WOW - must have been true then... F1 has had its fair share of controversy recently or what?
Such a shame.
Africa - It's like "zoom-zoom-stolen"
Quote:
Originally Posted by whitenoyz
let's say you and i are banging, but you're banging goat on the side. Now imagine goat is also banging adie, and adie comes over at night to get her throat coated. Imagine if I'm also hollowing out Mary in my free time, who is in turn sleeping with Zach.
Symonds appears a slimeball and Briatore is known to have made his money via Mafia connections.
I had better get a bodyguard ...............
I have met and spoken to both Nelson Piquet and his son at various Goodwood meetings and they are highly approachable guys whereas some people in F1 treat others like ****.
I don't like to swear on line or on forum and some may say I am a hypocrite but in this case, I had to.....
Both Piquets deserve a medal and I hope that Nelson Jnr gets a drive with a nice and fair team like Brawn is with it's drivers.
Good riddance to Symonds and Briatore, I say.
F1 is slowly getting rid of it's nasty characters.
Paula
Briatore and Symonds leave Renault
Renault has announced that team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds have parted company with the team and that it will "not dispute" the allegations of race-fixing when it appears before the World Motor Sport Council next week.
The team had been accused of asking driver Nelson Piquet to crash deliberately during last year's Singapore Grand Prix in order to cause a safety car period that would work to his team-mate Fernando Alonso's advantage. The Spaniard went on to win the race.
"The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix," said a statement from the team.
"It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team.
"Before attending the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment."
Shortly before losing his drive with Renault, Piquet approached the FIA with the allegation that Briatore and Symonds had asked him to cause a deliberate accident that would bring out the safety car in Singapore, and that his heavy crash on lap 14 of the race had therefore been pre-planned.
Alonso - who had been a contender for pole until a qualifying fuel pump failure left him only 15th on the grid - had made a very early pitstop just before the caution caused by Piquet's crash and duly vaulted to the front of the field, from where he delivered Renault's first victory of a difficult season.
FIA investigators quizzed Briatore, Symonds and other team members over the incident during the Belgian GP weekend, and subsequently announced that the team would face a World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris on 21 September.
Evidence, including Piquet's statement, telemetry details and radio transmissions, was leaked to the media during last weekend's Monza event, which also saw Renault announce that it would take legal action against Piquet and his triple world champion father Nelson, accusing both of blackmail.
The saga then took another twist when it emerged that the FIA had offered Symonds immunity at the hearing in exchange for full disclosure of the facts surrounding the Singapore incident.
As the Renault team - rather than Briatore and Symonds themselves - has been charged over the allegations, today's announcement by the team is unlikely to have any bearing on next week's hearing.
That Lewis is a prize chop. Loosing it like that. Bet Ron gave him a bit after the race...
Rubens with his Mr.Bean like stumble every time he get up there. Funny dude... not the serious type at all that one expects.
I wonder if the Renault thing is true and if so... will they not only get a slap on the wrist like Shumie after trying to alter quali with a crash in Monaco? What is the difference?
let's say you and i are banging, but you're banging goat on the side. Now imagine goat is also banging adie, and adie comes over at night to get her throat coated. Imagine if I'm also hollowing out Mary in my free time, who is in turn sleeping with Zach.
At the weekend I was at the Goodwood Revival meeting and got the chance to speak, albeit briefly, to Christian Horner, boss of the Red Bull F1 team. He doubted that Nelson Piquet Jnr had a future in Motor Racing now at the top level. We shall see now as he has been effectively cleared. When I mentioned Flavio, he simply shook his shoulders ....
We wish that Nelson had gone straight to the FIA as soon as Briatore had told him to crash. No doubt Flavio said if you don't, you will not race with us again. I bet that he was threatened too.
I also had a chance to talk to a dear old friend of mine who works for the Ferrari F1 team. He used to work with Briatore in the Benetton/Schumacher days.
