F1 World Championship 2009 Thread

[Subject Delta]

Performances this season are so up and down its unreal. Pole position one race, to 13th on the grid in the next for Hamilton, a Force India with race winning pace (if he hadn't been KERS'd by Raikkonen I think he would have won comfortably), and Button is really losing his way.

However for me the ball is still in Button's court because with so many teams coming into competitiveness, Red Bull aren't really gaining the dominance that they need to catch Button, neither is Barrichello.

[simonlang]

i was cheering for fisi the whole race!!! :)

[Techno_Funky]

Wohooooo! Force India on Podium .. :)

[macmax]

Amazing race by Fisichella. As someone pointed, if not for KERS Fisichella could have definitely given even more close fight to Raikonnen. I think, Fisichella could have done an even faster lap when Raikonnen went in for this 2nd pit stop and then the pit could have calculated the time to the nanosecond and Fisichella could have taken the lead.

But as Vijay Mallaya said, I am not greedy :D

[Pc_Madness]

Poor Webber, he deserved at least one point after getting through all that crap. :\

[san.W10]

not a BIG news, but Stefano's comment on Kimi was funny

Ferrari to wait on Monza driver decision

Ferrari will wait for the outcome of Felipe Massa's medical examination in Miami on Monday before deciding on its driver plans for the Italian GP.

Massa is to undergo a check by renowned doctor Steve Olvey, which should provide a clear indication of how long the Brazilian will be out of action for.

Once the team is aware of that verdict, Ferrari will then decide on whether to stick with current replacement Luca Badoer for Monza or put another driver in the car.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "With regard to what we are going to do for the next races, we will tell you in the next three days.

"We will use all our consideration following the medical check that Felipe will do tomorrow, and then we will put on the table all the different things that are correct and have been considered and then we will make a decision."

Domenicali dismissed reports in the Italian media that Fernando Alonso had agreed a switch deal from Renault, and ruled out the Spaniard as a contender.

Giancarlo Fisichella remains favourite for the drive, especially after his shock second place finish at Spa.

Domenicali also declined to comment on if Kimi Raikkonen's victory had changed the team's driver's plans for 2010, amid speculation that the team is trying to move the Finn aside for next year.

"No one has said anything different from the team point of view," said Domenicali.

"This is a lot of speculation. I really hope that you people keep writing that, because if this is Kimi's reaction then please do it day and night. :rofl:

"It is important to understand the situation and I don't think it is a point of discussion that we need to start today. That is the answer."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78206

[san.W10]

Fisichella closes on Ferrari move

Could Raikkonen (top) and Fisichella be team-mates at the next race?

Giancarlo Fisichella is poised to make a temporary switch to Ferrari ahead of next month's Italian Grand Prix.

Confirmation of the Force India driver's move could come on Tuesday, a source close to Ferrari told BBC Sport.

Force India commercial director Ian Phillips told Radio 5 live on Monday: "We do expect a move will probably be made in the next 24 hours or so."

Fisichella would replace Luca Badoer, who has struggled as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa.

Badoer, Ferrari's official reserve driver, was drafted in to replace the injured Felipe Massa after legendary seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher was forced to shelve his comeback plans.

Massa is recovering at home in Brazil after suffering a fractured skull in a crash during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July. Ferrari are going to have to put someone in who can run with Raikkonen at the front of the field

The 28-year-old is targeting a return at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 18 October, but there is speculation that Massa will not be able to race until at least next season.

Ferrari are believed to have run out of patience with Badoer, who has qualified last at both of his races so far.

While Raikkonen won Sunday's race at Spa, Badoer trailed in last, nearly 48 seconds slower than the driver in front.

The Italian GP is on the 13 September, followed by Grands Prix in Singapore and Japan, before the teams head to Brazil.

Phillips added: "Nobody's asked us yet but I think it's pretty likely that somebody will make a phone call to (Force India team boss) Vijay Mallya over the next 24 hours or so asking if we would release him to Ferrari.

"I don't think they [Force India] have really got any options [but to release him]. (wtf does this mean? )

"Ferrari being Ferrari, it's their home race at Monza, which is a place with a cauldron-like atmosphere, particularly for the Italians - seats will be thrown on the track if Ferrari aren't doing well.

"So they're going to have to put sombody in there who can basically run around with Raikkonen at the front of the field."

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said on Sunday: "With regard with what we are going to do for the next races we will tell you in the next three days.

"We are going to take all into consideration. It depends how the medical check-up that Felipe will do tomorrow (goes) and then we will put on the table all the different things. And then we will make a decision."

