Hamilton Crashes in Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton stuffed his McLaren Mercedes into the wall at the end of Free Practice 2 in Bahrain today.

The young star lost control of his silver car after running wide over a kerb on a hot lap.

The incident appeared to be similar to the spin of Felipe Massa at round two in Malaysia when the Brazilian took an aggressive approach over a kerb and lost rear downforce heading into a successive turn.

Hamilton is reported by autosport.com to be in good condition following the 130mph shunt sideways into the wall. The Britain is suffering from bruising but was cleared by the on site medical center to continue racing this weekend.

Alonso Returns Home To Renault

Double world champion Fernando Alonso announced his return to the French manufacturers Renault for the 2008 season according to the driver's personal website and an official press release from Renault.

Following months of speculation involving a variety of possible seats, team boss Flavio Briatore confirmed today that the former double champ will drive for the ING sponsored team next to former test driver Brazilian Nelsinho Piquet Jr. The later last raced in the GP2 championship against McLaren star Lewis Hamilton where he just lost out to the British driver.

The Spanaird, Alonso, won back to back world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006. His experience with the team is vast and Briatore has promised Alonso clear number one status within the team.

Alonso's resigning comes just days after the verdict by the World Motor Sports Council who found Renault guilty of violating International Sporting Code 151(c) but handed out no punishment. The French team was found to be in possesion of detailed plans of the McLaren car, however, the council had no evidence that Renault gained any advantage.

Earlier in the season McLaren lost all constructor's points and were fined $100 million in a similar case. Had Renault faced the same fines it is likely that the French squad could not have swallowed the enormous financial penalty.

The announcement spells uncertainty for Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella who are left without race drives in 2008. Fisichella has tested with back runners Force India F1 and awaits a decision by team owner Vijay Mallya. In 2007 Fisichella was bested regularly by rookie Kovalainen who gave the team consistent points scoring finishes. Kovalainen is linked to possible drives at Toyota and McLaren but now faces an uncertain future in F1.

Breaking News: McLaren, Alonso Part Company

Fernando Alonso is a free agent in the Formula 1 talent pool following an amicable split from McLaren Mercedes. Ron Dennis, team boss at McLaren, promised a decision between the two parties within a couple weeks of the end of the season and has delivered.

Alonso leaves the squad after fulfilling just one of three years on his contract.

It had been speculated that the Spanish driver would only be allowed to nullify his three year contract if he were to join a privateer team but that appears to be false.

Alonso is free to join which ever team he wishes and the rest of the driver market is hinged on his decision.

The likely options on the table for the Spaniard are seats at Renault, Williams, Toyota, and even Red Bull.

One possibilty that shouldn't be overlooked is a drive at Honda F1. Rumors are swirling that the lack of determination from Rubens Barichello may land him a demotion to Jr Honda team Super Aguri.

Honda utilize a humungous budget and despite a horrid 2007 campaign could use said budget to turn things around in '08.

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 Cleared Of Any Wrong Doing

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has been cleared of any fault in the crash of Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel last weekend in Japan.

Questions were raised on Friday when a YouTube.com video of the incident was discovered online and submitted to the FIA.

Hamilton aims to focus on qualifying and wrap up the title this weekend.

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!

The Empty Seat Saga

Rumors continue to swell throughout the media about the fate of Fernando Alonso at the end of his first season at McLaren.

Alonso, just 2 points back in the points from teammate Lewis Hamilton, has been linked with a number of race seats next year outside of McLaren after just one season with the British team.

Leading theories involve Alonso's return to his former team of 6 years, Renault, or possibly a switch to sit beside Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari. The Ferrari move certainly spells bad news for current driver Felipe Massa. Following the Belgian GP where Massa was spotted hanging around the Toyota camp speculation began growing of the likelyhood of Alonso joining the Italian team and Massa getting bumped.

The point that everyone seems to be overlooking is what will become of the vacant seat at McLaren?

Does McLaren put test driver Pedro De La Rosa in for a season before singing new talent?

It would be unlikely for anyone to be brought up from a lack-luster GP2 season. McLaren could field a veteran and wait until the market for 2009 opens up with names like Kubica, Heidfeld and Sutil are all on the table. Regardless of their decision we must first wait to see what becomes of Alonso.

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.

McLaren Fined Chump Change

Word came down from the stewads in Monza today that the McLaren team has been fined $50,000(USD) following a breach in the sporting regulations article 16.

The article requires teams that make a significant change to the crash structure of a contesting car to pass the strict safety crash tests in order to be legal for racing.

McLaren introduced a new ultra light weight gear box for the Hungarian GP without first testing for safety with the FIA. Following the Hungarian race, McLaren took care of the tests and were found to be within the set limits for safety and thus were not penalized further than monetarily.

$50,000 seems like a fortune, but for a team that spends upward of $200 million per season... jerks!

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!