In today’s round-up: Daniel Ricciardo has taken to the streets of Delhi in front of 60,000 fans.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Indian Showrun Brings Speed to Delhi Streets (Red Bull Racing)
"Red Bull Junior driver Daniel Ricciardo raced the Red Bull Running Showcar down the iconic Rajpath, the ceremonial boulevard for the Republic of India, in New Delhi this weekend in front of 60,000 fans."
"@duskyBlogF1: @H_Kovalainen Are all drivers attending a ‘special meeting’ in Japan about Hamilton’s driving? I’m not I have no problem."
Ecclestone to give evidence in F1 bribery case (The Independent)
"Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that he will be a witness in Germany’s biggest post-war corruption trial which gets under way in Munich later this month. On trial is German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, who has been charged with receiving a $44m (28m) bribe in connection with the sale of F1 to its current owner, CVC, in 2006."
Mark Kermode’s DVD round-up (The Guardian)
"Eschewing formulaic talking heads, Kapadia draws on a wealth of home-movie footage, media reportage and TV race coverage, painting Senna as a national hero who wasn’t afraid to go his own way. Although it’s hard to imagine anyone having avoided news coverage of the fallout from Senna’s final race, let me just say that this electrifying documentary is as dramatic, suspenseful and tragic as any feature film I have seen this year and I encourage those with zero affinity for fast cars to seek it out forthwith."
UN rights office criticizes Bahrain sentences (Yahoo News)
"The U.N. human rights office on Friday questioned the fairness of a Bahrain court that sentenced an anti-government protester to death and gave lengthy prison sentences to medical staff who treated the injured during the country’s uprising."
Thanks to Tom for the tip!
Mark Webber’s car at the 2011 Italian Grand Prix (YouTube)
More footage of the underside of Webber’s car at Monza.
Thanks to @simonparker1983 on Twitter for the tip
Read more: F1 fans at Monza for the 2011 Italian Grand Prix
Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.
Comment of the day
Yesterday’s round-up included a link to the Singapore Grand Prix race edit. Here’s Andrew Tanner’s favourite moment:
The best thing about that FOM race edit? Schumacher’s face when he’s out of the car.
Last season and earlier this season he would have just calmly shrugged his shoulders and laughed it off. But it was good to see him so annoyed about it, like he felt he actually had something to lose; his recent form.
AndrewTanner
From the forum
Prisoner Monkeys asks, how young is too young to be a driver?
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Pankit!
On this day in F1
Francois Cevert scored the only victory of his F1 career in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen 40 years ago today.
Cevert’s team mate Jackie Stewart has already won the world championship. Stewart led from pole position but Cevert passed him on lap 14.
Cevert led the rest of the way, finishing almost 40 seconds clear of Jo Siffert’s second-placed BRM. Ronnie Peterson was third for March=.
MGriffin90 (@mgriffin90)
3rd October 2011, 0:07
Francois Cevert, proper racing driver name that is.
F1Yankee (@f1yankee)
3rd October 2011, 2:07
salut francios!
Calum (@calum)
3rd October 2011, 0:23
An open question:
What do you think Team Lotus will be called next year?
newnhamlea1 (@newnhamlea1)
3rd October 2011, 1:19
probably caterham racing or air asia caterham racing or something to that effect, while it is a shame the two parties couldnt work together, it is good to see that it will probably be settled for next year.
HounslowBusGarage (@hounslowbusgarage)
3rd October 2011, 8:58
Caterham Racing Air Partnership . . . CRA – no wait!
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
3rd October 2011, 3:06
Team-Proper-Sodding-Caterhamly-Lotus-Bleeding-Renault-Official-Screw-You-Behr-We-<3-QPR-Racing or something along those lines :)
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
3rd October 2011, 7:18
Based on this report, they’ve indicated that they will change their constructor name to Caterham.
As for the exact team name, that is unknown at the moment. It will probably be “Team Caterham” or “Caterham Racing” or soemthing similar.
daykind (@)
3rd October 2011, 13:25
Wasn’t there a story some time last month about a twitter and facebook account created called Caterham?
