NEWS ARCHIVE
AGAG AND PRODRIVE
Spanish wheeler-dealer Alejandro Agag has been publicly linked with the Super Aguri F1 team. This may be part of a negotiation process with another team or even a smokescreen to obscure his real intentions. Super Aguri is vulnerable at the moment and needs money and Agag seems to have access to money through his many international connections.
WHO IS ALEJANDRO AGAG AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Alejandro Agag is tipped as a possible partner for the Super Aguri F1 team. He is a man who needs top be watched in the future because the 36-year-old Spaniard is extraordinarily well-connected both in business and in political circles.
DERNIE JOINS TOYOTA
Panasonic Toyota Racing has hired Frank Dernie to help the team on aerodynamic and chassis-related matters, although he will not be based in Germany and will not be attending races on a regular basis.
INTRIGUES AT SPYKER
These are interesting times at Spyker with financial troubles, battles among the Dutch shareholders, possible new investors falling over one another to get involved, and now trouble in the technical departments as well with the team's chief designer John McQuilliam - who has been with the team since 1991 - being suspended.
HAMILTON CONSIDERS MOVING ABOARD
Lewis Hamilton says he is considering moving abroad because life in Britain is becoming a little more difficult as media intrusion in his life has increased. Hamilton was speaking after stories in Britain linked him to one of McLaren team boss Mansour Ojjeh's daughters and showed photographs which seemed to suggest they were frolicking in the waves.
POWER STRUGGLES AT FERRARI
Jean Todt is not usually very helpful to the Formula 1 media, unless he needs their help to make a point he wishes to be made. On Sunday in Istanbul he used his post-race media chat to let the world know that he is "not prepared to retire". Todt says that he is still very motivated and says that he hopes that he can continue "or a few more years".
PIQUET AND RENAULT
There is much talk in Holland that Nelson Piquet Jr will replace Giancarlo Fisichella at Renault next season. Piquet is half Brazilian and half Dutch and while Renault has yet to confirm its driver line-up for 2008, the team has obviously been holding out a hope that Fernando Alonso would leave McLaren and go back to his old team.
GLOCK TO REPLACE RALF AT TOYOTA?
The word in the paddock in Istanbul is that Toyota has either signed, or is about to sign, a long-term deal with GP2 racer Timo Glock. The young German would be taken on as a replacement for Ralf Schumacher and team-mate to Jarno Trulli.
RACE REPORT - FELIPE STAKES HIS CLAIM
In the overall scheme of things, the Turkish Grand Prix was not a great race and it will not be remembered fondly by anyone (except perhaps the Massa Family). The crowd was small and the action sparse and while Felipe Massa drove a perfect race, most of the attention was still centred on the rivalry between the two McLaren drivers.
RACE RESULTS
Turkish GP - Race Results
QUALIFYING REPORT - MASSA GOES AHEAD
Felipe Massa took pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix in the final seconds of the final session, edging out Lewis Hhamilton by 0.05secs.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Turkish GP - Qualifying Results
PRACTICE 3 REPORT - HAMILTON STAYS AHEAD
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the Saturday morning session in Istanbul, edging out Ferrari's Felipe Massa by 0.041sec and a tenth faster than Kimi Raikkonen, the second Ferrari driver. Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest in his McLaren but he was four-tenths off the pace.
PRACTICE 3 RESULTS
Turkish GP - Practice 3 Results
PRACTICE 2 REPORT - LEWIS BACK ON TOP
In very hot conditions on Friday afternoon Lewis Hamilton put himself back in the spotlight with the fastest time of the second session in Istanbul (although Kimi Raikkonen's best time of the morning remained quicker).
ALONSO STILL FEELS LIKE THE OUTSIDER
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton may be making all the right noises about things being back to normal but the Spaniard is still not happy with the way he is treated at McLaren.
PRACTICE 2 RESULTS
Turkish GP - Practice 2 Results
PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
Turkish GP - Practice 1 Results
VILLENEUVE TO TEST NASCAR TRUCK
Jacques Villeneuve will test session a NASCAR truck next week as he looks for a new direction for his racing career. The former F1 world champion will try a Bill Davis Racing Toyota at the Chicagoland Speedway on Monday.
THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Turkish GP - Thursday Press Conference
NO NEW SPYKERS IN TURKEY
The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team has been forced to postpone the launch of its new B spec car until the Italian Grand Prix due to unexpectedly failing the rear impact test. The team will now contest this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix with two A spec cars.
SPEED BOUND FOR NASCAR?
Scott Speed could be bound for NASCAR. Red Bull is keen to keep contact with the American despite his recent fallout with Scuderia Toro Rosso bosses Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost.
HEIDFELD AND KUBICA TO STAY AT BMW FOR 2008
The BMW Sauber F1 team announced today that they will continue in 2008 with their current driver line-up of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica.
THE FUTURE OF FERNANDO ALONSO
A French newspaper has scooped the F1 world by revealing Fernando Alonso's future eomployer. The economic supplement to Le Figaro of August 17 reported changes at the top of the flight test team at Airbus, which is currently launching its new double-decker A380.
