Michael Schumacher comes home to F1

Fit, focused and desperate to race – The German F1 driver is preparing to fight for an eighth title with Mercedes GP after three years' absence from the sport

The 41-year-old German formula one driver Michael Schumacher and his teammate Nico Rosberg at the presentation of the new Mercedes GP team in Stuttgart.

Photograph: Reuters

His back as straight as a guardsman's, his chin – that caricaturist's delight – jutting out from beneath the cap bearing the logo of his personal sponsor, with a purposeful gleam in his eye and super-confidence radiating from every pore, Michael Schumacher strode back on to the world stage today. So begins a comeback to match that of Lance Armstrong, another seven-times champion, and – some time in the future – of Tiger Woods, another contemporary exponent of crushing dominance.
Only Italians could dispute the suggestion that, almost 20 years after he made his Formula One debut, Schumacher's reappearance as a member of the new Mercedes-Benz team means that he has finally found his way home. After a single weekend with Jordan, a few years with Benetton and a sporting lifetime with Ferrari, at last he finds himself in a grand prix team where at least some of the workers speak his native tongue.
"Quite a lot of my history and quite a lot of my heart is red," he said, making a diplomatic reference to his 11 seasons with Ferrari. "You can't forget or deny all the good moments we had together. Now we will compete against each other, but that doesn't mean we have to forget the past."
With Ross Brawn, who supervised all his seven championships with Benetton and Ferrari, he has always spoken the same language. When Brawn discovered that Jenson Button, his new champion, had made what amounted to a state visit to the McLaren factory in the middle of negotiations last November, his first instinct was to phone his old colleague and suggest that it was time for all the light-hearted discussions they had shared during Schumacher's three-year retirement to bear fruit.
"Almost every year we have had contact," Schumacher said. "Sometimes it was serious, sometimes it was a joke. When he went to Honda he suggested there was an option, but I wasn't ready at the time."
Both men confirmed that there had been a conversation at the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi, before problems emerged over the renewal of Button's contract with the team. "He touched on it," Schumacher said. "Then he called me and it was clear what his question was going to be."
Very quickly, too, Schumacher's answer became clear, although he referred the decision to his wife, Corinna, before confirming the news that he was willing, at 41, to make his return to the cockpit of a grand prix car and to compete against rivals – men such as the 25-year-old Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, 22 – young enough to be his sons.
"Naturally I had a discussion with Corinna," he said. "She's a very down-to-earth person, as we both are. She ­mentioned the pros and cons, and in the end she left the decision to me. It helped me to make up my mind." He would not specify the precise contents of Corinna's list of "cons".
The comparative youth of his new rivals is clearly not something over which he is fretting. "Whether they're young or not doesn't matter," he said. "You just look at who's in the other car and try to work out how you can be better than him."
Not surprisingly, those brave souls attempting to get him to acknowledge or atone for his old sins – barging into Damon Hill in Adelaide in 1994, pushing Jacques Villeneuve off the track at Jerez in 1997 and parking his car in his middle of the track to obstruct Fernando Alonso's quick lap during qualifying at Monaco in 2006 – by saying that he is now prepared to "win in the right way" are clearly wasting their time.
"I'm sure that 91 victories and seven titles you win only in a bad way and you need to prove something," he responded in a tone on the tart side of sarcastic. "Let's be sensible and think about the reality and look forward to what we might all face and enjoy together."
After much gym work and a session in a GP2 car at the Circuit de Catalunya, he is convinced that his physical fitness is up to the demands of a full season of the G-forces imposed by the high cornering speeds of the current generation of Formula One cars. Neck problems caused by a motorbike crash prevented him from deputising for the injured Felipe Massa last summer, but have now been satisfactorily resolved.
"What normally happens with drivers is that they lose the physical capacity to compete and they also lose the determination that you need to compete at every race, every minute, every lap of the circuit," said Brawn. "Michael's showing that he's achieving the same physical parameters as we saw many years ago. He's an exceptional athlete, don't forget that, and his break has refreshed him. And his work ethic has always been tremendous. He's already spent many days at the ­factory, talking to the engineers."
Schumacher stressed his impatience to get behind the wheel of a Formula One car, starting with next week's test sessions in Valencia. "I'm hot," he said. "It's all taking too long. The discussions started in November and we have to wait until February before I drive. I was used to working through the winter and testing in January."
His enthusiasm, he stressed, remains undimmed. "The main reason I'm doing this is that I'm thrilled about it. I've raced karts and bikes while I've been away from Formula One, and that's been great, but I feel very excited about competing again at the highest level of motor sport. I've always been focused and motivated and determined, and that's how it is now. No more and no less."
A slightly more cautionary note came from Brawn. "Until he starts competing, none of us know what his level will be," the team principal said. "But in the latter part of 2006, just before he retired, he had some of his strongest races. We've got an absolute belief in him. Maybe it will take one or two races, but I personally expect him to perform at a very high level straight away."
And on the question of whether Schumacher or Nico Rosberg will be given equal status, Brawn was blunt. "The No1 driver is the fastest one, whoever is winning races. We'll give maximum support to both drivers. Of course if one of them turns out to have a better chance of the championship, there may be different priorities. Last season we gave Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello equal support, and that will be the case this year. I've had a long-standing relationship with Michael, and we can't ignore that, but there will be complete parity of equipment and support. It's a non-issue." You can bet, looking at the glint in Michael Schumacher's eye, that it's a non-issue for him, too.



