SKY TV deal

reactions
F1 >> MotoGP >> WRC
week.com
Issue No 127 MONDAY August 01, 2011
EVERY MONDAY AROUND THE MOTORSPORT WORLD
200
NOT OUT
Jenson thrives in
the rain (again)
MOTOGP:
Half-term report
WRC:
The Streak continues

xxxx
I hate zeees forward-facing exhausts ...

GPWEEK OPENING Shot

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plus the latest from the worlds of F1 and MotoGP
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GPWEEK NEWS >>
Moto GP: Half Term >>
F1: It's the JB 200! >>
ISSUE 127 AUGUST 1, 2011
>>
Go to
>> Go to
>>
Go to
>>
It rained on and off in Hungary and, yes, Jenson Button
outsmarted them all again ...
It's the mid-year break in MotoGP and headmaster Scott
has sent out the report cards
EDITOR: ADAM HAY-NICHOLLS
adam@hay-nicholls.com
Assistant Editors
Naoise Holohan, Kate Walker
MotoGP Editor: Michael Scott
michael@gpweek.com
Rally Editor: Martin Holmes
martin@gpweek.com
Production Artist (Australia):
Cedric Dufour,
Asstistant: Callum Branagan
Photography
Sutton Motorsport Images
www.sutton-images.com
Keith Sutton keith@gpweek.com
Publisher
Chris Lambden
publisher@gpweek.com
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WRC: They call him the streak >> >> Go to
The Citroen boys were busy fighting each other, yet Ford's
chaps still couldn't beat 'em in Finland
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it!
Now called FanVision, the new G3 is available for
sale with our best experience ever, including an
ultra-bright 4.3 inch LCD screen, the ultimate in
personalisation, more data, stats and camera
angles than anywhere else. Our classic version is
still available for weekend rentals.
Experience Formula 1
TM
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F1.FanVision.com
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vv
BERNIE Ecclestone has proposed a new 2012
Formula One calendar to teams and the FIA, moving
Bahrain to the end of the season and dropping
Turkey altogether.
There has been a varied reception to the latest
provisional calendar, which would see the season kick
off in the ever-popular Albert Park. Moving Bahrain
towards the end of the year gives the Middle Eastern
country time in which to stabilize its political situation
while improving its reputation abroad.
More sensible is the proposed change to the date
of the US Grand Prix in Austin, which could now be
moved to November, making it a back-to-back event
with the season closer in Interlagos. The Texas race was
originally scheduled for June, but there were concerns
that the blistering summer heat would cause problems
for fans and teams alike.
But there are concerns that the final leg of the
proposed season which includes seven races (and
three back-to-backs) in 10 weeks will prove to be
punishing for paddock personnel not blessed with
access to private jets and 5 star hotels.
We plan actually to ask for a rethink for the
logistics, Eric Boullier told Autosport.
It is to make it a little bit easier for the task
force and a bit cheaper by way of moving logistics
differently. We have a thought between us already
and we would like to suggest a couple of ideas. We
are not involved in the final decision of the calendar,
but I understand it is not definite so we have room to
ask for discussion and to make suggestions.
But Martin Whitmarsh was more pragmatic, telling
the magazine:
The calendar is tough, but I understand it is going
to change again. So, until we have the final calendar,
there is no point complaining about a provisional
one.
Revised 2012 calendar
likely to change again?
Seven races in 10 weeks
too much for teams
Proposed 2012 Calendar
18 March Australia, 25 March Malaysia, 8 April China, 22 April India,
13 May Spain, 27 May Monaco, 10 June Canada, 24 June Europe,
8 July Britain, 22 July Germany, 29 July Hungary, 2 September
Belgium, 9 September Italy, 23 September Singapore, 7 October
Japan, 14 October South Korea, 28 October Abu Dhabi, 4 November
Bahrain GP, 18 November United States, 25 November Brazil.
7
v
F1 NEWS
>>
Revised 2012 calendar
likely to change again?
IN a shock move that took the paddock by surprise, it was
announced on Friday that Sky and the BBC will be sharing F1
coverage between 2012 and 2018, with 50 percent of races
aired by the BBC, and 50 percent on the satellite subscription
service.
The BBC will continue to show highlights of every race and
qualifying session that they do not broadcast, while Sky will
air all practice and qualifying sessions plus all races on the
subscription-only Sky Sports service.
According to the BBCs press release on the subject, the move
will bring increased choice, innovation and breadth of coverage
to UK and Irish motor racing fans. The two leading UK sports
broadcasters will offer fans unparalleled live High Definition
coverage of every race of the season.
We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC,
enthused Director of BBC Sport Barbara Slater. The sport has
never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10 year high and
the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national
sporting moments. With this new deal not only have we delivered
significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live
and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be
available to licence fee payers.
Most ominous was the comment from Sky Sports managing
director Barney Francis, who said that his channel would be the
only place to follow every race live and in HD.
This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the
only place to follow every race live and in HD, Francis said. We
will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to
each race never seen before on UK television. As well as unrivalled
build up to each race on Sky Sports News, we will broadcast in-
depth live coverage of every session. Sky customers with Sky
Sports will also be able to enjoy F1 across multiple platforms and
devices, including Sky Go.
According to the results of a poll of 5,000 British F1 fans run by
former ITV commentator James Allen, 81 percent of respondents
without a Sky Sports subscription will not sign up to the service in
order to follow Formula One.
While the bulk of ire has been directed at the move from free-
to-air to pay TV, a large section of the viewing public is unwilling
to subscribe to the Rupert Murdoch-owned service in light of the
current phone-hacking and privacy scandals surrounding the
now defunct Murdoch-owned tabloid News of the World.
UK fans angered
by BBC/Sky F1
announcement

nThe F1 paddock gathered in the

McLaren Brand Centre on Saturday night
to celebrate Jenson Buttons 200th grand
prix start. Frank Williams looked back on
the early days of Buttons F1 career, Ross
Brawn reflected on the British drivers
title-winning season, and Button brought
the house down with a well-judged
speech in which he ribbed everyone from
his father to Sir Frank. The assembled
drivers, journalists, and team members
sipped champagne before tucking into a
selection of celebratory biscuits designed
to look like ... you guessed it ... buttons.
nFor most people, charity begins
at home. But in Formula One, it begins
on the race track. Saturday night saw
the healthy and not-so-healthy take to
the pit-lane for a foot race around the
Hungaroring to raise money for the
Make-A-Wish Foundation. UBS donated
$300 for every lap time logged during
the special group run. The financial
services group usually donates $100 per
lap time set on foot, and Formula Ones
journalists and team members have
raised over $60,000 so far this season. On
Saturday, Sutton Images Matt Kingston-
Lee extended his lead in the overall @
runthetrack rankings while GP Week
found a shortcut somewhere in Sector 2.
nA computer hacker took control
of Jenson Buttons personal website on
Saturday night, and used their access
to announce that the British driver had
been hospitalised following a serious car
accident on the streets of Budapest. At
the time of the announcement which
was repeated as news by a number of
reputable outlets the McLaren driver
was tucked up in bed at the Hilton. JBs
people called the fake story malicious
and distasteful.
nAccording to reports in the German
media this weekend, ex-Renault boss
Flavio Briatore is the latest high profile
paddock figure to have been implicated
in the Ecclestone-Gribkowsky bribery
scandal. Suddeutsch Zeitung has
reported that the Italian billionaire may
have assisted Ecclestone in making the
multi-million dollar payment to Gerhard
Gribkowsky.outlets the McLaren driver
was tucked up in bed at the Hilton. JBs
people called the fake story malicious
and distasteful.
Short
Straights
SINCE Mercedes announced their return
to Formula One at the tail end of the 2009
season, the team have been granted
automatic entry to the mythical club
known as the Big Four.
But despite the manufacturer investment,
powerful Mercedes engine, and celebrated
drivers, the rebooted Silver Arrows have
scored three podium finishes and no race
wins, disappointing the powers that be in
Stuttgart.
Speaking to German tabloid Bild in the
run-up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ross
Brawn took full responsibility for the teams
lack of race wins.
Yes, Ive made some mistakes, Brawn
said.
My choices were not always perfect; the
transition [from Brawn GP to Mercedes] has
taken too long. At the factory we undertook
two difficult tasks in parallel: correcting the
problems with the car and simultaneously
making improvements to the structure in
order to avoid problems in the future.
According to Brawn, who has won
championships with Benetton, Ferrari,
and his short-lived eponymous team,
responsibility for the teams failures rests
squarely on his shoulders the drivers
themselves are not to blame.
[The drivers] have done a good job and
at the moment they cant get any more
out of the car, he said. We will reap the
rewards in the future. Certainly, my family
and I are secure financially, but I will not
stop until Mercedes is winning races again.
Brawn accepts
blame for lack
of Mercedes
progress

