Daily Sports News

Michael Schumacher is all set to return to F1, he will be on track at the European Grand Prix in Valencia after a gap of two years and nine months. After taking retirement at the end of the season in 2006, Schumacher has been a consultant and a test driver for the Ferrari. He will take the place of a recuperating Felipe Massa who suffered head injuries at Hungaroring during qualifying. Schumacher will be replacing and racing for Massa and is expected to continue till Massa is fit to return.

It is said that Schumacher agreed to return to F1 due to his team loyalty and also his proximity to Massa, as he has been helping the Brazilian shape up his career from the time he was his co-driver in the last season of his retirement. Schumacher won five of his seven world titles with the Italian Team F1 team Ferrari.

This will be a great challenge for the German Ace to be ready to race in just three weeks. He would be only able to step in the 2009 car on 21st august practice as the new FIA rules don’t allow in-season testing. Schumacher had last stepped into a F1 car in April 2008. The much bigger challenge for Schumacher will be to overcome the injuries sustained in a bike race in Feb this year. Human body especially the neck region comes under high G-forces n a F1 race. But knowing Schumacher, its looks he will be ready for the European Grand Prix and he is such a fighter that elevated him to 91 career Grand Prix wins.

This news was revealed on the same day when BMW decided to quit Formula 1 racing at the current season, last season Honda had quit. The reason for BMW quitting could be the recession, but the company says that it wants to use the money on developing greener technologies.

Now the wait is on, as it will be the first time to see Schumacher taking Hamilton. Also the race is a city track and Schumacher like city circuits more then regular Grand Prix tracks.

Brazilian Felipe Massa is said to be showing improvements post the surgery to fix his multiple skull injuries which the Ferrari driver suffered on Saturday during the qualifying. He has started passive communication with the hospital doctors and his medical scans are also showing positive signs of recovery. He was operated in the defense hospital and the spokesman Istvan Bocskai told press that although he was not speaking but was responding to doctors by moving his hands and feet.

Massa suffered a life threatening concussion when loose shrapnel hit his helmet and he lost control of his car and hit the tyre wall at the speed of 190 kilometers per hour. He was air lifted in the medical helicopter and was taken to the AEK hospital where he was operated within an hour. As of now he is in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

The weekend at Hungaroring circuit was quite a serious blow on F1’s governing body’s efforts to increase driver safety. First it was Massa’s crash and then during the race, Renault driver and former world champion Fernando Alonso lost his wheel during the race. Fernando Alonso has been banned for the next race post this incident. Renault team should have informed Alonso about his wheel problem and thus could have avoided such an incident, but they failed to communicate at the rite time.

These two accidents remind all of us about the tragedy that happened 15 years ago when Ayrton Senna died in a crash at Imola. Senna was the three times World Formula 1 Champion but lost his life due to head injuries suffered in that violent crash.

Fellow Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo visited the hospital to check on the status of Massa’s health. Also present at the hospital was Massa’s pregnant wife Anna Rafaela.

As Webber took the checkered flag at the German Grand Prix his race engineer said on the radio to him “Mark Webber you are a Grand Prix winner. Well done! Brilliant drive!“. He started his race on a pole but his chances of winning were almost ruled after a drive through penalty that was imposed on him due to a brush off at the start of the race with Brwan driver Barrichello. But the mountain gods at the Nurburgring were surely in favor of the Australian and he won the race in style. This is his first race win in his long Formula 1 career with 133 races which started with Minardi in 2002.

A re-fuelling rig problem forced Ruben Barrichello out of the podium contention and also pushed him down in the order. Sunday’s race also saw Sebastian Vettel finish a strong second behind his team mate. This is the third time during the season when the top two positions have been taken by the Red Bull team.

A big disappointment for the day was Force India driver Adrian Sutil, who came close to taking the first points of the season for his team. He did and excellent qualifying on Saturday but missed out on Sunday after Kimmi took his front wing out and closed all doors for the Force India team.

ix After German Grand Prix the champion ship remains quite open and all the four can attack for the season reward. Button leads the championship with 68 points followed by Vettel is second with 47 points, Webber third with 45.5 points and Barrichello slips to fourth and is on 44 points.

Webber took his maiden career pole position after a fascinating last minute shootout which saw a fierce battle between the Aussie, team make Vettel, the two Brawns and McLaren’s Hamilton. The first charge for the pole came from Hamilton but was soon pushed down by Button, but in the end its was Webber’s day when he took the pole with an excellent qualifying lap at 1 minute and 32.230 seconds. A last minute charge saw Vettel temporarily taking the second spot with a qualifying time of 1 minute 32.480 second but was soon pushed down by Button with a time of 1 minute 32.473 seconds. The last charge for qualifying for the pole came from Brazilian Barrichello clocking 1 minute 32.357 taking the second and pushing his team mate to the third place.