Richard Williams

Our visit to Williams Motorhome in Singapore

Many Thanks to Phillips Singapore, for we had the pleasure to be invited to the Williams Team Motorhome during last week Formula1 Grand Prix in Singapore.

Also invited was famous Singaporean Blogger "Mr Brown"

To help the AT&T Williams team get geared up for the race in Singapore Philips has decked out the team motorhome with an array of the best PHILIPS LIFESTYLE Products that provides an immersive experience around the concept of health and well-being. It provides a dream motorhome that showcases Philips Lifestyle consumer products for keeping the whole Williams Team in peak physical and mental condition for the race.

On our guided tour of the Motorhome we were introduced to the various zones that caters to the Team.

The dining and relaxation area : where team members, drivers can have a snack, drink, or just sit down for an interview and coffee, watch TV etc.. equiped with the latest Philips Lighting controls like LivingColours LED Lamps, TV, DVD blu RAY player, air purifiers.

The Food preparation area : The Kitchen run by Chef Adam Dixon, showcases some of the best food processing equipments Philips has to offer to guarantee Healthy cooking for both drivers and the whole team.

The driver's personal zone : This room is designed for the drivers personal comfort. There you will find a physio bench for massages, the suits hanging beofre the Race, some personal effects etc... This room is also equiped with Air purifiers, Go LITE blu system and Micro system wireless Music player as well as Philips Infracare HP3641 ( infrared light to soothe aching muscles)

Team Office : There you will find PC's and workstation for those who need to keep in touch with familly or just browsing the net !

The tour was conducted by Patrick Overwijk, Global Sponsorship Manager for Philips Consumer Lifestyle.

Right after that we were invited to a very restricted area : The Team Garage....

Holding on Nakajima's actual race seat

Here we were explained the various part of the garage , like the Gearbox departement, the engine room, the computer analysis contol room, and the main garage where the team assemble and disassemble the car during the race week-end.

The Philips GolLITE BLU is also used in the garage to keep the drivers and engineers acclimatised to the Singapore Time Zone.

And now a short video from Mr Brown :

http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2009/10/mrbrown-goes-to-the-grand-prix-episode-9-nico-rosberg-and-att-williams-f1.html

That rounded up a very interesting Friday afternoon . Our thanks goes to Pamela Phua
(Account manager for "Text 100 Public Relations") for arranging this tour on Behalf of Philips Singapore.

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.