F1 NEWS
>>
FOLLOWING criticism from Renault team
principal Eric Boullier, Nick Heidfelds
Renault future is looking far from certain.
The experienced German driver who
has yet to score a race win was drafted in
to replace injured star driver Robert Kubica
after the Poles horrific February accident in
Italys Ronde di Andora rally, but has failed
to impress so far.
While Boullier has refrained from
criticizing Heidfeld alone, the Renault boss
has made no secret of his dissatisfaction
with the teams progress thus far.
We went to the Nurburgring with some
developments to the car, which gave us
higher hopes going into the weekend,
Boullier told the BBC.
We gained another point, but we were
well below par, and it was not the weekend
we expected it to be. It was not good
enough. We started the season well, but
that feels like a while ago now and we have
to face the facts, which are that weve been
off the pace and we are trying hard to put
that right.
But despite ongoing speculation that
Bruno Sennas Friday drive in Hungary
may have been an audition for Heidfelds
race seat, or that GP2 championship
leader Romain Grosjean might take over
in Singapore once he has his title sewn up,
the German driver is confident his position
within the team is secure.
I do not fear for my cockpit, Heidfeld
told Germanys Auto Motor und Sport.
It has been considered for some time to
let Bruno do a practice session. Of course Id
rather be in the car because every session
helps you to prepare.
In a separate interview with sport1,
Heidfeld admitted that he was open to all
possibilities, including a move to the DTM
series.
With three manufacturers, DTM is clearly
imaginable to me, Heidfeld said
Heidfelds F1 future
looking uncertain
10
Heidfeld, di Resta refuse
to kiss and make up
THE after-effects of Nick Heidfeld and Paul
di Restas lap 1 crash at the Nurburgring
could drag on.
Di Restas race was ruined by the Turn
3 collision in Germany one week ago,
and the Scottish driver is still waiting for
an apology from his German colleague.
But Heidfeld has not attempted to make
amends with the Force India driver, as he
does not believe he was at fault when the
two men collided.
Asked if he was disappointed by
Heidfelds lack of an apology, di Resta told
the media:
Yeah, because it was pretty blatant. I lost
more out of it than he did. He was the one
that committed the crime. Youve got to
[apologize when you do something wrong],
havent you? Its only right you do it, but
whether they accept it or not is another
thing. At least make the effort.
Heidfeld appears to be nursing his own
grievance with di Resta, a hangover from
the pairs Montreal collision.
In Canada people thought he crashed
into the back of my car, and rather than
apologize, he blamed me, the Renault said.
So why should I go and apologize? [At
the Nurburgring] I locked up the front,
he turned in front of me I couldnt do
anything any more and the stewards
decided to give me a penalty. You have
to live with that. It was a racing incident;
Im okay with them penalizing me, but no
special reason.
The bad feeling between the pair
threatens to colour the rest of the season.
Renault currently sit well ahead of Force
India in the constructors championship,
but the gap is narrowing. Force India have
been improving on both qualifying and
race pace, while Renault team principal
Eric Boullier has spoken publicly of his
dissatisfaction with his teams drop in
performance.
With di Resta and Heidfeld currently at
loggerheads, the best place for them to do
the talking is out on track.
11
F1 NEWS
>>
For your daily dose
of Formula 1 news ...
THE announcement that former FIA powertrain
boss Gilles Simon would be taking up a new role for
engine manufacturer PURE caused ructions in the
Budapest paddock.
Part of Simons remit for the FIA involved overseeing
engine development technology for the 2014
specification change, and there is concern among
engine manufacturers that his FIA knowledge will
hand an advantage to the competition.
The news of Simons new role was a hot topic in
the Friday press conference in the Budapest paddock,
where Renault Sport F1 deputy managing director
Rob White voiced his concerns.
Of course, its of concern to all of us that in this close
relationship with Gilles and the FIA over the past year,
18 months, that weve given unprecedented access to
Gilles we certainly have at Renault and I believe all
of the engine companies have done so, particularly
in respect of the state of progress in our respective
engine development programmes alongside the rules
package, White said.
And so, of course, we would be most concerned
to be reassured that information to which Gilles has
had access to in those very privileged circumstances
as a representative of the FIA is not used in his new
capacity as an employee of a competitor.
In the past FIA officials including race director
Charlie Whiting have been blocked from taking
on new roles with teams amid concerns that their
new employers could benefit from the access to
proprietary information given to the FIA.
Its a very complicated sport, White explained. In
order that the technical and sporting regulations
can be administered successfully, then we require
the governing body to have good people and they
probably require to have access to the teams, and
therefore theres an obvious risk that needs to
be managed, if the same people can crop up in a
different shirt very shortly afterwards.
FIAs Gilles Simon
moves to PURE
hbddi]Vh###
Shoving foom is moslly woler, lopped up wilh chemicols - check oul lhe
ingredienls lisl. Nol only con il slrip nolurol oils from your skin cousing rozor
burn, oll lhol woler slrips money from your wollel. 0SClR Nolurol Shoving
0il is differenl. il moislurises os you shove. You`ll be omozed how much
smoolher your skin feels ond how mony shoves you gel from one liny bollle.
lll#dhXVgcVijgVa#Xdb
1
Sauber retain driver line-up for 2012
FOLLOWING the November 2010
publication of the Official Ferrari Opus, a
3,000, 37kg, 852-page book dedicated
to the Prancing Horse, the Opus Media
Group have announced the release of
the Ferrari Opus Digital Edition.
The electronic version of the Opus is
available for download on a range of
mobile devices including the iPad,
iPhone, iPod Touch, and a host of Android
phones and tablets at the significantly
reduced cost of 2.99 (US$4.50). It is the
first official Ferrari app, and includes
around 500 pages of photographs,
features, and interviews, all linked with the
Ferrari brand.
According to the pre-release teaser, the
ODE contains an array of specialist writers
and original interviews with many of the
marques iconic figures, including Ferrari
President Luca di Montezemolo, Fernando
Alonso, Niki Lauda, Jean Todt and Piero
Ferrari. It features over 1,300 spectacular
images, including very rare or previously
unseen archive pictures sourced from
collections around the world. It also
includes quarterly updates, which feature
behind the scenes footage, interviews and
exclusive images.
Some of the 1,300 photos included
in the app were taken using sense cam
technology, which was originally designed
for medical use. Sense cams are worn
on the body, and are programmed to
take automatic photographs when the
cameras internal sensor detects changes
in temperature, lighting, or movement.
Planned future Opus Digital Editions
include apps on Manchester United
Football Club and fashion designer
Vivienne Westwood.
3,000 Offcial Ferrari Opus released as app
PETER Sauber chose the Budapest
paddock as the site of his 2012 driver
line-up announcement. The Swiss team
owner has extended the contracts of
all three of his current drivers: Kamui
Kobayashi, Sergio Perez, and reserve
man Esteban Gutierrez.
We are very pleased with our drivers,
team principal Peter Sauber said.
Kamui has grown into his role
extremely well this year. Though it is only
his second full Formula One season, he
is already taking on the responsibilities
that naturally fall to the more experienced
driver in the team. We are delighted with
him at both a sporting and a personal
level. We had an option of working with
him in 2012 and there was never any
doubt that we would take it.
Im very proud that I can drive another
year for this team and I want to thank
Peter Sauber and Monisha Kaltenborn for
putting their faith in me and the guys for
all their work, Kobayashi said. In 2010
we had a very difficult season and some
tough times. We managed to overcome
this because we are a strong team.
Sergio has achieved more than one
could expect from a rookie, Sauber said.
From the very first race he proved that
he is capable of driving not only fast but
consistently as well. And after the accident
in Monaco he demonstrated that he can
handle difficult situations too. From the
outset we had already signed a contract
with Sergio that went beyond 2011. With a
rookie that always entails a certain risk, of
course, but clearly it has paid off.
The Mexican rookie was pleased to be
confirmed for 2012, and now has one
eye on his future development. After
a promising Melbourne debut turned
to naught when both Saubers were
disqualified from the race results, Perezs
season-best result has been a P7 at the
British Grand Prix.
I want to thank Peter and Monisha that
they trust me, Perez said. Of course it
is very good to have continuity and this
way I can intensively prepare with my
race engineer for what will be my second
Formula One season. But for now Im
concentrating on finishing this season
on a high. The summer break will be very
good for me because since my accident in
Monaco it has been a busy time.
Perez repaid Saubers faith in him with
a P10 qualifying result at the Hungaroring
on Saturday afternoon.
Also retaining his role for 2012 is Esteban
Gutierrez, 2010 GP3 champion, Sauber
reserve pilot and current GP2 driver.
Estebans career is advancing in
steady strides, Sauber said. After his
commanding victory in GP3 it was a
logical step for him to move up into GP2,
where he has now taken his first win. He
will then enter Formula One when he
is ready for it. For us he has been a firm
fixture of the team since 2010, and we
will continue to support him on his way
towards Formula One.
F1 NEWS
>>
hbddi]Vh###
Shoving foom is moslly woler, lopped up wilh chemicols - check oul lhe
ingredienls lisl. Nol only con il slrip nolurol oils from your skin cousing rozor
burn, oll lhol woler slrips money from your wollel. 0SClR Nolurol Shoving
0il is differenl. il moislurises os you shove. You`ll be omozed how much
smoolher your skin feels ond how mony shoves you gel from one liny bollle.
lll#dhXVgcVijgVa#Xdb
1
AUSTRALIAN Casey Stoner will start the second part of the
2011 season in the same position as he began the frst half: as
favourite for the title.
The points score is closer than most predictions at 20
points, Lorenzo is within one race of taking over should Stoner
not finish once. But the manner of the Repsol Honda riders
progress has yielded an enviable record of 100 percent rostrum
finishes, broken only through no fault of his own at Jerez.
Had he not been knocked off there by Rossi, he would have
picked up a minimum of 16 points, and very possibly taken
the 25 that went to Lorenzo, for the first of his two wins of the
season.
Stoner has five victories: the lions share out of ten races:
Pedrosa also has two, and Ben Spies the other one. The surprise
is that Lorenzo is so close, having a non-finish of his own after
crashing out at Silverstone. It is because he has five times come
second; Stoner only twice.
Stoner has been consistent also in praise of his machine:
The Honda is working so well that even a bad weekend is a
good one, he said.
TO trackside and TV viewers it was
a hard but fair overtake, at heroic
speed round the outside on a difcult
corner and the sort of move that
proved Repsol Hondas Casey Stoner a
worthy winner. To victim Jorge Lorenzo
(Yamaha), it was yet another passing
move that was on the borderline of
safety.
Unlike with Marco Simoncelli,
frequently on the receiving end of the
defending champions criticism for
dangerous riding, Lorenzo was prepared
to forgive and forget.
I was forced to close the throttle,
otherwise I think we would have touched,
the Spaniard said later. On the fastest
corner of the Californian circuit, which
is notoriously short of run-off area, the
consequences could have been disastrous.
Casey apologised to me afterwards on
the rostrum, continued Lorenzo.
I told him not to worry, because he is
usually a very clean rider.
Stoner was less forgiving of Rossi in
2008, when the Italian actually cut right
inside the kerb on the Corkscrew to push
past roughly but successfully. I lost a
little respect for him, he said after that
race.
Stoner apologised to me
Lorenzo forgives rival for
key Laguna overtake
Stoner still favourite on half-season form
1
Moto GP news
>>
KING Kenny Roberts champion from
1977 to 1979 and still a legend had
his frst chance to test a MotoGP 800
at Laguna Seca. And the verdict? The
1000s will be a lot better.
Roberts was fresh from astonishing
onlookers with his speed on his old
Yamaha 500 at a demonstration weekend
at Mallory Park in Britain. Now he rode the
Yamaha M1 800 for the first time, and said:
I prefer my 500.
Talking to a group of pressmen, he
analysed the difficulties with the smaller-
engine MotoGP bike, compared with the
1000cc machine he previously tested.
These things are so rigid and so precise,
they're not near as fun to ride in my
opinion. I think you can go round a corner
as fast as you want, until you crash. The
tyres, suspension, and chassis are so
much better to do that exact corner, but
if you don't do that exact corner exactly, it
doesn't work, he said.
With the old two-stroke 500s, he
continued, you could over-ride the
bikes, sliding it to turn and using the
two-stroke power band. The new
bike needed the rider to hit the limit
accurately every time. If you're out of
the line, it doesn't like it. I can imagine
going out and being very frustrated on
this, because you're not fast enough and
you don't know why.
But he had more praise for the bigger-
engined MotoGP bikes returning next
year, having ridden the V5 Honda-
powered Roberts-chassis hybrid he
entered for his son Kenny Junior in 2006.
I think the 1000 will be a lot better.
The V5 Honda was a much, much nicer
bike. I think the 1000s are going to help
everybody out.
These (800cc) things are like a big 250
with 300 horsepower, was his damning
conclusion. The riders are going to like
the 1000 much better, because it's going
to have more torque. These things only
have RPM.
Kenny Roberts: Racing
will be better with 1000cc
1
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HIGH
SIDES