ARE YOU WINDING ME UP?
BusinessF1 Magazine Ltd, the company which publishes the BusinessF1 magazine, has had a number of expensive legal actions to contend with in recent years and it seems that the burden may have been too much.
HOW THE PRODRIVE F1 TEAM COULD WORK
There are reports that the Prodrive is close to making an announcement about its Formula 1 plans after months when there was little sign of activity. There is little doubt that Prodrive has a deal in place with McLaren if money can be found. This will be for cars and engines.
JEAN REDELE
Jean Redele has died at the age of 85. The Frenchman was a key figure in the history of Renault's competition activities and played an important role in bringing the company back to motorsport in the 1950s.
THE SPYKER REVOLUTION BEGINS
For some time it has been clear that the Spyker company needed to be fundamentally changed. The F1 team has been supporting the car company in recent months, which makes no sense at all.
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
McLaren partner Mansour Ojjeh is a very wealthy man. This gives him access to all manner of "toys", not least a 235ft yacht called Kogo, which he keeps in the Mediterranean.
SO WHAT HAPPENS TO TONIO LIUZZI?
The news that Sebastien Bourdais has been signed by Scuderia Toro Rosso means that Tonio Liuzzi is out of work with Red Bull next season: four of the Red Bull drives have now been assigned elsewhere in 2008, only one of them going to a member of the Red Bull Young Driver scheme.
WILSON TO NEWMAN HAAS LANIGAN?
The word from the United States is that Sebastien Bourdais's drive at Newman Haas Lanigan Racing will go to Britain's Justin Wilson. The 29-year-old Sheffield driver, who won the International Formula 3000 title in 2001 broke into F1 in 2003 with Minardi and was then hired in the midseason by Jaguar Racing.
TORO ROSSO CONFIRM BOURDAIS FOR 2008
After months of speculation Scuderia Toro Rosso announced today that three-time Champ Car champion Sebastion Bourdais will drive for the team in 2008.
I DIDN'T GIVE A ...
Lewis Hamilton says that he did not use "the F word" to Ron Dennis in Hungary and would like the world to know that he is still a thoroughly wholesome fellow and that things are now calming down with Fernando Alonso as well.
TORO ROSSO TO ANNOUNCE BOURDAIS DEAL?
Scuderia Toro Rosso has been working to try to conclude a deal that will allow it to announce on Wednesday that multiple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais has reached agreement to join the team in 2008 and will therefore team up with Sebastian Vettel.
APPEAL DATE IS SEPTEMBER 13
The International Court of Appeal will take place on September 13, just three days before the Belgian Grand Prix.
ALONSO AND MCLAREN
The Times newspaper in London is reporting that "well-placed sources" say that Ron Dennis has informed Fernando Alonso that he can leave the team at the end of the year if he wants to do that. This does not seem very likely.
WIND PROBLEMS IN CHINA
The city of Shanghai was hit last week by storms which resulted in winds of up to 80mph. These resulted in serious damage to a number of the grandstands around the circuit, with hand rails being blown off and in some cases, the stands actually collapsing. The circuit said that there may not be time to do the necessary repairs before this year's race because dismantling the seats, clearing the debris and rebuilding will all take time.
RACE REPORT - HAMILTON TEMPERED BY ADVERSITY
A year ago British fans rejoiced when Jenson Button won the Hungarian GP in his Honda. It seemed as though Button was finally on his way to F1 success. Twelve months later Jenson's moment of glory is all but forgotten.
MORE CHANGES AT HONDA
Honda Racing F1 was hoping to be able to settle down now that a new design team has been put together but our sources in Brackley have confirmed that a number of key engineers are in the process of leaving the team to move to Red Bull Racing where Honda's former technical director Geoff Willis is now putting together the people he wants around him.
THE FUTURE OF FERNANDO ALONSO
Fernando Alonso was asked over the weekend in Hungary if he was going to see out his contract at McLaren and replied that he did not know. The Spaniard has not settled in well, despite strenuous efforts by the team management, and he has had trouble coping with the speed of Lewis Hamilton.
DARIO'S LUCKY ESCAPE
IndyCar championship leader Dario Franchitti had a major accident at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday when his car rubbed wheels with Dan Wheldon's Chip Ganassi car at 211mph. The Scotsman's car turned sideways and rode over the nose of Wheldon's car, flying into the air and then landing in the path of the chasing cars.
MORE ACTION COMING AT SPYKER
The Spyker F1 team is a subsidiary of Spyker Cars, the Dutch automobile company which is listed on the stock exchange in Amsterdam. The biggest shareholder in the business is the Mol Family, which became involved a year ago.
RACE RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Race Results
MCLAREN MYSTIFIED BY PENALTY
McLaren has responded to the FIA's penalty imposed at midnight on Saturday, indicating that the team is mystified by why the FIA Stewards decided on such a severe penalty.
