Victory for Raikkonen, glory for Fisichella at Spa-Francorchamps

Kimi Raikkonen became the sixth different victor in six races after putting Ferrari back in the winners’ circle for the first time in 2009, with a finely judged success in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, in which his KERS system played a crucial role in the opening stages. But he was dogged all the way to the flag by a gallant Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India, who kept him honest throughout on the first medium downforce circuit of the season.

Behind them, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel drove strongly for third, closing on them both by the finish. Raikkonen crossed the finish line 0.9s ahead, with Vettel 2.9s behind Fisichella.

Jenson Button’s hopes of adding to his points tally in the Brawn GP ended at Les Combes on the first lap when he was spun out by Romain Grosjean’s Renault, while in a separate incident Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren tagged Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso while trying to avoid the melee. The two incidents are currently under investigation by the race stewards.

After a safety car intervention, Raikkonen, who had sped up to second behind Fisichella on the opening lap, lost no time using his KERS to slingshot by the Italian on the run up Raidillon to Les Combes on the fifth lap, but Fisichella pushed him all the way.Red Bull’s Mark Webber looked strong initially until an unsafe release from his first pit stop nearly put rival BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld in the pit-lane wall. A drive-through penalty subsequently dropped him to ninth.Renault’s Fernando Alonso also seemed on course for a healthy helping of points after running the longest opening stint, but a brush with Force India’s Adrian Sutil in La Source on the opening lap had damaged the left front wheel, and after a disastrously long pit stop on Lap 24 he had to come in again to retire a lap later when the left front wheel could not be secured satisfactorily.

Vettel was able to vault past a fast-starting Robert Kubica after his second stop on the 35th lap and said his Red Bull was perfect thereafter, but the Pole brought his BMW Sauber home fourth ahead of closing team mate Heidfeld. The German has passed Toyota’s Jarno Trulli for second at the start but ran wide and lost ground, allowing Kubica to nip down the inside to run third initially.Heikki Kovalainen did a one-stop strategy in his McLaren to stay ahead of Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello for sixth place. The Brazilian, who bogged down off the grid, was saved to an extent by the intervention of the safety car which enabled Brawn to refuel him for a longer opening stint in a fast first-lap pit stop, but had to back off at the end when his Mercedes engine showed signs of failing. He just made it to the flag ahead of a closing Nico Rosberg, who drove yet another strong race for Williams to score the final point, while Webber just missed out with ninth after a frustrating race.Toyota’s Timo Glock had a fuel rig problem in his first stop which delayed him, and could not better 10th, under pressure at the end from Force India’s Sutil. Behind them Sebastien Buemi brought his Toro Rosso home 12th ahead of Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and an unimpressive Luca Badoer, who was the last finisher for Ferrari.

Besides Alonso and the first lap crashers, the other retirement was Trulli, whose front wing was damaged when he made contact with Heidfeld's BMW Sauber on the opening lap. That ruined the Italian’s race, as did a later refuelling problem, similar to Glock’s. He ultimately retired with a brake problem.

In the title stakes, Barrichello took two more points off Button, who still has 74 to the Brazilian’s 56. Vettel moves back ahead of Webber with 53 to the Australian’s 51.5.In the constructors’ championship Brawn have 128 points, Red Bull 104.5, Ferrari 56 and McLaren 44.

Setback for India's F1 plans

INDIA'S hopes of hosting a Formula One race have suffered a setback following differences between the government and race promoters, local media reported on Thursday.
India is scheduled to host its first ever F1 Grand Prix in 2011, but the sports ministry has turned down race promoters JPSK Sports' request to be allowed to pay Formula One US$36.5 million (S$52.7 million) for the rights.

The ministry has recently described the event as 'entertainment', saying it would have 'no impact on the development of sports in the country'.
'F1 is not purely sports. It is entertainment and this venture by JPSK is a commercial initiative,' the Times of India quoted a ministry source as saying.
'The proposed F1 race does not satisfy conditions which focus on human endeavour for excelling in competition with others.'

Millions of Indians watch F1 on television, often with the same passion they reserve for the cricket, but news reports said the ministry did not believe the remittance was 'desirable'.
'They sought our recommendation for an outflow of nearly 200 crore rupees (S$57.7 million) which the ministry felt was not justified for a motor race,' an official was quoted as saying.
The race promoters, however, said they would approach the ministry again.
'Yes, we went to the ministry seeking government concessions. If need be, we will go again,' JPSK Sports managing director Samir Gaur told the Times earlier this week.
'We are 200 per cent committed to the F1 race in India. We are building a motor car racing track capable of holding an F1 race.' Work on the track is in progress in Greater Noida on the outskirts of the capital.

Week-end Formula 1 News

The Australian Grand Prix will likely be scrapped if leading teams form a breakaway Formula 1 series next year, Australian F1 race chief Ron Walker said on Friday.
Uncertainty continues to surround the future direction of the sport after the eight-member Formula One Teams Association (Fota), including Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes, walked out of a meeting with motor racing's governing body in Paris this week and revived their threat to form a breakaway series.
Walker said he would advise the Victorian state government, which backs the race, to cancel the event should F1's leading teams carry out their threat."The Grand Prix board would probably say to the (Victorian) Premier it's too hard," Walker told a radio station on Friday. "
You can just imagine if the likes of (Roger) Federer and other major tennis players didn't turn up to the Australian Open in January or if some of the best horses didn't come to the Melbourne Cup."
Melbourne has an agreement to run the event until 2015 under a five-year licence extension signed last year

On another note, defending drivers' world champion Lewis Hamilton clocked the fastest time in Friday afternoon's second free practice session ahead of Sunday's German Grand Prix.It was the third time in this disappointing season - for him - that the 24-year-old had been quickest on the opening day in his McLaren Mercedes, having been fastest previously on Friday in Bahrain and China.Cynics, however, may suggest that with his McLaren team-mate Finn Heikki Kovalainen struggling in 17th place on a cool, wet day, Hamilton was running very light on fuel to please the fans sitting in the Mercedes-Benz grandstand.
The Briton clocked a best time of 1min 32.149sec with 6 minutes of the 90 remaining to ease clear of nearest rival German Sebastian Vettel, in his Red Bull, by 0.2sec.Championship leader Jenson Button of Britain was third for Brawn GP, ahead of Australian Mark Webber, in the second Red Bull, with Italian Jarno Trulli fifth for Toyota and German Adrian Sutil sixth for Force India. Button's Brawn team-mate Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello was seventh ahead of two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault.

Alonso trades Renault in for Ferrari, say press reports

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso is planning to switch from Renault to Ferrari next season, Spanish sports newspapers Marca and AS reported yesterday.Negotiations about the Spanish driver's transfer are close to completion and could become official at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza from Sept 11-13, according to the reports which were echoed by Italian media.
The 27-year-old Spaniard won the driver's championships in 2005 and 2006 for Renault and is under contract with the French manufacturer until the end of next year, but with a get-out clause which he can activate earlier.
Alonso, currently ninth in the driver's championship table, has expressed dissatisfaction with Renault's under-performing R29 model, even though engineers say radical improvements are on the way.
Ferrari are believed to be less than happy with Kimi Raikkonen, currently 10th in the table, and could be keen on the idea of Alonso partnering Felipe Massa. But the Italian firm would find it very expensive to buy the Finn out of his cast-iron contract.
According to the Spanish reports, Alonso has secured the backing of Spanish financial giant Banco de Santander to get a five-year deal with Ferrari.

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

Force India ditches Ferrari and goes to McLaren

They like Black more than Red

Shocker - the Force India Formula One Team dumped their red Ferrari engine like a hot cake and sauntered along to swipe the black engine of rival Mclaren.
Apparently Force India was pleased to announce a major new partnership that will propel the team forward for the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship and beyond; a ground-breaking technical partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies (which is a company wholly owned by the McLaren Group) and with Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines.

