from 2009.

La Sexta will next year take over from Telecinco in broadcasting the sport within Spain.

Alonso, 27, already had a preferential agreement with Telecinco, involving grid interviews and other special access to the former double world champion. The Spanish sports newspaper Marca reports that the La Sexta deal is for 6 million euros over the next five years, which is a slight increase in the Telecinco deal. Marca said the new contract was signed by Alonso a few weeks ago.

Michael Schumacher had a similar exclusive arrangement with the German broadcaster RTL.

Massa victorious, Hamilton champion after nail-biting finish in Brazil

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is the 30th - and youngest-ever - world champion. Lady Luck was on his side after title rival Felipe Massa dominated at Interlagos. The Brazilian crossed the line first after a pluperfect performance - and seemed to have achieved the impossible - as Hamilton trailed in sixth.Rain in the closing stages had prompted the first five - Massa, Renault’s Fernando Alonso, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel - to pit for wet tyres. Crucially, Timo Glock, running sixth for Toyota, did not.

Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen resumed in first to third places, but Hamilton and Vettel fell behind Glock. That was still good enough for Hamilton. But then, under pressure on the 70th lap, he made a crucial mistake and slid wide. It was all Vettel needed and the Toro Rosso driver pushed through to snatch away the fifth place that Hamilton needed to become champion.

Even as Massa crossed the line, Hamilton was only sixth and the Brazilian was the champion. But as Vettel and Hamilton slammed out of the final corner, Glock’s Toyota was slowing in front of them, the German struggling for grip on his increasingly unsuitable rubber. From the jaws of defeat, the British driver snatched back the crown in one of the most dramatic title deciders in history. No Hollywood script could have been more exciting.

Rain at the start had added to the drama, and saw Red Bull’s David Coulthard make an undignified exit from his last Grand Prix after he was tapped into a spin by Williams’ Nico Rosberg, which then involved Rosberg’s team mate Kazuki Nakajima. Coulthard was out on the spot, while Renault’s Nelson Piquet went off in Turn Three and was also out.

Massa controlled things throughout, with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli soon falling back from an initially strong second-place run as everyone began changing from wet to dry-weather tyres after seven laps. Vettel, running a different fuel strategy to the other leaders, was always a threat, running second ahead of Alonso and pressuring Massa several times before stopping earlier for fuel. Raikkonen ran some way behind this trio, but closed in rapidly on Alonso in the final stages and was close to him as Massa crossed the line 13.2s ahead.

Hamilton took few chances, was always around fourth or fifth, and looked easily on target until that dramatic battle at the end. Glock finished sixth, limping across the line well ahead of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, and Trulli, the final points scorers.

Mark Webber brought his Red Bull home ninth, ahead of the BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, the team thus failing to score for the first time in 2008. Rosberg was 12th ahead of Honda’s Jenson Button, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais (whose chances of points were ruined after a clash with Trulli in Turn One), Honda’s Rubens Barrichello, Force India’s Adrian Sutil, Nakajima and Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian Force India driver was the first to stop for dry tyres on Lap Two, and ran as high as fifth before the inevitable decline as faster machinery hit its stride.

After those gripping final laps there was almost disbelief at McLaren as Hamilton scraped home, but Massa had that covered as he graciously conceded defeat.“We need to congratulate Lewis,” he said. “He did a great championship, and he scored more points than us, so deserves to be champion.”Ferrari’s consolation was to win the constructors’ world championship but, ultimately, and in the most dramatic circumstances imaginable, this was Lewis Hamilton’s and McLaren’s day.

FIA Thursday Press Conference - Brazil

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (Honda), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Nelson Piquet (Renault)

Q: Nelson, what are your experiences of the Interlagos track? How much racing have you done here?

Nelson Piquet: To be honest not much. It is going to be like arriving at the track like I arrived in Australia or China. I did one race with my father back in 2005 if I remember. It was in an Aston Martin in a 12-hour race and that was it. When I started my F3 career here the first season we didn’t have any races here and then I went straight to England, so I don’t have much experience but I think motivation and the crowd will help me.

Q: You have had some good races recently. What chances do you think you have of holding onto the seat next year?

NP: I think I have a good chance. The team is quite happy. I mean all the boys are on my side, so I don’t see any reasons why I would be under threat. It has been a tough season obviously but I am learning a lot and improving a lot and discovering a lot of new things. It has been a tough year but I am sure we will be okay.

Q: So you are quite hopeful or confident would you say?

NP: Confident.

Q: David, what are your emotions coming into this race?

