Ferrari are Back! (to their old tricks again)

Photo by PH-Stop

My next blog post was to have been about my recent visit to the WTCC/F2 at Brands Hatch but having seen the debacle at the Hockenheimring on Sunday I felt compelled to write this rant instead!

For the first time in many a long year, I found myself actually agreeing with Eddie Jordan! (and that takes some doing).

We, the motor racing fans, who support and pay for the tickets, merchandise etc were robbed of a potentially classic race finish.

Ferrari's actions were totally indefensible and completely unnecessary.

Whether it had ended up a one two finish with Massa first and Alonso second or vice verse would have made absolutely no difference to the outcome of the constructors championship.

IF Alonso is to become World Champion once again does he really want to do it with race victories handed to him on a plate by a team mate?

IF he is the superior driver (he imagines himself to be), surely it would have been no problem for him to pass Massa with a LEGITIMATE move on the track?

It would seem that every time something does not go Alonso's way he throws a hissy fit like an adolescent schoolgirl.

Ferrari, like Renault beforehand, it would appear are prepared to pander to these outbursts.

If Massa really wants to become World Champion and is not just in Formula 1 to make money (like Eddie Irvine was in my opinion), he must now be regretting his recent decision to sign a new two year contract with Ferrari.

It is clear that all the time Alonso is in the same team, Massa will be expected to play second fiddle starting with the remainder of this season.

It was cringe worthy watching the pathetic farcical pantomime act put on my various Ferrari personnel post race to demonstrate that no team orders had been given. Even a casual observer of Formula 1 would have had no doubts as to what had just gone on.

Ferrari have been fined US $ 100 k and the matter has been referred to the FIA for further investigation.

Big deal.

The fine is a mere drop in the ocean for Ferrari with an annual budget which runs to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The FIA is now headed by ex Ferrari boss Jean Todt. Hmm, that'll be a very thorough and impartial investigation then I don't think.

The only sanction which would have any meaningful effect, to deter similar actions in the future and go some way to restore the sport's tarnished image would be a points deduction for both Ferraris.

Will it happen?

I think I have a greater chance of signing a Ferrari contract in 2013!

Michael Schumacher Back to F1 in 2010?

Picture by Schumigirl1956




Rumours are rife that seven time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher will be lured back to Formula 1 next season behind the wheel of a Mercedes following a sabbatical as "advisor" to Ferrari (and mentor to Felipe Massa).

Dear old Bernie Ecclestone's little piggy eyes have lit up already at the thought of the extra cash that would be generated.

He has already been reported in the media extolling the virtues of a Schumacher return to F1 action.

Ferrari boss di Montezemelo has stated that they would not stand in the way of a Schumacher return with rivals Mercedes and that his return would be a good thing for Formula 1 in general.

Whether it will actually happen remains to be seen. After all we have been in this position before a few months ago...

When Felipe Massa was injured at the Hungarian GP, Schumacher was lined up to replace him for the remainder of the season.

However, due to a neck injury he had to abandon the plan and there then followed the sorry debacle of Luca Badoer and Fisi - surely one of Ferrari's most embarassing seasons ever.

So what do I think (assuming it actually happens)?


I have to say that I am not one of Michael Schumacher's biggest fans.

He is undisputedly highly skilled behind the wheel and can read a race tactically much better than many of his rivals.

However, in my opinion he has a crossed the line on too many occasions as to what I would deem to be appropriate behaviour on the track.....


OK, maybe I'm being too polite here - I mean he has a propensity to cheat when things aren't going his way!

Having said that, the prospect of the current World Champion Button competing with no less than three former World Champions (Hamilton, Alonso and of course Schumacher) could make for an entertaining season.

For Mercedes, pairing up Schumacher with a fellow German driver Rosberg, in a German car with a German engine, would be a marketing dream.

It would be interesting to see how Schumacher would fair in the Mercedes after a long absense from F1 and without the familiar Ferrari team around him.....

If you have found this post interesting, please feel free to leave a comment!

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Ferrari - Face Facts - You Can't Polish a Turd!!

Ferrari - Face Facts - You Can't Polish a Turd!

There is an old, if somewhat vulgar, saying here in the UK - "you can't polish a turd".

Ferrari seem to be trying to do just that with poor old Luca Badoer....

They are keeping him in the car for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa this weekend despite his woeful performance in qualifying and at the race in Valencia, apparently in the (vain) hope that he will improve.

Let's face it, if he couldn't get to grips with the bland Valencia circuit, how is he going to cope with the rigours of a track like Spa?

It seems to me that Ferrari have completely written off the 2009 season.

They are showing absolutley no ambition despite the fact their car in the right hands, is clearly competitive at some circuits as evidenced by Raikkonen's podium in Valencia.

I would not be surprised if Raikkonen gets another good result at Spa.

There must be dozens of drivers who would give their right arm to replace Badoer as Massa's stand in for the remaining Grand Prix of the season.

When Michael Schumacher broke his leg in 1999, Ferrari drafted in Mika Salo. He did a great job as stand in and would have even won a race, if he had not dutifully ceded the lead to his team mate and championship contender Eddie Irvine.

I would like to see Piquet given a chance and do well.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see him outperform Renault and rub Briatore's nose in it.

On the subject of the perma tanned lothario, I'm just wondering how long it will be before he prematurely ends the career of Romain Grosjean who's first F1 outing did not exactly set the earth alight.....

Schumacher rules out F1 return

Just when it looked as though we might have a bit of added spice for the rest of the F1 season, Michael Schumacher has decided against returning to Ferrari on medical grounds.

Schumacher sustained injuries in a motorbike accident earlier this year and suffered neck pain (some will say he has always been one of those!) when test driving a 2007 Ferrari on track. It is feared his injury would be further agravated if he were to temporarily replace Felipe Massa as reported previously in this blog.

Instead of the mouth watering prospect of the Red Baron returning to the track we have, err, Luca Badoer. Luca who? - Luca Badoer.

He has been beavering away behind the scenes at Ferrari for many years as one of their test drivers and last raced an F1 car around ten years ago so don't expect him to set the world alight.

I suppose given the very short notice this was probably the only option Ferrari had to replace Massa now that Schumacher has also stepped back.

It would appear that Ferrari have written off this season to concentrate of next year.

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F1 - Schumacher Returns - Piquet Out

Despite Michael Schumacher's manager stating last week that he was "200% sure" Schumacher would not replace the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari, he has now been confirmed through to the end of the season!

Ferrari have thrown a hissy fit earlier this week (as they usually do when things don't go their way.....).

They had requested dispensation from the FIA and other F1 teams to allow Schumacher to test the 2009 Ferrari due to the in season test ban. This request was turned down flat by Williams, Toro Rosso and Red Bull in case it set a precedent. A tad harsh maybe but after all, rules is rules as they say.

I have a gut feeling that Schumacher could win a race later this year. If I was a gambling man my money would be on Abu Dhabi. Here's why -

1. It is the last race by which time he should be back in the swing and fully up to speed with the car

2. Ferrari will no doubt have made further developments to the car throughout the remaining races

3. It is a new circuit for all the drivers making it a level playing field

What do you think? Your comments are always welcome.

Meanwhile over at Renault, Nelson Piquet Junior has been shown the exit door - not unexpected.

Yet another in a long line of victims of the perma tanned Lothario.

He has already been replaced by rookie Romain Grosjean who was Renault's official third driver.

I cannot see that he will do any better than Piquet managed when all the team's resources are directed at Alonso.

I think it was a mistake for Piquet to join the Renault team in the first place although it is completely understandable that he would see it as an immediate move into one of the top teams at the time.

He may have been better advised to take the traditional route and join a team lower down the grid for a couple of seasons and then move up to better things (like Alonso for example).

Briatore is notoriously difficult to work with and it became quite quickly apparent that Piquet was not feeling the love!

Jenson Button had a similar miserable time at Renault but since leaving his career has flourished.

Piquet is not a shabby driver by a long chalk - at the inaugaral A1 GP meeting at Brands Hatch he wiped the floor with everybody (including some ex F1 drivers), winning both the sprint and feature races by some margin.

I really hope that he will get a chance to find another berth in F1, perhaps with one of the new teams and prove his true potential.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing Briatore made to look a twat once more!

Photos thanks to - Schumigirl1956 & Ann64

Turkish GP - Vettel Takes Pole

Red Bull Racing's 21 year old wunderkind Sebastian Vettel has snatched pole position for tomorrow's F1 Turkish Grand Prix in the dying seconds of Q3 (as predicted in this blog!).

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of Brawn GP had to settle for second and third on the grid respectively.

Vettel's team mate Mark Webber has qualified fourth and, in a much improved performance for Toyota, Jarno Trulli was fifth fastest.

The two Ferraris of Raikkonen and Massa are sixth and seventh, Fernando Alonso (Renault) is eighth, Rosberg (Williams) ninth and Robert Kubica of BMW tenth.

The BMW's are showing some improvement in form compared to recent Grand Prix with Heidfeld one spot behind Kubica in eleventh.

McLaren are having (yet) another dismal weekend. Lewis Hamilton was dumped out of Q1 and qualified a terrible sixteenth. His team mate Kovalainen, despite topping the time sheets in second practice on Friday, fared little better with fourteenth spot on the grid. McLaren are hoping to rush through new parts in time for Silverstone but whether that will make a lot of difference remains to be seen.

Force India driver Adrian Sutil qualified a very creditable fifteenth.

The top seven runners were separated by barely half a second and with a tricky circuit to navigate (practically every driver has had an off this weekend so far), it promises to be an exciting race tomorrow.

Our podium prediction - Vettel to win, Button second, Massa third.

Jenson Button Makes It Five Wins out of Six in Monaco

Jenson Button has continued his winning streak by taking a lights to flag victory at the Monaco GP. He has now won five of the six Grand Prix so far this year.

Although it may sound churlish and unpatriotic, the season is in danger of going stale (as it often did in the Schumacher era) if one driver continues to dominate.

I am hoping that one or (preferably) more of the other drivers, maybe Vettel or Barrichello or even Mark Webber, will snatch a victory or JB will encounter some unreliability to even out the playing field and spice things up a bit.

Compare the 2009 F1 season - two different winners to date - with this year's BTCC season - seven different winners in seven races.

Going back to the Monaco GP..... Button's Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello came second and in third place, scoring Ferrari's only podium finish to date, was Kimi Raikkonen.

The Ferraris do finally seem to have picked up a bit of pace after their worst season start for decades.

Formula 1 Budget Cap Row Rumbles On (and on)

There has still be no resolution to the Formula 1 budget cap row despite further talks in Monaco today (Friday) between the teams, Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley of the FIA.

Earlier in the week an injunction from Ferrari to stop the planned budget cap was kicked out of court.

Ferrari are being even more up the own arse than usual this week making some very scathing comments about the "quality"of the new teams vying to join the F1 Championship next year. (These teams include prestigious and highly experienced companies such as Lola).

According to Ferrari it will be more like GP3 next year than F1.

Perhaps it has escaped their attention that they are being soundly whipped this year by a two bob team by the name of Brawn GP?

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't McLaren, Williams and umpteen other teams start from scratch with limited budgets before growing to where they are now?

In the latest twist Ferrari are threatening legal action as they say they were given a right of veto over technical changes in 2005. Ecclestone is hinting at a possible counter claim against Ferrari for breach of contract should they quit the sport before 2012.

Further talks are planned for Saturday......

Now Renault & Red Bull Threaten to Quit F1 - Crisis Talks in London Tomorrow

Following the recent announcements from Toyota and Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull Racing have also now threatened to pull out of Formula 1 if radical changes are not made to the proposed 2010 budget cap.

In an effort to resolve the dispute, Formula 1 teams are due to meet Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone at a London hotel on Friday.

FIA boss Mosley, has attempted to railroad through a "voluntary" budget cap of £40m for the 2010 season. Teams opting for the budget cap would be allowed greater technical freedom than those operating outside the arrangement.

Whilst it is clearly imperative that the untenable levels of spending in Formula 1 are reigned in, at the same time it is absolutely non sensical to have cars from different teams operating under different technical regulations.

Teams wishing to enter the 2010 season have until the 29th May to submit their applicationsd.

With barely two weeks to go to this deadline the teams and the FIA are playing a high stakes poker game - as usual with scant regard to ordinary F1 fans.