I can't repeat what he had to say.....
Paula
The former Renault Formula One managing director Flavio Briatore was today effectively banned from motor sport for life, for his part in a scandal that the sport's governing body said was of "unparalleled severity".
However, the World Motor Sport Council effectively gave Renault a green light to continue in formula one. The team, who chose not to contest Nelson Piquet Jr's claims that he was asked to crash into a wall during the 2008 Singapore grand prix in order to hand an advantage to his team-mate, Fernando Alonso, will be permanently banned only if they commit a "comparable breach" by the end of 2011.
It also said it would refuse to renew licences to any driver associated with Briatore in any capacity, meaning that all those managed by him will have to extricate themselves from their contracts. They include Alonso, Piquet, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen.
Formula One's governing body, the FIA, will be criticised by some for effectively letting Renault off the hook while pinning the blame on Briatore and Pat Symonds, Renault's former executive director of engineering who also quit last week. He was given a five-year ban from the sport.
The FIA chairman, Max Mosley, said Renault had "demonstrated that they had absolutely no moral responsibility for what took place".
He added: "That's to say Renault F1, the team, didn't know and still less of course does the company have any responsibility, [so] it would be wrong in the circumstances to impose an immediate penalty."
The team's future still hangs in the balance. Asked after the hearing whether Renault would continue in Formula One, Mosley said they would. But Bernard Rey, the president of Renault F1, refused to confirm whether the team would remain involved beyond the end of the season.
The WMSC said that while the offences merited "permanent disqualification" from Formula One, Renault were credited for admitting the charges, apologising unreservedly, confirming the departure of Briatore and Symonds, paying costs and making a "significant contribution" to safety projects.
Symonds was banned for five years from working with any "FIA-licensed event, championship, cup, trophy or series". The WMSC said the sentence given to Symonds was lighter than that given to Briatore because the former had admitted the offence, "to his eternal regret and shame".
Mosley, who will stand down from the FIA next month following a campaign against him in which Briatore was a prime mover, said the WMSC had made "the right decision".
"I think the blame has been placed where the blame should be placed," he said.
Asked what the affair, which has been called one of the worst ever examples of premeditated cheating in sporting history, meant for the future of Formula One, Mosley said: "I don't think it means anything. I think we now go on. We have problems from time to time and as long as we solve them and deal with them properly that's fine."
The decision will also call into question Briatore's joint ownership of the Championship football club Queens Park Rangers, because the Football League's rules ban those who have been disqualified by another sporting body under its fit and proper persons test.
Piquet, who faces an uncertain future in the sport, said: "The most positive thing to come from bringing this to the attention of the FIA is that nothing like it will ever happen again. I bitterly regret my actions to follow the orders I was given. I wish every day that I had not done it"
Qualifying - Hamilton on pole as Barrichello crash halts Q3
Rubens Barrichello may indirectly have helped Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday evening. The world champion had lapped his McLaren in 1m 47.891s on his first run in the final qualifying session, when the Brazilian crashed his Brawn in Turn 5 on his second and final run. As the red flag came out, everyone behind Hamilton had reasoned to feel chagrined.
Sebastian Vettel had just set the fastest time in sector one for Red Bull, while Williams' Nico Rosberg had done likewise in sector two. Hamilton was also preparing to go quicker still as were Red Bull's Mark Webber, Renault's Fernando Alonso, Toyota's Timo Glock, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen. But since Barrichello crashed 26 seconds before the chequered flag was due to fall, they were all out of luck. The grid would be formed on the basis of their first run times.
Behind Hamilton, Vettel had done 1m 48.204s for the other front row slot, followed by Rosberg on 1m 48.348s. Then came Webber on 1m 48.722s, Barrichello on 1m 48.828s, Alonso on 1m 49.054s, Glock on 1m 49.180s, Heidfeld on 1m 49.307s, Kubica on 1m 49.514s, and Kovalainen on 1m 49.778s.