nJohn Hopkins took another
step in his career rehabilitation
at Silverstone, riding his British
Superbike Suzuki as a wild card
in the World Superbike round.
Hopper surprised regulars by
qualifying on pole, and running
with the leaders in both races,
before finishing fifth and seventh.
Hopkins will have at least one wild
card Suzuki MotoGP ride before
the end of the season.
nSpanish girl racer Elena Rosell
is to have a second grand prix
outing, hoping to make up for her
dismal debut at Assen, where she
substituted for the injured Julian
Simon in the Aspar team. The
successful national racer crashed
three times, and did not make
qualifying. At Aragon she will
again ride a Suter for the Aspar
team.
nOn the topic of the Aspar
team biggest in the paddock
and the only one to operate in all
three classes they will remain
the biggest next year, having
confirmed they will enter the
Moto3 class next year when the
250 four-strokes come in to replace
the 125s.
nBen Bostrom, 37-year-old
MotoGP rookie at Laguna Seca,
may have retired after running off
on the ninth of 32 laps but his
debut on the LCR Honda was not
unimpressive. The rank rookie set a
faster lap time than his team-mate
Toni Elias by more than a tenth of
a second.
nPost-Brno tests only the third
since the start of the season
present a dilemma for Yamaha. The
company planned to test the 2012
1000cc machine there, after its
expected debut at Mugello in July
was deferred at the last minute.
But with Lorenzo focused on
improving this years machine to
make the most of his title defence,
he is not keen for attention to be
diverted by the new bike.
MOTEGI has been given a clean bill of
health, and the Japanese GP will go ahead
on the re-scheduled date of October 2,
after a special report commissioned by
Dorna found the threat to those attending
the race weekend was negligible.
Although some concerns have been
raised that the survey concentrated on
the circuit area, while most of the teams
are quartered some distance away at
Mito marginally closer to the Fukushima
radiation source the arrival of the report
means there is no reason for the race to be
cancelled.
In line with the wishes of the Japanese
manufacturers and their official teams,
all classes will be expected to line up on
October 2 at the Honda-owned Twin Ring
circuit.
The announcement came at the
beginning of the week, with a statement
from the FIM declaring that, subject to
their being no further serious incidents,
the Grand Prix of Japan will take place ... as
planned.
The statement quoted from the report,
from the ARPA institute, that based on the
estimated dose it can be said with no doubt
that the radiation risk during the race event
is negligible. The test had been specific to
the area where the GP will take place, and
samples had been taken from all sources,
including the air, environment and food.
The news came as a relief to most teams,
giving managers the ammunition they need
to over-rule their riders misgivings. Almost
all MotoGP riders signed a petition at the
start of July saying they did not want to
attend.
Even before the report was received, HRC
riders had been told by vice-president and
team chief Shuhei Nakamoto that their
contracts oblige them to attend.
With Jorge Lorenzo in a similar position
with Yamaha, this puts the two main
opponents of the race out on a limb.
Lorenzo and Stoner have both pledged not
to visit Japan, but will face the possibility of
legal action if they persist in their refusal.
Stoner remained adamant after the
report, telling pressmen: There are official
statements saying the nuclear reactor is
not 100 per cent under control. Ive given
my opinions and Im entitled to do that.
Nobodys reaction is going to change my
opinion.
Japan is go, go, go!
1
Moto GP news
>>
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Issue No. 146 March 16 -22 2010
WHINCUP
IN A
FORMULA 1
CAR AT
ALBERT PARK REIGNING CHAMPS SET FOR F1/V8 CAR SWAP NEXT WEEK FULL DETAILS INSIDE!
POWER
PLAY!
Aussies fight it out
in IndyCar opener
and Will wins!
EXCLUSIVE!
MOTO2 star Stefan Bradl, currently leading the middle-class
championship by 47 points from Marquez, has again had to
defer his plans for next year, while his Viessmann Kiefer team
finalises its own plans, after the disappointing debut of the
prototype CRT machine at Mugello tests.
The German team, granted an entry to MotoGP next year as a
Claiming Rule Team, has asked for an extension in the deadline
for their final decision, while they contemplate switching instead
to becoming a factory lease team.
The 1000cc Suter-BMW machine was more than six seconds
off the pace at tests after the Mugello GP, compared with 800cc
MotoGP bikes. The result sent a chill through supporters of the
second-tier level for MotoGP, where production-based engines
will be allowed under looser fuel and engine-number regulations.
A report from Britains MCN website quotes IRTA general
secretary Mike Trimby that the team was granted the extension
while it tries to piece together the finances to lease a Honda
MotoGP bike. If the team decides to enter as a satellite team, the
30,000 Euro CRT deposit will be returned ... but it still needs to
find five-million Euros to finance the project.
Now we will see if there is enough interest in Germany to
support a MotoGP rider, said team owner Stefan Kiefer.
There may be other complications: HRC has said it may not
have the capacity to supply the same number of machines next
year as this. There are currently six Hondas on the 17-strong grid.
Bradls progress in Moto2 had already attracted the attention of
both Honda and Yamaha earlier in the season: before the halfway
point he was considering offers from both factories for a learning
year or two in a satellite team. The 21-year-old German will come
under increasing pressure to make up his mind.
WITH Ducati abandon its troublesome
carbon-fibre chassis in the increasingly
desperate quest to get star rider
Valentino Rossi up to speed?
In spite of denials from the rider and
team spokesmen, sources close to the
Italian factory suggest that frantic work
during MotoGPs short summer break
includes development of an alternative
to the Desmosedicis unique carbon-fibre
mini-chassis even a full aluminium
chassis like those of their Japanese rivals.
Ducati Corse chief and the technical
genius behind the MotoGP machines
Filippo Preziosi told GPWeek earlier this
season that he is dedicated to the carbon-
fibre concept, and was convinced that
engineering solutions could be found to the
lack of compliance that riders blame for the
machines poor feel and steering response.
There were many years of experience
with aluminium chassis, he said. We are
just at the beginning with this technology.
At the same time, Ducati is adopting the
same minimal airbox/chassis structure to
its latest street machine.
But Rossis arrival, along with
experienced crew chief Jerry Burgess,
has given weight to a growing view that
innovation should not come at the cost of
results.
The rider has diplomatically replied to
questions, saying it is too soon to think
about an aluminium chassis. It is also
probably too late for Ducati to change
design direction this year. But observers
are weighing the chances of a more
conventional chassis solution for the
second year of Rossis contract.
Ducati: chassis switch imminent?
Bradls dilemma team delays decision
17
Crazy name, crazy hairstyle, crazy job: the former factory Yamaha Superbike
rider went on to become Ducati factory tester, and now also manager of the
MotoGP team. MICHAEL SCOTT spoke to him about riders and motorbikes.
His unique viewpoint was fascinating.
5 MINUTES WITH ...
Vittoriano Guareschi
GPWEEK: What exactly is your job
tester, team boss, manager?
VITTORIANO GUARESCHI: I dont know.
(laughs) This year, Ive tested 12 days
until now, and I continue to ride the
bike because we have a lot of material,
and one test rider is not enough. Franco
Battaini is the official test rider, and when
we need more force in the test team I also
ride.
Do you ride all the Ducati race bikes?
Only the Desmosedici. My first job
is as team manager, but maybe it is a
different job compared with the other
team managers. My job is 80 percent the
technical part. Because I ride the bike I
understand better when the riders, Vale
or Nicky, speak about the reaction of the
bike.
I think this is an advantage for improve
the machine. (laughs again) I think!
So you are the link between the riders
and Filippo (Preziosi technical guru).
Yes. Every time we finish practice,
Filippo calls me and I explain what
happened and which modification we
made in the session. I am a link from
Filippo to the track.
Team business outside the garage
with Dorna, with riders and so on is
the work of Alessandro Cicognani. I work
inside the garage, and he works outside
I talk only about the technical parts, and
the contracts with the mechanics.
So was it you who signed on Jerry
Burgess and the rest of Rossis crew.
(Laughs again Burgess and the boys
are rather interlopers in the Ducati family)
It is a strange and complicated situation.
Jeremy talked with Filippo directly. But all
the other guys came through me.
Working first with Casey and now
Valentino, how do you compare them?
Vale is nine times World Champion,
has a lot experience; and for Vale it is
important to improve the machine, to
make a result. He works a lot with the
machine, the team and the group.
Casey has fantastic control, especially
in the throttle. The hand and the engine
is the same part for Casey this is a big
talent. But maybe he is young. Needs
more experience.
You can say Vale is like a professor. And
Casey ... not a normal student, a top
student. No: he is a genius!
What is testing like is it a lot of lap after
lap, mile after mile, endurance testing?
This is not my job. It is Franco Battaini
who does that. Basically now to compare
the new part and the old part. I have in
my head the memory of the old part. For
example the electronic group produces
many electronic packages. And in my test
rider career I started working hard with
this package in 2003, and I have a lot of
information in my head.
Also, after many years in this job, it is
possible for me to speak to the rider about
his style, and I can copy his style. It is not
easy, and you leave two seconds, one and
a half but it is enough to understand the
first part.
It was not easy to copy Caseys style
because he was very difficult, but after
two years ... some of the techniques I
could do.
The Ducati factory maybe make ten
possible solutions, but we have to find
the two best. It is not possible to put ten
different pieces in at a race. The maximum
is two.
How much of what you are testing is just
electronics?
Eighty percent is electronic. Especially
when the 800s arrived, and the 21 litre
limit, because this increased a lot the need
of electronics. For this, we worked a lot.
Basically from 2007 until now 80 percent
of testing in the electronic direction.
Is an interesting job, but sometime is ...
no use. But it is necessary, like this.
What is the cleverest thing about the
Desmosedici?
The best piece? Sure, we won the
championship in 2007 because we had a
lot of power. (laughs) We get a podium in
the first race in Suzuka because we had
the power.
I think the engine is the part of the
Ducati bike.
Sometimes this part creates a problem
for the bike, but it is the most important
piece.
What would you like to change about
the bike?
This year, many things. Sure the
problem now, what Valentino says now, is
the rear part no work good. (This was
prior to the arrival of the new GP11.1.) It is
a harmonic problem is slow, but the bike
is starting moving against the tyre.
What kind of a guy are you away from
the track nightclubs and parties?
No, no. I have family one son of eight
years and my daughter of one year. My
wife is a nice woman, because I stay in my
home maybe three months of the year.
Especially this year.
Do you miss racing yourself?
My last race was in 2001, in
Supersport. I raced once at Monza in
2004 with the Ducati 749, because
Filippo wanted to test a new part, and
that was my only possibility. I started
with Ducati in 2002, and I havent
finished.
Motorbikes are my passion. My father
had a garage in Parma, I was born in the
garage. I touched a bike the first time
when I was four years old. So I am a lucky
man. My dream when I was young was to
ride bikes, to live in the middle of the bike
world.
I am older now, so I dont want to race
again. I am happy like this ... sometimes I
ride a really good bike, but I want to win
with my team ... only this.
1
MOTO CHAT
>>
1
Money talks. Live with it!

Email us
Something to say?
Email us at
mail@gpweek.com
The Sky's the limit ...
Oh Bernie, when are you going to stop
looking through those EltonJohn style, rose
colored glasses.
Formula 1 is not that good that people
will be flocking to sign up to pay TV now
the BBC will only be able to show half of the
races live from 2012.
You poor, deluded, man.
Mitchell Dicksen
gordondicksen@gmail.com
What ever happened to "F1 MUST be on free-
to-air television"?
Oh yes, CVC partners need some
more cash, so principles will have to be
compromised.
What a shame the BBC has had to take its
pants off too in the interests of 'budget cuts'
I was just getting to like it all again.
No doubt the teams will tell themselves
there will be more viewers/more dosh,
but I have a sneaky feeling that F1 will
lose audience in the UK. and that from
someone who already subscribes.
David Astbury
Rochester, UK
So let me see: Rupert (Murdoch) couldn't
buy the show, so he's going to take over the
broadcast rights ... and then get the owners
over a barrel?
I wonder if Bernie's phone or voicemail
has been bugged while all this was going
on. News Ltd? Bugging phones? Couldn't
happen!
Isn't there a 'fit and proper' clause
somewhere in all this mess?
F1, like Football, is selling its soul.
Matt Kingsbury
Walton-on-Thames, UK
Real Men's Stuff
Disaster averted. When it became clear that
Hungaroring was going to be wet (damp),
I waited anxiously for those fabled words:
Start behind Safety Car.
Has someone told them? The words never
came! The race actually started properly in
'sub-optimum grip conditions' as DC might
put it.
Great. If they'd done that (started behind
the SC) I would have missed a great race,
having thrown my shoe through the TV
screen ....
Let's hear it for Charlie.
Leigh Catchworth
Auckland, New Zealand
The views and needs of fans are of
prime importance to Formula One, said
McLaren MD Jonathan Neale in Fridays
FIA press conference.
Im here to tell you thats bollocks.
When it comes to TV there are two
things that matter to Bernie and the
teams. 1) What is the contract worth. 2)
How many people are watching.
The latter is important because it
influences the rates teams and FOM
can offer for sponsorship. The BBC/Sky
deal over F1s UK coverage is good news
for the sports players because it will
bring in an estimated 15 million extra
per year for the rights and, ultimately,
more viewers because F1 will now be
on two UK channels and, crucially, race
highlights will be played on the BBC in a
prime time slot, which will pick up more
casual and accidental viewers.
So, although the Sky audience will be
lower than that which the BBC enjoys,
the overall figure should be higher.
Its good news for the individual
broadcasters too. Sky has landed a big
fish at a time it is having other deals
scuppered. They hope to sell a load more
subscriptions as a result. Currently, 25
percent of homes subscribe to Sky. The
BBC has been instructed to axe 60
million from its sports programming,
and this move will take care of a large
part of that. They are thought to be
saving approximately 22 million on the
rights and there will be further savings
on production costs, as they will share
facilities, production personnel and
commentators with Sky.
It is clear that the BBC keeping sole
rights wasnt an option. The math didnt
work. The Corporation bit off more than
it could chew when it inked the F1 deal
in March 2008. This, of course, came six
months before the financial world fell to
its knees and begged. It paid too much
for it to start with, and then signed off
on an enormous production budget that
has proved unsustainable.
It makes for fantastic coverage but,
ultimately, its reckless. They bring at least
o
p
i
n
i
o
n
ADAM
HAY-
NICHOLLS
GPWeek Editor
Who owns grand prix racing? In the
end, its neither Dorna nor the FIM. Its
who owns Dorna. And that is British
private equity company Bridgepoint
Capital.
Bridgepoint acquired the majority
Dorna shareholding mid-2006 from CVC
Capital Partners, when that company
was obliged by monopoly laws to divest
itself of MotoGP, having just bought F1.
In June this year came more news
from the shadowy world of private
equity groups. Bridgepoint was among
three companies in the market for a
controlling interest in InFront Sports
and Media. Who they? They are Dornas
equivalent in World Superbike; ultimate
commercial rights-holders to that other
motorbike World Championship.
For reasons beyond me, the same
monopoly restrictions do not seem
to apply here. If the bid succeeds,
then the same investment company
will own both rival motorbike World
Championship series. And should
this come about, the next question
is inevitable. Each series is facing its
MICHAEL
SCOtt
MotoGP Editor
o
p
i
n
i
o
n
Two for one is there one too many world series?
0
Money talks. Live with it!
GPWEEK OPINION
>>
individual struggles in a difficult financial
climate. Shouldnt they be turned into just
one?
Leaving aside other considerations, it
is time to wonder if this would be a good
idea in terms of the racing. Would the
interests of the fans be better served? And
how about the technical interests of the
factories?
In principle there has never been any
doubt over which title is senior. MotoGP
was the World Championship from
1949 onwards, long before it gained the
gimmicky name. Superbikes were late-
comers in 1988; upstarts. And in any case
they were based on production bikes, while
grand prix bikes were thoroughbred racers.
Since then the distinctions have
blurred, while production bikes have
come closer to race engineering in several
respects. Certainly in terms of chassis and
suspension: the big difference in running
gear between GP bike and Superbike
is that the former uses full-race carbon
brakes.
Engine differences also are less, give
or take a few thousand rpm. Especially
since MotoGP introduced engine-life rules
demanding much greater endurance.
Both the Aprilia and BMW Superbike
engines are more or less MotoGP ready,
under next years new CRT (Claiming Rule
Team) regulations.
Ah, CRT. Entrants in this premier-
class under-class are allowed to use
production-based engines; something
that was specifically banned when
MotoGP four-strokes replaced two-
strokes in 2002. Opposition from InFront
has so far gone no further than rumbling
complaints, but it shows how the two
series now overlap.
I hate the dumbing down of pure
prototype GP racing. Given this, I see
Moto2 as a major backward step (good
racing, mind you). Moto3 likewise.
Ditto CRT. But this view is tinged with
acceptance: its a fait accompli, and was
probably inevitable.
Maybe the linking of the two rival series
is also inevitable.
three times as many personnel as any
other broadcaster to races including
the previous UK rights holder, ITV. They
bring more people than FOM, who are
the ones that actually film and broadcast
the racing exclusively.
Of course, the financial health of the
BBC and that of Ecclestone and the teams
is of little concern to most of us. Our
expenditure, on the other hand, is and so
is our desire for quality and accessible F1
programming. On this front things dont
look so rosy.
In polls Ive read since the BBC/Sky
move was announced to the surprise
of the teams as much as us bystanders,
suggesting the deal was done last-
minute the overwhelming majority of
fans say they are displeased and they will
not be taking out a Sky subscription.
Some that have Sky subscriptions
complain that the coverage of other
sports is dumbed-down and that
presenters will never criticize the
product, so if we get a boring race the
pundits will try to convince us it was a
stunner. That could be irritating.
Others in Britain are resistant to
supporting a Murdoch enterprise, in light
of the current phone hacking scandal.
For committed fans who never miss
a race live by which I mean you the
fact that the BBC will now show only half
the races in real time means you have no
choice: you must divvy up 40 around
US$60 (50 if you want it in HD) and
bolt a dish to your roof.
Many of you may protest that you
wont, but you will. If youre a committed
F1 fan youre not going to give up
watching every race live, are you? Plus,
the Sky package will let you watch DTM,
GP2, NASCAR, IndyCar and classic F1
races. In fact, if youre a petrol-head the
chances are youve probably already got
it.
There wont be advertisement breaks in
the coverage either. Had it been sold to
Channel 4 or Channel 5 there would have
been. Remember how annoying those
were on ITV?
Weve had it so good on the BBC, and
no one likes having to pay for something
they once got free, but the Beeb couldnt
sustain it and Sky is, I believe, the best
option available.
But it doesnt matter what you or I
think.
Two for one is there one too many world series?
21
v
T
IME for the August break! And what
better way to sign off than with
another of those Jenson Button
trademark wet-dry wins, this time
garnished with the nice little stat of said
Jenson becoming the first man to win his
200th Grand Prix?
Recall, too, that Jenson won his first race in
Hungary five years ago, and that a kid called
Seb Vettel now leads the world championship
by 85 points more points than some drivers
dream of earning in a season and you have
the perfect start to the party at Hungarys
General Aviation Fergy (which is where they
harbour the Citations and Lears).
Well, almost-perfect. Ferrari werent
quite as strong as theyve been of late but
Fernando Alonso still finished third. Its the
podium finishes when youre off the pace
that often feel the sweetest, so the tifosi
if not the top management wont be
complaining about this one.
Lewis Hamilton wont be too sore, either.
Hungary will have annoyed him in the
short term but hell be able to switch off
for a while in the happy knowledge that he
has a pretty good race car beneath him for
the second half of the year and thus a fair
chance of winning at least a few races or four.
T
he most significant thing about Hungary,
I think, was that Red Bull Racing did not
look comfortable in the wet.
Seb Vettel started from a hard-won, dry-
track pole; he won the wet-track start but
then proceeded to miss three straight
apexes unintentionally. Lewis Hamilton,
who had thought for about a millisecond
about trying to out-muscle Seb into the first
corner, but had then opted for the more
prudent approach of letting the opening lap
go, I imagine just sat back and smiled. He
was going to have Seb for breakfast, lunch
and/or dinner; the choice was his.
Which is amazing, given the downforce
levels still developed by the RB7 and the wet
pace Vettel showed in Canada. In Hungary
Seb and Mark Webber (who qualified poorly)
looked about as happy as recently-hooked
fish: Understeer in; no mid-corner grip. It
was astonishing to watch.
Lewis on lap five put an end to the misery
by inducing a Seb error at Turn 2, a downhill,
bumpy left-hander that precedes a fast right
kink and shortish straight. Seb protected the
inside approach but lost the front of his car
mid-corner. He opened the RBR his way of
saying that he didnt try to flick it back onto
line because the different surfaces there
on the outside make it very easy to lose the
back end. Lewis was then up and away. The
Hungarian Grand Prix was his.
He was driving a car that looks in every way
now to be a Red Bull-beater. Perhaps its still
a tad away in terms of overall downforce; but,
with Spa and Monza looming, its top speed
advantage over the RB7 could be telling.
As in Germany, McLaren were running
their unusual mixed brake set-up, with
Brembos on the front, Carbone Industries
on the rear and Akebono calipers all-round.
Lewis tried the McLaren default all-CI set-
up on Friday and Saturday morning but a
locked inside-front persuaded him again
to revert to the slightly softer feel of the
Brembos. (RBR ran Brembos all round, as
usual, in Hungary but Seb V ran into rear
brake issues late in the race: McLarens use
of the harder-wearing CIs at the rear could
begin to set trends.)
Lewis body language said it all. He was
right on top of the car, squirming it this way
and that, feeling the surface of the road
through his feet, legs, arms, hands and back,
imparting his movements through supple
articulation. Seb, by contrast, looked lost a
driver with relatively no feel.
Jenson Button was meanwhile living in
Hamiltons world. He had run right alongside
his team-mate at the first corner, had held
the inside on the slippery acceleration run
down to Turn 2 but had then, like Seb,
given way to Lewis at the corners entry.
For Lewis, call it a rehearsal for what was to
come.
As the race settled down, though, and the
track became a dry ribbon bounded by wet
edges, Jenson Button, P3, remained strong
and forceful. He wasnt flairing the McLarens
back end out in the semi-wet, as Lewis was
at the exit of Turn 2, but he wasnt going
away, either: he was in a position to watch
and to observe and to think about some of
his famous strategy.
Button stopped for Pirelli super-soft slicks
on lap 11 lap before Hamilton, Vettel,
Alonso and Rosberg; as he accelerated out
of a still-damp Turn 1, though, the back end
flicking to the left as he applied throttle in
that silky-smooth way of his, Jenson held the
opposite-lock slides as if he was Alonso or
Hamilton. You knew then at that moment
that Jenson was on this day again in love
with Hungary.
And so Jenson, too, breezed past the world
champion. Jensons slicks were good and
hot; Sebs were warm. There was no fight. On
his first, full flying lap, Jenson was nearly two
seconds quicker than Seb would be on his.
The Hungarian Grand Prix as early as lap 14
had become a McLaren-Mercedes one-two.
Think of the Vettel-dominated races this
year think of Barcelona, say, or Turkey
and that sudden awareness still seemed
outrageous. How could McLaren have
turned it around so quickly?
You could only muse. Maybe Lewis would
have raced Seb hard at Monaco maybe
won Monaco - if hed recorded a time early in
Q3. Perhaps Seb V wouldnt have dominated
the bulk of the Canadian GP if Lewis had
found a way past Jenson and had been free
to race the RB7. Valencia was the mapping
thing McLaren went conservative as much
for reliability concerns as they did to meet
the new regs and then Silverstone, we
know, was a lash-up. Those races aside, as
Martin Whitmarsh kept reminding us, the
The McLarens had the edge on the Red Bulls in Hungary and, driving
perfectly in changeable conditions again Jenson Button brought
home the bacon on a very special day his 200th grand prix.
Peter Windsor looks back at a modern classic
The
JB-200