David Coulthard: I guess I should be emotional but I think it will be more on Sunday when I realise when I step out of the car, hopefully after the chequered flag, for the last time that this part of my life has come to an end. It is difficult for anyone sitting around this table, apart from Rubens who has been doing it for longer than me, to imagine what that might be like. But I am not stopping because I don’t love driving grand prix cars or I don’t love racing but I recognise that my journey has reached its natural conclusion, so when I walk out of the paddock on Sunday that will be it.

Q: You have a special livery on the car. Tell us about that.

DC: Yeah, it is great that at the last grand prix we had permission from all the teams to run my car in an independent livery which I think is a first in this modern era of Formula One. I am sure it might have happened decades ago. The teams have agreed for me to run with the ‘Wings for Life’ foundation colours which is a foundation that was started in 2004 to promote research into spinal cord injuries. I think in a lot of cases people imagine that it is extreme sports where most people are suffering from those sorts of injuries but the statistics show it is actually only about three per cent of the injuries that come from extreme sports. All of the other injuries, which is about 130,000 people a year find themselves confined to a wheelchair through household injuries, car crashes, everyday life. Currently there is very little government funding for this type of research and the pharmaceutical companies are not interested, of course, as you can’t buy a pill to cure spinal cord injury. It was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz who obviously is the founder of Red Bull and Heinz Kinigadner whose son suffered a spinal cord injury in a motorbike accident. All of the money that is raised through public donations goes to fund various institutions throughout the world and works with other foundations, like the Christopher Reeve Foundation, to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Q: David, you have seen many World Championships decided. What are your thoughts about this one?

DC: Well, I have been asked this a lot coming up to this race, so I will say in front of the two championship contenders what I have said to the media. With a seven point lead Lewis is the most likely to achieve the championship. I think that is quite clear. He has led the championship for the majority of the season and it should be a formality. For me Felipe is the most improved driver of the season. We have always known that he has speed, but some of his drivers this year and notably Budapest, which ultimately he wasn’t able to win that race but his pass on Lewis clearly defined himself as one of the most attacking drivers. It was a world class pass and therefore not to sit on the fence but either of these guys for me are truly worthy of this world championship. But you have to say Lewis has the upperhand, so I guess a consolation might be if Felipe wins the grand prix, satisfies the Brazilian crowd, and Lewis comes in with a points’ scoring position. But as we know, anything can happen, so I am as excited to know the outcome as everyone else.

Q: Rubens, your thoughts about the World Championship?

Rubens Barrichello: I think it has been an exciting year. It had its ups and downs but they have been fighting for a long period in quite good battles and I think it is going to be a very good ending. It is just like DC said, Lewis has the upperhand. Sunday, as far as I can see, it can be a wet day, so I think it is going to be really nice for the Brazilians to see how things come out. Thankfully, Felipe, as I have said before, has great chances to win the race which the Brazilians are really hopeful for. It is the only thing he can aim for. He has to win the race and not worry too much about the rest and see what the rest is. As a Brazilian I am really proud that we have the decision once again here as I think Brazilians deserve that.

Q: What about your own future? This is your 16th Brazilian Grand Prix.

RB: I am really proud to be here. It used to be a tough race for me at the beginning, when we lost Ayrton and so on. It was tough with lots of pressure and not a good car. But I have done really well to do just like soccer, when you play at home you play better. I have a wonderful time but the week goes past so quickly now and it is an enjoyment, lots of work but it is really nice to be here, especially for me as I was born just 100 metres away from the main door here and for me it is the best race of the whole year.

Q: And your career next year?

RB: It is on hold, obviously. I don’t want to stop. I won’t stop because I think I deserve better. I am driving better than I used to when I finished second in the championship behind Michael. The aim is not to stop. The job done this year has been quite good. If it wasn’t for minor problems I think I would have more than 20 points with a car we can see is not good at all. What I have been telling people is that I cannot sell the experience or the speed as that is a proven point. They see that and they see all the statistics. But what I can sell is my motivation. I am very honest with myself and the day I feel that I don’t have it anymore is the day I will stop, but up until now I have been driving better than ever. It is on hold as Honda wants to try some other people, test them in Barcelona. To be very honest I think they try to change the destiny of things as if they want to win by next year they need someone who is very experienced with my qualities to do it. But I am on hold. I am hopeful. I am talking to other teams as well, so hopefully it will be fine.

Q: Lewis and Felipe. A question to both of you. We have heard about the pressure. Going back to the early part of your career, how does that pressure when you were eight years old weigh up to the pressure you are feeling now?

