Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

News Round Up , Part 2 :

F1 drivers praise Mugello but Petrov says it’s not safe :
F1′s return to Mugello for testing has been praised by many drivers – with the exception of Vitaly Petrov who says the track isn’t safe enough. On Tuesday Mark Webber hailed the circuit as being far more satisfying to drive on than some modern F1 venues: “Did ten dry laps today around Mugello, which is the same as doing 1,000 laps around Abu Dhabi track in terms of satisfaction,” he posted on Twitter. In between runs today Daniel Ricciardo said: “Love driving the beast round here, awesome high speed circuit. Can’t wait to get back in after lunch.”
Sebastian Vettel said: “I’m happy to be here. Unfortunately we don’t have this track on the calendar. It’s an incredible circuit with a lot of high-speed corners. “It’s what you hope for in a Formula One car, because you can really feel the downforce. Once you get into the rhythm it’s really enjoyable.” Nico Rosberg, Bruno Senna and Jean-Eric Vergne also praised the circuit. But Petrov raised concerns about the circuit: “I’m not sure the track is right for today’s F1 cars,” he said yesterday. “You get very close to the walls and it’s maybe a bit small for the cars now, but it’s still a good challenge putting together a quick lap.” He told today: “I don’t think we should have come here. It is not safe and wide enough.”
Unlike most modern F1 venues, Mugello has no tarmac run-off – the track is mainly bordered by grass and gravel traps

Jerome D'Ambrosio convinced of Lotus potential after Mugello test :
Lotus reserve driver Jerome D'Ambrosio says an extremely limited day of running was still enough to convince him of the car's potential. The 26-year-old Belgian took control on the first day of Mugello, but managed just 10 dry laps as torrential rain led to an afternoon washout. D'Ambrosio conceded conditions had been disappointing, but said he was still happy to have time in a car he labelled 'incredible'. "Obviously with the conditions we were very limited in what we could do," he said, "but I could still get a bit out of the day and it is always good to get confident with the car.
"And then I had the feel of the car, which I think is fantastic. I was really limited, but even with 20 laps you know it - we have an incredible car. In terms of stability, how predictable it is, it is very nice to drive." Asked how the Lotus related to the Virgin he drove in 2010, D'Ambrosio added: "You can't really compare – it's in another world. There is a big difference – a very big difference." The Lotus reserve driver added that the rain had proved unwelcome both for him and for Lotus, disrupting the planned programme before Romain Grosjean takes over for the final two days. "Supposing it was going to be dry – and we didn't get anywhere near that – there are things we wanted to try, thing you just don't have time to try on a race weekend. We wanted – we couldn't do it. "The problem was in the afternoon there would have been value in going back out on inters and comparing to the morning, but in the end the condition was just too much rain.
"Of course as a driver you always want to go out, but you're also a professional and if the team doesn't want to go out you don't. The benefits are very limited: if the race was like this it would be stopped straight away. You don't go through these conditions, so there was just no point. "It was definitely [disappointing]. We knew it, and in the end you can't do much about it, but it's disappointing because I should have done about 100 laps in the dry, and I did 20. Not just for me though, there were a few test items we wanted to try."

