[b]Pos Driver Nationality Team Points [/b]
1 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 87
2 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish McLaren-Mercedes 61
3 Michael Schumacher German Ferrari 55
4 Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 36
5 Juan Pablo Montoya Colombian McLaren-Mercedes 34
6 Ralf Schumacher German Toyota 32
7 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Ferrari 31
8 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 30
9 Nick Heidfeld German Williams-BMW 28
10 Mark Webber Australian Williams-BMW 24
=12 Jenson Button British BAR-Honda 19
=12 David Coulthard British Red Bull Racing 19
13 Felipe Massa Brazilian Sauber-Petronas 8
=16 Tiago Monteiro Portuguese Jordan-Toyota 6
=16 Alexander Wurz Austrian McLaren-Mercedes 6
=16 Jacques Villeneuve Canadian Sauber-Petronas 6
17 Narain Karthikeyan Indian Jordan-Toyota 5
=20 Christijan Albers Dutch Minardi-Cosworth 4
=20 Pedro de la Rosa Spanish McLaren-Mercedes 4
=20 Christian Klien Austrian Red Bull Racing 4
21 Patrick Friesacher Austrian Minardi-Cosworth 3
=23 Vitantonio Liuzzi Italian Red Bull Racing 1
=23 Takuma Sato Japanese BAR-Honda 1
[b]Pos Constructor Points[/b]
1 Renault 117
2 McLaren-Mercedes 105
3 Ferrari 86
4 Toyota 68
5 Williams-BMW 52
6 Red Bull Racing 24
7 BAR-Honda 20
8 Sauber-Petronas 14
9 Jordan-Toyota 11
10 Minardi-Cosworth 7
Neolink said:remind me to miss it, bored as hell of F1 atm i can hardly sit through a whole race anymorebring back damon hill and mansell! all went downhill after they left
![]()
Williams and Cosworth announce new deal
V8 Cosworth power for Williams in 2006
A new chapter for Williams with Cosworth
After months of rumour and speculation, WilliamsF1 and Cosworth today announced a wide-ranging partnership agreement for the provision and development of V8 engines for WilliamsF1’s entry in the Formula One World Championship.
The partnership is not based on a traditional engine supply agreement; both WilliamsF1 and Cosworth will invest in the programme, underlining both parties’ commitment to success. Moreover, the scope of the collaboration includes not just the engine as an isolated element of a race car, but extends to a complete programme of design and development of the entire drivetrain package (spanning engine, transmission, associated electronics, software and installation architecture). WilliamsF1 has conducted a thorough assessment of the various partnership options available for next season and has been delighted to conclude that the depth of Cosworth knowledge and expertise in V8 development clearly presents the most competitive opportunity for the team and its sponsors.
Cosworth is well advanced in the development of its Formula One V8 engine, having routinely exceeded 20,000 rpm during dyno testing since April 2005 at its Northampton headquarters. The two British companies which are separated by 36 miles, both have distinguished pedigrees in their respective spheres. Together they aim to put British excellence at the front of the Formula One grid next season.
Frank Williams, WilliamsF1’s Team Principal
“Cosworth is a leading global authority on V8 engine technology. Next year is a brand new start for all concerned given 16 years of V10 engines. Some teams and manufacturers have absolutely no experience of V8s while others enjoy only limited experience. Cosworth, however, have excelled both historically, as well as in contemporary V8-powered international motorsport. The evidence of Cosworth’s V8 progress we have seen so far validates completely the expectation we have of enjoying a class-leading package given next season’s engine rule changes.”
Tim Routsis, Cosworth’s CEO
“Our experience and track record with V8 engines is unrivalled and we are naturally delighted to be alongside one of the most uncompromising and pure-spirited teams in Formula One. We have been working on the development of next year’s V8 since April 2004 and right from the onset, our performance targets have been set very aggressively. We are confident that our blue-chip partnership with WilliamsF1 can augment the record of winning the championship every decade since the 1960s. We have developed the 2006 Cosworth V8-CA engine with nothing but front-running success in mind for both the near and long-term. The involvement of Cosworth’s sister company, Pi, has been instrumental in achieving this outcome.”
Patrick Head, WilliamsF1’s Director of Engineering
“Williams has made this partnership decision purely on technical merit. Among the range of options we considered, Cosworth are very well advanced with existing development and are committed to taking the potential of this collaboration further. Our engineers have already reflected on the very productive and highly motivated nature of the relationship between our two organisations. We speak the same racing language and both have something to prove next year and there can be no greater motivation to succeed.”
BAR confirms Barrichello in multi-year deal
As expected, BAR confirmed on August 16th the signing of Rubens Barrichello for 2006 and beyond. A statement issued by BAR said the Brazilian will join the team next season in a multi-year agreement. It's not yet known who Barrichello's teammate will be as BAR is awaiting the outcome of contract wrangles between Jenson Button and Williams.
"I am very excited to confirm that I will be joining BAR Honda in 2006," said Barrichello. "I wish to thank everyone at Ferrari for six fantastic years. I have won many races with them and I am proud to have helped the team, to date, to win five Constructors' World Championships."
"However my target remains winning the Drivers' title and to achieve that I felt that I needed a renewed motivation. I have been watching BAR Honda's progress for some time and have been struck by the spirit and determination of a team that has all the right ingredients to win races and go on to win World Championships."
"I can't think of anything more exciting than working with the team and Honda to achieve our shared ambitions together. Obviously I have a job to do at Ferrari until the end of the season, but I am very happy about the fantastic times that I know still lie ahead."
Barrichello debuted in F1 with Jordan in 1993 and spent four seasons with the team before moving to Stewart Grand Prix in 1997. Three years later he joined Ferrari in 2000. The Brazilian has won nine races in his F1 career and aided Ferrari to five constructors' championships. His best result this season so far is second in Australia and America.
"Signing Rubens represents another exciting milestone in BAR Honda's development and in Rubens' own career," said BAR chief executive Nick Fry. "This is a strong and successful team that is determined to achieve its World Championship ambitions and we are confident that these will be realised soon."
"Rubens is not only an excellent driver, but he has the experience of building a race and Championship winning team and these skills are very important as we work to take B*A*R Honda to the next level. The fact that we have developed so quickly to become an attractive proposition to drivers of Rubens' standing is a fantastic credit to the team."
"We are delighted that Rubens recognises our enormous potential and wishes to help us realise our dream in the not too distant future. I would also like to thank Ferrari for all of their cooperation in allowing Rubens to join us next year."
Yasuhiro Wada, President of Honda Racing Development added. "BAR Honda are very much looking forward to working with a driver of the experience and talent of Rubens Barrichello. We are sure that the proven track record Rubens brings with him will be of great benefit toward achieving our goal of winning the F1 World Championship."
It will be interesting to see who Barrichello's teammate turns out to be. Button had originally intended to leave BAR for Williams next season but now wants to stay, but Williams is adamant it has the Englishman under contract for 2006. Takuma Sato's future at BAR is uncertain, while Nick Heidfeld has been linked with a move to the Brackley squad.
BMW wish Williams well with Cosworth
A clean break at the end of the season
All change for WilliamsF1 with Cosworth in '06
With BMW announcing some time ago that they will be taking over the running of the Sauber Petronas team at the end of the year and Williams - Cosworth announcing a joint collaboration yesterday for the 2006 season, the six-year BMW Williams relationship is now coming to an end.
Williams moved from Supertec power to BMW in 2000 with Ralf Schumacher recording the first race win for the BMW Williams team at Imola in 2001 with three more victories coming the team’s way in the same season. 2002 saw just one win with another four following in 2003. Last year Juan Pablo Montoya recorded a win for the team at the season finale in Brazil. With no wins this year, the partnership has yielded ten wins in total.
"We would like to wish WilliamsF1 every success with its new partner," Reuters report BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen as saying. "But before that, a strong finale to the current season is our common goal. We are pleased that Frank Williams has found a good solution for his team."
Williams had an option to run V8 BMW power in 2006 but as the Guardian newspaper reports, this was never really an option for Frank Williams and Patrick Head. “There was theoretically a chance that the team could have continued using BMW engines as a customer next year, but after BMW ditched us Frank and Patrick would have pushed the bloody cars rather than use their engines,” the Guardian report a Williams ‘insider’ as saying. “That's why we're with Cosworth."
www.redbullracing.com said:TURKISH GP – PREVIEW
It is a tradition in just about every country in the world that, on returning to school after the Summer Break, children are asked to write an essay about what they did in the Holidays. Obviously, as grand prix drivers, there was no way Coulthard, Klien and Liuzzi were actually going to put pen to paper, but they told us what they have been up to since last we met in Budapest.
DAVID COULTHARD – A SUITABLE BUOY
It was a case of “hello sailor” for our DC, as he headed off for the Isle of Wight to take part in the famous Cowes Week sailing regatta. David was on the Hugo Boss yacht, skippered by Olympic gold medallist, Ben Ainslie. Also on board was Davina McCall, former wild-child MTV presenter, British TV Big Brother hostess and now, mumsy hair colouration advertiser. The “Open” race was run over a 50 mile course in the Solent and the Hugo Boss boat was leading its class until struck by something called “a bad windshift!”
David then went to Scotland, where he stayed for two days with friends at Skibo Castle, the famous venue for pop singer Madonna’s wedding to film director Guy Ritchie. Rumours that David pranced round the castle singing, “Like a virgin, touched for the very first time, oooh oooh oooh!” have not been confirmed. He then headed home to spend time with his family in Twynholm, Scotland. As DC is the only F1 pilot to have driven around the new Turkish track (in a road car,) we had hoped to bring you his views of the circuit. However, despite the fact that the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, was Scottish, all lines to Twynholm appeared to be down. Maybe David was not in Scotland at all, but on the famous tropical island of Incommunicado.
TONIO LIUZZI – MESSIN’ ABOUT IN MESSINA
Wherever you live in the world, you are bound to have seen a television commercial for an Italian product, olive oil or pizza maybe, which features a large family of impossibly beautiful young people and remarkably healthy geriatrics, all laughing and joking while enjoying a meal in an olive grove. Well, it seems that these commercials are all based around the lives of the Liuzzi family.
Tonio travelled to Sicily to see his family at their holiday home, near Messina. “It’s the first time I had been there for twelve years and I met a lot of the friends I grew up with,” said Tonio. “Some of them, I had not seen for twelve years,” added the brilliant mathematician. Our Italian driver also celebrated his 25th birthday while he was there and was showered with gifts at a lunch for his extended family, as aunts and uncles and cousins all piled in to a local restaurant. His favourite present was a new watch given to him by a mystery girl – but Tonio wasn’t giving anything away about that… Prior to Turkey, Liuzzi has been back in the Milton Keynes factory filming a TV documentary for the Discovery Channel.
CHRISTIAN KLIEN – DE-STRESSING IN SARDINIA
After Hungary, Christian made the short journey over the border to his native Austria, with his father and grandfather and after a week, he packed his bags and his girlfriend and headed south for Sardinia. Sensibly, he steered clear of the part of the island famous as a Eurotrash haven for supermodels and super-egos. “I just wanted to have a quiet time on the beach and get away from the stress of Formula 1,” he said. “There was no way I wanted to go clubbing,” he added, which must have come as good news for the island’s seal population! Klien obviously managed to clear his mind of the stresses and strains of the real world as, when asked what he got Tonio for his birthday, he replied: “Oh **** I forgot all about it!” And the best thing about your break, Christian? “I didn’t have to go anywhere near Milton Keynes!”
Dutch Guy said:TBH I'm quite excited about this track, lets hope there is plently of overtaking in turn 12
What are you talking about, there is plently of overtaking (in the pitsShoei said:This is F1 we're talking about, they dont do overtaking!![]()
Tilke, who is responsible for other circuit layouts such as Sepang, the Shanghai International Circuit and the Bahrain International Circuit, is the architect behind F1's newest venue a 13-turn, 5.340km track located in Istanbul.