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F1 Fans Mocked by Ferrari

Aug 19

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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Niki Lauda may have won a couple of F1 titles while wearing an all-red racing suit, but he seems to recall things were slightly different in that age. Back then, Ferrari would not have turned to team tactics to help one of its drivers won the world title, and the Austrian champion demands nothing less from the Prancing Horse nowadays also.

After publicly slamming the Maranello team for their tactics in the German Grand Prix - when Felipe Massa was suggested from the pit box to let Alonso pass him for glory - Lauda reiterated his critic this week. He compared Ferrari’s strategy with Red Bull’s and argued that the latter clearly respects the fans more than the Scuderia does.

“You have two models of how to race in Formula 1 as a team. If you approach it politically then you are in the Ferrari mould. Or you try to give both your drivers equal opportunities and the fans an exciting sport, as Red Bull are doing in letting their drivers compete with each other,” said Lauda in a recent interview with Formula One’s official website.

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Rosberg = Vettel - Said Berger

Aug 17

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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Benefiting from the current summer break in Formula One, former Grand Prix driver and F1 team co-owner Gerhard Berger took the time to evaluate some of the young talents racing in the Great Circus at the moment. Since his interview was given to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, Berger obviously focused on the group of young drivers coming from Michael Schumacher’s native country.

Needless to say, Berger started out with “baby Schu” Sebastian Vettel whom many are referring to as the next big champion of Formula One. Having worked with the 23-year old during his time at Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Austrian believes only one thing separates Vettel from the best in the biz: experience.

“He is incredibly mature. It is true he is still making mistakes, but I put that in the category of lacking experience,” said Berger, who admitted though that Vettel missed out one thing when aiming for the 2010 world title: “His biggest problem is that he probably underestimated Mark Webber.”

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Mercedes GP not good enough

Aug 16

Posted by Insider in F1, Mercedes-Benz, News

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Michael Schumacher looked back at his returning season in Formula One so far and, needless to say, he did not like what he saw. The 7-time world champion certainly did not expect 12 races to pass without him being at least once on the podium, not to mention the fact that he’s now resting 9th in the overall classification, 56 points behind his much younger teammate Nico Rosberg.

However, there is reason for optimism as far as the 41-year old is concerned, as he has the logical explanation for this state of events. And it’s not his lack of speed, but the technical package he has been served with in 2010.

“Looking at the points table then of course we cannot be satisfied. But there are reasons why the deficit is so great,” said Schu in a recent interview, talking to his sponsor DVAG.

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FOTA Will Destroy Itself

Jul 22

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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Some of you may have noticed that the 2010 Formula One season was not as full with politics as last year, when everybody was keeping an eye more on the FIA-FOTA battle than the racing itself. Peace, as we know it this season, has made Bernie Ecclestone feel a bit awkward so the F1 supremo decided to light a fire of his own just to spice things up in the series.

It all started during the British Grand Prix, when Ecclestone told the media that there is no room for the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) in the sport and started a sponsorship dispute with the teams’ alliance. To be more precise, the teams’ tractor units were ordered out of the Silverstone paddock and Ecclestone warned the 12 outfits not to put their sponsors’ names on their pit walls.

“The teams were putting sponsorship on property that belongs to us. I explained to them that’s fine and maybe we wouldn’t have a problem with that if we could put some things on their cars,” said Ecclestone in an interview with the Evening Standard, explaining the situation a few days after it happened.

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Sakon Yamamoto Is Driving, Bye Bye Bruno Senna

Jul 9

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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The latest rumors regarding the shaky F1 future of Brazilian driver Bruno Senna seem to become true, as Hispania Racing F1 Team’s boss Colin Kolles confirmed on Thursday that reserve driver Sakon Yamamoto will replace 26-year old nephew of Ayrton Senna for the entire British Grand Prix, at Silverstone.

Both Senna and teammate Karun Chandhok were in the rumor mill regarding a potential loss of their F1 seats for the remainder of the 2010 season, yet it seems the former is the one targeted by his team. His replacement, Yamamoto, has last driven a Formula One car back in 2007, for Spyker F1, and will take the wheel of the HRT car from as early as today’s practice at Silverstone.

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Bye Bye To Sir Frank William

Jul 9

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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This year’s British Grand Prix has been previewed by some major stories inside the F1 paddock. Robert Kubica signed a 2-year extension to his Renault deal, Ferrari have unveiled their new F1 logo for the 2011 season and, last but not least, Frank Williams invested former chief executive Adam Parr as the new chairman of Williams-Cosworth F1 team.

Although the 68-year old announced that he’s going to keep his team principal position within the team, several media started suggesting that this may be yet another step Williams is taking towards retirement. The first one was made prior to the 2010 season, when he sold part of his F1 team to Austrian investor Toto Wolff, his first such move since he founded the team back in 1966.

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Hamilton Should Disqualified -Briatore

Jun 29

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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With every controversy that arouses in the world of Formula One, there is always reason for the figures that are no longer part of the Great Circus to take advantage of the situation and make themselves heard. When Fernando Alonso is in the mix, his former team manager and father-like figure Flavio Briatore cannot stay aside and watch his former protege take the heat from his championship rivals.

According to the former Renault manager, Lewis Hamilton should not have been handed a drive-through penalty in the European Grand Prix at Valencia, but a black flag. The Brit passed the safety car on the track and was penalized by the FIA stewards more than 20 minutes later, when the McLaren driver had already secured enough of a time gap ahead of 3rd placed Kamui Kobayashi to retain his position after his pit lane drive. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hamilton Backfired

Jun 29

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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Needless to say, when Fernando Alonso opened his mouth after the European Grand Prix at Valencia and accused Lewis Hamilton of not respecting the rules when passing the safety car on the track, a war of words would continue between the two.

Following that statement, Alonso made one more comment that seems to have angered his former McLaren teammate, which was that he would never team up with Hamilton again in his entire F1 career. Being that Ferrari also backed his point of view after the race – which he said was “manipulated” – Hamilton backfired immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

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Red Bull Exhaust System Copied

Jun 21

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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As Red Bull have been the team to beat from the first race of the 2010 Formula One season, it was only a matter of time until some of the elements introduced by design guru Adrian Newey on the RB6 would appear elsewhere in the pit lane.

Earlier this month, we reported that Ferrari was already preparing a new exhaust system for their F10 – to be debuted as early as this weekend’s race at Valencia – sourced from the one used by Red Bull Racing. The RB6 features a low-mounted exhaust system, which helps the airflow travel more efficiently into the rear diffuser, therefore increasing the downforce level.

The new system is believed to cut more than half of second per lap, and will reportedly be copied by Mercedes GP, McLaren Mercedes and Renault within weeks. Following their consecutive 1-2 finishes in Turkey and Canada, McLaren Mercedes are reportedly preparing a major update of their own for Silverstone, where the new exhausts are believed to make it to the MP4-25. Read the rest of this entry »

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Force India For Chandhok?

Jun 11

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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Karun Chandhok admitted that he would like to drive for Force India in the near future, as his struggling experience with Hispania Racing F1 is certainly not something that he was expecting in his first season in Formula One.

The Indian driver is currently partnering with Bruno Senna for HRT F1 in 2010, but he formerly tested for Force India prior to signing his deal with the Spanish outfit. And, considering the fact that F1 will travel to India for the 2011 season for Formula One, having an Indian driver driving for an Indian team in an Indian GP would likely by a huge success for everyone involved in the series.

“I’d love to drive for Force India at some point in my career, whether it happens next year or not, because I think in some ways I’m an ambassador for the sport in our country,” said the 26-year old Chandhok prior to this weekend’s race in Montreal.

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