Fernando Alonso says new Ferrari must produce results now :
Fernando Alonso says a redesigned Ferrari car must give the team a major step forward at the next race in Spain if he is to fight for the title. The double champion, whose car has been uncompetitive so far this year, has this week tested revised rear bodywork, which is part of a major upgrade. "We were on average 0.8-0.9 seconds off the top guys in the first four races," he said. "We need to reduce this immediately if we want to fight for the championship."
Alonso added: "Barcelona is one of the most important steps we have to do. We must do it."
The new bodywork, which also features a revised exhaust position, is just the first step in a series of upgrades due on the Ferrari. New front and rear wings and a revised diffuser are also due for the Spanish Grand Prix on 13-15 May before further changes at the subsequent races in Canada and Valencia. Monaco is between Spain and Canada.
Alonso has won widespread praise for some superb driving that has enabled him to be fifth in the championship, only 10 points off Red Bull's leader Sebastian Vettel, after the first four races, despite having an uncompetitive car.
He has qualified no higher than ninth, having struggled to get into the final top-10 shoot-out in all races, yet he won in mixed conditions in Malaysia and scored points in Australia, China and Bahrain. He said after testing the upgrade at Mugello in Italy: "We know there is no magic button that in Barcelona we will be on pole position because everybody will improve their cars as well, but we need to reduce this gap. "Barcelona has to be the first step, in Canada the second step, Valencia third and then be close to them. "We cannot be fighting for Q3 if we want to be fighting for the championship. "We are curious to see how much we can improve the car and how much the others improve theirs and hopefully our step is bigger." The new Ferrari design makes the rear bodywork, in front of and between the rear wheels, much more tightly waisted than before. It has the benefit of less bodywork obstructing the critical 'coke-bottle' area at the rear, where the bodywork sweeps inwards towards the back of the car.
It also moves the exhaust exits further into the centre of the car, abandoning attempts to gain an aerodynamic benefit from blowing them at the area where the rear wheels meet the floor in an attempt to 'seal' the diffuser and increase downforce. All teams have been exploring different exhaust positions in an attempt to recover performance lost to the ban on exhaust-blown diffusers - last year's must-have technology, where teams boosted downforce by blowing exhaust gases along the rear floor of the cars even when the driver was off the throttle. Alonso said the evidence of the first four races, in which cars with very different exhaust designs have been competitive at different times, suggested continuing to chase this area was a waste of time. "It is not important any more which [exhaust] position you choose and how you manage the position," he said, adding: "I think this year we cannot lose even five minutes on this and there are bigger areas on the car we need to improve and we try to do it." Alonso set the third fastest time on the final day of the Mugello test, despite an excursion off track in the morning which broke the car's front wing.
He ended up 0.328 seconds slower than pace-setter Romain Grosjean of Lotus. They were split by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. Grosjean's fastest time was one minute 21.035 seconds - 0.232secs quicker than Vettel.

Alonso convinced Ferrari an almost perfect team despite struggling to regularly fight for victory :
Fernando Alonso is convinced Ferrari is an almost perfect team despite its failure to produce a car that enables him to fight for victories on a regular basis."I have no doubt. As external factors go, we are by now an almost perfect team," Alonso told Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview. Although the two-time champion admitted that pushing his car to the limit was "like walking on a tight rope", he does believe that its recent struggles have made Ferrari much stronger.
"It's like walking on a tight rope at 30 metres above ground, you can never make mistakes," he said. "If you hit a curb in Q1, you're out. Same goes in Q2 if a wheel locks in a turn. But all this makes the team stronger. The mistakes we made in 2010 and 2011 with strategy, pit stops, and driver errors haven't happened anymore.
"That's because the team, by walking on that tight rope, has reached a level of professionalism and confidence higher than you could imagine. The most important thing, the quickest car, is still lacking, but the struggles of these years have made the team improve at double speed compared to a normal year." When asked if Ferrari could win the title without having the strongest car, he said: "Yes." The Spaniard, who is 10 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel, says Ferrari has managed to minimise the damage in the first four races of the year, but concedes it must react quickly now the European season begins. He denied, however, that his 2012 title bid would effectively be finished should Ferrari not manage to gain sufficient ground on the leading teams by next week's Spanish Grand Prix.
"We have kind of saved the first four races, but now we must react and take charge," Alonso said. "In any case we never give up. "This is just the first step, we need to consistently make up the gap race after race. If things go bad in Montmelo, it's not like our season is finished." Alonso also reckons his team has been paying the price for the lack of testing in Formula 1, because he says its structure has been based around on-track work.
"We are more penalised than others because Ferrari's development philosophy has always been based on this," he added.

Massa expects Ferrari step in Spain, but admits wins are still far away :
Felipe Massa has backed team-mate Fernando Alonso's view that Ferrari will make a good step forward in form at the Spanish Grand Prix - but thinks it too much to expect its updates to help it fight for victory straightaway.
With a number of developments to the F2012 due to be run by Alonso at Mugello on Thursday, Ferrari should get a first indication of exactly how much progress it will be able to make with its car for the start of the European season.
And with Alonso looking at a top five grid slot, Massa reckons that getting both cars inside the top ten is what he is setting his sights on. "This [both Ferrari's starting in the top ten at Barcelona] is inside my expectation, but we haven't tried all the new parts so we need to see in Barcelona how it will be and how much they improve the car," he said after wrapping up his testing programme in Italy. "Then we can be more realistic, but it is inside my expectations, definitely."
Ferrari's hopes of a step forward very much depend on how much progress it makes over its rivals in delivering more speed from its car – which is why Massa is keeping his ambitions in check. "To close the gap you need to improve much more than the others and they are working and improving," he said. "In three weeks, you see cars improving by two or three tenths, so we need to make a huge step forward. "Definitely it [winning races] is a bit too optimistic but when we have new parts and everything on the car then we can talk better. Without trying the new parts it is difficult to say, but to close the gap to the guys in front and win races is a little bit too optimistic - but we hope."
Although Massa will not get to try out the latest car upgrades before the Spanish GP, he is not too concerned that he will suffer as a result. "It is always better to run the new parts, but the programme was like that for Fernando to try the new exhaust yesterday and for me to try the old one today to do the back-to-back," said the Brazilian.
" We will run some new pieces which are arriving this evening. It won't be everything, as everything will be ready for Barcelona."