French Grand Prix - Magny Cours

It all goes wrong for Hamilton in France

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton always knew he was going to have a tough weekend at Magny-Cours, after picking up a ten-place grid penalty for his pit-lane misdemeanour in Canada, but he probably didn’t think it would be quite this tough.Even starting 13th, Hamilton was at least hoping for points, but after 70 laps of the French Grand Prix circuit the Englishman trailed home a lowly tenth, thanks in large part to a drive-through penalty for straight-lining Turn Seven on lap one as he completed a pass on Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel.Hamilton - and McLaren - believed he had already completed the pass before being forced wide over the chicane, but the stewards disagreed and decided he had gained an advantage. When he took the penalty on lap 13, he dropped from P9 to P13, effectively ending his chances of a top-eight finish.The only consolation for McLaren was a storming drive from Heikki Kovalainen, who himself had taken a five-place grid drop for impeding another driver during qualifying. The Finn came from tenth on the grid to finish fourth, with only some excellent defensive driving from Toyota’s Jarno Trulli keeping him off the podium.The result means Hamilton drops to fourth place in the drivers’ championship on 38 points, 10 behind new leader Felipe Massa, while Kovalainen lies sixth on 20.

Stunning Trulli putsToyota back on the podium

Toyota proved their return to form in Montreal a fortnight ago was no stroke of luck in Magny-Cours on Sunday, as Jarno Trulli secured the team’s first podium for three years. Trulli crossed the finish line third behind the dominant Ferraris of race winner Felipe Massa and second-placed Kimi Raikkonen.Toyota arrived in France motivated by their fourth and sixth in Canada and on Saturday the TF108’s strong pace continued, with Trulli and team mate Timo Glock both making it through to Q3. As Sunday’s race got underway things only got better. After a strong start, during which Trulli was able to pass the Renault of Fernando Alonso, the Italian settled into third, a position he had to work very hard to defend from McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen late in the race."What a great result and a great weekend by the whole team,” said Trulli. “Today was a great race, hard and tough. We had a good pace, even if we had to battle with some cars that were quicker than us. When the rain came at the end I had to take care because it's always difficult to judge how bad it is when you're in front.“But I got back into a rhythm and had a wheel-to-wheel fight with Heikki, just like in go-karts. The team made no mistakes this weekend, from the people in the factory who made the new parts on the car to the mechanics who did perfect pit stops today. There's still more to do but today we can be very satisfied. The team is doing a great job, the car is much more competitive and everyone is motivated. Things are moving on."Trulli’s podium is the Japanese team’s first since Ralf Schumacher finished third in the 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix and the Italian’s first since that year’s Spanish race. The strong result was a fitting tribute to the team’s former principal Ove Andersson, who was killed recently during an historic car rally in South Africa."This is a fantastic day for everyone involved with Toyota Motorsport,” said Toyota team president John Howett. “It was our first podium for a long time so we dedicate it to Ove Andersson, who did so much for the team and will be greatly missed. "Congratulations to everyone involved both at the factory and in the race and test teams who have worked hard to improve the car. Of course we must now keep pushing really hard because our pace is still not matching the front-runners but we can be hugely satisfied with this result."Although Glock eventually finished outside the points in 11th, Trulli’s haul of six extends Toyota's points' tally to 23 and bolsters their fifth-place in the championship standings. The team are now just one point adrift of fourth-placed Red Bull.

Robert Kubica Wins Canadian Grand Prix

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

The Pole led a shock BMW Sauber one-two in Montreal after pre-race favourite Lewis Hamilton took himself and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen out of the fray in an early pit lane collision.
Nick Heidfeld took second place and Red Bull's David Coulthard was third but the day belonged to Kubica, now four points clear at the top of the world championship.

