Daily Update Formula1 News

Ferrari have become the first team to unveil their 2009 car, ahead of the first run of their F60 at Mugello in Italy on Monday.
The car has been named as a way of celebrating the fact that Ferrari are the only team to have competed in each of the 60 years of the Formula One world championship.
Due to the radical change in F1 regulations this year, the look of the new car is dominated by the wide front wing and narrow rear wing - with the central part of the F60 featuring a highly-sculpted 'coke bottle' rear-end from behind the sidepods.
The new car features Ferrari's Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), which has been developed in conjunction with electronics supplier Magneti Marelli. It is mounted on the engine - although the team has not yet confirmed whether the device will be used for the first race.

"As you can see the car is not an evolution of last year's car," said technical director Aldo Costa.
"It's a completely new car, starting from a white piece of paper. Fundamentally the biggest changes come from the new rules from an aerodynamic point of view and the introduction of new technology, which is the KERS system.
"Because of that we had to start work pretty early and to review the main concept of the car, so it was a very very intense and long job."
The F60 features a longitudinally-mounted carbon fibre-cased gearbox and has a new Brembo designed braking system.
Felipe Massa is scheduled to test the car for the first time later today at Mugello, with initial shakedowns having been switched from Fiorano because of freezing temperatures at Ferrari's test track.
ref [AS]
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Kimi Raikkonen beat home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso to the fastest time in the second free practice session at the new Valencia street track.
Until Raikkonen's last gasp lap, Alonso looked set to end the day at the top of the timesheets, having leapt to the front of the field on the supersoft Bridgestones with four minutes remaining, only for the reigning champion to pip him by 0.020 seconds in the closing moments.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:39.477 30
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:39.497 + 0.020 39
3. Button Honda (B) 1:39.546 + 0.069 35
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:39.678 + 0.201 31
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.712 + 0.235 31
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.954 + 0.477 30
7. Glock Toyota (B) 1:39.967 + 0.490 32
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:40.149 + 0.672 35
9. Piquet Renault (B) 1:40.439 + 0.962 32
10. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.500 + 1.023 23
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.585 + 1.108 24
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.607 + 1.130 34
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.696 + 1.219 23
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.742 + 1.265 34
15. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:40.877 + 1.400 32
16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:40.982 + 1.505 36
17. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.999 + 1.522 32
18. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:41.084 + 1.607 35
19. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.246 + 1.769 38
20. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:41.377 + 1.900 31
ref [AS]

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Kimi Raikkonen claimed Ferrari's 200th Formula One pole in French Grand Prix qualifying, leading teammate Felipe Massa in a front row sweep.

Lewis Hamilton was third fastest for McLaren, but will drop to 13th on the grid due to his penalty for hitting Raikkonen in the Montreal pits.

That will elevate Fernando Alonso (Renault) to third place, with Jarno Trulli joining him on row two after an impressive effort for Toyota.

Hamilton's McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen and championship leader Robert Kubica (BMW) will complete the leading three rows.

Although Massa had dominated Q1 and Q2, it was Raikkonen who took charge in Q3, claiming provisional pole on his first run.

When Massa then failed to improve sufficiently to demote his teammate, Raikkonen chose to abandon his second lap, rightly believing he was assured of pole.

Hamilton's eventual third place was a comparatively successful result after an error at the Nurburgring chicane on his first Q3 run had left him eighth - and facing a potential ninth row start. He managed to vault to third with his second flying lap and minimised the damage.

Behind Alonso, Trulli and Kovalainen, Kubica took sixth place despite struggling in the earlier parts of qualifying.

He went out for two runs in Q1 to be sure of making the cut, and then came close to being eliminated in Q2, only just hanging on to 10th at the end of the session.

The Red Bulls will start seventh and eighth, with Mark Webber ahead despite being slowed on his first Q3 lap when Trulli had a spin in his path at the 180 corner.

Timo Glock was the final Q3 qualifier in the second Toyota, and will start ninth.

Nick Heidfeld's qualifying difficulties continued, despite the BMW driver's pre-event optimism. The German was just 0.063 seconds slower than teammate Kubica in Q2, but that was the crucial difference between 10th and 12th places.

Despite topping final practice, Renault's Nelson Piquet was edged out of the Q3 positions when Coulthard made a last-gasp improvement at the end of Q2. That left Piquet back in 11th, as the Brazilian missed the Q3 cut by a scant 0.047 seconds.