v
T
IME for the August break! And what
better way to sign off than with
another of those Jenson Button
trademark wet-dry wins, this time
garnished with the nice little stat of said
Jenson becoming the first man to win his
200th Grand Prix?
Recall, too, that Jenson won his first race in
Hungary five years ago, and that a kid called
Seb Vettel now leads the world championship
by 85 points more points than some drivers
dream of earning in a season and you have
the perfect start to the party at Hungarys
General Aviation Fergy (which is where they
harbour the Citations and Lears).
Well, almost-perfect. Ferrari werent
quite as strong as theyve been of late but
Fernando Alonso still finished third. Its the
podium finishes when youre off the pace
that often feel the sweetest, so the tifosi
if not the top management wont be
complaining about this one.
Lewis Hamilton wont be too sore, either.
Hungary will have annoyed him in the
short term but hell be able to switch off
for a while in the happy knowledge that he
has a pretty good race car beneath him for
the second half of the year and thus a fair
chance of winning at least a few races or four.
T
he most significant thing about Hungary,
I think, was that Red Bull Racing did not
look comfortable in the wet.
Seb Vettel started from a hard-won, dry-
track pole; he won the wet-track start but
then proceeded to miss three straight
apexes unintentionally. Lewis Hamilton,
who had thought for about a millisecond
about trying to out-muscle Seb into the first
corner, but had then opted for the more
prudent approach of letting the opening lap
go, I imagine just sat back and smiled. He
was going to have Seb for breakfast, lunch
and/or dinner; the choice was his.
Which is amazing, given the downforce
levels still developed by the RB7 and the wet
pace Vettel showed in Canada. In Hungary
Seb and Mark Webber (who qualified poorly)
looked about as happy as recently-hooked
fish: Understeer in; no mid-corner grip. It
was astonishing to watch.
Lewis on lap five put an end to the misery
by inducing a Seb error at Turn 2, a downhill,
bumpy left-hander that precedes a fast right
kink and shortish straight. Seb protected the
inside approach but lost the front of his car
mid-corner. He opened the RBR his way of
saying that he didnt try to flick it back onto
line because the different surfaces there
on the outside make it very easy to lose the
back end. Lewis was then up and away. The
Hungarian Grand Prix was his.
He was driving a car that looks in every way
now to be a Red Bull-beater. Perhaps its still
a tad away in terms of overall downforce; but,
with Spa and Monza looming, its top speed
advantage over the RB7 could be telling.
As in Germany, McLaren were running
their unusual mixed brake set-up, with
Brembos on the front, Carbone Industries
on the rear and Akebono calipers all-round.
Lewis tried the McLaren default all-CI set-
up on Friday and Saturday morning but a
locked inside-front persuaded him again
to revert to the slightly softer feel of the
Brembos. (RBR ran Brembos all round, as
usual, in Hungary but Seb V ran into rear
brake issues late in the race: McLarens use
of the harder-wearing CIs at the rear could
begin to set trends.)
Lewis body language said it all. He was
right on top of the car, squirming it this way
and that, feeling the surface of the road
through his feet, legs, arms, hands and back,
imparting his movements through supple
articulation. Seb, by contrast, looked lost a
driver with relatively no feel.
Jenson Button was meanwhile living in
Hamiltons world. He had run right alongside
his team-mate at the first corner, had held
the inside on the slippery acceleration run
down to Turn 2 but had then, like Seb,
given way to Lewis at the corners entry.
For Lewis, call it a rehearsal for what was to
come.
As the race settled down, though, and the
track became a dry ribbon bounded by wet
edges, Jenson Button, P3, remained strong
and forceful. He wasnt flairing the McLarens
back end out in the semi-wet, as Lewis was
at the exit of Turn 2, but he wasnt going
away, either: he was in a position to watch
and to observe and to think about some of
his famous strategy.
Button stopped for Pirelli super-soft slicks
on lap 11 lap before Hamilton, Vettel,
Alonso and Rosberg; as he accelerated out
of a still-damp Turn 1, though, the back end
flicking to the left as he applied throttle in
that silky-smooth way of his, Jenson held the
opposite-lock slides as if he was Alonso or
Hamilton. You knew then at that moment
that Jenson was on this day again in love
with Hungary.
And so Jenson, too, breezed past the world
champion. Jensons slicks were good and
hot; Sebs were warm. There was no fight. On
his first, full flying lap, Jenson was nearly two
seconds quicker than Seb would be on his.
The Hungarian Grand Prix as early as lap 14
had become a McLaren-Mercedes one-two.
Think of the Vettel-dominated races this
year think of Barcelona, say, or Turkey
and that sudden awareness still seemed
outrageous. How could McLaren have
turned it around so quickly?
You could only muse. Maybe Lewis would
have raced Seb hard at Monaco maybe
won Monaco - if hed recorded a time early in
Q3. Perhaps Seb V wouldnt have dominated
the bulk of the Canadian GP if Lewis had
found a way past Jenson and had been free
to race the RB7. Valencia was the mapping
thing McLaren went conservative as much
for reliability concerns as they did to meet
the new regs and then Silverstone, we
know, was a lash-up. Those races aside, as
Martin Whitmarsh kept reminding us, the
A
N
A
L
Y
S
I
S
PEtEr
WINDSOr
F1 Columnist
F1 HUNGARY
>>
The
JB-200
2
MP4-26As have indeed looked like cars
that are there or thereabouts. The rest has
been up to Lewis and Jenson.
T
he second pit stops came relatively
early induced by Nick Heidfelds Lotus
Renault again catching fire in its exhaust/
KERS region. Heidfeld jumped from the mess
at the pit lane exit and the officials quickly
dispatched a course car. Most people
assumed that Safety Car conditions would
apply and brought their cars in for their
second round of slicks.
Thing is, the race inexplicably ran on;
there were no SC conditions. The course
car began to tow the Renault backwards
towards the garages and Seb Vettel,
accelerating hard down the hill towards
Turn 1, swerved suddenly to avoid it. In the
context of many of the penalties that are
applied for apparently minor offences or
with the drive-through penalty that would
be imposed on Lewis Hamilton later in the
race this was an example of dangerous
double-standards.
In this central phase of the race, in the
dry, Vettel nonetheless found his usual pace
and confidence. He was right there except
there meant trailing the wake of the two
McLarens.
Lewis led Jenson by eight seconds or so,
and Jenson found a nice five second cushion
over Vettel. Behind, Mark Webber was having
to work hard to stay ahead of Alonsos Ferrari;
like the RBR drivers, both Fernando and
Felipe Massa (who out-qualified his team-
mate for the first time in nearly a year) found
the early-laps on inters to be knife-edgy at
best. Now, though, in the dry, Fernando had
grip. He was at least a match for Mark, if not
for Seb and the McLarens.
How could things change? The order
seemed permanent now; Lewis second
consecutive win seemed assured. The start
on intermediates had even nullified the dry-
weather, two-compound running rules: you
could race two more sets of options through
to the end or you could run on a final set
of primes. There were no obligations.
And perhaps, on reflection, that was the
problem. Perhaps it was because McLaren
were spoiled for choice.
L
ewis was given another set of options
when he stopped on lap 40; Webber
had switched to primes on lap 39 and was
almost immediately indecently quick in
the mid 1min 25s. Lewis touched the high
1min 24s with his options but then quickly
grained a left-front. Seb V and Jenson, by
contrast, also opted for primes. They were
good to go to the end. Lewis (and Alonso,
who had also opted for a third set of
options) quite clearly would have to stop
again.
Thus the race was still wide open the
more so when a sudden but brief rain
shower caught Lewis on the back chicane.
He lost the rear, halted it at 90 deg, and
then spun the McLaren back into the race
without looking at who was around him.
Paul di Resta, driving beautifully in the Force
India, reflexed to the right, off the track, in
avoidance. Lewis was subsequently given
the aforementioned drive-through.
So now it was Jenson in front. Lewis
fought him hard before his penalty stop he
was on the soft tyre, Jenson on the prime
and McLaren commendably let their drivers
race. Closely and with intent. This was
Mansell-Piquet, or Senna-Prost but without
the acrimony. This was a reminder of just
how good a driver pairing is Lewis Hamilton-
Jenson Button.
The rain faded away but Lewiss in-car
radio was intermittent as were the internet
and cell phone lines in general on this grey
afternoon in Hungary. Lewis thought he
heard the word rain and so called in quickly
for intermediates, replicating Mark Webbers
last throw of the dice. It was a mistake. The
rain never returned. The track dried again.
Lewis stopped for primes and then again
for his drive-through.
T
hus a relaxed and controlled
Fernando Alonso beat Mark Webber
and Lewis Hamilton to the podium,
for Felipe Massas race had long since
dissolved via a light spin in the wet and
a damaged rear wing end plate. And
Lewis, surprisingly enough given his
penalty still beat Webber, taking fourth
place late in the race as the pair of them
found a gaggle led by Kamui Kobayashis
long-range but slow-moving Sauber. For
Aussie Grit, this was a challenging day,
even though he did maintain his record
of finishing top-five in every race so far
this year.
As for Kamui, there were none of the
usual rewards for his tedious middle stint
on options. He alone switched to primes
after a wet start on intermediates and
for a while there it looked as though he
might finish comfortably in the points.
On the options, though, he inevitably ran
out of pace and canvas; he had to forget
his two-stop strategy and to stop again
with but eight laps to run; he finished
11th.
Major mid-field honours instead went
to Paul di Resta, who scored his best result
yet with a strong run to seventh, underling
further the quality of the Force India car
and its management (Adrian Sutil qualified
P8 but spun early); and to Toro Rossos
Sebastien Buemi, who started 23rd as a
result of a five-place grid penalty carried
over from Germany (accident with Heidfeld)
and finished an excellent eighth.
Michael Schumacher actually led this
race for a few seconds (when he remained
on intermediates early in the day) but
retired with a gearbox problem after a spin
(Michaels first retirement in Hungary since
1994!); and Nico Rosberg, too, made the
mistake of switching to intermediates in the
late-race rain.
Vitaly Petrov finished an uninspiring 12th;
and Nick Heidfeld was all over the place
in the wet before his blazing stop. He kept
the revs high as the mechanics worked on
a binding wheel nut. Those revs, combined
with a lack of cooling, translated into a lick
of flame.
A
nd so Jenson took centre stage on the
podium, newly-clipped hair still dryish,
the smile of a man who does what he does
extremely well particularly when the
rain falls, or when the track is wet but not
completely so. He raced Lewis wheel-to-
wheel in equal cars; he passed and beat
Seb Vettels RB7.
Time to relax to savour the year so far;
and to look forward to days like these.
McLaren commendably let their drivers race. Closely and with intent.
This was Mansell-Piquet, or Senna-Prost but without the acrimony ...
For more F1 Words of
Wisdom from Windsor,
CLICK HERE to check
out his website:
www.thefyinglap.com

