Could Panasonic Guarantee Kobayashi Renault Seat?

There are reports from a French motoring magazine Auto Hebdo that talented and highly rated rookie Kamui Kobayashi could get a race seat with Renault for 2010 making him Robert Kubica’s team mate.

Kobayashi has been left as a refugee without a drive for next season following Toyota’s withdrawl from F1.  Following a couple of good showings at the end of the season standing in for injured Timo Glock, it would seem that sponsorship could pave the way into struggling Renault.

That sponsor would be Panasonic, the huge electrical firm who were Toyota’s title sponsor from inception in 2002.  The producer of popular products like Televisions and Blu-Ray players want to keep a presence in Formula One.  With Renault struggling to find sponsors following crash gate this could all be a match made in heaven.

If Auto Hebdo is to be believed Kobayashi and Panasonic representatives met Renault in a meeting at the Brazilian Grand Prix.  Also helping Kobayashi’s plight is most likely rival Timo Glock being announced with Manor Grand Prix.

Abu Dhabi GP 2009: McLaren Dominate FP2

Heikki Kovalainen showed his best sign yet of trying to cling with both hands to his McLaren seat for 2010 with a startling performance in FP2 on the new Abu Dhabi F1 circuit.

The Finn was some 2 tenths faster than team mate Lewis Hamilton as the chrome McLaren’s dominated the second practice session.

Kimi Raikkonen gained some hope for Ferrari with 10th, while Robert Kubica’s day ended with flames as his BMW engine gave up.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.307            35
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.504  + 0.197   34
 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.541  + 0.234   39
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.591  + 0.284   37
 5.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:41.636  + 0.329   34
 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:41.683  + 0.376   37
 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.684  + 0.377   34
 8.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.831  + 0.524   38
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:41.931  + 0.624   39
10.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:41.987  + 0.680   39
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.180  + 0.873   28
12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:42.245  + 0.938   36
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:42.278  + 0.971   36
14.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:42.409  + 1.102   30
15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.530  + 1.223   33
16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:42.782  + 1.475   29
17.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:42.932  + 1.625   37
18.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:43.021  + 1.714   37
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:43.022  + 1.715   39
20.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:43.708  + 2.401   13

Massa On Road To Recovery – Fisichella To Ferrari??

Felipe Massa visited a top doctor in Miami, Florida yesterday afternoon for a prognosis of his condition and recovery time, and the results were good.

The doctor suggested following plastic and skull surgery, Massa should be 100% to return to the cockpit in 2010.

“Obviously, the results of examination has been warmly welcomed in Maranello, in the sense that the team can count on Felipe 100% for the start of next season,” said a Ferrari statement.

Meanwhile Massa told Autosport “I’m very happy with the outcome of the tests.  After the small operation I’ll undergo in the next few days, I’ll finally be able to start doing gym exercise to get back in shape a bit and, after that, I’ll be able to start doing some testing on karts.  On track with an F1 car? Let’s go one step at a time: now I’m focused only on starting over with physical activity, which is already a nice step forward.”

The rumour mill now starts the search for a permanent end-of-season replacement for Massa, with Luca Badoer being unlikely to continue after 2 shocking races.  Giancarlo Fisichella looks favourite at the moment, especially with Vitantonio Liuzzi suggesting to Italian media he will be racing in Italy.  Unless of course he means Ferrari not Force India.   Robert Kubica is a name that has been banded around La Gazetta and the like but is totally unconfirmed right now.

Belgian GP 2009: Kimi Raikkonen Takes Ferrari’s First Win Of Season!

Kimi Raikkonen delivered an emphatic first win of the season for Ferrari this afternoon after a highly exciting Belgian Grand Prix.

Suprise pole sitter Giancarlo Fisichella came in 2nd place, Force India’s first ever points and thus podium, while Sebastian Vettel kept his championship hopes alive while others around him faltered with 3rd place.

Race Review

The getaway from the line was mostly noted for Rubens Barrichello’s anti-stall kick in, forcing Kimi Raikkonen around his outside and bunching everyone up into La Source hairpin.

Raikkonen dived onto the astroturf around the outside of the turn and raced down to Eau Rouge with Fisichella in the lead and the BMW’s far up the pack.  Further back in the field various cars including Fernando Alonso, Jaime Alguersuari, Adrian Sutil, Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton were all tangling with bits of bodywork flying everywhere.

The cars were bunched as they headed down the straight to Les Combes, where Romain Grosjean tagged Jenson Button forcing him into a spin.  Jaime Alguersuari tried to miss Button and ended up ramming Lewis Hamilton forcing them both out as well as Button and Grosjean.  This left us with a Safety Car situation with all these cars hanging off the track.

Some drivers including Rubens Barrichello decided to pit in.

