Formula 1
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A day late but what a race that was! The car-breaker lived with to its reputation. Lady Luck abandoned Fisichella yet again, Alonso made an uncharacteristic mistake, Montoya screwed himself leaving the pits under a red light, Button white-walled the Wall Of Champions in a big way...other victims include Sato, Trulli (brakes for both of them), Heidfeld (engine), Friesacher (comething mechanical) and Karthikeyan (spun, hit the wall and broke the suspension).
And Kimi Räikkönen nabbed 10 points back from Alonso.
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The grid for tomorrow morning's USA Grand Prix:
Jarno Trulli (ITA) 1:10.625
Kimi Räikkönen (FIN)
Jenson Button (ENG)
Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA)
Michael Schumacher (DEU)
Fernando Alonso (ESP)
Rubens Barrichello (BRA)
Takuma Sato (JAP)
Mark Webber (AUS)
Felipe Massa (BRA)
Juan Pablo Montoya (COL)
Jacques Villenueve (CAN)
Ricardo Zonta (BRA)
Christian Klien (AUT)
Nick Heidfeld (DEU)
David Coulthard (SCO)
Tiago Monteiro (POR)
Christjian Albers (NED)
Narain Karthikeyan (IND)
Patrick Friesacher (AuT) -
At this stage of the championship, Räikkönen must finish with 4 more points than Alonso in each of the remaining rounds. And few drivers have the means to go faster than either title contender or split them...they are Montoya and Fisichella.
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BMW EXPLAINS WILLIAMS SPLIT
Last Updated: Friday, 29, July, 2005, 11:24
BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen believes the German manufacturerÂ’s relationship with the Williams team foundered because of cultural differences.
BMW recently announced its plans to buy Sauber and run its own Formula 1 squad from 2006.
Although at the time it left the door open for continuing to supply engines to Williams, it has since become clear that the association between the two companies will be severed at the end of this year.
Theissen revealed that BMW never considered strengthening its involvement at Williams by becoming an equity partner in the team, a la Honda and BAR.
Asked by reporters at Budapest on Thursday whether BMW had contemplated buying a stake in the Grove-based outfit, Theissen replied: “Not really, no.
“If you see that full integration doesn’t work because of the different culture of the two partners, [then a buy-in] doesn’t make sense.
“You cannot force it – if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
“If you buy it, it will be a very painful process to turn the company around; so if the company doesn’t fit into what you have, you’d better start from scratch.”
BMW joined forces with Williams in 2000, and the partnership initially promised much, with the Munich-built engine soon becoming one of the most powerful and sought-after in F1.
However, ten victories in six years and no world championships fell short of both partiesÂ’ expectations.
“The problem was that we didn’t really [achieve] the full integration of both partners, and finally that was the recognition that told us we would not win the championship in this set-up, with this co-operation,” said Theissen.
“That was the reason to shift strategy.”
Williams is expected to announce a one-year engine deal with Cosworth for 2006 imminently. -
WURZ QUICK OFF THE MARK IN HUNGARY
Last Updated: Friday, 29, July, 2005, 12:23
McLaren test driver Alex Wurz took his customary place at the top of the timesheets as free practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix got underway in hot and sunny conditions on Friday.
The lanky AustrianÂ’s best lap of 1m21.411s was a massive 1.4 seconds faster than his nearest competition, which somewhat surprisingly came from Rubens BarrichelloÂ’s Ferrari.
Jenson Button got his weekend off to a strong start with the third quickest time for BAR-Honda, ahead of Formula 1Â’s form man Kimi Raikkonen.
Michael Schumacher capped an encouraging start for Ferrari with the fifth quickest time ahead of the impressive Felipe MassaÂ’s Sauber.
Nick Heidfeld (Williams), Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren), Takuma Sato (BAR) and Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) rounded out the top ten.
The session conformed to the usual Friday morning pattern, with the teams’ third drivers taking centre stage and the ‘race’ drivers only putting in a handful of laps.
Indeed, with 20 minutes left to run only seven drivers had set a time, but the usual late flurry of activity ensured a busy circuit in the closing stages.
The dirty track surface cleaned up as the hour progressed and began to offer some meaningful grip – but it still caught out the unwary and there was a plethora of spins and off-course excursions.