MP4-26As have indeed looked like cars

that are there or thereabouts. The rest has
been up to Lewis and Jenson.
T
he second pit stops came relatively
early induced by Nick Heidfelds Lotus
Renault again catching fire in its exhaust/
KERS region. Heidfeld jumped from the mess
at the pit lane exit and the officials quickly
dispatched a course car. Most people
assumed that Safety Car conditions would
apply and brought their cars in for their
second round of slicks.
Thing is, the race inexplicably ran on;
there were no SC conditions. The course
car began to tow the Renault backwards
towards the garages and Seb Vettel,
accelerating hard down the hill towards
Turn 1, swerved suddenly to avoid it. In the
context of many of the penalties that are
applied for apparently minor offences or
with the drive-through penalty that would
be imposed on Lewis Hamilton later in the
race this was an example of dangerous
double-standards.
In this central phase of the race, in the
dry, Vettel nonetheless found his usual pace
and confidence. He was right there except
there meant trailing the wake of the two
McLarens.
Lewis led Jenson by eight seconds or so,
and Jenson found a nice five second cushion
over Vettel. Behind, Mark Webber was having
to work hard to stay ahead of Alonsos Ferrari;
like the RBR drivers, both Fernando and
Felipe Massa (who out-qualified his team-
mate for the first time in nearly a year) found
the early-laps on inters to be knife-edgy at
best. Now, though, in the dry, Fernando had
grip. He was at least a match for Mark, if not
for Seb and the McLarens.
How could things change? The order
seemed permanent now; Lewis second
consecutive win seemed assured. The start
on intermediates had even nullified the dry-
weather, two-compound running rules: you
could race two more sets of options through
to the end or you could run on a final set
of primes. There were no obligations.
And perhaps, on reflection, that was the
problem. Perhaps it was because McLaren
were spoiled for choice.
L
ewis was given another set of options
when he stopped on lap 40; Webber
had switched to primes on lap 39 and was
almost immediately indecently quick in
the mid 1min 25s. Lewis touched the high
1min 24s with his options but then quickly
grained a left-front. Seb V and Jenson, by
contrast, also opted for primes. They were
good to go to the end. Lewis (and Alonso,
who had also opted for a third set of
options) quite clearly would have to stop
again.
Thus the race was still wide open the
more so when a sudden but brief rain
shower caught Lewis on the back chicane.
He lost the rear, halted it at 90 deg, and
then spun the McLaren back into the race
without looking at who was around him.
Paul di Resta, driving beautifully in the Force
India, reflexed to the right, off the track, in
avoidance. Lewis was subsequently given
the aforementioned drive-through.
So now it was Jenson in front. Lewis
fought him hard before his penalty stop he
was on the soft tyre, Jenson on the prime
and McLaren commendably let their drivers
race. Closely and with intent. This was
Mansell-Piquet, or Senna-Prost but without
the acrimony. This was a reminder of just
how good a driver pairing is Lewis Hamilton-
Jenson Button.
The rain faded away but Lewiss in-car
radio was intermittent as were the internet
and cell phone lines in general on this grey
afternoon in Hungary. Lewis thought he
heard the word rain and so called in quickly
for intermediates, replicating Mark Webbers
last throw of the dice. It was a mistake. The
rain never returned. The track dried again.
Lewis stopped for primes and then again
for his drive-through.
T
hus a relaxed and controlled
Fernando Alonso beat Mark Webber
and Lewis Hamilton to the podium,
for Felipe Massas race had long since
dissolved via a light spin in the wet and
a damaged rear wing end plate. And
Lewis, surprisingly enough given his
penalty still beat Webber, taking fourth
place late in the race as the pair of them
found a gaggle led by Kamui Kobayashis
long-range but slow-moving Sauber. For
Aussie Grit, this was a challenging day,
even though he did maintain his record
of finishing top-five in every race so far
this year.
As for Kamui, there were none of the
usual rewards for his tedious middle stint
on options. He alone switched to primes
after a wet start on intermediates and
for a while there it looked as though he
might finish comfortably in the points.
On the options, though, he inevitably ran
out of pace and canvas; he had to forget
his two-stop strategy and to stop again
with but eight laps to run; he finished
11th.
Major mid-field honours instead went
to Paul di Resta, who scored his best result
yet with a strong run to seventh, underling
further the quality of the Force India car
and its management (Adrian Sutil qualified
P8 but spun early); and to Toro Rossos
Sebastien Buemi, who started 23rd as a
result of a five-place grid penalty carried
over from Germany (accident with Heidfeld)
and finished an excellent eighth.
Michael Schumacher actually led this
race for a few seconds (when he remained
on intermediates early in the day) but
retired with a gearbox problem after a spin
(Michaels first retirement in Hungary since
1994!); and Nico Rosberg, too, made the
mistake of switching to intermediates in the
late-race rain.
Vitaly Petrov finished an uninspiring 12th;
and Nick Heidfeld was all over the place
in the wet before his blazing stop. He kept
the revs high as the mechanics worked on
a binding wheel nut. Those revs, combined
with a lack of cooling, translated into a lick
of flame.
A
nd so Jenson took centre stage on the
podium, newly-clipped hair still dryish,
the smile of a man who does what he does
extremely well particularly when the
rain falls, or when the track is wet but not
completely so. He raced Lewis wheel-to-
wheel in equal cars; he passed and beat
Seb Vettels RB7.
Time to relax to savour the year so far;
and to look forward to days like these.
... This was a reminder of just how good a driver pairing is
Lewis Hamilton-Jenson Button.
F1 HUNGARY
>>
2

JENSON Button celebrated his

200th F1 Grand Prix in perfect
fashion at the scene of his very first
F1 victory on Sunday, by taking
a well-deserved, if surprising win
in tricky conditions. Having taken
half of his previous ten race wins in
changeable conditions the Briton
proved to be the man to beat yet
again once team-mate Hamilton
had dropped down the order with
an mistaken switch to intermediate
tyre in the closing 20 laps.
Starting third on the grid Button
was the first front-runner to pit for
slicks on lap 11 and duly leapfrogged
Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel to take
second place behind Hamilton. After
shadowing Hamilton for the next
30-odd laps, he then took the lead
when Hamilton spun at turn 7 when
a quick shower swept the track.
Managing to keep his MP4-26
on-track in the slippery conditions,
Button stayed out and opened a 10-
second lead to Vettel before cruising
to his 11th F1 win.
I want to say a big, big thank you
to the team today. The car worked
a treat in all conditions, and we
made all the right strategy calls, said
Button. We deserved this win and
it felt great to stand alongside my
race engineer Dave [Robson] on the
occasion of his first appearance on
the podium.
This was the perfect way to
celebrate my 200th Grand Prix, and
the team can enter the summer
break with a spring in its step.
Button rules again
in changeable
conditions
27
LEWIS Hamilton and Jenson Button set
hearts fluttering on the McLaren pitwall
on Sunday afternoon in Budapest, after
swapping paint in numerous wheel-
to-wheel moves. But the short-lived
breathlessness was more than worth
is as Button eventually emerged as the
deserving winner, having coped best
with the slippery conditions.
McLaren were applauded after the
race for letting their drivers battle, with
fans having been bitten by team orders
at Red Bull and Ferrari in the past year.
During one five-lap phase during the race,
Button and Hamilton went at it hammer
and tongs, providing TV viewers and
spectators with a few laps of nail-biting
racing.
The race was a brilliantly eventful one.
I had a good battle with Lewis when we
were running one-two, recalled Button.
We were both driving on the limit and
the gap ebbed and flowed, depending on
the traffic. It was good fun and I was sorry
that we werent standing up there on the
podium together at the end of it all.
The brief rain shower than precipitated
the intra-team battle spelled disaster for
Hamilton however, with the moisture
ultimately contributing to him losing more
than a minute on his team-mate.
After losing ten seconds and the lead
with the spin at turn 7, Hamilton lost the
equivalent of two pitstops by erroneously
pitting for intermediate tyres as Button,
Vettel and Alonso all stayed out on slicks.
The stewards then rubbed more salt
into the wound by handing him a drive-
through penalty for pushing Paul di Resta
off-track as he recovered from his spin.
All-in-all, Hamilton went from leading
the race by 5.6 seconds on lap 46 to trailing
Button by 55.8 seconds 11 laps later.
Although he recovered slightly to fourth,
the result was a massive disappointment
having led 39 or the 70 laps.
The car felt very good to drive today. I
think the cooler conditions helped us, but
the team has done a fantastic job to get
us where we are, said Hamilton. Weve
now won two races in the space of a week,
which is a great way to enter the summer
break.
Im disappointed in myself for spinning. I
had to do a doughnut to get myself facing
the right way and that forced Paul onto
the grass, which is why I got the drive-
through penalty. Ive apologised to Paul
and Ill put the penalty behind me and
move on to the next race.
But disastrous 10 laps costs Hamilton a minute
McLaren
applauded for
letting drivers
race
F1 HUNGARY
>>

