Daily Update Formula1 News

Formula 1 teams failed to reach an agreement with FIA president Max Mosley about the future of the sport on Friday, despite lengthy talks that ran into the early evening.

Following a series of discussions over the course of the day, the teams met with Mosley to try and find a resolution to their unhappiness about plans for a voluntary budget cap.

However, despite talking for almost three hours no agreement was reached meaning several teams remain poised to not lodge entries for 2010 by next weeks deadline.

Although most team principals refused to comment about the situation as they left the Automobile Club de Monaco, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo revealed that more talks were needed.

"It was a long and constructive meeting," he said. "FOTA will have another meeting tomorrow, and then there will be another meeting with Mosley.

"What we want is that Formula 1 stays as Formula 1, that it doesn't become something different and go towards constant changes which confuse the public and all the others, that there should be stability and that we work over the next two years to arrive at a way of further reducing costs."

Despite the failure to reach an agreement on Friday, and with next weeks entry deadline looming, Mosley said he remained optimistic a deal could be reached.

"It was a good constructive meeting. The discussions are ongoing," he said.

When asked what the issues were, Mosley said: "They are the same issues. But I am hopeful there will be an agreement."

Ferrari, Red Bull, Toyota and Renault have all said that they will not enter the 2010 championship unless the rules are chaged.

Teams have until May 29 to lodge their entries to the championship with those missing the deadline likely to face a fine if they want to get back, providing there is space left on the grid.
ref[AS]
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The final practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix provided a mix of emotions for Timo Glock, who set the fastest time of the weekend so far and then promptly stopped out on track with a technical problem.
The German's final flier on super-softs, a 1m32.605s, was enough to topple Lewis Hamilton's best up until that point by more than 0.3 seconds.
But on the following lap, with five minutes of the hour long session left to go, Glock's car appeared to suffer some kind of electrical fault and he was forced to coast to the side of the backstraight.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa improved to second fastest in the last minutes of the session, eclipsing this year's free practice star Nico Rosberg in the process.

Hamilton, who was fastest for much of the session, eventually tumbled down to fourth, while Kimi Raikkonen - who set the early pace - was fifth.
Nelson Piquet, who appears to be having a stronger weekend than of late, was sixth quickest ahead of BMW's Robert Kubica and Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima. Jarno Trulli didn't seem to go for a low-fuel run and ended up ninth, while Nick Heidfeld completed the top ten.
There were few incidents in the session, Heikki Kovalainen, who ended the session 12th behind Sebastian Vettel, had a throttle sensor problem early on.
Sebastien Bourdais also found himself pit-bound for much of the second half of the hour and ended practice in last place.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Glock Toyota (B) 1:32.605 16
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:32.728 + 0.123 20
3. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:32.906 + 0.301 18
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:32.975 + 0.370 16
5. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:32.986 + 0.381 18
6. Piquet Renault (B) 1:33.176 + 0.571 19
7. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:33.195 + 0.590 13
8. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:33.302 + 0.697 17
9. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:33.397 + 0.792 19
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:33.415 + 0.810 14
11. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:33.443 + 0.838 16
12. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:33.478 + 0.873 12
13. Alonso Renault (B) 1:33.482 + 0.877 13
14. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:33.534 + 0.929 17
15. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:33.586 + 0.981 17
16. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:33.686 + 1.081 17
17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:33.720 + 1.115 15
18. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:33.726 + 1.121 14
19. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:33.962 + 1.357 15
20. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:34.990 + 2.385 7
ref[AS]
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Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is confident his Formula 1 team can respond to its current difficulties, after joining a lengthy crisis meeting at Maranello on Tuesday.
The reigning constructors' champion has failed to score a point so far this season, and di Montezemolo says he has been left unimpressed by the way its campaign has begun.
However, following talks that lasted for two-and-a-half hours at Maranello today, he thinks the message has now got through to team members that the situation needs to be turned around quickly.
"It would be a euphemism to say people here were very angry, but these same people are also very determined to react," said di Montezemolo after the meeting.

"I brought with me a monk's hood to make everyone understand that we have to tackle this season with humility and made the point that I don't want to find us on some sort of TV comedy video programme after each race.
"Joking apart, I know that this group is known for its strong sense of pride and that will help us get out of this situation."
Although Ferrari remains convinced that its form has not been helped by the fact that three rival teams have been using a double-decker diffuser design, the team knows that further aerodynamic improvements are needed.
Di Montezemolo also made it clear that despite intense talks, the team was as unified as it had been under the Jean Todt era.
"Our discussions are held in the locker room, as was the case in the days of Todt and [Ross] Brawn, when we were going through particularly tough times," he said. "The team remains united and I have every confidence in it."
Although Michael Schumacher's role at the team has been the subject of intense speculation over the past few days, it is understood there was no discussion about his involvement during the meeting.
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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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Felipe Massa benefited from an exhaust problem for his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen to take victory in the French Grand Prix and move into the world championship lead.

Ferrari's advantage was such that Raikkonen was able to retain second despite slowing his pace for half the race, while Jarno Trulli held off McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen to claim third and take Toyota's first podium finish since Melbourne 2006.

Lewis Hamilton was hit with a second penalty when he was awarded a drive-through for cutting the Nurburgring chicane while passing Sebastian Vettel on the first lap. The McLaren driver was only able to recover to 10th.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The French Grand Prix
Magny Cours, France;
70 laps; 308.586km;
Weather: Cloudy, then light rain.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1h31:50.245
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 17.984
3. Trulli Toyota (B) + 28.250
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 28.929
5. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 30.512
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 40.304
7. Piquet Renault (B) + 41.033
8. Alonso Renault (B) + 43.372
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 51.021
10. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 54.538
11. Glock Toyota (B) + 57.700
12. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 58.065
13. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1:02.079
14. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
16. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:16.630

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Button Honda (B) 17


World Championship standings, round 8:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Massa 48 1. Ferrari 91
2. Kubica 46 2. BMW Sauber 74
3. Raikkonen 43 3. McLaren-Mercedes 58
4. Hamilton 38 4. Red Bull-Renault 24
5. Heidfeld 28 5. Toyota 23
6. Kovalainen 20 6. Williams-Toyota 15
7. Trulli 18 7. Renault 12
8. Webber 18 8. Honda 8
9. Alonso 10 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
10. Rosberg 8
11. Nakajima 7
12. Coulthard 6
13. Barrichello 5
14. Glock 5
15. Vettel 5
16. Button 3
17. Piquet 2
18. Bourdais 2
ref[AS]

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For the second time in three races, Ferrari have utilised their vented nosecone assembly in Monaco. The solution, which improves the car's overall aero balance, works best at high-downforce tracks like Monte Carlo, and the Italian team have further refined it with the addition of two triangular, inclined winglets (inset) at the base of the nosecone. These are designed to help divert away turbulence generated by the front-wing pillars and hence enhance the efficiency of the bottom hole.

ref:[formula1.com]


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No wonder that Ferrari’s Felipe Massa loves Istanbul Park. On Sunday afternoon he owned the place, and nobody seriously looked like challenging him as he sped to his hat-trick of victories here to move into joint second in the driver standings.
Sure, Lewis Hamilton pulled what seemed a brilliant passing move on him for the lead on the 24th lap, but it transpired that the Englishman was on a three-stop strategy for McLaren, and soon the way was clear again for Massa as Hamilton stopped to refuel and retain hard tyres on the 32nd lap.
Hamilton had sufficient in hand over Kimi Raikkonen, however, to keep the Finn in third place and to reduce his championship points lead to seven as they sped to the line 3.7s adrift of Massa, and separated by only four-tenths of second. The MP4-23 had been sweet on the harder Bridgestones, but still clearly didn’t like the softer rubber that Hamilton had to don for his final 13-lap stint. After the race the team revealed that tyre durability concerns had in fact prompted the three-stop route.
Into fourth and fifth places came the BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, which lacked the sheer pace to play anything other than leading supporting roles this time out.
Fernando Alonso further boosted Renault with a solid sixth place, surviving a minor brush with Raikkonen in the first corner, and seventh fell to Mark Webber after another solid performance by the Australian for Red Bull. Nico Rosberg took the final point with eighth for Williams, and was followed home by David Coulthard in the second Red Bull and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli as the last unlapped runners.
Honda’s Jenson Button was a lapped 11th ahead of Heikki Kovalainen. The Finnish McLaren driver, who started second, was desperately unlucky to have to make an unscheduled stop for fresh rubber after two laps, having picked up a slow rear puncture following minor contact from Raikkonen's front wing - which sustained some minimal damage - at the start.
After that Kovalainen fought back from the rear of the field and had some great dices with Toyota’s Timo Glock, in particular, and Rosberg, before dropping back in his final pit stop. He finished ahead of Glock, who again showed his fighting spirit, Rubens Barrichello, whose 257th GP outing did not produce anything to shout about for Honda, Renault’s Nelson Piquet, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel.
The latter duo both stopped at the end of the opening lap to have repairs made after Giancarlo Fisichella’s unhappy weekend came to an end as he overtook Kazuki Nakajima - by flying over the top of the Williams. Neither the Italian, who landed his Force India in the gravel, nor the Japanese, who got to the pits minus his rear wing, were able to continue. The other retiree was Sebastien Bourdais, whose Toro Rosso dumped him in the gravel as the result of a technical failure.
The result leaves Raikkonen with a diminished lead in the world championship chase with 35 points, ahead of Massa and Hamilton on 28 and Kubica on 24. Ferrari extend their advantage atop the constructor standings, heading BMW Sauber by 19 points, with McLaren a further two adrift.
Result:
1 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26:49.451
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 3.779
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 4.271
4 Robert Kubica BMW 21.945
5 Nick Heidfeld BMW 38.741
6 Fernando Alonso Renault 53.724
7 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:04.229
8 Nico Rosberg Williams 1:11.406
9 David Coulthard Red Bull 1:15.270
10 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:16.344
11 Jenson Button Honda 1 lap
12 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1 lap
13 Timo Glock Toyota 1 lap
14 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1 lap
15 Nelsinho Piquet Jr Renault 1 lap
16 Adrian Sutil Force India 1 lap
17 Sebastien Vettel Toro Rosso 1 lap
18 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso (DNF)
19 Kazuki Nakajima Williams (DNF)
20 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India (DNF)
ref[formula1.com]

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Felipe Massa will start from pole position in Turkey for the third successive year after a dominant performance in qualifying at Istanbul Park.
The Ferrari driver, who is also chasing a third straight win at the track, was nearly half a second clear of the rest of the field after his first flying lap in Q3, and although the McLarens closed in, Massa improved on his second lap to claim pole with a 1:27.617.
Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton took second and third for McLaren, but championship leader Kimi Raikkonen could only manage fourth in the second Ferrari.
The McLarens had been over a second off Massa's pace in the first part of Q3, then made major gains on their second runs. Hamilton used the hard tyres to take third, while Kovalainen briefly knocked Massa off the provisional pole before having to settle for the outside front row position.

