Formula 1

[TennisHack]

Dennis blames his drivers
Thursday December 29 2005

McLaren boss Ron Dennis has justified his decision to sign Fernando Alonso by blaming his current drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Montoya, for the team's failure to win either World Championship in 2005.

Dennis stunned the world of F1 earlier this month by announcing that Alonso, the reigning World Champ, has agreed to move to McLaren from the 2007 season onwards. Not quite as surprising, but still eyebrow-raising, is Dennis' subsequent claim that his drivers' 'psychological overreaction' and inability to cope with 'pressure' had resulted in Alonso and Renault's success.

Reading over some of the reports detailing Alonso's shock transfer as we sought an excuse from eating yet more Turkey, P-F1 noticed the following remark from Dennis in The Guardian:

"Fernando and the Renault team did a great job in 2005. They brought a good package which was reliable for the first race and did the job while our drivers psychologically overreacted to problems at the first round of the world championships and definitely didn't respond to the pressure."

At Melbourne, the first round of the 2005 season, Kimi claimed his weekend had been "destroyed" following his mistake in qualifying. He then stalled on the grid and lost bodywork during the race as he strove to recover.

Montoya, meanwhile, slid off the track during the grand prix, a mistake which a fuming Dennis claimed had cost the team second place.

Yet to claim that his drivers were solely to blame for McLaren's demise is somewhat disingenuous; Kimi, in particular, may cite half-a-dozen mechanical failures, compared to the bullet-proof reliability of Alonso’s Renault, as being the critical factor in the World Championship battle.

He wouldn't be alone in doing so.

[TennisHack]

Rubens lost patience at Ferrari
Sunday January 08 2006

Rubens Barrichello admits Michael Schumacher is a top driver but says life was not easy at a team which was designed purely for the success of the German driver.

The former Ferrari number two says he sees leaving the Maranello team as a good, and important, step for him.

The Brazilian says that while he knows Schumacher is highly talented it was not always easy to be a team mate of his. He also believes that when the two are compared he shouldn’t come to far behind.

“I think, talent for talent, Michael probably has a bit more,” Rubens conceded,

“(but I) did quite well to survive, and to always promote the harmony inside of the team.”

“But up to a point ... you lose a little bit of patience and you see that you're getting nowhere, so it was time to leave.”

Most drivers would consider themselves nobody’s second but Barrichello is again quick to point out that at Ferrari, everything was done with Michael in mind. The 33 year-old believes, given an even starting place, he could beat his former team mate.

“If you throw us at the beginning of a team with the same everything, I can probably do very well. I think I can be world champion as much as he can.”

[TennisHack]

LOL, I guess our collective interest here has died, no? There have been two races so far this year, and this week its AussieLand's turn.

[TennisHack]

Bahrain GP Race Result:

1 Fernando Alonso Renault 89:46.205 10
2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari +1.20 8
3 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren +19.30 6
4 Jenson Button Honda +19.90 5
5 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren +37.00 4
6 Mark Webber Williams +41.90 3
7 Nico Rosberg Williams +63.00 2
8 Christian Klien Red Bull +66.70 1
9 Felipe Massa Ferrari +69.90 0
10 David Coulthard Red Bull +75.50 0
11 Vitantanio Liuzzi Toro Rosso +85.90 0
12 Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber +1 lap 0
13 Scott Speed Toro Rosso +1 lap 0
14 Ralf Schumacher Toyota +1 lap 0
15 Rubens Barrichello Honda +1 lap 0
16 Jarno Trulli Toyota +1 lap 0
17 Tiago Monteiro MF1 +2 lap 0
18 Takuma Sato Super Aguri +4 lap 0
Ret Jacques Villeneuve BMW-Sauber Retirement (lap 30) - engine fire 0
Ret Giancarlo Fisichella Renault Retirement (lap 22) - hydraulics fault 0
Ret Yugi Ide Super Aguri Retirement (lap 18) - a problem at his pit-stop 0
Ret Christijan Albers MF1 Retirement (lap 1) - mechanical fault 0

[TennisHack]

Malaysia GP Race Result:

1 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 90:40.529 10
2 Fernando Alonso Renault +4.50 8
3 Jenson Button Honda +9.60 6
4 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren +39.30 5
5 Felipe Massa Ferrari +43.20 4
6 Michael Schumacher Ferrari +43.80 3
7 Jacques Villeneuve BMW-Sauber +80.40 2
8 Ralf Schumacher Toyota +81.20 1
9 Jarno Trulli Toyota +1 lap 0
10 Rubens Barrichello Honda +1 lap 0
11 Vitantanio Liuzzi Toro Rosso +2 lap 0
12 Christijan Albers MF1 +2 lap 0
13 Tiago Monteiro MF1 +2 lap 0
14 Scott Speed Toro Rosso +2 lap 0
14 Takuma Sato Super Aguri +2 lap 0
Ret Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber Retirement (lap 48) - engine malfunction 0
Ret Yugi Ide Super Aguri Retirement (lap 37) - technical malfunction 0
Ret Mark Webber Williams Retirement (lap 16) - engine malfunction 0
Ret David Coulthard Red Bull Retirement (lap 12) - his gearbox being stuck in sixth gear 0
Ret Christian Klien Red Bull Retirement (lap 11) - problems caused by his lap one shunt 0
Ret Nico Rosberg Williams Retirement (lap 7) - engine malfunction 0
Ret Kimi Raikkonen McLaren Retirement (lap 1) - accident 0

[TennisHack]

F1 DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP (AFTER ROUND 2 OF 18)
POSITION DRIVER TEAM POINTS
1. FERNANDO ALONSO RENAULT 18
2. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER FERRARI 11
= JENSON BUTTON HONDA RACING F1 11
4. GIANCARLO FISICHELLA RENAULT 10
5. JUAN PABLO MONTOYA MCLAREN 9
6. KIMI RAIKKONEN MCLAREN 6
7. FELIPE MASSA FERRARI 4
8. MARK WEBBER WILLIAMS 3
9. NICO ROSBERG WILLIAMS 2
= JACQUES VILLENEUVE BMW SAUBER F1 2
11. RALF SCHUMACHER TOYOTA 1
= CHRISTIAN KLIEN RED BULL RACING 1

F1 CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP (AFTER ROUND 2 OF 18)
POSITION TEAM POINTS
1. RENAULT 28
2. MCLAREN 15
3. FERRARI 13
4. HONDA RACING F1 11
5. WILLIAMS 5
6. BMW SAUBER F1 2
7. TOYOTA 1
= RED BULL RACING 1
9. MIDLAND MF1 RACING 0
= SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO 0
= SUPER AGURI F1 0

[TennisHack]

Australian GP: Alonso wins dramatic Aussie GP
Sunday April 02 2006

22 drivers, 12 finishers, ten retirements, four Safety Cars and only one winner, Fernando Alonso, that was the story of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso won the race by less than two seconds from the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen. Ralf Schumacher was third, scoring his first podium of 2006 for Toyota. BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was 4th while Giancarlo Fisichella capitalised on a last lap, second last corner blow-up from Jenson Button to snatch 5th place.

Race Report:
The temperatures were as low as they had been for Qualifying, and although the clouds above Melbourne's Albert park looked heavy, rain was not predicted for the race - the track was at 28C with an ambient temperature of 20C.

As the cars desperately tried to get some temperature into their tyres on the parade lap, Juan Montoya switched off the traction control and gunned it out of the final turn. Embarrassingly the McLaren spun across the track and though he tried to reverse away from his position sideways on the track, he had to wait for the rest of the field to go past before joining the back of the grid.

However as the cars lined up, frantic hand waves from the No.2 car in P2 signalled that Giancarlo Fisichella had lost his engine. Race Director Charlie Whiting sent the cars off on a second parade lap which allowed Montoya to filter through to his P5 grid slot and consigned Fisi to a pitlane start.

As the lights went out, Jenson Button came under immediate threat from the Renault of Fernando Alonso starting directly behind him. Going into Turn 1 Jenson protected the inside line and Alonso had to stand hard on his brakes to avoid running into the back of the Honda.

Button protected the line into Turn 3 and it looked like job done, Alonso could find no way past and looked destined to spend a long time behind him.

Behind them the two McLarens embarked on an absolutely breathtaking opening lap dice that saw them swap positions and run side by side through corners trying to gain maximum advantage. "It was fun" said Montoya afterwards, although whether the white-knuckled team management saw it quite the same way after Raikkonen's first lap exit in Malaysia is a moot point.

Raikkonen ended up in front of Montoya when the first Safety Car was deployed, which was well before Alonso had even crossed the start/finish line.