"It is fantastic to win for BMW Sauber," he said. "We grew up together and thanks to the team for providing a good car - we managed to do first and second.
"Winning in Canada where I had big shunt last season and achieving the goal to win a grand prix this season... We have done it and I'm leading the championship, so I hope the team will give me 100 percent support to defend it until last race.
"It's fantastic for me, the team, my country and my fans. It was a great race. It is always chaotic here with the safety car and it is not easy. I have never struggled so much before, I was pushing so hard."
The win was the first by a team other than McLaren and Ferrari since October 2006 and fulfilled the BMW Sauber's pre-season ambition to win their first Formula One race.

Toyota's German Timo Glock took fourth place, the best result of his first full Formula One season and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa did well to claim a highly eventful fifth.
The Brazilian now joins Hamilton in second place in the driver's title race.
Italian Jarno Trulli completed a good day for the Toyota team with sixth place with Honda's Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel filling the other point-scoring positions.
The race started amidst serious concerns over the state of the circuit. Patches of the track surface had crumbled badly during qualifying on Saturday and although running repairs were made overnight, many in the paddock were expecting trouble.
Those concerns translated into a generally cautious attitude amongst the drivers and the start passed without incident.
Nico Rosberg did manage to slip his Williams into fourth place around the outside of Fernando Alonso's Renault at the second corner; but it was a clean getaway for Hamilton's McLaren, Kubica and Raikkonen who started first, second and third respectively.
Raikkonen began to put Kubica under serious pressure, the Finn quickly setting the fastest lap of the race, but Hamilton was moving well clear in front.
His lead was erased though, when the safety car was deployed after German Adrian Sutil's Force India car caught fire.
As the field bunched up, the leaders ducked into the pits to refuel. Raikkonen and Kubica emerged from the garage ahead of Hamilton, but were held up by a red-light at the end of the pit lane.
Inexplicably, Hamilton did not realise that his two rivals were stationary ahead of him and after pulling away from his garage he barrelled into the back of Raikkonen ending his own race and that of the reigning world champion.
"I don't know what happened to be honest," Hamilton said. "I was comfortably in the lead, it was looking like an easy win. Then I went in for the pit stop. It was not a good stop and I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane.
"I saw the red light but by that time it was a bit late. It was not exactly a racing incident as such, it was unfortunate.
"It was one of those things. It is different to if you crash into the wall and you are angry. It is not like that. I apologise to Kimi for ruining his race."
Rosberg was also caught up in the incident and though he was able to continue after some hasty repairs to his front wing, his chances of a points finish were ruined.
Heidfeld was now leading the grand prix, with Barrichello and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima lying second and third.
Heidfeld, his one-stop strategy working perfectly, soon pitted and could not stay ahead of Kubica who had emerged unscathed from the pit lane chaos. Kubica knew he would need one more fuel stop, so he pushed his BMW to the absolute limit to establish a significant margin between himself and his teammate.
With 22 laps remaining the Pole pitted for the final time, emerging safely in front of Heidfeld.
Scottish veteran Coulthard was now in third place with a mad scramble for points unfolding behind him.
There was no catching Kubica though, and there were scenes of joy in the BMW garage as he crossed the finish line to become the first ever Polish grand prix winner.

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.