When the safety car finally returned to the pits, Kimi Raikkonen using his KERS system to full effect managed to get ahead of Fisichella and that is where he would stay for the rest of the race.  The gap between the two was not very large, and the pitstops [all on the same laps for the pair] didn’t yield a position change.  Had Raikkonen not being using the KERS system then he would almost certainly have lost the place to Fisichella, whose Force India car looked frighteningly quick.

Sebastian Vettel had a very quiet drive to 3rd place, managingto make use of accidents and retirements.

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld managed to get a great result for their BMW team, with 4th and 5th places.  They stayed out of trouble throughout the race, but were almost certianly helped along by faster rivals being knocked out in the first corner accident.

7th place finisher Rubens Barrichello never looked like troubling those at the front after his poor start.  He did well to end up in the points, but in all honesty was lucky to finish with his Brawn GP car pluming smoke for the final 3 laps.  The Brazilian’s car then set on fire as he returned to the pitlane after the race!

Just finishing ahead of Rubens was Heikki Kovalainen, the sole finishing McLaren using good strategy to make the position from a poor qualifying start.  8th was Rosberg picking up vital points, but Mark Webber really should have been there but he had a pitlane incident where he was released into the path of Heidfeld, focing the German to nearly crash and got given a drive-through penalty for it.

Timo Glock should also have finished higher than 10th, but a fuel rig failure ruined his chances of points from early good running.

Sutil, Buemi and Nakajima came next in the classifications with fairly average races, and Luca Badoer brings up the rear of the field [again] in what is likely to be his last Ferrari race.

Fernando Alonso retired with a broken front left wheel and suspension, while we do not know Jarno Trulli’s problem possibly a fuel pressure issue.

Classified Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	1.23.50.995
2	G. Fisichella	Force India Mercedes	+0.939
3	S. Vettel	Red Bull Renault	+3.875
4	R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	+9.966
5	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+11.276
6	H. Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	+32.763
7	R. Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	+35.461
8	N. Rosberg	Williams Toyota	+36.208
9	M. Webber	Red Bull Renault	+36.959
10	T. Glock	Toyota	+41.490
11	A. Sutil	Force India Mercedes	+42.636
12	S. Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari	+46.106
13	K. Nakajima	Williams Toyota	+54.241
14	L. Badoer	Ferrari	+1.38.177

Fastest Lap: S. Vettel (Red Bull) 1.47.263

Retirements

Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
F. Alonso	Renault	27	Tyre/Suspension
J. Trulli	Toyota	21	Fuel Pressure (Poss.)
J. Button	Brawn Mercedes	1	Accident
R. Grosjean	Renault	1	Accident
L. Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	1	Accident
J. Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1	Accident

European GP 2009: Barrichello Takes Emotional Victory

Rubens Barrichello took a highly emotional victory in this afternoon’s European Grand Prix, winning his first race for 5 years – his last victory was at the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix with Ferrari.

It puts Barrichello right back into title contention.  Lewis Hamilton will be aggrieved  not to have won, having led most of the way he was let down by a pit crew failure. Kimi Raikkonen stormed through to finish in 3rd position.

Race Review

Both McLaren’s made a good start off the grid, as did Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button.  Button tried to go down the inside of Vettel who made a slow start, but the German forced the Briton into the pitlane exit area where he let off the throttle.  The resulting masses of space and the KERS system allowed Raikkonen to easily sweep around the outside and into 4th position.

Button lost multiple places further back, and was forced to rescinde a place to Australian Mark Webber after cutting  a corner following Fernando Alonso who at the time was defending against Webber.

Sebastien Buemi was cut up in the first few turns and lost his front wing, having to crawl back to the pit for a new one.  He was joined by Romain Grosjean who lost his wing when Timo Glock made a very late overtaking dive at the inexperienced Frecnhamn turned into the Toyota.

These position changes allowed those at the back, including Luca Badoer to make up a few places.

The top order remained relatively unchanged as the drivers hit their pitstops.  Lewis Hamilton was pulling out a good lead with fastest lap times.

The next action was when Sebastian Vettel’s engine blew for the second time this weekend.  Vettel was angered post race, and indeed we’re pretty sure any continuation of the RBR/Renault deal is now off the cards and the team could be switching to either Ferrari again or perhaps Mercedes Benz.

The Force India’s got themselves in the mix today too, along with the BMW’s but only Robert Kubica would come away with a point.

As the drivers hit their second stops, it was evident that Barrichello was trying to catch Hamilton.  The Brit had a good lead and all was good until he pulled into his pitbox and the tyre men were not ready with new tyres.  This led to pantomime scenes and lost Hamilton many seconds of time, allowing Rubens through and pretty much ended his chance of winning.  Hamilton’s Father was nonchalant smacking his fists together in he back of the garage.

