Other Motorsports (merged)

[Adam Eggbeer]

Have to agree with the commentators there that something must of broke on the car. Glad everyone was OK

 

[Scott Webber]

Felipe Massa says it is "important" for his Ferrari team "to do our job perfectly" at their home race in Monza this weekend, to try to secure a win in front of the tifosi - the team's enthusiastic fans.
Full story: Ferrari



Iran may be the next Middle East country to join the F1 circuit after revealing plans to build a track in Parand City, 35km south of Tehran. Alireza Sabbagh, executive manager of the project, said: "Iran has so many young people and there is an increasing tendency for them to drive. F1 has a great future there."
Full story: Mehr News



Former Ferrari and McLaren driver Gerhard Berger has backed Lewis Hamilton as one of the top drivers on the track, saying the McLaren driver is still the best at overtaking.
Full story: the Sun



Berger has also revealed he has been approached by FIA president about a job in the sport, but insists he is not interested in a return.
Full story: Autosport


Fernando Alonso admits his hopes in the championship are fading but says he and Ferrari will "never give up". The Spaniard, who hopes to repeat last year's victory at the GP this weekend, added: "It is easy to maintain a high level of motivation, because we tackle every grand prix wanting and trying to win. Winning an individual race is in itself very special. There is further motivation in the constructors' championship, where there are more possibilities."
Full story: Ferrari

[Read the Full Story ]

 

[Scott Webber]

Lewis Hamilton will learn from the mistakes he has made this season and become a better driver in the future, according to his McLaren team.


The Englishman lost any real hopes of winning this year's title with a crash at the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago, the latest in a string of errors.


McLaren principal race engineer Phil Prew said: "Lewis is a very clever guy and a very good racing driver.
"He will reflect on the difficulties he's had and come back stronger."


Hamilton is in fifth place in the championship, 113 points behind leader Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull with only 175 still available in the remaining seven races, starting with this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza.


He crashed out of the Belgian race while trying to overtake Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, later taking full responsibility for the accident.


It was the latest example of a season that has veered between brilliant wins and basic mistakes.
His victories in China and Germany were arguably the drives of the season but, in between, he has had races such as those in Monaco and Canada where he made important errors.


He has also been on the wrong end of some strategy errors by his team and appeared unsettled at times in public.


[ Read the Full Story Here ]

 

[My993C2]

Last season immediately following the 2010 Belgian GP where Vettel lost control of his car on a wet track and took himself and Button out of the race, I said Vettel was his own worst enemy. But Vettel turned his 2010 season around after this accident and went on to win his 1st Champion. In 2011 Vettel has shown tons and tons of maturity. He is still human, he will make mistakes (as seen late in the 2011 Canadian GP), but Vettel has come a long way in one year.

In 2010 I was also saying that Lewis Hamilton was his own worst enemy. While the beginning of Hamilton's 2011 season was not as good as Vettel's start, Hamilton was showing signs of maturity. But then the 2011 Monaco GP and the 2011 Canadian GP came along (as well as the 2011 Belgian GP) and Lewis all of a sudden seems to be back being his own worst enemy in certain races. There is no reason to believe that Lewis can not wear his Dr Jekyll mask more often than the Mr Hyde mask he has worn lately, he just seems to be maturing a little slower than Vettel despite being slightly older than the young German. Lewis just needs to relax and stop thinking of himself as the second coming of Aryton Senna. Once he remembers he is Lewis Hamilton and not Aryton Senna, he can put together a serious championship run. There is no doubt Hamilton is an extremely talented driver. But he is still showing signs that he is haunted by Mr Hyde.

 

[Kyle Constable]

errr, what swearing?

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Cheers Scott.
Always interesting to see what's being reported around the world.

 

[Scott Webber]

Jenson Button will be at McLaren in 2012 and beyond, that's guaranteed, according to team principal Martin Whitmarsh.
The 2009-world champion only has a contract until the end of the current season, but he has continually expressed an interest in staying with the team after recently announcing he's the happiest he's ever been in the sport.

"I can guarantee you that he [Button] will be with us next year," said Whitmarsh on Friday in Monza.
Whilst a single-year contract has been mentioned on numerous occasions, the 53-year-old is hopeful of a much longer deal which could see Button at the Woking based team until 2016.

"We both want to work together for a long period of time. It's a non-issue," he added.

Source: here

 

[Scott Webber]

Williams have been fined €5,000 (£4,300) after they were found to have breached the allotted tyre regulations for practice on Friday.


According to the FIA, Rubens Barrichello was found to have used a set of option tyres which hadn't been allocated by the governing body's technical delegate.

Source: here

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Pretty good choice by McLaren. JB is doing better than expected!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

For those of you who have missed the news that the Gabriele Tarquini is now also involved in the STCC in a ... Volvo, here is the movie of his maiden test:

That sound of the engine is just awesome!

 

[Scott Webber]

Renault's latest accounts show that its Formula 1 team, now owned by Genii Capital, made a £34.3 million loss in 2010 - its final year of full ownership.

That figure compares to a £4.8m post-tax profit in 2009. The sudden drop can be accounted for after the withdrawal of title sponsor ING toward the end of the 2009 season following on from the crash-gate scandal of 2008 - it's believed the deal cost the team almost £40m.

The outfit did however make massive savings between 2009 and 2010 after the departure of Fernando Alonso to Ferrari, who's salary was reputed to be almost £13m, which contributed to an 18% fall in operating costs.
Following the buyout from Genii Capital, which now owns 100% of the team, the outfit is likely to return to profit with Group Lotus investing £25m in title sponsorship.

Source: here

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Explains the rumours of them struggling to pay bills last season.

 

[Diego Lopez]

hmm how did they get hold of unallocated tyres.

 

[Luke McVicar]

Scott Dixon denied Will Power pole position for the IndyCar Series' Motegi round, but Power will still start seven places ahead of title rival Dario Franchitti, who could only manage ninth.
The result is only the second time all year that Penske driver Power has been beaten to pole on a road course, with Dixon (Ganassi) having already been the man who ended his pole streak at Lexington last month.
Power hung back early in the Fast Six session, letting his rivals fight for provisional pole. Ganassi's Graham Rahal was fastest initially, with first a 1m38.6055s then a 1m38.5946s.
Dixon beat him with a 1m38.4027s just as Power finally started a quick lap. But the Australian's 1m38.4194s fell short, and he could not improve on his final shot - while Dixon edged further out of reach with a 1m38.3918s to guarantee his pole. Rahal remained third, having been quickest in both group one and the top 12 segment.
All three Penske drivers made it to the final segment. Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves will line up fourth and sixth, sandwiching Newman/Haas' impressive rookie James Hinchcliffe.
Franchitti's ninth place was his worst qualifying result on a road course since Long Beach in April 2010 - although he was little more than a tenth of a second away from the sixth position required to make it into the pole shoot-out.
The points leader will start behind an all-rookie fourth row, as Charlie Kimball (Ganassi) and James Jakes (Dale Coyne) delivered by far the best qualifying performances of their short IndyCar careers so far.
While Jakes made it through, his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais was bumped out of the top 12 cut-off by Marco Andretti after a mistake on his final lap.
Andretti, who would qualify 10th, was the only member of his Andretti Autosport team to make it beyond the group stages, with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Mike Conway and Danica Patrick ending up 17th, 20th and 23rd respectively.
Another surprise from the early rounds was that Newman/Haas' Oriol Servia, who had been second in final practice, was only eighth in group two after flat-spotting his tyres on his best lap. He starts 16th.
Returnee Hideki Mutoh was unable to replicate his promising practice form for AFS/Sam Schmidt Motorsports so starts 22nd, while Tony Kanaan's off-the-pace weekend continued in the third KV car and he was slowest of all in group one.
The best of the KV drivers was Takuma Sato, who delivered 11th place for his home fans. He shares row six with a 'local' driver of sorts, as Formula Nippon star Joao Paulo de Oliveira continued to impress on his IndyCar debut for Conquest by making it to the top 12 session.

 

[Scott Webber]

Construction of a brand new simulator facility at Renault's Enstone facility will begin soon, with the local council giving the go-ahead.


The team has struck a deal with McLaren which will see a similar system as used at Woking, often touted as the most advanced in the sport, installed at a new building next to the Renault wind tunnel.

The team have also hired Red Bull's former simulator chief to guide development of the facility.



[ Read The Rest at thef1times.com - Click Here ]

 

[Scott Webber]

Adrian Sutil's manager has denied the German is in talks with Williams over a possible drive for 2012, after he was seen at the Williams HQ in Oxfordshire earlier this month.


It is believed that Williams are interested in his or Kimi Raikkonen's services, as a replacement for one of its drivers, most likely Rubens Barrichello.


But Manfred Zimmermann, Sutil's manager, says the reports are 'nonsense' and the main aim for the 28-year-old is to retain his seat at Force India.


"Our first choice for 2012 is Force India," Zimmermann told Sportsmail. "At this time there is no action talking to other teams."
It's believed Williams are interested in Sutil, not only because of his talent and experience, but because he would bring




[ Read the Full Story at the thef1times.com - Click Here ]

 

[Scott Webber]

The Team Lotus Singapore Grand Prix video preview features Heikki Kovalainen taking a closer look at the Marina Bay circuit, which hosts Formula 1's only night race.

Only six of the track's 23 corners are taken in higher than third gear, so engine driveability and gear ratios are vital here.

 

[James Chant]

Various people have posted these videos before, but I want to dedeicate a thread to these guys. Los Mini Drivers.

Not only do they do F1, but motoGP too!

I really enjoy watching these vids after the races.

Here is the 2011 season so far..
1. Australia

2. Malaysia

3. China

4. Turkey

5. Spain

6. Monaco

7. Canada

8. Europe

9. Great Britain

10. Germany

11. Hungary

12. Belgium

13. Italy

 

[Terry Pringle]

Anyone else here been watching the runoffs on speedcasttv.com? Been lots of great racing today. They are live again tomorrow at 9:15am EST.

 

[Prithvi R Shankar]

Hello guys, Lewis had been to our town (Bangalore, India) on 27.9.11. I have a few pictures of his car and his driving.. And I couldnt take pictures of him driving the MP4-23 as there were people pushing around. But I've managed to to photograph him driving the Merc. Hope you guys like it.


Cheers.

Here is the link of the album : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150304812891854.335324.623781853&l=4a4de7e816&type=1