Since Barrichello had his gearbox changed after the final practice session earlier this evening, however, he drops five grid places to 10th.
It wasn't a good day for Brawn. Team mate Jenson Button surprisingly failed to make it through Q2, his lap of 1m 47.141s being good enough only for 12th in the line-up behind Kazuki Nakajima's Williams on 1m 47.013s. That was a disappointment for the Japanese driver, whose team mate Rosberg had topped the Q2 times with 1m 46.197s, far and away the fastest lap of the weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen was another with a glum face after 1m 47.177s left his Ferrari only 13th, ahead of Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso on 1m 47.369s and Jarno Trulli's Toyota on 1m 47.413s.
The fallers in Q1 were the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi which, at 1m 48.231s and 1m 48.792s book-ended Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso (1m 48.340s), Giancarlo Fisichella's Ferrari (1m 48.350s) and Romain Grosjean's Renault (1m 48.544s. The Franco-Swiss driver caused a flutter by going down the escape road in Turn 7 on his out lap, but proceeded without hitting anything.
All a bit boring really, no chance of overtaking like Monaco.
Racing at night is rather interesting and the city lights are awesome.
Good race for Jenson's championship chances.
Paula
Hamilton cruises to Singapore GP win Sunday, 27 September 2009
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won Formula 1's second night race with a commanding performance from pole position in the Singapore Grand Prix.
Timo Glock (Toyota) and Fernando Alonso (Renault) completed the podium with brilliant drives for their struggling teams, after pitlane penalties scuppered Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel's chances of winning.
Championship leader Jenson Button actually managed to extend his points advantage by recovering from 11th on the grid to finish fifth - one place ahead of his Brawn team-mate and main title rival Rubens Barrichello, who is now 15 points behind with three races to go.
Hamilton shot into a clear lead from pole position, with Rosberg's Williams slipping past Vettel to take second and leave the Red Bull to fend off Alonso.
Vettel managed to squeeze in front of the former champion through the first corners, allowing his team-mate Mark Webber to take advantage and attack the Renault for fourth. He eventually got ahead, but was adjudged to have done so by running off the track onto the wide run-off at Turn 7, so was later ordered to let Alonso back past - which meant he also had to wave Glock through as the Toyota had overtaken the Renault as it ran wide battling with Webber.
Glock and Alonso could not keep pace with the top three, who disappeared into the distance through the first stint. Rosberg never let Hamilton get more than 3s ahead, with Vettel also within 5s of the leader, although Hamilton's extra laps before his pitstop meant he always had the advantage.
Rosberg still looked like a genuine threat for victory until he ran wide in the pit exit as he rejoined after his first stop. The Williams crossed the blend line and kerbs at the right handed part of the exit lane, and although Rosberg quickly tucked back in, he had already done enough to incur a penalty.
That became even more costly when the safety car was called moments later. Adrian Sutil had spun his Force India in a desperate bid to pass the much slower Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari, and then clouted Nick Heidfeld's BMW as he tried an immediate spin-turn - ending both Germans' races.
With Rosberg out of the way, Vettel made use of a smaller middle stint fuel load to hound Hamilton after the safety car period, sitting right behind the McLaren until pitting on lap 38.
This was where Vettel's challenge for victory ended as he picked up a pitlane speeding penalty, leaving Hamilton free to cruise away and collect a second win of 2009.
Glock pulled away from Alonso in the second half of the race, and as Rosberg and Vettel hit trouble, the duo moved up to second and third - giving Toyota its first podium since Bahrain and the battered Renault team its first podium all season at the track where its scandal began.
The championship battle provided the late excitement. When Webber crashed at Turn 1 with brake problems 15 laps from the end, most of those yet to pit dived in immediately in case of a safety car - including Barrichello, who had been running fifth, 6s and two places ahead of Button.