JENSON Button wasnt the only one

celebrating a successful milestone in
Hungary on Sunday, as Toro Rosso
celebrated an impressive double points
finish on their 100th race since morphing
from Minardi. Despite starting a lowly
16th and 23rd, Alguersuari and Buemi
scythed through the field and took the
chequered flag in 10th and 8th places
respectively.
Both drivers had great starts to thank for
their strong finishes, with Buemi climbing
from 23rd to 12th in the first three laps,
while Alguersuari gained two places,
putting them in contention for a top
ten finish. After pitting to shed their
intermediate tyres when the track dried,
Jaime and Sebastien found themselves in
13th and 14th, but edged out their fellow
rivals in a tightly-fought finish.
Buemi secured eighth ten laps from
home when he overtook Kobayashi into
Turn 1, with Alguersuari making contact
with the Japanese driver in the same move
which cost him a place to Rosberg which
he was unable to retrieve.
A fantastic race, one of my best. Starting
right from the back row I got a super
start and I passed around ten cars on the
opening lap. After that, I got into a good
rhythm and was able to pass more cars on
the damp track, said Buemi.
There were plenty of exciting moments,
especially my passing move on Kobayashi.
I was too slow to catch up with him on the
straight so I had to pass him under braking
which was right on the limit. Its great to
have this result, which owes something to
such a good strategy.
Alguersuari was disappointed not to
finish 7th however, having emerged from
his final pitstop ahead of di Resta, who
eventually went on to take 7th.
It was clear in my mind that I could have
finished seventh, began Alguersuari. I
made one of my pit stops just as it began
raining slightly again. With the tyres not
yet up to temperature, at that point it was
hard to stay on the track and I went off.
But I carried on fighting and towards
the end, it was unfortunate that I lost
another place after the collision with
Kobayashi, but as a team performance we
can consider we did a good job
Double points fnish as Toro
Rosso turns 100
2
SAUBERS Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio
Perez endured a disappointing race in
Budapest on Sunday, as they left empty-
handed despite a strong qualifying
performance.
The race turned into a disaster for Sergio
Perez right from the off when he slipped
from 10th to 20th in the first two laps,
before later being hit by a drive-through
penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.
Kobayashi meanwhile was hampered by
a questionable two-strop strategy plan,
which ultimately forced him to make a
third stop in the final ten laps, dropping
him to 11th.
I am deeply disappointed. After
qualifying, which was good, I expected
a lot more from the race. It had already
started to go wrong on lap one. I had no
grip at all and hardly managed to keep the
car on track, explained Perez.
Kobayashi was equally disappointed not
to make it into the top ten.
The cars performance in the wet was fine
and after we had changed onto dry tyres
the pace was reasonable, he said. When
the second lot of rain came the team briefly
thought about calling me to the pits to pick
up intermediate tyres but I didnt want to
because I found the track was improving.
This is how I improved to seventh place,
but then we waited too long for the next
tyre change. I couldnt defend my position
on that set of supersoft anymore and
finally, after the unavoidable third pit stop,
dropped just out of the points.
Sauber leave Hungary pointless
despite strong Saturday
BELGIAN rookie Jerome dAmbrosio
had an embarrassing moment in the
Hungaroring pitlane when he spun his
Virgin while approaching his pit box for
a switch to intermediate tyres. The 25-
year-old was running 19th behind team-
mate Glock at the time and when a quick
shower arrived in the final 25 laps he dove
straight for the pitlane on lap 47.
But he lost control of his MVR-02 on the
painted line in the middle of the pitlane,
spinning 180, but luckily didnt hit anyone
or anything. He lost over 20 seconds as he
was turned to face the right direction by his
mechanics, before having to pit again for
slicks just four laps later as the rain eased.
I had a very good start to the race and I
was happy about that but I made an error
when the rain came, choosing to stop for
intermediates when I probably should have
stayed out on slicks, began dAmbrosio.
So I lost a lot of time with the pit stops
and I also had a tough moment when I
spun in the box when I came in, although
thankfully the car didnt hit anyone.
Definitely not my best race.
Having been 30 seconds behind Glock at
the time of the pitlane spin, Jerome took
the flag over 90 seconds adrift and behind
HRT rookie Daniel Ricciardo.
DAmbrosio red-faced
after pitlane spin
F1 HUNGARY
>>
30
LOTUS Renault GPs Nick Heidfeld
emerged unscathed from another scary
fire on his R31 at the weekend, when
his cars innovative forward-exiting
exhausts caught fire after a pitstop in
the first half of the race. After a slight
delay in his pitstop costing him four
seconds the German exited his box
with sparks flying from the exhaust,
before a full-blown inferno erupted
when he engaged full throttle at the
exit of the pitlane.
Heidfeld quickly brought his car to a halt
at the side of the track just after the pit
exit, before marshals arrived to douse the
flames with foam. One marshal was seen
hobbling away from the car when the left
sidepod appeared to explode, before the
recovery crew then nearly came to blows
with Sebastian Vettel who was exiting the
pits some minutes later as they towed the
car to the safety of the pitlane.
Heidfelds race had already been all
but ruined after dropping to 19th in the
opening laps and had failed to make up
any ground by the time he retired.
Not a good race for me today, and
its the second consecutive weekend
without finishing, so obviously Im very
disappointed, he began. My second pit
stop was longer than expected, the car
overheated and I noticed smoke coming
from the rear. It worsened, and then I
noticed the flames so I had to pull over
at the end of the pit lane and cut my race
short.
The team explained after the race that
the exhaust had overheated because
Heidfeld had been stuck at high revs for
longer than usual as his mechanics fixed
a problem with one of his wheel nuts,
and dismissed the damage caused as
superficial.
In his second pit stop we had a problem
with one of the wheel nuts meaning
that the car was sat at high revs for a
long time, said chief race engineer Alan
Permane. This meant a build-up of heat
which caused a fire. Although it looked
spectacular it was only a small part of
bodywork which burnt on the left-hand
sidepod.
Heidfeld suffered a similar exhaust fire
during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend
in Barcelona, sparking further fears about
the safety of the aerodynamics-driven
design.
Sidepod explosion catches marshal
Heidfeld suffers second
exhaust fre
1
F1 HUNGARY
>>
FOrMULA 1 round 11 HUNGArY
Points Drivers: Vettel 234, Webber 149, Hamilton 146, Alonso 145,
Button 134, Massa 70, Rosberg 48, Heidfeld 34, Petrov 32, Schumacher 32,
Kobayashi 27, Sutil 18, Buemi 12, Alguersuari 10, Perez, di Resta 8, etc
Manufacturers: Red Bull 383, McLaren 280, Ferrari 215, Mercedes 80, Renault
66, Sauber 35, Force India 26, STR 22, Williams 4.
Pos # Driver Team Laps Time Grid
1 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 70 1:46:42.337 3 25
2 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 70 +3.5 secs 1 18
3 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 70 +19.8 secs 5 15
4 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 70 +48.3 secs 2 12
5 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 70 +49.7 secs 6 10
6 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 70 +83.1 secs 4 8
7 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 69 +1 Lap 11 6
8 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 23 4
9 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 69 +1 Lap 7 2
10 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 16 1
11 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 13
12 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 69 +1 Lap 12
13 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 68 +2 Laps 15
14 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 68 +2 Laps 8
15 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 68 +2 Laps 10
16 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 68 +2 Laps 17
17 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 66 +4 Laps 20
18 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 66 +4 Laps 22
19 25 Jerome dAmbrosio Virgin-Cosworth 65 +5 Laps 24
20 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 65 +5 Laps 21
Ret 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 55 Water leak 18
Ret 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 26 Gearbox 9
Ret 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 23 Fire 14
Ret 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 17 Water leak 19
FERRARIS Fernando Alonso kept his recent
run of podium finishes in tact after taking
third place in yesterdays Hungarian Grand
Prix. The Spaniard has now finished five of
the last six races in the top three places, a
run he looked unlikely to keep alive after an
error-filled opening to the race in Budapest.
While Hamilton, Button and Vettel up front
were successfully keeping their cars on-track,
Alonso was losing time hand over fist. He first
lost places to both Mercedes on the first lap
as he struggled for grip, although managed
to retake the place from Schumacher later on
in the lap. After getting by Rosberg on lap 3,
he then ran wide at turn 2 and lost the place
on the following lap, before running wide at
turn 12 two laps later costing him a place to
Massa.
He then decided to switch to a four-stop
strategy a move that heralded a third place
finish thanks to the demise of Hamilton and
Webber.
I got away well at the start but then, at the
first corner, I had some difficulty in terms of
traction and Michael managed to pass me,
began Alonso. After that, various incidents
in the early stages cost me valuable time
behind the Mercedes and then Webber.
At that moment, we decided to pit early
and switch to a four stop strategy: the plan
worked out and that was how we made it to
the podium. Sure, even the others had some
difficult moments but we did a good job of
staying on track with the dry tyres when it
began to rain again.
Alonso survives early scares to
fnish on the podium
3
Team-By-Team: Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest
McLaren returned to the top step of the
podium for the third time in five races
thanks to another measured drive by Jenson
Button, with the Briton taking advantage of
the changeable conditions to take his 11th
career victory on his 200th career start. He
and Hamilton were 1-2 for much of the race,
with the pair commencing a battle for the
lead when Hamilton spun in the damp. While
Button went on to take the celebrated victory,
Hamilton dropped to fourth after mistakenly
pitting for intermediates in the closing third
and earning a drive-through penalty for
pushing di Resta off-track while he recovered
from his spin.
Red Bulls slump in form continued in Hungary
at the weekend as they fell to their fourth
defeat in five races at the hands of McLaren.
Although Vettel battled to pole on Saturday,
thanks largely to a mistake by Hamilton on
his fast lap, he was unable to match their
pace on Sunday and secured second only
after Hamilton had plummeted through
the field. Webber endured an even tougher
race after slumping to fifth, having pitted
for intermediates in the final 20 laps when a
quick shower swept across the track. He was
then overtaken by Hamilton while lapping
backmarkers with 7 laps to go.
Renaults mid-season slump continued
in Hungary on Sunday, as they left a race
weekend empty-handed for the first time since
their double retirement at last years Japanese
Grand Prix. Nick Heidfelds race lasted only
until the beginning of lap 24 before emerging
from the pitlane ablaze, while Petrov threw
a potential top ten finish away by pitting for
intermediates like so many others. He was
running ninth at the time with a five-second
cushion to tenth, but dropped to 12th when he
pitted and re-pitted for slicks.
Mercedes endured yet another disappointing
Grand Prix result, collecting just two points
for their efforts in Hungary. Rosberg and
Schumacher both looked set for top eight
finishes in the first third of the race, but
circumstances conspired against them in the
final two thirds. Schumacher retired after a
gearbox failure on lap 26, having spun to avoid
contact with Massa earlier in the lap. Rosberg,
meanwhile, took the flag in ninth having run
6th with 25 laps to go. He then lost a place to
Massa, pitted for intermediates and regained
two places to finish behind di Resta and Buemi.
Rubens Barrichello was another driver to have
a potential top ten finish denied by pitting
for intermediates during the late-race shower,
as Williams points drought extended to four
races. A great start by Barrichello saw him
climb to 11th from 15th on the grid and he was
running in the top ten during his third stint.
He lost two places when the rain arrived and
slipped further behind by pitting to take the
flag in 13th. Maldonado similarly opted for pit
for intermediates but was out of contention for
points in 15th at the time anyway.
Alonso and Massa survived a number of off-
track excursions during the race to keep piling
on the points at Ferrari, with Alonso taking his
fourth podium finish in a row. He lost places
twice in the first ten laps before finally getting
his act together and climbing into the top
three. His four-stop strategy meant he couldnt
challenge for the victory. Massa meanwhile
finished a distant sixth on a similar four-stopper.
Like Alonso, he had trouble keeping on-track
and spun at turn 2 on lap 8 causing slight
damage to his rear wing, but he ended up
setting the fastest lap of the race.

F1 EUROPE
>>
F1 HUNGARY
>>
Team-By-Team: Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest
Paul di Resta put he recent disappointments of
the British and German Grands Prix behind him
with a fortunate seventh-place finish, netting
him his first points finish since early April. The
Briton started 11th on the grid and ran as high
as seventh in the opening half of the race.
He pitted for the last time with 29 laps to go,
but stayed out when the drizzle arrived and
impressively rose through the field from 13th
to 7th in the space of 12 laps. Sutils race was
all but ruined after losing 12 places off the start,
eventually taking the flag in 14th.
Toro Rosso celebrated their 100th Grand Prix
in style by scoring their second double points
finish of the year, courtesy of Buemis 8th place
and Alguersuaris 10th. Both team-mates were
closely matched throughout the race, with
Buemi leading the battle in the opening stint,
Alguersuari having the upper hand during the
middle of the race and then Buemi leading in
the final 20 laps. The performance was even
more amazing given their starting positions:
Buemi qualified 23rd (after a grid penalty) and
Alguersuari 16th. The result keeps them in
touch with Force India in the championship.
Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez dropped
outside the points again in Hungary, after
getting hampered by a bad strategy and a
bad start respectively. Kobayashi climbed as
high as seventh in the closing laps while on
a mammoth 37-lap stint on the super soft
tyre, but ended up surrendering and pitted
for a new set with 8 laps to go after dropping
to 11th. Perez could do no better than 15th
however, despite qualifying tenth on Saturday.
He dropped to 20th in the first two laps before
four-stopping to finish two laps down on the
leader.
The double Lotus retirement meant Virgin
regained the lead in the battle at the back of
the grid, with Glock taking a comfortable win
at the wheel of the MVR-02. He was unable
to live with the pace of Kovalainen when the
Finn was in the race, dropping over 50 seconds
adrift by lap 42. But he had a large cushion to
his nearest rival behind and took the flag 40
seconds ahead of HRTs Ricciardo. DAmbrosio
limped home second-last after spinning in the
pitlane while pitting for intermediates on lap
47, costing him a place to Ricciardo.v
Rookie Daniel Ricciardo continued to show
rapid improvement in the back-of-the-grid
HRT, claiming 18th place ahead of Virgins
Jerome dAmbrosio and team-mate Liuzzi, an
impressive achievement in only his third Grand
Prix. The Australian leapt ahead of Liuzzi at the
start and stayed ahead of him for the duration,
before then getting ahead of dAmbrosio in
the closing laps after the Belgian botched one
of his pitstops. On a similar strategy, Liuzzi was
neck-and-neck with Ricciardo with 25 laps to
go, but he pitted for intermediate tyres and
dropped over a minute behind.
Lotus recorded their second double retirement
in three races in Hungary on Sunday, as their
underachieving second season in Formula
One continued. Trulli was very pleased with
the power steering update at the beginning
of the weekend, with he and Kovalainen easily
outqualifying the Virgins. Although Glock got
the better of them at the start, Kovalainen was
able to pull clear and was comfortably leading
his main rivals before retiring with a suspected
oil leak on lap 56. Trulli had earlier retired with
a similar problem on lap 18 while running
behind Glock.
3
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F1 HUNGARY
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CASEY STONER
REPSOL HONDA
Stoner has made very few mistakes this
year, and has made the most of his new
opportunities on a factory Honda. Deservedly
top of the class. Has a tendency to make
excuses when he doesnt win, but thats not
too often, with a 50 percent record of five
wins in ten races. Keep it up!
HALF-TERM
REPORT
BEN SPIES
YAMAHA
Spies was top new boy last year, and although
he has won a race this year, there hasnt been
a great leap forward with his switch to the
factory team. More of a steady progress. Still
needs to work on his early speed: his fast lap
times too often come too late. Still promising.
HIGHLY
COMMENDED
GOLD
ANDREA
DOVIZIOSO
REPSOL
HONDA
Third wheel on HRCs bicycle is
increasingly less easy to overlook. May
lack that final little bit of speed, but
is very consistent. This is probably his
last chance on a factory bike: better
buck up if he wants that to change.
THE late mid-term break means that the boys have plenty of term-time left and plenty of homework
assignments to complete before the final report in November. There is still the chance to pull their socks up.
This is the interim report, after 10 of 18 races. Theres nothing here that might not change before the final
exams.
The headmasters opinion is final.
MOTOGP FEATURE
>>
The calendar has been shuffled around by the moving of the
Japanese fixture: the half-term report therefore comes a little
later than the halfway point. MICHAEL SCOTT hands them out
HIGHLY COMMENDED
BEN SPIES YAMAHA
Spies was top new boy last year, and although he has won a race this year, there hasnt been a great
leap forward with his switch to the factory team. More of a steady progress. Still needs to work on
his early speed: his fast lap times too often come too late. Still promising.
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO REPSOL HONDA
Third wheel on HRCs bicycle is increasingly less easy to overlook. May lack that final little bit of
speed, but is very consistent. This is probably his last chance on a factory bike: better buck up if he
wants that to change.
JORGE LORENZO -
YAMAHA

