Tuesday August 29, 2006

Turkish GP

Even though F1 has been enjoying its summer holidays plenty has been going on. Webber as expected has signed for his old Jaguar team now of course called Red Bull. He will drive alonside DC with Klein being sidelined. JV will not be completing his year with BMW Sauber. Meanwhile Mosley's drive to make F1 green and cut costs has meant he has brought forward the date for a freeze on engine development to this years Chinese race. Next year the engines will be restricted to 19,000 RPM as well. That is a year and two races earlier than had originally been planned. The logistics guys in F1 teams call the Turkey race a floataway race as most of the journey to there is done by sea. Finally Renault have lost the case to use their Mass damper device in the remaining five races - they said it was worth .3 seconds a lap...

I missed the qualifying as we were out enjoying the Bedfordshire countryside ( see tomorrow's weblog) but the grid ended up like this. was demoted ten places as he had an engine change )

 1.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'26"907  221.119 Km/h  
 2.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'27"284  220.164 Km/h  
 3.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'27"321  220.071 Km/h  
 4.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'27"564  219.460 Km/h  
 5.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'27"569  219.448 Km/h  
 6. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1'27"785  218.908 Km/h  
 7. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'27"790  218.895 Km/h  
 8.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'27"866  218.706 Km/h 

The race had a chaotic start with Fisi spinning or being tapped with both he and Heidfeld coming in for a new nose. Alonso nearly made a move on Schumi stick. The Williams cars started well Webber to P4 Rosberg to P6. Kimi was caught up in the chaos getting a puncture and eventually retiring. 55 to go Button has got past Webber for P4. De La Rosa, Trulli are also making their way through the pack. 51 to go Kubica is hussling Webber. 45 to go Luizzi has spun and his car is in a dangerous position so the safety car is deployed. The front runners pit for fuel and Alonso gets past Schumi in the pits as he had to wait for Massa to be serviced first. 41 to go the safety car is in and Kubica makes a great move on Webber and Fisi follows him through. Soon after Fisi has a duel with the Pole and comes out ahead of him. De La Rosa is up to P6. Rosberg is told over the radio to return to the pits - loss of water pressure. 30 to go Schumi goes wide on turn 8 and treads carefully until he can rejoin the track without damaging his car.

25 to go De La Rosa is fueled to the end and Button must make sure has has enough time to make his last stop and still be ahead of him. The top four drivers are all posting fastest laps it looks like their last stops will be soon. Albers is in P9 in the Midland an amazing performance from him today. 20 to go and Rubens is told to use the overtake button and gets past Webber for P6. Massa, Alonso, Button all pis and Schumi stays out hoping to make up seven seconds to Alonso. He later pits but although closer to his rival is still behind him. Alonso himself seems to be struggling under breaking and there is only .4 seconds between the two drivers. Albers retires, great shame for him and his team. 7 to go Alonso makes a mistake Schumi tries but does not get past him. He knows Alonso won't mind if they both get taken out by a racing incident. Schumi then has a big moment in turn 8 and falls back - Alonso is given another breathing space. Behind them there are great battles between the drivers in P5 and P6 and P7 and P8, Button is well clear in P4. On the last lap Schumi and Alonso are really close and both cross the finish line almost at the same time Alonso keeps P2 by a half car distance. A great race at this track. Massa wins his first GP. The gaps between the two rivals has now grown by two points with four races to go.

 1.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1h28'51"082  208.903 Km/h  
 2.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0'05"575  208.685 Km/h  
 3.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   +  0'05"656  208.682 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   +  0'12"334  208.421 Km/h  
 5.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'45"908  207.120 Km/h  
 6.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0'46"594  207.093 Km/h  
 7.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   +  0'59"337  206.604 Km/h  
 8. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  1'00"034  206.577 Km/h  

Monza is in two weeks.

( Aug 29 2006, 12:00:01 AM PDT ) Permalink

Wednesday August 09, 2006

What was wrong with the Hungarian GP?

Don't get me wrong I was mighty pleased to see Button get his first race win - long overdue. Someone asked me if this will help him win more race - well maybe , he now knows what he has to do know to win. So what was wrong with this happy event?

Having James Allen screaming over the TV in an ear splitting racket ruined the final run to the finish line. I did not want a Gordon Ramsey "Hungary, Button, win Job done" a bit of enthusiam was needed but not what we were subjected too.

The fact that Alonso retired and Button did not have to overtake him as surely as he would have liked to.

That we need conditions like this to make a race worthy of the millions spent on F1.

That Geoff Willis was not there to see his car win a race. Even though he is no longer with the team it was his car that took Button to victory. Next year - well we will see...

I await this weeks Autosport magazibe where I hope a bit of interest will be shown in Button's first win. I know there is a lot of bad things going on but it would have been nice to see the TV stations being a little more interested.

Buttons eyes in Parc Ferme. He also looked like he had taken a hit of an illegal drug Very strange but he was happy so why not..

Last but not least Nick Fry clearly pleased with the result but then saying "Hopefully this will mean more race wins and successes in the future". It should have been "This will lead us on to more race wins and successes in the future".