Fisichella told BBC Sport at the Belgian Grand Prix that it would be a "dream" to drive for Ferrari, but did not confirm that he had been approached.

The 36-year-old Italian's manager, Enrico Zanarini, told BBC Sport on Sunday that Ferrari had not been in contact.

"Nobody's been in touch," Zanarini said. "We find ourselves in a fantastic team with a great car for Monza because if the car is quick here it will be quick in Monza."

If he does move to Ferrari, Fisichella would drive only as a replacement for Massa - double world champion Fernando Alonso will switch to the team for 2010, although the Spaniard's move has not yet been confirmed.

Fisichella's contract with Force India runs out at the end of the 2009 season.

Force India would likely promote their reserve driver Vitantonio Liuzzi if Fisichella moved on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport...one/8229556.stm

[san.W10]

FIA to launch probe on '08 Singapore GP

The FIA is to launch an investigation into the events at last year's Singapore Grand Prix, where Renault's Fernando Alonso claimed victory on the back of a crash by his team-mate Nelson Piquet.

Alonso's success was sealed by the timing of a safety car in the early stages of the inaugural event - which had been called out when Piquet crashed into the wall shortly after his team-mate stopped for fuel.

The timing of Piquet's crash prompted wild conspiracy theories that the Brazilian had been ordered to deliberately spin to help Renault take its first victory of the year. Piquet himself insisted at the time that the accident had been caused by him simply trying too hard.

"It was my mistake," said Piquet. "We tried two extreme strategies with Fernando quite short and me quite long in the hope of getting a safety car. If I hadn't crashed I would have been lucky with the safety car later in the race because I was very happy.

"We're always scraping the walls, and once you've touched the wall a little too much and lose control that's it."

It is understood, however, that fresh evidence about the events that took place in the race have now come to light - which has prompted the FIA to step in.

Piquet was dropped by Renault after this year's Hungarian Grand Prix, and has been outspoken in his criticisms of the outfit - and in particular team principal Flavio Briatore. It is not clear if the Brazilian himself has been a catalyst for the investigation, or if the evidence has come from elsewhere.

The FIA has not elaborated on the details of its inquiry, but a spokesperson confirmed to AUTOSPORT that an investigation was under way.

"The FIA can confirm that an investigation is underway regarding alleged events at a previous world championship race," said the spokesperson.

Should the FIA investigation suggest there is any evidence of foul play involved, then the governing body could call a hearing of the World Motor Sport Council to discuss the matter.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78195

[Subject Delta]

I have read that, and if true that is quiet shocking, if there is clear evidence of it, then I can see Renault being in similar trouble to what McLaren found themselves in, perhaps even more, as unlike McLaren there is clear evidence of gaining an advantage.

Something about this stinks, I wouldn't be surprised if Piquet is the source of those rumours himself. I mean if the FIA are investigating it then there must be some evidence, and if it is true, then this is absolutely outrageous.

[Mike]

The facts of it:

Alonso qualified 15th, fueled for 13 laps and pits on lap 12 / 13.

Piquet crashes on lap 15 before anyone else pitted.

Rosberg/Kubica pit under the SC before pit lane was open as they had to.

To me, Alonso going light from 15th just wouldn't work unless there was an early SC and I've never seen anyone go light from so far back and especially on a track that is hard to overtake on.

Thing is, it could be quite obvious something was planned but Renault are unlikely to have told Piquet in a way they couldn't explain. For example they could tell Piquet the condition of Alonso's tyres to tell him its safe to push and that would also tell Piquet that Alonso has pitted and he can now crash. If it's something like that then it'll be hard for the FIA to prove and it would be likely nothing happens from it. (That's all assuming Renault did plan something)

[san.W10]

Renault warned of serious consequences

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has warned that there could be 'serious' consequences for both Nelson Piquet and Renault if an investigation into race-fixing at last year's Singapore Grand Prix uncovers anything suspicious.

The FIA is currently looking into claims, which emerged during last weekend's race weekend in Belgium, that Piquet may have been asked to crash deliberately in Singapore last year to help team-mate Fernando Alonso win.

The nature of the claims, or who has provided them, has not been revealed, and the FIA has only confirmed that it is looking into 'events' at a previous world championship race.

However, Ecclestone has confirmed that the incident being looked at is Singapore - and says he and the governing body is taking the matter seriously.

"The FIA has launched a thorough investigation into the allegations about Nelson," Ecclestone said. "I do not know if they are true or not.

"But if they are true then I would have thought Nelson was in just as much trouble. If I tell you to go and rob a bank and you get caught you can't say, 'Well Bernie told me to.'

