Formula 1

[Lemmings]

This is a Formula 3 car:

Attachment 11834

Many of the current F1 drivers raced in this series before coming to Formula1

Thanx. Looks kinda weird if you're only used to the F1 cars.

[Noxide]

Last year competition:

Those are cool. I wouldn't mind racing one of them.

[Noxide]

Kimi.jpg

Reports in the Spanish press have raised suspicions about a pitstop involving the Ferrari world champion Kimi Raikkonen during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The reports, in the daily newspapers Diario AS and also the sports publication Marca, marvel at how the Finn managed to make such a quick stop to leapfrog Spain's Fernando Alonso, who had battled on track during the Hungaroring race.

AS said Renault is investigating how Raikkonen's refuelling was completed so quickly, given that the standard Intertechnique fuel rigs deliver petrol to the cars at a uniform rate.

"I don't know how they did it," Alonso is quoted as saying. "We will carefully study the data and see if they have something that allows them to fill up faster."

[DipShyt]

It probably helps that he had more fuel in to start off with...

If this isn't sour grapes, I don't know what is

[Noxide]

It probably helps that he had more fuel in to start off with...

That and the fact that he was the quickest man on track in clear air.

And before anyone says anything, overtaking is difficult on the best track, let alone Hungary.

[EvilSpaghetti]

Brawn reignites Alonso interest

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Honda boss Ross Brawn has reignited speculation that he is targeting Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso for the 2009 season.

The team are reported to be considering offering the Spaniard a short-term deal to partner Britain's Jenson Button.

Brawn told Autosport: "Fernando is one of the top drivers in Formula One and I think every team apart from one would welcome him.

"We are no different, but whether it happens, who knows?"

Honda's current drivers Button and Rubens Barrichello are both out of contract at the end of the season.

Brawn is in the midst of negotiations with them but is reported to be tempted to make a move for Alonso to capitalise on the planned technical advancements on the 2009 car.

Next season's Honda is the first car on which the former Ferrari technical director has completely led the development since joining the team in November 2007.

Alonso is believed to have a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave for 2009 but he has been widely linked with a move to Ferrari, which would mean he may be unwilling to sign a long-term contract.

"I think any team would want to have a longer term deal - any driver for one year is difficult," added Brawn.

"But if you have one-year and do well, then it becomes two or three years.

"I am sure the McLaren deal was more than a one-year deal and that didn't last beyond a year."

Alonso returned to Renault, with whom he won his world titles in 2005 and 2006, after a tumultuous season at McLaren.

But the 27-year-old has struggled in a uncompetitive car with two fourth-place finishes his best results of the season.

In contrast, Barrichello claimed a podium at the British Grand Prix to eclipse team-mate Button's performances this season, who only has three points to his name.

Despite disappointing performances this season, Brawn suggested last month that he would not drastically alter his driver line-up.

He told BBC Sport: "The likelihood is the same two helmets will be in our 2009 cars."

[Noxide]

My opinion is that it would be a dumb thing to move to Honda. That car is absolutely nowhere.

That said, maybe Alonso is exactly what Honda needs to get on the right track (excuse the pun) again.

[Noxide]

The root of Ferrari's problems at present are perched on the pitwall and sitting in the cockpit of the F2008, according to the Italian team's former boss.

Cesare Fiorio, who preceded Jean Todt's ultra-successful reign at the Maranello team, said that even though the car failed within sight of victory for Felipe Massa in Hungary, the technical department is not Ferrari's main issue.

"I suspect the Ferrari is still the best car but it is being spoiled by errors from the command post and by the drivers," he told Switzerland's Motorsport Aktuell.

69-year-old Fiorio, most recently involved with Minardi in 2000, also has another piece of advice for the team he led at the end of the 80s and early 90s.

"Ferrari need to decide on who to put the money on - Massa or Raikkonen," he said.

Appointing a number one driver for the remaining seven races of 2008 would be a difficult decision, however, given that Kimi Raikkonen leads team-mate Felipe Massa by just three points.

In a survey conducted by the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, 56 percent of the readers believe Ferrari should back the Finn.


However, the reigning world champion, Raikkonen, is currently struggling with his F2008, particularly in qualifying.

"Kimi seems to have the same trouble as Heidfeld in getting the car going for a fast lap," said Marc Surer, a Grand Prix driver of the 80s and now a Swiss commentator.

Surer wonders if motivation is also a problem for Raikkonen, 28.

"He has been champion already. Sometimes it appears he wants to watch rather than race," the Swiss said.

Brazil's Massa, meanwhile, observes that Raikkonen occasionally gets his 2008 car working well for a single lap.

"Four times out of five I can get the tyres into the correct temperature window," he explained to Auto Motor und Sport.

"With Kimi it is more like one in five. But when he does it, he is really quick," Massa said.

[Lemmings]

So-called 'J-dampers' are set to become commonplace on formula one cars, as the intriguing history of the previously secret technology is revealed.

We recently reported that Renault delayed debuting similar technology earlier this year because of the spy scandal surrounding engineer Phil Mackereth's defection from McLaren.

In the World Motor Sport Council hearings before Christmas, it was revealed that among Mackereth's McLaren drawings was a device referred to as a 'J-damper'.

"What's a J-damper?" Renault engineering chief Pat Symonds replied memorably to the press at Montreal in June.

Symonds' answer may have been disingenuous, but it subsequently emerged that Force India recently started using on its 2008 car what boss Mike Gascoyne referred to as an 'inerter damper'.

'J-damper' was simply a codename developed by McLaren and the technology's inventor to put their rivals off the scent of what the device actually did.

McLaren has been using the inerter damper since 2005 - a year before Renault's mass damper system was banned.

It has emerged that, three years ago, McLaren penned an exclusive confidentiality agreement with the famous Cambridge University, the scene of the J-damper's birth and the owner of its patent.

Business Weekly reports that, with the McLaren agreement now lapsed, Cambridge has licensed the J-damper to the leading damper company and F1 supplier Penske Racing Shocks, thus allowing any other team to deploy the device.

Penske Racing Shocks' Technical Director Jim Arentz said: "We are confident that the ingenuity of Cambridge now combined with Penske... will promote greater exposure of the inerter in motor sport."

[Duje]

they said if Kimi retires that alonso will come to Ferrari