F1 team Sauber shifts into "carbon neutral" status :
In a move that will interpreted as an example of either effective green management or shameless greenwash, Formula 1 racing team Sauber has today announced that it has obtained "carbon neutral" status. The Swiss team said that it has signed a deal with UK offset company Carbon Neutral Investments (CNI), which supports a range of emission reduction projects around the world, including wind farms in India, waste heat recovery projects in China, and hydro-electric stations in Brazil. Sauber will purchase credits from these initiatives to cover not only emissions from all its facilities, but also emissions from transportation of freight to race venues and staff travel. It added that it would then also purchase an excess of 30 per cent more carbon offset credits to ensure any emissions that may remain unaccounted for are covered.
The move builds on the team's achievement in gaining ISO 14001 certification for the company's environmental management system in April. "The certification of our environmental management system less than a month ago signified an important step towards our ecological goals and is now followed by a further step with our carbon offset commitment," said Sauber chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn. "The next milestone will be when our solar park goes on stream at the company headquarters in Hinwil this summer." As well as offsetting, Sauber has put in place a carbon cutting policy to keep emissions as low as possible. The team's main building in Hinwil has been supplied by district heating for 20 years, while half of its electricity needs are met by renewable energy sources.

Ferrari begins testing of first step of major upgrade package planned for Spanish Grand Prix :
Ferrari unveiled the first step of its major new upgrade package at Mugello on Thursday, as the team brought in revisions to the exhaust exits and rear bodywork of its F2012. Having made a beleaguered start to its 2012 campaign, Ferrari always planned to use Mugello as the stage in which it would start phasing in significant developments, with further revisions also expected for the Spanish Grand Prix. The very first items appeared late on Wednesday, when Felipe Massa tried out new turning vanes under the nose. On Thursday morning, it was Fernando Alonso's turn to give the first laps to a new rear bodywork structure.Technical consultant Gary Anderson said the changes had the potential to deliver significant gains.
"On the sidepods they've put the exhaust pipes into a more conventional position," explained Anderson. "They are not getting any great degree of benefit, but they’re not getting any negatives either, and I think with a troublesome car that’s the best place to get to.
“Because of the way the letterbox exit for the exhaust was being used for a radiator exit they’ve had to compromise a little. They still have a radiator exit there in the new iteration, but it is much narrower and the coke bottle is much better.
“I think what they have done is a reasonable compromise for where they are. They can exploit it further though by getting rid of the radiator, and I think that will be phase two. “It’s very difficult to quantify the changes in terms of lap time, but I do believe they lost quite a lot of downforce with the letterbox radiator exit system they had. It just isn’t right to feed low speed air from the radiator into an area where you want high-speed flow.
“Potentially you could be looking at two or three tenths from that one change alone."

Sauber rules out double DRS as too expensive :
Sauber is almost certain not to pursue the double-DRS concept pioneered by Mercedes, because of the high costs involved in fitting it to the car.With the Mercedes design, which helps stall the front wing for improved balance and an extra speed boost in qualifying, having been given the all-clear by the FIA, rival teams have been working out if they need to add it to their own cars too.But the relatively limited benefit - believed to be just a few tenths of a second per lap in qualifying – against the high costs of fitting internal piping means that only the big-money teams are likely to pursue it fully. Sauber chief designer Matt Morris said early analysis by his own outfit had left it feeling that it would be better off devoting resources to finding more normal development progress.
"We have done some evaluation on it in the factory, but at the moment it's not really working for us in terms of cost versus performance," sayd Morris ."It doesn't really stack up for us at the moment. And beyond the cost versus performance issue, it's difficult to know exactly the potential benefits and then it's only really useful in qualifying as well.
"It's definitely a few tenths of a second in qualifying, but to get that [benefit] so many parts in the car would have to be changed. That's the problem."Sauber ran with external piping on its C31 during testing at Mugello on Thursday, which prompted speculation that it could have been evaluating the double DRS further.
However, Morris clarified that it was simply measuring aerodynamic forces at the rear of the car.
"We have been running some pressure tappings around the rear, that's what all the pipes were," he said. "It's just pressure measurement, that's all."

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

News Round Up, Part 1 :

Barrichello: Massa will have a long career in Formula 1 :
Rubens Barrichello expects close friend Felipe Massa to remain in Formula 1 for many years to come, despite the Ferrari driver's visit to last weekend's IndyCar event in Sao Paulo (30/04 ) fuelling speculation that he could be looking at switching series. Massa is fighting for his F1 future at Ferrari, with he and his team well aware that he must deliver strong results this year if he is to remain with the outfit in 2013. But on the back of scoring just two points in the first four races - 41 less than team-mate Fernando Alonso – there are continued question marks about his position, and the latest speculation is linking Mark Webber with a drive at Ferrari once again. Massa's appearance at the Sao Paulo IndyCar event at the weekend prompted talk that he could follow Barrichello's lead and move to the US-based category – something that has been denied. Barrichello said that he was full of confidence that Massa continued to have a strong future in F1 – and said his visit to Sao Paulo was purely social. "He came here because I invited him," explained Barrichello. "It was a pleasure to receive him."He stayed on the pit wall with the team radio, living a totally different experience compared to F1. And different to what many people think – he was not here looking for a job. This guy will race a lot more in F1."
Barrichello said his conversations with Massa over the weekend did not give him any indication that his fellow Brazilian was worried about his F1 future.

Nico Rosberg says challenge of 2012 Pirelli tyres is great for Formula 1:
Nico Rosberg believes that the challenges being thrown at drivers by the current Formula 1 tyre situation is good news for the sport. The closeness of the field this year has increased the influence of the Pirelli rubber on cars' overall performance. This has resulted in teams' form fluctuating as they work to get the rubber into the right operating window for their cars. The four grands prix so far in 2012 have provided victories for McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, with no team having looked like repeating its success at any other circuit, such has been the vast difference in track conditions at each race. When asked by whether races were becoming too much of a tyre-based lottery based on what has been seen so far this year, Mercedes driver Rosberg said: "No. It's just a very different game.
"We have seen already this year that when you go from one condition to another, one racetrack to another, one temperature to another... different cars are better on the tyres, so there's a very big engineering challenge to understand why, to adapt and to try and be the one to understand the tyres best. That can be a very big key for the season, so we're pushing hard to try and understand that quicker than others. "Personally, I think it's great for the season. We've had four winners in four races, [so it is] all mixed up. It couldn't be better for Formula 1. Also within the races, with the tyre degradation and with lots of overtaking, we've had lots of exciting races."
Rosberg also claimed that the current performance window of the Mercedes, which was dominant in China and off the absolute frontrunning pace elsewhere, was not yet wide enough. "Well we're not the best yet [in that regard], so of course we still need to improve in various areas," he added.
"I think we've progressed a lot recently; we were far off in the first race in Australia and even in the most difficult conditions in Bahrain we were there or thereabouts, beating, for example, McLaren and Ferrari. So we're looking much better, progressing in the right direction. We were the fastest car in China all weekend so we're moving forward very quickly."

Rosberg says test was still valuable for Mercedes despite poor weather :
Nico Rosberg believes Mercedes did manage to make some progress at Mugello on Tuesday(01/05) - despite the terrible weather affecting the opening day of testing. The first proper in-season test for four years was marred by rain, but even so Rosberg thinks that the conditions did allow his team to get a better understanding of extracting performance from their wet weather tyres. "It was good and we learned some valuable things this morning in the wet," said the German during the lunchtime break. "Lately in the wet we weren't that strong. [like] in Malaysia, but we [also] got some dry running in the end and some useful tests there. So we learned something there, which was great and is a good start."
Although Mercedes is targeting a better understanding of tyres as a key element of its challenge going forwards, Rosberg believes it vital that it keeps up a more normal car development process.
"We always have bits and pieces coming for every race, and some things are coming for Barcelona too," he said. "It [in-season development] is an ongoing process and one of the areas where we need to make sure we are strong this year - and we can be strong in that area." Rosberg also reiterated that he did not believe the current debate over tyres in F1, prompted by criticisms about Pirelli by team-mate Michael Schumacher, was worth much thought.
"I don't think it is an issue," he said. "I think it is good. It is a challenge, and a different challenge with tyre management. It is interesting, and it makes the racing interesting, so that is good."

