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Posts Tagged ‘Fernando Alonso’
Louis Ducruet Uncommon Public Appearance
May 15th, 2010 |
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As a womb-to-tomb supporter of AS Principality of Monaco, Louis Ducruet is a lot more than habitual to taking in the on pitch activity from the safety of the by-lines.
That week, although, Princess Stephanie and previous Palace guard Daniel Ducruet’s better-looking son made an uncommon appearance in the highlight – participating in a charity football [...]
Ferrari gives Alonso his best car
February 22nd, 2010 |
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Double world champion Fernando Alonso believes the new Ferrari F10 is the best car he has driven and says the team were hiding their true potential in last week’s Jerez test. “As of today, this is the best car I’ve ever had,” the Spaniard, who won the world title in 2005 and 2006 with Renault,
Spaniard backed to put the skids under Schuey
January 14th, 2010 |
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Michael Schumacher could rue his departure from Ferrari because Fernando Alonso is perfectly placed to beat him to the drivers title again, team boss Stefano Domenicali said yesterday. Seven-time Formula One world champion Schumacher, 41, has come out of retirement this season to race for
Schumacher makes shock F1 return
July 29th, 2009 |
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By Andrew Benson
Michael Schumacher is not ruling out the possibility of standing in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.
The Brazilian is recovering in hospital after suffering a fractured skull at the Hungarian Grand Prix and is likely to be out for the rest of the year.
"The whole thing will be considered by Ferrari. If they approach Michael, then he will consider it," the seven-time champion’s spokeswoman told BBC Sport.
"But there is no reason for him to step into their discussion."
Schumacher, who retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2006 season, told the BBC in an interview at the German Grand Prix two weeks ago that he was not interested in returning to F1.
However, his spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said that was a reference to a permanent return.
"Usually, I would say he’s not interested because he’s fine with his life and he doesn’t miss anything but now the situation is so different – it’s very hypothetical – and Michael doesn’t want to step into that [discussion]," she stated.
She added that Schumacher still trained every day but that she did not know whether he was fit enough to race an F1 car again.
"Michael had an accident [motorcycle] in February when he had a neck problem – and I really can’t tell you if his neck would be fine to drive an F1 race," she said.
"If Ferrari asked him whether he would consider driving, he would have it checked – and remember he is a 40-year-old man, too."
Massa has had surgery on a fractured skull sustained when a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn hit him on the helmet at more than 160mph during qualifying in Hungary on Saturday.
He is in a "severe but not critical" condition, according to the hospital that is treating him in Budapest and there is also concern about damage to his left eye.
The surgeon treating him, Robert Veres, revealed it was "too early to say" whether Massa would be able to compete again.
But he will almost certainly not be able to drive at the next race, the European Grand Prix in Valencia in Spain on 23 August – and probably not for the rest of the year either.
606: DEBATE"I don’t think it will happen, but as a big Schumacher fan I would love it, if he did."
Steven Davis 7
That means Ferrari need to find a team-mate for Kimi Raikkonen for the Valencia race.
Schumacher, who won a record 91 grands prix in his career, is under contract to the team after taking on a consultancy role following his retirement.
The German is close to Massa, who was his team-mate in his final season, and has taken a close interest in the Brazilian’s career.
But he has not driven an F1 car since 2007 and may consider that he has nothing to gain from a temporary return.
A number of other drivers have been mentioned as possible replacements for Massa.
Among them is Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who is expected to move to Ferrari in 2010 anyway – although the team have not confirmed that report and the Spaniard has denied it.
Renault have been banned from the Valencia race after allowing Alonso to return to the track with a loose wheel following a pit stop.
The wheel and its fairing both became detached from the car as he toured slowly back to the pits – an alarming sight only 24 hours after Massa’s accident.
Renault have appealed against the decision to suspend them and a hearing of the court of appeal of governing body the FIA is expected in the next couple of weeks.
It has been speculated that Alonso’s move to Ferrari may simply be brought forward – but that would leave Renault without a recognised top driver for the rest of the season.
The team were on the verge of sacking Alonso’s team-mate Nelson Piquet before the Hungarian race and while Alonso, a two-time world champion, qualified on pole in Hungary, Piquet qualified 15th and finished 12th in a similar car.
Ferrari have two reserve drivers, the Spaniard Marc Gene and the veteran Italian Luca Badoer.
Spaniard Gene – who raced intermittently for Williams as a stand-in during 2003/2004 and has competed in 36 races with a best result of sixth – is the more likely to be given the drive.
Badoer has been a test driver for Ferrari but has not raced since 1999 and has never scored a world championship point.
A number of other drivers have been mentioned as possible stand-ins.
The most qualified, Schumacher aside, is BBC F1 pundit David Coulthard, who won 13 grands prix before retiring at the end of last season. He is under contract to Red Bull, who would need to give him permission to race if Ferrari approached him.
Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, who was sacked by the Toro Rosso team before the Hungarian Grand Prix, has been mentioned as he has the same manager as Massa – Frenchman Nicolas Todt.
And last winter, Italian Formula Three champion Mirko Bortolotti reportedly impressed Ferrari in a test. The 19-year-old is racing in Formula Two this season.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Hamilton deflects credit after triumph
July 26th, 2009 |
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• Driver praises McLaren’s preparations for Hungaroring
• ‘We have caught up quite a bit. The car felt fantastic’
Lewis Hamilton said he and McLaren had never given up hope before winning today’s Hungarian grand prix, their first victory since China in October 2008. The British driver, whose car had underperformed all season, came from fourth on the grid to win, helped by Fernando Alonso, the early leader, being eliminated when a tyre flew off his Renault.
“It’s an incredible feeling to be back here after what feels such a long time away and with such a struggle with me and my team,” said Hamilton, pictured left. “I’m just so proud of the guys, as I go into the factory and I see how hard everyone is pushing. Everyone wants to win just as much as I do.
“They have never given up, which is something very rare to see in such a large group of people. I am very proud of them. We didn’t expect to win this weekend. Undoubtedly we have caught up quite a bit but we never felt we had the pace to win. But the car felt fantastic and it is incredibly special to get back up here, not only on the podium, but to get a win. It’s amazing.”
Hamilton, the reigning world champion, has suffered a deeply frustrating season with a car which, until now, has been woefully off the pace. The Briton’s new competitiveness was confirmed on lap one when he accelerated past Mark Webber, who finished third in his Red Bull, a place behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
“We have made some serious improvements and now it is a much better balanced car,” Hamilton said. “Even though we had fantastic pace today it could have gone either way. The wind direction maybe could have changed and perhaps it would have suited the Ferrari or the Red Bull better than us. But everything just sort of fell into place today… For sure, we hope that we can compete for more podiums but we still have work to do. We have just got to keep pushing.”
It was not such a good day for Jenson Button, whose championship lead was cut to 18½ points after he finished a distant seventh. Button and Brawn GP had been hoping to return to form after two disappointing races. “Today, after four laps, my tyres were destroyed,” lamented Button, who started from eighth on the grid. “I just couldn’t keep up with the cars in front. The plan was to stay with them and then, because I had more fuel on board, go a lot longer and make up places. But I don’t know why we had the problem with the tyres. I don’t think we can blame the weather today.
“You could say that McLaren and Ferrari have improved but the fact is that our car is not what it was to drive two or three races ago. There is obviously an issue and we need to solve it. The only positive for us is that [Sebastian] Vettel didn’t score points and Webber only finished third. We were helped in that respect by McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen finishing second for Ferrari.”
Renault were suspended from the next race in Spain after Alonso had left the pits with an insecure front wheel that fell off on the next lap. Renault have appealed against the decision.
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Hamilton returns to winning ways
July 26th, 2009 |
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• ‘It’s been a long time’ says delighted McLaren driver
• Fernando Alonso handed suspension for European grand prix
Lewis Hamilton had almost forgotten the routine for the first three finishers. Today the world champion, for two seasons so familiar with it, had to remind himself of the procedure after winning the Hungarian grand prix and finishing on the podium for the first time in 2009.
“Great to see you. It’s been a long time,” he said as he walked beaming into the conference room along with Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber. Hamilton’s obvious pleasure came from reacquainting himself with spraying victory champagne and appreciating the McLaren team’s efforts in returning him to the podium. “This has been a huge leap for us,” he said. “We definitely deserve this after such a long time and after a season that has been very hard on everyone in the team.”
