Singapore Grand Prix: Qualifying Results

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Final Classification
Pos/Driver	Team	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Q3 Time
1. Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:44.519	1:44.014	1:44.801
2. Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:44.501	1:44.932	1:45.465
3. Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:44.282	1:44.232	1:45.617
4. Robert Kubica	BMW-Sauber	1:44.740	1:44.519	1:45.779
5. Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:44.311	1:44.207	1:45.873
6. Nick Heidfeld	BMW-Sauber	1:45.548	1:44.520	1:45.964
7. Sebastien Vettel	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:45.042	1:44.261	1:46.244
8. Timo Glock	Toyota	1:45.184	1:44.441	1:46.328
9. Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:45.103	1:44.429	1:46.611
10. Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:45.127	1:44.826	1:47.547
Eliminated After Q2
11. Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:45.642	1:45.038
12. Jenson Button	Honda	1:45.660	1:45.133
13. Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:45.493	1:45.212
14. David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:46.028	1:45.298
15. Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:44.971	No Time
Eliminated After Q1
16. Nelson Piquet Jnr.	Renault	1:46.037
17. Sebastian Bourdais	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:46.389
18. Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:46.583
19. Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:47.940
20. Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	No Time

Ferrari To Confirm Alonso At Monza? Or Is Alonso Off To BMW?

Renault's Fernando Alonso

Formula One fans will be waiting with baited breath ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. It is when Ferrari traditionally reveal their lineup for the following season. Fans of the sport are waiting to find out whether world champion Kimi Raikkonen will retire, making way for former double world champion Fernando Alonso.

Fernando Alonso insists he is not part of those plans.

The Spaniard has said that he does not expect the Finn to retire this year.

“Ferrari tend to confirm their drivers at Monza. I don’t think there is going to be a surprise.”

Alonso also revealed that he thought his Renault team was lacking half a second per lap, purely because of the weaker engine.

He also took the time to dismiss team boss Flavio Briatore’s claims that “at least two more podium finishes” will be coming from the final five grands prix of the season.

When asked how he feels about his teammate Nelson Piquet Jnr. being the only Renault driver standing on the podium this year, Alonso said:

“It is going to be really difficult to be on the podium in the rest of the year, but I do not see it as a failure.

“In comparison with my teammate, this has been my best season ever. I have always been in front of him. He got a podium after a great race and with lots of luck.”

Meanwhile, BMW-Sauber boss Mario Thiessen refused to deny growing speculation Alonso has signed a three-year contract to drive for the Hinwil-based squad from 2009.

The chequered flag had barely fallen at Spa-Francorchamps before it was reported that the Spaniard would replace German Nick Heidfeld.

Thiessen told German newspaper Bild:

“I do not take part in speculation.

“Our driver decision has been postponed. At the latest we will announce our drivers at the end of the season.”

BMW spokespeople were also not available for comment.

However, the Spanish sports newspaper Marca believes BMW-Sauber will confirm the Alonso signing on Monday, after this weekend’s Italian grand prix at Monza.

Neal’s View: Many thought he was Ferrari-bound, but the BMW rumours refuse to go away. I would rule out Honda, but it could be any of BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, or staying with Renault.

Paddock Gossip

As the 2008 Formula One season heads towards an exciting climax, speculation increases around those seats yet to be confirmed for 2009.

Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Bourdais has put in some strong performances recently, notably at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. Yet some Italian tabloids report that this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza could be his last, with the Faenza-based squad trying out Takuma Sato, Sebastien Buemi, and Bruno Senna for the last four Grands Prix.

Over at Renault, Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jnr. also finds his seat under threat. Swiss reports suggest that test driver Lucas di Grassi is set to test on all three days at the upcoming Jerez test. An evaluation ahead of 2009?

With recent reports suggesting Nick Heidfeld could lose his BMW-Sauber seat to Fernando Alonso next year, rumours in the paddock are linking the German with Alonso’s Renault seat.

Alonso Signs Shock 3-Year BMW Deal Whilst Honda Wait

Fernando Alonso

Paddock gossip at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix revolved around Renault driver Fernando Alonso’s future.

Italian broadcaster Sky reported that the Spaniard had signed a three-year deal with Hinwil-based squad, BMW-Sauber.

However, Alonso remained tight-lipped about his future, revealing:

“For weeks I have said I will only consider my future at the end of September. My priority at the moment is to help Renault to fourth place in the constructors’ championship.”

At the same time, Honda team chief Ross Brawn has revealed that his Brackley-based squad are still trying to tempt Alonso to the Japanese marque.

