Hope you all enjoyed your first Formula One-free weekend – let us know what you got up to below.
Here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Domenicali: "The brain does not stop working on holiday"(Ferrari)
"We will be on holiday, but that does not mean our brains will stop working," said Domenicali. "Maybe one can even find fresh inspiration when outside the normal working environment and I expect this time to be a fertile one for ideas, which when all is said and done, are what make the difference."
Buemi plans Red Bull future, Sutil open to a move (ESPN)
"Sebastien Buemi, currently of Toro Rosso, has quashed reports linking him with a future move to Renault, insisting his sole plan is to prove himself worthy of driving for Red Bull Racing."
‘Difficult’ year won’t force Trulli to quit (ESPN)
"Lotus driver Jarno Trulli admits that he has found this season “hard to accept”, but he insists that retirement has not crossed his mind."
A working holiday for Ferrari guys (Adam Cooper)
"’It won’t be possible to switch off my mind completely over these two weeks,’ said Alonso. ‘I will try and relax and do a bit of sport, but at least once a day, maybe just for 10 minutes, I will inevitably think about the next race in Belgium. I think it will be the same for everyone and the timing of the break, does not make any difference.
"He hinted at tensions in the Red Bull camp by suggesting that the McLaren drivers were better prepared for the title fight: ‘It’s hard to say who is my strongest rival – we are all almost equal.
"Maybe, Hamilton, Button and myself, who have already won a title, will tackle the final rush in a calmer way, having already experienced something similar. Percentage chance? I’d say 50%, which is the normal state of affairs.’"
Jenson Button competes in London Triathlon (Twitter)
"Great day at the London Tri today, suffered quite a bit on the run due to just being phsyically drained I guess from the antibiotics.
"Still reasonably happy with the result though 2hrs14mins &14secs, think I finished fourth out of 570 in my group."
Texas F1 race will bring Austin $300 million a year, documents show
"The Austin, Texas, Formula One track will cost $180 million to build, according to documents given to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.
"The documents also suggest that the race will have a $300 million impact on the Austin area."
F1: Epsilon Euskadi Begins Wind Tunnel Testing (Speed)
"Hopeful Spanish outfit Epsilon Euskadi has begun wind tunnel testing a scale model of its 2011 Formula One car.
"It is believed the FIA has already turned down some 2011 applicants, while the GP2 team ART and American group Cypher have pulled out of the running due to lack of funding.
"It emerged this week that the governing body will interview the remaining contenders – probably Villeneuve/Durango and Stefan GP – in Paris next Friday."
Comment of the day
The new points system – and one of the closest championship battles in F1 history – has caused a sea of debate. Ronman has an interesting take on the issue:
I think the points system as it stands now is almost perfect?óÔé¼?ª. it does mess up with the history and the records, and if past championships were to be looked into with the new points system, I believe many drivers would lose their crowns and others more deserving drivers would earn their glory.
However, some in the thread above mentioned that the new system devalues 2nd place. My response is: there is nothing to devalue in the 2nd positions. Races are held to be won. No one grows up dreaming to be vice champion or 2nd place. Ayrton Senna said it best. 2nd Best is the first looser.
So in that context there should be a big gap between 1st and second, and then a closer gap even between 3rd and the rest of the point scoring divisions. The hell with consistency, you should be consistently winning if you want the crown, not consistently second best and sometimes consistently lucky.
Ronman
From the forum
Who Would You Like To See in F1?
Happy birthday!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
The Hungarian Grand Prix was held on this day in 1987.
Nigel Mansell qualified on pole but failed to finish when he lost a wheel nut five laps from the end. The race was won by Nelson Piquet, who was joined by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost on the podium.
Senna dropped a bombshell that weekend with the announcement he would leave Lotus at the end of the season to join Prost at McLaren.
Spud (@)
9th August 2010, 0:21
And hopefully not being gifted wins ie, Alonso. We don’t like drivers winning in such a fashion, well I sure don’t anyway!
John H
9th August 2010, 0:57
“The hell with consistency, you should be consistently winning if you want the crown, not consistently second best and sometimes consistently lucky.”
Medal system anyone?… no thanks.
Mike
9th August 2010, 9:08
Yeah I agree, consistency does need to be rewarded, Some of the best drivers are good because they are consistent, look at Button for an example.
f1yankee
9th August 2010, 1:23
thanks cari.
Who Would You Like To See in F1?
marco andretti
David-A (@david-a)
9th August 2010, 1:56
He may be from a great racing family, but he hasn’t even won an Indycar race in four years.
f1yankee
9th August 2010, 4:16
what other north american competitor would you pick? will power? dario franchitti is too old, and most of the others didn’t have what f1 is looking for – although i thought bourdais was better than his f1 record showed. villeneuve? ha!
after suffering through that indycar race at mid-ohio today, i was impressed by simona de silvestro, who beat marco for 7th, in an older, heavier backup car.
f1yankee
9th August 2010, 4:18
sorry, she beat marco for 8th
mfDB
9th August 2010, 18:16
Ryan Hunter-Reay (sp?) is pretty good….
