*** 2007 British GP ***

[blue8]

Practice 1 Times:
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.100 24 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.211 26 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:21.285 26 laps
04 F. Al0nso McLaren 1:21.675 21 laps
05 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.006 24 laps
06 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.107 25 laps
07 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.176 13 laps
08 A. Wurz Williams 1:22.216 23 laps
09 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:22.878 21 laps
10 R. Barrichello Honda 1:22.956 27 laps
11 J. Trulli Toyota 1:23.030 26 laps
12 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:23.037 24 laps
13 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:23.099 25 laps
14 G. Fisichella Renault 1:23.179 21 laps
15 J. Button Honda 1:23.517 17 laps
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:23.548 18 laps
17 M. Webber Red Bull 1:23.564 21 laps
18 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:23.618 15 laps
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.854 20 laps
20 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:23.954 25 laps
21 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.154 23 laps
22 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:24.172 30 laps

Planet F1:
Lewis Hamilton lifted British hearts and expectations in Friday's first practice when he clocked the fastest time at Silverstone ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

As per usual the session began slowly as the teams at the back of the field did their thing, cleaning the track for the frontrunners and in doing so Christijan Albers and Alex Wurz both had their moment at the head of the pack.

However, the action really began when the Toyotas came out with Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher making their way to the top of the timesheets before the arrival of the McLarens out on track. Hamilton was the first to make his move taking second place ahead of Ralf before improving to take the top spot away from Trulli.

The McLaren rookie, though, spun his car two laps later. His MP4-22 came to a halt on the grass facing the wrong way. But a quick spin from the Brit put him back facing the right director and he continued on his way.

Hamilton, however, lost out when his team-mate Fernando Alonso took to the track. The reigning F1 Champion - and the winner of last year's British GP - posted three fastest sector times to move ahead of Hamilton by a mere 0.090 seconds.

Robert Kubica and Hekki Kovalainen were also people on the move, taking fourth and fifth respectively before Raikkonen slotted his Ferrari into third place on his first timed lap, sending them both done one position.

Meanwhile Alonso continued lapping, shaving tenths off his time with each tour of the Silverstone circuit.

Felipe Massa took fourth place with his first timed lap of the day, however, was 0.776s off Alonso's leading place. The Brazilian dropped one place moments later when Kubica went on a charge, moving back up to fourth place.

Halfway through the session Massa moved ahead of Kubica as he got within half a second of Alonso's P1 time.

Nick Heidfeld, who didn't have the best time in France last weekend, was another driver on the move taking sixth place to make it a McLaren 1-2, Ferrari 3-4 and BMW 5-6.

Raikkonen, though, put an end to McLaren's reign at the top of the timesheets with a 1:21.646, which was 0.029s faster than Alonso's best time. The Finn continued lapping, taking over a tenth of a second off his time on the next lap and again on the following lap demonstrating Ferrari's improved pace on their second and third laps with the Bridgestone rubber.

Massa followed his team-mate's lead and went on a charge, taking the P1 slot by 0.103s, handing Ferrari the 1-2, while Heidfeld also get ahead of his team-mate and Ralf Schumacher made his way back into the top eight.

Super Aguri's Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato slotted into tenth and 11th places ahead of the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella before Jenson Button took P11 off Sato.

With 30 minutes remaining in the session British hopeful Hamilton took another trip into gravel, this time at Priory. The rookie's McLaren snapped sideways, putting him into a slide, which saw him end up in the gravel. A few minutes later though, he was up into third place ahead of his team-mate Alonso.

Minutes later the Spaniard joined Hamilton by going off at Priory. The McLaren driver took too much speed into the turn, lost control and had to take to the gravel trap. David Coulthard then became the third driver in less than ten minutes to test the gravel at Priory as he too spun off the track. DC's spin brought out the yellow flags as his Red Bull racer was beached in the kitty litter.

Once the yellow flags were lifted both McLarens went on a charge, however, Alonso lost time in the third sector keeping him down in fourth place. Hamilton, though, improved to first place with a 1:21.100 while Nico Rosberg put his Williams up into fifth.