( Aug 09 2006, 12:00:02 AM PDT ) Permalink

Monday August 07, 2006

Hungarian GP

A week is a long time in F1. At this race Kubica replaces JV due to an accident that the 35-year-old had in the German GP last week. There are rumours that JV will not be returning to the race berth. Webber will be replaced by test driver Wurz at Williams in 2007. Nico Rosberg is confirmed at William for 2007 as well. The latest gossip is that Red Bull and BMW might be options for him, but stronger speculation is that Webber could fill the plum vacancies at Renault or the McLaren squad. I think the latter is not going to happen as they have said either Paffet, De La Rosa or Hamilton will get that drive. Ferrari have played down rumours that their technical director Ross Brawn is to take a sabbatical next year. Their driver line-up will be announced at the Italian Grand Prix next month

Before Saturday qualifying Alonso was given two one second penalties for brake testing another driver after that driver blocked him during Friday testing and then for overtaking under yellow flags. Conspiracy theories were then spreading like crazy on the basis the FIA were fixing things to make a tighter battle for the championship. If Schumi was to have an advantage he threw it away on Saturday when overtaking three cars including Alonso's when the session was red flagged after Button's engine blew in dramatic fashion. He recieved a two second penalty too. For both drivers in each of the qualifying sessions two seconds would be added to their fastest times. Neither were expected to get past qualifying one.

Qualifying on the dusty track is tough as each session carries on the track offers more grip as more rubber is put down. You cannot rely on a banker lap. Q1. Mclarens going well and Massa also surprisngly smooth on the track - the Ferrari well hooked up. The two championship contenders however post times that get them into Q2. Rosberg is eliminated however, Monteiro makes it into Q2 unusual for a Midland car. Q2 session; lots of cars wait until the lat few minutes to post laps Alonso does not really seem to be trying and appears to be scrubbing in new tyres. Schumi posts some blinding laps. The Honda's are also doing really well. Kubica is also fast and at the end survives into Q3. The Red Bull's are eliminated as are the championship contenders. Q3; the usual fuel burn off makes a boring start but things soon hot up when people start their qualifying runs. It is also looking dark overhead with the chance of rain perhaps. Massa is initially fastest but the Honda's are up their and the sole William's. In the dying seconds of the session Kimi grabs pole off Massa with Rubens P3 and his teammate P4 but who will be demoted ten places.

 1.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'19"599  198.138 Km/h  
 2.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'19"886  197.426 Km/h  
 3. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'20"085  196.936 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'20"092  196.919 Km/h  
 5.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   1'20"117  196.857 Km/h  
 6.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1'20"266  196.492 Km/h  
 7.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'20"759  195.292 Km/h  
 8.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'20"924  194.894 Km/h  

Kubica an excellent tenth, Schumi P11, Alonso P15 and Button is back in P14. Pity we were to be denied a race between the two Honda's.

The race. Rain overnight and just before the start meant a lot of unpredictable conditions for the drivers. Schumi and Rubens were to start on full wets. Kimi pulls away cleanly and Massa looses P2 to Rubens. Schumi steams up to P4 past him teammate with Alonso just behind. Webber goes backward to P17. Kubica has the first of two spins a real baptism of fire for him. 68 to go Alonso is past his teammate Webber retires. Button gets past DC for eighth. Kimi stays ahead of Rubens and now with the track drying full wets are much slower and not a good choice to be on. Rubens pits and changes to inters. 64 to go Button passes Massa for P5 the Bridgestones inters are also not enjoying these conditions. Button then passes Schumi. Klein falls off the track and Massa spins but recovers.

61 to go Button fastest on track, Massa goes wide and looses another place. 60 to go Alonso up and close to De la Rosa also closer to Kimi. Alonso is running two seconds a lap faster than Schumi. 53 to go Schumi now on inters having had a tangle with Fisi and a new nose job. 51 to go Alonso is in the lead the Mclarens having pitted he will have been heavier on fuel than them. He is ahead of those cars by twenty three seconds. 49 to go Rosberg stops and is craned off the track himself still in his stricken Williams. 45 to go Alonso laps Schumi who does not make it easy for him risking further penalties. 43 to go Kimi has a smash with Luizzi while trying to lap him. Several pit under the safety car. 40 to go and the SC is in this lap. There is a clear dry line on the track now. 37 to go several drivers are moving off the dry line to keep their inters cool. There is five seconds between Button and Alonso. Rubens is baulked by several back markers much to his fist waving annoyance. Heavy rain is predicted soon but clearly on this track the Bridgestone runners are fast now, the track coming to them. The lead to Alonso is now three seconds.

27 to go Button is 0.8 of asecond behind Alonso Schumi is behind Rubens for P4. Button stops but keeps his inters on treating them like semi slicks. Schumi pits and does the same. Alonso pits and seconds later drive shaft failure has him retire. 16 to go Button stops again this time for slicks. One lap later Heidfeld does the same releasing Schumi. 11 to go eighteen seconds between Button and Schumi ( who is still on his now very tyred [sic] inters. De la Rosa catches Schumi, gets past him at a corner but Schumi cuts the chicane to retain the place. Schumi should now give way to Rosa or get a penalty. Before he makes his mind to do so up he is overtaken again by for P2. Heidfeld is now after Schumi and a little tap between them deals Schumi's car a fateful blow. He retires. At the finish Button wins his first race - a popular winner. it has been the longest time (63 races) since we had a British winner. Kubica in his first race was to get two points but his car was 2KG underweight so he was excluded. This meant Schumi even though he did not finish got one point.

 1. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1h52'20"941  163.773 Km/h  
 2.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'30"837  163.028 Km/h  
 3. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   +  0'43"822  162.716 Km/h  
 4. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  0'45"205  162.682 Km/h  
 5. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M      1 lap(s)                
 6.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B      1 lap(s)                
 7.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B      1 lap(s)          
 8.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B      3 lap(s)

There is now a holiday for F1 to recover from their post Button race winnner hangovers before they return to Turkey. The net effect of the race means the two championship contenders are now one point closer to each other. Schumi will remember his first championship was one by one point...