Felipe Massa makes it Three in a Row in Turkish Grand Prix

A delighted Felipe Massa swept to a hat-trick of Turkish Grand Prix victories from pole position here on Sunday in the Turkish Grand Prix when he delivered another domineering display for Ferrari at Istanbul Park.
The Brazilian triumphed by 3.7 seconds ahead of McLaren's British driver Lewis Hamilton with Finland's reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen less than half-a-second behind in third in the other Ferrari.
"This feels fantastic," said Massa.
"But actually, it was a very difficult race. Lewis pushed me very hard for a lot of the race and I was worried for a while, but I knew he was lighter than me.
"When the team told me he was running on three stops I felt better so I realised that was a help for me and I had a chance. I could not hold him when he passed me, but I knew I could win the race so I just had to wait.
"To win here for a third time is really fantastic for me. Now I think I can already get a passport here!"
Hamilton pulled off the overtaking move of the race on Massa and denied Ferrari a likely one-two despite adopting a three-stop fuel strategy compared to his rival's two stopper.
But there was no stopping Massa who controlled the 58-lap race on the 5.338-kms track which he clearly loves.
Hamilton said: "I am absolutely thrilled to come second here after starting third and after my form yesterday.
"I knew it would be tough to get points but we did it well and I am happy. The balance of the car was great on the hard tyres, but the soft tyre was not so good at the end.
"We chose a three stop strategy for safety reasons after what happened here last year when we suffered a failure. Three stops was the safest way to go, but it left us in a less strong position to win the race."
Raikkonen's lead in the championship was cut to seven points with Massa now second, on countback, from last year's runner-up Hamilton. Raikkonen has 35, Massa and Hamilton have 28.
Ferrari extended their lead in the constructors' championship to 19 points over BMW with McLaren two points further back after Finland's Heikki Kovalainen paid for an early pit-stop to finish 12th having started second.
The Finn suffered an opening lap puncture after a suspected collision with Raikkonen on the opening lap.
Poland's Robert Kubica was fourth for BMW just ahead of team-mate Greman Nick Heidfeld with Spain's Fernando Alonso sixth for Renault. Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber was seventh and German-born Nico Rosberg eighth for Williams.
There was no points finish for Brazil's Rubens Barrichello in his record-breaking 257 appearance as he finished 14th for Honda.
Massa blasted into lead from the start with all the drama happening behind him as Hamilton powered past his team-mate Kovalainen into second spot.
Kubica also overtook Kovalainen in the race for the first corner where the Finn squeezed compatriot Raikkonen who dropped from fourth to sixth behind former two-time champion Alonso.
Further down the field, Force India's Italian veteran Giancarlo Fisichella drove right over the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima, missing the Japanese driver by inches but sending them both spinning into retirement in the gravel after a collision at the start.
The safety car was immediately deployed, staying out for one circuit as the debris was cleared. Kovalainen was forced to pit at the end of the second lap while on the third lap Raikkonen easily outpaced Alonso to move back to fourth.
Raikkonen took third spot in the first round of pit-stops leapfrogging Kubica as Massa and Hamilton battled it out at the front.
Hamilton, on a lighter fuel load, thrillingly snatched the lead on lap 24 when he darted down Massa's left before forcing his rival to move over as they came up to turn 12 at around 180mph.
The British driver's lead lasted just eight laps before he made another quick pit-stop allowing Massa to regain control of the race. Hamilton regained the lead after Massa, then Raikkonen, made their final stops.
Hamilton made a stop at the end with 13 laps left and although it was not quick enough to deny Massa, he came out just fractions ahead of Raikkonen to snatch second spot from his chief rival.

Why are Finnish drivers so good?

Lewis Hamilton's new team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, could barely reach the pedals when he first drove a car in the fields and lanes around his house in the Finnish countryside.
Kovalainen would spend hours thrashing around "on the back roads or farm roads," as he puts it, "not legally, but quietly in the middle of the night when there were no police around", learning the skills he now puts into practice on race tracks around the world.

