f1 on its way to singapore! and night driving for the first time. wad do u guys think abt the night driving? dangerous? challenging?

bucketocrab: Night driving in singapore, sounds great, should be worth watching.


Belgian GP grid

1. HAMILTON - McLaren

2. MASSA - Ferrari

3. KOVALAINEN - McLaren

4. RAIKKONEN - Ferrari

5. HEIDFELD - BMW

6. ALONSO - Renault

7. WEBBER - Red Bull

8. KUBICA - BMW

9. BOURDAIS - Toro Rosso

10. VETTEL - Toro Rosso

11. TRULLI - Toyota

12. PIQUET - Renault

13. GLOCK - Toyota

14. COULTHARD - Red Bull

15. ROSBERG - Williams

16. BARRICHELLO - Honda

17. BUTTON - Honda

18. SUTIL - Force India

19. NAKAJIMA - Williams

20. FISICHELLA - Force India

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kovy now wants more in race

Heikki Kovalainen was satisfied to secure third place on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix after splitting the Ferraris at Spa on Saturday.

The Finn completed a strong qualifying session for McLaren by getting ahead of one of team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari title rivals, Kimi Raikkonen, with his final run in Q3.
He says he has been pleased with the speed of his MP4-23 throughout the weekend so far and is looking to maintain that into race day.

“It has been a pretty good weekend all the way through,” he said.

“We have had no big problems with the car and we have been trying to increase the pace at the same time.

“All three sessions in qualifying were fairly straightforward, no big problems, but not enough to be higher up on the grid.

“But the race is tomorrow and we can see if we can do better tomorrow.”

Kovalainen had looked to be in with a strong chance of securing at least a front-row starting berth after outpacing his main rivals in Q1 and then setting the weekend’s fastest time in the low-fuel second session.

But after missing out on pipping Felipe Massa to second on the grid by over a tenth of a second, the Finn felt it was the middle sector of the lap that had cost him.

“It felt okay, no big problems,” he said.

“I lost a bit [of time] in the middle sector; I’m not sure exactly where in terms of corners but somewhere in the middle of the lap I lost a little bit.

“But that’s the way it goes.”

__________________

Go on hit the rep button, you know you want to.

Revised Belgian GP result

1. MASSA - Ferrari

2. HEIDFELD - BMW

3. HAMILTON - McLaren*

4. ALONSO - Renault

5. VETTEL - Toro Rosso

6. KUBICA - BMW

7. BOURDAIS - Toro Rosso

8. WEBBER - Red Bull

9. GLOCK - Toyota*

10. KOVALAINEN - McLaren

11. COULTHARD - Red Bull

12. ROSBERG - Williams

13. SUTIL - Force India

14. NAKAJIMA - Williams

15. BUTTON - Honda

16. TRULLI - Toyota

17. FISICHELLA - Force India

R. RAIKKONEN - Ferrari

R. BARRICHELLO - Honda

R. PIQUET - Renault

*25-second time penalty

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lewis Hamilton has had his Belgian Grand Prix victory overturned by the stewards, handing the win to title rival Felipe Massa, who finished second on the road.
The FIA stewards' decision to apply a retroactive 25-second penalty to Lewis Hamilton has stripped the McLaren driver of victory in the Belgian Grand Prix and handed the win to Felipe Massa.

Below is the statement from the stewards explaining their verdict.


From: The stewards of the meeting

To: The team manager, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

The stewards, having received a report from the Race Director and having met with the drivers and team managers involved, have considered the following matter, determine a breach of the regulations has been committed by the competitor and impose the penalty referred to.

No./driver: 22, Lewis Hamilton

Time: 15:21:33

Facts: Cut the chicane and gained an advantage

Offence: Breach of Article 30.3(a) of the 2008 FIA Formula 1 sporting regulations and Appendix L chapter 4 Article 2 (g) of the International Sporting Code.

Penalty: Drive-through penalty (Article 16.3 (a)), since this is being applied at the end of the race, 25 seconds will be added to the driver’s elapsed race time.