Sauber confirm sponsorship from football team Chelsea :
Sauber have confirmed a new sponsorship deal with English Premier League football club Chelsea. The C31 will race with Chelsea logos from the next round of the world championship in Spain. Team CEO Monisha Kaltenborn said: “A partnership like this between Formula One and Football has never existed before in this form, yet there are numerous commonalities and possible synergies. “In either case we are talking about team sport at the highest – and international – level. The Sauber F1 Team and Chelsea FC are dealing with many of the same sporting and commercial topics and we want to strengthen each other in these areas. We are looking forward to exploiting these opportunities, and we congratulate Chelsea on making it to the final of the Champions League.” Sauber dropped hints about the forthcoming deal by running the slogans “Out of the blue” and “True blue” on its cars’ engine covers in the last two races.
The deal will also see Sauber logos displayed on advertising boards at Chelsea’s stadium.

Hembery: Pirelli open to change tyre philosophy if Formula 1 teams want it :
Pirelli boss Paul Hembery says the manufacturer is open to changing its tyre philosophy if Formula 1 teams want it - but insists it has had no indication that there is any unhappiness about its rubber. Speaking at Mugello, Hembery reiterated his belief that the current generation of tyres had helped produce more exciting racing, but said Pirelli was always open to discussion about it's strategy and approach. "We were asked to come up with a certain approach, and that was agreed with teams," Hembery said. "The leader for the teams' views was actually Ross [Brawn], and he told us that Canada 2010 was the model they wanted and that is what we worked on.
"What do we want? One car to disappear into the distance? The public turned away from the sport when that happened, so there was a very clear decision made by the sport to address the racing.
"If the sport decides we are too aggressive we can change though; we can supply tyres that don't degrade and allow you to push, as we did last year when the hard and medium tyres had negative degradation - the loss of performance from the tyre was less than the loss of fuel. "We would [be open to change] for the sport, but its not just the drivers – it's the teams, the promoter. The team principals tend to be quite pragmatic and look at the bigger picture, and I would be very surprised if they asked us to do anything different.
"At the end of the day we do what they want and also the right thing for the sport: it is not us on our own deciding a direction, you have to work together as a partnership."
Asked specifically about Michael Schumacher's criticism of the Pirelli compounds, Hembery said he was sympathetic to the seven-time champion's views. "I can see Michael's frustrations, but it is the sport that asks us," he said. "There is a strange misconception in that drivers don't push. All four winners were pushing and they were also quicker than their team-mates, so it's hard for me to understand that concept.
"We have limited to some extent what they can push but that doesn't mean they don't have an influence: there is no doubt [they count] and that's very important in a sport that should be about the drivers.
"It's hard to please everybody, we accept that. Tomorrow morning we could do something different, but right now that's not really what the majority is asking."

Mark Webber backs tyre impact on Formula 1 show :
Formula 1 drivers should be happy to accept the challenge posed by Pirelli's current generation of tyres because they are helping make the racing more exciting. That is the view of Mark Webber, who reckons that complaints that the high degradation is detracting from the thrill of pushing F1 cars to the limit are not valid.
"Tyres have always been an important part of Formula 1," said the Red Bull Racing driver. "Things were probably a little less punishing in the past to get them right, but now you need to be right there and, if you aren't, it can be quite tricky.
"Everybody has the same stuff to deal with so you have to get on with it. We just drive the cars and do the best job with what we have." The impact of tyres on the racing has become a big talking point after Michael Schumacher criticised the characteristics of Pirelli's rubber after the Bahrain Grand Prix. Webber acknowledges that all drivers would love perfect tyres, but says that the most important consideration should be the entertainment for the fans.
"We would all love to have quicker laptimes and extremely consistent tyres like we did in the old days, but that wasn't the most exciting thing for the racing," he explained. "Trying to find somewhere in the middle is always tricky, but at the moment we have a pretty good show for the crowd. Whether it's by design or not, it's turned out like that."

Raikkonen laps old Nurburgring with Kim Dotcom :
Kimi Raikkonen appears in a new video with controversial businessman Kim Dotcom. The pair and a third driver raced a trio of Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMGs around the Nurburgring Nordschleife for a promotional video.
Dotcom, born Kim Schmitz, is best known for creating file hosting service Megaupload, which was shut down earlier this year following charges of copyright infringement. He said the video was shot over 20 laps of the 20.8km (12.9-mile) track.
It shows Dotcom passing Raikkonen at the end of the lap but he insisted: “I did not win against Kimi. I never could. We had to remove the air from his tires to keep up. And even then it was impossible.” Dotcom calls the video an “homage to the Nurburgring, the CLK DTM and Kimi Raikkonen, one of the best drivers in the world.”
The film, which appeared on YouTube recently, appears to have been shot last year. Raikkonen appears in a Red Bull cap and Dotcom refers to footage from it having being “seized by the FBI during the Megaupload raid” in January.
The Nordschleiefe was last used for an F1 race in 1976 before being dropped on safety grounds following Niki Lauda’s crash in that year’s race. The crash was recently re-created at the circuit by director Ron Howard for his forthcoming film Rush.
be warned the video contains very strong language



Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Ferrari announced the accident suffered by their Spanish driver Fernando Alonso during the 3rd day of tests in Mugello. The Ferrari Twitter profile read, "Fernando running off the track will slow work down today. It will take at least two hours to repair the damage. It's a shame, but these things happen during the tests!"

Here are the times of the 3rd and last day of testing at the Mugello circuit in Italy :

1. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1m21.035s laps 66
2. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull : 1m21.267s + 0.232s laps 106
3. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1m21.363s + 0.328s laps 98
4. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1m21.604s + 0.569s laps 117
5. Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1m22.229s + 0.879s laps 118
6. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1m22.325s + 0.975s laps 55
7. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1m22.497s + 1.147s laps 63
8. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes : 1m22.579s + 1.229s laps 129
9. Oliver Turvey : McLaren : 1m22.662s + 1.312s laps 99
10. Paul di Resta : Force India : 1m23.002s + 1.652s laps 34
11. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1m23.169s + 1.819s laps 138
12. Timo Glock : Marussia : 1m23.466s + 2.116s laps 110


Comment of the 3rd day of testing :

Romain Grosjean put the seal on an impressive test at Mugello for his Lotus team by going fastest on the final afternoon.
His best - a 1m21.035s set with two hours of the afternoon to run - was the quickest any driver managed across the three days. The Frenchman had also topped the second day of running at the Italian circuit, Lotus having opted to alter plans and give him both days of testing following the day one washout. Sebastian Vettel's morning best was enough to keep him second for Red Bull, less than one tenth of a second ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard had set the early running in a Ferrari featuring revisions to its exhaust exits and rear bodywork, but an hour in he went off and nudged the wall at Turn 12, leading to delays of more than two hours for the Scuderia.Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo closed to within a quarter of a second of Alonso in the afternoon, ending the day fourth fastest. Sergio Perez finished six tenths of a second down the road in fifth, having triggered one of several red flags on the final day when his Sauber stopped on the main straight at the exit of the pitlane. Nico Hulkenberg, taking over from Paul di Resta for the final afternoon, was less than one tenth of a second slower in sixth. Di Resta was initially tucked up behind his Force India stable-mate, but late improvements from Pastor Maldonado, Oliver Turvey and Nico Rosberg forced him down to 10th.
Rosberg (Mercedes) set new bests on his final two tours to jump into eighth, 0.082s behind Maldonado's Williams.
Turvey meanwhile completed a low-key test for McLaren, which opted not to run either of its two race drivers, by finishing ninth ahead of Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock. Kovalainen was the busiest driver of the day, completing 138 laps in the Caterham.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

News round up will follow this weekend !

Here are the times of the 2nd day of testing at Mugello :

1 Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1’21.603 laps 97
2 Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber :1’21.603 + 0.000 laps 87
3 Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull : 1’21.825 + 0.222 laps 64
4 Mark Webber : Red Bull : 1’21.997 + 0.394 laps 54
5 Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1’22.257 + 0.654 laps 106
6 Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1’22.422 + 0.819 laps 65
7 Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso :1’22.588 + 0.985 laps 22
8 Michael Schumacher : Mercedes : 1’23.404 + 1.801 laps 144
9 Charles Pic : Marussia : 1’23.982 + 2.379 laps 46
10 Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1’24.312 + 2.709 laps 112
11 Gary Paffett : McLaren : 1’24.480 + 2.877 laps 59
12 Timo Glock : Marussia :1’24.499 + 2.896 laps 37
13 Paul di Resta : Force India : 1’24.749 + 3.146 laps 14
14 Bruno Senna : Williams :1’24.842 100 + 3.239 laps 3.

Comment 2nd day of testing :

Romain Grosjean put Lotus on top as the second morning of in-season testing at Mugello came to a close. In contrast to the torrential weather which blighted the opening day, conditions were dry almost from the outset, allowing teams the chance to catch up with their disrupted programmes. Many therefore opted to run with periscope gauges or various aero sensors rather than chase times. Such priorities would not diminish Grosjean's pace, however, as he pulled clear of the field after barely an hour in and never looked under threat thereafter. He ended the morning on a 1m21.603s.
Mark Webber, in the Red Bull for this morning before handing over to reigning champion Sebastian Vettel for the final day and a half, ended the morning as Grosjean's nearest challenger. Webber had run second for much of the morning, still more than 1.5s adrift of the Frenchman, but in the final hour a medium-tyre run allowed him to close to within four tenths. The pair were the only two to dip below the 1m22s mark. Felipe Massa kept Ferrari near the top by going third fastest, despite a programme which saw him make several low speed runs early on and run with a periscope gauge attached to his roll hoop for almost the duration. Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne ended fourth ahead of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher, with the German managing 74 laps, the most of any driver.
That was in stark contrast to Paul di Resta, who managed just seven laps and failed to set a time in the Force India. The team said an issue with the hydraulics was the most likely cause of its woes, but it remains optimistic of running before the end of the day.The Scot propped up the timesheets as a result, separated from Schumacher by Charles Pic (Marussia), Vitaly Petrov (Caterham), Gary Paffett (McLaren) and Bruno Senna (Williams).

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Ops, I'm late...

Eighteen years ago today, Williams Formula One driver Ayrton Senna died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

The Brazilian, three times F1 World Champion, entered the high-speed Tamburello corner on lap 7, but his Williams car left the track at around 205mph and hit the concrete retaining wall at around 135mph.

He was declared dead hours later at Bologna's Maggiore Hospital, a day after Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger perished during qualifying.

[Verstecktes Bild - Registrierung notwendig]

Senna's success in the sport occasionally lifted the darkness which loomed over his country during impoverished times. Three days of national mourning were declared after he died, and an estimated three million people flocked to the streets of his hometown of São Paulo to pay their respects.

Aged 34 when he passed away, Senna's legacy and life-story is one of the most colourful in any sport. He was immortalised outside of Brazil courtesy of Asif Kapadia's superb 2010 documentary.

Here are the times of the 1st day of 3 days testing at the Mugello circuit :

1. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1m22.444s laps 46
2. Mark Webber : Red Bull : 1m23.648s + 1.204s laps 24
3. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1m23.891s + 1.447s laps 32
4. Jerome D'Ambrosio : Lotus : 1m24.048s + 1.604s laps 40
5. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes : 1m24.100s + 1.656s laps 49
6. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1m24.736s + 2.292s laps 48
7. Oliver Turvey : McLaren : 1m25.303s + 2.859s laps 30
8. Jules Bianchi : Force India : 1m25.475s + 3.031s laps 19
9. Rodolfo Gonzalez : Caterham : 1m27.197s + 4.753s laps 35
10. Charles Pic : Marussia : 1m27.359s + 4.915s laps 45
11. Valtteri Bottas : Williams : 1m29.179s + 6.735s laps 28
12. Gary Paffett : McLaren : 1m50.898s + 28.454s laps 4
13. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes : No time : laps 5


Comment of the 1st day :

Fernando Alonso's morning best of 1m22.444s was comfortably the fastest time of a rain-hit first day of testing at Mugello on Tuesday. In contrast to the morning, when a wet circuit had slowly dried, the afternoon started wet following lunchtime showers and only worsened as torrential rain settled in, severely disrupting team's test programmes and the anticipated phasing in of new upgrades. Conditions became so bad that the circuit at one stage had to be closed, as the emergency helicopter could not take off safely due to the low light. As a result, several teams decided to skip the session altogether and save tyres for the second and third days of running, choosing as they must from the 100 sets of Pirelli rubber they are assigned for tests at the start of the year. McLaren's Gary Paffett and Mercedes's Nico Rosberg - taking over from Oliver Turvey and Nico Rosberg respectively – were two of the few who did venture out. Paffett managed just four laps, while Schumacher completed five but did not set a time. Schumacher's stable-mate Nico Rosberg finished with the highest number of laps completed of any driver, a relatively paltry 49. The dwindling contingent of fans who braved the weather and stayed until the chequered flag were rewarded when Fernando Alonso rejoined the fray in the final hour, although the Spaniard rarely completed a flying lap as he focussed instead on practice starts from the pitlane.
Better weather is predicted for the second day of running on Wednesday, when a raft of driver changes will take place – among them Felipe Massa taking over at Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel taking charge of the afternoon running for Red Bull.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Today starts a 3 day test session at the Mugello Circuit (Italy), the names for these 3 days are :

Red Bull Racing
Tuesday: Mark Webber
Wednesday: Mark Webber / Sebastian Vettel
Thursday: Sebastian Vettel