Lorenzo sometimes takes his duties as current Head
Prefect a bit too earnestly, but the quality of his
motorcycle racing has been inspiring to the younger
boys. His Yamaha is not the fastest ... but he made
it so for two wins. Solid good marks on every other
occasion cement his growing reputation for reliable
excellence
HIGHLY
COMMENDED
GOLD
NICKY HAYDEN
MARLBORO DUCATI
Battling on manfully in the shadow of his team-mate, Hayden has
out-qualified him five times and beaten him twice, deviating from
the script. He is also a victim of machine problems. Ten out of ten
for effort, in trying circumstances.
COLIN EDWARDS
MONSTER TECH 3
YAMAHA
Twilight of a long career, but the mouthy Texan impressed with his
brave comeback from injury to the rostrum at the British GP. A rare
event nowadays, with results become erratic and still no race win.
But Edwards remains an important member of the class.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
RIZLA SUZUKI
Injury before the season started made things hard, but Bautista
remained cheerful and plucky, in spite of working alone in the
one-rider team with a bike that is perennially on the back foot. He
started to make some headway by mid-year,
CAL CRUTCHLOW
MONSTER TECH3
YAMAHA
Its never easy for new boys. Crutchlow came in bullish, but has
had some sobering experiences that have shown him its not as
easy as all that. We await the return of his fighting spirit. Press-on
style needs more polishing.
KAREL ABRAHAM
AB CARDION DUCATI
Rich father bought his place in the class and nobody expected
anything. Far from fannying around, the Czech university student
has buckled down and produced good lap times and races, and is
earning his place at the top table.
SATISFACTORY
HECTOR BARBERA
MAPFRE ASPAR DUCATI
Following a very consistent debut year, Barbera has done nothing
wrong in his second. But nor has he done anything to show hes
reached another level. More was expected, but there is still time.
MUST TRY HARDER
HIRO AOYAMA
SAN CARLO HONDA
Last-ever 250 Head Prefect has had a tough time, but team chief
Fausto Gresini accused him of losing interest at the last race. HRC
favourite or not, he needs to pick it up.
TONI ELIAS LCR HONDA
Rejoined the school after becoming Head Prefect among the
Moto2 day boys. Sad to see him struggling: his unique riding style
wont work with the control tyres. Living on borrowed time, unless
something changes radically before the end of the year.
LORIS CAPIROSSI
PRAMAC DUCATI
Old man of the grid has been right at the back of the class in his
disappointing return to Ducati, contributing much to his teams
frustration. He got hurt at Assen without having made any
impression, and starts the second part of the year well off form.
RANDY DE PUNIET
PRAMAC DUCATI
The other component of his teams despair, de Puniet has brought
courage and determination with him in his switch to Ducati. But
he cant seem to stop falling over. Discretion required, or he will
never be able to make the most of his other strengths.
MIKE HAILWOOD AWARD
FOR SPORTSMANSHIP
VALENTINO ROSSI
MARLBORO DUCATI
Former head boy gets the headmasters special award for smiling
through his struggles with the Ducati. At times (Silverstone for
one) hes seemed close to giving up in practice, but he always
races hard, and Rossi has remained cheerful throughout. There
may be agony behind the scenes, but this popular prefect is a
credit to good sportsmanship.
SICK NOTE
DANI PEDROSA
REPSOL HONDA
Pedrosas speed and ability are the equal of anybody on his day,
and his willingness to fight has become a strong feature rather
than a conspicuous weakness. He undermined it all by lingering
in the saick bay with an injury that other riders regularly shrug off.
Can be unbeatable, when hes in the mood.
DETENTION WARNING
MARCO SIMONCELLI
SAN CARLO HONDA
Every boy goes through a stage. Simoncelli needs to move on.
Blindingly fast, he is troubled by notions of immortality and
doesnt know when to stop pushing. You can teach a boy to stop
crashing but you cant teach him to be fast. Detention awaits any
further indiscretion.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
NICKY HAYDEN
MARLBORO DUCATI
Battling on manfully in the shadow of his team-mate, Hayden has
out-qualified him five times and beaten him twice, deviating from
the script. He is also a victim of machine problems. Ten out of ten
for effort, in trying circumstances.
COLIN EDWARDS
MONSTER TECH 3
YAMAHA
Twilight of a long career, but the mouthy Texan impressed with his
brave comeback from injury to the rostrum at the British GP. A rare
event nowadays, with results become erratic and still no race win.
But Edwards remains an important member of the class.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
RIZLA SUZUKI
Injury before the season started made things hard, but Bautista
remained cheerful and plucky, in spite of working alone in the
one-rider team with a bike that is perennially on the back foot. He
started to make some headway by mid-year,
CAL CRUTCHLOW
MONSTER TECH3
YAMAHA
Its never easy for new boys. Crutchlow came in bullish, but has
had some sobering experiences that have shown him its not as
easy as all that. We await the return of his fighting spirit. Press-on
style needs more polishing.
KAREL ABRAHAM
AB CARDION DUCATI
Rich father bought his place in the class and nobody expected
anything. Far from fannying around, the Czech university student
has buckled down and produced good lap times and races, and is
earning his place at the top table.
SATISFACTORY
HECTOR BARBERA
MAPFRE ASPAR DUCATI
Following a very consistent debut year, Barbera has done nothing
wrong in his second. But nor has he done anything to show hes
reached another level. More was expected, but there is still time.
MUST TRY HARDER
HIRO AOYAMA
SAN CARLO HONDA
Last-ever 250 Head Prefect has had a tough time, but team chief
Fausto Gresini accused him of losing interest at the last race. HRC
favourite or not, he needs to pick it up.
TONI ELIAS LCR HONDA
Rejoined the school after becoming Head Prefect among the
Moto2 day boys. Sad to see him struggling: his unique riding style
wont work with the control tyres. Living on borrowed time, unless
something changes radically before the end of the year.
LORIS CAPIROSSI
PRAMAC DUCATI
Old man of the grid has been right at the back of the class in his
disappointing return to Ducati, contributing much to his teams
frustration. He got hurt at Assen without having made any
impression, and starts the second part of the year well off form.
RANDY DE PUNIET
PRAMAC DUCATI
The other component of his teams despair, de Puniet has brought
courage and determination with him in his switch to Ducati. But
he cant seem to stop falling over. Discretion required, or he will
never be able to make the most of his other strengths.
MIKE HAILWOOD AWARD
FOR SPORTSMANSHIP
VALENTINO ROSSI
MARLBORO DUCATI
Former head boy gets the headmasters special award for smiling
through his struggles with the Ducati. At times (Silverstone for
one) hes seemed close to giving up in practice, but he always
races hard, and Rossi has remained cheerful throughout. There
may be agony behind the scenes, but this popular prefect is a
credit to good sportsmanship.
SICK NOTE
DANI PEDROSA
REPSOL HONDA
Pedrosas speed and ability are the equal of anybody on his day,
and his willingness to fight has become a strong feature rather
than a conspicuous weakness. He undermined it all by lingering
in the saick bay with an injury that other riders regularly shrug off.
Can be unbeatable, when hes in the mood.
DETENTION WARNING
MARCO SIMONCELLI
SAN CARLO HONDA
Every boy goes through a stage. Simoncelli needs to move on.
Blindingly fast, he is troubled by notions of immortality and
doesnt know when to stop pushing. You can teach a boy to stop
crashing but you cant teach him to be fast. Detention awaits any
further indiscretion.
MOTOGP FEATURE
>>
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
H
ow to Lose Rallies in Three Easy Steps: Step 1;
go off the road on the first stage. The fastest
car in Finland was Mikko Hirvonens Ford, but
two minutes were lost on the opening stages and
he drove hard for the rest of the event just to finish
fourth.
Step 2; play tactics which backfire because you
misjudge the weather conditions.
Step 3:, take your managers lack of team orders to an
extreme conclusion
Only one driver emerged from the Neste Oil Rally
Finland with credit and that was the World Champion
Sebastien Loeb, but even he made a major tactical
misjudgement. Loeb however got away with it. He has
the lucky streak which helps overcome misjudgments.
The overnight weather was unpredictably humid so
the conditions on the last days roads were not what he
and everyone else had feared.
Curious decisions were not limited to the drivers.
Citroen proudly announced there were to be no team
orders which their drivers took at face value, giving
Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier the opportunity to
try to out-do each other, even if this ended up risking
gifting the rally to the rival Ford team. Luckily for their
management, the personal feud between the two Sebs
had no more serious consequence than losing second
place Ogier finished third when they could have
achieved a 1-2 result.
Even the mid-event rebellion by their drivers could
not stop Citroen scoring a record-breaking seventh
successive victory in the 2011 World Championship
when Loeb won the gravel-surfaced Neste Oil Rally
Finland, having driven first car on the road each day,
in conditions where humidity reduced the traditional
disadvantage of driving first car in these conditions.
Loeb found himself strongly challenged by his team-
mate Ogier through the event, to the extent they both
voluntarily incurred penalties to gain advantage over
the other, despite this raising a risk of relinquishing
outright victory to Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala.
In the end Loeb overcame his error, but Ogiers tactic
cost him dear, with a late puncture dropping him
unceremoniously from a potential first to third place.
Loeb went on to score Citroens 77th WRC win,
equalling the record total score of rival Ford.
This mammoth event which qualified for all three
support championships attracted quite the biggest
entry of any WRC over the past 10 years but the battle
for the world championship titles is now going heavily
the way of the French team.
Hirvonens driving error on the first stage, damage
from which then caused a puncture, left him coming
back from 36th place, which left last years winner
Latvala single-handedly representing the team. This
was an event where servicing opportunities were
limited and he struggled a long time with a set-up
which he did not like.
They call him The Streak ...
41
WRC FINLAND
>>
They call him The Streak ...
Ford had its best chance to stop Citroens run of victories in Finland, but
blew it despite the Citroen duo fghting amongst themselves.
Martin Holmes was there
As for Citroen, it was a quite extraordinary scenario for the world
champion team. Team director Olivier Quesnel had nothing publicly to
say about the unbridled rivalry between his drivers, except to confirm
that there were no team orders, and to say that, anyway, a 1-3 result in
territory which traditionally had favoured Ford was not so bad.
Rally Finland was good news in other ways. The event saw the debut
appearance of the Volkswagen Motorsport team. It was the start of
this companys plan for a return to world championship rallying, due
to become fully effective in 2013. Now was the time to start their
candidate driver assessment scheme, in which they ran Skoda Fabia
S2000 cars, this time for Andreas Mikkelsen and Joonas Lindroos.
And, after their initial appearance in Sardinia in May, the BMW Mini
team started their regular programme, with contracted drivers Dani
Sordo and Kris Meeke.
With two new manufacturers at the top level there was a spirit of
rebirth for the WRC, even if none of these four cars on this occasion
reached the finish.
The curiously towering Minis looked good till just before the
end. Sordo rose as high as fifth place while Meeke, with a lot less
experience of the event, also made top six stage times. Then came
trouble on the final day, when the rally twice used much softer
surfaced stages from which mud and stones blocked the radiators
and led to overheating. Their valuable experience however had
already been gained, and the cars were withdrawn just before the
finish.
There were a total of six Minis on the event. Armindo Araujo, Daniel
Oliveira and Mattias Therman all qualified as finishers but Matti
Rantanen crashed on Stage 2 after making an impressive sixth best
time on Stage 1.
The VW team Skodas ran independent of the SWRC cars but saw
a strong performance by Mikkelsen until he impacted a hole in
the road which damaged the radiator. Lindroos, however, had an
unhappier event, going off the road twice in the first eight stages.
However mischievous had been Loebs personally-inspired and
wrongly-conceived tactic, this error simply enhanced his evident
brilliance, shrugging off the challenge of running first car on the road
every day.
His defining moment came on Day 3. After finding his teammate
had manipulated him into more unwelcome first-car driving, he
immediately spotted that the long final days stages unexpectedly
helped rather than hindered the first runner. Loeb put on a stunning
performance to win the opening stage of the day by 6.4 seconds,
making it clear that his seven world titles were his rightful property.
Beyond the official Citroens and the Abu Dhabi Fords, no other
drivers were in the same league. On this occasion fifth placed
Petter Solberg struggled in his Citroen, another casualty of reduced
opportunities of servicing to adjust his set-up, and in the end he only
just beat the private Fiesta WRC of the younger Norwegian Mads
Ostberg.
Despite unexpected defeat, Fords morale remained high, bolstered
by the presence in the service park of an impressively big hospitality
structure. Five Fords finished in the top eight places, but once again
at the wrong end of the leader board.
Away from the Abu Dhabi WRC team, privateer Fiesta drivers were
plentiful. Jari Ketomaa impressively won the first stage but then
went off the road on Day 2 when lying fifth ahead of Mads Ostberg.
Ostberg achieved another amazing performance, heading the far
more experienced Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson in identical
cars. Evgeniy Novikov had to stop due to a loose crankshaft pulley.
Germany comes next, territory where Citroens are strong favourites
having won the event on each of the nine occasions the event has
been held in the last ten years.
4
Juho Hanninen won the SWRC category
in Finland, further extending his
championship lead, but only after
sufering from the remarkable pace of
Ott Tanaks Ford.
Tanak then spun and was delayed
trying to restart his stalled engine, and
finished third behind the similar car
of Martin Prokop. Eyvind Brynildsen
crashed on Stage 4 while Albert
Lloveras Fiat had to be abandoned with
cam-belt failure.
For the first time an R4 car competed
in the SWRC. This was Juha Salos
Mitsubishi, which suffered embarrassing
problems when the battery flattened
in a regrouping area. This cost him
a 10-minute penalty for missing the
final stage of Day 1. But his speed on
the stages suggested he would have
finished third in the category against
the S2000 cars.
Another R4 car took part, the non-
championship Subaru of Per-Gunnar
Andersson, which finished fourth in the
combined class.
This was Hanninens second win in the
2011 series, and he continues to head
not only the SWRC points table but the
IRC as well.
Patrik Flodin started well in Finland in
the PCWRC category, chased by Jarkko
Nikara, but Nikara lost time when he
rolled but fought back to finish second.
Flodins car then suffered suspension
trouble and Hayden Paddon moved in to
the lead and to win the category for the
third successive time this season.
There were crashes galore in the PCWRC
only nine of the 17 starters reached the
finish.
The biggest surprise came from Guest
driver Mikko Pajunen competing in a two-
wheel-drive Clio R3 in the resurrected FIA
Cup category. He rose as high as second
overall in PCWRC before less-favourable
road conditions on the final day dropped
him down to finish sixth.
Hanninen extends Super 2000 lead
Third PCWRC win for Kiwi ...
WRC FINLAND
>>

Three months after their debut at Rally

Italia, the Mini team are back in WRC
rallying again, after extensive test
sessions.
David Lapworth, design project adviser
explained that for this event the cars
have had a new engine software upgrade
and a new throttle supplier which still
uses electronic fly-by-wire system:
Since Sardinia most of the testing has
been for tarmac rallies but for Finland
there was a good and reassuring test,
although there was a famous mishap for
Kris Meeke which caused the pre-rally
schedule to be rearranged.
There are small changes in the set-up
of the car, but we have concentrated
mostly on making the car more user-
friendly, sorting out fail-safe modes and
so on. The object of the Sardinia entry
was to make sure everything worked
now we have time to refine the details.
Shock absorber suppliers, Ohlins, have
also provided a new upgrade especially
for Finland.
The same cars were run by the official
team in Finland. Araujo finally had the
chance to make 200km of testing while
Rantanen is driving the same Grifone car
that Flodin drove in Sardinia, now for the
first time in WRC specification.
Next event for the Mini WRC team is
Germany, the first time WRC versions of
these cars will have been seen on tarmac.
One new car is in course of assembly for
this event, and the second car will be one
of he Finland gravel cars rebuilt.
The team will miss Australia, although
Oliveira will be there, to honour the
Prodrive comitment to the FIA. Sordo
and Meeke will the appear on all the
remaining WRC events this season.
The old Abu Dhabi cars came to Finland
with newly homologated transmission
units, aimed at overcoming fractures
in the casings which have been
experienced on several occasions with
the Fiesta World Rally Cars.
M-Sport technical director Christian
Loriaux explained that homologation
had been granted just in time for this
event, when only the cars for Hirvonen
and Latvala used the new units:
The change is simply to strengthen
the casings. A new rear differential
has also been homologated in time
for this event, for the same reason. The
customer cars will have the new units
in the future. Changes in homologation
can be made under the FIAs authorised
joker system, which severely restricts
the number of design changes which
can be carried out.
Finland was the third qualifying round for the WRC Academy
drivers of Fiesta R2 cars, where there was a hectic battle
between the series leader Estonian driver Egon Kaur and the
British driver Craig Breen.
With one stage to go, Kaur was 0.3 second in front, and he
ultimately clinched victory by 2.6 seconds.
Kaur heads Academy
Minis back
New transmissions for Ford
New transmissions for Ford
This is how the then rally leader
Sebastien Ogier put on a brave face
about the antics of his teammate
Sebastien Loeb, trying to outwit
Ogier by going late into the time
control before the fnal stage on the
Friday.
Loeb was hoping to force Ogier
into an inconvenient lead at the end
of the day.
I do not really know what
happened to Loeb at the time
control, he joked. I think that maybe
Daniel (Elena, Loebs co-driver) is
starting to get a bit old and has a
problem reading his watch, and so
was going a bit late into the control.
We were right behind them, so we
could see what they were doing.
Ogier was on top of the case, of the
battle to prove he is superior to his
teammate. He was already primed
to lose time on the stage and, on
account of Loebs ploy, now had to
recalculate an increased delay, to
make sure that Loeb was once again
truly forced into the first running
order position for the final day.
Ogiers retaliation, of course, just
made Loeb more angry and Loebs
speed on Day 3, when the crews were
racing to the finish, said it all. Lesson
1: dont mess with the champion,
especially when for Loeb it is more
important to finish ahead of Ogier
even than protecting Citroen against
the threat of Ford. And especially
when the road surfaces on the final
day turn out to be damp, and it is
better to be running first ...
There was a lot of curiosity about the R4
cars in Finland. PG Andersson drove the
Tommi Makinen-prepared hatchback
Impreza R4, while there were two
Mitsubishi Evo X R4s, of Juha Salo and
the Brazilian Paulo Nobre.
This was the first time the two
different types (which run in Class 2
alongside the lighter but normally-
aspirated S2000 cars) had competed
against each other.
At pre-rally scrutineering, the
Impreza weighed 1390, some 65kg or
so less than the top running Impreza
N4 (Class 3) cars. The team reckoned
the weight could get down to 1350kg
but still far over the minimum allowed
weight for the category of 1300kg.
Salos R4 also weighed in at 1390kg,
and his was considerably heavier than
the other top running N4 Evo Xs.
The top running Evo X N4 cars of
Michal Kosciuszko and Benito Guerra
were 155-175kg heavier, but there was
one completely inexplicable factor to
all this. A black Evo X, entered as an
old N4 car and driven by the PCWRC
Guest driver Riku Tahko, weighed in
at only 82kg more than Salos. This
attracted curiosity from those at
scrutineering, especially as the car
carried bold R4 stickers when it
wasnt an R4 at all.
In the end the mystery was unsolved.
Tahko crashed his mysterious car on
Stage 4.
Lighter weight Cars in Finland.
The blind lead the way!
WRC FINLAND
>>

We have been discussing issues with the

teams so that we can make proposals for
the World Council to consider in September
to have a good regulation. Now, we have to
go into details.
There has already been the feed-back that
the important purpose of Shakedown is to
set-up the cars, which must remain. Drivers
were concerned not to lose the chance to
do that, especially when they have had no
chance because of WRC regulations to make
testing in the conditions beforehand.
Personally, I think that the moment
Shakedown starts the cars are already
properly set-up and, even in countries where
pre-rally testing is banned, I know the teams
already have a fair idea of the set-up required.
I think if teams are given two runs for final set-
up and then face the qualification run, that
will be okay. It is enough.
Regarding drivers who have not had the
chance to test in these conditions, remember
the days before Shakedown was thought of?
You had to prepare the car in advance and you
can still do the same today. For me, two runs
and then one qualification should be enough,
I hope this will bring about a positive change
in the starting order problem.
Is the qualification idea to try to overcome
what is thought to be the running order
problem or the chance to have extra
competition we can write about?
It can be both. You know we have to find
a solution to overcome the starting order
problem and to avoid the tactics. I think
this qualification idea is a good way to
avoid drivers performing tactics. You have
tactics in every sport, but in rallying when
you see drivers deliberately going slowly
after fighting for the rest of the day for the
smallest gains and then throwing away about
15 seconds or so, we feel it is a problem for
the image of the sport.
It seems under current FIA ideas about
qualification (by allowing the quickest driver
to select his ideal starting position for Day 1)
that the whole rally could easily be decided
on the Shakedown. If a driver can select his
ideal starting position for Day 1 he can carry
that advantage through the whole event. Is
that fair?
I do not think that is the case. We have
tried running order changes for just the first
10 drivers and that did not work. I think the
basic idea is very interesting if the driver has
the possibility to choose their Day 1 running
order. Lets see how it works.
To make it really interesting, why not give
world championship points, maybe 3-2-1, for
the fastest time in Shakedown?
We have not though about that!
Regarding the structure of the world
championship -the current situation
where one-car teams fight two-car teams,
with manufacturers fighting for world
manufacturers points against private teams
what happens?
We are planning to change that. We will tell
you when it is decided! Other issues being
discussed concern long distance rallying and
how to work about safety and servicing.
The Neste Oil Rally Finland has long road
sections and reduced percentage of stages.
Is this the way that the FIA plan their long-
distance revolution?
For me long distance is not about long
road sections, it means more about longer
stages, more endurance and to have the
chance of a different format. What about five
days competition in the 2012 Monte Carlo
Rally is this more close to the FIAs ideas?
Sort of, it is in-between (the proposals for
long distance). What is more important is
that the decision of Monte Carlo regarding its
own format is that it shows that events can
introduce their own special character, which
is what we want. We dont want Monte Carlo
having to look like Finland.
Michele Mouton
on Shakedown
qualifcation
The World Rally Championship manager spoke
with Martin Holmes in Finland on a number of FIA
decisions and policies ...
One of the all time greats of the rally media
died recently, the French-resident Japanese
photographer Tamotsu Futamura, who
passed away with a heart attack last week.
He came to prominence in the 70s as a
most innovative and creative recorder of
the rally scene, not only behind the lens of
cameras, but also in other ways. One of his
first media projects was to go to Australia to
record the sounds of rally cars in the forests at
night!
As a photographer he was immediately
noticed for seeking and capturing the artistic
side of the sport, using extreme lenses to
capture what others never noticed. Some
of his best-known images were taken on
the Safari Rally but probably this was not
Tamotsus favourite event that was the
Monte Carlo Rally.
The 1972 Monte was the first big rally he
had covered, and he discovered the real lure
of rally photography. He explained the special
challenge:
In rallying, you only get one chance to take
each shot. It is so much more difficult than
racing!
His efforts opened the doors to a new
generation of rally photography work.
Vale: Tamotsu Futamura
The introduction of fnancial
restructuring promises to
save the Swedish world
championship rally, which
has sufered badly from
under-fnancing, is expected
to re-vitalise the event.
Under plans announced
last week, European funding
assigned to the development
of businesses in the Hagfors
region, which is already
effectively the epicentre of
the event, will enable Hagfors
community to take a 45.9%
interest in the ownership of
the event, and the Swedish
federation another 45.9%
Local clubs who have been
traditionally the owners of the
event retain the remaining
shares.
The 2011 event ventured
into neighbouring Norway,
helping to fulfil the FIAs
newly declared wish for more
countries to be involved in the
WRC, and recently it had been
expected that one out of the
three days of the 2012 event
will take place cross-border.
It is expected this support
will continue. Swedish
authorities say the new
arrangement will provide the
chance for seeking a far more
significant level of commercial
support from sponsors than
before.
Swedish Rally restructured
WRC NEWS
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