FIA Stewards of the Meeting

Received by: Lewis Hamilton, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes


Cosycat: I watched the race from start to finish, & the stewards result seems fair to me, Hamilton should have let Kimi go in front of him, but instead he only pulled along side, which is wrong.

__________________

Go on hit the rep button, you know you want to.

1. VETTEL - Toro Rosso

2. KOVALAINEN - McLaren

3. WEBBER - Red Bull

4. BOURDAIS - Toro Rosso

5. ROSBERG - Williams

6. MASSA - Ferrari

7. TRULLI - Toyota

8. ALONSO - Renault

9. GLOCK - Toyota

10. HEIDFELD - BMW

11. KUBICA - BMW

12. FISICHELLA - Force India

13. COULTHARD - Red Bull

14. RAIKKONEN - Ferrari

15. HAMILTON - McLaren


16. BARRICHELLO - Honda

17. PIQUET - Renault

18. NAKAJIMA - Williams

19. BUTTON - Honda

20. SUTIL - Force India
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vettel Gets Pole

Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel seized the opportunity presented by a wet qualifying session to take the first pole position of his Formula 1 career at Monza with a giant-killing performance at Monza on Saturday.

The 21-year-old German proved why he is increasingly seen as one of Formula 1’s future superstars, taming the treacherous conditions to upstage the big names from McLaren and Ferrari.

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton’s world title bid – which had already taken a hit when he was stripped of his Spa victory – suffered another setback after a tactical gamble on an early switch to intermediate tyres backfired spectacularly and he missed the cut for the top-10 shootout.

The McLaren driver will start the race from a lowly 15th position, nine spots behind his title rival Felipe Massa, who now has a golden opportunity to gain the upper hand in the points standings.

Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen did the best job of the habitual front-runners, looking comfortable in the rain all afternoon and missing out on pole by just 0.076s.

It was a great day all round for the Red Bull stable, with RBR’s Mark Webber qualifying third and Sebastien Bourdais fourth in the other Toro Rosso.

Nico Rosberg completed a shock top five, giving his struggling Williams team a well-timed fillip as it embarks on its 500th grand prix on Sunday.

There were further surprises among the leading players, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica joining Hamilton on the sidelines after Q2 and managing only 14th and 11th on the grid respectively.

Track conditions were at their worst at either end of the qualifying hour, but it was in the second knockout session that the drama really began.

With the rain having abated and the beginnings of a dry racing line appearing, Hamilton opted to put on intermediate tyres – only to find that the track wasn’t ready for them and return to the pits without setting a timed lap.

By the time that he was back on wets, the rain had started falling again, leaving him with an uphill task just to make the show for Q3.

It should have been possible, as Massa and a couple of other drivers were eking out small lap time gains over the next few minutes, but Hamilton appeared to lack confidence in his MP4-23 and put paid to one flying lap with a 360-degree spin coming out of the slippery Ascari chicane.

The Briton stayed out on track in the hope that conditions would improve, but they didn’t and his best time left him some 1.7s seconds shy of Raikkonen, who himself was struggling.

Kubica was another to spin at Ascari, while Massa squeaked through to Q3 by a wafer-thin 0.021s margin thanks to some plucky laps while the rain was intensifying.

There was clearly the potential for a topsy-turvy grid and Q3 duly delivered it, with Vettel stepping up to the plate in superb fashion and sealing pole with a best lap of 1m37.555s – around 12 seconds slower than what might have been expected in the dry.

Bourdais aquaplaned off on the exit of Ascari but still managed fourth – having been pipped by Webber in the dying moments – ahead of Massa, Rosberg, Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Fernando Alonso (Renault).

Timo Glock was ninth in the second Toyota, while Nick Heidfeld outqualified his BMW team-mate Kubica for the second straight race but just the third time this season.

Giancarlo Fisichella achieved one of Force India’s targets by making it through to Q2 and went on to secure an outstanding 12th on the grid ahead of David Coulthard, Raikkonen and Hamilton.

Team-mate Adrian Sutil was unable to produce his trademark wet-weather heroics and will start 20th and last.

Honda had a dire afternoon as the RA108 proved even worse in the wet than it usually is in the dry, dashing the team’s hopes that the weather would mask the car’s shortcomings.

Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button managed only 16th and 19th respectively, sandwiched by Nelson Piquet (Renault) and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), both of whom were conspicuously outperformed by their team-mates.

__________________

Go on hit the rep button, you know you want to.

Italian Grand Prix result

1. VETTEL - Toro Rosso

2. KOVALAINEN - McLaren

3. KUBICA - BMW

4. ALONSO - Renault

5. HEIDFELD - BMW

6. MASSA - Ferrari

7. HAMILTON - McLaren

8. WEBBER - Red Bull

9. RAIKKONEN - Ferrari

10. PIQUET - Renault

11. GLOCK - Toyota

12. NAKAJIMA - Williams

13. TRULLI - Toyota

14. ROSBERG - Williams

15. BUTTON - Honda

16. COULTHARD - Red Bull

17. BARRICHELLO - Honda

18. BOURDAIS - Toro Rosso

19. SUTIL - Force India

R. FISICHELLA - Force India

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vettel scores stunning maiden GP win

Sebastian Vettel became the youngest winner in Formula 1 history at Monza on Sunday with a sensational wet-weather masterclass that handed Toro Rosso an extraordinary maiden victory.

The 21-year-old German, dubbed in his homeland as 'the next Schumacher', produced the performance of a seasoned champion to dominate the race from pole position on an unpredictable afternoon which saw the race begin in treacherously wet conditions.

In the process he brought a first Formula 1 victory for either of Red Bull's entities, although few could ever have predicted it would be the smaller of the two that claimed that honour – with the Italian-based squad just three years ago still perennial backmarkers Minardi.

Driver of the race - Vettel
Bad Driver of the race - Hamilton

__________________

Go on hit the rep button, you know you want to.

__________________

I like the live legenda Michael Shumacher and I think that we must wait some time to see champion like Shumacher
right now u don't have any one in that calibre

Starting Grid - First Night Race

1. MASSA - Ferrari

2. HAMILTON - McLaren

3. RAIKKONEN - Ferrari

4. KUBICA - BMW

5. KOVALAINEN - McLaren

6. VETTEL - Toro Rosso

7. GLOCK - Toyota

8. ROSBERG - Williams

9. HEIDFELD - BMW

10. NAKAJIMA - Williams

11. TRULLI - Toyota

12. BUTTON - Honda

13. WEBBER - Red Bull

14. COULTHARD - Red Bull

15. ALONSO - Renault

16. PIQUET - Renault

17. BOURDAIS - Toro Rosso

18. BARRICHELLO - Honda

19. SUTIL - Force India

20. FISICHELLA - Force India

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

F1 figures pay tribute to Paul Newman

McLaren team boss Ron Dennis and Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Bourdais have led the Formula 1 paddock's tributes to the actor Paul Newman, who lost his battle against cancer yesterday.

Although best known in the wider world for his film roles, Newman was also a huge motor racing enthusiast, a team owner in American motorsport, and a very successful racing driver in his spare time.

"Paul Newman was one of those very few people for whom the term 'megastar' was no exaggeration: truly, he was a legend of the silver screen," said Dennis.

"However, he was also a fine driver, who was famous in Hollywood for doing his own stunt driving as often as not.

"But his driving was in fact no mere stunt.

"I met him quite a few times, and liked him a lot.

"In fact I arranged a secret test for him in a Procar many years ago, and he acquitted himself pretty well.

"Along with all my McLaren Group and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes colleagues, I extend my sympathy at this very sad time to this great man's grieving family and friends."

Bourdais spent five years with the Newman/Haas team co-owned by Newman, winning his four Champ Car titles for the squad before leaving for F1.

"He was a great man and he will be dearly missed, but he has no doubt gone to a better place," said the Frenchman.

The highlight of Newman's racing career was his second place at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1979, and he also won miscellaneous sportscar titles in the America domestic motorsport scene.

But arguably his greatest racing achievements came in his team ownership role at Newman/Haas - where he was far more than just a famous figurehead.

Newman's squad claimed eight Indy/Champ Car titles, with former F1 world champions Nigel Mansell and Mario Andretti among those who won for the movie superstar's team.

__________________

Go on hit the rep button, you know you want to.

Singapore Grand Prix result (61 laps)



1. ALONSO - Renault

2. ROSBERG - Williams

3. HAMILTON - McLaren

4. GLOCK - Toyota

5. VETTEL - Toro Rosso

6. HEIDFELD - BMW

7. COULTHARD - Red Bull

8. NAKAJIMA - Williams

9. BUTTON - Honda

10. KOVALAINEN - McLaren

11. KUBICA - BMW

12. BOURDAIS - Toro Rosso

13. MASSA - Ferrari

14. FISICHELLA - Force India

15. RAIKKONEN - Ferrari

R. TRULLI - Toyota

R. SUTIL - Force India

R. WEBBER - Red Bull

R. BARRICHELLO - Honda

R. PIQUET - Renault
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nelson Piquet Jnr - Crashes



Nelson Piquet reckoned his Renault was close to being undrivable after he crashed out early into the wall in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Brazilian, under-pressure to retain his drive at the team for 2009, lost the back of his R28 at turn 17, touching the wall with the rear of the car before bouncing back across the track into the opposite barrier.

Piquet walked away unharmed from the incident.

He said “We were running a very, very long first stint,”, "the car was really heavy, it was touching the floor much more than we expected – the car was really undriveable".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ferrari mechanic taken for checks

A Ferrari mechanic has been taken to the Singapore Grand Prix medical centre for checks after being knocked to the floor during a chaotic pit stop for Felipe Massa.

The pole-sitting Brazilian had led the race comfortably from Lewis Hamilton in the early laps, but lost his advantage when the safety car was deployed on lap 15 following a crash for Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr.

After several laps under caution, the pit lane was opened and Massa led the majority of cars into their respective pit boxes.

But despite receiving a green light to signify he was clear to leave his stall from the team’s mechanic-controlled ‘traffic light’ system, his fuel hose had not disengaged and he drove away with it still attached, throwing a mechanic to the floor.

Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni confirmed that the man was not seriously injured, but had still been taken to the circuit’s medical centre for checks.


Driver of the race - Rosberg

__________________

Go on hit the rep button, you know you want to.

Japanese Gp Grid

1. HAMILTON - McLaren

2. RAIKKONEN - Ferrari

3. KOVALAINEN - McLaren

4. ALONSO - Renault

5. MASSA - Ferrari

6. KUBICA - BMW

7. TRULLI - Toyota

8. GLOCK - Toyota

9. VETTEL - Torro Rosso

10. BOURDAIS - Toro Rosso

11. COULTHARD - Red Bull

12. PIQUET - Renault

13. WEBBER - Red Bull

14. NAKAJIMA - Williams

15. ROSBERG - Williams

16. HEIDFELD - BMW

17. BARRICHELLO - Honda

18. BUTTON - Honda

19. SUTIL - Force India

20. FISICHELLA - Force India
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honda still holding out for Alonso

Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry has confirmed that the team is still hanging on to see if it can bring Fernando Alonso on board for next season.

The former world champion's future has been the the big story of this year's silly season, with Honda keen to persuade him that despite its terrible recent form, the addition of Ross Brawn and its early start on 2009 preparations make it a competitive prospect for next year and beyond.

Alonso has insisted that he will wait until after the season finale before deciding what to do, but has indicated that he favours staying at Renault – with the team's recent improvements and the prospect of engine equalisation helping to convince him.

Fry hasn't given up on luring Alonso yet, though, and said that was why Honda had yet to reveal either of its 2009 drivers.

"We want to announce both drivers at the same time, and at the moment we’re not in a position to do that because we’re awaiting a yes or a no from a certain person,".

So until we get that we’re just going to hang on."

When asked if Alonso was the 'certain person' in question, Fry replied: "You’re a good guesser."

He was also unwilling to indicate whether it would be Jenson Button or Rubens Barrichello who could have to make way for Alonso.

"We'll announce that when we announce both drivers," said Fry.

Honda and Renault are now the only contenders in the battle for Alonso's signature, with Ferrari and BMW Sauber having confirmed that they will go into 2009 with unchanged driver line-ups.

__________________

Go on hit the rep button, you know you want to.