McLaren
Tuesday: Oliver Turvey / Gary Paffett
Wednesday: Oliver Turvey
Thursday: Gary Paffett

Ferrari
Tuesday: Fernando Alonso
Wednesday: Felipe Massa
Thursday: Fernando Alonso

Mercedes
Tuesday: Nico Rosberg / Michael Schumacher
Wednesday: Michael Schumacher
Thursday: Nico Rosberg

Lotus
Tuesday: Jerome D'Ambrosio
Wednesday: Kimi Raikkonen
Thursday: Romain Grosjean

Sauber
Tuesday: Kamui Kobayashi
Wednesday: Kamui Kobayashi
Thursday; Sergio Perez

Force India
Tuesday: Jules Bianchi
Wednesday: Paul di Resta
Thursday: Nico Hulkenberg

Toro Rosso
Tuesday: Jean-Eric Vergne
Wednesday: Jean-Eric Vergne
Thursday: Daniel Ricciardo

Williams
Tuesday: Valtteri Bottas
Wednesday: Bruno Senna
Thursday: Pastor Maldonado

Caterham
Tuesday: Rodolfo Gonzalez
Wednesday: Vitaly Petrov
Thursday: Heikki Kovalainen

Marussia
Tuesday: Charles Pic
Wednesday: Charles Pic / Timo Glock
Thursday: Timo Glock

HRT will not participate in this test !

Times of this 1st test day will follow later today !

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

f1 standings

1 Sebastian Vettel German Red Bull Racing-Renault 53
2 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 49
3 Mark Webber Australian Red Bull Racing-Renault 48
4 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 43
5 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 43
6 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes 35
7 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish Lotus-Renault 34
8 Romain Grosjean French Lotus-Renault 23
9 Sergio Perez Mexican Sauber-Ferrari 22
10 Paul di Resta British Force India-Mercedes 15
11 Bruno Senna Brazilian Williams-Renault 14
12 Kamui Kobayashi Japanese Sauber-Ferrari 9
13 Jean-Eric Vergne French STR-Ferrari 4
14 Pastor Maldonado Venezuelan Williams-Renault 4
15 Daniel Ricciardo Australian STR-Ferrari 2
16 Nico Hulkenberg German Force India-Mercedes 2
17 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 2
18 Michael Schumacher German Mercedes 2
19 Timo Glock German Marussia-Cosworth 0
20 Charles Pic French Marussia-Cosworth 0
21 Vitaly Petrov Russian Caterham-Renault 0
22 Heikki Kovalainen Finnish Caterham-Renault 0
23 Pedro de la Rosa Spanish HRT-Cosworth 0
24 Narain Karthikeyan Indian HRT-Cosworth 0

.PM not work ,,so
i will not play those games
soo,
it's nonsens keep me on the lists -still
a little bit less work 4 U

Highlight :

30 years ago today: Villeneuve and Pironi’s fatal feud at Ferrari

[Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Felipe Massa 25th April 1981
[Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]
Happy Birthday to your 31st anniversary

23/04/1963 happy birthday to paul belmondo former f1 driver
[Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]

The Latest News :
Rosberg escapes penalty for incidents with Hamilton and Alonso
Nico Rosberg has escaped any sanction for the on-track moments during the Bahrain Grand Prix when he appeared to push Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso off the track.The stewards of the meeting met with the drivers and their team representatives after the race to look into the details of the clash that took place as Hamilton exited the pits on lap 11 and tried to retake a position. Rosberg defended hard, moving across to the right on the exit of Turn 3, and Hamilton had to complete his pass off the track before Turn 4. The situation was repeated when Alonso tried to pass the German on lap 11, although the Spaniard did not manage to overtake.
The stewards looked into the matter and decided that because Rosberg had moved to the right to defend his position in a 'constant and continuous straight line manner' and because Hamilton was not alongside Rosberg as he began that move that the German did nothing wrong.
The stewards added: "Had a significant portion of Car 4 (Hamilton) been alongside that of Car 8 (Rosberg) whilst Car 4 still remained within the confines of the track, then the actions of Car 8 may not be considered legitimate."
Rosberg was cleared for his incident with Alonso for the same reasons.
"I can only say that if, instead of such a wide run-off area there had been a wall, I'm not sure I'd be here now to talk about it," said Alonso.
After hearing the decision, Alonso wrote on Twitter: "I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!"

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

shaky-schumi wrote:....but it wil not have a effect on our game

hehehe our game is above the F1 rules ! hehehe