Toro Rosso looked set to produce an upset after Sebastian Vettel's rapid practice times, but in qualifying the German was only able to take 13th, one place and 0.2 seconds better than teammate Sebastien Bourdais, who will start his first ever home GP from his best grid position yet.

Nico Rosberg could only manage 15th place for Williams, and will fall to the back when the penalty for his involvement in the Montreal pitlane crash is applied. His teammate Kazuki Nakajima was knocked out in Q1, where he was just 16th quickest.

The Hondas and Force Indias were slowest of all. Honda's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello have lacked speed all weekend and will start 16th and 17th once Rosberg's penalty is applied, while the Force India duo trailed the field by some margin, with 19th fastest Giancarlo Fisichella over 0.6 seconds slower even than the struggling Hondas.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.133 1:15.161 1:16.449 16
2. Massa Ferrari 1:15.024 1:15.041 1:16.490 17
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.634 1:15.293 1:16.693 15
4. Alonso Renault 1:15.754 1:15.483 1:16.840 18
5. Trulli Toyota 1:15.521 1:15.362 1:16.920 19
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.965 1:15.639 1:16.944 18
7. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:15.687 1:15.723 1:17.037 19
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.020 1:15.488 1:17.233 18
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:15.802 1:15.654 1:17.426 19
10. Glock Toyota 1:15.727 1:15.558 1:17.596 24
11. Piquet Renault 1:15.848 1:15.770 12
12. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:16.006 1:15.786 14
13. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:15.918 1:15.816 17
14. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.072 1:16.045 17
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:16.085 1:16.235 12
16. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:16.243 9
17. Button Honda 1:16.306 9
18. Barrichello Honda 1:16.330 6
19. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:16.971 10
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:17.053 9


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Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen became the eighth consecutive man to win the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position, when he dominated Sunday's race at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The Finn shrugged off two safety car periods - the second when compatriot Heikki Kovalainen crashed his McLaren heavily after a front-end failure pitched him off the road in Turn Nine at an estimated 180 mph - and led home team mate Felipe Massa, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica. They finished 3.2s, 0.9s, and 1.5s apart respectively.
It may not have been a classic race, but it increased Raikkonen's championship score to 29 points and his lead to nine over Hamilton (20), while Massa jumps up to fourth on 18, one behind Kubica (19).
The Kovalainen incident occurred on the 22nd lap, possibly as a result of something causing the front-left tyre and rim to separate. It took a while to stabilise the Finn at the accident scene, but he gave a thumbs up as he was taken by stretcher to the medical centre. Later he was flown to hospital for precautionary checks, and his condition was described as stable.

The incident ruined Nick Heidfeld's race for BMW Sauber, since he was on a longer refuelling strategy and had just taken the lead after the first round of pit stops. He had to come in when the pit lane was still closed, and thus had to serve a stop-go penalty later on. That dropped him to a ninth-place finish.
Mark Webber brought his Red Bull home fifth ahead of Jenson Button's Honda, Kazuki Nakajima's Williams and Jarno Trulli's Toyota. The Italian was hampered by a long second stop and an unecessary third one after a communications mix up.
Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to resist the charging Heidfeld, so brought his Force India home 10th, ahead of Toyota's Timo Glock, who delayed himself running into the rear of David Coulthard. The Scot's left-rear tyre was cut as a result, so he also dropped back but managed to repass Super Aguri's Takuma Sato before the finish to claim 12th.
William's Nico Rosberg was headed for seventh place until his Toyota engine broke; Renault's Fernando Alonso was running fifth when his engine also blew up; Honda's Rubens Barrichello had a collision in the pit lane with Fisichella, which led to his subsequent retirement, and a clash on the opening lap also accounted for Force India's Adrian Sutil and, yet again, Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel. Team mate Sebastien Bourdais retired after being clobbered by Renault's Nelson Piquet as the Brazilian attempted to overtake. Piquet also failed to finish as a result. Finally, Super Aguri's Anthony Davidson went out with mechanical problems.
ref[formuala1.com]
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Kimi Raikkonen isn't ready to rule out McLaren as Ferrari's main rival this season, despite BMW being his closest challenger in the last two races.
BMW have finished on the podium at every race this season and had both cars ahead of the two McLarens at Bahrain two weeks ago.
But the reigning champion thinks their positions could easily be reversed during the next three races at very different circuits.
"Barcelona is one of the most difficult circuits for cars, then after here it's Turkey and then Monaco, and it can be a different story again," he said.

"Hopefully we can keep the upper hand we've had in the last two races, and BMW were stronger than McLaren at the previous race, so you never know. But we'll have to see what they've done here in testing."
Raikkonen also believes Lewis Hamilton's poor form at the last two races is a result of the McLaren slipping back into the clutches of BMW.
"If you don't have as a good a package as you had last year, then it is harder not to make a mistake," he added. "This is what happens."
He is also looking out for Renault to be able to join the battle at the front of the grid after Fernando Alonso set the quickest time of Wednesday's test at Barcelona.
"I don't have any idea what the other teams did on the other days (this week), but I heard that Renault have made a step," he said. "You presume that if they make a step it is a step forwards."
Raikkonen also sampled Ferrari's new nose cone for the first time at Barcelona yesterday, but the rain that affected the test prevented him from evaluating it fully.
"I only did one run with it and that was in the rain. We tried some little things but in these conditions you don't really feel exactly the best picture.
"But they tested it during the week and it seems to be positive. It is a little step forward so that is good."
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Kimi Raikkonen got his title defence back on course with a dominant victory for Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

With Raikkonen's teammate Felipe Massa spinning out of second place at half-distance, and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton only managing third and fifth places following their qualifying penalties, Robert Kubica was able to take a career-best second place for BMW Sauber.

Massa's error spoiled what had looked like a dominant one-two finish for Ferrari.

The Brazilian had led from pole at first, fending off a strong challenge from Raikkonen into the first corner. But he was not able to pull away from the world champion, who remained within two seconds of his teammate throughout the first stint.

Raikkonen then went one lap further before his first pitstop, and a superb in-lap allowed him to emerge from the pits just ahead of Massa.

The Finn subsequently pulled away, and was nearly five seconds clear when Massa lost the rear of his car at Turn 8 on lap 30. The Ferrari slid sideways into the gravel, and its rear wheels bogged down, ending Massa's race.

That handed second place to Kubica. The Pole had jumped to third at the start, then had an extremely lonely race - unable to match the Ferraris but comfortably quicker than the rest of the field, including the delayed McLarens. Running longer than Ferrari also allowed Kubica to lead the race for several laps at both pitstops.

Hamilton made the most progress of the two McLarens at first, moving up from ninth on the grid to fifth by the first corner. But he then became stuck behind Mark Webber's Red Bull throughout the opening stint.

He was set to jump ahead of the Australian in the first pitstops, but a problem removing the right front wheel cost Hamilton over 10 seconds and dropped him back into the traffic again.

Kovalainen had no such troubles when he pitted a lap later, and was able to leap from seventh to fourth during the first stops. Massa's departure then elevated the Finn on to the podium for the first time in his McLaren career, albeit a long way behind Raikkonen and Kubica.

Jarno Trulli resisted a late challenge from Hamilton to secure fourth for Toyota. The Italian had lost ground at the first corner after banging wheels with BMW's Nick Heidfeld, but recovered well and was pushing Kovalainen for third during the middle stint.

He could not maintain that pace later on, though, falling away from the Finn and only just holding off the charging Hamilton at the end - the McLaren having finally cleared Webber's Red Bull at the second stops.

Heidfeld also got ahead of Webber during the final pit sequence, and duly took sixth place - setting fastest lap right at the end. Webber fended off Fernando Alonso (Renault) for seventh. Alonso had run very long stints, but lacked the pace on heavy fuel to make significant progress.

David Coulthard (Red Bull) overcame mid-race pressure from Honda's Jenson Button and Renault's Nelson Piquet to take ninth position.

Further back, Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella beat Rubens Barrichello (Honda) to 12th after the Brazilian received a pit lane speeding penalty.

A week after their Melbourne podium finish, Williams had a very poor race. Nico Rosberg tangled with Timo Glock on the first lap, taking the Toyota out of the race and breaking the Williams' front wing.

The German could only recover to 14th, while his teammate Kazuki Nakajima fell off the pace in the closing laps and dropped to last, behind the two Super Aguris.

Toro Rosso also had a very disappointing day. Sebastien Bourdais crashed out on the opening lap, while his teammate Sebastian Vettel was on course for 12th before a late engine failure.

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MELBROUNE - Kimi Raikkonen start this season for keep his champ 2007 in this season 2008. In free practice I GPF1 in Melbourne Australia he become the fastest Friday(14/3/2008).

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