"It all seems very strange to me and I do not know the truth."

Should the FIA find any evidence of foul play then it would most likely call a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council to discuss the matter. If the WMSC finds Renault guilty, then punishments range from a reprimand through to fines, race bans and even exclusion from the world championship.

On the back of the recent 'Bloodgate' controversy that has dogged rugby, Ecclestone said that FIA would come down hard on any guilty party.

"If the investigation finds out that that is what happened then I think there is going to be a lot of trouble," he said. "You hear of these things happening with jockeys and in football and it has led to all sorts of trouble, hasn't it?

"If it is true then it is a very serious situation. But it could just be a rumour and Nelson is just annoyed that he has been fired.

"But it is not good for the sport. People seem to be spending money betting on F1, which is good, but they will not want to do that if they think something is wrong with the result."

Ecclestone also fears that Renault could pull out of F1 on the back of the investigation - joining Honda and BMW in exiting the sport in the space of less than 12 months.

He told The Times: "This is not the sort of thing we need at the moment. I think it will p*** off Renault for a start. Them leaving the sport is a danger, obviously. I mean, I hope that it isn't like that, but it's the sort of thing that might happen."

The departure of Renault from F1 would not only hit the Enstone-based team, but would also hurt Williams, which is close to signing a customer-engine deal with the French car manufacturer.

Renault has so far not commented on the situation.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78232

[Subject Delta]

Thing is, it could be quite obvious something was planned but Renault are unlikely to have told Piquet in a way they couldn't explain. For example they could tell Piquet the condition of Alonso's tyres to tell him its safe to push and that would also tell Piquet that Alonso has pitted and he can now crash. If it's something like that then it'll be hard for the FIA to prove and it would be likely nothing happens from it. (That's all assuming Renault did plan something)

The problem with that is that drivers usually use their tyres in different ways, so Alonso's data wouldn't necessarily be valid for Piquet. Also, I believe Alonso started on the super soft and Piquet on the soft

[Mike]

Well that makes a coded message easier, "Nelson, Alonso's pitted and the super softs are wearing more than we thought, suggest softs for 2nd stint instead" means "Alonso's pitted, please crash". The message given is perfectly valid and not uncommon to hear and hard to prove otherwise.

[Subject Delta]

Yep, I agree, Renault would have been unlikely to have just blurted the message out plainly over the radio. I have a gut feeling that this is going to be a hard one to prove. And its not like Renault are going to keep files on their computer like 'Super duper secret plan to fix the Singapore GP.doc', anything discussed would have been done so verbally only with the 2 drivers.

Whether there was any collusion or not we will never know, but I personally doubt that the FIA will find anything, my gut feeling is that Piquet has stirred this one up to get back at Renault.

[Mike]

Pretty much, which explains why it's only come out now (ie Piquet has nothing to lose). I've read reports that say Massa suggested it was fixed at the time which again points at the "it looks fixed but we can't prove it" thing. I'd be surprised if they are found guilty because I doubt they'd be stupid enough to have a record of it and to keep it for quite some time after the event.

[Subject Delta]

I dunno what Massa was whingeing for to be honest, he wouldn't have anything to gain even if Renault where excluded for the results. He would still be out of the points, and Hamilton would move up to second actually increasing his margin of WDC win over Massa.

[Mike]

His argument at the time would have been if the SC didn't come out around the pit stop time for most people then the mad dash in the pits wouldn't have happened and he wouldn't have driven off with the fuel rig still connected which was what lost him the race.

Lets not forget that reports don't always equal the truth so it may not have been him as the details of the evidence the FIA aren't really known.

[Subject Delta]

Even if Renault where excluded, the FIA can't change a race result based on a what if, the worst they could do would be to move everyone up 1 place which would give this result:

1: Rosberg

2: Hamilton

3: Glock

4: Vettel

5: Heidfeld

6: Coulthard

7: Nakajima

8: Button

Hamilton wins the WDC by 2 more points. The only way to swing the title in favour of Massa would be to punish Renault in another manner, and declare the Singapore GP a non chamiponship event, which would give Massa the title by 5 points, however I find it highly unlikely the FIA will take the non-championship race alternative, although there is a possibility they could exclude Renault from the results and declare Rosberg the winner.

[brentaal]

Force India releases Fisichella to Ferrari

Giancarlo Fisichella will be the second Ferrari driver from the Italian Grand Prix after he was released from his contract by his Force India team on Thursday.

Following days of speculation about who would line up alongside Kimi Raikkonen now that Felipe Massa is out for the season, Force India confirmed that Fisichella would switch teams from the Italian Grand Prix.