The qualifing also had some cheer for McLaren as both there cars qualified in the Top ten after a long time with Heikki Kovalainen qualifying sixth behind team mate Lewis with a timing of 1 minute 33.859 seconds.

Force India driver Adrian Sutil threw a major surprise when he qualified seventh on his home circuit as he drove an aggressive qualifying lap clocking 1 minute 34.316 seconds. There was a word around that Force India were expecting some improvement in there performance but nobody expected such a shocker. Last years winning team Ferrari must be disappointed with their performance as Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are placed at eighth and ninth with a qualifying time of 1 minute 34.574 second and 1 minute 34.710 seconds respectively. Renault’s Nelson Piquet finished his qualifying at the tenth place with a time of 1 minute 34.803 seconds.

The weather gods also threw a surprise at the Nurburgring in the Q2 and created a huge confusion. Two drivers (Nakajima and Massa) went off the road as they were using the slick tyre’s. if that was not enough to give everyone a sign of caution, Kovalainen spun and banged the wall in Turn Four but managed to continue.

It was a top race with frills & thrills, drama & all the makings of a soap opera but in the end one man came on top & that was the one & only Jenson Button. After all not often you see a driver being stalled at the starting grid & colliding midway besides spinning of the track, Barrichello being the unlucky man this time. Vettel from Red Bull camp might also be grieved as he took pole in qualifying only to be surpassed by the eventual winner in the form of Jenson Button who overtook him on the first lap itself as Vettel went just wide on exiting turn 9. It was a day of mixed fortunes for Brawn GP as their ace driver this season Jenson Button won in the end & Brazilian Barrichello had to retire midway. Now it seems that the sixth win from seven races of the season for Button should be enough for him to win the driver’s championship with a 26 points lead at the moment. It would equal a record along with Jim Clark and Michael Schumacher, some of the all time greats of the sport.

The Istanbul Park remember is one of the 3 anti clock wise racing circuits in F1 GP. Besides the slew of measures taken at the beginning of the season seems to have paid off as weaker teams like Red Bull, Brawn GP & even Force India aren’t a walkover anymore. These changes were introduced to nullify the superior cars like that of Ferrari & bring driver’s skills at the fore. The official Formula 1 website states

“The regulation changes for 2009 are some of the most extensive ever introduced to Formula One racing and fall into three main areas – aerodynamics, KER’S and tyres. Formulated with help from the Overtaking Working Group’s (OWG) engineers, the new rules aim to (1) reduce the aerodynamic sensitivity of the cars to turbulence; (2) increase overtaking opportunities; and (3) slow the cars in the very quick corners. To compensate for the loss of down force from the aerodynamic changes, slick tyres have been brought back for the first time since 1997 to boost mechanical grip. As a result of the changes the 2009 cars appear quite different to their predecessors, with the removal of the vast majority of barge boards (now only allowed in a very small area – see red arrow), wing lets, chimneys and cooling gills leading to much cleaner looking designs.

Forthcoming Technical news articles will examine each of the key areas of change in detail.”

Fellipe Massa, winner last year, finished sixth ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica and Toyota’s Timo Glock. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Williams’ Nico Rosberg had a battle for fourth the forth spot which Trulli won this time. Kimi Raikkonen had a hard afternoon with his Ferrari at ninth ahead of Alonso’s Renault, the Spaniard was followed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton & then came BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima. McLaren had a poor day after Heikki Kovalainen was 14th.

Sebastian Vettel finished as the leader of the qualifying by taking has third career pole position. The most amazing thing about Sebastian Vettel was that he finished at the top in all the three qualifying session, which was a sign of his domination of the Turkish circuit. Red Bull had two cars finishing in the top 5 with Mark Webber qualifying fourth. The dream run for Brawn GP continued in Istanbul with Jenson Button who was a bit conservative but still managed to get the front row of the grid by qualifying second fastest behind Sebastian Vettel. Rubens Barrichello though managed to take the third position but had to encounter traffic and that could have been the reason for him loosing a fraction of a second.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli drove an impressive fifth clearly showing his experience and driving skills in the tough Istanbul circuit. After a devastating start of the season, Ferrari are showing positive results to the changes adopted in the new car and their two cars qualified sixth and seventh. Kimi Räikkönen lines up in the third row of the grid while his Brazilian counterpart Felipe Massa will start the race in the fourth row along side Fernando Alonso of Renault.

Disaster for McLaren-Mercedes happened when Lewis Hamilton failed to even clear Q1, his car was not responding properly raising doubts about the current car. Now it’s very much clear that the defending champion won’t be able to defend his crown this season.It was also a good showing by Force India driver Adrian Sutil, who managed to clear Q1.

Some facts about the race, first its one of the few races that happens anti clock wise. As the circuit is not used for anything apart from F1 it also has its own impact on the tyres. The is a lot of wear and tear on the tyres and also the temperature and wind also make a lot of difference to the race.

