Rediscover Formula One : Formula One News, Views and Reviews

No more Marlboro , West, Mild Seven , Benson and Hedges. The tobacco companies have been banished from the world of formula one. The billions of dollars they pumped into the sport will be thoroughly missed. Moreover , some cars might even have to change their colours to incorporate new sponsors. Like the Renault team which was being sponsored by the Mild Seven group , The characteristic blue tint on the cars might be replaced by an orange paint job as their new sponsors are ING Vyasya. Whatever be their colour , 2006 was indeed one of the most eventful years for the world of Formula One.

We fare goodbye to the 2006 season and start to prepare for the 2007 season , here is the list of the lineups finalised by the various teams.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes -

• Drivers -
  
• Fernando Alonso
• Lewis Hamilton

• Test Drivers
• Pedro De La Rosa
• Gary Paffett

ING Renault F1 Team

• Drivers
• Giancarlo Fisichella
  
• Heikki Kovalainen
• Test Drivers
• Ricardo Zonta
• Nelson Piquet Jr.

Scuderia Ferrari Team

• Drivers
• Felipe Massa
• Kimi Raikonen
• Test Drivers
• Luca Badoer
• Marc Gene

Honda Racing F1 Team

• Drivers
• Jenson Button
• Rubens Barrichello
• Test Drivers
• Christian Klien
• James Rossiter

BMW Sauber F1 Team

• Drivers
• Nick Heidfeld
• Robert Kubica
• Test Drivers
• Sebastien Vettel

Panasonic Toyota Formula One Racing

• Drivers
• Ralf Schumacher
• Jarno Trulli
• Test Drivers
• Frank Mantagny
• Kohei Hirate
• Kamui Kobyashi

Red Bull formula one Racing

• Drivers
• David Coulthard
• Mark Webber
• Test Drivers
• Not Announced Yet

AT&T Williams F1

• Drivers
• Nico Rosberg
• Alexander Wurz
• Test Drivers
• Narain Karthikeyan
• Kazuki Najakima
  

Spyker F1 Team

• Drivers
• Christian Albers
• Adrian Sutil

* - All others TBA

Scuderia Torro Rosso

* - All are TBA

Super Aguri F1

• Drivers
• Takuma Sato
• Anthony Davidson
• Test Drivers
• Giado Van Der Garde

Last Updated 21st December :-)

A brief account of what all happened this week in the world of Formula One

• Heikki Kovalainen says that he can match Alonso in the Renaults and that he doesnt feel like an F1 rookie

• Germany's Adrian Sutil will partner Christijan Albers at the new Spyker Formula One
  

Sadly little else happened this week as drivers and teams enjoy their break. :P

The FIA released the Formula One 2007 official Calendar, here is an overview of main points

• Season starts at Australia on 18th March 2007 and concludes with the last Formula One race at Brazil on 21st October 2007

• The San Marino Grand Prix and The European Grand Prix have been scrapped from the Formula One Calendar leaving Germany and Italy with just 1 race in the Calendar.

• The above decision means that while Imola is left without a race , the German grand Prix can be hosted either by Hockenheim or by Nurburgring.

• The Japenese Formula One Grand Prix shifts from Suzuka to Fuji.
  

FIA Formula One 2007 Grand Prix Schedule Calendar:

18 March: Australia (Melbourne)
8 April: Malaysia (Sepang)
15 April: Bahrain (Manama)
13 May: Spain (Barcelona)
27 May: Monaco (Monte Carlo)
10 June: Canada (Montreal)
17 June: United States (Indianapolis)
1 July: France (Magny-Cours)
8 July: United Kingdom (Silverstone)
22 July: Germany (tbc)
5 August: Hungary (Budapest)
26 August: Turkey (Istanbul)
9 September: Italy (Monza)
16 September: Belgium (Spa)
30 September: China (Shanghai)
7 October: Japan (Fuji)
21 October: Brazil (Interlagos)

Two time Formula One Champion Fernando Alonso is already in the front seat of a McLaren , Renault gave him permission to test in a McLaren car even before his contract expires at the end of this year. Alonso though was lacklustre and was .250 seconds behind teammate Lewis Hamilton in testing.

"I'm pleased that I was able to drive the McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 car earlier than expected and would like to thank Renault and Flavio Briatore for agreeing to this.

"I'm really excited about the future and would like to wish everybody a merry Christmas and a happy new year."

Well due to off-season and me busy with exams , wasnt able to post this. Hakkinen is back to testing with Mclaren Mercedes , So is he coming back to formula one you may ask , we are not sure :P . He was the slowest of all the formula one drivers that day in testing and was about 3 seconds behind Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer.

"After five years, to come back in F1 and to go very hard, flat out, I think I would make mistakes.

"The risk would be damaging the car. That would first of all not look professional and I don't think I would learn anything then.

"I think it would be unfair for people to automatically expect, after five years, I could go maximum attack and bang in a time."

Career Stats of Mika Hakkinen

Nationality : Finnish
Active years : 1991 - 2001
Team(s) : Lotus, McLaren
Grands Prix : 165
Championships : 2
Wins : 20
Podium finishes : 51
Pole positions : 26
Fastest laps : 25
First Grand Prix : 1991 United States Grand Prix
First win : 1997 European Grand Prix
Last win : 2001 United States Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix 2001 : Japanese Grand Prix

Formula One

Its official folks , Lewis Hamilton will race for McLaren , after years of speculation Lewis Hamilton will race with Fernando Alonso , looks like the boy has grown up. Lets see what the future holds for him. Already bookies are speculating him to be the rookie of the year.

---------------------------------------
Drivers' Championship:
---------------------------------------
1 Fernando Alonso (Mild Seven Renault F1 Team)___________134

2 Michael Schumacher (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro)_________121

3 Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro)________________80

4 Giancarlo Fisichella (Mild Seven Renault F1 Team)_______72

5 Kimi Raikkonen (Team McLaren Mercedes)__________________65

6 Jenson Button (Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team)_______56

7 Rubens Barrichello (Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team)__30

8 Juan Pablo Montoya (Team McLaren Mercedes)______________26

9 Nick Heidfeld BMW (Sauber F1 Team)______________________23

10 Ralf Schumacher (Panasonic Toyota Racing)______________20

11 Pedro de la Rosa (Team McLaren Mercedes)_______________19

12 Jarno Trulli (Panasonic Toyota Racing)_________________15

13 David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing)______________________14

14= Mark Webber (Williams F1 Team)_________________________7

14= Jacques Villeneuve (BMW Sauber F1 Team)________________7

16 Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber F1 Team)______________________6

17 Nico Rosberg (Williams F1 Team)_________________________4

18 Christian Klien (Red Bull Racing)_______________________2

19 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Scuderia Toro Rosso)_________________1

20 Scott Speed (Scuderia Toro Rosso)_______________________0

21 Tiago Monteiro (MF1 Racing)_____________________________0

22 Christijan Albers (MF1 Racing)__________________________0

23 Takuma Sato (Super Aguri Formula 1)_____________________0

24 Yuji Ide (Super Aguri Formula 1)________________________0

25 Frank Montagny (Super Aguri Formula 1)__________________0

----------------------------------------
Constructors' Championship
----------------------------------------
1 Mild Seven Renault F1 Team______________________________206
1 Scuderia Ferrari________________________________________201
3 Team McLaren Mercedes___________________________________110
4 Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team________________________86
5 BMW Sauber F1 Team_______________________________________36
6 Panasonic Toyota Racing__________________________________35
7 Red Bull Racing__________________________________________16
8 Williams F1 Team_________________________________________11
9 Scuderia Toro Rosso_______________________________________1
10 Spyker MF1 Racing________________________________________0
11 Super Aguri Formula 1____________________________________0

Now that the Formula One season has ended , motorsport freaks can feast on NASCAR (the fastest growing sport in the world) instead , here is a great NASCAR Forum for you where you can chit chat and discuss the sport with fellow like minded fans. Discuss the whos who of NASCAR and also the teams , the crew , the drivers and the circuits.

We bid farewell to Michael Schumacher and look forward to the 2007 Formula Season (We have already posted the season calendar , sidebar will be updated soon) , we apologise for the bad updating near the end of the season , we will be back with a new design , new features and possibly a new domain (in that case you all will have to update your links and bookmarks et all !!!!!!!

Plus you shall no longer be able to enjoy our partial coverage to michael schumacher : P

Here is a list of records by Schumi from Wikipedia

As of the end of the 2006 Formula One Season, Michael Schumacher holds the following F1 records:

Career Records Of Michael Schumacher :




* Most championship titles: 7
* Most consecutive championship titles: 5
* Most race wins: 91
* Most consecutive race wins: 7 (in 2004 - European GP, Canadian GP, United States GP, French GP, British GP, German GP, Hungarian GP)

This record is shared with Ascari, who won the last 6 races of 1952 and the first one of 1953. The following race was the Indianapolis 500, in which he did not participate. Afterwards he won other two races, but since the Indy 500 was officially part of the F1 World Championship, his winning streak was already over.

* Most race wins with one team: 72 with Ferrari
* Most race wins at the same GP: 8 at the French Grand Prix (Magny-Cours)
* Most different GPs (by country) won: 20
* Most time between first and last race wins: 14 years, 1 month and 2 days
* Most second place finishes: 43
* Most podium finishes: 154
* Most consecutive podium finishes: 19 (from the 2001 United States Grand Prix, until the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix)
* Most points finishes: 190
* Most laps leading: 4741 (with a total of 22,155 km in 131 Grands Prix) [27]
* Most pole positions: 68
* Most starts from first row: 108
* Most fastest laps: 76
* Most doubles (pole position and race win): 40
* Most hat-trick (pole position, race win and fastest lap): 22
* Most championship points: 1,369
* Most consecutive race finished without retirement: 24 (from the 2001 Hungarian Grand Prix, until the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix)
* Most championship points in a season for a vice-world champion: 121 (out of a maximum of 180)
* Most Wins in a season for a vice-world champion: 7 (ties Alain Prost and Kimi Raikkonen)
* Only racing driver ever, in any racing class, to win 5 times at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
* Only racing driver ever, in any racing class, to win 5 times at Autodromo Nazionale Monza

2004:

* Most race wins in a season: 13 (out of 18 races)
* Most fastest laps in a season: 10 (out of 18 races; tied by Räikkönen in 2005)
* Most championship points in a season: 148 (out of a maximum of 180)

2002:

* Most podium finishes in a season: 17 (out of 17 races)

The one major record Schumacher missed out on was the record for most Grands Prix competed in. His final race was his 250th so he finished 6 short of Riccardo Patrese's record of 256. Other records he did not break were the one for most pole positions in a season, as held by Nigel Mansell (14), and for most consecutive pole positions, held by Ayrton Senna (8).

However, the record for the highest winning strike rate, is held by Juan Manuel Fangio, with 24 wins from 51 starts (47.1%) to Schumacher's 36.4%.

He was the youngest double World Champion when he won the championship in 1995 with 26 years, 9 months and 19 days of age, but this record was beaten by Fernando Alonso in 2006, when he won his 2nd championship aged only 25 years, 3 months and 24 days.

Alonso looked outpacd in the Japenese Grand Prix Qualifying and scored a dismal 5th behind the 2 ferraris and toyota

Qualifying positions for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka:

1. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari one minute 29.599 seconds
2. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:29.711
3. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:29.989
4. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:30.039
5. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:30.371
6. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:30.599
7. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:30.992
8. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:31.478
9. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:31.513
10. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 1:31.856

Eliminated after second 15-minute session
11. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:30.827
12. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:31.094
13. Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 1:31.254
14. Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-Cosworth 1:31.276
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:31.943
16. Christijan Albers (Ned) Midland-Toyota 1:33.750

Eliminated after first 15-minute session
17. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Ferrari 1:32.252
18. Robert Doornbos (Ned) Red Bull-Ferrari 1:32.402
19. Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:32.867
20. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:33.666
21. Tiago Monteiro (Por) Midland-Toyota 1:33.709
22. Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda

A bad tyre choice was all Michael Schumacher needed to win the Chinese Grand Prix , the race result follows, Alls in vogue for the Japenese Grand Prix to come up next week.

1. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari one hour 37 minutes 32.747 seconds
2. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault +3.121 seconds
3. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault +44.197

4. Jenson Button (GB) Honda +1:12.056
5. Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes +1:17.137
6. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +1:19.131
7. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +1:31.979
8. Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-Cosworth +1:43.588
9. David Coulthard (GB) RedBull-Ferrari +1:43.796
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1 lap behind
11. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 1 lap
12. Robert Doornbos (Ned) RedBull-Ferrari 1 lap
13. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1 lap
DQ Takuma Sato* (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1 lap
15. Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1 lap
16. Christijan Albers (Ned) MF1-Toyota 3 laps
17. Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 4 laps
R Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 49 laps completed
R Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 44 laps
R Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 38 laps
R Tiago Monteiro (Por) MF1-Toyota 37 laps
R Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 18 laps

Sato was deleted of the timesheets after he was found to have ignored blue flags.

"Shanghai is a good track for Renault," said Renault engineering boss Pat Symonds.

"But it may be more significant that Michael Schumacher had two poor races there in 2004 and 2005. That trend could continue this year."

"Throughout his career, there have been many instances of Michael not performing to his potential when he has been under pressure. And I think the pressure for him is greater than ever in these last three races.

"Previously, he always had the safety net of trying again next year, if he didn't win. There is no 'next year' for him now."

Renault is trying to psyche up Schumi !!!

"Obviously we feel it is a great pity but we are continuing negotiations in order to be included from 2008," Suzuka spokesman Yasuo Sugaya said.

"We hoped we could come to an arrangement to have two races but unfortunately it was not to be," Sugaya said.

"It's still possible we can come back next year (2008), so we'll keep trying."

Till then its Fuji and Toyota'a money that count !!!

Alonso Starts Mind Games

With just three races remaining and Michael's championship bid looking stronger than ever , Alonso had some not so pretty words for Schumi and some usual bickering about the penalty (yawn !!!)

"Michael is the most unsporting driver with the largest number of sanctions in the history of Formula One,"

"That doesn't take away from the fact that he has been the best driver.

"It has been an honour and pleasure to battle against him but things will be more equal now."

"In Formula One there are commercial and political interests,"

"We are talking about the most successful driver in history and a little bit of help has never gone amiss. Quite often they go over the line of what is acceptable and it is inexplicable."

"No one is going to believe the penalty I was given for a long time to come,"

"The excuse they gave was far from honest. It isn't good for our sport."

Damon Hill Praised Schumi



"It's a brave decision to stop doing something he loves," Hill said.

"We sort of know how he'll be remembered but over time his successes will mark an era when his dedication to winning gave the championship colour."




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