But with the Red Bull cleared away without needing a full course yellow, Barrichello's caution cost him dearly. Button was able to enjoy five more low-fuel laps and jumped ahead of his team-mate, rejoining just behind Vettel - who had minimised the effect of his penalty with some very quick out-laps on super-soft tyres - in fifth place.
Both Brawns then eased off to conserve drastically fading brakes, easing home fifth and sixth. Heikki Kovalainen and Robert Kubica completed the scorers for McLaren and BMW.
Ferrari had an anonymous race, with Kimi Raikkonen chasing Kubica and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) home in 10th ahead of the delayed Rosberg, and Giancarlo Fisichella 13th after a race-long, occasionally physical, dice with his Force India replacement Tonio Liuzzi.
While Glock got Toyota back on the podium, his team-mate Jarno Trulli compounded his poor qualifying with a poor start and only finished 12th.
Toro Rosso had a hectic race, with Alguersuari pulling away too soon at his first stop and damaging the fuel rig, and both the Spaniard and Sebastien Buemi later retiring with separate mechanical problems on the same lap. Renault's Romain Grosjean was the other retirement, stopping on lap four with brake issues.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore, Singapore;
61 laps; 309.087km;
Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1h56:06.337
2. Glock Toyota (B) + 9.634
3. Alonso Renault (B) + 16.624
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) + 20.261
5. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) + 30.015
6. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) + 31.858
7. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 36.157
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 55.054
9. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 56.054
10. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 58.892
11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 59.777
12. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1:13.009
13. Fisichella Ferrari (B) + 1:19.890
14. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes (B) + 1:33.502
Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:48.240
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 48
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 48
Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 46
Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 24
Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 20
Grosjean Renault (B) 4
World Championship standings, round 14:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Button 84 1. Brawn-Mercedes 153
2. Barrichello 69 2. Red Bull-Renault 110.5
3. Vettel 59 3. Ferrari 62
4. Webber 51.5 4. McLaren-Mercedes 59
5. Raikkonen 40 5. Toyota 46.5
6. Hamilton 37 6. Williams-Toyota 30.5
7. Rosberg 30.5 7. Renault 26
8. Alonso 26 8. BMW Sauber 21
9. Glock 24 9. Force India-Mercedes 13
10. Trulli 22.5 10. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5
11. Kovalainen 22
12. Massa 22
13. Heidfeld 12
14. Kubica 9
15. Fisichella 8
16. Sutil 5
17. Buemi 3
18. Bourdais 2
Ferrari has officially confirmed that Fernando Alonso will replace Kimi Raikkonen in its line-up from 2010, having completed a three-year deal.
The double world champion's move from Renault has been anticipated for many months, and will see him paired with Felipe Massa in the Italian squad's race team.
"We are very proud to welcome to our team another winning driver, who has demonstrated his amazing talent by winning two world championships in his career to date," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.
Alonso's arrival is likely to see Raikkonen returning to his former team McLaren alongside Lewis Hamilton.
The Finn delivered the world championship for Ferrari in his first season with the team in 2007, but his results have declined since and he will leave the squad a year before his contract had been set to expire.
"Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari," said Domenicali. "In his first year with us, he managed to win the drivers' title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari's history and he played a vital role in our taking of the constructors' title in 2007 and 2008.
"Even during a difficult season like this one, he has demonstrated his great talent, with several good results, including a great win in Spa and we are sure that we can share more good times together in the final three races of this season."
Raikkonen underlined that his departure from Ferrari had been by mutual consent.
"With common consent, we have agreed to terminate the contract binding me to Ferrari to the end of 2010, one year ahead of schedule," he said.
"I am very sad to be leaving a team with which I have spent three fantastic years, during which time I won plenty of races.
"Together, we have won 50 per cent of the world titles in that period and I managed to take the drivers' title in 2007, thus achieving the target I had set myself at the start of my career. I have always felt at home with everyone here and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team."
