2006 European Grand Prix - Race 5/18

Fisichella pushing for Villeneuve punishment

Several hours after the end of qualifying and there is still every chance that the grid could be amended as Giancarlo Fisichella has officially complained to race stewards, claiming that Jacques Villeneuve blocked him in the second part of qualifying.

Having missed the cut, Fisichella walked down to the BMW garage where he remonstrated with the 1997 World Champion, claiming that the Canadian, on his out-lap, had deliberately blocked him.

"For me, Villeneuve's behaviour was unacceptable," said the Italian. "As drivers, we know that if you are on the out-lap, you give way to the guys coming past on their quick lap. But Villeneuve didn't move over, and held me up all the way through the final sector and I lost a lot of time.

"The man's behaviour is unacceptable," he added later, still clearly rattled. "He is a world champion and it was unprofessional driving."

Consequently, Fisichella has called on race stewards to disallow Villeneuve's fastest time, which would no doubt see the BMW driver lose several grid positions.

At the time of writing (19.25 local time), the stewards have yet to make a decision.
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Something that eveyone in this thread should buy as it's a fantastic film...

Grand Prix to be released as a 2dvd set!

I'm not going to plug any establishment selling this, but it's going to be out July 11, 2006 and I'm excited as hell about it!

For any of you who care to know, here's the features included:

Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 1.0)
New digital transfer from restored 65mm elements with a soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
Theatrical trailer
Pushing the Limit: The Making of Grand Prix--40th Anniversary making-of documentary
Flat Out: Formula One in the Sixties
The Style and Sound of Speed--a look at the style of Saul Bass and the film's sound design
Brands Hatch: Behind the Checkered Flag--Behind the scenes tour of the famous raceway used in the movie
Grand Prix: Challenge of the Champions--1960s featurette behind-the-scenes at the Grand Prix
Speed Channel promo
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About bloody time this film was released!! :D :D :D
 
fuz said:
It is indeed, I put my name down on the petition about 5 times :D

The scenes at Monaco and Monza especially (on the banking) are brilliant, there is no comparison in racing film terms ("driven" :rolleyes: )
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Le-Mans is pretty good as well. :D *Although we still need a decent copy of it really*

Especially that the camera car used *Solar Prosuction Porsche 908* actually finished the race. :D

Sadly wasn't classified as it hadn't done the minimum distance. :(

Simon/~Flibster
 
Webber: safety in tests remains sub par

Drivers' lives are still being put at risk by inadequate medical support at Formula One test tracks, Australian Mark Webber warned on Saturday.

The Williams driver said Red Bull's David Coulthard, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, would meet team bosses before next week's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona to discuss the continuing concerns.

"We are a decade behind where we should be," Webber told reporters at the European Grand Prix. "All the (safety) improvements the FIA has done, in terms of the circuits and the cars, are great but the thing we are missing, the last ingredient, is the medical backup at tests. It's nowhere near the level of races."

The Barcelona meeting had been expected to focus on the new knockout qualifying format, which several drivers want to tweak, but Webber said that was a side issue.

"The qualifying thing is actually small fry," he said. "I've been championing the testing thing for the last two years. Testing is probably the most dangerous part of our job because we are testing new things.

"Things do fail in testing, we are testing tyres to the limit, we are testing wings and suspension and things, and sometimes the engineers do make mistakes and there are crashes. At certain circuits at the moment we are very, very light on (medical support).

"If something bad happens, and every month we get closer to it happening, the shunt will happen in testing and they always happen in the bad spots...we've been lucky."

Formula One has not had a driver fatality during a race since Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna was killed at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

There have been big accidents in tests and Webber listed the Spanish circuits of Barcelona, Valencia and Jerez as the ones causing most concern. Teams do the bulk of their winter testing there because of the warmer conditions.

While a specialised FIA medical team attends all Grands Prix, test sessions are private affairs with teams paying the circuits to use the facilities.

Webber said the governing body, teams and drivers needed to come up with a solution.

"I'm sick of the little walls that we come up against," he said. "We just have to find an answer. It's not rocket science, it's 2006 now.

"All the other improvements we have made have been phenomenal and this hasn't really changed. It's not good enough.

"Maybe the drivers should pay for it. That would be embarrassing. Let's chip in and get some doctors. That's how bad it is.

"There's plenty of ideas floating around but not much action."
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Villeneuve demoted for impeding Fisichella

Jacques Villeneuve was demoted one place to ninth on the European Grand Prix starting grid after stewards ruled he had impeded Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella on Saturday.

Fisichella, who stalked down to the BMW Sauber garages to remonstrate with the former world champion after failing to make the cut in the second qualifying session, will still start behind the Canadian in 11th place.

The Formula One stewards ruled in a statement that Villeneuve had committed an offence by impeding Fisichella but accepted that it may not have been deliberate.

They ordered that Villeneuve should lose his best three laps in the final 10-driver session, relegating him to 10th place from eighth.

However, he will move back up to ninth because Australian Mark Webber, ahead of him in a Williams, collects a 10-place penalty for an unscheduled engine change.
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Will be trying to figure out the grid positions later once the painkillers have kicked in and I've changed my various dressings. :(

Doctors are psychotic bar stewards. :mad:
 
Cosworth hope double change is a one off

Cosworth are hoping that the double engine change needed at Williams this weekend is a one-off.

The Northampton-based engine builder decided that the power units on Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg's cars needed changing before qualifying after metallic particles were found in oil during a routine inspection.

That has left Williams in a fight to even score points at the Nurburgring, but Cosworth's commercial director Bernard Ferguson is upbeat that there will be no repeat of the issue in the future.

It is the first time Cosworth have suffered the problem, and Ferguson hopes that the new Series 4 engine that was fitted to both Williams cars will rule it out happening again.

"This is the first race weekend where we have had that problem," explained Ferguson. "We had an upgraded specification for the next race weekend. As we have changed the engines, they are in now for this race. So hopefully that will help the situation."

Ferguson admitted that there was no hiding from the disappointment of the double engine change.

"We had been monitoring those engines at every session and we decided that we would reluctantly have to change them," he added.

"We are disappointed for ourselves, but more importantly we are disappointed for the team, and it impacts on our strategy. And we're disappointed it happened on a slow news day too!"
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Willis clarifies intention of letter to FIA

Honda Racing technical director Geoff Willis has clarified that his recent letter to the FIA about the possible flexing of Ferrari's wings at the San Marino Grand Prix was more to do with finding out what his team could do than complaining about his rivals.

Willis was said to have video evidence that indicated the rear wing on Ferrari's 248 F1 was flexing at Imola - even though the FIA had moved to clamp down on this area following controversy at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

He subsequently wrote to FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting last week, in a bid to get clarification on the area so that his team were clear in what they were and were not allowed to do.

"The whole issue of flexible wings has come and gone quite a lot over the last two or three years," explained Willis at the European Grand Prix.

"It's an area which a lot of the teams often talk about to Charlie Whiting, the race director, seeking clarifications, asking what we can do and it's a subject which we discuss in the Technical Working Group from time to time.

"It is the case that people have been playing around with wings quite a lot. There are two main ways. People either try and get the whole wing to bend off... to twist off, reduce the drag at high speed, or play around with mechanisms that close or open the flap gap and I have to say that what we've discovered over the last year or so, is quite impressive, the amount of innovation out there.

"We've seen wings that bend in one way, flaps that bend in another way, wings that aren't bonded together. I think we've even seen an inflatable wing, which I must say I was very impressed with.

"But it's something where, if we hear something or we have an idea, then it's all part of the regular business of making technical inquiries to Charlie Whiting, asking whether we can do it.

"It's a little bit of a game generally with technical advances in Formula One, when you have a clever idea, or you think somebody else has got a clever idea, you either try and do it yourself or if you think it's close enough to a grey area you ask the right sort of question to the FIA, so it either gets stopped for everybody or permitted for everybody."
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I think this is how the grid will line up...

Code: 
[b]Pos	Driver		Team[/b]
1	Alonso		Renault
2	M.Schumacher	Ferrari
3	Massa		Ferrari
4	Barrichello	Honda
5	Raikkonen	McLaren
6	Button		Honda
7	Trulli		Toyota
8	Montoya		McLaren
9	Villeneuve	BMW		Demoted 2 places
10	R.Schumacher	Toyota
11	Fisichella	Renault
12	Coulthard	Red Bull
13	Heidfeld	BMW
14	Liuzzi		Toro Rosso
15	Klien		Red Bull
16	Albers		Midland
17	Speed		Toro Rosso
18	Monteiro	Midland
19	Sato		Super Aguri
20	Webber		Williams	Engien Penalty
21	Montagny	Super Aguri
22	Rosberg		Williams	Engine Penalty
 
McLaren faster than it seems, says Dennis

McLaren boss Ron Dennis insists his team are more competitive than first appearances may suggest.

Dennis claims that the team's decision to look after their car and engine during Friday free practice often makes them look slower than they really are - but he remains adamant it is the best approach.

"What's difficult for us is to take the pain of following our philosophy of looking after the car and engine very aggressively on a Friday, which is always going to make us look uncompetitive," he said ahead of Sunday's European Grand Prix. "That sets the mood.

"The lap times there lead to normal first-day driver comments like we had this weekend, which was 'we were struggling for balance'. Well, the truth is the circuit was extremely ungrippy. Also Red Bull and BMW were running a softer compound more tolerant to those conditions.

"Then, yesterday, as the grip came in, those two tyres reversed in their competitiveness. But if a driver says he has no balance and you look at the lap times, the conclusion is uncompetitiveness.

"But in truth we are running very soft on our engines and are protecting the whole car. To measure our competitiveness, you have to look at first and second qualifying. Then you have to backtrack on the third qualifying to fuel correct, reflecting strategy. So first and second reflects best your competitiveness.

"We've made improvements. The cars were good in qualifying yesterday. You saw how close it was. All the drivers are going to be careful to get into Q3, but nevertheless you have to lean on the car to find the limit."

When asked whether the team were now beginning to miss the presence of technical director Adrian Newey, who departed for Red Bull Racing at the end of last year, Dennis said McLaren were coping fine without him.

"Adrian was due to leave our team at the end of last year anyway," he explained. "He chose to stay in F1 having previously decided to consider retirement and other opportunities such as Americas Cup.

"It was Adrian's decision to change his mind, but as we have said so many times we had planned for his departure for two or three years.

"The system and structure is in place, and it is a system and structure that does not require any position like the one he fulfilled being replaced. We do not see the necessity of having a technical director.

"We think that time has moved on and a different approach is suitable. But until there are wins and race results, everyone is going to challenge that."
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Dennis open-minded on qualifying changes

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said he is open-minded about changes being made to Formula One's qualifying system - but warned that a switch to low-fuel running for the final shoot-out could wreck some of the excitement in races.

Team principals are due to meet ahead of next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix to discuss possible changes to the final session of the knockout format, amid unhappiness at the fuel burn-off period at the start of Q3.

Although some teams are pushing for a simple one-lap shoot-out for pole position with race fuel levels, other bosses want the final session to become a low fuel run - with race levels of fuel lodged with the FIA before qualifying.

Dennis has not ruled out supporting a move to either type of qualifying, but he fears that low fuel running will wreck the spectacle of races because it will not mix up grids as much as they currently are due to varying levels of fuel being carried.

"If it's the same for everybody we don't have any strong opinions," he said when asked about his views for a change of qualifying.

"We will be open-minded about running with no fuel for the last 10, but I think we all have to accept we will have the fastest guy on pole and slowest guy in 10th.

"That's what is going to happen most of the time, which means the grid will not be mixed - and that normally contributes to the race. For us, we would be open minded for anything that could improve the show."

There is the theoretical possibility of a change taking place as soon as next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, but that would require the unanimous support of the teams, the FIA and FOM - something that would unlikely be achieved in such a short space of time.

Dennis said he would prefer to wait to allow a more considered change, rather than making a modification that needs to be altered again because it is not suitable.

"I don't advocate regular change," he explained. "I would prefer to wait until mid-season. More than one change would create confusion."
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Dennis not ruling Hamilton out for 2007

McLaren chief Ron Dennis has praised his protege Lewis Hamilton for his performance in the GP2 series, after the young Briton won both races at the Nurburgring in dominating fashion.

But Dennis would not be drawn into speculating on whether Hamilton could be ready to join Fernando Alonso at McLaren next season, although he did not rule out the possibility.

Hamilton took his maiden GP2 win in yesterday's feature race, finishing 20 seconds ahead of his ART teammate despite a drive-through penalty early in the race.

He followed the feat with a second win in this morning's sprint race, moving him to second in the championship standings with just one point behind title leader Nelson Piquet Jr.

"He's doing a good job obviously, and he was very dominant yesterday," Dennis, whose McLaren team have had Hamilton under contract for a decade now, said today.

"It's very early days, and we'll see how his performance unfolds. Clearly, our position as a team is to have the best available drivers, and it is always nice to have a choice.

"[Mercedes director] Norbert [Haug] and I invested a lot of money and time in Hamilton, going right back to when he was 11 years old, I think. It's nice to see he has responded to the challenge, and he is doing his bit of the relationship."

Asked if Hamilton - who has taken Nico Rosberg's seat at ART as the reigning champion moved up to Formula One with Williams - could continue to follow in Rosberg's path, Dennis said: "It's not impossible; Nico is doing a very good job.

"We have a very clear objective to end up with the best available drivers. We're concentrating on winning races and are not too concerned about next year."

But Dennis has made it clear that Hamilton's ethnicity, and the prospects of becoming the first black driver in modern Formula One, will not be factored in at all.

"Colour is immaterial as far as I'm concerned," Dennis stated. "There's been inevitably over the years financial support that has been offered because of that element. We haven't been interested, we've rejected it.

"He is a young, focused, talented driver working hard out of the car as well as in the car."
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Qualifying fuel allocations - Europe

Following qualifying, the FIA released the number of laps each driver completed in the final qualifying session, and consequently the amount of fuel each driver is allowed to add to his car's fuel tanks before the start of the race:

Code: 
Driver        Laps  Fuel (kg)
Alonso        14    38.5*
M.Schumacher  13    35.5
Massa         13    35.5
Barrichello   13    35.5
Raikkonen     14    38.0
Button        13    35.5
Trulli        14    38.5 *
Villeneuve    13    35.5
Montoya       13    35.5
Webber        13    35.5

* 0.5kg as a fuel sample was taken from the cars after the session
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rpstewart said:
My word that pit lane park track is tight. It's the F1 equivalent of boy racers down at Maccy Ds :D
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Tempted to go to Silverstone now to see it as much as I dislike it.

Grid walk time. :D

Villeneuve seems to be ina good mood. :D
 
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