Once the McLaren engineers had finally established the fundamental faults with a car that Hamilton had, at times, found impossible to drive, the Woking team worked flat out to produce and test new parts, the latest changes to the front wing arriving on Friday. Hamilton rewarded the effort by qualifying fourth but confessed yesterday that he did not expect to win.
“It could have gone either way,” he said. “But everything just sort of fell into place. I had quite a good start. It was very close and I immediately got into a fight with Mark [Webber]. He was very fair and I was able to use Kers to good advantage.”
McLaren and Ferrari are the only two teams persisting with Kers energy retention, a system which was not expected to deliver a significant performance advantage on the twists and turns of the Hungaroring. But Hamilton and Raikkonen, who finished second for Ferrari, used the 6.5sec power boost on the main straight as a means of keeping the opposition at bay.
Hamilton’s cause was helped by Renault’s plans for a first win this season coming apart within 12 laps. Fernando Alonso had claimed pole position by running with a light load of fuel during qualifying and planning to stop three times for fuel as opposed to the two-stop strategy favoured by everyone else. Alonso took the lead as planned but was soon slowed by fuel pump problems. The denouement for the former world champion was more embarrassing when he lost a front wheel shortly after his first pit stop, letting Hamilton into a lead he would not lose.
Renault, world champions in 2006 and 2007, were suspended from the next race in Valencia, a home grand prix for Alonso. The team have appealed. The stewards decided that Alonso was released from his pit in the knowledge that the wheel securing nut was not in position “which resulted in a heavy part of the car detaching at Turn 5 and the wheel itself detaching at Turn 9″. It is perhaps no coincidence that the decision comes a week after Henry Surtees was killed by an errant wheel at Brands Hatch.
“Maybe we would not have won but we definitely missed an opportunity to finish on the podium,” said Alonso, before hearing the stewards’ decision. “The car was quick but there was a problem fitting the right-front wheel at the first pit stop. When I left the pits there was a lot of vibration and it felt like I had a puncture. But then a few corners later the wheel flew off my car. I made it back to the pits for a replacement but a problem I’d had with my fuel pump since lap two returned and I had to retire.”
It might have been Raikkonen assuming the lead had the Finn managed to overtake Hamilton during an eventful first lap as the Ferrari driver elbowed his way past Nico Rosberg’s Williams, the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.
“I had a collision on the first corner with Kimi,” said Vettel. “I was on the inside and had a clear run to accelerate, his car came sideways and we touched. He crashed into my car; it can happen. At some point the front-left suspension gave up and we had to retire the car. There are still a few races left this season and the championship fight is still on.”
Vettel dropped to third place on the points standings after Webber finished on the podium for the fourth race in succession. “I think Lewis thoroughly deserved to win today,” said Webber. “It was a good day for the sport to have McLaren and Ferrari back up there.”
Jenson Button, although disappointed with the performance of his Brawn, ought to agree because Hamilton and Raikkonen claimed points that otherwise would have gone to Webber, now Button’s closest championship rival. Button’s team never fully recovered from the setback during qualifying when a rear spring fell off Rubens Barrichello’s car and caused the serious accident involving Felipe Massa. Button’s qualifying was compromised as safety checks were made to his car but the championship leader was not happy from the outset of the race, complaining that he could barely drive the car.
Hamilton had made similar comments about his McLaren during previous races and Button can only hope that his team can recover lost ground during the summer break before the European grand prix on 23 August.
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Buoyant Hamilton surprised to win
July 26th, 2009 |
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Lewis Hamilton insisted that he and McLaren were surprised at being able to record their first win of a challenging season at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Leading 2009 teams Brawn GP and Red Bull had left the world champion and his British team struggling to compete but recent upgrades are now paying off.
"We didn’t expect to win this weekend," Hamilton, 24, told BBC Sport.
"We have caught up quite a bit but we didn’t think we had the pace to win. It’s incredibly special."
McLaren – second in the 2008 constructors’ championship – started the season with a car that often left Hamilton bemoaning its lack of downforce as he struggled to finish in the points in most races.
But a new front wing, diffuser and engine cover, introduced at the last race in Germany, have improved the car’s pace by about 0.8 seconds a lap.