“We are just waiting.

“My view is that he’s the best driver in Formula 1 at the moment and we’re happy to wait and hope that he makes a positive decision for us.

“The reason I think he’s the best driver in Formula 1 is balance of experience and ability.

“To me there are three very quick drivers [Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso] who have established themselves so far in Formula 1.”

Neal’s View: Alonso has been suspected to have a Ferrari deal in place for 2010. Raikkonen looked interested in the sport at Spa-Francorchamps, so maybe he is not ready to retire yet. If he has signed for BMW-Sauber, then this cannot be the case. Honda will not confirm Rubens Barrichello until they know that Alonso is not available. If Alonso wants a one-year deal before joining Ferrari in 2010, Honda is his only option.

Behind The Barriers: Ferrari International Assistance Rears It’s Ugly Head Once More

Ferrari fans, look away now! You will not like what I have to say.

Firstly, let me make it clear: I do not support any individual driver, nor any particular team. I support the sport – which descends in to a farce on days like these.

For those of you that did not see today’s race, towards the end, Raikkonen pushed Hamilton wide at the Bus Stop chicane, Hamilton subsequently had no option but to cut the corner, gaining the lead in the process. To avoid a penalty, Hamilton let Raikkonen reclaim the lead, before re-passing him at La Source. Fearing a penalty, Ron Dennis went to check with FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting as to whether the move was legitimate, and Whiting said it was. Although the stewards are independent of Whiting, he attends every race and knows what has happened in the past. Had Whiting declared the move illegal, McLaren would have let Raikkonen back through again. At the end of the race, Ferrari put in an official protest, although they deny this, and the stewards imposed a penalty of 25 seconds to Hamilton’s time. Due to the last few, torrential, laps squeezing the pack together, this was very costly as Hamilton was demoted from first, to third.

This is not the first time that McLaren have been harshly treated by the sport’s governing body, the FIA – or Ferrari International Assistance, as Paul Stoddart dubbed it. If we look back to last year when McLaren were thrown out of the Constructors’ Championship, during the ‘Spy Scandal’, for using Ferrari information on their car, not many people listened to what the two culprits, Mike Coughlan (McLaren) and Nigel Stepney (Ferrari), had to say. They revealed that the information passed was two-way, not one-way, meaning Ferrari were using McLaren’s intellectual property on their car. The FIA did not even investigate these claims.

That’s not all. At last season’s Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren were stripped of any Constructors’ Championship points they would have won after a squabble between Lewis Hamilton and then-teammate Fernando Alonso. In what was an internal dispute, the FIA had no right in interfering. But it did.

Suspicians are also raised by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa about this event. At 11pm, a journalist asked Massa: “It looks like nothing’s going to happen tomorrow?“, to which Massa replied: “No, no, no, no… Alonso’s been penalised and McLaren will score no Constructors’ points.” Remember, this was at 11pm, the official announcement was not made until 11.35pm – more than half an hour after Massa knew the outcome. It sounds suspicious to me!

Another example is the Italian Grand Prix, Monza 2006. Fernando Alonso had his pole position time taken away from him for ‘blocking’ Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. It did not matter to the stewards that Massa was not even in the same television camera shot. Telemetry showed Massa 1.6km down the track from Alonso. It also proved that Massa had lost no time because of Alonso. But the FIA stewards still punished the Renault man.

If we look back at the last race, Ferrari were penalised €10,000 for releasing Massa into the path of Adrian Sutil in the pit lane. Ferrari claimed that there was no sporting advantage, and the FIA accepted this as a good reason for a low penalty. Yet if we look at the regulations, Article 23.1 i states:

“It is the responsibility of thecompetitor to release his car after a pit stop only when it is safe to do so.”

There is no mention of whether a sporting advantage is gained or not. Only, whether it was safe of not. The stewards decision to delay the investigation until the end of the race was also unusual. That only usually happens if someone crashes out, or if it happens in the last 10 laps.

So I finish by asking the FIA, what on earth are you doing? You treat the fans like idiots! And we deserve better from you!

Belgian Grand Prix: Harsh Conditions Rob Bourdais of Podium

Vettel (l), Bourdais (r): Star Spa Performers

STR-Ferrari’s French driver Sebastian Bourdais can feel hard-done by the weather at today’s Belgian Grand Prix. With a few laps left to run, the weather changed as rain arrived at the circuit, and Bourdais started his final lap in third position, meaning a podium was barely four miles away. However, Bourdais followed Hamilton’s, and Massa’s lead by opting not to pit for intermediate tyres, and this proved costly. In the final lap, Bourdais dropped from third, to seventh, with Renault’s Fernando Alonso the main beneficiary, climbing up to fourth.