With ten minutes remaining a few drops of rain began to fall leading to Trulli spinning his Toyota while exiting Club corner. However, that didn't stop Raikkonen from bettering his time to take second place, 0.154s behind Hamilton. Wurz leapt up the order to take eighth place.

[Mattk]

That article made the practice session seem so exciting!

[blue8]

Practice 2 Times:
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.639 35 laps
2 F. Massa Ferrari 1:21.138 30 laps
3 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:21.381 34 laps
4 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.381 39 laps
5 J. Trulli Toyota 1:21.467 35 laps
6 F. Al0nso McLaren 1:21.616 35 laps
7 N. Rosberg Williams 1:21.619 40 laps
8 A. Wurz Williams 1:21.650 37 laps
9 M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.137 31 laps
10 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:22.143 40 laps
11 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:22.189 42 laps
12 G. Fisichella Renault 1:22.257 39 laps
13 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.372 41 laps
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.428 23 laps
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.486 34 laps
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:22.487 38 laps
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:22.511 39 laps
18 C. Klien Honda 1:22.833 45 laps
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.840 42 laps
20 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.105 35 laps
21 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:23.113 35 laps
22 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:23.720 30 laps

Planet F1:
Kimi Raikkonen destroyed his rivals in the second practice session for the British GP, beating Felipe Massa by almost half a second.

The session began under dark clouds, although the track had dried out following rain at the end of the GP2 practice session earlier in the day.

Anthony Davidson and Ralf Schumacher were the first two drivers to set laps times, however, both were down in the 1:28s. Ralf improved to a 1:24.216, setting the first competitive time of the session. Within minutes there were 12 other drivers lapping the Silverstone circuit and setting times.

Nick Heidfeld was the next driver to lead the way, while Nico Rosberg slotted into third place before being bumped down two positions by Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica.

Fernando Alonso pushed the entire field down one place when he moved to the top of the timesheets on his first timed lap. The Spaniard posted a 1:22.640 only for his team-mate to beat it moments later. Alonso, however, came back on the very next lap, taking 0.231s off Hamilton's time.

The two Ferraris put an end to the McLaren battle as Raikkonen and Felipe Massa went first and second respectively. Raikkonen's best a 1:21.989.

Alonso improved to second place, while Robert Kubica slotted his BMW into P4 ahead of Hamilton and Heidfeld.

Jarno Trulli came out of nowhere to move to the top of the leaderboard, half a second up on Raikkonen. His glory, though, was short-lived as Massa took almost two tenths off his time and the P1 slot in the process.

Fastest times all three sectors saw Raikkonen nail his hot lap to depose Massa at the front of the timesheets. The Finn also became the first driver to break into the 1:20s.

Ralf Schumacher and Mark Webber both found something extra to take third and sixth places respectively, resulting in Hamilton dropping out of the top ten. The McLaren rookie, though, didn't take too long to pick up the pace, forcing his way into sixth place behind Rosberg and ahead of Alonso.

Meanwhile Heikki Kovalainen was the first driver to go off at Priory this season. The Renault rookie took a high-speed and rather long trip through the gravel before making his way back onto the track at Brooklands.

However, he wasn't the only one having problems. Raikkonen went off at Copse corner three times before the first hour of the session was completed. Takuma Sato was another. He had a huge moment at Chapel after exiting Becketts too quickly.

Back on the track Hamilton improved to fourth place, although was still 0.742s slower than Raikkonen. Massa improved his time but was unable to make any dent on Raikkonen's P1 slot, still 0.499s slower than his team-mate.

Rubens Barrichello joined Kovalainen on the list of those visiting Priory here today. The Honda driver in fact made the exact same error as the Renault driver.

The first yellow flags of the session finally came out 20 minutes left to play when Adrian Sutil crashed his Spyker into the tyre barriers at Copse. Once the flags were lifted there was a mad dash to see who could improve in the final 13 minutes of the session.

Davidson was the first to do so, breaking into the top ten, while Alonso bettered his time to go from eight to sixth place. The rest of the top 12, though, failed to improve on their positions.

Meanwhile Christian Klien, who is replacing the injured Jenson Button for Practice Two, finished the session in 18th place, 2.365s off the pace.