Lewis Hamilton: For me I think it quite similar to every championship you do. For me it is just another race, that’s the way to approach it to myself and that’s how I did it in the past. It is exciting. Everyone enjoys the last race, for sure. It is great for the spectators, it is great for the fans, for the media, for the team, for everyone. We will give it the best shot we can as a team collectively and hopefully we can come out on top.

Felipe Massa: I think it is very similar. When you are racing it doesn’t matter whether you are in Formula One or in go-karts, whatever category you are. When you get inside the car you are thinking about racing. You are not thinking I am in Formula One, it is the most important motorsport. You don’t think about that, you think about racing. You think about doing your best and fighting, so for me it is exactly the same fighting for the championship in Formula One or for victory or whatever if you are fighting in a go-kart. When you are in a go-kart you want to win. It is your dream. Your motivation is to win that race or that championship. You don’t think about Formula One as you live for that moment. That’s why it is the same now. You want to win now. For sure, you have much more expectation and pressure but when you are driving you don’t think about that.

Q: Another question to both of you. What does it mean to have your families with you? What do you draw from them?

FM: I think having the family together is very important. I have always had my family together in my career. In go-kart and the other categories it was a little bit more difficult as I didn’t have so much money for them to go to the race. But at least I always had them very close to me, talking on the phone almost every day. I think it is very important as when you are happy in your private life, when you have a good family, I think it makes your professional life even better. When you get inside the car you don’t put in all the problems that you have outside. I think it is always very nice. They don’t come to every race but they come a lot and I feel very happy. For sure I don’t follow so much the advice from my mum, otherwise I would go very slow!

LH: I think as you can see I always have my family with me. I always have a part of my family with me and I know I have all my family’s support and that is what is important. I know they are proud of me and they have worked just as hard as I have to get me here today. So when I come here it is not about me, it is about us as a team together. They pretty much come to all the races, not so much the international races as it is lot of time for my brother off school. Without my family I would not be here today, so it is great we are able to share the experience throughout the season.

Q: Lewis, how important is the Constructors’ championship to you? Is there a bit of a conflict of interest there?

LH: Not really. It is quite simple really, we are here to win. We don’t have to win, so that is a pressure off our shoulders. We come here with a strong package and with a hope that we can challenge for a win and we will do the best job we can. We have not come here to finish further down the order but we obviously know that it is not do or die. It would be great for the team to win. I think the team deserve it as they have worked so hard. When you think about all the people that collectively made the two cars competitive throughout the season with a remarkable reliability. It is just down to the solid job and it would be great to give them the championship. We will do the best job we can and see what the result is.

Brazil - The Final Showdown

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa go head-to-head in the world championship title decider in Brazil this weekend, and it is still impossible to predict who will triumph.

The odds favour the Englishman, who has a seven-point lead after winning last time out in China. However, that was what he had over rival Kimi Raikkonen coming into this race last year, and still it all went awry at the 11th hour.Technically, Hamilton needs only finish fifth even if Massa wins, in order to beat him by a single point. However, there is an additional complication as McLaren are still fighting Ferrari for the constructors’ championship, in which the red team have 156 points to the silver’s 145. BMW Sauber are third, but out of the overall reckoning now, on 135. McLaren thus have to push hard and need a one-two finish to have any realistic chance of securing both titles, whereas a third and eighth would secure the constructors’ crown (but not the drivers’) for Ferrari.

"I don’t need to win the race, but that won’t stop me from going into the weekend looking to be as strong as possible," says Hamilton, who will benefit from a new rear wing on his MP4-23. "Shanghai was a good example of that: we hit the ground running on Friday morning and never looked back. Our aim wasn’t to push too hard, but we found ourselves in a position at the front and took it comfortably from there. That’s what I am hoping to achieve in Brazil - a straightforward weekend that allows me to just focus on my car and my driving.

"Ferrari have been dominant in Interlagos for the past two years, when Massa and Raikkonen respectively won. If it is dry that may remain the case, though the signs are that McLaren have made good progress in the latter part of the season. If it rains, however, as is forecast, the odds surely favour Hamilton even more given his wet-weather form in Monaco and Silverstone, where the Ferraris struggled.Massa has been keeping his cool and says that the pressure is off him because of Hamilton’s lead.