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd October 2011, 14:00
That was before the court case, just before the announcement about buying caterham was made, wasn’t it?
Calum (@calum)
3rd October 2011, 23:47
I think Air Asia Team Caterham.
Fixy (@)
3rd October 2011, 14:47
Caterham Team AirAsia – just like their GP2 team this year. That is, if they reach an agreement with Group Lotus.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
3rd October 2011, 3:09
Nice to see people cycling on the track where cars passed though at 250 km/h.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
3rd October 2011, 13:44
There were so many bikes about that weekend. People were breezing past us on the way into the circuit, I was very jealous!
Girts (@girts)
3rd October 2011, 6:43
As I understand, Hamilton is Kovalainen’s best mate in F1 but I agree with Kovy about Lewis’ driving anyway; it’s not dangerous. Some people are exaggerating the significance of his mistakes.
SempreGilles (@sempregilles)
3rd October 2011, 7:48
Agreed. He’s been making mistakes, and he’s been making more than others. But he got punished where appropriate, and that should be the end of it.
Tango (@tango)
3rd October 2011, 12:29
I thought he was best buddies with Nico Rosberg. Seems he is a ok team mate to have!
raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
3rd October 2011, 12:29
Him and Sutil at the very least. Having said that though; Kovi is on the opposite end of the grid; and usually races and he wouldn’t have a problem
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
3rd October 2011, 8:55
I’m one of the people that think Hamilton has been beyond awful this year, but I don’t think he’s endangering people. If someone was deliberately pulling dangerous moves (like a certain Schumacher in the ’90s), then yes, it would probably be within the best interests of everyone’s safety to take a closer look at their driving. But Lewis has just been making silly errors, and no amount of punishment is going to amend that – as it is something he has to fix himself.
His penalties have been justified on most occasions (the only one I didn’t agree with was Malaysia), and they will be making him think, but people assuming drivers want to discuss his driving behind his back is just blowing it out of proportion. All of his mistakes have been exactly that; mistakes.
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
3rd October 2011, 9:26
One of those drivers deliberately drove into his rivals twice, and parked the car in a dangerous position. One of those drivers hasn’t.
I agree with you Damon that his mistakes have just been that. No worse than when Hill kept driving into Schuey in 1995 as an example.
It’s a bad patch for him, as simple as really.
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd October 2011, 14:45
Agree with Damon and would remind people that a year ago we were saying the same thing about the current and soon to be new WDC.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
3rd October 2011, 19:42
Amazing! I’d really like to see some other teams get their acts together next year and put the pressure on Red Bull. It’d be interesting to see if Vettel has fixed that aspect of his driving, or it’s all still lying underneath the surface but no-one can get even close to uncovering it.
sumedh
3rd October 2011, 9:06
Drivers discussing Hamilton’s driving in a “special meeting” is a little too much. I personally think Hamilton has been really bad this season but in no way does his performance merits a “Special meeting”. He hasn’t been dangerous to anyone. Yes, he has wrecked the races of a lot of people but he has been penalized for that. That he is not learning from his penalties is a matter of concern, but not a matter of concern for the drivers but for Charlie and stewards. I would say punish Hamilton more seriously (stop go instead of drive though, DSQ if necessary) if he repeats an offence.
But special meeting is too much.
daykind (@)
3rd October 2011, 13:27
I completley agree. It doesn’t require a meeting,and as much as I hate Hamilton, he must feel awful right now, with a meeting about him.
PJTierney (@)
3rd October 2011, 9:32
I like how the German national anthem is playing in the background of that video, emphasising the fact that Mark lost out and Seb raced off to victory.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd October 2011, 14:19
LOL, you are right, having Marks car hang there while Seb can enjoy victory makes it extra good footage!