Monday July 31, 2006

The German GP

The silly season has now moved over to Schumi with stories of him moving the BMW for a final year in F1. All sorts of merchandising could result in him getting a billion US for his one year efforts. Also in the silly season Alonso is getting cold feet on his move to Team Macca - which he denies of course. Willaims as expected will use Toyota engines in 2007. Trulli has signed a multi year deal with Toyota. The ugly twin towers on the Sauber have been banned on the basis of reducing driver visibility. Super Aguri had their first GP weekend with their new car, but it still uses the old tub from the defunct Arrows team. Finally Renault and a few other teams had the so called mass damper system banned from this race too.

Qualifying.

Trulli and Albers will both be demoted down the grid as both needed their Toyota engines changing - worryingly. Qual 1 - Early in the session Speed runs wide and ends up banging into a wall - his qualifying over. The session is red flagged for the mess to be cleared up. On the resumption of the session Red Bull are fast. Renault come out late and are clearly not as fast as Mclaren or Ferrari, with those guys on P1 and P2. The usual suspects ( not Honda) are then elimated for Qual 2. When this session starts it is clear the track is a lot faster or people have turned up the wick. Again Red Bull are doing well and Button is well up with the fastest times. But Ferrari come out and blitz their way to the front. At the end Williams, BMW, Klein and Trulli are eliminated. Final qualifying. Pedro De La Rosa turns in on a corner and his rear tyre is clobbered by Ralph's car. Pedro De La Rosa comes in for a tyre change but Ralphs stop is longer to change the suspension. Schumi is seen having a moment and decides to pit at the same time as Massa he cheekily exits the pits in front of Alonso causing consternation from the him - " did you see what Michael did to me " he screams over the pit radio. Five minutes to go and the real qualifying starts. Kimi does a blinder which is not beaten. Alonso is down in P7 not a good birthday present. Ferrari get P2, P3 and Button a respectable fourth. "What has changed " he is asked? " Well I have not shaved for several weeks" he says sporting a new beard.

 1.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'14"070  222.309 Km/h  
 2.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'14"205  221.904 Km/h  
 3.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'14"569  220.821 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'14"862  219.957 Km/h  
 5.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'14"894  219.863 Km/h  
 6. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'14"934  219.745 Km/h  
 7.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'15"282  218.730 Km/h  
 8.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'15"923  216.883 Km/h  
 9.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   1'15"936  216.846 Km/h  
10. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1'16"326  215.738 Km/h

The race, a fairly clean start with both Honda's starting badly Button overtaken by the Renaults but within a lap he got past both of them to regain fourth. Rosberg overcooks it and ends up in the gravel. DC is launched into the air by Ralph and both come into the pits for repairs. 65 to go and De La rosa stops on the track some kind of car failure. 60 to go and EM>Kimi leads Schumi by three seconds but expected to pit much earlier. He does so with 58 to go on a three stopper and has problems with his rear tyre which holds him up. Heidfeld retires after his team decide his car is too dangerous to continue.

53 to go Alonso is lapping a second slower than Fisi who is ahead of him on the track. Kimi rejoins in eighth behind Rubens who overtakes Webber. 51 to go and Button pits comes out behind Kimi. Rubens is closing in on Alonso. 49 to go and Ferrari ready for a stop first Massa and we see Rubens retire his car on fire. Button has passed Kimi unseen by us. 47 to go Schumi pits, Alonso then does returns in ninth. Webber is on a long first stint in an excellent third. 35 to go and JV has a major off on a corner that is clearly some kind of car failure. The car is all but destroyed but he gets out without a scratch.

At this stage it looks like Ferrari are slowing their pace a second between the teammates. 31 to go Ralph's terrible weekend continues with a drive through penalty for speeding in the pits. 28 to go and Webber overtakes Fisi for fourth place, Kimi is three seconds beind the Renaults. 26 to go Button pits he is battling Kimi, Webber for the final podium. Montero has a drive through for holding Button up under blue flags. Both the Super Aguri cars have now retired - first outing for the new car.

23 to go Alonso pits and comes out ahead of his teammate and Massa also pits. 22 to go Klein is overtaken by Trulli for sixth. Speed is seen going wide and rattles through the kitty litter on his way back to the track. ( its the black stuff you want to stay on Scott). 20 to go Webber is ten seconds ahead of Button but he has to stop as does Kimi. 19 to go Webber stops returns back on the track in sixth. 13 to go Ferrari protecting their cars and several back markers are unlapping themselves. Kimi makes a splash and dash stop comes out side by side with Webber and claims P4 - great driving by both drivers. Button is only a few seconds ahead of Kimi and it is not long before he is overtaken for the final podium by the Finish driver. Webber is then overtaken by Alonso his car sounds very sick and he retires. Six to go Alonso falls of the track but recovers ahead of his teammate who is acting as rear gunner for him to keep Trulli at bay. The result:

 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h27'51"693  209.278 Km/h  
 2.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  0'00"720  209.249 Km/h  
 3.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'13"206  208.755 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   +  0'18"898  208.530 Km/h  
 5.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0'23"707  208.341 Km/h  
 6.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0'24"814  208.297 Km/h  
 7.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   +  0'26"544  208.229 Km/h  
 8. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   +  0'48"131  207.384 Km/h 

The gap between Schumi and Alonso is now eleven points with sixty available. Renault have been told they can use the mass damper device in Hungary next week - was the temporary baning deliberate to close the gap between the two championship contenders ? Ferrari have given Bridgestone their 100th the victory in F1.

Wednesday July 12, 2006

Give us a job Ron!

Not only is Montoya leaving Team Mac at the end of this year , he now won't be driving in their car for the rest of the season. Pedro De La Rosa one of their test drivers will drive in this weeks race in France. It raises an interesting question who will get the second seat in Team Mac if as expected Kimi leaves to join Ferrari or Renault for 2007. I hope its one of two Brits. Gary Paffet is another Team Mac test driver and is worthy of a chance for the job. But my money is on Lewis Hamilton who is doing an excellent job in GP2 this year. He has been Sponsered by the Ronster for some time now and I think Team Mac might well pop these two guys in a race seat sometime in 2006 to try them out. They will have to be careful with Lewis as a lot of the upcoming F1 races he will be driving GP2 at the same weekend but Gary can do those races.

Tuesday July 11, 2006

Heard the one about a F1 car with a MSFT controlled ECU ?

It really is true. From 2008 the F1 cars that wizz around the track at up to 200MPH will have their engines controlled by a Microsoft (C) ECU. I can just imagine one of the drivers in his million dollar car, the engine dies but he is still wizzing along at these breathtaking speeds and being told to press the three new buttons on the steering wheel; the ones marked control, alt and del.... I wonder how they will display the blue screen of death ?

Monday July 03, 2006

The Indianapolis race

Having been on hoiday I missed the qualifying - not that it was shown live a certain football match inconveniently clashed with it.

 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'10"832  213.056 Km/h  
 2.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'11"435  211.258 Km/h  
 3.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'11"920  209.833 Km/h  
 4. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'12"109  209.283 Km/h  
 5.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'12"449  208.301 Km/h  
 6. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1'12"479  208.215 Km/h  
 7. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'12"523  208.088 Km/h  
 8.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'12"795  207.311 Km/h 

I am sure we all hoped all cars would start the race this year and that F1 continues to feature in the US despite what Bernie says..

During the formation lap Schumi and his teammate end up on the race track stationary as Fisi holds everyone up - it is hot here today which might be bad news for the stationary Ferrari cars. Massa does a perfect start and leads his teammate but Alonso claims P3 of Fisi. Behind them between T2/T3 a major accident that has both Team Mac cars off, Heidfeld barrel rolls in the sand trap. Scott Speed, Klein, Webber and Montagny are also out. Button was wacked - he comes in but his car won't go out again. It looks like Montoya was responsible for this - not a good thing to have on his CV when he is looking for a job..

68 to go, the safety car goes in and Massa catches Schumi out leading him big time on the first racing lap after the accident. Sato tags a Midland much to their annoyance. With so few cars still running it is a chance for the minnow teams to get points today. We might even end up with the same number of finishers as last years disgrace. 66 to go and Schumi has caught his teammate but Ferrari are not going to annoy the US public with a very public handing over of the lead. 64 to go and yellow flags on T1/T2 for the rubbish left by the accidents removes a place where a faster Fisi

64 to go and Alonso has a train of cars behind him such is his race pace and with 60 to go Fisi makes the move but clearly was helppd by his teammate. His chance of catching the Ferrari compromised by this time behind him. The in car shots on the view from the driver on the real bit of the Indy circuit are awsome but there are a lot of vacant seats - but we are told more are here today than last year.

52 to go Fisi given the hurry up by his team and posts fastest laps. 50 to go and JV stops - his wheels locking up - some kind of hydraulic failure perhaps. Rubens pits first. His teammate now out of the race publically blames Montoya for the race pile up and says he had a good stategy being heavy on fuel. 44 to go the Ferrari's pits withn a lap of each other and orchestrate a swap of position. 42 to go and Alonso pits. Honda P7 going backward in the race again. Trulli who started in the pit lane is in P3 he might spoil Alonso's bag of points even further. Massa is now backing himself into the guys behind him to control their race pace.

34 Trulli pits and at 29 to go Ralph is right up with Alonso. 25 to go DC pits and comes out side by side with Rosberg who wants his position ( P8 ) but DC keeps it. Luizzi in the final Toro Rosso is behind these two. Massa is seven seconds behind his teammate who pulled out the fastest lap of the race just after his pit stop! Schumi at his best. Fisi pits after the Ferrari and just about stays ahead of a one stopping Trulli. But when Alonso pits he comes out behind both Toyotas. Rubens behind his is given a hurry up but cannot close the gap to Alonso.

17 to go and Luizzi claims Rosbergs' scalp for P9. 10 to go and Ralph pits a long brake pedal which will hand torro Rosso their first point of the year. It also means the gap between Alonso and Schumi is now only down to 19 points. So Schumi wins the race out of seven starts at Indy he claims five wins. First 1/2 of the year for Ferrari

 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h33'35"199  196.192 Km/h  
 2.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  0'07"984  195.914 Km/h  
 3.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0'16"595  195.614 Km/h  
 4.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   +  0'23"604  195.371 Km/h  
 5.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0'28"401  195.205 Km/h  
 6. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  0'36"516  194.924 Km/h  
 7. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M      1 lap(s)                
 8. 20  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw.  M      1 lap(s)

Next race in France in two weeks.

Monday June 12, 2006

Silverstone the British GP

The silly season gets to start earlier every year in F1. There are strong rumours that Kimi has signed for Ferrari but now it seems they are also looking at DC and even Button is mentioned. I am sure the latter would like to be a in winning car and not in his Honda Civic performance based car at the moment. Even if Schumi stays at Ferrari, Massa unless he improves does not look like he will be in the red car next year. Back to qualifying.

Due to a mistake in my part I missed most of qualifying. Button and Webber were both knocked out in session one after posting a time and not going out near the end of the session to save the skins. In any case Button was again slower than his teammate in the free practice. However his team did him a diservice, as he got called into the weighbridge during the session and he had time to do another lap, but they did not send him out.Alonso will be pleased to see Kimi on P2 to keep Schumi at bay.

