I managed to see bits and pieces of the first practice. It started with wet track between turns 3 and 9 due to late cleaning . It continued with cars sliding all over the place (and not because of the late cleaning). Felipe Massa was the fastest driver of the session but he also managed to get off the track more than once (I saw twice). He needs to make friends with Turn 8 . Not sure what happened to Kimi, he did one timed lap and ended up at the tail of the order. But if the weekend continues the way it has begun, we may see some interesting action on th track. Not the best show from the Red Bull family …

Kimi Raikkonen recovered from the gearbox problems and recorded the fastest time in second practice just ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Rain affected early stages of the session only but the track seemed quite damp till the end. Cars however spent the whole session on dry tyres, at least as far as I could tell. There was not much grip and the off-track trips continued in second session too. Mark Webber crashed his car, few drivers lost the rears of their cars. How I wish there is about this much for qualifying and the race .

To follow the practice, qualifying and race live, check this link for info.

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F1Wolf

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Kimi Raikkonen won his second race of 2008 season ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton returned to podium for the first time since Australian GP. Jenson Button scored first points of the season for Honda. Only 13 cars made it to the finish in a race that featured 2 safety car periods and a scary looking Kovalainen’s heavy crash. Fernando Alonso’s hopes for good result were cut short by a spectacular engine failure.

2008 Spanish GP - Race result

1. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:38:19.051
2. Felipe Massa - Ferrari + 3.228
3. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren + 4.187
4. Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber + 5.694
5. Mark Webber - Red Bull + 35.938
6. Jenson Button - Honda + 53.010
7. Kazuki Nakajima - Williams + 58.244
8. Jarno Trulli - Toyota + 59.435

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F1Wolf

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Kimi Raikkonen will start the Spanish GP from pole position confirming the strength of the Ferrari package in Barcelona. It is also the first pole position of the season for Raikkonen. He will however have an unexpected neighbour on front row - Renault with Fernando Alonso in the cockpit. Felipe Massa missed out on front row and will start from P3.

Robert Kubica qualified well again - P4  ahead of both McLarens. The silver cars have exclusive rights to row 3 in Barcelona and they will not be too happy about that. Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli proved again they are masters of qualifying - P7 and P8 are great results for Red Bull and Toyota. Nick Heidfeld may be heavier than his team mate but still, P9 is hardly a starting position he would have hoped for. Nelson Piquet made it to Q3 adding his bit to what definitelly was a very good day for Renault.

The midfield is extremely even. Only few tenths separate 11th from 15th.

This was a disapointing session for Coulthard (eliminated in Q1), Vettel (beaten by his team mate again), Sutil (7 tenths behind Fisichella and less than a tenth ahead of Davidson in pennyless Super Aguri…).

Is Renault that good all of a sudden or did Alonso only go for home qualifying glory in a lightly fueled car ? We will see tomorrow.

Spanish GP Qualifying Results:
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F1Wolf

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Shaun left this comment yesterday under one of the Barcelona test posts:

Why is Schumacher testing for Ferrari instead of Raikkonen or Massa ? sorry if this is an obvious question.

Well, good question and I do not think it is obvious. Ferrari has Raikkonen and Massa plus test drivers proper Gene and Badoer. But they still use Michael Schumacher and used him again in Barcelona this week. Schumacher did one day of testing. This was half of what Massa did, but about a day more than Kimi (thanks to rain on Thursday). Why is he still testing ? And why do they keep two other test drivers on payroll when they do not use them (almost) at all?

He still probably gives the team valuable input but is his input more valuable than input from one of the race drivers would be ? How does Kimi like the fact that he gets less running ? Perhaps he likes it and is actually thankful to Schumi for stepping in . But as far as I remember Kimi was never too excited about having Schumacher around.

Perhaps it is only publicity stunt as no matter what people may think about Michael Schumacher, he is a phenomenon that still attracts lots of attention.

Or perhaps it is just something that Jean Todt cooked up before leaving the team and Domenicali has to live with it now …

Well, who knows. The fact remains, Schumi is still around and he is definitely not slow.

There is another blog post on Michael Schumacher today here …

F1Wolf

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It was much more pleasant today. The temperatures dropped by more than 10 degrees. But season seems to be off to hot start .

The free practice was unlike any I have seen or heard of as far as I can remember. There were at one stage 20 cars within 1 second … Only two Super Aguris lagged behind. At the end the timesheets looked strange - Kubica fastest, no Ferrari, no McLaren top ten. Heidfeld and Webber were quick to dismiss any possibility of two front running teams being in trouble. Webber said something like “it is only practice, they simply do not need to practice as much as we do”.

More Photos here 

Then the qualifying began .

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F1Wolf

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The ING Renault team enters the 2008 season with a brand new line up. OK, not exactly brand new. None of the 2007 Renault drivers has survived Flavio’s winter clean up. However one of the new drivers is recycled, repackaged and more expensive Fernando Alonso.

