Sauber-ART rumours gain further traction

RichardsF1    Formula 1     ART, Jean Todt, Nicolas Todt, Peter Sauber, Sauber

Rumours that the Sauber team might merge with the aspirant ART GP2 team currently seeking an entry into the 2011 championship gained further credence with Peter Sauber admitting that ART boss Nicolas Todt paid their Hinwil HQ a visit last week.

This was despite Herr Sauber’s protestations that his team would not be up for sale following the initial speculation being raised.

The 66-year-old told motorsport-aktuell.com in an interview: "I have had a very good relationship not only with his father [FIA President Jean Todt] but also with him, especially through [his management of] Felipe Massa."

So just why was he visiting, Herr Sauber? I assume he wasn’t trying to peddle off his other client, Sébastien Bourdais, in your direction!

Feature Article: War of the Bulls

RichardsF1    Features, Guest Writers' Articles     Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel

(The Red Bulls did the unthinkable in Turkey – they almost took each other out. iSporter Kunal Shah shares his view on the Vettel-Webber crash. A crash that he believes could well have an impact on the 2010 World Championship.)

War of the Bulls literally it was at the Turkish Grand Prix. Red Bulls after having set the pace at yet another GP this season were found fighting each other at the front of the field and not surprisingly though. Mark Webber had yet another pole on Saturday and Sebastian Vettel’s pit-stop was well timed to jump Hamilton for second place.

Well so then what just happened? How the hell did only one Bull see the flag when the team could’ve registered yet another 1-2 this season?

Indianapolis 500: Final Classification

RichardsF1    IndyCar, Results    

	Driver		Team	Time
1.	Dario Franchitti		Chip Ganassi Racing	3:05.37.013
2.	Dan Wheldon		Panther Racing	+ 0.153
3.	Marco Andretti*		Andretti Autosport	+ 23.525
4.	Alex Lloyd		Dale Coyne Racing	+ 20.987
5.	Scott Dixon		Chip Ganassi Racing	+ 21.492
6.	Danica Patrick		Andretti Autosport	+ 21.756
7.	Justin Wilson		Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	+ 25.976
8.	Will Power		Penske Racing	+ 30.247
9.	Helio Castroneves		Penske Racing	+ 33.013
10.	Alex Tagliani		FAZZT Race Team	+ 34.248
11.	Tony Kanaan		Andretti Autosport	+ 59.595
12.	Graham Rahal		Rahal Letterman Racing	+ 59.973
13.	Mario Romancini		Conquest Racing	+ 1:05.021
14.	Simona de Silvestro**		HVM Racing	+ 1:01.674
15.	Tomas Scheckter		Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	+ 1 lap
16.	Townsend Bell		Chip Ganassi Racing	+ 1 lap
17.	Ed Carpenter		Panther Racing	+ 1 lap
18.	Ryan Hunter-Reay		Andretti Autosport	+ 2 laps
19.	Mike Conway		Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	+ 2 laps
20.	Takuma Sato		KV Racing Technology	+ 2 laps
21.	Ana Beatriz		Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	+ 4 laps
22.	Bertrand Baguette		Conquest Racing	+ 17 laps
	Not Classified
	Sebastian Saavedra		Bryan Herta Racing	159 laps
	Ryan Briscoe		Penske Racing	147 laps
	E.J. Viso		KV Racing Technology	139 laps
	Sarah Fisher		Sarah Fisher Racing	125 laps
	Vitor Meria		A.J Foyt Enterprises	105 laps
	Hideki Mutoh		Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	76 laps
	Raphael Matos		De Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing	72 laps
	John Andretti		Andretti Autosport	62 laps
	Mario Moraes		KV Racing Technology	17 laps
	Bruno Junqueira		FAZZT Race Team	7 laps
	Davey Hamilton		De Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing	0 laps

* Marco Andretti was promoted to a third place finish after successfully mounting a challenge that Alex Lloyd, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick had overtaken him under caution during the final yellow-flag period for the Conway and Hunter-Reay collision.

** De Silvestro was demoted one place from her original 13th placed finish.

It’s De Crasheris’ birthday today!

RichardsF1    Birthdays, Former F1 Figures, Formula 1     Andrea de Cesaris

Andrea de Cesaris is turning 51 today!

Well-known in F1 circles as being one of F1’s most accident-prone drivers, de Cesaris’ 208 Grand Prix career was the longest of any driver not to have won a single race. He also holds the record for the most race retirements of any F1 driver: 137 in total!

De Cesaris was a former World Karting Champion who made his F1 debut at the  1980 Canadian Grand Prix for Alfa Romeo. He had also signed onto Ron Dennis’ Project Four organisation for a season in Formula 2 and joined the McLaren team for a full season in 1981.

Not only was Andrea fast, but he was also wild. A season punctuated by countless wrecked chassis and just a single championship point earned him the nickname of ‘De Crasheris’ by the British press. He certainly wasn’t going to be offered another season with McLaren (indeed, the team has never hired an Italian driver since!), and probably wouldn’t have been given another shot in F1, especially if the other drivers had been given a say in the matter…

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Red Bull implodes over Webber-Vettel crash

RichardsF1    Catfights, Formula 1     Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel

View Full Album The aftermath of one of a spectacular Red Bull ‘own-goal’ (L-R): Dr Helmut Marko; Christian Horner speaks with Vettel; the German’s fury with Webber [All images via AUTOSPORT]

The golden rule in a Formula 1 team is to never have your two drivers conspire to collide with each other, and the Red Bull team kicked a monumental own-goal as their two drivers, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, managed to collide while duelling for the race on lap 41 of the Turkish Grand Prix.

