|
The Turkish Grand Prix was the first 2009 race not won by a pole sitter. From AP-
Brawn GP’s Jenson Button won the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday for his sixth victory in seven Formula One races.
Button overtook pole sitter Sebastian Vettel on the first lap following a mistake by the Red Bull driver and held on for a 6.7-second win over Red Bull’s Mark Webber.
Vettel, the first driver not to win from the pole in five races at Istanbul, finished third after opting for a three-stop strategy.
Button leads the standings with 61 points. Teammate Rubens Barrichello, who retired after starting third, has 35 points. Vettel has 29 and Webber 27.5.
“[It's] the first race where the car has been absolutely perfect,” Button said. “This car is just outrageous. Before this, I really believed the Red Bulls were on our pace, but today we were a step ahead.”
Button’s fourth straight win — the best streak by a Briton in 17 years — makes him the fifth driver to achieve six victories in a season so quickly. The previous four — Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark and Michael Schumacher — all went on to win the championship.
Nigel Mansell was the last British driver to win four straight in one season when he took the title in 1992. Button joined Mansell, Damon Hill, Clark, Jackie Stewart and James Hunt as the only Britons to win six races in a season.
How does a perennial also ran go to the top of his sport in such a short period of time? I don’t know, but commenters feel free to give your own theories.
The other premier late May auto race was done today. From AP-
Brawn GP’s Jenson Button won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, capturing his fifth victory in six races to extend his Formula One championship lead.
“We’ve got Monaco baby,” Button said after crossing the finish line 7.6 seconds ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello. Button’s fourth start-to-finish victory of the season was the first for a British driver at the famed street circuit race since Jackie Stewart 36 years ago.
Button leads with 51 points. Barrichello has 35 after his fourth runner-up finish here and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who crashed out after 16 laps, is third with 23 points.
“I think we’ve proven this weekend that our package has worked and we’re looking very strong for the next couple of races,” Button said. “This was a massive win.”
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen earned Ferrari its first top-three finish of the season by taking third. Felipe Massa was fourth for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who took his points tally to 19.5.
Button has won more Grand Prix races in 2009 then he did in eight previous years of racing on that circuit. What has caused the sudden change in his racing fortunes. Skill, good luck, or some ‘innovation’ to the cars he races?
It was also his fourth straight Formula One triumph. From AP-
Jenson Button won his fourth Formula One race of the season Sunday by taking the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello.
Button’s two-stop strategy proved decisive as he became the ninth straight winner from pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya, even after Barrichello overtook him out of the start.
“I crossed the line first and this is a race where I didn’t really think I was going to,” Button said.
Barrichello’s extra pit stop allowed Button to make up the difference, and the Briton won by 13 seconds to extend his championship lead over his teammate to 14 points after five races.
“I had the race in my hands and I was quite surprised when they told me they were switching Jenson to two [stops],” Barrichello said. “I would like to understand why they changed that.”
Mark Webber finished third ahead of Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel, who trails Button by 18 points in third overall.
Apparently there was no controversy with this race. Next stop for the Formula One circuit- The Grand Prix of Monaco. That street course and the Monza site of the Italian Grand Prix are the only two tracks I remember seeing on television.
The Formula One circuit is trading on and off the race course drama for rain now. From AP-
Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull its first ever Formula One victory after leading throughout to win a soggy Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
For Vettel, who beat Australian teammate Mark Webber by 10.9 seconds, it was his second career victory. The German completed 56 laps on the slick, 3.39-mile Shanghai International Circuit in 1:57:43, averaging 96.61 mph.
Points leader Jenson Button of Brawn was third, extending his lead after three races to six points. The Briton won the first two races — at Australia and a rain-shortened event in Malaysia.
Button’s Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello was fourth, holding off the McLaren duo of Heikki Kovalainen and defending series champion Lewis Hamilton, who had just one pit stop along with seventh-placed Timo Glock of Toyota.
Besides being the second straight race to be rained on, this was the third F1 even to see Ferrari shut out of the points. Something that hasn’t happened since 1981.
After three straight races in the Pacific region, the drivers start heading back to F1′s traditional home, Europe. Their next stop is Bahrain, after that the Spanish Grand Prix.
It happened at the home of Luca di Montezemolo’s daughter after Lewis Hamilton won the Formula One title last weekend. From Reuters-
MILAN (Reuters) – Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo smashed a television set after seeing McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton snatch the Formula One world title from Felipe Massa in last weekend’s season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
“I broke the television, I must tell the truth,” Montezemolo told a news conference at a Ferrari event in Mugello on Sunday.