ANDREW BENSON BLOG
Hamilton, who qualified in fourth, maximised that improved performance with a smooth drive to clinch the 10th grand prix win of his career – and his first podium finish of this season – ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Mark Webber at the Hungaroring.
"It’s a huge turnaround," he admitted. "But we said at the beginning of the season that if anyone can do this, it’s us.
"If we had this car at the beginning of season we would be winning. We always said we were six months behind the top guys.
"I hope the guys back at the factory get a good break these next few weeks. It was only a race ago, when we were in Germany, that I first had a little bit of excitement about the car."
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the English driver, who used his Kers energy storage and power-boost system to challenge Renault’s pole-sitter Fernando Alonso and the Red Bull cars from the start, refused to get carried away.
"We need to take as much as we can from this weekend and continue pushing," he stated.
"We have some work to do to be able to beat these guys on a regular basis but it is one huge leap for us.
"Clearly, we’ve got a good car and we’ve made some serious improvements but even though we had a fantastic car today it could have gone either way.
"Everything fell into place today. We hope we can compete for more podiums but we still have work to do."
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said the team would have a further upgrade package ready for the next race – the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 23 August – and that they expected to be able to compete at the front again.
"I think we’re going to be strong there," he added. "But we have to improve our high-speed performance to be strong in Spa. So we have to keep pushing.
"But, for the team, it is a great reward for a lot of hard work.
606: DEBATEEL NANDO
"It has been a very difficult year. We don’t like not winning and we want to win some more.
"We have been out of the championship hunt. But we can have a big impact on the championship now because we can take points from anyone and we want to go out and win some races.
"Today we were clearly dominant. From lap 20 Lewis was saying, ‘shout me the lap time you want me to do and I’ll do it, this is easy’. He was in great form – and that happens when you’re in the groove."</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Hamilton returns to winning ways
July 26th, 2009 |
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• Hamilton scores first victory since October
• Raikkonen faces steward inquiry over crash
Lewis Hamilton produced a faultless display in Hungary to claim his and McLaren’s first grand prix victory of the season, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Mark Webber.
The reigning formula one world champion began the race in fourth place on the grid, but made a superb passing move on Webber to take second place after five laps, before the leader Fernando Alonso went into the pits after claiming pole position with a light fuel load.
Alonso was forced out of the race shortly after his pit stop, when a problem with his right front tyre saw it fly off the Renault and bounce down the track. It was a worrying moment in the race, thoughts of Henry Surtees’ tragic death and Felipe Massa’s accident on Saturday inevitably coming to mind.
But Hamilton, who assumed the race lead when Alonso pitted, maintained his composure to produce the kind of race that have made him one of the most respected drivers on the grid.
There were few threats from other competitors, and he crossed the finish line 70 laps later with Raikkonen and Webber taking second and third positions.
A naturally delighted Hamilton said: “It’s an incredible feeling to be back here after what feels such a long time away and given the struggles for my team. But I’m so proud of them. They’ve never given up, which is so rare to see in a large group of people.
“We didn’t expect to win this weekend. Naturally we’ve caught up, but we didn’t think we had the pace, so it’s very special to win this one.”
Raikkonen could yet be stripped of second following a first-corner collision with Sebastian Vettel that is to be investigated by the stewards.
Webber closed the gap to Jenson Button at the top of the driver’s standings to 18.5 points. The world championship leader had his worst result of the season in the Brawn GP car, finishing in seventh place.
Result
1 Lewis Hamilton
2 Kimi Räikkönen +11.5 secs
3 Mark Webber +16.8 secs
4 Nico Rosberg +26.9 secs
5 Heikki Kovalainen +34.3 secs
6 Timo Glock +35.2 secs
7 Jenson Button +55.0 secs
8 Jarno Trulli +68.1 secs
9 Kazuki Nakajima +68.7 secs
10 Rubens Barrichello +69.2 secs
Overall standings
1) Jenson Button 70
2) Mark Webber 51.5
3) Sebastian Vettel 47
4) Rubens Barrichello 44
5) Nico Rosberg 25.5
6) Jarno Trulli 22.5
7) Felipe Massa 22
8) Lewis Hamilton 19
9) Kimi Räikkönen 18
10) Timo Glock 16
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Hamilton grabs first win of 2009
July 26th, 2009 |
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By Andrew Benson
BBC Sport at the Hungaroring
Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix to take his first victory since October last year and complete a remarkable turnaround for McLaren.