QUALIFYING REPORT - MIDNIGHT MAGIC
A little more controversy was just what Formula 1 did not need on Saturday afternoon in Budapest. The sport has gone through the allegations of team orders in Monaco and the whole of the messy and acrimonious Stepneygate business and we were hoping that we could get back to some racing again. But no, the final moments of the qualifying session produced yet more controversy and it took until midnight to sort this one out.
MCLAREN APPEALS
McLaren has appealed the stewards decision of the FIA stewards to tke away Constructors' points in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
ALONSO DROPS FIVE PLACES, MCLAREN TO LOSE POINTS
The FIA Stewards announced at close to midnight that Fernando Alonso would be penalised five grid positions after a controversial qualifying session for the Hungarian GP.
STILL WAITING
Darkness has now fallen in Budapest but the F1 world is still waiting to hear whether there will be any punishment for either Fernando Alonso or McLaren as a result of the qualifying session in which Lewis Hamilton was denied the opportunity to go for pole because Alonso stayed too long in the pits.
ALONSO IN TROUBLE?
Fernando Alonso took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest but there was controversy as the Spaniard stayed in the McLaren pit for longer than was absolutely necessary and by doing so, denied Lewis Hamilton the chance of a final qualifying run.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Qualifying Results
PRACTICE 3 REPORT - MASSA TOPS THE MORNING SESSION
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was fastest in the final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix but it is by no means certain that the Ferraris will be ahead when it comes to qualifying. Massa was just two-tenths of a second ahead of Fernando Alonso's McLaren, which was all but matched by World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
PRACTICE 3 RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Practice 3 Results
PRACTICE 2 REPORT - FERNANDO ON TOP
Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of the second session at the Hungarian Grand Prix but the times were such that it is hard to figure out if there is anything to concluded from the action. Alonso's best time was three-tenths of a second faster than Heikki Kovalainen's best lap in his Renault, a much higher position than one normally sees from a Renault.
FERRARI RESPONDS TO DENNIS
Ferrari has responded to Ron Dennis's letter to Gino Macaluso, saying that the team wishes "to state very strongly that its letter contains accusations that are both serious and false. Contrary to the statement put forward by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Ferrari never illegally gained any advantage.
PRACTICE 2 RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Practice 2 Results
STEPNEY DENIES
The Stepneygate scandal has taken yet another weird turn with the news that Nigel Stepney, speaking through his lawyer, has denied that he was the source of the e-mails sent to McLaren at the time of the Australian Grand Prix. McLaren says this tip-off resulted in the team going to the FIA to question the Ferrari's floor fixation system.
PRACTICE 1 REPORT - KUBICA LEADS THE WAY
Robert Kubica set the fastest time of the first session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, although tyres were obviously an issue. The Pole had the softer of the tyre choices on his car while most of the others were using the harder tyres and it remains to be seen whether Kubica can sustain that kind of pace on longer runs.
PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Practice 1 Results
NO COMMENT FROM FERRARI
The Ferrari team is making no comment about the claims made by Ron Dennis in his recent letter to Luigi Macaluso of the CSAI.
VETTEL CONFIRMED FOR TORO ROSSO FOR 2008
Sebastian Vettel will race with Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2008 as well as in the remaining races this year. As the young German has a long-standing option with Red Bull after that it means that BMW has decided to let him go.
THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Hungarian GP - Thursday Press Conference
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS AT INDIANAPOLIS
Construction on the new 2.6-mile road course to be used for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP motorcycle race has started at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The construction work will take much of the winter.
MOTORSPORT BUSINESS FORUM ANNOUNCES SPEAKERS
The Motor Sport Business Forum has released its latest plans. The next event takes place on December 5-6 at the Grimaldi Conference and Exhibition Centre in Monaco. The event will welcome no fewer than nine of the current F1 team bosses as well as top executives from some of the biggest sponsors in motor sport.
MCLAREN BREAKS ITS SILENCE
Ron Dennis has written to Luigi Macaluso of the CSAI to outline McLaren's position in the ongoing Stepneygate scandal. The letter, which has been published on the McLaren website, gives the first real glimpse of McLaren's arguments in the dispute, while underlining the team's obvioius anger at the way in which it feels Ferrari has dealt with the scandal.
STEPNEYGATE - THE WHOLE STORY
One of the big problems with the ongoing Stepneygate Affair is that there is a huge amount of hearsay, but not a great deal of fact. There are two affidavits: one from Mike Coughlan and one from his wife Trudy.
FERRARI BOARD GIVES TODT THE POWER
The Ferrari board met in Maranello yesterday and discussed the situation regarding Nigel Stepney, Mike Coughlan and McLaren and gave its permission for Jean Todt to "initiate and continue any necessary legal action, in the name of the company, in addition to those legal actions already under way".
SILVERSTONE VOTES FOR MASTER PLAN
The British Racing Drivers' Club has voted 80% in favour of the club's Master Plan for the future, thus rejecting the alternative ideas put forward. The club says that it is now in a position to negotiate with the Formula One group to extend the British Grand Prix contract beyond 2009.