1.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'20"253  230.616 Km/h  
2.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'20"397  230.203 Km/h  
3.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'20"574  229.697 Km/h  
4.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'20"764  229.157 Km/h  
5.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'20"919  228.718 Km/h  
6. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'20"943  228.650 Km/h 

A clean start for the race but in the midfield trouble was brewing as Speed managed to take out a slow starting Ralph and Webber. Button was making good progress up to P14. To clear the track the safety car was deployed and when it comes in Alonso controls the pace until the start finish line he does his dodgy speed them up slow them down tricks. Kimi gets close to him and also Schumi nearly passes the Mclaren but does not make it stick. 54 to go and Button has passed two others to get up to DC they are in P11/P12. Heidfeld is doing well having got up to P6 at the start he is being chased by Montoya. 50 to go and Button's dream of salvedging some points out of this weekend go up in smoke like his car. He is seen walking back to the pits smiling and waving to fans. He even gets up close to them to shake a few hands. Nice touch.

48 to go and only three seconds seperate the top three cars. It is expected that Schumi will pit first then Kimi then Alonso It falls just like that. However before he pits Alonso posts a series of fastest laps showing his consistant driving style. After this round of pit stops the BMW Sauber's have not stopped and Heidlfeld is in P2. hHwever when he pits he has trouble getting away and his pit stop is extended by eight seconds. JV stops with 33 to go. 30 to go and Alonso is well clear of Kimi who has the Red Baron of Schumi glued to his wing.

It is difficult to see how even Ross Brawn can with Schumi can get him past Kimi. He pits first and almost without ceromony does a few blizy fast sectors and after Kimi stops he has bagged P2 off him. Amazing Schumi at his best. With 7 to go Fisi is catching Kimi but does not get past him. The race result:

1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:25:51.927
2. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari +00:13.951
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 00:18.672
4. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 00:19.976
5. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:31.559
6. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 01:04.769
7. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 01:11.594
8. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber 01:18.299

Rubens underlines the rotten race pace of the Honda by coming in at P10, perhaps even Honda Civic is being optimistic.. The BMW's underline a strong part of the season for them with another points paying finish. The finishers are quite interesting because the manufacturer places one to three are repeated four to six. All of those latter places are at least twenty seconds beind their respective team Leaders back to school you guys. Canada in two weeks.

Monday May 29, 2006

Monaco GP

The Jewel in F1's crown but a crazy circuit nevertheless. One last statistic for Schumi to beat and that is Senna's number of wins here which stands at at six. A win here for Schumi would equal that. The 2006 qualifying rules where for one of the sessions all cars could be on the track at the same time was expected to lead to chaos. Mclaren were hoping for a good result here celebrating forty years in F1. That team has won here thirteen times during their time in F1.

The first qualfying session started and it was clear you could not rely on a banker lap at the start of each session. The track here gets faster every minute as more rubber is left on its surface. The first top team/driver is taken out as Massa goes wide in an odd manner and hits the Arnco The session is red flagged and he will start from the back of the grid. At the end of the session the usual suspects are eliminated before the second session starts. The second sesson is no less dramatic and Kimi again is the fastest but the Honda's are struggling in particular Button who aborts a series of laps to dive into the pits to get another set of tyres and more front wing to try and cure severe understeer. The Red Bull car of DC's is going well but his teammate is eliminated with Button after this second round. The final session with ten cars has them circulating on old tyres burning off fuel but keeping within the defined margins so they get their fuel credits back - which allows them to start the race with the same fuel load they started this session with. With a few minutes to go before the end of the session the cars pit for new tyres and the lap times tumble. Right at the end complete chaos and confusion but not due to traffic. Schumi starts posting the fastest lap on a second flier and then goes wide and seemingly pulls off in a manner to mess up Alonso's flying lap which might have beaten the German. The Renault team are furious as is Alonso in the post session interview. To no effect the time is permitted. Alonso joins the Schumi on the front row with Webber an excellent P3. As usual Schumi has courted controversy as he has so many times in the past. Button meanwhile has stormed off to a meeting with his team to understand what went wrong. Rubens has outqualified him for the second time now.

 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'13"898  162.711 Km/h  
 2.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'13"962  162.570 Km/h  
 3.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1'14"082  162.307 Km/h  
 4.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'14"140  162.180 Km/h  
 5.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'14"396  161.622 Km/h  
 6.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   1'14"664  161.041 Km/h  
 7. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'15"804  158.620 Km/h  
 8.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'15"857  158.509 Km/h 

However eight hours after the qualifying was over the stewards decided Schumi had deliberatly blocked the other drivers including Alonso and dump him to the back of the grid. Fisi was also punished for blocking DC and will start in P10. Back to the race on Sunday. The starting grid then has two Ferraris on the back row of the grid but Schumi starts from the pit lane to keep clear of trouble at the start. Kimi nearly gets past Webber at the start but soon after makes a move stick when Webber goes wide. Button has fallen back to P15. 75 laps to go and Rubens is holding a gaggle of cars up he on a one stop strategy the others on a two. This will ruin their race as they are loosing so much time behind him. 68 to go and Kimi and Alonso are trading fastest laps with .4 seconds between them. Schumi has now caught Button and stays behind him for now. But later on he gets past him by the harbour wall. Released he now goes after JV. Kimi and the Monster pit within a lap of each other but keep their positions. Webber is still out their delivering the drive of his life. He is hoping he can leapfrog Kimi during his stop - but when he does pit he has not done enough to get past him. Alonso then pits and this time Kimi is getting very close to him - perhaps Alonso's new tyres are not to his liking. A lot of those drivers stuck behind Rubens have pitted and have come out near P16.