The team said that discussions with Ferrari began in the last 24 hours, once it became clear that Massa was out for the season. Force India owner Dr Vijay Mallya said: "Giancarlo and his management team approached me yesterday with the proposal from Ferrari.

"For any Italian driver, a Ferrari race seat is a long-held dream and for Giancarlo it was no exception. No one should stand in the way of this. Furthermore the agreement will secure Giancarlo's long-term future with Ferrari and it would be incorrect to jeopardise this, particularly when Giancarlo has made such a vital contribution to Force India."

Force India is understood to have outstanding debts with Ferrari left over from its customer engine supply deal that ended last year - but Mallya said that commercial factors did not have a role in the outcome.

"We would like to stress that we have not agreed any financial settlement with Ferrari," he said. "This agreement has been made in good faith and for the good of Giancarlo and the sport in general. A competitive Italian driver in a Ferrari for Monza is a positive story for Formula 1, which can only help raise the sport's profile in these difficult times.

"We would like to thank Giancarlo for all his help over the past one and a half seasons and for delivering us our first World Championship points last weekend. He has been an integral part of the team and we owe him a great deal for his input behind the scenes and performance out on track. We wish him all the best for the future.

"For Force India, this sport is a team effort and removing one part, even a major one, will not significantly affect our performance. The competitiveness of the team seen in Belgium was a result of hard work in the factory and wind tunnel and we have further developments coming for the final races, so we are confident this momentum can be sustained. We are now looking forward to a strong finish to the season."

Force India has not made a decision who will drive alongside Adrian Sutil for the rest of the season, although it is expected that Vitantonio Liuzzi will step up from his test drive role.

autosport.com

[S.MULLA]

Gonna be interesting to see how well fisichella performs.. in a ferrari..

[san.W10]

Fisichella: Ferrari drive a dream for me

Giancarlo Fisichella says he cannot believe how his life has been transformed in the past week after being officially confirmed as a Ferrari driver for the remainder of 2009.

The Italian will race alongside Kimi Raikkonen for the rest of the season before becoming Ferrari's official reserve driver in 2010.

Speaking at Maranello on Thursday, having met team principal Stefano Domenicali and other Ferrari personnel to discuss plans for the Italian Grand Prix, Fisichella was clearly overjoyed at the turn of events - which comes almost 14 years after he tested a Ferrari 412 T2 on September 27, 1995 at Fiorano.

"I'm in seventh heaven," Fisichella told the official Ferrari website. "I still can't believe it - that the dream of my life comes true, and I want to thank Ferrari and Chairman Luca di Montezemolo.

"Over the last week some really incredible things happened to me: the pole position and then second place at Spa and now I'm called by Ferrari to race the last five races of the season for them.

"I'll give my best to recompense the Scuderia for this great opportunity they gave me: I know that it won't be easy, but I'll give it everything to gain the best possible results."

Domenicali said he had thought long and hard before opting for Fisichella, and were keen for the Italian to have a long-term relationship with the team.

"We chose Giancarlo, because we think that he can make a significant contribution in terms of points during the finale of this uncertain season," he explained.

"Furthermore we considered what could be his role inside the team in the near future, also taking this year's experiences into account. He will be the reserve driver in 2010.

"I want to thank Vijay Mallya and Force India F1 for giving Giancarlo the possibility to cancel his contract in such a happy moment for the team, allowing him to crown his dream as a driver.

"Now we have to concentrate on Monza, an event we really care for in a very special way: we know that it will be difficult to keep the performance level we had over the last Grands Prix, but we'll give our best to entertain our fans and I hope there will be lots of them at the track to support us."

Fisichella's appointment comes at the expense of Luca Badoer, who failed to shine during his two-race outing for the team. Although happy about his own position, Fisichella expressed some sympathy for the plight of his fellow Italian.

"I want to say that I'm very sorry for Luca," said Fisichella. "I know how much he cared to race in Monza behind the wheel of a Ferrari, because this is the best thing that can happen to an Italian driver, to drive a red car in front of our fans."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78286

reserve driver? so his career is over :D

what if Sutil takes pole in Italy :p

[Crazysah]

Sutil taking pole in Italy would be epic. I seriously hope an Indian driver drives for Force India now!

[san.W10]

karun chandok is a possibilty

[.mcman]

Fisichella: Ferrari drive a dream for me

I didn't expect that to happen but I'm glad for him. Looking forward to Monza even more now. :)

[Raktael]

That rumour wa flying about since the last grand prix, he's had an awesome career and often overlooked in the sport, so I wish him all the best at Ferrari, even if they are like the devil :devil: