[b]Pos Driver Nationality Team Points [/b]
1 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 95
2 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish McLaren-Mercedes 71
3 Michael Schumacher German Ferrari 55
4 Juan Pablo Montoya Colombian McLaren-Mercedes 40
5 Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 39
6 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 35
7 Ralf Schumacher German Toyota 32
8 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Ferrari 31
9 Nick Heidfeld German Williams-BMW 28
10 Mark Webber Australian Williams-BMW 24
11 Jenson Button British BAR-Honda 23
12 David Coulthard British Red Bull Racing 21
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
=18 Narain Karthikeyan Indian Jordan-Toyota 5
=18 Christian Klien Austrian Red Bull Racing 5
=20 Christijan Albers Dutch Minardi-Cosworth 4
=20 Pedro de la Rosa Spanish McLaren-Mercedes 4
21 Patrick Friesacher Austrian Minardi-Cosworth 3
=23 Takuma Sato Japanese BAR-Honda 1
=23 Vitantonio Liuzzi Italian Red Bull Racing 1
[b]Pos Constructor Points[/b]
1 Renault 130
2 McLaren-Mercedes 121
3 Ferrari 86
4 Toyota 71
5 Williams-BMW 52
6 Red Bull Racing 27
7 BAR-Honda 24
8 Sauber-Petronas 14
9 Jordan-Toyota 11
10 Minardi-Cosworth 7
A bizarre statement from FOM
There was a strange press release this evening sent out by Formula One Management and signed by Bernie Ecclestone. The message, however, was not one that seemed to ring true with Ecclestone's views in recent months.
"It has been reported that approaches have been made in relationship to the sale by the controlling shareholders of SLEC," it said. "Although the approach has been made, the answer has been that the company shares are not for sale. The shareholders are long term investors and have the interest and stability of Formula One foremost in their mind."
One can make of this what you will but given Ecclestone's distaste for publicity in such matters and the odd wording of the statement, one must conclude that there has been some pushing and shoving in the background in recent days.
Michelin Better - Massa
Pierre Dupasquier; Hisao Suganuma? Uniquely, there might actually be a man even better placed to muse F1's 'Michelin v. Bridgestone' tyre war ahead of the grand prix at Monza.
Felipe Massa, to the chagrin of Michelin's Dupasquier, tried both brands on the high speed Italian circuit last week.
First, he got a sneak preview of his 2006 Ferrari-Bridgestone package when he piloted a scarlet car. Later, the 24-year-old Brazilian reverted back to his regular Sauber-Michelin combo.
Massa said Bridgestone can keep up with the leading Michelin rubber in quick bends like the Parabolica or Lesmos.
"(But) under braking," he reported, "or in the slow curves and when accelerating - if you need traction - Michelin is better."
If that's bad news for the Japanese camp for the weekend, it got even worse on one day at the test when Ferrari's Luca Badoer experienced a high speed left-rear tyre failure. The specification he was testing, it is reported, was set to be introduced at the Italian grand prix.
Instead, technical manager Hisao Suganuma says the marque will again use the dismally slow Turkey-spec tyre.
"(It) seemed to work well in the test," the Japanese shrugged.
divine_madness said:[n00b]Whats A1GP?[/n00b]
Monza Ticket Sales Down
Italian Grand Prix organisers fear Ferrari's poor form is having an impact on ticket sales for Sunday's Formula One race at Monza.
"Ticket sales are down on previous years and this is troubling us," Milan Automobile Club president Ludovico Grandi told reporters on Tuesday.
"On the one hand costs are going up and on the other the returns are going down while the competition is growing from emerging countries, as Turkey, China and Bahrain have demonstrated."
Enrico Ferrari, director of the Monza circuit, said ticket sales were down 15 percent on last year despite prices being reduced, although the organisers hoped for an improvement leading up to the weekend.
Some 117,000 spectators turned up for last year's race, won by Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello after the Italian team had already won the Constructors' Championship and Michael Schumacher the drivers' crown.
The circuit's record attendance was 160,532 in 2000, the year that Schumacher became the first Ferrari driver in 21 years to win the Championship.
Crowd figures for last week's testing at Monza were just over 30,000, half last year's levels.
Organisers said Ferrari's fortunes and the fact that this year's race is a week earlier than previously were both factors.
Flibster said:Also...
Right - as A1GP starts soon...does anyone want me to do an introduction to that and possibly try something like this for it as well?
Simon/~Flibster
ashtray_head said:am looking forward to this race. I want to see Ferrari suffer again
Lets hope they (bridgestone) do take those carp Turkey tyres
ashtray_head said:yesh Simon
Byron5184 said:Coverage for A1GP as well would be awesome Flibster
What channel is it gonna start airing on cause i have no idea.