Clearly with half the grid threatening to pull out of the 2010 season some form of compromise solution will have to be hammered out over the next few weeks and months.

Ferrari threaten to quit F1 in 2010

Following the recent announcement of Max Mosley's proposed 2010 Formula 1 budget cap, Ferrari have today threatened to quit the sport if it is not rescinded.

This is clearly an idle threat.

The plain fact is, Ferrari needs Formula 1 and Formula 1 needs Ferrari.

Love them or hate them, Ferrari is an essential element of any Formula 1 season.

Ferrari may, as has been mooted in the past, try to set up or join a rival manufacturers championship. However, in the current financial climate do they really think this could be achiveable bearing in mind the costs involved in setting up a new championship from scratch?

On a practical note, Ecclestone has exclusive deals with all the circuits currently used for Formula 1 grand prix races so finding suitable venues (apart from tracks owned by Ferrari) would be difficult.

Do they think the public would really be interested in watching a race series with a handfull of different cars on the grid?

Mosley and Co would be cutting off their noses to spite their faces too if Ferrari were to pull out after more than half a century. Television audiences would plummet and ergo advertising revenues.

As is usual in Formula 1 nowadays the last people to be considered by either the F1 teams or the sport's governing body are the fans who ultimately pay their inflated wages!

Button wins at Spanish GP - Barrichello Spits the Dummy!

Britain's Jenson Button drove his way to victory number four of the 2009 F1 season at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday beating his Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello into second place.

Barrichello had outpaced and passed Button at the start of the race to take the lead and on his planned three stop strategy should have won the race. During the race Brawn GP decided to switch Button from three stop to a two stop strategy enabling him to take the victory.

On the BBC F1 coverage you could clearly see Barrichello was bemused to find himself in second place when he clearly thought the win had been in his grasp.

Post race Barrichello was quoted as saying he would "hang up his helmet" immediately if he had any suspicion that Ross Brawn was favouring Button. Brawn has denied showing any favour to either of his two drivers.

It must seem like deja vu to Barrichello after playing Patsy to Michael Schumacher for all those years at Ferrari - same team boss - same scenario - just a smaller pay packet!

L2F's view is that Rubens is being paranoid. Ross Brawn has been around too long to put all his eggs in one basket when there are still twelve races left to run.

Button is clearly on a roll at the moment but cast your mind back to earlier in his career when things weren't running so smoothly for him - for example his time at Renault when the perma tanned one had to give him the hurry up or the is he going to Williams or isn't he debacle.

A few DNF's here and there or a slip up or two for Button and Barrichello could still have his day. They should both keep an eye on young Vettel of Red Bull too.

By the way L2F tip - Barrichello for victory at Silverstone.......

Chinese Grand Prix Pre Race Update

The main news today is the departure of Ron Dennis from the McLaren F1 team.

It would appear that Dennis may have fallen on his sword following the Lewis Hamilton "cheating" scandal at the season opening Australian GP last month.

Dennis who has been involved with Formula 1 for the last 43 years will now concentrate on McLaren's sports car business.

Diffuser Row - After the FIA ruling earlier this week in favour of Brawn Gp, Toyota and Williams, we understand that McLaren and Renault will be running revised diffusers on their cars in China this weekend. It remains to see how they will fare in qualifying and the race.

KERS - after experiencing unreliability problems in Australia and Malaysia, Ferrari have decided not to run with KERS at the Chinese GP.

ANOTHER F1 FARCE - LEWIS DISQUALIFIED

I have just heard the news that Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from last week's Australian GP following a second steward's enquiry.

I had to check my calendar. No it isn't an April Fool's joke.

The only joke is the FIA. Yet another farce!

Imagine if you are a new viewer to Formula 1.

You see Jarno Trulli on the podium on Sunday celebrating a well earned, hard fought 3rd place result.

Then a few hours later you hear that he has been slapped with a 25 second penalty promoting Lewis Hamilton up to 3rd.

Now, following Lewis's disqualification, Jarno is back up to 3rd again after all!!

As a consequence of the disqualification, McLaren have no points from the Australian GP (Kovaleinen retired from the race) so they are "coincidentally" now all square on points with Ferrari........