[nejcdolinsek]

FORZA FERRARI!!!! :D :D :D

[sameerrao]

I am glad to see to Kimi performing as we expect him to. FINALLY!

Hopefully another Ferrari 1-2 to bridge the gap to the Maccas.

What a wonderful championship - the top 4 drivers in the sport have each won 2 GPs each 8)

[Svensson]

What a wonderful championship - the top 4 drivers in the sport have each won 2 GPs each 8)

Yeah that's cool indeed! I'm not disappointed until now!
And I'm really hoping for a quick rain shower halfway through the race on Sunday! :D

[Mattk]

Yeah, Ferrari seem to be performing strongly during the practice sessions. They're carrying on the momentum from the one-two finish in Magny Cours.

[saadie]

soo how many corners did ralf cut ? ... :lol:

go those red lolipops :mrgreen:

[acmarttin]

I'll try not to get my hopes up. But I will cross my fingers.

[blue8]

Practice 3 Times:
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:19.751 17 laps
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:19.920 12 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:19.969 17 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:20.344 12 laps
05 N. Rosberg Williams 1:20.666 17 laps
06 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:20.770 21 laps
07 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.876 21 laps
08 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:20.882 17 laps
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.882 19 laps
10 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:20.915 23 laps
11 G. Fisichella Renault 1:20.983 19 laps
12 M. Webber Red Bull 1:21.002 16 laps
13 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.039 19 laps
14 R. Barrichello Honda 1:21.140 22 laps
15 A. Wurz Williams 1:21.148 17 laps
16 R. Kubica BMW 1:21.156 17 laps
17 J. Trulli Toyota 1:21.321 18 laps
18 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:21.343 16 laps
19 J. Button Honda 1:21.583 24 laps
20 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:21.745 23 laps
21 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:22.101 23 laps
22 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:22.180 24 laps

Kimi Raikkonen proved to be unstoppable in the final practice session for the British GP, edging out Fernando Alonso.

Jenson Button, who missed Friday's second practice with a back spam, was the first driver to set a competitive lap time, clocking a 1:23.851 while the rest of the drivers completed one installation lap before pitting.

Button, though, didn't hold onto the P1 slot for long as Jarno Trulli went 0.3s faster only for the Italian to be beaten by Anthony Davidson and Robert Kubica. Trulli, however, came back, taking the P1 slot before again losing out to Kubica.

Nick Heidfeld took third place on his first timed lap, followed by Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi. Liuzzi's second run, though, saw him jump to the top of the leaderboard by 0.063s over Kubica, while Ralf Schumacher took P3 ahead of his team-mate. Speed also upped his pace, moving into third place.

Problems for Kubica, who slowed down out on track and crawled back to the BMW garage while his team-mate Heidfeld set the fastest lap time followed by Ralf.

20 minutes into the session Kimi Raikkonen finally made his way out onto the track for the very first time and immediately shot to the top of the timesheets with a 1:20.886. Raikkonen continued lapping, increasing his lead over Ralf and Nico Rosberg. The French GP winner traded fastest sector for fastest sector on his way to a 1:20.607.

Felipe Massa slotted in behind his team-mate on his first lap of the day, 0.258s behind Raikkonen. However, he lost the position to the fast-charging Fernando Alonso minutes later but fought back on the following lap, returning to the P2 slot.

Alonso came back the very next lap to steal the P1 slot from Raikkonen by 0.110s.

An ovation from the crowd signaled the arrival of Alonso's team-mate Lewis Hamilton onto the track. The McLaren rookie has captured the heart of the British public who have turned out in force to witness his first home grand prix. He went P8 on his first lap but improved to fourth place despite sliding his McLaren all over the track.

Speed, who had fallen down to 12th place, bettered his time to move up to P6 before his team-mate Liuzzi jumped to tenth place.

Raikkonen went back out, setting a fastest first sector as he tried to close the gap to Alonso. The Finn did, taking the top spot by 0.417s as he put in a blistering 1:19.751.

Alex Wurz had a half-spin at Luffield. The back end of his Williams decided to come around mid-corner, resulting in a grassy moment for the Austrian.

With 18 minutes remaining Kubica finally returned to the track, his BMW mechanics having fixed whatever was wrong with his F1.07. His team-mate Heidfeld improved to fifth place ahead of Ralf, while Massa went some way towards closing the gap to second-placed Alonso.

Speed continued his impressive performance here this morning, taking fifth place off Heidfeld while Alonso bettered his time but not his position. A hard-pushing Liuzzi has to take to the run-off in order to save his car, however, two laps later joins his team-mate in the top six, taking sixth position.

The softer option Bridgestones were the order of the session for the final few minutes with Rosberg the first to benefit, leaping up into fifth place. Alex Wurz jumped to eighth place, while Anthony Davidson put his Super Aguri into P6.

Raikkonen, though, was the man to watch as the Finn went even faster than he'd done previously in the first sector. He didn't however improve overall.

Heikki Kovalainen and Ralf Schumacher both moved into the top seven before a spin from Alex Wurz almost spelt disaster for one of the BMWs. Meanwhile there were issues between Trulli and Hamilton with the former signaling his unhappiness after being held up by Hamilton.

Massa then took second place off Alonso, only for the Spaniard to fight back in the dying seconds and return to P2, just 0.169s behind Raikkonen.

[zondamaniac]

Go kimi!

[Mattk]

Could Lewis Hamilton be the British successor to Damon Hill, but far more exciting? Likely.

Judging from practice times, Ferrari and McLaren are dominating everyone, but the Ferraris seem to have the consistent edge. Hopefully that can translate into a good race performance, giving them another good one-two.

[saadie]

only iff raikkonen didnt do off at the last corner :lol:

Go raikkonen .... :D

not a bad job by hamilton tho :P :mrgreen:

[sameerrao]

Raikonnen nearly had it. I am guessing he lost 0.2-0.25secs at least on the last corner. Hopefully he will not lose places at the start. Massa must be fueled more.

Should be an exciting race tomorrow.

[Svensson]

only iff raikkonen didnt do off at the last corner :lol:


If if if... that's always easy to say afterwards hehe... Fact is, Hamilton beat his ass :P:wink:

[blue8]

Qualifying Times:
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:19.997
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.099
03 F. Alonso McLaren 1:20.147
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:20.265
05 R. Kubica BMW 1:20.401
06 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:20.516
07 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:20.721
08 G. Fisichella Renault 1:20.775
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.894
10 J. Trulli Toyota 1:21.240
11 M. Webber Red Bull 1:20.235
12 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:20.329
13 A. Wurz Williams 1:20.350
14 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.364
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.515
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.823
17 N. Rosberg Williams 1:21.219
18 J. Button Honda 1:21.335
19 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:21.448
20 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:22.019
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:22.045
22 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:22.589

--It was extremely close for the top drivers. I'm hoping for an exciting race tomorrow. Go Ferrari!!!

[Mattk]

More like the british successor of Nigel Mansell

Yeah, see I thought about writing that, but Damon Hill was more recent, so he would be the logical successor so to speak. But yes, Hamilton is better than Hill, IMO, and more on the level of Mansell.

It looks like a close race at the top. The crowd will really be behind Lewis Hamilton. However, I reckon Raikonnen can win it.

[zondamaniac]

kimi is fucking quick today, fantastic win!

massa a newbie? its been a long time i saw a car stall its engine on the grid :fist:

[saadie]

^^ stalling the car was not massa's fault ;) ... something messed up with the electrics :fist: back to you :lol: ..


well my race was pretty fucked up .... the lights went out 4 times .. including the last 6 laps ... the channel i was supposed to watch wasnt coming .... i watched it on espn ... 5 laps then 2 lap adverts 5 laps of the race then 2 again were cut cuz of adverts .... i am fucking furious :lol:

ohh well .. all the 20 laps i saw were great! ... massa rosberg coulthaud was awsome .. .so was kubica and massa 8) the best of all was kimi and hamilton in the start 8)

[zondamaniac]

no way!if that's the case Massa could say Kimi was lucky this time,again! :mrgreen:

i watched it on some China TV station online, horrible commentary. ...LOL

[xecutioner]

well done to kimmi

glad to see him so quick again but hes interviews make me laugh haha mad mumbles

asslonso admitting that ferrari was way to quick was kool but he still sucks

poor poor lewis..i really hoping that he would take this but i guess mclaren stuffed it up with the tyre's

he was great in the interviews tho

massa cutting threw that field was awsome viewing

[blue8]

Results
1 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21:43.074
2 F. Alonso McLaren + 2.400
3 L. Hamilton McLaren + 39.300
4 R. Kubica BMW + 53.300
5 F. Massa Ferrari + 54.000
6 N. Heidfeld BMW + 56.300
7 H. Kovalainen Renault + 1 laps
8 G. Fisichella Renault + 1 laps
9 R. Barrichello Honda + 1 laps
10 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1 laps
12 N. Rosberg Williams + 1 laps
13 A. Wurz Williams + 1 laps
14 T. Sato Super Aguri + 2 laps
15 C. Albers Spyker F1 + 2 laps
Did not finish
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 6 laps
17 J. Trulli Toyota + 16 laps
18 A. Davidson Super Aguri + 24 laps
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 30 laps
20 R. Schumacher Toyota + 37 laps
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 + 43 laps
22 M. Webber Red Bull + 51 laps

Very exciting race!!! Strategy was critical today and Kimi was exceptional all throughout. Massa was unlucky but he stormed through the pack almost like Schumi in Interlagos 2006. Would have been nice to see Massa together in the top 3 P1-shuffle. Kubica was also solid, proof that what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger. Good thing that Lewis' mistake during the pit stop didn't turn into Albers' Magny-Cours disaster.

Unfortunately, the 25-pt advantage of McLaren remains. Even worse, Al0nso still has a comfortable lead over both Ferraris and he is 2 points closer to Hamilton.

Ron Dennis' excuse of the week (Planet F1):
To the utter disdain of the Planet-F1 Forum, Ron Dennis has claimed that Lewis Hamilton was unable to challenge for victory in the British GP because McLaren turned down his engine.

Rather than accept that his team did not have the pace to challenge Ferrari, Dennis highlighted 'strategic' consideration in his post-race summary.

Speaking to ITV, the McLaren boss announced: "From a very early point we knew that third was the best we could do with Lewis [Hamilton], and then we just saved the engine. Unfortunately, this is strategic racing.

"Fernando also turned the engine down after the final stop of Kimi."

Dennis also blamed the team's tyre choice as he sought to downplay the size of Ferrari's advantage.

"Probably the option tyre was the better tyre to race on, despite what it looked like yesterday," Dennis said. "So all in all we probably made the wrong choice of tyre."

[5vz-fe]

More Crap from Dennis

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_2482076,00.html

[yg60m]

It`s great to see Kimi competing with the rest again :D I started to lost the faith ...

[ZfrkS62]

stuff the top 3 finishers. I'm shocked at BMW's consistency. They always seem to have someone in 4th or 5th. If they step this up in the next couple of races, Ferrari is going to be checking their mirrors in the constructors title just a little more often than not :D

[Mattk]

No glory for Hamilton, but a Raikonnen win keeps Ferrari in touch for the championship, at the very least.

[zondamaniac]

wow...i think Ron Dennis is really honest by saying he's stupid and suck in strategy planning... :mrgreen:

[saadie]

mclaren might be doing quicker stops then ferrari ... but ferrari totally ownes when it comes to strategy

[Mattk]

^Well, that just shows how evenly matched and poised the top teams are.

[Mattk]

^Yeah, I guess driving fast and actually having the skill to overtake are two different things. I remember once when Pedro de la Rosa was having trouble passing a clearly slower car, my dad remarked that he had spent too much time on the test track and had forgotten how to overtake.

However, I don't think number of wins accurately reflects consistent performance, which is problematic. Perhaps more points should be awarded for winning, like in the old system, where a win would have given you 4 more points over the second-placed man. 12 championship points may better reflect a win.

[sameerrao]

Finally a performance from Kimi in the last 2 races that we expected at the start of the season. Australia was too easy for Kimi given Massa's problem in Qually and Ferrari's performance advantage.