He must win with Hamilton either scoring sixth or lower or failing to finish at all. In this respect he may be helped by the Englishman’s need to run his engine for a second time after China."Yes it's true I have a tougher job than Lewis in terms of the points situation, but my own objective for the weekend is much more straightforward than his," the Brazilian said. "I only have to focus on winning the race, hopefully with my team-mate second. The only thing I am thinking about is winning. After that, the matter is not in my hands and we will have to wait and see exactly what and how much we have won."For sure, Lewis will try and put pressure on me, but I have zero pressure, because I have nothing to lose.

In the second McLaren, Heikki Kovalainen must play a key role this weekend in support of his team mate, for Raikkonen will undoubtedly back Massa strongly. The Hungarian Grand Prix winner will have a fresh Mercedes engine in his McLaren. "I want to be able to help the team and Lewis wherever necessary," he says, "but the easiest way to do that is to be running at the front. The team knows I will play my part, but we are also targeting the constructors’ championship."While the fight for the crown will inevitably grab all the headlines, there are plenty of other things to be resolved this weekend. There is still a mighty scrap for third place in the drivers' championship between Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen, who have 75 and 69 points respectively. And Nick Heidfeld’s fifth place on 60 could prove vulnerable if Fernando Alonso wins again for the improving Renault team. The Spaniard has 53 points, but may himself fall victim to Kovalainen who has 51.

Elsewhere, Sebastian Vettel and Jarno Trulli are battling for eighth with 30 points apiece.Besides the Ferrari-McLaren fight for constructors’ honours, BMW Sauber could still snaffle second from McLaren. Renault are safe in fourth and Toyota fifth, but there is a big fight between Toro Rosso (34), Red Bull Racing (29) and Williams (26) for sixth.

The race will also be notable as David Coulthard’s last. At the same time, venerable race engineer Steve Hallam is also on the last lap as he will be leaving Formula One for NASCAR for 2009.

From a technical perspective, Interlagos poses two main challenges to the teams. It is 800 metres above sea level, so engine power is reduced as a result of the drop in atmospheric pressure. That also has a negative effect on aerodynamic performance.

The other problem has traditionally been the bumpy surface, though a complete resurface for 2007 caught teams by surprise since the tarmac was relatively smooth. However, some bumps remain, particularly in the braking area for Turn 4, Descida do Lago. To avoid bottoming out on these, cars have to run with increased ride heights, which reduces the effectiveness of their diffusers.There are two favoured overtaking points. The first is going into the S do Senna at the start of the lap after a driver has been able to get a good slipstreaming run up the hill from the vitally important final corner, Juncao or Turn 12. The second is under braking for the Descida do Lago left-hander at the end of the back straight.This year Bridgestone are bringing their medium and soft compound tyres after discovering last year that their super-soft was not quite durable enough to suit the track’s unusual characteristics. They are expecting a lot of graining early on thanks to the twisty infield section, and the initial ‘greenness’ of the track before it cleans up and rubbers in.

Massa wins New Valencia GP street Circuit.

Felipe Massa has won the European Grand Prix in Valencia ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica.
Starting from pole position, the Ferrari driver led from start to finish through the harbourfront streets of the Spanish city, which was hosting a grand prix for the first time.
With team-mate and World Champion Kimi Raikkonen retiring with engine failure on lap 46, the result also moves Massa up to second place in the Drivers' Championship, six points behind Hamilton.
The victory, Massa's fourth of the season, remained provisional for a time after his second pit stop almost brought a collision with Force India driver Adrian Sutil.
Sutil was forced to dart left and scrape the pit wall as both drivers accelerated away out of the pit lane.
Race control then announced that Massa's car was being investigated for 'unsafe release from a pit stop' by stewards.
And, although it was then announced that any punishment for Massa would be meted out after the race, he eventually escaped with a reprimand and a fine of €10,000.
Hamilton's McLaren Mercedes team-mate Heikki Kovalainen finished fourth, ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel.
Trulli's team-mate Timo Glock finished seventh, with Williams driver Nico Rosberg claiming the final Championship point.

Massa gave a dominant display in the heat of the Mediterranean summer, three weeks after an engine failure cruelly cost him victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
But Ferrari's afternoon was nevertheless a chaotic one, with Massa's pit lane infraction being followed by another incident which befell Raikkonen.
Disputing fourth place with Kovalainen, the two Finns pitted in tandem for the second time on lap 44.
However, Raikkonen's eagerness to get away saw him depart with the fuel hose still intact and also drag a mechanic to the ground.
As the mechanic was stretchered away to hospital - having suffered a foot injury ( broken Ankle) and back pains - Raikkonen fell to sixth place behind Trulli.
But his race was soon run - Raikkonen's Ferrari trailing a plume of smoke across the start-finish line much as Massa's had in Budapest.
After qualifying fourth around the 3.380-mile track, it has to be said that, before his retirement, Raikkonen had once again failed to shine.
Massa looks Ferrari's best bet of mounting a Championship challenge on current form, the opening stint alone seeing him build a lead over his team-mate roughly the equivalent of one pit stop.
But it was during the second stint that he really extended his lead over the second-placed Hamilton, with Massa setting successive fastest laps on laps 34, 35 and 36 as he went 10.2 seconds ahead of the lead McLaren.
The race had already lost its biggest draw when Fernando Alonso retired with rear wing and suspension damage after his Renault was hit from behind by Kazuki Nakajima's Williams on the opening lap.
Incident
And it wasn't until lap 37 and Massa's near-collision with Sutil that the processional affair that had developed produced any more genuine incident.
Elsewhere, Kovalainen passed Raikkonen off the line to take fourth, with the next change of track position in the top eight coming when Trulli leapt ahead of Vettel for sixth at the opening round of stops.
Given the newness of the track, teams also were feeling their way in terms of tactics and strategy.
Most drivers elected to make two stops but Glock was among the few to pit only once as he climbed from 13th on the grid to seventh at the chequered flag.
Despite his rather lonely race, Hamilton nevertheless sees his Championship lead increase by one point, with Massa now leading the pursuers.
Raikkonen drops to third place and now stands just two points ahead of Kubica.
In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren have closed the gap to 13 points on leaders Ferrari.
However, after another race for the Italian team not without its difficulties, they at least have the knowledge that they now head to a track - Spa-Francorchamps, venue for the Belgian Grand Prix in two weeks' time - on which they dominated 12 months ago.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton wins German GP in Hockenheim

Lewis Hamilton won the German Grand Prix twice, once at a canter, the second time in a blaze of insane wizardry. Ferrari must be wondering what they have to do to keep him in check. The answer might be to test Hamilton for EPO.
If this were the Tour de France fingers would be pointing at the drugs cabinet. But this is Formula One and underneath him Hamilton has a serious piece of kit. What alchemy McLaren have worked to deliver a machine as potent as this. Felipe Massa looked like he had seen a ghost after going under the Hamilton hammer.

Lewis Hamilton made good use of his ninth start from pole
For half the race Hamilton was coasting to victory. Then, after been shot in the foot by what looked a poor call from the McLaren pit wall not to come in under the safety car, Hamilton ripped back the initiative as if those in front were not there.
A lazy Sunday afternoon was passing without incident at the half way stage, at which point Hamilton had coasted from pole into an 11-second lead. He has worked harder on the Playstation. Then on lap 36 Timo Glock introduced himself to the German audience with a heavy shunt at the entry to the start finish straight.
Toyota were unable to determine the cause in the immediate aftermath. As Glock powered through the final turn he drifted slightly wide then a vicious spin took him backwards into a wall. The impact was fatal for his car and left the driver limping awkwardly from the wreckage. Thankfully his discomfort was temporary. A visit to the medical centre revealed no damage to Glock's personal chassis.
The incident took us back to Canada, where Hamilton last lost a commanding lead as a result of an accident and the introduction of the safety car. In Montreal he was jumped in the pits and clattered expensively into the stationary Kimi Raikkonen at the pit exit.
On this occasion Hamilton stayed out. Who knows by what mathematical matrix the McLaren number-crunchers had reached that conclusion? It was not the best decision ever made. His front running rivals shot in to refuel to the end of the race. When the safety car retreated five laps later with 26 still to negotiate, Hamilton was left needing to make up at least 23 seconds, sufficient time to refuel and come out with his lead in tact. He could not have pulled that off in Concorde.
Massa, who dropped to sixth from second, had sacrificed places but gained vital time as the cars bunched behind the safety car. Hamilton was lapping more than a second quicker at the restart but stayed out only nine laps, time to build a lead of 13 seconds. When he returned to the track he was running fifth and behind Massa's Ferrari.
Nick Heidfeld, another unfortunate who opted not to come in under the safety car, refuelled to give Hamilton one place back. On the three left in front, Hamilton went to work. He transformed the hairpin at turn six into an execution site. First team-mate Heikki Kovalainen gave way leaving 15 laps to claim Massa and Nelson Piquet, a random beneficiary of the safety car lottery.
Massa capitulated ten laps out, Piquet with seven to go. It was glorious stuff for Hamilton lovers; painful for the massed ranks of Ferrari followers, for whom this was telling evidence of a performance advantage shredded.
The chequered flag signalled the eighth victory of Hamilton's career, his second back-to-back haul and conferred a four-point advantage over Massa in the race for the championship. With eight races remaining Ferrari appear relatively at sea. Massa could make no impression on the Renault of Piquet, who benefitted form a welcome slice of luck when the safety car co-incided with his scheduled stop. The result, the first podium of his career, marked the only time that two Brazilians have finished in the top three since his father shared the honour with Ayrton Senna 17 years ago.
Massa complained of a lack of speed. His team-mate Raikkonen struggled all weekend to find anything like the right balance and finished sixth. Despite the shortfall to McLaren, were it not for the safety car Massa would have had too much for the rest of the field.
A month ago in Magny-Cours it was Ferrari who had everyone else scratching heads. McLaren have happened across a Eureka moment somewhere. Hamilton had pace to burn and powers towards the season's climax the man to beat.
Next up is Hungary, where Hamilton posted a controversial win a year ago and with it buried Fernando Alonso's short McLaren career. Before that the teams repair to Jerez for the next round of testing; a time for Ferrari to regroup and fathom a response to Hamilton.

Hamilton wins rainy British GP

Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for the first time, leading his rain-soaked home race from the fourth lap to take the lead in the Formula One drivers championship.
The McLaren driver lapped all but two cars in the field Sunday and finished more than a minute ahead of Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber in a race at Silverstone that was full of spinouts and near misses. Honda's Rubens Barrichello was third for his first podium in four years and Honda's first of the season.
"It is by far the best victory I've ever had," Hamilton said after waving to the 90,000 fans who gave him a standing ovation after he won by 68.5 seconds.
Hamilton's third victory of the season gives him 48 points in the standings. He is tied with Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, but leads the championship chase based on his better finishes in the other races.
"The conditions were bad and as I was driving I thought, 'If I win this, it will be the best race I've ever done,' " Hamilton said. "On my last lap, I could see the crowd starting to rise to their feet, and I was just praying, praying, praying I could get the car round."
Massa spun at least five times in the race and finished last in 13th, failing to pick up a point. Raikkonen was fourth.
Hamilton and Massa each have three wins and finishes of second, third and fifth, but Hamilton has had better finishes in races where they weren't among the points. Raikkonen, the defending world champion who won this race last year, has two victories this season.
Hamilton, starting fourth on the grid, provided an eventful beginning to the 60-lap race when he burst past both Red Bull's Mark Webber and Raikkonen at the beginning.
He also tried to overtake pole-starter and McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen on the inside of the first bend, but the Finn responded and the two McLarens almost touched.
Also on the first lap, Massa, Webber and Kazuki Nakajima went into a spin but rejoined the race. David Coulthard, in his last British GP before he retires at the end of the season, and Sebastian Vettel both slid into the same gravel area at the sharp left-hand Priory bend and were out of the race.
Seven of the 20 starters failed to finish.
Two points ahead in the drivers standings at the start of the race, Massa failed to recover from his early spin and slipped to the back of the field, more than a minute behind the leader after only 13 laps. The Brazilian finally overtook Nico Rosberg on the 17th lap and then Giancarlo Fisichella to move into 15th, but he had more trouble later in the race and was lapped twice by the leader and finished at the back.
At the front, Hamilton overtook Kovalainen on the fourth lap with a bold move going into the fast Stow right-hander, powering ahead and then timing his braking to keep the lead.
The British driver then opened up a 6-second gap only for Raikkonen to cut the lead to less than a second when they both came into the pits for the first time on lap 22. Although Hamilton changed tires, he kept the same intermediate style while Raikkonen made no change, which proved to be a mistake.
Although Hamilton left the pit line just ahead of the Finn's Ferrari, he began to pull away and opened up a lead of almost 25 seconds halfway through the race.
Struggling on a still wet track, Raikkonen slowed lap after lap. He dropped back to fourth coming out of the Luffield right-hander when Heidfeld overtook both Finns to move from fourth to second, and Kovalainen also went past Raikkonen into third.
With rain falling again, Raikkonen made another pit stop on lap 29 to change his tires to suit the conditions and came out in 11th place with little chance of becoming the first back-to-back British GP winner since Coulthard in 2000.
Hamilton stayed out of trouble and increased his lead steadily to more than a minute.

Canadian GP Practice two - Hamilton takes his turn at the top

Nobody could get near Lewis Hamilton on the Ile Notre Dame on Friday afternoon as the 23 year-old world championship leader lapped his McLaren in 1m 15.752s to all but match Fernando Alonso’s 2007 pole position time of 1m 15.707s.Robert Kubica pushed Ferrari into third place after lapping his BMW Sauber in 1m 16.023s, and Kimi Raikkonen failed to beat 1m 16.093s on his final runs.

His Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa was left in fifth place on 1m 16.413s after his F2008 rolled to a halt with 15 minutes remaining in the session just past the hairpin.Heikki Kovalainen backed Hamilton with fourth place on 1m 16.331s, failing to improve on Bridgestone’s supersoft tyre. Nick Heidfeld likewise failed to go quicker on the same rubber, and was sixth in the second BMW Sauber on 1m 16.589s.

Despite a spin, Mark Webber maintained seventh place with 1m 16.604s for Red Bull, followed by Nico Rosberg for Williams on 1m 16.767s, Sebastian Vettel on 1m 17.019s for Toro Rosso, Jarno Trulli on 1m 17.068s for Toyota, Kazuki Nakajima on 1m 17.242s for Williams, David Coulthard on 1m 17.334s for Toro Rosso, Rubens Barrichello on 1m 17.462s for Honda, Giancarlo Fisichella on 1m 17.508s for Force India, Timo Glock on 1m 17.549s for Toyota and Sebastien Bourdais on 1m 17.559s for Toro Rosso.

It was a disastrous session for Renault, with Fernando Alonso stranded on 1m 17.644s in 17th place after spinning on the exit to Turn One and stalling, and Nelson Piquet down in 20th on 1m 18.076s after a gearbox failure. In between them came Force India's Adrian Sutil on 1m 17.813s and Honda's Jenson Button on 1m 17.842s.

Besides Alonso and Massa, Glock failed to finish the session after crunching his Toyota’s right rear suspension on the exit to Turn Six, and Raikkonen, Webber, Piquet, Bourdais, Barrichello, Kovalainen and Fisichella all had off-course moments.

A race weekend with… Felipe Massa

Of all the circuits on the Formula One calendar Ferrari’s Felipe Massa counts Istanbul Park as one of his favourites. Not only has Massa scored three successive pole positions in Turkey, he has also won the Grand Prix three times.

And when the celebrations had died down on Sunday, following his third Turkish victory, we caught up with the Brazilian to ask him about his routine over a race weekend, get a few tips about the season’s best nightlife and find out how he relaxes after a Grand Prix…

Q: We were in Istanbul this weekend, what do you associate with this circuit?

Felipe Massa: This is a fantastic circuit and a very special place for me. Here I had my first victory and it is really great to win again here for the third time. The track is very challenging for the driver and also the city is very nice.

Q: You don't take to the track until Friday morning, but when do you like to fly in?

FM: I usually arrive on the Wednesday and then leave on the Monday.

Q: Do you make an effort to discover your surroundings at a race, or do you stick to the airport-hotel-track-airport itinerary?

FM: Sometimes we have time to go out in the evening and eat in a nice restaurant but we don't have much time to visit the city.

Q: What's your exercise regime over a race weekend? Does it vary according to the race location, the demands of the circuit etc?

FM: For sure it depends on the track. We have a special preparation for each circuit. There are tracks which are quite easy on the physical preparation and some others which can be more difficult because they have a lot of lateral G-forces. And when it is hot it is even more complicated

Q: What's your preferred accommodation at races - city hotel, hotel near the circuit, your own motorhome near the paddock?

FM: It depends. I normally like to be close to the track, but here I stay in the city. The hotel is very nice and the town is fantastic as well.

Q: Is there anything you have to have provided in your hotel room, or any luxuries you always bring with you from home?

FM: No, I'm quite a simple and normal guy, for sure I like to stay in a nice room but they don't need to change things for me.

Q: Do you enjoy entertaining friends and family during a race weekend?

FM: Yes of course, I feel very comfortable if my family and my wife are with me.

Q: Do you get the chance to go out and socialise on Friday and Saturday night?

FM: No, during a race weekend we need to go to sleep early and be prepared for the race. But I sometimes go out on Sunday night.

Q: Any drivers you particularly like hanging out with?

FM: Yes, I know Rubens (Barrichello) very well. We always go out together when we have time, and Michael (Schumacher) of course when he was still here. When I go out on Sunday I also meet other drivers and I have to say I have a good relationship with most of the drivers.

Q: Your favourite race for nightlife?

FM: There are many places we go to which are nice for nightlife. I enjoy Brazil, Canada, Australia and I am sure Singapore will be nice too.

Q: What's the best night out you've had at a Grand Prix? And have you ever overslept the next morning?

FM: I have had many good moments so it is difficult to point out just one. When I go out, the next morning I like to sleep until midday - if I can.

Q: What do you have for breakfast on a race Sunday?

FM: Usually cereal with no-fat milk.

Q: How much do you drink over a race weekend? And what?

FM: During a race weekend we need to drink a lot of water with mineral salt to have enough energy for the race.

Q: How do you spend the morning on a race Sunday?

FM: In a normal way - I just concentrate on the race.

Q: How do you like to get to the circuit on Sunday morning? Do you drive yourself?

FM: Yes, I usually drive myself.

Q: How do you like to spend the hour or so before the race? Any superstitions or pre-race rituals you always go through to bring you luck?

FM: Yes, if the weekend is going well I like to use the same clothes and I always get in the car from the left-hand side. These things may seem stupid but they make you feel fine.

Q: Do you have a lucky charm?

FM: No

Q: What do you do to stay calm as you're sat on the grid awaiting the formation lap?

FM: Nothing special, I just concentrate on the race.

Q: How do you wind down after the race?

FM: Of course, when you are still at the track it is difficult to relax but when I go back to the hotel I take a nice shower, watch some TV and cool down, then I go out with my family and friends and go back to normal life.

Q: If things don't go your way and you retire early, do you prefer to get away as soon as possible, or hang out and watch the rest of the race?

FM: I prefer to watch the rest of the race and stay for the meeting after the race, which is very important because you talk about the race while everything is still fresh in your mind.

Fernando Alonso in warning to Renault

Fernando Alonso has warned his Renault team that he could leave at the end of the season if the car does not improve.
Alonso returned to the constructor after a tumultuous year at McLaren in which he surrendered his world championship to Kimi Raikkonen and was unsettled by his rivalry with team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Alonso does not expect major improvement
The Spaniard is seventh in the 2008 championship after two races in which the Renault car has been well off the pace set by McLaren in Melbourne and Ferrari in Malaysia.
"I'm at Renault because I wanted to get back to winning, like in 2005 and 2006, if not this year then next year," Alonso said. "But I have an option to leave so I can be in the best possible car, and it is clear Ferrari is one of the best."
Alonso's comments have fuelled the speculation that he could join Ferrari after one season back at Renault.
However, his attempts to distance himself from that theory may have had the opposite effect as he highlighted errors made by Ferrari number two driver Felipe Massa at Melbourne and Sepang.

"It's early to talk about moves and rumours, but Massa has had two bad races with mistakes and that has kicked off speculation about me," Alonso said. "It's logical, but it's too early."
Renault managing director Flavio Briatore said it was a "waste of time to get involved in hypothetical daydreams." He said: "Fernando is a great sportsman who will always give his best and rumours I never comment on."
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali defended the role of Massa, who is under contract until 2010, despite the setback to the Italian team in both the drivers' and the constructors' championships.

"Felipe has all the qualities and the capabilities to do well," he added. "The championship is long and the team are united, so I see no worries from this aspect."
The Ferrari team were also running checks on the car to be sure a mechanical failure did not cause the spin-out.
At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Massa retired after a collision and Raikkonen came to a halt with only five laps to race as Ferrari failed to collect any points - its worst start in 16 years. Alonso performed well at Melbourne, moving up from 11th on the grid to finish fourth.
While Alonso said he expected improvements in his car, he also suggested that rival teams would also perform better as the season progresses. "In Barcelona we will have some improvements for the car, (but) the same ones all teams will have, so the championship is going to stay more or less the same.
"We saw it last year and we see it every year. The cars that win the first two or three races stay on top. We are not going to see big surprises during the year."
Briatore, meanwhile, remained optimistic about the team and his star driver. "It does not make sense to judge a car after one or two races. Of course, McLaren and Ferrari have a fast car, but look what happened to Ferrari in Australia," Briatore said. "So we will have to wait and see how it will be at the next couple of races."

Bahrain : A Good Race for BMW Sauber

In what proved to be a somehow boring race, Ferrari got the 1-2 they deserved and BMW Sauber got an excelent P3-4, bringing them on top of the Constuctors Championship. 1 point clear of Ferrari and 2 above McLaren.

Weber and Rosberg both in the points a surprise for Red Bull, catching their 4th point of the season.

Sebastien Bourdais finishing 15th was a disapointement but at least he finished the whole race.

Bothe Force india managed to finished the race as well, so some encouragemnt for a very hardworking team. Who knows they might even catch some points in the European Races coming up through Fisichella.