Alonso's confirmation at Ferrari is likely to trigger a series of 2010 driver announcements over the coming days, with the Spaniard's move long tipped as the decision that would allow the rest of the 'silly season' jigsaw to fall into place.
On his experience in Toro Rosso: "Am I disappointed? Yes.
Obviously I am. It could have been really good. It started
pretty well, with TR2 last year, and at that time I remember
people saying: 'Well, Bourdais must be really good, because
we know Vettel is really good' and this, and that. And then
TR3 arrived and I just couldn't drive the car and Vettel was
flying in it. And since it was a fast car, there was nothing
to say about that, it blew me away and I couldn't do
anything about it, and then everybody said: 'Bourdais
sucks'. They just forgot everything about the beginning of
the season."
On the problems with TR3: "It was a combination of things
between the rear suspension choice and the aero map. It was
a car which was pretty understeering in the high speed
corners and very oversteering in the low speed corners. I
just couldn't drive it. I always needed a strong, good,
stable rear-end in the entry of the slow and medium-speed
corners and a balanced car in high speed. Every time we were
trying to fix the rear in the slow corners, we were
increasing the understeer in high speed and vice versa. It
was very frustrating because, in the end, nobody could do
anything about it, because we were not developing the car.
Obviously the driver in F1 is always responsible for the
result. Everybody was complaining about my pace but they
won't do anything about it."
On 2009: "I think they saw the car had a lot of potential,
TR3 was very competitive with Toro Rosso, so they pursued
that line of idea and that trend. It was not that they were
going to favour Vettel against me: they knew they could do
the best. They carried on with the development with TR4,
which was RB5, and happened to be the car that I had the
most difficulties and the worst time to drive."
On the decision to fire him: "Because they already had plans
mid-season not to renew me and at the end of the day they
were thinking it was a waste of time to continue, because
the results were not to their expectations. Clearly the car
was nowhere near it needed to be to score a lot of points.
So what do you do? Clearly you are very tempted to put the
driver you think you are going to put next year, because
there are very little testing and everything. I can
understand why they did that. What I don't understand and I
don't agree with is the way they did it, because to inform
the driver, to talk about it and to find an arrangement is
one thing, but to let the press know about it and when you
land in Frankfurt you have messages on yourself which say:
'Apparently the press is saying and Internet is full of
rumors that this is your last race', this is not the nicest
thing to do. Am I not the first driver treated like that by
Toro Rosso? Unfortunately not. You just like to think that
people would learn from their mistakes, but apparently they
don't. In Formula One there is a lot of pressure, because
there is a lot of money, and the more pressure the more
money, and the more money the more pressure. It's just the
nature of the beast, but it doesn't mean that it should be a
certain way or another. There are still things in life you
should be able to do and things you shouldn't be able to do.
It's all dictated by people's behaviour. Some teams do it
properly and some teams don't."
On people's judgement: "Last impression counts. And this is
a little bit sad. People too often forget that the 20
drivers who are in Formula One are for sure among the 30
best drivers in the world. You do not end up in Formula One
because of sheer luck. Maybe there are a couple of
exceptions, sometimes. Paying drivers, or things like that.
But when you won championships left and right and you have a
good pedigree and everything, you didn't achieve this just
by sheer luck. You do because you have talent, otherwise you
don't become what you are. I think that's the toughest thing
about Formula One. Nobody cares or wants to know why. They
just look at results, because that's the only thing they can
measure."
On whether, coming back to two years ago, he would sign the
contract again: "I would do it again. Sure. Because
otherwise I would have always had the doubt: should have I
tried, should I have not... Obviously I had to try. I had
been waiting for that opportunity for many years."