In a unique long term deal, the Force India Formula One Team VJM02 cars will be powered by engines designed and built by Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines, the first time that the legendary manufacturer has supplied another chassis constructor other than McLaren. Additionally, Force India will have access to the McLaren Group's network of bespoke suppliers that has supported this year's World Championship victory.

McLaren Applied Technologies will additionally supply the Force India Formula One Team cars with McLaren Racing gearboxes and hydraulic systems and will provide operational support to ensure Force India functions at its highest possible level.

The Force India Formula One Team also plans to fit its cars with a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) that is currently being developed by Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines and McLaren Racing (which is also a company wholly owned by the McLaren Group).

In conjunction with aerospace company EADS - which, like McLaren and Mercedes, is also a global leader in its field - Force India Formula One Team announced that it will soon be expanding the computational fluid dynamics capability of its Brackley Aero Centre facility.
Dr. Mallya was of course, ecstatic: "McLaren and Mercedes-Benz are two of the most famous names in motorsport history, having achieved great success in Grand Prix racing over many years, and most recently, a superb victory in probably the most dramatic World Championship Formula 1 has seen.

"These new resources and developments will provide an enormous boost to our technical armoury and, as a result, we have high hopes of making good progress in 2009 and beyond.

Force India - Hoping for a Miracle

It is difficult to pinpoint whether it is the lack of fluency in English or this writer’s perceived reticence that stops Giancarlo Fisichella from giving eloquent replies.
He uses words like ‘difficult’, ‘confident’ and ‘challenge’ repetitively. His Italian accent is on the slighter side though his body language is often pronounced when he shrugs his drooping shoulders as he grapples with words.
The 35-year-old Force India driver was here to be part of a promotional event, for his sponsors, a day after he completed the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. And Fisichella says it has pushed him beyond limits.
“I am exhausted. Both physically and mentally,” he says. “As soon as I finished my race yesterday I had to rush to my hotel, take a shower and fly to this country.”
“But it is a pleasure to be here and I will be going back home tonight to prepare for the last race of the season,” he adds.

Indeed the last race of the season is the final shot for Fisichella to live up to his own record. This will be his first season after 12 years without a single point to his name.
“Why no point?” Fisichella confirms the question. “Well, there is one more race left.”
This quiet confidence is seemingly something of an undercurrent; it hardly gushes loud. The racer, however, feels that having to prove himself season after season has made it pretty basic for him.

“There is no big change to the way I approach my driving,” says Fisichella. “Everyday, I sit in my car and push it to the maximum and that’s what my attitude is and that’s what I believe in.”
Before his stint with Force India, Fisichella has driven for the likes of Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber and Renault. A former teammate of Fernando Alonso, he says joining Force India is not a comedown for him.
“I knew that the present year is going to be difficult before I signed the contract,” Fisichella says. “But I believe in their programme. And I believe that the future is going to be better.”
But when pressed if it is a new low for somebody who was Alonso’s teammate, all he says is it was not easy. “Coming here after racing with Renault wasn’t easy. The car wasn’t easy too.
“I was aware of all this. But I take it as a challenge and feel that next year, and hopefully with a new car, it will be different.” Also, the Engine Rules Freeze comes into effect next season and that he says puts all cars on some sort of level platform. “Next season even the small teams can hope to do well.” Fisichella says he believes in part Force India owner Vijay Mallya. “Mallya has brought F-1 to India and is pouring in a lot of money. His ambition is to have a podium finish in 2010.”
As to just how realistic that ambition is lost in the veils of the future. Right now, Fisichella can only be optimistic. “It is difficult but anything is possible. This year (Toro) Rosso won in Monza and I won the Brazilian GP driving a Jordan car, which wasn’t great. I see no reason why we cannot have a podium finish in 2010.”
When asked how Indian is Force India, he says: “Force India factory is set in England and we have lot of Englishmen and Italian engineers working. But it is owned by an Indian and so is an Indian team.” Err… he seems to have forgotten the Mol family which has a 50% stake.

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.

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.

Team Force India Unveils New Team