official F1 World Championship 2011 Thread

[MightyJordan]

Eddie Jordan is saying that Renault have dropped Nick Heidfeld in favour of Bruno Senna for Spa. :)

German Nick Heidfeld has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Brazilian Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

Renault made a promising start to the 2011 season but their form has slipped amid rumours of funding shortages, which the team have denied.

While Heidfeld is on a salary, Senna, Renault's reserve driver, comes with several million pounds of sponsorship.

It will be Senna's first race since last season, when he drove for HRT.

The 27-year-old nephew of the late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna is expected to race for Renault in the eight remaining races this season alongside Russian Vitaly Petrov.

Senna made his debut for HRT last season but left the team after a trying year with the struggling outfit.

He joined Renault this season in the hope that he would eventually be promoted to a race drive.

Heidfeld was drafted in by Renault before the start of the season as a replacement for the team's number one driver, Robert Kubica, who was seriously injured in a rallying crash in February.

The Pole suffered a partially severed hand and leg and arm fractures and is still recuperating and it remains unclear when - or if - he will be able to return to F1.

Kubica's doctors told Autosport magazine last week that he hoped to be fit enough to drive in an F1 simulator by the end of September.

Heidfeld, a veteran of 10 years in F1, was chosen as his substitute because of the 34-year-old's proven points scoring record.

But after a podium in the second race of the season in Malaysia, he and the team have not been able to reach the same heights again.

Nevertheless, Heidfeld has scored points in five further races, and lies eighth in the championship two points clear of Petrov, who is in his second season in F1.

Kubica finished last season eighth in the championship, scoring 136 points to Petrov's 27.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Michael Schumacher still 'a credit' to F1, says his former boss Peter Sauber

Michael Schumacher remains 'a credit' to Formula 1 despite his comeback having not delivered the success he had hoped for, according to man who helped him enter the sport 20 years ago this week.

As Schumacher heads to the Belgian Grand Prix on the 20th anniversary of his debut, team principal Peter Sauber says that the seven-time world champion is handling the difficult circumstances of his return well.

He has also revealed that Schumacher only found out the truth behind his entry - that Sauber's own team paid Jordan ?150,000 for his race appearance ? as he prepared to leave the sport in 2006.

In a wide-ranging interview with German news agency SID about Schumacher, Sauber said that he was surprised about his return to F1, but thinks it has been ultimately positive for the sport.

"The reasons for his comeback are none of our business. But still today I say Michael is a credit to F1 even if he does not fight for victories," said Sauber.

"I still find him as a balanced and relaxed individual. My impression is that at the moment he is handling a not easy situation very well."

Sauber also believes that Schumacher will see out his contract at Mercedes, despite rumours that he could walk away from F1 at the end of the year.

"Those are speculations that I don't want to comment on," he added. "Next year I am sure he will still be driving, I am convinced that naturally he will fulfil his contractual commitments. What happens after cannot be predicted. However, I had never thought back then that he would make a comeback."

Looking back at Schumacher's entry to the sport 20 years ago, Sauber said he did not wish to take too much credit for funding his entry ? because the idea had been that of Mercedes.

"Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan," said Sauber. "But naturally I am regularly asked about the race in Spa, exactly how Michael's first race for Jordan came to pass. Michael himself did not know the circumstances until his retirement.

"Michael, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger were our junior team for Sauber Mercedes in the Sportscar World Championship.

"The plan then was that Sauber would enter F1 in 1993 together with Mercedes. So it was quite normal that we would have facilitated Michael's first race by paying Eddie Jordan the required sum of money."

Sauber says he only told Schumacher about what had happened at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, which was supposed to be the German's final race in F1.

"He was clearly surprised when he discovered the full circumstances during his retirement race in 2006 in Brazil," said Sauber. "He thereafter sent me a helmet. I do not expect any more [gratitude]. Michael made his own way through his career by being fast."

Sauber believes that one of the keys to Schumacher's success in F1 has been his hard-working nature.

"Speed alone is not enough," he said. "Frentzen, for example, had an equal amount of talent, possibly a bit more. But Michael was a very hard worker, was very ambitious, mentally strong and physically always perfectly prepared. That is why it was noticeable from early on that he was a special talent."