The Safety Car was out because Massa and Klien had had a coming together in Turn 2 and collected an innocent Nico Rosberg in the process. Massa went straight on into the barriers, wrecking his second Ferrari in two days while Rosberg limped back to the pits with a terminally damaged rear wing. Klien continued. The Williams team thought about mending it and sending Nico out on a test session, but there had been too much damage done.

Apart from the Massa/Klien/Rosberg accident, David Coulthard had indulged in some panel bashing with Jarno Trulli - the Toyota spun out of the race there and then, but the Scot's Red Bull continued, although he lost places in the process.

So as the cars crossed the line first time round to pick up the Safety Car it was Button from Alonso, Raikkonen, Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Webber, Michael Schumacher in 8th, Liuzzi 9th and Speed 10th. Jacques Villeneuve, despite starting from 19th place on the grid, had managed to take advantage of the midfield exits and was up to 11th place. Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault - who had had a spin all on his own in Turn 2 on the opening lap - trailed round 19th.


Lap 2 saw an astonishing moment in F1 history as Yuji Ide's time came up purple, giving him the Fastest Lap of the race so far. True, it was a 2:32.982, behind the Safety Car, but he had still got the stat. While the cars lapped slowly, allowing for the removal of Massa's stricken Ferrari, Montoya filtered back from 4th to 6th place. There had been questions as to whether or not he was allowed to drive through the field to retake his grid slot on the second start.

Massa's car was quickly removed and on the restart Button ran very wide in the final turn and was slow onto the start/finish straight. Such was the Honda's lack of speed on restart that Fernando Alonso was able to cruise past him well before the braking zone into Turn 1.

Ralf Schumacher was also having problems and lost his 4th place to a fantastic overtaking move by Mark Webber round the outside into Turn 3, the German was immediately swallowed up by Montoya too. Nick Heidfeld had a look at Ralf as well, but by this time he'd got a grip of the Toyota and wasn't going to relinquish 6th place.

By the end of Lap 3 Alonso had opened up a 2.7 second gap to Button and the extremely racy Juan Montoya then dispatched Webber into 5th place on Lap 4.

All of a sudden there was a flurry of broken polystyrene as Klien's Red Bull left the track, demolishing a trackside sign and putting debris onto the circuit. His car had suddenly snapped out of control under braking and it looked like something had given way on the Red Bull after his Lap 1 contact.

By Lap 6 Alonso was 3.7 seconds clear, Fisi had hauled himself up to 15th place, while Rubens Barrichello was stuck behind 12th placed man Takuma Sato (edging out the Midland F1s again).

Though he'd retired three laps earlier, the track marshals were unhappy about the material still on the circuit by Klien's car and at the end of Lap 7 the Safety Car was out yet again to give them chance to clear it. The field closed up once more and at the end of Lap 9 it was in again.

Yet again on restart Jenson Button was slow out of the final turn and couldn't resist Kimi Raikkonen into Turn 1 (even though he'd turned the engine mix up), though Raikkonen found it much tougher to pass than Alonso had done.

Honda team manager Nick Fry revealed afterwards that Jenson could get no temperature and hence no grip into the tyres running behind the Safety Car and was a sitting duck on all of the restarts.

Juan Montoya was keen to get past Button too and even looked up the inside at the incredibly quick Turn 11, but wisely, thought better of it.

On Lap 11, the order was now Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Montoya, Webber and Ralf Schumacher. Nick Heidfeld was in 7th with Michael Schumacher 8th followed by Liuzzi and Speed.

At this stage of the race Michael Schumacher was running much slower than the leading cars with lap times down in the 1:30s compared to 1:28s and 1:27s at the front.

So it wasn't too much of a surprise to see Tonio Liuzzi come steaming up the inside of the Ferrari to relegate Schumi to 9th place on Lap 12. The former World Champion was stuck in a Toro Rosso sandwich with Liuzzi in front and Scott Speed now pressing from behind.

Free of the Safety Car for the rest of the afternoon - or so he thought - Alonso began to put in one his sustained bursts of speed that the Renault team would dearly love to see Fisichella emulate. He set a series of Fastest Laps.

Lap 12: 1:27.577 gap to Raikkonen 1.9
Lap 13: 1:27.475 gap to Raikkonen 4.1
Lap 15: 1:27.401 gap to Raikkonen 5.0
Lap 16: 1:27.135
Lap 17: 1:26.999
Lap 18: 1:26.902 gap to Raikkonen 9.1

While Alonso was soaring away, Fisichella took 10th place off Speed and cruised up behind Michael Schumacher. His engineer Alan Permaine told him "Next is Michael, he's really slow, you can take him easy, easy." The first bit was right, the second bit was not. At the end of Lap 18 Juan Montoya started the first round of pit-stops. On Lap 19 Button, Ralf Schumacher and Fisi came in; a lap later Alonso took his stop.

Alonso rejoined in third place behind Raikkonen who now led from Webber. Behind him Juan Montoya got past Jenson Button just after the pit-stops to effectively demote the Brit from 3rd to 4th. Ralf Schumacher failed to slow enough in the pitlane and had to suffer a drive-through penalty.

When Raikkonen pitted at the end of Lap 21 it left the Aussie in front on his home track. Though it was a slightly false position, Webbo, not having stopped, it was nice to be P1 on Lap 22.

On Lap 23, the smiles turned to a rage of frustration as the Williams was seen cruising with a healthy engine, but no drive. So, both Williams cars out for the second race running.

All the while that other cars had been pitting, Michael Schumacher had been quietly progressing forward. On Lap 24 he'd made his way up to 4th place, and after he pitted along with Nick Heidfeld on Lap 25, he rejoined in 6th place. Schumi had managed to nudge past his brother, while Nick Heidfeld had rejoined in 4th place and demoted Jenson Button to a sorry 5th.

What was more significant, was that on his second set of tyres, Michael was much quicker. It was like he'd taken on a different compound on Lap 27. Schumi put in his personal best of 1:27.180 even though he had a full stint of fuel on board. At this stage of the race the Ferrari driver was the quickest on track and he began to haul in 5th place Button.

On Lap 29 Alonso had stretched out a 17-second advantage and with Villeneuve yet to stop the order was Alonso, Raikkonen, Montoya, Heidfeld, Button, M.Schumacher, Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, with Liuzzi in 9th and Fisichella still 10th.

At the front Montoya was quickly hauling Raikkonen in, while Alonso was edging out a big lead thanks to Raikkonen's lack of pace. Meanwhile Giancarlo Fisichella's engineer was complaining over team radio at Fisi's lack of pace: "I know you've got understeer but you've got the same fuel load as Fernando and you're two seconds slower, come on!"

Fisi after getting up to 10th place had just stopped there and was making no impression on Liuzzi.

Then on Lap 34 we saw a Ferrari battering its way along the barriers sending carbon fibre and aero parts everywhere along the pit straight. Michael Schumacher in his bid to chase down Jenson Button's 5th place had run wide at the exit of the final turn, stuck his wheels over the concrete rumble strips which had launched him into the air. When he had landed, the car had snapped immediately left and destroyed the bodywork before sending it across the track.

The third Safety Car of the afternoon was deployed and the whole field took advantage and dived into the pits for second pit-stops. There was enough separation between the two Renaults and the two Hondas to get both cars out in turn, but the McLarens had to come in and queue. Worse for Montoya, Raikkonen's car had been slowed by a broken wing endplate which necessitated a front nose change. So Montoya was hugely delayed while he watched his team-mate's car being serviced.

The result of it all was that the Colombian rejoined in 6th place allowing Ralf Schumacher past into 5th.

So the positions on Lap 35 as they lined up behind the Safety Car were Alonso, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Button, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Fisichella, Villeneuve in 8th, Liuzzi in 9th and Barrichello 10th.

Jacques Villeneuve had timed his one pit-stop perfectly, pitting just as Schumacher had his accident.

The race was re-started at the end of Lap 37 and Alonso, who was running ahead of the lapped Midland cars, was able to put a huge buffer in between himself and the pursuing cars because both Midlands backed off. Raikkonen and Heidfeld couldn't pass them before the line as the Renault sprinted off into the distance.

There was chaos through Turns 1, 2 and 3 as Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Ralf Schumacher, Juan Montoya and Jenson Button battled it out. Button had his (by now) usual bad restart on cold tyres and was taken by both Ralf and Juan. Replays showed that Button's front left tyre hit Montoya's right rear in the process but both men continued.

If Button's restart was bad Heidfeld's was disastrous. Unnerved by running with backmarkers, Heidfeld was overtaken by Raikkonen, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Montoya in successive corners as the BMW-Sauber driver hesitated. It looked like he'd got the call for the Safety Car early and simply backed off.

Because in the middle of it all Tonio Liuzzi had hit the barriers halfway to Turn 3 and retired his Toro Rosso, and then the Safety car was deployed for the fourth time before they'd even got halfway round the lap!

So on Lap 39 the order was now Alonso leading from Kimi Raikkonen, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Heidfeld, Button (now back in 6th place), Fisichella, Jacques Villeneuve in 8th, with Scott Speed in 9th place.

The Lap 41 restart looked like a replay of the previous restart with Alonso using the presence of the Midland cars to delay his pursuers and make an escape. It was left to Raikkonen and Ralf to barge their way past the two backmarkers, but by the end of the lap Alonso was already five seconds clear.

Juan Montoya, having had an uneventful opening two races, was having an afternoon of it in his McLaren. He'd got back past Heidfeld, and was now keen to take Ralf Schumacher's 3rd place. On Lap 46, though, he had an accident similar to Michael Schumacher's. He ran wide at the exit of the final turn while trying to get close to Ralf, ran onto the rumble strips which launched the McLaren.

Montoya wasn't so wide as Schumi and managed to keep his car on the circuit, but the moment it landed the rear light started to flash and the car suddenly cut out - race over for JPM, parked against the pitwall.

The order was now Alonso from Raikkonen, an unthreatened Ralf Schumacher in third, Heidfeld in 4th, Button back up to 5th followed by Giancarlo Fisichella in 6th. Villeneuve was 7th followed by Barrichello who was through to 8th.

Alonso then lowered the Fastest Lap.
Lap 46: 1:26.961
Lap 47: 1:26.926
Lap 49: 1:26.189

All this while Fisi was putting in 1:28s

Alonso had the gap out to 8.7 seconds and the win looked his - Coulthard closed in on Scott Speed's 8th place but he couldn't get past the Toro Rosso. Giancarlo Fisichella suddenly found some speed - helped by a stern word from Flavio Briatore - and put in a 1:27.561 as he pursued Jenson Button for 5th place. Though he got into his slipstream, he didn't look like he had the speed to get by.

In front of him Raikkonen hadn't given up and reduced the gap from 8.7 seconds on Lap 53 to just 1.8 seconds as the cars crossed the line. However Alonso had already radioed in: "I am very relaxed," so it looked like he was managing the gap to the line.

Button looked like 5th place was his till a huge puff of smoke at the second to last corner announced the explosion of his Honda V8. Button could have seemingly cruised over the line but his engineers told him to stop, so that he could get a free engine change for Imola. Behind him Fisichella almost lost it on the oil trail but took 5th whileVilleneuve took 6th and Barrichello was promoted from 8th to 7th. Scott Speed scored a very valuable point for Toro Rosso. His first in F1.

It had been an incredibly eventful race, although the win hardly looked in doubt from the minute that Alonso cruised past Button for the lead. The biggest worry will be the Honda team's inability to get any grip on their tyres in cold conditions, while Michael Schumacher finds himself 17 points behind Fernando Alonso with only three races gone.
FH
Note: After the race Scott Speed had 25 seconds added to his time for passing under yellows and was moved to P9 in the official result.

Times
1 F. Alonso Renault 1:34:27.870
2 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 1.829
3 R. Schumacher Toyota + 24.824
4 N. Heidfeld BMW + 31.032
5 G. Fisichella Renault + 38.421
6 J. Villeneuve BMW + 49.554
7 R. Barrichello Honda + 51.904
8 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 53.817
9 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 53.983
10 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
11 C. Albers Midland F1 + 0 laps
12 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 0 laps
13 Y. Ide Super Aguri + 0 laps
Did not finish
14 JP. Montoya McLaren + 11 laps
15 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 17 laps
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 20 laps
17 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 25 laps
18 M. Webber Williams + 34 laps
19 C. Klien Red Bull + 53 laps
20 J. Trulli Toyota + 57 laps
21 N. Rosberg Williams + 57 laps
22 F. Massa Ferrari + 57 laps

[kiro]

Last month I lost my Mclarens hat. I said to myself: it's ok. Kimi will leave Mclarens and you don't need that hat no more.
It seems that I shall wear a red shirt to watch the 2007 race

[TennisHack]

Yeah, I saw that Shumi the elder was retiring and Kimi was taking his place. Don't know if I can bring myself to root for Ferrari

[kiro]

I went to watch the Shanghai Grand Prix. How bitter it is to be a fan of Kimi... And the worse thing is that I'm getting used to it... :red: