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.

Cram It!

The season is closing out with just five more rounds remaining. The battle heads to Monza, Italy for round 13 - the Italian GP.

Chris has the full scoop on the race and we talk about the musical chair game that is the driver's market for 2008.

Schmacher, Fisichella, and Wurz all have the pressure on to prove why they deserve a seat for 08 while some of the younger drivers shoot to move up on the F1 totem pole.

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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.