The Englishman took the lead after pole-sitter Fernando Alonso’s Renault made an early pit stop and dominated ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was third with Jenson Button down in seventh.
The Australian replaces team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who retired, in second place in the world championship, cutting Button’s lead to 18.5 points.
Vettel, who suffered a front suspension failure while running eighth on lap 27 of 70, slips to 23 points behind the Englishman with seven races remaining and a maximum of 70 points available.
Nico Rosberg was fourth for Williams ahead of Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, Toyota’s Timo Glock, Button and the second Toyota of Jarno Trulli.
Red Bull, who dominated the last two races in Britain and Germany, put in a surprisingly uncompetitive performance but they were in much better shape than Button.
The Englishman qualified eighth, but was starting on a heavy fuel load and was optimistic he would have a strong race. Instead, he was unable to make any impression on the cars at the front.
For the first time this season, that meant McLaren, whose form here confirmed that the revised aerodynamics they introduced in Germany two weeks ago have transformed the car.
McLaren started the season with an uncompetitive car, struggling in most races to even get into the points. Hamilton, the reigning world champion, had not even managed to finish on the podium until winning this race.
But a new front wing, diffuser and engine cover introduced at the last race have improved the car’s pace by about 0.8 seconds a lap
Hamilton qualified fourth, but used his Kers energy storage and power-boost system to challenge the leaders at the start.
Alonso got a good start from pole position and retained first place but Hamilton briefly got up into second place at the first corner before being repassed by Webber.
The Red Bull was expected to be the strongest car in the race but, while Alonso initially built a small gap, Webber found himself under pressure from Hamilton, who passed him on lap five and proceeded to pull away and close on the Renault.
Alonso, who had planned to do a three-stop strategy in contrast to the two stops of most of the rest of the field, pulled in for his pit stop on lap 11.
He was released a fraction too early before the right front wheel was fully attached and it parted company with the car part way around the lap and was forced to retire with the consequent damage and a fuel pump problem.
By the time all the front-runners had done their stops, Hamilton had a six-second lead over Raikkonen and he was able to control the race from the front.
Webber slipped behind Raikkonen after a problem with a front wheel at his pit stop and he was also passed by Toyota’s Timo Glock as he rejoined.
Red Bull chose the opposite tyre strategy from the other front-running teams, running the harder of the two tyre options for the first two stints of the race before switching to the softer for the final stint.
Whatever the reason, the Red Bulls lacked their recent pace but Webber drove consistently well to the final podium position and make it a good race for him from a championship point of view.
By contrast, his team-mate Vettel had a disastrous weekend, making a poor start from second on the grid and running eighth in the early laps.
He was running behind Rosberg when he suffered a front suspension failure on lap 27 and was forced to retire.
Toyota, both of whose drivers qualified outside the top 10, used a long first stint to put themselves in contention for the minor points places.
Button finally showed some pace in the closing laps once the track was coated in rubber and he was back on the softer tyres after using the harder ones in the middle stint.
That lifted him to seventh from eighth, but he will still be concerned at a third consecutive uncompetitive race.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Massa suffers skull fracture in crash
July 26th, 2009 |
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• Massa flown to hospital for immediate surgery above left eye
• Fernando Alonso on pole following timing system failure
Felipe Massa was airlifted to a Budapest hospital with a skull fracture as the result of an injury received during qualifying for today’s Hungarian grand prix. The Brazilian was knocked unconscious when a spring, which had become detached from the rear suspension of Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn, struck Massa on the head as he reached 175mph on one of the fastest sections of the Hungaroring.
The Ferrari cut the inside of the left-hand bend that followed soon after, ran straight across a run-off area and embedded itself in a quadruple-layer tyre barrier. The qualifying session was stopped as Massa was removed to the track’s medical centre and stabilised before being flown to hospital, where he successfully underwent emergency surgery. The hospital released a statement last night saying Massa’s condition is serious but stable, adding that surgeons expect him to be awoken this morning after being kept sedated on a respirator overnight.