2009 FORMULA 1 ING TURKISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING RESULTS

Jesnson Button continued his good form and captured another pole position for Brawn, his fourth pole in six races. Everyone thought that Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen would take the pole in Monaco when he clocked 1m 14.927 but Button came from behind and made himself the star of the day by clocking the fastest lap at 1m 14.902s. This season Button and his team Brawn has impressed and shocked everyone giving sleepless nights to others like McLaren and Farrari. Button’s team mate and second in the driver standing for the season, Rubens Barrichello celebrated his 37th birthday by grabbing the third position with a lap timing of 1m 15.077s.

Defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton was considered as the pre-race favorite crashed out in the first qualifying session and could just manage 16th position. He would start the race on the 8th row of the grid on Sunday. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel showed his driving skills and form to take the fourth place ahead of Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. Massa was lucky that he could still race after surviving the Q1 accident where he damaged the nose cone of his car in the swimming pool section of the race. Vettel Clocked 1m 15.271s and Massa clocked 1m 15.437s. Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen came sixth and seventh with a timing of 1m 15.455s and 1m 15.516s. Mark Webber drving the second Red Bull clocked 1m 15.653s taking him to the 8th spot. Alonso clocked 1m 16.009s and would share the fifth row on the grid with Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima who clocked 1m 17.344s.

The only accident in the Q2 happened with Nelson Piquet and finished 12th behind Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi. Force Indian had a great qualifying with both the cars reaching Q2, Giancarlo Fisichella finished 13th while his German counterpart Adrian Sutil finished 15th. Sebastien Bourdais of the Toro Rosso team finished 14th and shares the grid with Fisichella. Sutil shares the grid with Hamilton who was out dude to Q1 accident. On the 9th row of the grid are the two drivers from BMW Sauber Team, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. The last row on the grid is shared by the two Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock. The weather forecast for Sunday is clear and sunny and it is sure to be a great race day. Monaco is the most technical circuit and has a history of crashes and surprise winners. We just have to see who take the checkered flag at one of the most popular races of the Formula One season.

Jesnson Button

Kimi Raikkonen

After an excellent qualifying on Saturday, Jenson Button continued his superb season form by climbing to the top of the podium in Monte Carlo. Button started on top of the grid and led almost the entire race; he only lost his lead temporarily when he stopped for his pit stop. Button’s teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello had an excellent start when he jumped from third spot to second leaving behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.  The Barrichello finished the race on the second spot, a clear sign of dominance by the Brawn GP Team. Kimi could have finished the race in the second spot but a bad pit stop which made his loose around 5 seconds pushed him to the third spot. It looks like Ferrari has managed to make there car a winning machine again but they still have to streamline other domains if they need to come back strongly in the remaining season.

Felipe Massa made sure that his F60 stayed well ahead of Mark Webber and finished fourth and Webber finished fifth. Nico Rosberg made sure that his Williams finished sixth after overtaking Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. It was not a great race for Vettel who crashed out in the 15th lap. Renault’s Fernando Alonso finished the race in seventh position climbing up three positions after starting the race on ninth position. Sebastien Bourdais took the finial points by finished the race in eighth place. It was a great finish for Bourdais who started the race in the fourteenth place. Giancarlo Fisichella for Force India came agonizingly close to scoring a maiden point for his team before eventually finishing ninth. Timo Glock finished tenth for Toyota followed by BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld who finished eleventh. Last year’s winner Lewis Hamilton started last on the grid and could only climb up eight places and finished 12th. Behind the McLaren were Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil of Force India Team.

Monte Carlo is a street circuit and also one of the toughest and is notoriously famous of its accidents. The race started with out any accident but some drivers had there own share of mishaps. Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi ran into the rear of Nelson Piquet’s Renault in the 11th lap and both the drivers had to retire. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel crashed at Ste Devote on the 15th lap. BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica had to retire due to a problem in the breaking system. Heikki Kovalainen also crashed his McLaren-Mercedes in the swimming pool section on the 52nd lap. After the race the points table looks like:

Driver Standings:

1. Jenson Button    -    51
2. Rubens Barrichello    -    35
3. Sebastian Vettel    -    23
4. Mark Webber    -    19.5
5. Jarno Trulli    -    14.5
6. Timo Glock    -    12
7. Fernando Alonso    -    11
8. Kimi Räikkönen    -    9
9. Lewis Hamilton    -    9
10. Felipe Massa    -    8

Constructor Standings:

1. Brawn-Mercedes    -    86
2. RBR-Renault    -    42.5
3. Toyota    -    26.5
4. Ferrari    -    17
5. McLaren-Mercedes    -    13
6. Renault    -    11
7. Williams-Toyota    -    7.5
8. BMW Sauber    -    6
9. STR-Ferrari    -    5