49 to go and DC pits and comes out just ahead of Schumi. Webber is now closer to the front two drivers Alonso's pace allowing this. It is believed Kimi is carrying two more laps worth of fuel than Alonso hoping to leapfrog him during their last stops. At this stage all twenty two starts are still running. A moment of confusion that helps Fisi who sneaks past DC who thought he was Alonso who he would have to let past as he was being lapped. One of Fisis' rear tyres clobber DC's wing but he carries on. The traffic is not so helpful for Webber who is loosing time by the spadeful. He is heard on his radio "Where are the blue flags?". Suddenly Webber slows and his car catches fire he leaves it clearly very annoyed - rotten luck. His car is at the end of the pit lane and the safety car is brought out - ruining Kimi's two lap fuel advantage. 28 to go and Kimi retires more smoke from the back of his car. He walks off and is seen later on his boat with his friends. The race restarts with the Monster now second but he has at least six cars to get past ( backmarkers) before he can get close to ALonso. Rubens long first stint is paying off he is in P3. Rosberg is seen stopping - a throttle jammed open the problem. 21 to go Klein now stops and amazingly Schumi is up to P6 Fisi behind him. Schumi is now flying trying to maximise the points from this race. Rubens is given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane that demotes him down the field. Trulli who was on for a podium stops meaning DC has a podium if he can keep going. Schumi catches Rubens but unlike before at this race when they were teammates he is not going to get past him as Rubens stays awake. An amazingly fast and furious race - one of the best I have seen here. The final result:

 1.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1h43'43"116  150.708 Km/h  
 2.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'14"567  150.356 Km/h  
 3. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   +  0'52"298  149.452 Km/h  
 4. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  0'53"337  149.427 Km/h  
 5.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   +  0'53"830  149.415 Km/h  
 6.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  1'02"072  149.219 Km/h  
 7. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M      1 lap(s)                
 8.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B      1 lap(s)  

The next race is Silverstone should be a cracker.

Monday May 15, 2006

The Spanish GP

So after last weeks race were Ferrari going to continue their revival ? Schumi has decided to wait until the end of the season to decide wether he continues beyond 2006. Montagny has replaced Ide in the Super Aguri the latter has been stripped of his super licence. Their new car should vault them up the grid - due in July. This racetrack is used by all the teams for practice sessions so it is a good place to see how fast the teams really are. The paddock is full of rumours that Kimi has already signed for Ferrari and that Renault who have commited to F1 until 2012 have said they are after a big name driver to replace Alonso. DC was to race his 200th race here Sunday. During the first qualifying however he spins off the track - he will start at the back of the grid. No bigs guns are dropped in the first qualifying but in the second which cuts the field down to ten the Monster looses out as do both the Williams. Renault do an awsome job of locking out the front row but the Ferrari's look good in the second row and might have a faster race pace. In the dying seconds of qualifying the Toyota's break into the top of the grid and split the Honda's with Ruben's out qualifying his teamate. Kimi is only on P9.

1.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'14"648                
2.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'14"709                
3.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'14"970                
4.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'15"442                
5. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'15"885                
6.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'15"885                
7.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'15"976                
8. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'16"008                
9.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'16"015                
10. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber       M   1'17"144    

So with two friend veterans holding up the back of the grid ( JV+DC ) the capacity filled stadium ( 130,000 people ) waited for the start. DC's spin in qualifying was reported as to a water leak spraying water on his tyres causing him to leave the track. The race start was clean with the Renaults and Ferrari's pulling away in formation. However Kimi did an amazing move and got himself up to P5. Alonso was relentness by the end of lap one he had three seconds on Schumi. By lap5 it was five seconds with him posting fastest lap after another. DC had made some progress and was up to P17 behind his teamate. By lap9 we could see Button who was now in P7 was being held up by Rubens With no team rules available to them it would be up to the Briton to pass him teammate. Overtaking is hard here at the best of times. The two Hondas were running two seconds a lap slower than the Renaults at this stage. Sato did one of his spins and let a Midland car get past him. Lap15 the two Toyota's have a touchy feely moment and Ralph looses a bit of his wing and has to pit. On Lap16 Alonso pits having built the gap up to twelve seconds and rejoins in P4. Fisi then pits on lap 17 and we see the Monster spin and beach his car - he is out of the race. It was blamed to an electronic problem later on. A safety car would be gift from heaven for Schumi at this stage giving him a free pit stop but the track officials retrive the stricken Mclaren without resorting to it. Lap19 Massa pits and Schumi follows later on but he has not done enough to get past Alonso. But Fisi has been asleep and Alonso's rear gunner is now gone and Schumi is now P2. The Honda's pit next and at the front a healthy lead has been stretched out between P1+P2.

Button does a stonking inlap and on rejoing the race after his stop is now ahead of Rubens by three seconds - released to get after Kimi in P5. At this point we see Fisi have a large moment in the gravel but Massa does not get past him. Lap26 Fisi is eight seconds behind Schumi and catching him slowly. For the second stops Alonso pits and comes out behind his teamate. He has been so fast during this race he is a pit stop ahead of Fisi. Schumi now in the lead will need to go 1.5 seconds faster than Alonso for six laps to have any chance of getting past him. Before Schumi takes his stop a lot of brake dust is seen escaping from his wheel - -a sign perhaps of impending trouble perhaps. After his stop he is still behind Alonso and the gap widens again. In the dying moments of the race Button is told to turn his engine down to preserve it for its second race annoying as he was getting closer to Kimi. Nothing much else happens until the last lap where the crowd go wild as Alonso wins.

1.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1h26'21"759  212.075 Km/h  
2.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   +  0'18"502  211.320 Km/h  
3.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0'23"951  211.099 Km/h  
4.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  0'29"859  210.860 Km/h  
5.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'56"875  209.773 Km/h  
6. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   +  0'58"347  209.714 Km/h  
7. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M      1 lap(s)                
8. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M      1 lap(s)  

It is the first time a Spainard has won his home GP. A pretty dull race but a stonking race by Alonso who just put in sixty odd consistantly fast laps and did not unlike his teamate fall alseep. Monaco in two weeks.

Monday May 08, 2006

European Grand Prix

As I was away I missed the qualifying again and it seems apart from the Ferrari drivers to be a very mixed up result. A lot of the second drivers for teams seem to have done a suspect job but until the race starts and the first pit stops happen we have no idea about fuel strategy. That said Rubens will be pleased to have beaten Button for the first time but the brit said he was happy with P6 saying the setup he had was dialed in for race pace and not qualifying. The Williams team were in trouble with both cars swapping engines as terminal damage was predicted by pieces of metal found in the engine oil.I certainly was hoping the race would bring us the Alonso head to head with Schumi we were denied last year due to the poor pace of last years Ferrari. One interesting point Schumi had one more set of unused tyres than Alonso for the race.

1.  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'29"819  206.335 Km/h  
2.  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'30"028    + 0'00"209  
3.  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'30"407    + 0'00"588  
4.  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'30"754    + 0'00"935  
5.  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'30"933    + 0'01"114  
6.  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'30"940    + 0'01"121  
7.  TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'31"419    + 0'01"600  
8.  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1'31"542    + 0'01"723 

A clean start but with Button getting past him teammate and Kimi. Coultard was tapped by a spinning Luizzi both then tried to pit but Luizzi ended up leaving his car on the track and that brought the safety car out. Lap 3 the race restarted and Kimi gets past Button , Coultard also stops his car still suffering damage after being hit earlier. Back in the pack the Monster is seen locking his wheels up nearly running into the BMW ahead of him. Lap 8 Alonso is posting fastest laps but Schumi is not far behind ( one second). Lap 14 Webber falls off the track another failure for his car. Kimi is ten seconds behind Alonso at this stage. Lap 16 Schumi now posts a fastest lap and halves the gap to Alonso who is seen locking his wheels clearly trying to respond to those fast laps. Alonso, Massa both pit; clearly Ferrari hoping to get Massa ahead of Alonso and slow him down. This fails. Schumi does one of banzi laps and then pits but fails to get past Alonso. Lap 20 Barricello pits and Button follows suit one lap later. On the track the BMW cars are doing a great job of holding people up. Kimi who is yet to pit is able on a light fuel load to post fastest laps in an effort to bring himself into the race.

The Monster stops near half way through the race and comes out alonside Fisi who does a great job of holding his attentions of his position. The Schumi/Alonso gap is still at one second. Fisi is stuck being JV who held him up in qualifying. Suddenly a puff of smoke and Button is out of the race. On lap 29 Klein also stops off the track. Rosberg is doing a great job eaisly in the top six. Lap34 both Schumi/Alonso are trading fastest laps getting close to their next round of pit stops. Lap 38 Alonso blinks first and stops, meanwhile Schumi stays out for at least two more laps and does some amazing laps. He has easily done enough to come out barring a pit stop mess up ahead of the Spaniard. He stops and comes out in front of Alonso and air horns are heard in the grandstands from German supporters of him. On Lap 42 he is almost six seconds ahead. Kimi stops and rejoins the race in fourth and the gaggle of cars in the the latter points paying positions all pit and Fisi gets ahead of JV. Things calm down for a bit but on Lap 52 Massa is being seriously caught by Kimi - two seconds away. Lap 53 the Monster slows and parks his car, and then much to my amusement so does Ralph but a piece of precision parking leaves it right beside a track advert reading Toyota!. There are only thirteen runners left. For the rest of the race Kimi closes on Massa but runs out of time. The final positions:

1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h35'58"765  193.081 Km/h  
2.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0'03"751  192.957 Km/h  
3.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  0'04"447  192.933 Km/h  
4.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0'04"879  192.920 Km/h  
5. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  1'12"586  190.680 Km/h  
6.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  1'14"116  190.628 Km/h  
7. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   +  1'14"565  190.615 Km/h  
8. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   +  1'29"364  190.132 Km/h 

Highlight of a very boring race - Sato pushing the limit of the flexible wing rule to the limit on his Super Aguri with one of the wings on the top of the airbox flapping up and down - or perhaps his car was trying to take off ?

Ferrari clearly have the fastest cars now and the rest of the pack using French rubber will have to hope their Michelin tyres come good in the next few races. Next race 14th May Barcelona.

Saturday April 29, 2006

Prodrive win the last 2008 grid slot

As expected David Richard's Prodrive company won the last free slot for the 2008 F1 grid. Also the existing teams in F1 including the teams who joined this year all keep their places for 2008. Now all we need is the definitive rules and regulations the 2008 season will be governed by. It will be good to have the good DR back on the grid.

Monday April 24, 2006

The San Marino GP

As I was away I did not watch the qualifying live but just read the results:

1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari                         
2. 12  BUTTON       Honda                        
3. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda                         
4.  6  MASSA        Ferrari                   
5.  1  ALONSO       Renault                       
6.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota                        
7.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes              
8.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  

This pole takes Schumi past Senna's pole record. Despite not getting emotional about it Schumi must have felt something to take the record away from the Senna at the ace track where Senna's lost his life while Schumi was following him in 1994. It looks like Renault and Team Mac had a poor qualifying but different fuel strategies might account for some of the grid positions. Button did well on P2 and his teammate now closer to him on pace saying that a brake change was making all the difference. Imola is a circuit hard to overtake and you have to attack its kerbs to post fast laps. The bump that the car gets when it reaches the ground again after flying through the air off a kerb can also cause drive shaft failures. The track is getting a big makeover for the 2007 race.

