NewsOnF1 - 14 - 22 May News

22-May: Of the nine appearances that he made at the Monaco GP, Michael Schumacher has won 4 times. That is more than the number of wins by all the current Formula 1 drivers combined. Hakkinen, Coulthard and Panis are the only other drivers to win here and each has won once. Despite this impressive record of wins, Michael Schumacher still does not match Ayrton Senna who managed to win 6 races out of the 10 appearances he has made. Senna managed to dominate the event between 1989 and 1993 winning every year. In fact Ayrton Senna holds the most number of wins ahead of Graham Hill (5) and both Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.
Ayrton Senna also comes on top in the number of Pole positions won with 5 ahead of Fangio, Clark, Stewart and Prost. Michael Schumacher managed to win 3 Pole positions so far in his career.

McLaren have an impressive number of wins at this event with 11 ahead of Ferrari and Lotus with 7 each. 9 of those wins where by Senna (5) and Prost (4). In terms of the team with the most number of Pole positions, Lotus won the most number of Poles with 9 ahead of McLaren and Ferrari with 8 each.
Will Michael Schumacher get his 5th win at Monaco on Sunday or will we see another driver trying to make his mark here ?

21-May: "Let's hope that launch control works!" The Monaco Grand Prix Preview is now available ... Race Preview

Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix Schedule:

Session	Time (Local / GMT) - Current local time
Thursday Practice Session 1 Thursday Practice Session 2 Saturday Practice Session 1 Saturday Practice Session 2 Qualifying Session Warm-up Session Race	11 AM Monaco Time / 9 AM GMT 1 PM Monaco Time / 11 AM GMT 9 AM Monaco Time / 7 AM GMT 10:15 AM Monaco Time / 8:15 AM GMT 1 PM Monaco Time / 11 AM GMT 9:30 AM Monaco Time / 7:30 AM GMT 2 PM Monaco Time / 12 PM GMT
Go to the Monaco GP Page

20-May: Following his recent test for Ferrari at Fiorano, Michael Schumacher has indicated that they will be very competitive at Monaco and said "Traditionally, I have always gone well in Monte Carlo. On top of that, we have a great car this year and so I think we will be very competitive in our fight with McLaren for pole position and the win."
He wasn't too concerned about the recent failures of the launch control systems at the Austrian GP and indicated that the drivers will pay more attention to their starts and said "I don't think it will be any riskier than in the past. Also, after what happened at the A1-Ring, many of the drivers will pay even more attention to the way they tackle the start procedure. Do I say this because I know who will be on pole? No, especially as in that situation, I could be the biggest problem if I have trouble getting off the line. So, let's hope first that I get pole and then that nothing happens to me at the start!."
Schumacher also indicated that everything in the team is fine following Barrichello's conversation with the team and said "With me, there was nothing for him that needed clearing up and as far as I know, Rubens had a frank conversation with the team and everything is fine now."

The European Car Manufacturers Association (ACEA) have signed an agreement to form a new open wheeler racing series no later the the 1st of January 2008. BMW, DaimlerChrysler, FIAT, Ford, and Renault have agreed to create a new company that will be responsible for setting up a new premier global series.

It appears that talks between SLEC (majority owned by the media group Kirch) and the car manufacturers have so far failed to convince the car manufacturers to take a stake in SLEC rather than create a new series. It is understood that one of the major points of disagreement between SLEC and the car manufacturers is the free-to-air issue and the amount of control Kirch is willing to give up.
The statement reaffirmed the reasons for setting up this rival series and read "The goal of the manufacturers is to promote the interest of the sport, to make sure that the races are made freely available to the broadest possible public worldwide, and that the income greatly benefits mainly those who invest in order to render the competition possible."

20-May: The Season so far - Part 2 - We look at the second 3 races of the 2001 season ... Full Report

19-May: Michael Schumacher and Luca Badoer concluded their testing for Ferrari after shaking down the cars heading for Monaco and continuing with their electronics testing program.
Luca Badoer shook down 3 of the 4 cars heading to Monaco and then continued with electronics testing. He covered 118 laps, practiced 16 starts and performed 3 pit stops. Badoer set the fastest time of the day.
Michael Schumacher concentrated on electronics testing and covered 68 laps and 4 practice starts.

Luca Badoer will shake down the 4th car heading to Monaco early next week.

Click here for the timed results

18-May: With McLaren concluding their testing yesterday, Jacques Villeneuve managed to set the fastest time of the day 0.02 seconds faster than Jarno Trulli. Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya.

Villeneuve's time was 0.4 seconds slower than the new lap record set yesterday by David Coulthard.

7 teams were present with 12 drivers setting lap times. The teams were concentrating on evaluating the new extra soft tyre compound for the Monaco GP. BAR, Jaguar and Prost continued testing their new aerodynamic packages.
There were no major incidents but a few drivers spun on the track without damaging their cars. Jacques Villeneuve, Ricardo Zonta and Andre Lotterer (testing for Jaguar) all had spins. Kimi Raikkonen lost time in the morning due to a gearbox change while both Arrows drivers (Verstappen and Bernoldi) ran into technical problems.

Juan Pablo Montoya covered the most number of laps with 96 followed by Marc Gene with 81 and Jarno Trulli with 80. Enrique Bernoldi covered the least number of laps with 48.

The weather was cloudy but dry with an average air temperature of 21 degrees and a track temperature of 27 degrees.

Click here for the timed results

At Fiorano, Michael Schumacher set the fastest time ahead of Luciano Burti. Both Ferrari drivers continued testing traction and launch control while Michael Schumacher also did some tyre evaluation. Michael Schumacher had to switch to Badoer's car as the engine in the car he was testing had to be changed.
Michael Schumacher covered 111 laps and practiced 6 starts while Badoer only managed 37 laps.
Testing concludes at Fiorano tomorrow.

Click here for the timed results

18-May: Michael Schumacher has indicated that it would have been pretty hard for him to pass David Coulthard had Rubens Barrichello moved over earlier than the last corner and said "I was a little bit quicker but in order to overtake him, I would have had to be much quicker than him. All in all, I reckon that unless Coulthard had made a mistake, I would not have got past."
Michael Schumacher still praised Rubens calling him a great team-mate and said "Yes, he is a great team-mate and very quick. It was necessary for what happened to be cleared up with the team, but not with me. After all, you have to look at everything and not just the last race. Rubens is doing a great job."

Jacques Villeneuve has been nursing a back injury since the Brazilian GP of 2000. The injury appears to have been aggravated by the horrific crash that he suffered in Australia earlier this season. Despite suffering severe pains at times, he wouldn't take time off during the season. A BAR team member said of Jacques "Everyone has been really impressed by the way he is handling things. He is sometimes in terrible agony and really should take a few months off to let it mend completely, but he will not contemplate missing any races. He is trying to deal with it quietly with his physio."
Villeneuve dismissed any suggestions of taking time off during the season to help heal his back injury and said "It really needs a long break and that's not going to happen in the middle of a busy season. It hurts on the bumps and the kerbs but I have to live with it."

It was expected that Villeneuve would miss this week's test at Valencia due to his back pains however he was feeling a lot better following the Austrian GP as the track had less bumps and decided to take part in testing where BAR are testing out a new aerodynamic package.

Mika Salo has made a visit to the Toyota Motorsport factory at Cologne in Germany where he had a new seat fitting and met with the newly appointed Chief Designer Gustav Brunner (ex-Minardi Technical Director - story).
Mika Salo indicated that he has completely recovered from the back pains he suffered following his crash in the new Toyota F1 in late March and said "My back is completely back to normal following the crash at Paul Ricard six weeks ago and although the next test was planned for Allan, I hope to get some laps in as well."

Toyota are planning another test session at the Paul Ricard circuit at the end of May. They will then be testing at Imola and Monza.

18-May: "Again Michael ?" is the title of the 14th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2001 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the aftermath of the Austrian Grand Prix - Issue 14

17-May: On the third day of testing at Valencia, David Coulthard has smashed the lap record to 1:12.748 almost half a second better than the last record set by Mika Hakkinen just 2 days ago (story). McLaren appear to be way ahead of the rest of the teams testing here at Valencia with Frentzen second fastest but almost 1.4 seconds slower while Jacques Villeneuve was third fastest just behind Frentzen.

It was another hot day at the track with air temperature at 31 degrees and track temperature at 49 degrees!.

8 teams were present with 14 drivers setting lap times. David Coulthard covered the most number of laps with 86 followed by Raikkonen and Gene with 80 laps each. Eddie Irvine covered the least number of laps with 43.
BAR, Jaguar and Prost were testing their new aerodynamic packages in preparation for Monaco. They alongside the other teams also worked on general set-up and tyre evaluation.
A number of drivers spun off during the session including Jacques Villeneuve and Eddie Irvine while Marc Gene and Enrique Bernoldi ran into technical problems.
Testing concludes tomorrow.

Click here for the timed results

Ferrari continued testing at Fiorano with both Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the day slightly ahead of Ruben Barrichello. Both drivers concentrated on set-up and traction control. Michael also carried out some brake testing while Rubens did some tyre evaluation.
Rubens Barrichello covered the most number of laps with 75 while Michael Schumacher completed a total of 65 laps.
Michael Schumacher and Luca Badoer continue testing tomorrow.

Click here for the timed results

17-May: Michael Schumacher has admitted that the incident between himself and Juan Pablo Montoya was not more than a normal racing incident and said "Having watched the race on television and seen what happened on lap 16, I can say that it was less serious than I had thought at the time. I want to make it clear that, in my opinion it was a normal race incident, as indeed I said later on Sunday night. It has to be said that, when you sit in the car you don't get the overview of the situation, which you can have looking from outside."
Michael Schumacher had earlier (at the post Race press conference) accused Juan Pablo Montoya of deliberately wanting to take him out of the race. (story)
Michael Schumacher once again defended the team's decision with regards to team orders. He explained by saying the the decision to ask Rubens to move over was made because it has become clear that David Coulthard will be the only contender from McLaren as Mika Hakkinen had another retirement and that the Williams team is getting stronger and will take away points from both Ferrari and McLaren this season.

click here to have your say on the issue of team orders

The President of Ferrari Luca Montezemolo has turned down a ministerial post in the new Italian government in favour of staying at Ferrari. The Ferrari employees signed a letter asking him to stay at Ferrari. Montezemolo said in a TV interview "I have to thank President Berlusconi for understanding and appreciating the reasons behind my decision. As a sportsman he understood what Ferrari represents in my life and my work and also of course, what Ferrari represents for all Italians. I was delighted to receive a letter signed by around 1000 Ferrari employees. Humanly, it gave me great pleasure and made me understand once again, even if there was no need, what a responsibility goes with and what satisfaction comes from this work with Ferrari and Maserati, two great companies with so many fans and enthusiasts, which also represent Italy throughout the world."
The Ferrari President also commented on the team orders applied at the Austrian GP by saying "In Austria we had a bit of a troubled grand prix. Schumacher could have won but for the incident with Montoya and I think it could have been quite an easy win. Barrichello could also have done it. However, it did not happen, therefore I think that Barrichello's anger had little to do with team orders, because the difference between second and third places doesn't change anything. It would have been different if he had been in the lead and then no one would have touched him. There have always been team orders: from Fangio with Enzo Ferrari to McLaren in the first race of the season three years ago. Barrichello does well not to get angry and instead to think of winning soon, because if he does get angry it just makes the job twice as hard."

16-May: The second day of testing at Valencia saw BAR and Jaguar join the 6 teams already present from yesterday. David Coulthard continued to show the fast pace of the McLaren cars by setting the fastest time of the day over 0.8 seconds faster than Heinz Harald Frentzen who was second fastest. Ralf Schumacher was third fastest slightly behind Frentzen.

The weather was sunny and hot with air temperature reaching 32 degrees and the track temperature at 47 degrees!.

8 teams were present with 14 drivers setting lap times. Frentzen covered the most number of laps with 84 followed by Olivier Panis with 81 and Johnny Herbert (Arrows test driver) with 75.
The teams concentrated on traction control, set-up and tyre evaluation in preparation for the Monaco GP. The Jaguar team tested their new aerodynamic package for the first time.
Several drivers had problems on the track, Ralf Schumacher only managed 20 laps after mechanical problems forced him to stop testing. Ricardo Zonta (Jordan test driver) only managed 29 laps as he also suffered several problems. Enrique Bernoldi also aborted his test suffering from technical problems.

Click here for the timed results

Ferrari continued testing at Fiorano with Luca Badoer. They were joined by the Minardi team with Fernando Alonso. Luca Badoer set the fastest time ahead of Alonso. Badoer's time was a personal best at Fiorano.
Badoer concentrated on testing traction and launch control in the morning and switched to tyre evaluation in the afternoon. He completed a total of 118 laps as well as practicing 16 starts.
Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello take over testing for Ferrari tomorrow.

Fernando Alonso completed 43 laps at the track for the Minardi team.

Click here for the timed results

Testing continues tomorrow at both venues.

16-May: McLaren's Technical Director Adrian Newey was impressed by the performance of David Coulthard at the Austrian GP and indicated that he is performing at his best and said "David paced himself through the early part of the race and only pushed when he needed to save fuel and go as far as he could before the pit stop. He did well and it worked in our favour. I think he is better than ever. He's obviously got his head in the right place. He's keeping his focus. It's psychology really, it's the same as a tennis player or golfer. It helps everybody if you're doing well but I think most of the team is determined. I think his side of the garage has been strengthened compared to last year."
Newey also talked about Mika Hakkinen's problem at the start of the race and indicated that Hakkinen didn't operate the launch control system properly and said "It was related to the launch control. I think it's basically a human systems interface problem, not an engineering error but I think, how can I put it, that it comes down to the fact that the system was not operated properly. But that's not to criticise Mika, because perhaps it's a bit too complicated. It has to be more than just pressing a button. A racing driver, by the time he gets to Formula 1, has been practising a normal start for years and here we're talking about only the second start on these systems."

Rubens Barrichello has commented on the Austrian GP and while he indicated his disappointment with the team's strategy, he insists that he is still motivated to do better and said "Being a professional in F1, I learnt from the start of my career that yesterday is the past and you just have to keep on going forward. Of course, I was unhappy to be asked to move over. The one thing that makes my life difficult at Ferrari is nothing to do with the team structure or team orders, it is just the simple fact that Michael is a good driver. He has been with the team for six years and is probably one of the best drivers there has ever been in Formula 1. I am doing alright, but it is difficult to beat someone who has been with the team for a very long period. I am not at all demotivated by what happened. I am determined to do as well as possible in the next race. In fact, I am more motivated to do even better. It might be difficult for people to judge my performance, even if from time to time they can see how good I am. I feel I am very close to Michael's times and I am very consistent in the race. After the race we talked and we had different opinions and everyone is entitled to have their own opinion. That does not mean I do not get on well with Jean and Ross."

15-May: "Did Ferrari do the right thing ?" Topic of the week - Have Your Say

15-May: Most of the Formula 1 teams are taking part in a 4 day test session at Valencia in preparation for the Monaco Grand Prix on the 27th of May. The Valencia circuit is tight and twisty providing similar characteristics to the Monte Carlo street circuit.
On the first day of testing, Mika Hakkinen broke the lap record during the test and was a massive 1.5 seconds ahead of Nick Heidfeld who was second fastest.
6 teams (McLaren, Williams, Sauber, Jordan, Arrows and Prost) were present with 9 drivers setting lap times. Heinz Harald Frentzen covered the most number of laps with 93 followed by Enrique Bernoldi with 72 and Marc Gene with 66 laps.
The teams concentrated on aerodynamic testing, launch and traction control as well as tyre evaluation. There were no major incidents during the test although several drivers suffered car failures during the session.
Jaguar and BAR are scheduled to join the session tomorrow. Benetton are testing in private at Danielson in France.

Click here for the timed results

Ferrari have started testing this week at Fiorano. Luca Badoer conducted the test as he covered 107 laps with a best time of 1:00.211. He concentrated on Launch and traction control systems.

Click here for the timed results

Testing continues tomorrow at both venues.

15-May: Rubens Barrichello gave in to team orders on the final corner of the final lap of the Austrian GP. He slowed down to let Michael Schumacher take 2nd place ahead of him. According to reports in the Brazilian media, Jean Todt had to ask him for 3 laps to let Michael through.
Barrichello himself appeared very upset at the decision but refused to comment (story). Other drivers and Formula 1 team members have commented on this move. Here is what they had to say:

Jurgen Hubbert - Mercedes: "I think it's a shame that someone who has run a fantastic race then doesn't get what they deserve. We see things differently from Ferrari. If you castrate the sport, one day it's not going to be interesting anymore. We don't need that. We have men in our team who know what they need to do."

Patrick Head - Williams: "We have one approach to racing and Ferrari have another. It is not right or healthy for Rubens, but it is probably in his contract, so that is Rubens' choice."

Niki Lauda - Jaguar: "Schumacher had more points, what was Rubens expecting? With Coulthard winning, Ferrari wanted to give Schumacher the most number of points, it's logical."

David Coulthard - McLaren: "Schumacher is having to keep his lead by getting help from his team mate, and that's leaving a bad taste in Rubens' mouth and causing problems within the team. The atmosphere between them was awful, there was tension."

Juan Pablo Montoya - Williams: "An order like this so early in the championship is ridiculous. It only proves that Ferrari is not a team for any other driver while Schumacher is there."

Jacques Villeneuve - BAR: "I don't understand why people are surprised. Rubens knew before signing with them that it would be this way. With Michael in the team everything must go his way."

Fernando Alonso - Minardi: "It was a strange decision," he said. "It's very early to choose who will fight to be world champion. Rubens can also be champion. I wouldn't like to be in his place."

14-May: Michael Schumacher has indicated that while some people might not be happy with Ferrari asking Barrichello to give way to him, he doesn't believe that this strategy is unfair and said "Imagine at the end of the season I have missed the championship by two points, yes, it is sport to win it like this as well. Listen, I think it is a different philosophy Ferrari has on that against McLaren and I think you simply have to accept the different philosophies - you don't have to like it, but that's the way it is. I think this sport is involved a lot of things - a lot of money, a lot of pressure, and all that counts in the end is the championship to be honest. And as long as we don't work against the rules I think we're quite fair to do this and the rules say quite clearly that there is nothing stopping that, so for sure there will be some people disagreeing, there will be other people who agree, that's the way of life."
Meanwhile Rubens Barrichello who gave up his second place on the final corner of the last lap refused to speculate on the reasons behind his move and said "I have very little to say, unfortunately. I still have to go down and talk to the team and clarify things. I just don't want to make any statement before I talk to the team. It's something very much inside. I put myself into a situation in Malaysia and unfortunately I cannot open my heart right now, I'm sorry.

Juan Pablo Montoya has indicated that he was totally unconcerned about Schumacher's claims that he tried to take him out of the race and said "I'm racing, so I'm not going to let others by. If they can't get by me, then they should get out. He just thinks 'I'm Michael, so you've got to let me by."
Michael Schumacher had accused Montoya of trying to take him out when he tried to overtake Montoya on the outside and said "I believe he knew he was going anyway off the circuit and was trying to take me with him and that's something I didn't like in particular. He basically wasn't looking where he was going, he was looking where I was going to make sure I went with him. That was a little bit silly."