We are finally seeing the Kimi of old - blinding pace, overtaking capability, great starts. Hope the trend continues.

Excellent job by A_lonso. His pace was good throughout the race. Hamilton flattered to deceive - apparently his car was not set up correctly. Never mind, he still brought it home third.

We need more Ferrari 1-2s to bring the championship battles closer. Excellent job by Kubica.

Davidson is really useless. I thought he would be better than this. He needs to go back to being a test driver.

[nthfinity]

^Yeah, I guess driving fast and actually having the skill to overtake are two different things. I remember once when Pedro de la Rosa was having trouble passing a clearly slower car, my dad remarked that he had spent too much time on the test track and had forgotten how to overtake.

However, I don't think number of wins accurately reflects consistent performance, which is problematic. Perhaps more points should be awarded for winning, like in the old system, where a win would have given you 4 more points over the second-placed man. 12 championship points may better reflect a win.

we could go back to the old points style...

9
6
4
3
2
1


this points system rewards success more then the current system.... it used to be much tougher just to get 1 point in a race.

[5vz-fe]

I think rewarding 2 1 point for top 2 qualifiers would be interesting as well

On a seperate note, Alonso's trash talk continues:

Fernando Alonso is confident he can beat his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton to this year's World title.


After nine races Alonso trails Hamilton by 12 points in the Drivers' Championship even though both drivers have won two races.


Hamilton, however, has performed more consistently than his team-mate, finishing all nine events in the top-three. Alonso on the other hand has finished three grands prix off the podium.


The Spaniard, though, believes Sunday's result in Britain, which saw him finish more than half a minute ahead of his rookie team-mate, is evidence that he is now leading the McLaren team-mate battle and will go on to win the World title.


"Sooner or later we'll close up the gap," the reigning F1 Champion told AS newspaper.


"Since Canada I have been a bit faster than him. At Indianapolis I couldn't overtake him, and at Magny-Cours I had a gearbox problem. Here we had a normal race and I finished over 30 seconds ahead of him.


"There are favourable races coming up now, like Germany and Hungary and the aim is to finish ahead of Hamilton and reduce the gap.


"With normal races, sooner or later I will reduce the gap. I must be on the podium always one step higher than him."


He added: "It's good that the Championship leader has more difficulties on track, and especially here in England and after pole."


Hamilton, though, isn't the only obstacle standing between Alonso and a third successive World title. "We can't forget the Ferraris, who have been faster than us again," he concluded.

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_2483692,00.html

I am always amazed at how big this guy's ego really is.

[blue8]

^ He's obviously not a team player! The only thing in his mind is the World Championship. More than anything, F1 is a team sport. I've never really heard him thank the team for the good results he's had, unlike Hamilton (though he overdoes it at times).

Other news:
Christijan Albers is reportedly set to be dropped by Spyker before the next race at the Nurburgring later this month.

According to Autosport, the Dutch driver's team is frustrated with his lack of results and that the fact that he has been outperformed by his rookie team-mate Adrian Sutil.

Silly mistakes on Albers' part, the latest coming at the French GP when he brought about his own retirement by leaving the pit lane with his refueling hose still attached to his car, have not helped his cause.

""He's an experienced driver. He should know what to do," said Spyker's rather angry tech director Mike Gascoyne after the incident.

And although Albers finished Sunday's British GP, he didn't redeem himself, finishing at the back of the field in 15th place.

Now that British result looks to his last as a Spyker driver, with the motorsport website reporting that the Spyker management are considering giving him the boot ahead of the next race at the Nurburgring.

As for who might replace him, it is thought be to a fight between Honda test driver Christian Klien, Ferrari tester Marc Gene and Williams' Narain Karthikeyan.

[Jabba]

A small pre-race interview with the sour puss, its almost like he is going to start crying towards the end of the interview.

http://www.jabbasworld.net/userfiles/jabba/sourpuss.zip



http://www.jabbasworld.net/userfiles/jabba/sourpuss.jpg

[nthfinity]

A small pre-race interview with the sour puss, its almost like he is going to start crying towards the end of the interview.

http://www.jabbasworld.net/userfiles/jabba/sourpuss.zip


LMAO!!!!