The race started clean with both Schumi and Button getting away ok but Rubens loosing out to Massa and Alonso getting P4 past him too. The Midland of Albers was seen rolling over in the gravel but thankfully he gets out ok. He was tapped by a Super Aguri. The safety car comes out for two laps but the restart allowed Button to keep his P2 unlike the last race when his tyres got too cold. The Team Mac cars are in P7 and P10 the Monster ahead of his teammate. On lap6 Trulli retires having had a gearbox problem causing him to spin Luizzi. Schumi is also opening up a bit of a gap on Button now, Alonso is hanging on well despite having a heavier fuel load.

Lap12 Button is three seconds behind Schumi, on Lap14 Rubens now pits and is given a heavy fuel load, but has problems with his fuel rig delaying him somewhat. Button pits just afterwards (lap16) clearly on a very light fuel load himself when qualifying and remains on a three stop strategy with a shorter stop, ( but also has pit problems this time with a wheel nut) and comes out in P8. Ralph also pits and now we see Massa who is ahead of Alonso slowing and backing Alonso up trying to create a decent gap between the Spainard and Schumi who is setting some very fast laps. Massa soon pits releasing Alonso. The net affect of doing this however means Massa comes out of his pitstop behind Button still.

Schumi pits on lap20. Alonso is leading but he is not posting very fast laps even with his fuel load diminishing and he is in clean air. He eventually pits and leapfrogs Button and Massa.

1/2 way point. The Ferrari's now both seem slow it looks like they are both using second hand tyres and are suffering from bad understeering and front grip. Massa is falling into the clutches of the Monster and both Button and Alonso are rapidly catching Schumi. Then disaster for Button on his second stop. The lollipop man lifts the lollipop but the fuel rig is still connected and despite slamming the lollipop down on Button's head the car moves forward and a bit of the rig is left attached to the car. When he finally emerges he is down in P8 his race ruined.

Alonso is right up behnd Schumi who is horribly slow. Renault take a punt and bring him in possibly earlier than they were going to. Ferrari react and then bring Schumi in. Amazingly he gets back on track ahead of Alonso who can only hope Schumi's tyres grain again and allow him to pass him.

12 laps to go. Schumi has slowed a bit but seems in control. Alonso is all over the back of him but there are only two places to overtake here Tossa and the last corner and Schumi's car is not bad enough to seemingly give Alonso the chance he needs. The Monster is in P3 and the remaining Red Bull of DC retires with drive shaft failure. The last few laps of the race mirror last years race here but the positions of the two drivers are reversed.

4 to go. Alonso nearly looses it in the gravel and falls back a bit. In his efforts to get close again he has another scary moment. The risks are clearly too great and he settles for P2.

1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari          
2.  1  ALONSO       Renault
3.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  
4.  6  MASSA        Ferrari         
5.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  
6.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth 
7. 12  BUTTON       Honda           
8.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault         

This takes Schumi to his 85th win. It is a long time back to his last win at the farce at Indy last year. A lot of drivers were anonymous in the race, Fisi, Kimi, Rubens etc. Next month sees four races; the first at Nurburgring on the seventh.

Thursday April 20, 2006

Will Jenson win a race?

I am having second thoughts on wether our Jense will win a race this year. It all goes back to 2004. A couple of teams ran Button's 2004 races through their team's best practice race simulations at the end of that year. One team found he should have won three races, another four. None of this is his fault, it is the fault of the team's race pit stop strategies. More worryingly for Button was Honda's team principle's comments after his engine blew during the last race (Melbourne) . "He was smiling when we said "I'm not really concerned that things are slipping away from us", "A fourth and a third in the first two race was a reasonable start". Wrong choice of words and he should be mighty peeved by those results and publically tell everyone that fact. The Ronster or Todt would never admit to being happy with anything else than their cars finishing P1 and P2. Qualifying the car seems good. Button's average from a P3, P2 and a Pole is better than anyone else after you take his fuel load into account. As last year the car is slow during the race. There is also a questions on their selection of tyres as well. To make matters worse Rubens is having a torrid time of it having trouble adapting to a car which has a slightly inferior traction control. This means he can't bury his right foot and let the traction control sort the mess out (as he admits to doing when he was driving for Ferrari ). All drivers need a strong teamate to make them push that little bit harder.. Button himself has tied himself to the team for the immediate future which he may regret long term unless Honda sort themselves out. Here is their shopping list....

Pat Symonds - race strategy etc

A fast consistant second driver - not the Monster or Train Trulli but who?

A high flying aero expert to get the RA106 chassis more downforce like Renault and Team Mac

Last but not least a stronger fiestier team principle. David Richards

Thursday April 06, 2006

So where will Gascoyne go?

Quite a shock to see Mike Gascoyne leave Toyota and it is unclear whether their bad start to the season was really the cause of him leaving. I am sure he considers F1 unfinished business and he wants to go on and win again with another team. The team who get him will need lots of money.. Who would that team be?

Williams - for a long time since Newey's departure not really had a strong technical leadership as Patrick Head took a back seat ( if that man can really do that..)

Mclaren - have just lost Newey to Red Bull so might be interested.

Honda - Geoff Willis is doing a great job but perhaps that addition of Mike Gascoyne could elevate the team to race winners. It would be a poke in the eye for the Toyota team though.

BMW - Again a possibility. The team are looking to bolster their efforts with BMW cash.

Ferrari - an outside chance but you never know...