The former Ferrari driver Mika Salo and the one-time Benetton man JJ Lehto - both brought up near Helsinki, 400 miles from Kovalainen's home close to the border with Lapland - had similar boyhood experiences.
This is part of the secret of why Finland, a country of just 5.3 million people and 77 billion trees, has produced more formula one world champions per capita than anywhere else.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who beat Hamilton to the title last year, is the third champion from a country a quarter of whose land area is inside the Arctic Circle. Raikkonen followed Mika Hakkinen - champion in 1998 and 99 - and the trailblazer Keke Rosberg, winner in 1982. That is the same number of champions as Brazil, which has a population 40 times bigger. Even the UK, with eight champions, is four times less successful than Finland given its size.
According to Kovalainen, Lehto and Salo, driving as fast as possible is a common Finnish rite of passage. "I bought cars worth maybe £50 with two or three friends and then drove around on the back roads," Salo says. "Not closed roads, but a dead end. We used friends to stop people coming the other way. I was probably 13. I only needed to go two kilometres from my house to find dirt roads where we could thrash the cars. A lot of people do that. You get really brave."
This would generally be on gravel roads, where cars slide more easily than on asphalt. But in Finland even the asphalt roads are covered in snow for much of the winter. And snow-mobiling - where the legendary Canadian Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve developed his skills - is a popular pastime. So the ability to control a motorised vehicle on the very edge of adhesion is a skill Finns have to develop early.
There is also less to distract boys in Finland from their speed thrills than there is in other countries. Football is not so heavily ingrained in the national culture and, while the main national sport is ice hockey, a huge number of kids from as young as six race go-karts - the motor sport in which most grand-prix drivers cut their teeth.
"Go-karting is very popular in Finland," says Lehto. "It has been since the '60s, and it's growing and growing. A lot of people have it as a hobby." At the same time, there is a reasonably well-developed motor sport infrastructure, so anyone who wants to take their racing to a level beyond leisure-oriented go-kart tracks can do so.
Nevertheless, Finland's small size and isolation have traditionally meant that aspiring racing drivers find it even more difficult to raise the huge sums of money required to pursue a career in motor racing than those elsewhere.
Despite the success of their countrymen, many Finns still do not view motor racing as a sport - a fact reflected last year when Raikkonen, the first Finn to win the drivers' title for eight years, was only third in a vote to establish the country's most popular sportsman, behind a javelin thrower and a cross-country skier who had previously been banned for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Paradoxically that can be a help - the lack of support ensures the drivers who do make it on to the European ladder to formula one are those who possess the iron determination and commitment they will need to reach the top.
"I took out loans from family, from banks. I sold everything I had," says Salo. "I used to work during school time so I could buy a car for myself. I managed to pay for a season in Formula Ford. I took a risk because I knew I was good enough. Some people just don't have this will. The main thing is you need to like the sport so much that you will do all these things for it. I basically stopped living because I wanted to drive so much."
In this quest, Finns have one final advantage. "Our mentality is very good for racing - never give up," Salo says. "Very stubborn, jealous and selfish people. So you'd rather do well yourself than let somebody else do well."
That characteristic, which Lehto describes as "very hard-headed", goes hand-in-hand with another quality the teams prize most highly in their Finnish drivers - implacability and coolness. Raikkonen is known as the "ice man" for his extreme calm under pressure - a quality Hakkinen shared. And some of Rosberg's greatest victories came when difficult conditions induced mistakes in his rivals.
"It's not only F1," says Salo. "It's a similar thing with rallying [another sport in which Finns excel]. Everyone is very calm -
not a lot of mistakes. I don't know why it is, but I am the same. Emotional things don't affect what I do at all.
"It's pretty much normal here. Things like family stuff and so on are not close to us. During my time in F1 my grandfather and grandmother died, and I never even went to the funeral. It was not a big thing for me, and I believe it's the same here for everybody."
And now, after a quarter of a century of Finnish success, the conveyor belt has developed its own momentum.
"There isn't a day goes by," says Lehto, "when motor sport is not in the news in Finland. Having had three world champions, everyone thinks they can do it."
They cannot, of course. But there are, Salo says, "a few good ones coming through", who have the talent to make it all the way to the top. The Finnish success story in formula one, it seems, will just run and run.

Flying Finns
Three champions ... and a future project

Keke Rosberg
Champion 1982
GPs 114
Wins 5
Poles 5
Won drivers' championship in his first season in a a competitive car for Williams at relatively late age of 29. Now son Nico (born in Germany) drives for Williams.

Mika Hakkinen
Champion 1998, 1999
GPs 161
Wins 20
Poles 26
Only he and Fernando Alonso beat Michael Schumacher to the title more than once.

Kimi Raikkonen
Champion 2007
GPs 121
Wins 15
Poles 14
Reigning champion. Equalled Schumacher's record 10 fastest laps in a season in 2005. Married to a former Miss Scandinavia.