"Maybe he's happy, I'm not happy" too funny... I think your right.. the sniffles are being held back

BTW, nice quality for 3 mb :) :P

[Fleischmann]

Believe it or not I watched this race on a 6 inch black and white screen in the middle of nowhere :)

I'm not dening Massa has talent, but when you are sent to the back of the queue and manage to make up 14 spots, this proves that F1 isn't about the drivers anymore, it's all about the cars. And nice work from Kubica, who managed to prevent Massa from taking over even though the brazilian was on his ass for the last 12 laps or so and driving a much faster machine. Ferrari's advantage is especially visible on the straights.

[saadie]

hahaa ... crybaby :mrgreen:

[Mattk]

Alonso can't get used to being second-best. Too bad.

[saadie]

second best? .... i dont think he'll be get to be that this year :lol: ...

[dons5]

we could go back to the old points style...
9
6
4
3
2
1


its actually 10 for first, but ya i got ur point. Also at the moment a team that finished 2nd and 3rd woud get more total points then a team just finishing 1st, that should never ever be the case as the team that won the race ..well.. WON, emerged victorious over all competitiors and opposition, etc etc

[blue8]

Albers is officially dropped from the Spyker line-up.
Possible replacements:
Narain Karthikeyan is being touted as a possible replacement to the recently fired Christijan Albers at Spyker.

Albers, who was under fire from his Spyker bosses for his poor results this season and rookie-style errors, was sacked on Tuesday morning, however, it wasn't performance-based but rather due to "non-payment by one of his sponsors."

The team is now on the lookout for a replacement driver for next weekend's European GP and Karthikeyan, Williams test driver, is just one of three possibilities according to Spyker team boss Colin Kolles.

"For the moment, no other driver is signed," he told Reuters. "Obviously, Narain is one of the options.

"I think it's a good option and we are just in the process of evaluating this. Williams is informed about this possibility, yes."

Honda's test driver Christian Klien is another candidate for the drive. He was even spotted visiting Spyker's factory in England on Monday.

The third option is one of Spyker's own testers, Marcus Winkelhock.

"We are looking into it...if we do Markus a favour if he's driving at Nurburgring," Kolles said of his German test driver. "Especially for the reason that I think he didn't do too much mileage in the car this year."

But, honestly, I don't think this news will have any impact!



Following his ignominious performance at the British GP, the first rumblings of media discontent have been published against Lewis Hamilton.

Whilst the criticism is relatively mild, it does represent the first concerted censure of the British rookie from the notoriously volatile press pack since his appointment at McLaren last year.

The Guardian's Alan Henry, a respected sage along the pitlane, took a sympathetic line as he considered Hamilton's lacklustre performance, announcing: 'The Silverstone race reminded the formula one community of how relatively inexperienced Hamilton is. It was only his ninth grand prix and it was understandable if he were to make the wrong choice when it came to detailed car set-up.'

However, The Times' Edward Gorman adopted a tougher approach.

Warning that 'At Silverstone, it was more evident than hitherto the penalty that Hamilton can pay for his lack of experience,' he suggested that Hamilton's activities away from the track were harming his title aspirations.

'Hamilton has begun to look tired and perhaps McLaren should rethink his off-track schedule to give him every chance of producing the goods on the track.

'Promotional events for sponsors - sponsors whose logos already cover his driving suit and his car - seem hard to justify given the historic nature of the prize at stake. Hamilton may also need to reconsider whether mingling with pop stars between races is the best way to preserve his energy for the battles ahead.'

It was a theme picked up by The Sun, albeit in rather more sensational fashion.

Ordaining its backpage with a picture displaying the ample charms of a Page Three resident, it assured readers: 'The reason behind Lewis Hamilton's pit stop boobs at Silverstone may have been exposed last night - Nicole Baker's 32DD bumpers.

'Lewis, 22, blamed a couple of errors on his disappointing third place finish in the British Grand Prix. But we can reveal that Nicole's bodywork was the last thing the Formula One ace clapped eyes on before the race. The Sun Page Three Idol contestant was representing Lewis as his pit girl when she caught his eye.'