Source: Autosport

Almost forgot about this little tidbit: The upcoming Belgian GP marks the twentieth anniversary of Michael Schumacher's F1 debut in a Jordan Ford. He replaced the Belgian driver Bertrand Gachot who had been jailed after attacking a taxi driver.

How well did Schumacher's debut race go? Well - he qualified as 7th, but had to require really quickly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY1tTnIhsW8

His qualifying position still showed his potential. Consequently the Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore did his damnedest to get MSC out of the Jordan and into one of his cars for the next 1991 GP at Monza; a deal was brokered at the 11th hour. The rest is history.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Note: Schumacher and Rosberg were the only ones to get a time in before a shower hit early into the practice session, hence the massive time difference.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

For the love of **** - did MSC's car have to break down there? (It was not his mistake as can be seen in the replays)

[KiHu]

Godammit Hamilton...

[Lovell]

None of that was Hamiltons fault.

[KiHu]

None of that was Hamiltons fault.

From the camera angle it looked alot like Hamilton turning into Maldonado.

But might have been that he wasnt visible from Hamiltons position. hard to say.

[MightyJordan]

Good job to Senna. His first race back, and he qualifies in 7th. :) Commiserations to Button though, only making 13th. :(

[Biohead]

Hamilton stuck to the left of the track. I'd have to say 100% Maldonado's fault.

Well done Vettel though (again!)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Just saw the replay of the Hamilton/Maldonado incident. To me it looked as though Hamilton slowed down after La Source to wait for Maldonado, then deliberately drove into him.

The stewards need to reprimand Hamilton. 10 place grid penalty.

[StealMySoda]

Hard to tell. To me it looked like it was Hamilton was the one that turned in to Maldonado.

[simonlang]

Just saw the replay of the Hamilton/Maldonado incident. To me it looked as though Hamilton slowed down after La Source to wait for Maldonado, then deliberately drove into him.

The stewards need to reprimand Hamilton. 10 place grid penalty.

did you see the accident first in the shicane? hamilton was on a flyer and got blocked and nearly crashed into maldonado. there is a rule saying you have to move over for cars being on a flyer. maldonado was not doing this. so the following accident was imho just a revenge (and rightfully so!) from hamilton. pay drivers like maldonado really have to behave differently or they should just not taking part in f1. cant be that someone like him screws up another driver who is in the title fight.

[Lovell]

It wasn't revenge and it wasn't rightfully so, Maldonado over took Hamilton and then blocked him on the corner.

[simonlang]

Maldonado over took Hamilton and then blocked him on the corner.

you need to rewatch mate! maldonado never overtook hamilton who was on his flying lap in q2 and pushing 100%. that makes neither sense nor is it possible (a 100% pushing mclaren will NEVER get overtaken by a 100% pushing williams given these 2 drivers and the cars running in identical conditions).

[Lovell]

I was referring to the crash not the lap, my bad.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Source: @F1Fanatic_co_uk on Twitter

[MightyJordan]

...well f**k. :blink: I was not expecting that. From the replay I saw, it looked like Hamilton turned into Maldonado, but it was raining heavily, so it was likely he couldn't see him, similar to the Schumacher/Coulthard incident at Spa back in '98:

[TheLegendOfMart]

Source: @F1Fanatic_co_uk on Twitter

What the ****.....

Im not a fan of Hamilton but he literally did nothing wrong, he was on a faster lap than Maldonado and was zipping up the inside, Hamilton was on the racing line and Maldonado turned into him hence the rub at the chicane. Hamilton went on to complete the lap and Maldonado come flying up behind him and Hamilton turned not expecting some rookie up his ass then jerked the wheel back and Maldonado just turned into him.

At the very LEAST he should have got disqualified. If it was the other way round and Hamilton retaliated he would have got a much worse punishment.

[ahmz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hHG3rPl5UM

[simonlang]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hHG3rPl5UM

i was just going to show this :D

if someone still blames hamilton after this, then sorry i dont know.... i think maldonado got off lightly for this one.

[MightyJordan]

OK, I take it back; it was Maldonado's fault.

This was the angle I saw on TV, and when I first saw that, it looked like Hamilton turned into him, but turns out it was just the camera angle playing tricks. :p

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I have to correct myself - it was clearly Maldonado's fault, and he got off lightly with just a five-place grid penalty.