Fresh F1

AFP. Gazzetta dello Sport

In the Istanbul qualifying session, the Brazilian from Ferrari set the fastest time ahead of Hamilton. Raikkonen was third, then Alonso, who spoke about his problems at Woking. “I didn’t receive the credit for the six tenths that I brought with me to the team”

ISTANBUL (Turkey), 25 agosto 2007 - Felipe Massa took pole position of the GP of Turkey in his Ferrari, lapping in 1′27″329. Lewis Hamilton, the current leader of the World Championship was second. The second row of the grid is taken by the other Ferrari of Raikkonen and the second McLaren of Alonso.

BALANCE - The qualifyin sessions were lovely and very balanced. Massa took pole from Lewis by just 44 thousandths of a second. Raikkonen made a small mistake which saw him remain 2 tenths behind his teammate. Behind Alonso, the lonely BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld. Seventh time for Kovalainen’s Renault, while Nico Rosberg was eighth.

ALONSO’S DOUBTS - This morning, Alonso confirmed his doubt regarding his future at McLaren. The Spaniard said “I don’t have problems with Hamilton and he doesn’t have problems with me. Logically, we aren’t best friends but we respect each other”

CONSIDERTION - What bothers Fernando is something else, the lack of consideration for what he thinks to have brought to the team these months: “I remember - he said for Reuters - when in December I first drove the car and how it was in Australia (the first race). Those six tenths which I brought signified nothing when I found myself fighting with Lewis. This is the main reason why I am in a conflict with the team. However, who doesn’t have problems with his employer?”

ISTANBUL (Turkey), August 22nd 2007 - By challenging the McLarens, there isn’t much to lose. Kimi Raikkonen prepares for the finish of the 2007 World Championship. There are 6 races left until the end of the season and Ferrari’s driver is 20 points behind Briton Lewis Hamilton, which leads the World Championship with 80 points. “We have to give our maximum and hope that who is ahead is slightly in trouble, I don’t have much to lose and I can take more risks compared to my McLaren competitors. Six races can seem few but for the ones in front they are many” says Raikkonen.

FAVORABLE PATH - the Espoo driver returns behind the wheel after a few days of relaxing. “3 races and a test await us in four weeks; this will be a very busy period but we will be racing on three of my favorite tracks: Istanbul, Monza ans Spa-Francorchamps”. The schedule might help the Prancing Horse: “I believe these are tracks where Ferrari must be very competitive - continues the Finn - there isn’t any [circuit] trait that might not be favorable [for us].” Here, the team eulogy starts: “Like I quickly said after the GP of Hungary, there is a great harmony inside the team, now I understand the difference between being a Ferrari driver and another team’s driver. Here, we concentrate only on what we have to do, 100%”

Fore sure in Turkey, some external events would help. Raikkonen gives and example: “We saw this last weekend at the Rally of Germany, where a bad day costed Gronholm a lot” said Kimi about his countrymate beaten by Loeb. Conclusion: “We go to Turkey with confidence; I won the debut edition of the race, which gave me a special emotion. It’s a track similar to Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, where the aerodynamic efficiency counts significantly. Added to that, we will run in an anti-clockwise direction, with all the extra surprises that comes with”

Source: Gazzetta dello Sport.

The English tabloids have uncovered the identity of the mysterious dark-haired girl on holiday with the McLaren driver: her name is Sara Ojjeh, 18 years old, daughter of Mansour Ojjeh, member and sponsor of Ron Dennis’s team. The team denies the love story: “They are just friends”. Lewis’ fiancee is, according to friends, inconsolable.

The two yougsters were photographed together on the yacht of her father, the Kogo, and their feeling together seemed obvious to everyone: hand in hand walks on the beach, water games, ski-jet adventures and candelight dinners. All these during Lewis’ holiday in Saint Tropez.

DISCO - Lewis and Sara met after the GP of Monaco in a disco and became inseparable. Raised in luxury, among Cinema Stars (Jude Law and Michael Douglas are “at home” at the Ojjehs and exclusive school - she graduated the International School of Geneve in June - the young Sara attracted Hamilton with her joy of living and contagious energy. Friends say to “Daily Mirror” : “She’s perfect got Lewis, because she was born and raised in the world of racing, then she is an energetic girl, with a great sense of humor, who always smiles and lets nothing upset her. She is also very intelligent, she loves the parties and loves to have fun with friends.”

JODI MA, INCONSOLABLE - The story of Lewis and Sara, especially their photos together, seriously affected Jodia Ma, which, until a few weeks ago considered herself officially connected with Hamilton, who she met 7 years before, at Cambridge. According to the tabloid, Jodia Ma, daughter of a rich Hong Kong businessman, who was raised in the same conditions like the Ojjeh girl, cannot accept the idea of being left by the British champion and would be “destroyed” and “inconsolable”.

Source: Gazzetta dello Sport.

Lewis Hamilton’s career so far in a video:

Team Toro Rosso announced they signed a contract with three times CART champion Sebastian Bourdais to replace Vitantonio Liuzzi starting with next season. Liuzzi said he expected Toro Rosso’s decision.

Toro Rosso bosses Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost were critical of both Speed and Liuzzi earlier in the season. Liuzzi said his relationship with the team had deteriorated so much that a split was inevitable.

Liuzzi told Gazzetta dello Sport: “I expected it because the situation inside the team had long worsened,”

“My priority is to stay in F1, which is what I dreamed of as a child,” Liuzzi added

“I’m in contact with two other teams, otherwise I’ll aim to race in America.” said the Italian driver.

LONDON (England) August 8th, 2007 - McLaren appealed at the FIA against the decision taken by the Hungarian Grand Prix stewards last Sunday, which stated that the Woking squad would not be entitled to score any points in the Constructors’ World Championship at the last race. The stewards’ decision was taken after the controversial incident involving Alonso and Hamilton in qualifying.

Initially Ron Dennis seemed to be inclined in not appealing, perhaps in order not to enrage the FIA members more while waiting for the final decision in the espionage case. However, today, FIA’s Appeal Court received a confirmation of the appeal. The same court will gather again on the 13th of September, in order to give the verdict on the espionage story involving Ferrari, as the damaged part and the same McLaren. Despite the sanction, McLaren is currently 19 points in front of Ferrari in the Constructors’ World Championship.

Source: Gazzetta dello Sport

Watch the action on the Hungaroring in Budapest. Hamilton vs Raikkonen vs Heidfeld vs Alonso vs Kubica. Enjoy!

Hungarian Grand Prix torrent Pdtv (697 MB) Xvid

For those of you who missed qualifying as well:

Hungaroring qualifying torrent

HUNGARORING (Hungary), August 5th, 2007 - “This has been a weekend full of emotions for the whole team, but we managed to cope with [the difficulties] and we made a step forward in the Championship” said Lewis Hamilton after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Briton managed to distance himself from Fernando Alonso, who was fourth and from the Ferraris, with Kimi Raikkonen second, and Felipe Massa only 13th.

PACKAGE - “We arrived in Budapest with a great package and we managed to stay ahead of Ferrari, who had quite a gap ahead of us [previously]. In the second stint I had a steering promlem, but I don’t know exactly what. I managed to Keep Kimi behind for a long time. I had a great race and it’s great to be on the top step of the podium.” added Hamilton.

KIMI PLEASED - Raikkonen tried everything to get ahead of the McLaren leader, but since there aren’t opportunities to pass on the Hungaroring circuit, he had to stay behind. “I could only hope for an error from Hamilton, but he didn’t make it, and so we finished how we started” said the Ferrari Finn. “The day was encouragind enough, sometimes we have to be very careful. There are lots of races ahead of us and many things can change” added Kimi.

Source: Gazzetta dello Sport

It is reported by “The Times” online edition that an exchange of bad words took place between Ron Dennis and Lewis Hamilton following yesterday’s qualifying scandal. Lewis was quoted as saying “Don’t ever f###### do that to me again!” His boss replied: “Don’t ever f###### speak to me like that again!”. It seems the youngster had the final word: “Go f###### swivel!”

Meanwhile, the stewards decided to penalize Fernando Alonso for his blocking maneuver over Hamilton, demoting him to 6th place on the grid. Alonso wasn’t the only one to be punished. Fisichella was also demoted five places on the grid after blocking Yamamoto for a whole lap. In addition to the grip penalty, McLaren will not be awarded any Constructors’ World Championship points this race. They have announced an appeal.

Source: The Times

Many people were appalled by the way Fernando took pole position, as he clearly hindered Hamilton’s last attempt on the Hungarian circuit. At the last pit stop, Lewis came after Fernando and because Fernando did not leave soon enough, Lewis lost the chance to do another lap. Meanwhile, Alonso went to take pole position. Nick Heidfeld was third, while Raikkonen was fourth.

Disaster for Massa who only managed 14th time due to a communication error with his team.

Alonso taking pole video: