You may have realized that Jenson Button used a different helmet at Silverstone during the 2008 British GP. He used special helmet designs for his home Grand Prix before but this time he had fans to design it for him on his website.

Here is the winning design by Aries Janssens:

Photos: Honda Racing F1

F1Wolf

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After some Monaco drizzle we had the first proper wet to extreme wet race this year. It has provided us with all that can be expected - lots of spins, pit stop and strategy dilemas and some surprising faces on the podium.

It is not easy to review this race without missing something. A lot was happening on the track, the commercial breaks on ESPN Star came always in the wrong moment and Steve Slater did again his best to confuse us all with mixing up the driver names and talking bull while important things were happening on the track. How can someone like this guy keep the job with a TV station that broadcasts all over Asia is a mystery to me. But back to racing …

When we look back at the end of the season for the start of the year then Lewis Hamilton’s start to British GP will be high on the list of candidates. Starting from 4th but almost in the lead after few corners. Only very sharp defensive driving from his team mate kept him in second position. I am not sure McLaren pit wall enjoyed those few opening corners watching both their drivers getting way too close for comfort on the wet and slippery track. Both McLarens pulled away with Kimi Raikkonen in 3rd safely behind (safely for McLarens but safely for Kimi too). Hamilton kept pushing and Kovalainen kept defending. But then on lap 4 all of a sudden Kovalainen let Hamilton pass … TV applauded that as a great overtaking maneuvre from Hamilton, to me it looked like team orders in place …

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Lewis Hamilton has won his (eventful) home Grand Prix after taking full advantage of his great start and some very strange tyre decision by Raikkonen’s camp. Nick Heidfeld brought his BMW Sauber home in 2nd place. The Ross Brawn factor came to effect in tricky wet / extreme wet conditions. Right choice of tyres in right time and Rubens Barrichello claimed his first podium since joining Honda … They must have missed Brawn at Ferrari today …

2008 British GP Result:

1. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren - 1:39:09.440
2. Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber + 1:08.500
3. Rubens Barrichello - Honda + 1:22.200
4. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari + 1 laps
5. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren + 1 laps
6. Fernando Alonso - Renault + 1 laps
7. Jarno Trulli - Toyota + 1 laps
8. Kazuki Nakajima - Williams + 1 laps

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Interesting place to conduct an interview

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Heikki Kovalainen will start from pole position for the first time in his career. Mark Webber is another suprising name on the front row. Kimi Raikkonen and not too happy Lewis Hamilton will line up behind them. Great qualifying for Vettel - P8 !

The top 2 in drivers standings - Massa and Kubica will have to fight from back. Massa only managed P9, Kubica P10 after suffering some damage to his car during his first Q3 run. Looks like fun race tomorrow .

Both Honda and  Force India cars and Nico Rosberg were eliminated in Q1, both Toyotas, Coulthard, Nakajima and Bourdais ended their day in Q2.

2008 British GP Qualifying Results:

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It has been a weekend full filled with announcements. Future of David Coulthard and Mark Webber, then the new Australian GP deal and now British GP … In a rare sign of harmony both Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone came out with rater unexpected bit of news today. While Silverstone is gearing up for Sunday’s 2008 British F1 GP it was announced today that from 2010 the race will move to Donington Park…
Max Mosley:

“After many years of patient but fruitless negotiation with the BRDC, we are delighted that Bernie has nevertheless been able to ensure that the British Grand Prix will keep its place on the Formula One World Championship calendar.We understand that the development programme planned for Donington will achieve the very high standards we and FOM expect from a modern F1 circuit. Finally, British Formula One fans will get the Grand Prix venue they deserve.”

Bernie Ecclestone:

“Finally the uncertainty is over. A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand Prix is now secure. We wanted a world class venue for Formula One in Britain, something that the teams and British F1 fans could be proud of. The major development plans for Donington will give us exactly that. A venue that will put British motor sport back on the map. I am sorry that we could not have helped Silverstone to raise the money to carry out the circuit improvements and run Formula One. I believe that the government should have supported them which would have cost probably less than .002% of the government’s commitment for the Olympic Games.”

While Donington Park has been hosting Moto GP on regular basis it only hosted Formula 1 once back in 1993. The surprising announcement only came out few hours ago but serious doubts about Donington actually be ready to host the Formula 1 race in 2010 have already been raised by those familiar with the realities of United Kingdom. (see this article at GrandPrix dot com and this post at F1 Fanatic).

So are we really going to see 2010 British Grand Prix at Donington Park or is this just another chapter of Bernies mind games with Silverstone and (obviously unhappy) BRDC ?

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Felipe Massa crashed heavily into the tyre wall after spinning off the track. It looks like the cause was some oil dropped by Alonso after his engine failed at the same place a while earlier. The sesion was red flagged to deal with the debris but Massa walked away OK.

It is very close between Ferrari and McLaren. Despite his crash Massa remained at the top of the timesheets after P1, but Kovailainen was only 0.012s and Hamilton 0.048s behind … Raikkonen, Kubica, both Renaults, Vettel, Coulthard and Rosberg were the others in top 10.

Massa’s car has benn fixed and he could take part in the later part of the practice 2. P2 was dominated by McLaren and Red Bull. Heikki Kovalainen posted the fastest time ahead of Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and David Couthard. Ferraris did not do too well. But Raikkonen looked like being on different program than the P2 front runners and Massa’s slower times might have had somethung to do with his later entry into the session.

Friday Practice 1 Times:

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First of the 2009 driver rumours has been officially confirmed by the subject of the rumour himself. As suggested earlier this week, David Coulthard announced today his decision to retire from Formula 1 racing at the end of 2008 F1 season.

“I would like to announce today my decision to retire from racing in Formula One at the end of this season. I will remain actively involved in the sport as a consultant to Red Bull Racing focusing on testing and development of the cars. I have an open mind as to whether or not I will compete again in the future, in some other form of motorsport, so I am definitely not hanging up my helmet.

The decision to make this announcement at the British GP should be an obvious one for all to understand, as I have achieved two of my thirteen F1 victories at Silverstone and I am a member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which hosts this event.

I am proud of my work at Red Bull Racing and will continue to race with the same focus until the last lap in Brazil. Thereafter I will continue to help the team develop and move towards their ultimate goal of winning races.”

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The future of the Formula 1 race at Silverstone remains very much in doubt, but 2 things are certain. This is the venue of the first ever Formula 1 race back in 1950, and this will be the venue of British Formula 1 Grand Prix this coming weekend .

Most of the teams sound confident following last week’s test at the same track but the fight for the win will likely be between Ferrari and McLaren. Felipe Massa will start the race as a championship leader for the first time in his career. Kimi Raikkonen won here last year and his Ferrari will be fitted with a fresh engine for this race following his troubles in France. Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position at Silverstone in 2007, the race however did not go that well for him. He dropped back behind both Raikkonen and Alonso after not setting up his car too well for the race. As this is his home race he may fuel light for the qualifying and go for pole position glory. But with high per lap fuel consumption at Silverstone going too light may compromise his race. Heikki Kovalainen will want to build on his solid race performance 2 weeks ago…

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Rumour described as “strong” suggests that David Coulthard may announce his retirement from F1 during the upcoming British GP that may be his last home Formula 1 race. No one suggests that this would be his last race however. He made recently several remarks that would not any “retirement” annoucement from Coulthard shocking, including his speach after Canadian podium. It would also make some sense out of Vettel’s claim that he knows a little bit of the internal situation and is very confident about his future. I would however also not be suprised if we hear Coulthard coming out soon rubbishing all the retirement talks.

Last year Red Bull ran a special Faces for Charity livery at Silverstone, in 2005 again Red Bull had The Force with them and special Star Wars livery on their cars. This year we are about the see the Batmobile and special Batman livery on - suprise surprise - the usually most boring team with most boring livery - Toyota … Can’t wait to see that one .

Kimi Raikkonen will very likely make use of one penalty free unscheduled engine change ahead of 2008 British GP following the troubles he faced for half of the Magny Cours race 2 weekends back.

And Toro Rosso have been promised stability for 2009 by Dietrich Mateschitz, they should only expect uncertainty from 2010 onwards …

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