Sadly, copyright rules prevent P-F1 from displaying both of the reasons why.

The British media are harsh! They're as sensible as Ron Dennis' lame excuses. Give Hamilton a break!

[Svensson]

Spyker news is the best I've heard all they. Never liked Albers, not only driving-wise but also because of his attitude.

[pagani]

Spyker news is the best I've heard all they. Never liked Albers, not only driving-wise but also because of his attitude.
That is very good news.
Now get robert doornbos back.
:D 8)

[Mattk]

Hamilton may also need to reconsider whether mingling with pop stars between races is the best way to preserve his energy for the battles ahead.

Perhaps he should just have lots of sex like what our favourite man Alonso did some months back. :P

Karthikeyan will be a good choice. He did alright at Jordan even though their car was rubbish.

[Svensson]

^ Autovisie.nl are putting their money for a replacement driver on Giedo van der Garde, who's testing the Spyker today at Spa.

[blue8]

Regarding the testing at Spa, Lewis Hamilton on the first day. Honda has released their test driver Christian Klien for the third-day test of Spyker. Seems like, so far, he is the most plausible replacement. More on Hamilton:

Lewis Hamilton has been granted a pay-rise after reaching the middle of the 2007 season as F1’s championship leader. The impressive and ultra-consistent British rookie started the season with a modest retainer of about (US) $400,000 and a $10,000 per point bonus.

As of the British grand prix, then, he made his first million. According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, however, a clause in his contract was triggered at Silverstone, the ninth round of the season.

As he passed the half-way point of 2007 at the very top of the drivers’ world championship, Hamilton automatically qualified for a cool $2.3m bonus. If he scores another 50 points in the remaining eight races this year, Hamilton’s initially paltry salary will have ballooned to nearly $4m — disregarding any more contractual bonuses for possibly winning the title. (GMM)

[blue8]

Is Alonso playing dirty to undermine Lewis?

Fernando Alonso has been accused of playing dirty by deliberately confusing Lewis Hamilton over set-up.

In an intriguing twist to the in-house McLaren battle for the World Championship, it is suggested that Alonso has adopted a policy of go-slow on Fridays in order to effectively sabotage his team-mate's prospects of victory.

Since being promoted to the role of race driver at McLaren, the British rookie has made no secret of his tendency to copy Fernando's set-up, but, it is alleged, he has now been sent down a dead-end by the cunning Spaniard.

Following his defeat at Indianapolis, where he topped the timesheets in all three practive sessions as well as the first two qualifying stints, Alonso's performances on Friday at both Magny-Cours and Silverstone have been been notably tardy.

In France, the double World Champion finished the opening day in a lowly eighth, whilst in Britain he was similarly uncompetitive, setting the sixth-fastest lap time of the day, almost a full second slower than pacesetter Kimi Raikkonen. On the Saturday, however, he immediately bounced back, recording a lap time in qualifying that was considerably faster than Hamilton's once fuel levels had been taken into account.

"On Saturday I went faster than Hamilton but then with less fuel in the tank he was able to win pole, and it seemed that there was a big party," Alonso reflected smugly. "Because of that, finishing ahead of him tastes even sweeter. Since Canada I have been a lot quicker than him."

To ensure harmony within the team, Ron Dennis has ordered both drivers to attend debriefings together, as well as share telemetry. Yet it could be that Hamilton has been sent a dummy at the past two events.

The youngster bemoaned his set-up after his deflating performance at Silverstone, and it is also claimed that he made a critical error when he misdiagnosed oversteer at his first pit stop during Sunday's race.

'Lewis called for a bit less front grip, which was achieved through amended tyre pressures and a front wing adjustment, but he got it wrong - on the middle stint the car understeered badly,' reported ITV's Ted Kravitz.

'The tyres started to grain and as they lost more and more grip, the fronts started to lock up under braking, which compounded the problem.

'Lewis also had a different rear suspension to Fernando that wasn't as kind to the tyres, and lost him more speed. The question is whether that was Lewis' choice, or whether there was only one new suspension available, and Alonso got it first.'