Daily Sports News

Alonso made a really good start for this season but off late, his performances have been lack luster. He has made a lot of mistakes is in turn, threatening his hold over supremacy. He is currently in the third place with 75 points, behind Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel at 78 points each. In the recent Australian race, Alonso was involved in collision with his old foe, Michael Schumacher. In Chinese grand prix, he got a drive through penalty for jumping the start and also crashed in the Monaco practice some 11 days ago. Gazzetta dell Sport asked Di Montezemolo if he had any regrets signing the Spaniard and he replied negative. Montezemolo also said Ferrari had a time of their life with Michael Schumacher but now those days are gone and they have to get over it. He further said that Alonso’s performances are not disappointing and he is pretty much happy with the way the season has gone so far. Alonso has team spirit; he is conscientious and is attached to the team. He is a great fighter when he is racing, according to Montezemolo. But these virtues were not seen at least in the Monaco race.

Giancarlo Fisichella approaching to the conclusion of 14th year in Formula 1 but his skilled hand found his head rotating resulting in a dramatic twist in destiny. It seems that 36 years old, Italian now find himself in a Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.

Fisichella ponder from last few days he had been living in a dream and now it’s fulfilled. He added saying it’s been my dream since I was young especially for my father, friends and family and he did receive a lot of texts and phone calls. Just 12 days ago, he and forced India astonished F1 with an inspiring drive at held him to second place at Belgian Grand Prix. Four days later Ferrari proclaimed Fisichella would drive for them rest five races of the season. It is an appealing opportunity to end his career that has a place in the heart of every Italian. For Ferrari emotion does not play any role more than ruthless practicality. Fisichella was not the center of attention as F1 circus collected at Monza. Fisichella need to provide a competitive foil for Alonso. Fisichella who ran the Finn close in Spa with his racing instinct and raw speed on the other hand Ferraris with the advantage of power boost Kers system are likely to be competitive. Fisichella added saying this is a dream coming true and my aim is to do a proper job for Ferrari. If he manages to do, well this single twist of fate may serve good for both Fisichella and Ferrari indeed.

Michael Schumacher is getting ready for the European Grand Prix to be held in Valencia on 23rd August. The 40 year old seven time world champion is return to F1 racing as a replacement for the recuperating Felipe Massa. Schumacher has already lost three kilograms post his return announcements. The only spoil sport could be the neck pain he had during the practice runs. Neck injuries can spoil a F1 driver’s career as on has to face high G-forces especially in the neck region during the race. Michael with go through a fitness test before he is cleared to race in the Ferrari F60 car.

Meanwhile Ferrari has expressed frustration on the issue of Michael Schumacher not being allowed to test in the F60 car. Williams and Red Bull teams had opposed the Ferrari request to allow Schumacher on the issue on practicing in Massa’s car as the new rules don’t allow in-season testing. Schumacher on Friday did 70 laps at Mugello near Florence in the 2007 Ferrari car.

Meanwhile Felipe Massa left the hospital in Sao Paulo on Tuesday and as per the latest reports he does not require any more surgeries.

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is on his way home in Brazil. He was injured nine days ago in a life threatening accident at the Hungaroring. He was airlifted from the circuit to the AEK Hospital where he went through surgery to fix his multiple skull injuries. Massa left the defense hospital this morning for the Ferihegy International Airport. Accompanying him was his six months pregnant wife Raffaela and Dino Altam, Massa’s family doctor.

Massa boarded a private jet at the Ferihegy International Airport, Budapest and left for his hometown Sao Paulo. Massa is scheduled to land in Sao Paulo tonight. He is expected to check into a hospital for further tests. Massa had a 162 mph impact with the tyre wall barrier and was almost unconscious for more then 48 hrs. Massa confirmed that post the spring impact on his crash hamlet, he does not recall anything and has no memory of what happened for almost two day before he woke up in the hospital.

Michael Schumacher will be Felipe Massa’s replacement till the Brazilian is fit to race again.  Schumi had visited his Farrari tame mate on Sunday to check on his recovery. Schumacher has always been a guide and mentor for the Brazilian and was happy to see Schumacher back to the racking track after years of gap.

As of now all have to wait for the next race weekend when Michael Schumacher will step into the 2009 Ferrari as the new FIA rules don’t allow in-season testing.

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.

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