On his relationship with Flavio Briatore: "There was a story
with Flavio when the French federation decided to try and
help a new and coming French driver to make it to Formula
One but he only proposed a management contract and with no
guarantees. So unfortunately I just had to decline the offer
because it was never going to work. It was crazy. Basically
the French federation and Renault F1 had agreed to promote a
French driver and then they didn't agree on the terms of the
agreement. So Renault F1 with Flavio went one way and the
French federation tried to find the money, which they mostly
did. Flavio was trying to repeat what he did with Webber the
year before, when David Sears didn't need the money because
he had the money from Vodafone. But this year he needed the
money, because he had no sponsors. And Flavio was trying
desperately to make a deal with him and I knew that wasn't
going to happen because David told me: 'I can't do it, there
is no chance'. In the end the French federation succeeded in
finding a lot of money, with the French government,
Playstation and Renault - not Renault F1, just Renault,
which pissed Flavio even further - and so it happened. They
did put the difference and I signed a management with him,
because it was part of the deal. And Flavio got really angry
about that. From that point on he became a big problem for
my carreer."
On the latest facts about Briatore: "I don't care. What
should I care about? If he's done or not what he's been
found guilty of, it's his business. I never interfered in
his business. It doesn't concern me. What do I think about
it? He's been banned from Formula One for cheating. Is it
too much, not enough? I don't know. He's not there anymore,
he destroyed me long enough. It's not the revenge or
anything, it's nothing personal, but he has been a pain for
me for so many years. I just tried to leave him alone and
tried to make sure he was leaving me alone as well, but it
wasn't quite this way."
On his possibilities to come back in Formula One: "We'll
see. Nicolas is trying it. He's still my manager for Formula
One and if there is an opportunity where people want me in
it and I see I can do well, then yes, I would like to try
again. The start of my first season showed that if I feel
well in the car and everything is right for me than I can
get the job done. There's no question about it. I just
cannot drive any car. I need a car a certain way, a lot of
drivers are this way, a lot of other drivers just drive
whatever they are given. Everybody's characteristics are
different."
On his chances to replace Massa: "The list was like 30
drivers long. If you name them all, of course you can be
into it. I was a sensible choice because I had the
experience, I was just coming out of it, I knew a few people
at Ferrari, I knew the engine. It could have been good, but
I think, as it has been explained, it was very difficult for
Ferrari to justify taking a guy who had been fired by Toro
Rosso. Simple as that. Nicolas was in discussion with
Stefano, I sent a few emails and stuff, but they decided to
go another way. I respect that. Then everybody was shocked
by the result. I think Giancarlo is a good choice as well,
but it also proved that Ferrari is a difficult car to drive
these days, because obviously he didn't became bad and then
good and then bad again. He is another of those drivers who
need the car a certain way and is struggling to get what he
needs to perform. That's the biggest damage these days.
People don't look after enough. They forget too often and
too quickly that it's always an interaction between the car
and the driver. If the car doesn't suit the driver, it's not
going anywhere, it doesn't matter how good the guy is."
Alonso at Ferrari - I will have a hard time supporting him. I only hope Massa can give him carrots but I doubt this will be possible. Alonso is a very good driver and it will be interesting to see what he can do in a car many have failed in.
True test of his talent.
Button to still win the current title but he will face some stiff challenges from Rubens. I cant see Vettel challenging as he blows hot and cold too often.
I would love for Rubens to pull this one out of the bag, if only for sentimental reasons
Africa - It's like "zoom-zoom-stolen"
Quote:
Originally Posted by whitenoyz
let's say you and i are banging, but you're banging goat on the side. Now imagine goat is also banging adie, and adie comes over at night to get her throat coated. Imagine if I'm also hollowing out Mary in my free time, who is in turn sleeping with Zach.
I see you are banned? Dear-oh-dear... what is the world coming to?
Thats what you get when you bad-mouth Flavio!!!!
Africa - It's like "zoom-zoom-stolen"
Quote:
Originally Posted by whitenoyz
let's say you and i are banging, but you're banging goat on the side. Now imagine goat is also banging adie, and adie comes over at night to get her throat coated. Imagine if I'm also hollowing out Mary in my free time, who is in turn sleeping with Zach.
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