Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has announced that it has reached an agreement with the driver Fernando Alonso. The agreement covers three racing seasons, starting in 2010. The Scuderia’s driver line-up next season will therefore be made up of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, with Giancarlo Fisichella in the role of reserve driver. Kimi Raikkonen will leave [...]
Archive for September, 2009
Alonso joins Ferrari
Posted in F1 Drivers, F1 Teams on September 30, 2009 | 18 Comments »
A good time for Porsche to invest in F1?
Posted in Personal musings on September 29, 2009 | 21 Comments »
Recessions are generally not very good for motorsport, but while they do result in moves that are disappointing for the sport, they can also create opportunities as managements change and fans of motorsport can end up in positions of power.So while we have seen Honda and BMW quitting F1, we have also seen other car [...]
Massa to try Ferrari simulator soon
Posted in F1 Teams on September 29, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Felipe Massa will be taking part in a karting event in the next few days and is then expected to travel to Europe where he will begin to work in the Ferrari simulator at Maranello. The aim of the tests is to see whether there is any discernible effects from his accident in Hungary when [...]
New ideas for CVC?
Posted in Sustainability on September 29, 2009 | 6 Comments »
There are suggestions in Formula 1 circles that CVC Capital Partners has decided to take a close look at the way in which the sport operates to see whether there is a better business model than the one currently used by Bernie Ecclestone. This relies heavily on promoters, sponsors and TV companies being willing to [...]
Toyota hedging its bets
Posted in F1 Teams, Sustainability on September 29, 2009 | 17 Comments »
There has been talk for a long time that Toyota will give up on its Formula 1 dream soon, after years of failure. The team seemed to be moving in the right direction under previous boss Ove Andersson, but he was forced to retire in 2004 when he reached Toyota’s mandatory age of retirement. Although [...]
Paddock gossip about drivers in Singapore
Posted in F1 Drivers, F1 Teams on September 28, 2009 | 40 Comments »
The Formula 1 driver market was kick-started again after the recent World Council meeting when it became clear that Fernando Alonso was not going to be getting into trouble over Singapore 2008. It is anticipated that he will now be confirmed as Felipe Massa’s team-mate at Ferrari in 2010. The other rumours are as follows: [...]
Tailoring Panama
Posted in Action at Grands Prix on September 28, 2009 | 25 Comments »
Panama may not seem a very likely destination for motor racing, but we hear that plans are afoot for a street race in Panama City, on the southern end of the celebrated Panama Canal. For more than a century this has been a major international crossroads with land routes linking the north and south American [...]
A look back at the Singapore GP
Posted in Action at Grands Prix on September 28, 2009 | 10 Comments »
Sorry it has been a bit quiet today. I left the Media Centre at 06.45, as the sun was just coming up in Singapore, having finally put GP+ and the Business of Motorsport newsletter to bed and written the race report for www.grandprix.com. It had been a very long day. Actually a 24-hour day… So [...]
Alonso confirms Ferrari deal
Posted in F1 Drivers, F1 Teams, Personal musings on September 27, 2009 | 57 Comments »
Fernando Alonso ended the Singapore Grand Prix in third place and dedicated his achievement to the deposed team boss Flavio Briatore. He obviously was not really thinking about his actions because by bringing up the name of Briatore gave away his intentions for 2010. Renault, his current employer, admitted the failings of the team last [...]
Weights
Posted in Action at Grands Prix on September 26, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The car weights have now been published. Nick Heidfeld 650.0 Sebastian Vettel 651.0 Mark Webber 654.5 Rubens Barrichello 655.6 Tonio Liuzzi 656.0 Nico Rosberg 657.5 Fernando Alonso 658.0 Lewis Hamilton 660.5 Timo Glock 660.5 Robert Kubica 664.0 Heikki Kovalainen 664.5 Sebastien Buemi 678.0 Giancarlo Fisichella 678.5 Kimi Raikkonen 680.5 Kazuki Nakajima 680.7 Romain Grosjean 683.0 [...]