Robert Kubica completed the top five for BMW, four places ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld.
Red Bull Racing got both their cars into the top ten for the first time in 2008. Mark Webber and David Coulthard then chose to save fuel and only do one run in Q3, taking sixth and 10th respectively.
Jarno Trulli maintained his record of reaching Q3 for every race so far this year and qualified eighth, while his Toyota teammate Timo Glock languished in 15th position.
Alonso was unable to repeat his astonishing Barcelona qualifying form, but did make it into the top ten again. He will start seventh.
Rubens Barrichello couldn't manage to claim a top ten start for his record-breaking 257th Grand Prix, but he did out-pace teammate Jenson Button, as the Hondas took 12th and 13th places, just behind Nico Rosberg (Williams).
The German squeezed into the top ten in the last seconds of Q2, then got pushed back to row six when Heidfeld recovered from a poor first lap to guarantee a Q3 position with his final run.
The demise of Super Aguri made it tougher for the midfield teams to secure a place in Q2, with only 15 rather than the previous 16 drivers now proceeding to the second qualifying segment under the tweaked format.
Williams' Kazuki Nakajima and Renault's Nelson Piquet were the drivers to lose out, with Nakajima spinning on the exit of Turn 7 on his first Q1 run and then only reaching 16th at the second attempt. He will start one place ahead of Piquet, who briefly got up to 15th then was edged back to 17th as others improved in the final seconds.
Sebastian Vettel impressively reached Q2 in the 2007 Toro Rosso chassis' last qualifying session, but his teammate Sebastien Bourdais was only 18th-fastest in Q1, albeit just 0.179 seconds slower than Vettel, who ultimately qualified 14th.
The Force India cars were slowest of all. Although Giancarlo Fisichella out-qualified teammate Adrian Sutil by half a second, he will start behind the German thanks to his penalty for passing the pit exit red light at the start of Friday practice.
Pos Driver Make Q1 Q2 Q3 laps
1. Massa Ferrari 1:25.994 1:26.192 1:27.617 16
2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.736 1:26.290 1:27.808 16
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.192 1:26.477 1:27.923 15
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:26.457 1:26.050 1:27.936 17
5. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:26.761 1:26.129 1:28.390 17
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:26.773 1:26.466 1:28.417 17
7. Alonso Renault 1:26.836 1:26.522 1:28.422 18
8. Trulli Toyota 1:26.695 1:26.822 1:28.836 20
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:27.107 1:26.607 1:28.882 20
10. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:26.939 1:26.520 1:29.959 16
11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:27.367 1:27.012 13
12. Barrichello Honda 1:27.355 1:27.219 13
13. Button Honda 1:27.428 1:27.298 14
14. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.442 1:27.412 15
15. Glock Toyota 1:26.614 1:27.806 15
16. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:27.547 9
17. Piquet Renault 1:27.568 7
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.621 8
19. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:27.807 10
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:28.325 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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formula 1 cute pixel, can use for colections and wallpaper for your desktop
you can full acces at : pixel-cute.blogspot.com

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Following his dominant win at last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has spoken about his sense of relief after scoring his first points of 2008 at the Sakhir circuit. Massa, who won from second on the grid on Sunday, had retired from the first two rounds in Australia and Malaysia.

“It was a nice feeling to win, especially after my bad start to the season,” he told Ferrari’s official website. “The win came at just the right time and getting my name on the scoreboard at last. For the team also it was a perfect weekend as Kimi (Raikkonen) came second to give us maximum points.”

Massa also won the Sakhir race in 2007, but unlike last year, on Sunday the 26 year-old did not claim victory from pole. During Saturday’s qualifying, he was soundly beaten by BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, who clinched the top grid slot with an impressive lap. But Massa, it seems, was not worried about Kubica’s pace.

“It was clear that he was running fairly light in terms of fuel, or at least lighter than us,” explained the Ferrari driver. “I knew I would have around five laps more fuel than him. But thanks to a good start, even this wasn't necessary. So I was never really racing Kubica, as I knew we had a better car and a better strategy.”

Despite his confidence in the F2008, Massa is under no illusions about the strength of his rivals. While McLaren didn’t enjoy the best of races, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing in fifth and Lewis Hamilton in 13th, the Brazilian remains on his guard, especially as BMW Sauber now lead the constructors' standings.

“It seems that at the moment McLaren and BMW are at the same level and we will have to watch both of them closely,” he added. “Let's wait and see what happens in the next race. However, our own focus has to be on ourselves and on our car; improving it all the time and that will bring its own rewards.”

Massa is currently enjoying a brief break in Dubai, but will be back in action in Spain next week for the multi-team test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya from Monday.
ref [formual1.com]
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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.

Reference :
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The Scuderia show their class..
The full provisional grid is as follows (the final grid will be published as usual by the FIA on Sunday morning - we will bring you details of any additional changes):

1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
3. Jarno Trulli, Toyota
4. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber
5. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber
6. Mark Webber, Red Bull
7. Fernando Alonso, Renault
8. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren
9. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
10. Timo Glock, Toyota
11. Jenson Button, Honda
12. David Coulthard, Red Bull
13. Nelson Piquet, Renault
14. Rubens Barrichello, Honda
15. Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso
16. Nico Rosberg, Williams
17. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India
18. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso
19. Takuma Sato, Super Aguri
20. Adrian Sutil, Force India
21. Anthony Davidson, Super Aguri
22. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams

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Don’t for a moment imagine after the Australian Grand Prix that McLaren are going to get complacent, or that Ferrari have let their heads drop. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo might have said, after engine failures stymied Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in Melbourne: "It was a healthy dose of humility." But, he also said: "I'm looking forward to Malaysia when I expect to see the real Ferrari."

And new team principal Stefano Domenicali added: "The result speaks for itself. Unfortunately it was a dreadful weekend. Nothing went as planned, so it was difficult. But if you remember, in 2006 we had a similar start with the two non-finishes and we were able to catch up again.

"We weren't phenomenal guys before this race and we are not stupid after it, so we really need to analyse in all the details what has happened. And of course the main concern is to understand the reliability problems. We had two engines fail so this is the main issue to understand. But we need to stay cool, calm and concentrated. We need not be too emotional now because it's very easy to go down that route. We need to stay very rational."

McLaren never underestimate Ferrari, and are not expecting another relatively easy run in Sepang this weekend.

"Every Grand Prix team experiences difficult weekends," said team principal Ron Dennis, who will miss this race because of family commitments in England. "They have got a lot of depth and we are under no illusions that they will come back and will be very competitive in Malaysia and for the rest of the season. All we can do is try and stay focused on our own efforts and that is what we will do.”

The indications in Melbourne were that the two top teams have similar pace. What was also exciting, however, is that Nick Heidfeld’s best race lap for BMW Sauber, who finished second in Albert Park, was only three-tenths of a second off McLaren, and the same as Ferrari.

“We were very pleased with the way things went,” admits technical director Willy Rampf with a big smile. “We did not get the best from the cars on Friday, but we were happy with the set-ups on Saturday and I think that showed in our performance then, and in the race. But we are cautious. Sepang is a different kind of track to Melbourne, so we must wait and see how well it suits our cars.”

Nevertheless, don’t write off the chances of Heidfeld and front-row starting team-mate Robert Kubica, in their F1.08s.

Likewise, Williams are feeling very chipper after Nico Rosberg’s strong performance won him his first F1 podium. The FW30 looked very impressive last weekend, and Kazuki Nakajima also earned points to place the team second overall ahead of BMW Sauber. On the downside, Nakajima will be hamstrung by an automatic ten-place grid demotion at Sepang, a penalty for the Japanese driver colliding with another car in Melbourne.

Then there is Red Bull. Mark Webber got no chance to show what the RB4 could do in the race, and is hungry to correct that this weekend. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is also out for further points. The Renault R28 may not yet be a front-runner that can challenge McLaren and Ferrari, but the Spaniard’s driving in Australia, especially when he overtook Raikkonen and Kovalainen in one swoop, served as a reminder that he has lost none of his skill or motivation.

“Sepang really is my favourite track,” the former champion says. “I took my first pole position there in 2003 with Renault, and I have won this race twice. It’s a circuit that I enjoy and I always tend to attack a little bit more.”

Renault’s executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, is not alone in believing that it will take the next two races before the true picture of 2008’s pecking order emerges in Spain.

The challenge of Sepang lies in its fast sweeping turns, especially Turns 4 through to 8, which demand a well-balanced chassis. Good traction is also important, especially on the exit of Turn 9, the tight left hander. The opening combination of Turns 1 and 2 is also a difficult challenge for the drivers, but they get compensated by Turn 14 which demands genuine skill with its tightening entry which is approached under braking.

The high ambient temperatures also place a premium on adequate cooling, and the track is tougher on tyres than Melbourne. Bridgestone’s offering in Malaysia will be the medium and hard compounds, as opposed to the soft and medium used in Australia. That, and the ban on traction control, will force drivers to look after their rear tyres, which already tend to wear quickly here. Throw in the changes to the electronic engine braking systems, which have tended to make the cars trickier to handle under braking, and we could have another race like Melbourne with drivers getting caught out by mistakes.

As a subtle warning to the opposition Dennis added, in reference to Lewis Hamilton after Australia: “He was very fresh, and he was very comfortable. And he was saving the engine. It was very easy! I think we have shown we have a very competitive car, so we will go to Malaysia with a very positive mood.”

reference :
formula1.com
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MARANELLO - Tim Formula One (F1) Ferarri will use a new nose in Grand Prix Bahrain, next month. The new desain may be will help the bad result in GP Australia.

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