Well its fair to say the preverbiale has hit the fan – big time. FIA and FOTA have failed to reach a decision as of 5pm Friday on the 2010 championship.
Two things now look destined, FIA will sue FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) as well as Ferrari AND the chance of a breakaway non-bernie/max show is most definately on!
Roll on midnight – deadline for the 2010 entrants
Peugeot take top honors with a convincing 1-2 victory at circuit de la sarthe, Le Mans in France this afternoon. Once the first lap had been completed the HDi FAP diesel Peugeot’s lapped up the miles to pull away and cross the line with the top 3 cars in formation, albeit 1st, 2nd and 6th.
Thomas Enge brought home the 007 Lola Aston Martin in 4th place, whilst Jonny Cocker brought home the Drayson-Barwell Aston Martin Vantage in 33rd place (11th in LMGT2).
The Corvette number 63 came home in 15th place overall, taking the LMGT1 class win on its final outing.
First and Third for Manthey !!
No suprises that car Nr97 the Abt Sportsline Audi R8 LMS was up there in Second though.
I thinks its the way forward in light of the last two GPs. Holts Damp/Wet Start did wonders for my Mini every morning although I would of prefered the SL63 AMG leading the way to work !
Soggy racing began under the safety car on Sunday driven by Bernd Maylander, who at this stage had driven more laps this season that Heikki Kovalainen !
I have to say in light of the evidence shown to us during the build up of qualifying on saturday that why Mclaren decided to lie about letting Trulli pass is beyond me. I was behind Lewis prior to this and believed that it was just the normal ganging up by the fia on everything he does, but it seems not and besides he has a brain, he can make decisions for himelf. I was hoping that all the petty issues would go away when Ron Dennis stood down, but unfortunately there must still be a few hangers on like minded to him.
Despite a late push from Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon held on to secure his maiden victory at the Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson caught Gordon in the last few laps after Gordon was held up by an unfortunate back-marker. Things didn’t work out quite so well for Kyle Busch – supported by TeamXTR – after a good start he tripped on a back-marker and then had a pit lane speeding penalty to boot. A lucky free-pass near the end of the race saw him gain a lap back but it wasn’t enough. On the plus side, his car looked extremely fast in the later stages so we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for a good result at the Phoenix International Raceway in 2 weeks time.
Jenson button secured his second win of the 2009 season with a classy display despite terrible weather conditions at Sepang, Malaysia. A poor start left him behind after a few corners but after picking himself up the impressive BrawnGP car proved its worth propelling Jenson to the front after some blistering laps when others were stopping for fuel.
An eventful weekend in the pits for Ferrari, with Massa parked in the pits during qualifying and starting 16th and then in the race Raikonnen going out of the pits on wet-tyres despite a bone dry circuit. Modena Madness? As the race was red flagged we sat and watched Raikonnens car being wheeled to the pits and later the fin was seen eating an ice cream and drinking a coke whilst wearing shorts and a casual t-shirt. The Ferrari media rep couldn’t find the words for it but trying to make us think that Kimi will be ready if there was going to be a restart, after what we’d seen, wasn’t going to wash.
The race was duly abandoned, half points were issued - only for the 5th time in the sports history and everyone goes home happy. Unless you drive a McLaren or work for them. It will be an interesting few weeks ahead as the scandal from Australia beckons to rear its ugly head.
Lewis (and Mclaren) have been stripped of all points gained at Melbourne last week.
I thought it was going too well last week when a ruling went in Lewis’ favour for once. The FIA changed their decision today and said that Mclaren had deliberately mislead the stewards with the evidence they put forward.
What seemed a promising start for F1 has taken a dive today, lets hope it doesn’t continue the same way for the rest of the season.
A well-timed nudge with 15-to go at Martinsville gave Jimmy Johnson a narrow victory over Denny Hamlin. Hamlin, less than impressed with the incident was understandably quiet in the post-race interview, perhaps remembering the same nudge he’d presented to Johnson at an earlier restart and the questionable poke he’d aimed at the back of Gordon’s car early on.
Kyle Busch’s race went from bad to worse after slipping down the field with a car which looked more at home in pit lane than it did on the track. After an incident with Scott Speed he went straight on at turn 1 with a tyre problem which cost he 2 laps. Brother Kurt could not keep up his early pace and slumped from 2nd to 18th, thus ending the brothers’ impressive start to the 2009 season.
As Eddie Jordan put it, several times, it was a Fairytale Grand Prix…fantastic action from start to finish.
Well done Team Brawn ! Go Button! Nice one Barrichello!…what a team, hope they keep this up, it makes for great TV !. Here’s hoping the whiners dont get their way with the diffuser issue and that they all get working and develop their own.
This season is not one to miss or record and watch later it has to be Live !
While I’m on a roll congratulating people, well done BBC, you pulled it off, love all the interactive menus with the Red Button and the continued coverage after the programme had finished. All you need to do now is stop Statler and Waldorf (DC and Jordan) bickering and job done !
Driver of the day for me has to be Trulli, starting from the pits and finishing 3rd ! what a drive. Yes he was given a stop and go penalty which saw him finish 12th after the race was complete. However, he still drove from the pitts to finish in the top 4, that’s no mean feat ! Let’s not forget Glock too who also started from the pitts with his team mate and finished in 4th place (after Trulli’s penalty)
Nice to see a ruling go in Hamilton’s favour for once, its quite rare, and good drive too coming from 18th on the grid.
Not a bad start for Alonso, bit of work to be done there with the car and fingers are crossed for a funky diffuser for the R29 !
Bring on Malaysia !