The spring, weighing around 700 grammes, had somehow penetrated the top of his visor and injured Massa above the left eye, perilously close to the cornea. The accident came six days after 18-year-old Henry Surtees died of injuries received when he was struck on the head by an errant wheel in another freak accident during a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch.
The Brawn team is trying to understand why a standard suspension part, which had previously given no trouble, should suddenly come adrift. The Brawn of Barrichello’s team-mate, Jenson Button, received a thorough check, the delay preventing the leader of the championship from completing as many laps as he would have liked when the final part of qualifying, Q3, resumed. As this crucial phase of the weekend neared its conclusion, qualifying descended to farce when the electronic timing systems failed.
The nine remaining drivers in Q3 climbed from their cars without knowing who had won pole. Each driver had his individual lap time showing on the cockpit display and it was only by comparing times that Fernando Alonso began to realise he had qualified on pole position for the first time in almost two years. “This was a really stressful qualifying,” said the Renault driver. “There was a yellow flag towards the end of Q1 and, at that stage, I was 15th fastest and in danger of not making it [among the fastest 15] to Q2.
“When the track was clear, I had just one lap to do a time without making mistakes and I managed it. Then, at the end, the timing was not working. I asked other drivers what time they had done in order to get a reference and when everyone was saying times which were slower than mine, I started to get excited.”
Mark Webber did not think he had done enough. The winner of the previous grand prix in Germany was heading for a shower when told he would be joining his Red Bull team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, in the press conference for the fastest three qualifiers. “I made a mistake at Turn 2, so I knew Sebastian was faster,” said Webber. “But I thought I hadn’t been quick enough. I had no idea who was on pole. So congratulations to Fernando; that makes it three Renault-engined cars at the front. And Seb and I are in a position to capitalise on the Brawns not doing so well.”
The problem with Barrichello’s car consigned the Brazilian to the 13th fastest time, five places behind Button. It was not the performance Brawn had hoped for after introducing development parts that should have combined with the tight, twisting circuit to return the championship leaders to the front after disappointing races at the Nürburgring and Silverstone.
“I missed most of Q3,” said Button. “We had a failure at the back of Rubens’s car, so we changed my car and put a new part on. That took time and meant I missed my first run. I therefore had more fuel on board than I should have done when doing my time at the end of the session. Eighth is not great and I’m starting on the dirty side of the track.”
Button is hoping that Lewis Hamilton, fourth fastest, will use the Kers performance boost on the McLaren to overtake the Red Bulls on the downhill run to the first corner. There could also be unintentional assistance from Alonso, who is not expecting to win after qualifying with a very light load of fuel.
“It’s always nice to start from pole, especially here because overtaking is difficult,” said Alonso. “Also, this circuit is special for me because I won my first grand prix here in 2003. But, to be honest, our aim is to get on to the podium for the first time this season.” Rather than thinking about Alonso, Vettel is more concerned about the immediate challenge from behind, not only from Hamilton and the fifth-place Williams of Nico Rosberg, but Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren and the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, both of which have the Kers energy retention system.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle, so it’s a bit of a surprise to be on the front row,” said Vettel. “The main thing is that we are ahead of the Brawns. The biggest threat is right behind us and it’s a question of whether they will pass us on the right or the left on the run to the first corner.”
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Massa crashes in qualifying race
July 25th, 2009 |
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• Alonso takes pole with Red Bull duo second and third
• Button qualifies in eighth with Hamilton fourth
Felipe Massa is to undergo surgery following his accident in today’s Hungarian grand prix qualifying.
Although word emerged after a chaotic session that Massa was “okay” after being airlifted to a nearby Budapest hospital, Ferrari later confirmed the Brazilian would need an operation.
A statement read: “After the accident during the qualifying session, Felipe was airlifted to the AEK hospital in Budapest. Felipe was conscious at the arrival of the hospital, and his general conditions remain stable.
“Following a complete medical examination, it emerged he had suffered a cut on his forehead, bone damage to his skull and a brain concussion. These conditions need to be operated on after which he will remain under observation in intensive care.”
A Ferrari official confirmed the Brazilian “was hit by something on the helmet, losing control of the car” in the closing stages of the middle 15-minute session. Both team principal Stefano Domenicali and team spokesperson Luca Colajanni later confirmed Massa was out of the event.
