A Retired Guy Goes Fastest In Testing

Seven time world champion Michael Schumacher returned to the seat of a Ferrari F1 car for the first proper session since his retirement following the 2006 season.

Schumacher made his return and quickly established that a one year absence has done little to stiffle his talent as a world class driver. He set the fastest time of the day in the F2007.

The German served to test the new regulations which ban traction control and debut a new electronic control system. When Schu began his career the cars featured fewer electronic gizmos to aid drivers on track.

Schumacher has no plans to return to F1 in any capacity beyond this test.

Barcelona hosts the teams this week and many new faces got behind the wheel. Toro Rosso welcomed Sebastian Bourdais, fresh off of a fourth Champ Car title.

GP2 drivers Zuber, Chandhok, and Rodriguez put their stamp on the field but failed to compete with the front runners on the time sheet.

Michael Schumacher To Test For Ferrari

Just weeks after taking the F2007 out at Fiorano to impress members of the Fiat board of directors, Ferrari have announced seven time world champion Michael Schumacher's return to the track for winter testing in Barcelona.

38 year old Schumacher retired following the end of the 2006 season and has kept a low profile since. From time to time Schu attended races in the '07 season as a technical advisor to Ferrari, but this stint marks the first time that he will return to the driver's role for testing next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Schumacher holds the distinction as the most succesful driver in F1 history with 91 wins, many coming from a time when electronic driver's aides were not as prevelant. For '08 on, traction control will be removed from the cars and Schumacher's skill in this situation should prove useful.

Raikkonen Takes Victory and Surpise Title in Brazil

Kimi Raikkonen is the best driver in the world. Fact.

Raikkonen took the world driver's title by surprise after heading into the final round of the season with a seven point deficit behind rookie Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton's hopes all but dissolved after an electrical glitch crippled his car dropping him to 18th position. The McLaren driver managed to claw back to seventh place but it wasn't enough to stop Raikkonen's charge to his first ever title. Raikkonen's teammate and home crowd favorite Felipe Massa made it another Ferrari 1-2 finish.

Spanish double world champion Fernando Alonso who came into the weekend just 4 points back of the title did not challenge the Ferraris after the third lap and ended the season behind Raikkonen and Hamilton in 3rd place.

This may have been the fianl race for Alonso at McLaren at the close of this tumultuous season.

Raikkonen Wins On Hamilton Error

A beet red Kimi Raikkonen took his fifth win of the 2007 season for Ferrari at the Shanghai International Circuit after a costly pitlane error by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton shot into the wet pit lane carrying too much speed for a badly damaged rear tire to handle, cut the turn-in and parked the car in the gravel pit-side. The rookie had a 12 point lead over teammate Fernando Alonso; 17 over Raikkonen.

Raikkonen's win brings him within seven points of Hamilton while Alonso closes the gap to four with his second place finish.

Felipe Massa filled out the rest of the podium in third place.

Scuderia Toro Rosso triumphed as 20 year-old Sebastien Vettel brought the team its best finish ever with a fourth place drive. Teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi slotted in at 6 making it another first for the team; first time both cars finished in the points.

The mild rain did its job as equalizer with great finishes for normally slow teams. STR did a great job. Honda brought Jenson Button home with his best finish of the season in fifth.

The most interesting part of the race was witnessing rookie Lewis Hamilton make a driver error. The McLaren driver over-used his tires exposing the inner bands and hit the pit lane too quickly.

Hamilton's impatience gifted Alonso and Raikkonen the chance to do battle for the championship in the final round at Brazil.

Fittingly, the title fight has ended in Brazil in the previous two seasons and will do so again in 2007.

1. K. Raikkonen
2. F. Alonso
3. F. Massa
4. S. Vettel
5. J. Button
6. V. Liuzzi
7. N. Heidfeld
8. D. Coulthard

Hamilton Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is - Gross!

Saturday qualifying for the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix began in a haze - literally. Rain and fog descended upon the Fuji circuit strong enough to cancel Saturday free practice. Initially, the pit lane light shone red and the cars stayed dry and toasty under the cover of the paddock.

A short wait and the drivers were released to begin Q1. The rain became merely a drizzle and as the cars zipped around the dense fog shod in Intermediate weather tires. The fog began to clear, a dry line began to form, and the lap times began dropping.

By the beginning of Q3 the cars qued up at the end of pit lane in typical fashion to begin the repetitive procession of fuel burning laps. The often exciting build up to pole position lacked its regular enthusiasm. The drivers had less need to change the intermediate tires which are better suited to long term runs without the usual degradation suffered by the full dry weather rubber.

As the last man on track, McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton pipped his teammate for pole and will start at the front for tomorrow's race.

During the unilateral interviews that follow qualifying, the mood of the three drivers varied vastly when questioned about the session.

Lewis Hamilton displayed a smug confidence that seemed to boast his aggressive pre-race comments directed at his teammate and main title rival, Fernando Alonso.

Seated next to Hamilton, Alonso's closed body language suggested a defeated attitude after being unable to best his younger nemesis. Alonso's focus appeared shaken and his eyes tired.

Third place qualifier Kimi Raikkonen put his Ferrari on the second row and remained indifferent about the entire affair - perhaps even indifferent about the entire event in remarkable Raikkonen style.

Weather is likely to play a large role in the outcome of tomorrow's race and anything can happen in a race to the end of the season. Just three races to go!

Thanks for wasting my typing time, McLaren

Contrary to previous reports, the Mercedes powered McLaren F1 team will not be headed to appeal court in Paris on Wednesday.

The team have opted to skip the appeal of the punishment handed down following the qualifying debaucle at the Hungarian GP.

McLaren's constructors' point were stripped in the judgement by the stewards just weeks before the English team was penalized by the World Motor Sports Council for it's spying actions against Ferrari.

The later penalty finds McLaren dis-allowed from scoring constructor points for the remainder of 2007 in addition to a staggering $100 million fine.

McLaren Back To Court

Following exclusion from the 2007 Constructors' Championship and a shocking $100 million fine, McLaren management return to Paris to settle an appeal stemming from round 12 in Hungary.

The stewards at the Hungaroring stripped McLaren of any points following a bizarre intrateam battle shaped up in the final qualifying session.

McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton refused to concede his track position to teammate and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso as the two cars left the pits to begin Q3 - the final shoot-out for pole position.

Following Hamilton's failure to cooperate, Alonso struck back. With limited time left in the session the drivers headed to pit lane for a new set of tires and a final run at pole.

Alonso stopped first. Following an unusually long wait for the purpose of sending Alonso onto a track free of traffic the man set to cue the Spanish driver lifted his lollipop pit sign and watched as Alonso - remained still for an additional 10 seconds. The extra 10 seconds effectively squashed Hamilton's chances of putting in a final fast lap.

These actions at the beginning and end of the session led the stewards at the track to believe that McLaren team management had influenced the outcome of qualifying.

McLaren now face the task of proving the track officials wrong in Parisian court.

The twist:
Following the conclusion of the season long spy scandal, McLaren will score no constructors' points and thus the battle this week in court seems futile.

The key is that McLaren can still appeal the decision over the spying and thus the 15 points they lost in Hungary could still prove valuable in besting current leaders, Ferrari.

CEO of Ferrari Jean Todt isn't resting until the window for appeal is closed at which time the Ferrari team can let out a sigh of relief and relish a 15th crown.

Breaking: McLaren Stripped Of All Constructor Points

Word has just broken that championship leaders McLaren have been stripped of all their constructor points for the 2007 season and handed a $100 million fine for their actions in the "spygate" affair according to bbc.com.

Though the woking based team have lost their constructor points, neither driver will be penalized and will still battle for the 2007 World Driver Championship.

The whole affair stems from a 780 page technical dossier of Ferrari technical drawings and data was found in the possesion of senior McLaren designer Mike Coughlan.

Initially the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) ruled that although McLaren were guilty of breaking sporting code article 151 by possesing the document that no proof of McLaren gaining an advantage had been presented.

Unsatisfied with the outcome, Ferrari were granted the opportunity to gather proof and make an appeal which they secured before the Italian GP. Upon their findings, an emergency meeting of the WMSC was called for this morning.

Full discloser of the events of today's meeting have yet to be announced.

The Return of Spa

Ferrari have no time to pout about the whooping they took in front of home fans by the hand of McLaren last Sunday.

The entire F1 paddock scrambled to disassemble motorhomes and pack away their equipment in order to make the trek across Europe to Belgium. Numerous trucks in multiple caravans arrive at Spa-Francorchamps prepared to unpack that equipment and reassemble those same motorhomes just days after departing from Italy for the return of the Belgian GP.

Ferrari look to improve their form after failing to bring both cars home in the Italian GP. Felipe Massa's car had rear suspension problems that forced him to retire just laps into the race.

Massa's teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, took the bottom step on the podium. In Saturday practice, Raikkonen had a major crash that left the Finn brusied and suffering from neck pain for qualifying and the race.

McLaren had an apparently flawless weekend that brought the team valuable constructors points for finishing 1st and 2nd and Alonso reeled in points leader and teammate Lewis Hamilton narrowing the margin to just 3 points with four races remaining.

To Monza They Go

McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton took to the Italian track on the first day of testing and was able to set the fastest time of the day. Monza is the track where Hamilton secured his GP2 championship last season before joining the silver arrows of McLaren.

Hamilton just edged out Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and BMW's Nick Heidfeld in a slightly short session that ended in afternoon rain showers.

The teams intend to pick back up tomorrow for more running barring potential day long storms. This year the F1 has introduced much tighter limits to testing and if rain is in the forecast the teams may choose to stay an additional day so as not to waste test time on wet weather runs.

Preceding this weeks test and following race, Monza track officials resonded to long time driver requests to replace the gravel run off areas at the second chicane with ashphalt runoff zones.

The Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) pleded for changes to accomodate safety concerns associated with chance of lift off in the gravel areas. Monza is the fastest circuit of the season and with the guard rails so close to the track great attention to safety detail must be taken.

Efforts of the such help to ensure comfort among the drivers whilst traveling so quickly and with minimal aerodynamic downforce.

Massa Does it Again!

History repeated itself this weekend as Ferrari's Felipe Massa took his second consecutive win in Turkey leading from pole to checkered flag.

Bad luck struck rookie championship leader Lewis Hamilton blew a tire just before his second pitstop dropping him from 3rd to 5th. The tire incident benefited Hamilton's teammate Fernando Alonso who now is just 5 points out of the lead with 5 races remaining in the season.

Massa usurps 3rd place from his teammate Kimi Raikkonen by one point but still lies 15 points back. Raikkonen brought home his second consecutive P2 finish in another boring race for the Finn.

Points scorers:
1. Massa
2. Raikkonen
3. Alonso
4. Heidfeld
5. Hamilton
6. Kovalainen
7. Rosberg
8. Kubica

The Only GP That Is Good With Gravy

Following an extended 3 week summer vacation - or Holiday as everyone else in the world calls it - Formula 1 returns to Asia for round 12 of the 2007 World Championship: The Turkish Grand Prix.

Last race the two McLaren drivers left the track not on speaking terms. Over the break the younger of the two took a load off on his boss's yatch and enjoyed spending time with said boss's 18 year old daughter!

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso spent time with his family and partied up by... growing a beard... The two McLaren drivers are 1 - 2 in the point standings and the racing should be brutal for the remainder of the season.

That and some Heidfeld guy got a new contract...

 Click here to listen!

Get off the pot!

After 11 rounds of the 2007 Formula 1 season, front runners McLaren and Ferrari are battling to the end with non-stop development hoping to get every tenth of a second from their cars.

BMW have a firm grip on 3rd place in the constructors standings. For everyone else the time has come to decide on the proper course of action for the remainder of the season.

Some teams may continue to develop their cars for a final push at the end. Toyota have slowly improved this season and hope to build upon their 12 points. More points equals more sponsor and television money for 2008.

Other teams will likely decide to conclude further major improvements of their challengers for 07 and begin to focus solely upon their 2008 machinery.

Renault have disclosed their intentions to shift their focus to next year.

One must start to assume that Honda, though not yet openly, have ditched their plans for improving the dismal 2007 car and begun work on recalibrating their wind tunnel for work on the 2008 machine.

Lookout for Spyker F1 this week as they debut their b-spec car in an attempt to close the gap to the back of the pack.

British GP Review - Rampage Racing Report 17

After a long weekend in France the teams packed up and rushed off to Great Britain for round 9 of the championship at Silverstone Circuit. Last weekend Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari proved he had better come to terms with the Ferrari and quickly passed Lewis Hamilton off of the starting line. Raikkonen later passed Hamilton's teammate Fernando Alonso for P1 and took home his second win of the season.

This week the teams have to get right back at it and apply what they learned by testing at the English track two weeks ago. Expect a full house as rookie Lewis Hamilton races at home for the first time in an F1 car!

Check out the full report below:

 Click here to listen...

Ferrari Fastest of Friday

More than just fun alliteration, the Maranello Ferrari squad appeared to have great speed at Silverstone Circuit. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took best time honors for free practice 1, but the the Ferrari's didn't try out the faster, softer Bridgestone compound. Free practice 2 saw Kimi Raikkonen light up the time sheets as the fastest driver thus far putting up a 1:20.6 besting Hamilton's earlier time by .6 seconds.

Free practice 3 and Qualifying are tomorrow and the competition should be thick. England is the home race for 4 drivers on grid: David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson, and rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton of McLaren who hopes to fight for his third victory this season.

Finally, Congratulations to the Uncle David (Coulthard) who scored a contract extention with Red Bull Racing for 2008!

More info - click here to listen!

Raikkonen Wins in France!

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen led teammate Felipe Massa to a dominating Ferrari 1-2 finish at the French Grand Prix. It marked the final appearance of the Circuit de Nevers on the F1 calendar.

The race was also the first that rookie, and points leader, Lewis Hamilton finished lower in the field than where he started scoring 6 points in third place. Raikkonen finally had a clutch to his liking and made his best start of the season passing Hamilton off of the starting line.

Congrats to Jenson Button from Honda F1 on his first point of the season!

Results:
1. Raikkonen
2. Massa
3. Hamilton
4. Kubica
5. Heidfeld
6. Fisichella
7. Alonso
8. Button

Blazingly fast Massa scores Pole!

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa turned in the fastest time in final qualifying to capture his fourth pole of the season from Magny-Cours, France.

Rookie Lewis Hamilton managed to put his McLaren on the front row next to Massa. Hamilton's teammate Fernando Alonso will start from a distant 10th after being hit by gearbox problems.

Pole sitter Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen made costly mistakes in qualifying earning him 3rd on the grid. The Ferrari team appear to be bouncing back after 3 rough performances in a row.