Yarv
3rd October 2011, 10:12
I think the drivers discussion over hamilton, will be based on lewis disregard and respect for other drivers. In the sense that while his crashes might not be a danger to the other drivers lives, he still inevitably causes the other driver/drivers race to be affected negatively, end or potentially end there races while not thinking much of it. I don’t think 22 professional drivers have a vendetta against lewis hamilton, I feel its rather 22 other drivers just making a point that while mistakes might be stupid..it does negatively affect the other drivers races and should not be ignored by lewis who has been involved in many incidents this year.
GameR_K (@gamer_k)
3rd October 2011, 11:20
Treading a delicate balance between Hamilton favouritism and hatred I would like to explain just this, does Hamiton ever felt remorse that he has ruined his race? Yes. Does Hamilton ever felt remorse that he ruined someone else’s race. No. Carefully tailored twitter apologies that mysteriously appear the next day are not ‘Apologies’. His lack of respect or regard(© PrisonerMonkeys) for fellow drives only aggravates the situation. As for his ‘aggressive-dangerous’ driving comments, the way he is driving now it’s always an accident waiting to happen. Sure nobody has been killed by his reckless driving, because it is unfair to term it reckless till someone gets killed. It’s like saying ‘This power plant has not had a failure in 17 years’ and then *KABOOM*
bad_whippet (@bad_whippet)
3rd October 2011, 13:21
@ GameR_K
“Does Hamilton ever felt remorse that he ruined someone else’s race. No.”
Complete and utter conjecture, presumption and uninformed personal opinion, but that’s ok, because everyone is entitled to their opinion and it can’t ever be wrong.
Please stop stating yours as fact though. Unless of course you’re Hamilton’s best mate, which I, guessing you’re not.
bad_whippet (@bad_whippet)
3rd October 2011, 13:23
^ “I’m” not “I,” obviously…
(Desperately wants an edit button!)
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd October 2011, 14:49
or “guess” not “guessing”.
bad_whippet (@bad_whippet)
3rd October 2011, 16:01
@ HoHum
Indeed! Though, “I guess you’re not” is more of a statement, whereas, “I’m guessing you’re not” is more a question… had I have actually added the question mark of course!
Fat fingers…
JCost (@jcost)
3rd October 2011, 16:05
22? By now, you should at least count Heiki out.
I guess Jenson will not attend. I doubt Seb Vettel, Adrian Sutil and even Alonso are willing to be part of such a joke. They could show up eventually, but they will not say a word!
Yarv
3rd October 2011, 17:21
Yes 22 I counted heiki and lewis out based on the fact that heiki obviously isn’t attending..and well lewis hamilton obviously can’t be counted.having not heard from the other 22 drivers I assume they wil be attending. With regards to his driving..I think yes accidents cannot be taken lightly. With the high speeds and open cockpits anything can happen. Just look at hw close schumi was to being injured badly last year at abu dhabi wen liuzzi’s car drove over the front of the merc gp car, so some care and consideration must be taken when making overtaking manouvers. However I do believe that the meeting might most probaly lean more on making a point to lewis that he needs to be carefull a little more..because its one thing to crash on your own every other weekend, but when it involves over taking another car then you also have to take care and not crash into another driver. There is a lot of money involved in f1, and every point counts.
JCost (@jcost)
4th October 2011, 9:32
I think we need crash stats Keith. How many times have Paul Di Resta lost his “nose” this year? What about Massa? Schumacher…
You really overrating Lewis accidents. Sorry.
GameR_K (@gamer_k)
3rd October 2011, 11:23
Heikki shouldn’t have any problem with Hamilton, because when Hamilton shows up in his mirrors Heikki is going to see Blue. That is not necessarily the case with the front runners
Err Bob
3rd October 2011, 12:26
I posted it after the race that Massa had been late on the throttle helping to create the accident, now we hear that He had a radio message telling Him to `destroy` Hamiltons race. In my book deliberate late throttle is as bad as brake testing if it leads to an accident.
I would love to be a fly on the wall at this special meeting at the next GP when Massa pipes up about Hamilton an someone mentions He should spend more time racing and less time listening to He`s radio.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
3rd October 2011, 13:07
Give it a rest. Massa was still in the braking zone when Hamilton ploughed into him. There was no way on Earth that Massa was slow on the throttle. Likewise, there was no way on Earth that Massa can be blamed in any way for Hamilton’s misjudgement.