The 28-year-old was struck by a piece of debris deposited by Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP.
Replays showed a part of the car coming off the Brawn and bouncing along the same area of the Hungaroring track where the drama began for Massa. Massa later caught the debris, on one of his hot laps, which then bounced up, striking his helmet and knocking him unconscious. Massa’s feet must have relaxed at that point, one on the throttle as on-screen graphics showed it remained open, the other on the brake as there were skid marks across the considerable run-off area before he ploughed nose first into a tyre barrier. The fact Massa made no attempt to turn out of the impact appeared to underline the fact he was not conscious as he hurtled into the tyres.
With Massa stricken in the car, photographs later emerged showing a fist-sized dent in his helmet, and with his visor up, there was a large cut over a blackened left eye. Massa was soon attended to by trackside medics before being taken to the circuit’s medical centre, then to hospital for further examination 22 minutes after his crash.
To add to the drama, the timing screens went black towards the end of the top-10 shootout, throwing everybody into confusion as not even the drivers had a clue as to who had taken pole. After several minutes, it finally came through that Fernando Alonso for Renault had taken pole, followed by the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, with Lewis Hamilton fourth for McLaren.
It was the double world champion’s first pole since the Italian Grand Prix in 2007, and the 18th of his career. Explaining the chaos at the end, Alonso said: “We were chatting amongst ourselves in parc ferme trying to find out what happened. It was a fantastic effort from the team. We put in some new parts at the Nurburging [German Grand Prix], and we’ve showed we have made a step forward.”
Behind world champion Hamilton will be Williams’ Nico Rosberg, the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with championship leader Jenson Button down in eighth. The heat of Budapest was meant to aid Button’s cause after the cool of Britain and Germany had led to Red Bull one-twos in the last two races. But not even the sunshine could come to Button’s aid, and his 21-point lead in the title race threatens to be eroded further at the Hungaroring.
Behind Button are Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima, with Massa 10th as he naturally took no part in the closing 10 minutes, however, he will be in a position to race tomorrow.
In the 15-minute Q2, the biggest loser was Rubens Barrichello, with the Brazilian failing to make it into the top 10 for the first time this season due to the part that broke off his car.
The 37-year-old will start a miserable 13th, with that failure potentially wrecking his championship chances, which could now prompt Brawn into putting all their eggs into Button’s basket.
Although rookie Jaime Alguersuari became the youngest to take part in a Formula One qualifying session, there was no fairytale for the 19-year-old. Alguersuari had run faultlessly through three practice sessions, at least proving he was anything but “a danger” as suggested by triple world champion Niki Lauda.
In qualifying, however, Alguersuari was undermined by an electrical fault that forced him to pull his Toro Rosso off track in the final sector. Come the conclusion of the 20-minute period, Alguersuari sat at the bottom of the timesheets, in many respects where he was expected to finish even if his car had not let him down.
Grid positions after qualifying
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1min 21.569secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:21.607, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21.741, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:21.839, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:21.890, 6 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:22.095, 7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:22.468, 8 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:22.511, 9 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:22.835, 10 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.002, 11 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.082, 12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:21.222, 13 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:21.242, 14 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:21.389, 15 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:21.738, 16 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:21.807, 17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:21.868, 18 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:21.901, 19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.359. Not racing: 10 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari No time
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Webber battles to maiden F1 win
July 12th, 2009 |
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By Andrew Benson
BBC Sport at Nurburgring
Red Bull’s Mark Webber scored his maiden Formula 1 win with a brilliant performance at the German Grand Prix after a drive-through penalty.
Webber was punished for colliding with Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello at the start but was in a class of his own to dominate the race despite his handicap.
Sebastian Vettel made it a Red Bull one-two ahead of Felipe Massa.
Barrichello finished sixth behind Williams’s Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button while Lewis Hamilton was last.
Button remains in the world championship lead on 68 points, but Vettel and Webber have leap-frogged over Barrichello.
The German is 21 points behind Button with Webber just 1.5 points behind his team-mate and Webber the same margin ahead of Barrichello.
Starting from pole position, Webber was an odds-on favourite heading into the race but he made life difficult for himself from the moment the lights went out at the start.