Fernando Alonso - Spain
Born: 29 July 1981
In F1 since 2001 - 2001 Minardi, 2002 Jaguar and Renault testing, 2003 - 2006 Renault, 2007 McLaren
Best Result: 2005 and 2006 Formula 1 Champion
Career wins: 19
Pole positions: 17
Podium Finishes: 49

Fernando Alonso is the highest ranked active Formula 1 driver when it comes to race wins (19, ahead of Kimi with 15) and pole positions (17, ahead of Kimi with 14). Considering the expected relative strength of Ferrari and Renault in 2008, this may not be so by the end of the season.
The speculation about Alonso’s possible return to Renault began way before his exit from McLaren has been announced. Briatore went public not that long ago, that first discussions about this happened already in Melbourne 2007. Now he is back, the question is for how long. His long term commitment to Renault has been questioned with rumours about future move to Ferrari adding extra fuel to the fire. Recently Keke Rosberg specualted that Alonso may also be eyeing BMW Sauber … The fact is that he is now in Renault and he would need to give the team more than his famed 6 tenths if he is to add to his race wins and pole positions tally. Fight for the title may be out of his reach this season but I would not bet against him scoring some unlikely race win this year. Renault does not look that much worse than their maiden win seeking BMW Sauber. And with no offense intended towards Heidfeld and Kubica, none of these 2 guys is Alonso. Alonso will also likely be able to count on support from Renault’s nuber 2 - Nelson Piquet.

Nelson Piquet Jr. - Brazil
Born: 25 July 1985
Rookie, F1 experience in testing only - 2004 Williams, 2005 BAR Honda, 2006-2007 Renault
Career highlight: 2nd in GP2 Championship 2006

Nelson Piquet Jr. is kind of unknown quality. He did win couple of A1 races for Brazil, he was runner up to Lewis Hamilton in GP2 in 2006, but I think that the fact that he is now in F1 has more to do with his name than with his qualities. I am not saying he is not a good driver or that he does not deserve his drive in F1. I am just saying that being Piquet helped him to get where he is now. Now it is on him to prove himself. He for sure does not lack the confidence. A year ago he set his sights on Fisichella’s seat and was open about that, he has got it. But for him to last in Renault beyond 2008 season he would have to find the right balance between his desire to race to win and not causing 2007 McLaren like situation. The sooner he and his father accept that in 2008 Renault is all about Alonso, the better for them. The best opportunities for Piquet to display his skill will be in qualifying. In races he will have to follow what the team says …

F1Wolf’s prediction for Renault drivers in 2008:
No. 1 - Fernando Alonso, with a shot at some lucky win during the season
No. 2 - Nelson Piquet Jr. - one of the few obvious number twos this year

2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Ferrari
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - McLaren
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - BMW Sauber

F1Wolf

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Few things happened over the weekend, here is my attempt to sum them up.

Ron Dennis is back in the news. Last week the Marca story claimed he is being fired by McLaren. Both Mercedes and McLaren too their time before they very quietly rejected the claims. Now the Sunday Times report that according to their sources McLaren will announce exit of Ron Dennis later this week. I do not really care whether he goes or stays, but it would be nice if he himself either strongly denies these rumours or confirms them. The sooner the better, we have F1 racing to watch …

Few funny things came out of Williams. Frank Williams suggests that Lewis Hamilton is better driver than Kimi Raikkonen. He did not say that directly, but what else to make out of this:

“If the Ferrari is the better car this year, McLaren should be saying to themselves ‘Thank god he is not in a Ferrari, otherwise there would be no point going racing’. I don’t know Kimi well. He is a gifted driver, as good as anyone, but Kimi’s weakness is that he is not that interested. So if a man of equal skill, let’s say, turns up in an identical car, with one working harder than the other, it is more likely that that man would have the upper hand.”

Poor Massa …

Patrick Head spoke about Williams missing out on Lewis Hamilton back in their BMW days. Back in 2004 Hamilton and his father came to Grove saying ‘Ron Dennis has dropped us’. Frank Williams proposed to BMW to take Hamilton on, but BMW were not ready to provide any finances and Williams did not have much cash to spare … After the split with BMW Williams signed Nico Rosberg who then became a target for McLaren after 2007 season. Williams admitted they turned down majestic offer from McLaren and kept Rosberg for 2008 and to their surprise even managed to get Nico sign up for 2009 (and more cash).

And finally, Fernando Alonso does not seem to be impressed with the direction F1 is taking, and frankly, he is not alone….

“We are making F1 not the highest technology in the world. Everybody looking at F1 from the outside sees it as the maximum, but if GP2 keeps improving, and keeps their slick tyres, they will do our time laps very soon while we are going back to the past.”
“We are becoming a sort of GP2: same tyres, same engines. We don’t have the best technology anymore. And if you have a car that doesn’t go (quickly) in the winter, you have to put up with it for the whole season.”