“On the last lap it was a lottery with the car getting away from you with every turn of the wheel. It’s a horrible situation, as everything had been under control up until then. But I am not in a situation where I can risk everything and at the end of the race I didn’t even know where I finished.

“It was so close to being a great result I felt I could almost touch it and so it was a very frustrating way to finish what was a great weekend up to that point. Such a shame, but nevertheless a very strong result for the team.”

Neal’s View: Bourdais drove a strong race, and STR-Ferrari will be happy with the results – but it could have been better. The pressure is still on Bourdais, but more performances like this and he should keep his seat for 2009.

Belgian Grand Prix: Predictions

Formula One Blog likes to test it’s knowledge by predicting the outcomes of qualifying and races, so here are our thoughts on today’s race. Unfortunately, time is limited so we will only cover the points positions.

1st: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)

2nd Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

3rd Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

4th Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)

5th Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)

6th Fernando Alonso (Renault)

7th Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari)

8th Sebastian Bourdais (STR-Ferrari)

Check back later to see how close we were.

New Poll: Who will win the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix?

Pole-sitter: Lewis Hamilton

Following a thrilling qualifying session that saw a fantastic lap from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, and both STRs in the top 10, Formula One Blog has issued a new poll.

Click on the link in the top right corner of the page to vote on who you think will win tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix!

Qualifying Predictions: How close were we?

As some of you may have seen, we at Formula One Blog earlier put our neck on the block and tried to predict the results from today’s qualifying. Our predictions can be seen here.

So how did we do?

We got the front row correct, albeit in the wrong order as Lewis Hamilton beat Felipe Massa for pole.

Our prediction of the second row was spot on, with Heikki Kovalainen outqualifying Kimi Raikkonen.

The third row saw Nick Heidfeld qualify 5th (we thought it would be Jarno Trulli), but we were correct in Fernando Alonso qualifying 6th.

We also got the fourth row correct, unfortunately in the wrong order, as Mark Webber took 7th, and Robert Kubica grabbed 8th.

The fifth row was a surprise STR-Ferrari lockout, as Sebastian Bourdais (9th) outqualified his teammate Sebastian Vettel (10th). We thought it would be Nick Heidfeld in 9th and Timo Glock in 10th.

We thought that Jenson Button (Honda), Nelson Piquet Jnr. (Renault), David Coulthard (Red Bull-Renault), Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari), and Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) would drop out in second qualifying period, however we were only correct with Piquet, Coulthard, and Rosberg. Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, also, did not make the top-ten shootout.

Finally, we thought the first to go would be Adrian Sutil (Force India), Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota), Sebastian Bourdais (STR-Ferrari), Rubens Barrichello (Honda). Swap the surprising Bourdais for Jenson Button, and we would have been spot-on.

Neal’s View: All in all, we predicted the grid quite accurately. Qualifying was not what you could call wet, so surprises should have been few and far between. Did anyone predict Sebastian Bourdais getting into the final session?

Spa Qualifying: Times

Final Classification
Pos/Driver	Team	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Q3 Time
1. Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.887	1:46.088	1:47.338
2. Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:46.873	1:46.391	1:47.678
3. Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.812	1:46.037	1:47.815
4. Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:46.960	1:46.298	1:47.992
5. Nick Heidfeld	BMW-Sauber	1:47.419	1:46.311	1:48.315
6. Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:47.154	1:46.491	1:48.504
7. Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:47.270	1:46.814	1:48.736
8. Robert Kubica	BMW-Sauber	1:47.093	1:46.494	1:48.763
9. Sebastian Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:46.777	1:46.544	1:48.951
10. Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:47.152	1:46.804	1:50.319
Eliminated after Q2
11. Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:47.400	1:46.949
12. Nelson Piquet Jnr.	Renault	1:47.052	1:46.965
13. Timo Glock	Toyota	1:47.359	1:46.995
14. David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:47.132	1:47.018
15. Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:47.503	1:47.429
Eliminated after Q1
16. Rubens Barrichello (BRA)	Honda	1:48.153
17. Jenson Button (GBR)	Honda	1:48.211
18. Adrian Sutil (GER)	Force India	1:48.226
19. Kazuki Nakajima (JAP)	Williams-Toyota	1:48.268
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA)	Force India	1:48.447