"It’s an incredible day for me. I wanted to win so badly"
Mark Webber
He was slow off the line and in trying – and failing – to prevent Barrichello passing him he swerved at the Brawn and the two cars touched.
The stewards took a dim view of the manoeuvre and handed Webber a drive-through penalty, which meant he had to drive through the pits – where there is a 120km/h speed limit – before rejoining the race.
But crucially Red Bull left Webber as long as they could before bringing him in to serve the penalty on lap 14.
Because his team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Button had been held up after being passed by the slower McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen at the start, Webber was able to rejoin in the lead and set about re-building his advantage.
The race further fell into his lap because Barrichello, who made his first pit stop when Webber came in for his penalty, and he came out behind Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, which held him up until his first pit stop on lap 25.
So although Webber dropped to eighth after his first pit stop on lap 19, he was able to close the gap on Barrichello in second place.
And by the time all drivers had made their stops, Webber was back in the lead by just after half distance.
From there, he was able to cruise to a well-deserved first victory while the Brawns were left with deteriorating tyres to hold off the charging Fernando Alonso of Renault.
"It’s an incredible day for me," said Webber. "I wanted to win so badly.
"The only thing in the end I though was going to beat me, or test me even more, was the rain. But even that held off.
"It was a little bit testing. Obviously I lost Barrichello completely off the start. I thought he’d gone a little bit to the left so I went to the right and banged into him, and that’s not normally my style.
"I had to recover [from the drive-through penalty], my engineer kept me quite calm and I pushed as hard as I could."
Struggling to make their tyres work in the cool temperatures, Brawn chose a three-stop strategy, but they spent too long behind slower cars to make it work.
And Button, seeing the startling pace of the Red Bulls, will be relieved that his team have a major upgrade package to come for the next race in Hungary in two weeks’ time.
Hamilton had fancied his chances of scoring a podium finish after qualifying fifth – and a fuel-corrected third fastest.
But after benefiting from his Kers power-boost system to contest the lead with Webber and Barrichello going into the first corner, Hamilton missed his braking point and ran wide.
He got a puncture and rejoined last where for some reason the McLaren, which has a major aerodynamic upgrade this weekend, did not show the pace it had on Saturday.</p
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Lewis Hamilton fastest in practice
July 10th, 2009 |
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• Briton unexpectedly tops standings at Nürburgring
• Sebastian Vettel third fastest ahead of Jensen Button
Lewis Hamilton pulled off a major surprise by setting the fastest time in practice for Sunday’s German grand prix. The world champion had the No1 alongside his name, to match that on his car, for only the second time in practice in what has so far been a season to forget.
Hamilton had suggested yesterday that little would change in the wake of a wretched sequence of results which has seen him fail to make the second round of qualifying at the last three grands prix.
With just nine points from eight races to date, Hamilton currently trails the championship leader Jenson Button by 55 points, with McLaren’s focus already starting to switch towards next season. Yet the 24-year-old found himself out in front at the end of the two 90-minute sessions at the Nürburgring – the scene of the worst accident of his career two years ago when he his car ploughed nose first into a barrier at 175mph.
Despite a late spin, Hamilton put up a time of 1min 32.149sec that no-one was able to better in the closing stages, pushing Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel down into second.
Vettel had looked set to cheer his home fans by taking top spot, but the 22-year-old was 0.182sec adrift. Button was third in his Brawn, just 0.220sec down, whilst Mark Webber – fastest in the morning session – had to settle for fourth in his Red Bull, 0.331sec behind Hamilton.
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli again fared well in fifth, and with the gremlins taken care of after a truncated morning run, Adrian Sutil was sixth in his Force India. It was an up-and-down day for Force India, as Giancarlo Fisichella, who was also sixth in the morning, crashed out in the afternoon when he spun into a barrier, ripping off his nose cone.
There was also drama in the paddock when German police attempted to impound the team’s assets due to a contractual dispute just before first practice. The situation was swiftly resolved by Force India officials, with the promise their weekend will continue without further disruption.
Behind Sutil, Button’s Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello was seventh, with Renault’s Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet sandwiching Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima in eighth, ninth and 10th.
The Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 12th and 16th, with the latter’s Finnish compatriot Heikki Kovalainen 17th in his McLaren, 1.575sec behind team-mate Hamilton.
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