Hamish
11th August 2010, 8:05
I’d say Scott Dixon, as any NZ’er would
roberttty
9th August 2010, 3:01
Today’s the 45th year Singapore celebrates its independence from Britain! Happy birthday, Singapore!
Besides the glitzy celebration parade at Padang today, we will also be hosting the inaugural Youth Olympics from 14-26 August.
After that, the next big event will be the night race 25-27 Sept! (By the way, they have started installing the lights already.)
MouseNightshirt
9th August 2010, 19:14
It’s actually the 45th anniversary since independence from Malaysia if memory serves.
Chua
10th August 2010, 6:27
“It’s actually the 45th anniversary since independence from Malaysia if memory serves.”
That is correct.
The installation of lights began many weeks back, in parts. They’ll probably go full swing right after the Youth Olympics.
Really looking forward to going again this year! I bought a walkabout ticket for 2008, and had bay seats last year (between turns 17 and 18, where crashgate happened). Will be at the bay again this year.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
9th August 2010, 3:04
It seems like not many people enjoying this summer break.If Webber make his moves out of the team in 2011 & then Sebastien Buemi will have his chances. I think Red BUll is the only team on the grid probably who don’t have to think about drivers if they need any replacement. They have plenty in the pipeline.
f1yankee
9th August 2010, 4:22
it must be nice when formula one is your feeder series for formula one. most people don’t like ferrari’s 3 car plans, but nobody objects to red bull running 4 cars.
Mike
9th August 2010, 9:20
Well dude, 3 Ferrari’s is very, VERY different from 2 Red Bull’s and 2 Torro Rosso’s, The two teams are almost completely separate, the only significant connection is with the upper management, and the car’s names.
I have no problem with Ferrari funding a second independent team and then benefiting from it as being a source of drivers, But to suggest the two issue are even somewhat related is just being naive.
DASMAN
10th August 2010, 13:20
Err…actually its only this season that the design philosphies have been totally seperate. Previously the cars were very similar and not a few people noted that Red Bull were using TR for development.
bosyber
11th August 2010, 8:03
Yes, and this was one of the reasons not to allow customer chassis. So from now on, if Ferrari does it like the current Torro Rosso, well, good luck to them, and great for getting a team some influx of cash to go and get non-pay drivers (HRT? they are probably pretty cheap right now; would be ironic if Ferrari bought them for the seats after all their moaning about slow teams – but a better way to get them up to speed than talking them down, I think).
Icthyes
9th August 2010, 4:09
Yeh, who cares about the people who punch above their weight consistently if it doesn’t result in a win at the end of it? We all know the second-best driver in the best car deserves to win it more than the best driver in the second-best car.
Joey-Poey
9th August 2010, 5:04
I spent the day watching the Grand Am Rolex race at Watkins Glen and the Indy Car race at Mid-Ohio. A few things struck me…
The Rolex race was actually pretty good and I’d like to watch more of this series. Good close and hard racing. However, seeing how neutered the Glen has become is saddening. It seems even there they’ve replaced many a gravel trap with asphalt runoff. Challenging turns such as the first corner and the carousel just aren’t as thrilling now with plenty of paved road to the outside lest a car go wide.
On the opposite end, Mid-Ohio had not fallen victim to the recent trend and dipping the wheels off into grass punished a number of drivers properly. Was their race over? Not even. A few managed to plow through the gravel and Graham Rahal even managed to reverse out of the tire barrier and get going again. However, what disappointed me about the Indy Car race is how unentertaining it is with blocking being illegal. I was aware of this rule since the 500 this year, yet now that Castroneves has brought it more to light, it seems pretty pathetic. It doesn’t feel like a race so much as simply waiting for someone to get a good run and watching them blow by the guy in front. Even the commentators mentioned in the old days CART would let them block the inside line. In fact, I seem to recall the rule USED to be that you could only go “off line” once a lap to defend. Which seems at least a LITTLE more fair and entertaining.
Joey-Poey
9th August 2010, 5:07
That and the whole “AJ Foyt Trophy” and “Mario Andretti Trophy” is irksome. If you’re good at ovals or you’re good at road courses, whoop-dee-doo. Pat yourself on the back. If you’re good at ALL the different types of tracks they run, THEN you deserve an award. I believe it’s the trophy for the driver championship.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
9th August 2010, 9:07
I don’t think it does any harm having them there.
Obviously the one everyone wants to win is the overall championship. But why not have some extra awards which draw attention to one of the key attractions of Indy Car racing – that it tests drivers on a more diverse range of courses than any other single-seater series?
And naming them after two of the series’ historic drivers (voted for by the fans, I believe) is a nice touch.
Joey-Poey
9th August 2010, 16:02
I like the references, but it just feels like butt-pats to me. A driver being better on one type of course over another is something worth arguing over the merits with your friends, not something worth giving a trophy over. At least in my opinion.
giorgio
9th August 2010, 6:47
“..but failed to finish when he lost a wheel nut five laps from the end.”
What’s up with this circuit and wheels?
1987 – Mansell ; loosing a wheel nut
2009 – Alonso ; loosing a wheel
2010 – Rosberg ; loosing a wheel
Anybody knows about any similar incidents there?
Tom L. (@tom-l)
9th August 2010, 13:20
Alonso lost a wheel nut in 2006 which led to him spinning into retirement and handing victory to a certain Jenson Button!
BasCB
9th August 2010, 7:25
A lot to think over.
Drivers stating they will stay put (Trulli, Buemi) and those considering moving (Heidfeld, Glock, Sutil and others), but the only free seat to get anyone moving might be Renault who are considering not making a change at all.
Then we have De la Rosa, who probably counts on losing his seat next year, and we have guys wanting to get into F1 (Maldonado, Perez, Bianchi, the other Venezuelan) and the HRT carroussel.
And the Austing GP, where slowly more gets known, we learnt that the sewerage plan was confirmed by the city and can be hopefull they get on with building the circuit. But nothings for sure.
All the teams are having a brake, but most expect their clever minds to think something up in the mean while. Adrian Newey can do just that while he recovers from his crash, let’s hope he is ok.
And it seems Epsilon Euskadi still wants that 13th spot for next year. They are the only ones actually come out with working on their car, Durango/Villeneuve have only confirmed they have backers and with Stefan GP we miss even the misspelled, bad english press statements.
Steph90 (@steph90)
9th August 2010, 8:35
I don’t think there’s any way Bianchi will get into F1 next year. I think he was going to really find his feet in GP2. There were flashes of something good but not consistent. Hulkenberg didn’t start delivering there straight away so it does take drivers time. However, Ferrari will know there’s no point rushing him and now with his back injury he is missing precious time to learn, get some more pace and race.
BasCB
9th August 2010, 8:48
I think your absolutely right. The best thing he (Bianchi) can do after he recovers is do another year in GP2/GP2 Asia to be a regular winner and first rate contestant for the title.
But i read a quote from Nicolas Todt, who claims he is in serious talks to get both of his GP2 guys (Maldonado and Bianchi) into F1 next year, even if Bianchi is very young.
Rob
9th August 2010, 7:45
I caught the NASCAR race yesterday when I noticed it was being shown live on Openaccess TV for free instead of Sky Sports – it has been mentioned before but the difference in the quality of TV coverage is amazing, especially considering how F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of technology.
Rather than obscuring the action with intermittent graphics showing the positions and gaps between each car there is a constantly updating ticker running across the top of the screen, meaning you can see straight away that someone has overtaken another driver off camera (which is just as well, considering the director was a bit slow in noticing events like spins, but this was the only negative), and multiple screens showing simultaneous pitstops and the start-finish straight rather than having Jonathan Leggard asking “where’s so-and-so?!”.
bosyber
11th August 2010, 8:10
I agree – and both Indy Car and NASCAR have had that for years. I noticed that this season, we seem to be getting less information on positions shown in F1 races, not more. Not so much a problem if you have live-timing on your computer in front of you, but without that, you are completely at the mercy of commentators and the director.
Eric
9th August 2010, 8:48
these Australians are popping up all over the place.
Marcos Ambrose, is a Aussie.
Will Power, is an Aussie.
Mark Webber is an Aussie.
3 different types of Motor Car Sport and all doing very well for themselves.
NASCAR
Juan Pablo Montoya fended off Marcos Ambrose after a race-long battle to claim his second Sprint Cup Series career victory at Watkins Glen.
The Colombian had to wait 113 races and 1142 days to get back to Victory Lane after taking his maiden win at Sears Point in his debut season at NASCAR’s top level. This time no fuel calculations came into play and it was all about pure pace as Montoya and Ambrose competed at the front in a two-horse race for victory.
IndyCar
Dario Franchitti fended off Will Power to take his second win of the IndyCar season at Lexington.
Rob
9th August 2010, 9:10
Ambrose and Montoya just looked a different class to everyone else on a ‘normal’ circuit. The commentators were raving about how Marcos Ambrose just drove past other cars as if they weren’t there when he came across drivers who had limited non-oval racing experience and had no idea how to defend their position.
If NASCAR had more circuit races then surely either of those two would be in with a shout of the championship.
jose arellano
9th August 2010, 17:57
i hope perez beats maldonado on pure pace in the next few races (hasnt happened).. if he does. slim will offer some cash to a team (but this would affect other racers sponsored by him i reckon…
and i would like to see what gutierrez offers once he goes to gp2…
viva meexicoo
Chua
10th August 2010, 6:33
As someone who quite likes Alonso, I have to say that he isn’t very good with probabilities, if he honestly thinks he has a 50% chance of winning the drivers title. I’m not sure whether he actually thinks that, or that he just means there are two outcomes: either he wins, or he doesn’t! :D