Kimi Raikkonen also made an unseen overtake on Heikki Kovalainen securing the Iceman a quality 3rd position.

The only other DNF of the race was Sebastien Buemi whose brakes gave up late on and led to a huge spin incident.

Kazuki Nakajima suffered a puncture and a delamination of the tyre half way around the lap very late on too.  Luca Badoer and Romain Grosjean had pitlane comedy when Badoer was released, he let Grosjean through, side by side, but then as he put the power down Badoer went over the white line and got himself ANOTHER pitlane penalty.  Throw in a huge spin for the Italian driver and it has left many questioning whether he will ever race a Ferrari again. (I’m free next weekend if you need me Ferrari?!).

And that was that, another pretty lacklustre European Grand Prix in Valencia, made interesting by pitlane comedy and Luca Badoer.  It is good to see Rubens Barrichello win again, and by his tears of joy in the car and parc ferme we know how much it means to him.  Wonderful dedication to Felipe Massa at the end also.  Could Rubens be the World Champion?

Classified Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	R. Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	1.35.51.289
2	L. Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	+2.358
3	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	+15.994
4	H. Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	+20.023
5	N. Rosberg	Williams Toyota	+20.870
6	F. Alonso	Renault	+27.744
7	J. Button	Brawn Mercedes	+34.913
8	R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	+36.667
9	M. Webber	Red Bull Renault	+44.910
10	A. Sutil	Force India Merc	+47.935
11	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+48.822
12	G. Fisichella	Force India Merc	+1.03.614
13	J. Trulli	Toyota	+1.04.527
14	T. Glock	Toyota	+1.26.519
15	R. Grosjean	Renault	+1.31.774
16	J. Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari	+ 1 lap
17	L. Badoer	Ferrari	+1 lap
18	K. Nakajima	Williams	+ 3 laps

Fastest Lap: T. Glock (Toyota) 1.38.683

Retirements

Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
S. Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari	42	Brake Failure
S. Vettel	Red Bull Renault	24	Engine

European GP 2009: Hamilton Takes Pole In Valencia

Lewis Hamilton slotted his updated McLaren Mp4-24 onto pole position for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix in Valencia.

His team mate Heikki Kovalainen will line up alongside the World Champion, and Rubens Barrichello is just behind in 3rd.

Championship challenger Sebastian Vettel is 4th despite blowing his engine in Free Practice 3.  Jenson Button is back in 5th and should be worried about the KERS powered Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen alongside in 6th.

Kubica and Heidfeld had a better performance in the BMW’s dropping into 10th and 11th.  Amazing how the car improves when you’re jobs are on the line?!

New boy Romain Grosjean will line up 13th after a tidy qualifying.  Not so good for Luca Badoer, he is so far off the pace it is actually beyond laughable.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3     
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:38.649  1:38.182  1:39.498
 2.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:38.816  1:38.230  1:39.532
 3.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:39.019  1:38.076  1:39.563
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:39.295  1:38.273  1:39.789
 5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:38.531  1:38.601  1:39.821
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:38.843  1:38.782  1:40.144
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:39.039  1:38.346  1:40.185
 8.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:39.155  1:38.717  1:40.236
 9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:38.983  1:38.625  1:40.239
10.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:38.806  1:38.747  1:40.512
11.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:39.032  1:38.826
12.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:39.145  1:38.846
13.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:39.459  1:38.991
14.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:39.322  1:39.040
15.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:38.912  1:39.514
16.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:39.531
17.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:39.795
18.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:39.807
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:39.925
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:41.413

McLaren Waiting To Decide On 2nd Driver

McLaren have annonuced they will bide their time in the driver market as they make their move for a 2nd driver to partner Lewis Hamilton for 2010.

The team have multiple options, but want to wait until Fernando Alonso is confirmed at Ferrari before making a move on any other drivers.

They are also still considering keeping Finn Heikki Kovalainen, based on his race pace improving and becoming more consistent.

“At the moment we have not, and we are not in any conversations with drivers and we will see in the future,” Whitmarsh told the BBC about his team’s driver plans going forward.

“I think in reality there are some changes probably with Fernando at Ferrari. That frees up the driver market and every year there is a number of pivotal points during the season which determine what is going to happen in the driver market.

“This year I think we all know that the Fernando/Ferrari move has a knock-on and that ripples through the other teams.

“Clearly the BMW withdrawal has also had an impact. I think we don’t see a need at the moment to rush into it, we are concentrating on developing the car and making sure we are more competitive, which I hope we will be this weekend.”

There are many drivers who will be free and available, but out of that list we see these potential candidates:

• Kimi Raikkonen – Dislodged by Alonso, drove for the team previously but would he want to return? Word is that he is leaving Formula One altogether

• Jenson Button – Impressive season thus far, could be world champion. Could McLaren deal with 2 Brits together?