Heikki Kovalainen
GPs 17
Wins 0
Poles 0
Stepped up to McLaren this year. In recent testing set a lap record for a V8 car at Jerez. Consistently in the points in first season.

Finland analysis: How good are those 5.3m people in other walks of life?

Formula one
Occupy two of the Big Four seats, including the reigning champion.

Rallying
An impressive 6 world champions: Ari Vatanen (1981), Hannu Mikkola (1983), Juha Kankkunen (1986, 1987, 1991 & 1993), Timo Salonen (1985), Marcus Gronholm (2000, 2002) and Tommi Makinen (1996- 99).
In addition, Markku Alen won the drivers' cup in 1978 before the series was granted world championship status

Wife-carrying
Hosts world championships in Sonkajarvi each July but no home winner since 1997 - the Estonians have won the past 10 events.

Large-scale gift-giving
Santa Claus has made the province of Lapland his own.

Quality of life
Rated 11th best country to live in by a recent UN report.

Verdict
Emmeline Pankhurst-friendly nation of affluent, wife-carrying speed merchants who have swapped their historical prowess as chauvinistic freighters for slaloming through forests while alarming neighbours with comedy gothic rock.

Rosberg Fearful over Singapore Safety

Williams driver Nico Rosberg concedes drivers are still jittery about Formula One's first floodlit race through the city streets of Singapore on September 28.

"Safety is always a concern for street races, and that plus being under the floodlights at night -- safety is a bit of a question mark still," the 22-year-old German said of the night-time race on an untested street circuit.Rosberg said he had no idea how tearing through the streets of the Lion City at more than 300 kph at night would differ from racing in daylight.
"I couldn't tell you because I've never driven at night. I've never tested. There's no tracks with lights so you can't really prepare," he added.

However Rosberg, who finished a career-best third at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, was convinced Formula One authorities would iron out the safety issues.
"I'm sure the FIA has done their job and I think it'll be a great event."
Rosberg, whose father Keke won the world championship in 1982, put an end to two years of frustration on Sunday by claiming a podium place, but it was an achievement just to finish the chaotic Albert Park race.

What a start to the 2008 F1 season !!!!!

It didn't take long for my predictions to come true... Nico Rosberg got the first podium of his carreer in Formula 1 on the first race of the season that proved to be quite eventful start to the 2008 F1 championship and Sebastien Bourdais got a top 8 finish...

Pos Driver Team Pts

1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 10
2 Nick Heidfeld BMW 8
3 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 6
4 Fernando Alonso Renault 5
5 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 4
6 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 3
7 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 2
8 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1

Sebastien Bourdais could have had a 5th place finish except for an engine failure 3 laps from the end.

Ferrari had many troubles and could only get 1 point from Kimi's extravagant day on the track.

A season that promises a lot of surprises and the probable rise of GP2 drivers used to the non traction controlled cars as opposed to the more experienced F1 drivers.

I'l be in Malaysia next week for the Grand Prix and will post all the pictures from the "hottest" race on earth... Sepang - Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

Have a great week ....

Unleash Your Inner Speedster with Nico Rosberg

SCHUMACHER-wannabes can fulfil their car racing fantasies once more with the RBS Grand Prix Challenge.

Now in its second year, the challenge lets speed demons get behind the wheel of the F1 racing simulator, brought in by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), an official partner of the AT&T Williams F1 team.
RBS has been a major sponsor of the Williams team since 2005. The virtual track is made up of the best straights, corners and chicanes from various circuits including Silverstone, Montreal and Monaco. The simulator will be parked at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza till tomorrow. It will then move to Raffles Place from March 10 to 14.

Anyone above 18 can have a go at the leader board. Holders of the two fastest
lap times from both venues will be invited to race against Williams F1 driver Nico Rosberg on March 18 at the National Museum. The top racer will win a pair of grandstand tickets to September’s Singapore Grand Prix.