JordanÂ’s new third driver Nicolas Kiesa spun at the penultimate corner early on in the session, while Israeli debutant Chanoch Nissany deposited his Minardi in the gravel trap at the fast turn four with 15 minutes remaining (and was craned away while still seated in the cockpit!).
Kiesa later emulated Nissany with a carbon-copy spin at turn four, but it wasnÂ’t just the new boys who dropped the ball.
Ricardo Zonta and Vitantonio Liuzzi had a couple of spins apiece, Massa went off at the penultimate corner and even world champion Schumacher blotted his copybook with a mistake at turn 11.
Zonta, who usually finishes Friday morning practice sessions at the sharp end of the timing monitors, languished in 16th place after his Toyota crawled to a halt in the pit lane entrance with an apparent mechanical problem.
Friday first practice times from the Hungaroring
1. WURZ McLaren 1m21.411s
2. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m22.834s
3. BUTTON BAR 1m23.028s
4. RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m23.159s
5. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m23.234s
6. MASSA Sauber 1m23.375s
7. HEIDFELD Williams 1m23.384s
8. MONTOYA McLaren 1m23.558s
9. SATO BAR 1m23.679s
10. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m23.706s
11. TRULLI Toyota 1m23.764s
12. ALONSO Renault 1m23.833s
13. WEBBER Williams 1m23.918s
14. FISICHELLA Renault 1m23.940s
15. LIUZZI Red Bull 1m24.174s
16. ZONTA Toyota 1m24.270s
17. VILLENEUVE Sauber 1m24.683s
18. KARTHIKEYAN Jordan 1m26.130s
19. DOORNBOS Minardi 1m27.011s
20. MONTEIRO Jordan 1m27.344s
21. ALBERS Minardi 1m27.540s
22. KIESA Jordan 1m28.230s
23. NISSANY Minardi 1m34.319s
24. KLIEN Red Bull no time
25. COULTHARD Red Bull no time -
hello
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Hello rmn hows it hanging?
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ok my two worst f1 drivers of 2005 has to be Takuma Sato and Narain Karthi..er..ka something , bloody long name. well u lot know who i am talking about.
those two sucked big time. I hope they wont be taking part next year. Narain may be Williams test driver and Taku may join Super-useless Aguri Racing as their lead driver..........God help us.
Narain + Takuma = Freddy Loix
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Toyota Chief Designer Gustav Brunner has left the team according to reports from the French AFP new agency. Brunner reported to Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director Chassis as well as Luca Marmorini and Keizo Takahashi.
Brunner joined the Cologne-based team from Minardi in 2002 with the team drafting in Gascoyne from Renault a year later. The relationship with Gascoyne was not a smooth one and now the 55 year old F1 veteran is seeking employment with another team.
The Austrian has a wealth of experience having worked with Ferrari in the late eighties before a move to Rial and then Leyton House. He then had stints with both Minardi and Ferrari before joining Toyota in controversial circumstances in 2002.
Toyota has yet to make an official statement of Brunner's departure. -
World champion Fernando Alonso will quit Renault once he has defended his Formula One title next season after accepting a "too good to miss" offer to drive for McLaren from 2007.
The British-based team's announcement that it has secured the services of the hottest property in motor sport came just days after McLaren revealed that they are to be backed by mobile phone giant Vodafone from January 2007.
Alonso said: "To become part of a team with such a desire to succeed and passion for performance is a dream come true for any Formula One driver. It will be a new beginning for me and a tremendous challenge and from what I have heard about this exciting new partnership there is something to look forward to."
"Obviously I will be sad to leave Renault but sometimes possibilities come along which are just too good to miss. I'm pleased that we are able to make this announcement already now as it will allow my current team and I to focus 100 percent on defending the world championships next year."
McLaren boss Ron Dennis added: "Its great that our strong belief in the strength and competitiveness of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes package has been further endorsed by the world champion."
Vodafone withdrew from their 23-million-pound-a-year deal with Ferrari this year and will back McLaren from 2007.
"We always make it clear that we want to be the best and the only way of achieving this objective is by attracting the best people, the best drivers and the best sponsors."
McLaren's announcement means that they will have to part company with one of their two current drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Dennis said he had begun talks with both drivers about what would happen once Alonso arrives and hinted that they will effectively be racing for their jobs next season.
"Our aim for next year remains absolutely clear to everybody within the team -- we want to win races and be in a position where we might have two Formula One world champions driving for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in 2007," Dennis said.