F1Wolf

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The new season is just around the corner and so after earlier post predicting form of all the teams in 2008 Formula 1 season, it is time to look at the drivers. Let’s start with Ferrari.

Kimi Raikkonen - Finland
Born: 17 October 1979
In F1 since 2001 (2001 Sauber, 2002 - 2006 McLaren, from 2007 Ferrari)
Best Result: 2007 Formula 1 Champion
Career wins: 15
Pole positions: 14

This is the first time Raikkonen goes into a new F1 season as a defending champion. And it looks like the title is there for him to take. He has the top car. He has comfortably settled in the team. He seems to have no problems at all driving the car without the electronic driver aids. Unless he is unlucky and gets more than a fair share of mechanical troubles or accidents, I expect him to claim the number one spot in Ferrari much earlier in the season than in 2007. Kimi is probably the hottest candidate for the F1 crown in 2008 but it sure will not be as easy as many tend to think. Massa will not let go that easy and then there is the McLaren duo…

Felipe Massa - Brazil
Born: 25 April 1981
In F1 since 2002 (2002 Sauber, 2003 Ferrari test driver, 2004-2005 Sauber, from 2006 Ferrari)
Best Result: 3rd in 2005
Career wins: 5
Pole positions: 9

With Jean Todt’s move away from the spotlight Massa may find himself in very different environment. He will have to prove again he deserves his place in the Maranello team. He is a very good qualifier and decent race driver. But one has to remember that all his career wins came after starting from pole position - Turkey and Brazil 2006, Bahrain, Spain, Turkey 2007. His best chance to get better of Kimi is to try to outqualify him as often as possible. He has enough speed to do that, but there may be questions about his driving style. He seems to have had more difficult time than Kimi adjusting to car without all the electronic aids. If he is to beat Kimi, first he has to be quick in qualifying while staying on the track … Most people expect Raikkonen to dominate the battle of Ferrari team mates this year. This may take some pressure away from Massa. But the never ending rumours of Alonso being enroute to Ferrari in the near future may do exactly the opposite…

F1Wolf’s prediction for Ferrari drivers in 2008:
No. 1 - Kimi Raikkonen and fighting for the 2008 F1 title
No. 2 - Felipe Massa - his overall position depends on how dominant Ferrari car will be. If McLarens are close, he will have hard time to stay ahead of one of their drivers.

F1Wolf

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The 2008 Formula 1 season is just around a corner, the gap between now and Australian GP is already smaller than the summer break between Hungarian and European Grands Prix.

I have been posting screensavers from 2007 Formula 1 season during the winter break and I just realized that 3 of them still did not make it. So as a final farewel to the last season here are all of the 2007 Formula 1 screensavers, including the missing ones - Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Toyota.

Kimi Raikkonen 2007 Screensaver - 2007 Ferrari Screensaver - 2007 McLaren Screensaver - 2007 BMW Sauber F1 Screensaver - 2007 Renault F1 Screensaver - 2007 Williams F1 Screensaver - 2007 Red Bull F1 Screensaver - 2007 Toyota F1 Screensaver - 2007 Honda F1 Screensaver - 2007 Super Aguri Screensaver - 2007 Toro Rosso F1 Screensaver - 2007 Spyker F1 Screensaver

Bring on the 2008 F1 season !

F1Wolf

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It is a pity we did not have chance to compare the pace of Ferrari with McLaren last weekend in Barcelona. Ferrari chose to test in Bahrain this week and along with them came Toyota.

Without comparison with other teams it is difficult to judge where these 2 teams stand. But the gap between Ferrari and Toyota on day 1 and day 2 of the Bahrain test is scary …

Bahrain - Day 1, February 4, 2008
1) K. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 01:32.079
2) L. Badoer - Ferrari - 01:33.323
3) T. Glock - Toyota - 01:33.418
4) K. Kobayashi - Toyota - 01:33.656

Gap Raikkonen to Glock + 1:339s

Bahrain - Day 2, February 5, 2008
1) K. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 01:30.595
2) L. Badoer - Ferrari - 01:32.230
3) T. Glock - Toyota - 01:32.889
4) J. Trulli - Toyota - 01:33.379

Gap Raikkonen to Glock + 2:294s

Yes, I am comparing Ferrari and Toyota and F1 champion with GP2 champion. Also both teams may be on totally different test programs. But still, almost 2.3 second gap is either sign of seriously slow Toyota or very formidable F2008 …

For comparison, the gap between fastest Mark Webber and slowest Jenson Button on Sunday in Barcelona was 1:423 second (on about 10 sec a lap shorter track).

While Ferrari are clearly set for another year at the sharp end of the grid, Toyota seems to be heading in Honda’s direction …

F1Wolf

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