• Nico Rosberg – Talented, and McLaren have resources Williams don’t.  His best chance of a title?

• Robert Kubica – No seat now BMW have left, he is being heavily linked with Renault

• Adrian Sutil – Not such a long shot, good friends with Hamilton. He has pace but needs a decent car.

Petrov & de La Rosa To Campos For 2010 While Klien Eyes Sauber Seat

The Formula One musical chairs has begun in ernest this week as we head into the second part of the season at the European Grand Prix.

For the new team Campos Cosworth, they are at the centre of rumours that they will announce their drivers at this weekend’s race.  This was quite a suprise for their principal Adrian Campos, but he admitted that the drivers would be announced “very soon” to Diario AS.

Meanwhile Radio Marca claims that McLaren test driver Pedro de La Rosa would be returning to a race seat with the team alongside Russian GP2 star Vitaly Petrov.

“I have a few more years of racing ability and would return to be with a team even that is not competitive.” De la Rosa told AS

Also on the musical chairs this week was the suprise announcement from Christian Klien that he would like a race seat with BMW Sauber for 2010.  Er, maybe he didn’t get the memo? Anyway we got the idea of what he meant, whatever the team name for 2010 he was committed to Hinwil.  He also claimed to have had offers this season but turned them down to support BMW.

With Alonso heading to Ferrari and Kubica to Renault, there would theoretically be one free seat.  there have also been claims from Germany that Nick Heidfeld could be off to premier touring car series DTM as BMW look to enter the series as they head out of F1 and WTCC.  Therefore 2 free seats at the team.

“There have been enquiries during this season,” said Klien. “The new teams are naturally interested in drivers with experience. But anyway this team (BMW Sauber) remains my first choice.

“With all the human capital and infrastructure at Hinwil I see no reason why we can’t build a successful car for 2010,” he added.

BMW Sauber To Leave Formula One At The End Of 2009

BMW have announced that their Formula One team, BMW Sauber will not be competing in F1 beyond the end of the 2009 season.

It is a bitter blow for the German/Swiss team which had seen gains through 2007 and 2008, but have suffered with a poor car in 2009.

The team were formed after BMW, who had supplied engines to Williams from 2000-2005, decided to buy out Peter Sauber’s small but successful Swiss team, Sauber based in Hinwil.  They took over, and in 2006 they had an average season with Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve at the wheel.  In 2007 they were much more competitive with Robert Kubica partnering Heidfeld.  In 2008, Kubica recorded the teams first victory in Canada, a circuit where a season before RK left in a medical helicopter following a horror shunt.

Dr. Norbert Reithofer, chairman of BMW said this morning: “Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it’s a resolute step in view of our company’s strategic realignment,” he said.

“Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula 1 campaign is thus less a key promoter for us.

“Mario Theissen has been in charge of our motor sports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula 1 racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this.”

There are lots of unknown’s following today’s ruling.  The team is likely to be put up for sale, and could be bought by one of the teams who failed to get into F1 such as Lola or Prodrive or perhaps by a new investor looking to buy a going concern.  The latter would secure jobs, but if the slot is made available then the jobs will be lost.  Epsilon Euskadi has expressed interest in taking the slot of the team if they fold altogether.

Robert Kubica is a very talented and young driver, and although he stated he is keen to try his hand at rallying it is likely a big team will buy him in.  Williams could be looking for a Nico Rosberg replacement, McLaren are looking for a replacement for Heikki Kovalainen or perhaps if Massa will not drive in F1 again and Alonso doesn’t have a contract with the Italian’s he could make a shock move to Ferrari.  Nick Heidfeld on the other hand is far more uncertain, and at his age he might struggle to get another drive on the back of always promising good things but never really delivering.

Theissen Confident BMW Are Moving Forward

Mario Theiseen was clearly delighted with his team’s progress in today’s Turkish Grand Prix qualifying session, after his cars will line up 10th and 11th on the grid.

After a disatorous Monaco weekend where Robert Kubica, tipped by some as a title threat, started in 18th position there was a clear line drawn that the F1.09 was not good enough.

With a new aerodynamic package, dropping KERS and adding a new diffuser the BMW is clearly getting back to some form.

“When all the drivers were running in the same conditions, the gap to the front-runners was just 0.4 seconds,” said Theissen. “That proves the new aero package has had a positive effect.

“We produced a solid performance. Obviously, our goal was, to get both cars into Q3, which didn’t quite work out.

“The whole field was very close. Nick missed Q3 by just five hundreds of a second, and Robert was finally tenth. What this means in terms of the race we will only see once we know the competitors’ strategy.”