Err Bob
3rd October 2011, 13:55
I`ll think your find that they touched after the braking zone as they were turning, and as for ploughing into Him, this is ploughing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl5aMMRgTEk
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
3rd October 2011, 19:39
This screenshot would suggest otherwise.
Massa was on the slower tyres, and as you mention, Ferrari have had trouble getting heat into them. The best thing for Felipe to do in order to make his strategy work against a faster McLaren on softer, faster tyres was to keep him behind for as long as possible. That’s exactly what he did to Button in Melbourne and Jenson managed to prevent any silly contact then. But back to my original point, Massa, on slower, colder tyres and off the racing line, braking later to defend his position, was not going to be accelerating before the turn in point, so I have no idea what Hamilton was expecting. Zero percent Massa’s fault.
davidwhite (@davidwhite)
4th October 2011, 7:39
Smedley you’ve been “owned” – check out the video post above and here’s another one for good measure (not once but twice made to a look a fool):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHo4k7AsCMY&feature=related
The reason Mass has been whinging about Hamilton is because he’s repeatedly being showing him for what he is – a 2nd rate driver. To qualify a whole second behind your team mate in Singapore and then blame your poor race on another takes the biscuit, the biscuit barrel, and why not the biscuit factory with it!
I’m over Massa and his outbursts – ya gonna get kicked out of Ferrari and there goes your career. I for one won’t be shedding a tear.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
4th October 2011, 9:38
So we’re resorting to bringing up past incidents in a poor attempt at justifying Hamilton’s reckless driving now? Besides, Fuji ’08 was Massa’s fault, and he got a penalty, if you remember. What are you trying to say, exactly? Hamilton wasn’t at fault? Oh please.
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd October 2011, 14:55
Bob has a valid point Damon, we should keep an open mind in both directions, incidents involving Massa are too frequent.
Cacarella (@cacarella)
3rd October 2011, 15:19
Both cars were on their out lap after they’d pitted. Massa on the soft tyres, Hamilton on the super soft.
The Ferrari car has struggled all year to get the tyres up to temperature in the first few laps after a pit, hence Massa would be slower exiting the corners.
If you want a better explanation (one to massage your Hamilton fanboyism), Massa was slower through the corner because he’s a poor driver compared to Hamilton and Lewis is so blindingly quick he could have taken the corner at twice that speed.
See, two perfectly good explanations as to why Massa might have been slower through that corner without accusing him of doing it on purpose. Such an accusation can only be made to try and excuse Lewis of the blame for a silly mistake while both of my explanations place the blame precisely where it belongs – with Lewis.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
3rd October 2011, 13:40
Ooo I got my first COTD :D Although TommyB89 and BasCB tell me I have another lurking in the depths somewhere I have never found it!
A ‘special meeting’? That’s a little far-fetched.
Just when Adrian Newey thought the videos of the floor of the RB7 were history, boom, they’re back again!
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd October 2011, 15:29
Congratulations with this one!
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd October 2011, 14:21
Here’s another very nice video, this time not from the race but from Pirelli testing there with Lucas di Grassi.
enjoy the full 5 minutes posted on youtube!
mcmclaren
3rd October 2011, 22:07
I really enjoyed the 0.25 speed on f1.com’s race edit of massa/lewis
there’s plenty of space between them as the hit the apex – for thoese who havn’t raced before…that’s the point you start to accelorate, just as you start to straighten up the wheel
then the cars close in on each other and barely touch
hard to say what happened but if massa was trying to hold up lewis instead of taking part in the race, that would explain the contact as what he would obviously do at that point is be slow on the accelorator and then hit it all of a sudden to get a jump on lewis (a bit like a re-start)
in this case it would be a fairly obvious conclusion to make that it takes 2 (two) to tango and massa’s got a cheak to go complaining about something he might not be to blame for, but certainly caused
icemangrins (@icemangrins)
3rd October 2011, 23:46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeiOdZ1eQmU