The collision saw a furious Vettel retire on the spot, while Webber pitted for repairs and limped home in third place. Not only did this gaffe cost Red Bull a possible 1-2, but it allowed McLaren to achieve the coveted result and vault from third to first in the Constructors’ Championship standings.

Such has been Red Bull’s relative dominance over the other teams to-date, that both the drivers and the team should be comfortably leading both Championship points’ tables. But Red Bull have again, seemingly, belied their own brilliance and mirrored several instances of their 2009 campaign (where they finished runner-up to Brawn in what many believed to be the better car), with a litany of mechanical failures, tactical blunders, and now this sorry mess.

From from clearing the air in private, Red Bull seems to have publicly imploded, with every side blaming another. F1 commentators felt that Vettel was to blame for causing the accident, while key figures within the team are pointing the finger at Webber, claiming he should have recognised that – at the time – Vettel was the quicker driver but under threat from the rapid McLarens.

Sauber finally breaks its points duck

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Kamui Kobayashi, Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber

Christmas and Easter must have come at once for the Sauber team at the Turkish Grand Prix, for not only did both cars finish a race for the first time in 2010, but Kamui Kobayashi scored the team’s first point of the season!

The 2010 season is officially the worst start to a Formula 1 campaign for the team since in its history, since it debuted at the 1993 South African Grand Prix.

The Japanese driver picked up a solitary point for 10th place, but it must have felt like a victory for the Swiss team, which has endured an appalling season to-date, by its standards at least.

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Petrov rues missed points opportunity

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Fernando Alonso, Renault, Vitaly Petrov

But for late-race contact with Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, F1 rookie Vitaly Petrov would be enjoying his second points’ finish of the season after his most consistent weekend to-date since making his debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix. But a late-race tag against the back of the Ferrari saw the Russian driver plummet to a 15th place finish, although he did achieve some consolation by setting the fastest lap of the race.

Vitaly did what he needed to this weekend, after consecutive races in China, Spain and Monaco where his driving has been anything but smooth and error-free. Smashes in either practice or qualifying at those rounds saw his confidence dented and with a much harder job to do on race-day, as he typically started further down the order than his inherent pace would have suggested.

But Turkey was something different, and the rookie driver came close to matching the pace of his more experienced team-mate, Robert Kubica, in every session. But, as Alonso swept around the outside of Turn 3 with just four laps of the race to run, the Ferrari’s left-rear wheel tagged the Renault’s right-front, which was punctured.

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Fuel pressure issue thwarts impressive Senna

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Bruno Senna, Hispania Racing, Lucas di Grassi

Bruno Senna had his most impressive F1 race weekend to-date, firstly by outqualifying the Virgin Racing car of Lucas di Grassi, and then impressive holding his own with his compatriot in the Turkish Grand Prix race, only to be forced into retirement with a fuel pressure problem.

With di Grassi forced to start from the pit lane before overhauling Senna, the nephew of the great Ayrton Senna then overtook his fellow Brazilian in a very neat move around the outside at Turn 12, scene of the infamous collision between leading Red Bull team-mates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

"I had a pretty good race today," Bruno said afterwards. "The start was good and I could win some positions. Also the first laps were quite good. At the end I had a problem with the fuel system and that’s why I had to retire.

"During the race, we were a bit unlucky with traffic as we were ahead of both Virgins. It is sad we had a fuel pressure problem that caused us to end our race prematurely, but we are on top of it and hopefully we can get it sorted.

"I had a fair battle with Lucas di Grassi, as we had a faster car than Virgin, and hopefully we can have another fight for positions soon."

All up, it was a solid performance from the Brazilian, and we’ll remind you again: in a car that has not been updated since the beginning of the season!

More points for Force India

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Adrian Sutil, Force India, Vitantonio Liuzzi

Force India and Adrian Sutil picked up two further points for the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship standings, respectively, by dint of a ninth-placed finish in Turkey.

It was a good recovery after missing out on getting into the top-ten shoot-out in qualifying on Saturday, and Sutil drove a steady race to capitalise on the mistakes of others ahead of him.

"It was a good race in the end, I enjoyed it," a happy Adrian said after the race. "I had a good start and first lap and the only real downside was the pit stop when we lost a few seconds at a crucial time -that’s where I lost two positions and had to fight back past Kobayashi.”

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Turkish GP: Post-Race Press Conference

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, McLaren, Red Bull Racing

TV UNILATERALS Q. Lewis, first win of the season for you. Great scrap. First with Mark, then Sebastian [Vettel] and then Jenson and finally you emerge as the winner. What a race.

Lewis HAMILTON: It was quite an exciting race. We knew that we had good race pace. We knew that we would be able to stay with the Red Bulls. Unfortunately they were so fast through Turn 8 that it was very difficult to be able to slipstream Mark, otherwise everywhere else I was pretty much on his tail. Then after the pit stop I think I had a problem with the right rear and lost a bit of time in the pit stop. Came out behind Vettel, so it was double trouble trying to get past both of them. Then at the end I am not really sure what happened with these guys. But me and Jenson had a good little battle. He got me on the outside into Turn 13 and then fortunately I was able to get him back into Turn 1 and so that was definitely unexpected. But really fair battle with him and a great result for the team. Our second one-two. I think we truly deserved it and I want to dedicate this win to my dad. It’s his 50th birthday tomorrow. Perfect way for him to celebrate.

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