“When a television breaks it makes a terrible bang. My daughter in the other room was given an awful fright. Luckily we had another television so I was able to watch the podium ceremony, which I enjoyed.”
Ferrari’s Massa won his home grand prix and was poised for championship victory before Hamilton overtook a slowing Timo Glock on the final bend to finish in the fifth place he needed to clinch the title.
“I reckon that in the history of F1, we have never seen a world championship decided on the last bend of the last lap of the last grand prix,” added Montezemolo, who saw Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen steal the title last season in the final race.
“Miracles, when they happen, usually only happen once. I say that because last year was a miracle. A repeat is usually impossible. In Brazil, with Massa, we were in the process of producing another miracle.”
Normal grown men don’t smash television sets. I suggest Luca di Montezemolo take some anger management classes.
The caption for the above photo reads-
Ferrari’s President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo smiles as he arrives for the third practice session at Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, September 8, 2007.
Anyone besides me think that isn’t a smile?
The British Formula One driver used some improper chicanery.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Felipe Massa was declared the winner of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was penalized for cutting a corner during a late duel with world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton crossed the line 14.4 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Massa in a dramatic finish that saw Raikkonen crash into a barrier, but the McLaren driver was penalized 25 seconds for his illegal maneuver.
Race stewards said in a statement that Hamilton “cut the chicane and gained an advantage” that allowed him to take the lead from Raikkonen in the rain-splashed finale.
The penalty from FIA demoted Hamilton to third, with BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld promoted to second.
I honestly don’t follow auto racing enough to recall if this ever happened before. Back in the 1970′s I followed the sport quite a bit and remember a dispute at the 1972 Indy 500. Jerry Grant was leading when he a flat tire forced him to pit. He overshot his pit, and his car was re-fueled using another driver’s supply. Grant finished 2nd, but after the race was penalized for what happened and placed 12th.
He was caught speeding and it wasn’t at Circuit de Nevers Magny either. From AFP-
REIMS, France – Formula One star Lewis Hamilton has been banned from driving in France for speeding, a French police spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old Briton, who finished runner-up in the world drivers’ championship in his debut season this year, has been banned for a month after being caught speeding at 122mph in a Mercedes by police on a motorway near the northern town of Laon.
The speed limit on French motorways is 85mph.
“He admitted the offence immediately and was really very polite,” the police spokesman said, adding that Hamilton had said in his defence that the motorway was “very clear” at the time.
“It’s a section of motorway which is used regularly by foreigners who have a tendancy to speed,” the spokesman added.
The McLaren driver, who was also ordered to pay a 600 euro fine, will appear before a court in Laon in January.
No word yet if Hamilton will be allowed to drive in next year’s French Grand Prix. That formula one race, which was facing an uncertain future past 2007, is on next year’s race schedule.
It will be raced in Singapore.
PARIS — The first night race in the 57-year history of Formula 1 Grand Prix racing is set to be held September 28 of next season on a street course in Singapore.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile’s World Motorsport Council gave its approval to the proposal Thursday, according to reports. According to a press release, “With two positive lighting tests under our belt, we are on track to delivering the first night race,” Colin Syn, deputy chairman of the event, said.
The race will be staged on a 5.067-kilometer circuit set up on the streets of the island city-state at the Southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Organizers have a five-year deal to stage the event. The temporary circuit will use public roads around the Marina Bay area.
As long as no gay men have oral sex while drawing graffiti and criticizing local officials, the race should be a big success. On a serious note I predicted this race would be held at night-time
Note- Dear wife and I visited Singpore in 1998 for our 9th wedding anniversary.
 |
| Wednesday, September 6, 2006 |
Formula One superstar Michael Schumacher is reportedly ready to call it quits.
One of Formula One’s all-time greats reportedly is ready to vacate his ride permanently. Michael Schumacher will announce his retirement at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, the German newspaper Bild reported. The newspaper gave no source for its report.
The seven-time champion, who holds every major record in Formula One, had previously said he would announce a decision on his future at the race. “We can’t comment on everything. As we said, there will be more on Sunday,” Schumacher spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told Bild.
Schumacher’s contract with Ferrari expires at the end of this season. He trails defending F1 champion and current leader Fernando Alonso by 12 points in the standings with four races remaining.
While I personally have zero interest in Formula One racing, Schumacher is nonetheless a household name. He’s that sport’s Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, and Tiger Woods all rolled into one. He has won more world championships (7), races (89), pole positions (68), and races in a single season (13) than any other driver in Formula One history. See Wikipedia for his many other records.
|
|
