F1 Hungarian Grand Prix - Hamilton Fastest in Second Practice

The McLaren revival appears to be continuing. Green shoots of recovery or a false dawn? Only time will tell but hopefully the former.

Lewis Hamilton clocked the fastest lap time in second practice today at the Hungaroring closely shading his team mate Heikki Kovalainen who had been fastest in the morning session.

Williams were also having a good day. Nico Rosberg was third fastest and Nakajima fifth. German Grand Prix winner Mark Webber was fastest of the Championship front runners in fourth with Vettel sixth.

What about the Brawns? Barrichello was seventh fastest whilst Button appears to be on the back foot so far in (unlucky?) thirteenth. The Ferraris were also having an off day with Raikkonen in eleventh and Massa languishing a lowly eighteenth fastest.

As expected, the new nineteen year old Spanish "wonder kid" Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso (STR) was slowest approximately two seconds off Hamilton's pace and about .7 seconds slower than his team mate Buemi.

According to reports in the British press today, a number of the leading drivers have expressed concerns about Alguersuari's lack of experience in an F1 car due to the current testing ban and worry that he could impede the leading runners or even cause an accident.

It is too early to judge. The step up from F3 or another junior series to F1 is enormous and many have tried and failed in the past. On the other hand there have been several occasions when rookie's have scored points in their first Grand Prix - e.g. Vettel (the real wonder kid!) or Buemi.

STR are definitely taking a risk putting him behind the wheel in favour of Sebastian Bourdais who was recently fired from the team.

Do they seriously expect that a nineteen year old rookie with no F1 testing under his belt will perform any better than a former US champ car Champion?

My gut feeling is that Alguersuari has been appointed for his marketing potential. Unfortunately for him, Bourdais has the look of a school teacher or librarian rather than a pretty boy!

Several other names have been touted round as long(er) term replacements for Bourdais including Jacques Villeneuve and Sebastian Loeb.

I think the chances of Villeneuve landing a seat with STR are minimal but Loeb behind the wheel... now that would be interesting to see!

F1 Turkish Grand Prix - Kovalainen Fastest in 2nd Practice

McLaren driver Heiki Kovalainen has topped the time sheets in the second Friday practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix pipping Fernando Alonso by a wafer this margin of six thousandths of a second!

Robert Kubica took third fastest in a seemingly improved BMW while Williams driver Nakajima was fourth fastest ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg (seventh). Despite an earlier engine failure, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull was fifth fastest followed by Jarno Trulli in sixth. Toyota are looking to make up for their dismal showing in Monaco.

What of the two Championship leading Brawns? Barrichello was eighth fastest with Jenson Button lagging behind in twelfth. Some more work to be done before qualifying tomorrow.

The top ten was rounded out with Webber in ninth and Nelson Piquet in tenth.

Massa (eleventh), Hamilton (thirteenth) and Raikkonen (fifteenth) found themselves outside the top ten.

Who will be on pole tomorrow? My guess, maybe Alonso or Vettel. We will see.

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......

Nico Rosberg Fastest in Monaco Practice Session 2

Williams Nico Rosberg has set the fastest time in the second practice session for Sunday's Monaco F1 Grand Prix.

Throughout the season so far Rosberg has been consistantly fast during Friday practice sessions but unfortunately has not been able to carry this speed into qualifying on Saturdays or the race on Sundays.

There are rumours that he is getting frustrated with the Williams Team. Lets hope Patrick and Frank can get the issues with the car resolved soon so that he can show his talents. Maybe a good result is on the cards this weekend.

The two McLarens of Hamilton and Kovalainen are showing improved pace round Monaco with Hamilton second fastest behind Rosberg.

The Brawns are also fast again with Barrichello quicker than his team mate Button in both practice sessions.

Could it be Rubens turn to take the win this time following his disappointment in Spain? All will be revealed as the weekend progresses.

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.

McLaren - Another Spectacular Home Goal

It seems that McLaren have scored yet another spectacular home goal.

Following an enquiry after last weekends Australian GP it would appear the reason for Lewis Hamilton's subsequent disqualification was an instruction he received from a senior member of the McLaren team to withold information from the race stewards regarding the overtaking move on Jarno Trulli.

For the sake of ONE additional world championship point, McLaren now find themselves with NO points from the opening GP.

Add to this, Lewis Hamilton's reputation has been tarnished amid accusations in the press of him being a cheat and a liar.

A team of McLaren's experience should know better.

They should bear in mind that the FIA are already (in L2F's opinion) heavily biased against McLaren and therefore should know that they need to be squeaky clean at all times.

Is the only way to win the Formula 1 World Championship nowadays by cheating?

Could be. Michael Schumacher was a practicioner of the art and pulled more strokes than Jacqui Smith's hubbie over the years!

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........