The rain threatened to be a factor this afternoon in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix but never materialised as expected allowing Ferrari to show its raw speed around the 5.543km Sepang circuit. Felipe Massa claimed pole position, the tenth of his career, with a lap almost half a second clear of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. The F2008 has run flawlessly today and the team dominated qualifying leaving Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton very much second best on the second row of the grid.#.
The International Court of Appeal said in a statement the case was rejected because McLaren’s appeal is inadmissable. The results of the Interlagos race will remain unchanged, confirming Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen as the 2007 world champion. Ferrari CEO Jean Todt further added:
The decision of the ICA finally brings to an end a very intense season, both on and off the track. Today, a final and desperate attempt to change the result obtained on the track was rejected. Now, all our efforts are focused on preparing for next season.#.
What else left for Mclaren to loose this season?
∞Retired World Champion Micael Schumacher will continue in Formula one with Ferrari as an super assistant to support newly appointed CEO Jean Todt who also will remain as an interim MD for the team. Both these decisions were announced by Ferrari at Monza on sunday while Ferrari’s technical director, Ross Brawn will leave Ferrari before the end of this year. In a long anticipated move, Brawn will stand down from his post of technical director to devote more time to his personal life and will hand over his duties to Mario Almondo. But Ross Brawn will hold talks with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and CEO Jean Todt in the middle of next year to discuss about rejoining the team and how they feel about how the team’s running. Brawn could potentially rejoin the team as principal allowing Jean Todt to concentrate solely on being CEO.
Even though Schumacher retired officially from racing, lot of media have been spreading rumors that he may be back. The 37-year-old Schumacher retired as a driver after placing his Ferrari to fourth place in the Brazilian Grand Prix last Sunday. Michael Schumacher won a record seven world titles and was with Ferrari as driver from 1996 until he retired. But Micheal Schumacher turned down the offer to become a regular test driver for Ferrari. This was revealed by Italian team’s chiefs Luca di Montezemolo and Jean Todt at Monza at the weekend. Montezemolo, the Ferrari president, said Read More
The 2006 F1 season is over and Alonso defended his World Champion title at Sao Paulo, Brazil by finishing the Brazilian GrandPrix in second. Felipe Massa drove a faultless drive from pole position to take the chequered flag at his home GrandPrix. Ayrton Senna was the last countryman to have won at Interlagos, where Massa grew up. But the day belongs to the F1 legend, Michael Schumacher who demonstrated why he is still the best out there in his final Formula one race. Schumacher, the only man who can deprive Alonso started 10th on the grid after technical problems prevented him from setting a time in important final qualifying. To win an eighth World title, he must win the race, with Alonso failing to score. Even though its tough ask from 10th on the grid, no one dared to rule out the possibility as Ferrari dominated all weekend. Read More
Brilliant Michael Schumacher won the classic Chineese Grand Prix, which can be one of his most important victories in his career. Started 6th on the grid and after 9 laps he was 22 seconds behind the race leader and yet he won the Race that eluded him in the last 2 years. It was Renault’s race to loose and they lost it.
The track was wet with water all over the track at the start but it was not raining. Most of the drivers started with intermediate’s and it was evident from the Saturday’s qualifying that Ferrari and Bridgestone runners struggled in wet conditions. Both the Renaults got to a good start as race begins but both the Hondas lost out to Raikkonen who started at 5th. Schumacher held on to his 6th position as Alonso just vanishes at the front. By lap 4 Schumacher was almost 14 sec’s behind race leader which shows how fast the Michelin runners are. Read More
Michael Schumacher will retire from race driving at the end of the 2006 World Championship. Thats the official news from the Maranello’s Motor Sport Press Office. Check the pdf version of the official release.
I guessed this will be the announcement after viewing some emotional moments just before the podium. For the first time or may be the first time I have seen, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo jumped the barrier to congratulate his hero Schumacher after the lap of honor. But Schumacher went straight to his co-workers and the president has to wait to get hold of Schumi to give a hug. He then went straight to Jean Todt and his wife for a hug. Wat a moment it was.
Whatever the final result of this year’s championship, Michael leaves Formula 1 holding almost all the records. To date, he has taken seven Drivers’ world titles and has contributed to the same number of team wins in the Constructors’ Championship. He has taken part in 247 Formula 1 Grands Prix (178 of them at the wheel of a Ferrari,) won 90 (71,) been on pole 68 (58) times, setting 75 (52) fastest race laps. He has amassed a total of 1354 points, 1051 of them in a Maranello car. No one in the world of motor racing has done better.
Following his decision, the only record that will elude him is the one for the number of race starts. He will be able to reach the 250 mark, just six short of the record held by Riccardo Patrese.
Schumacher has been with Scuderia Ferrari for eleven seasons, a demonstration of loyalty without equal in Formula 1, to date securing five of his Drivers’ titles here and contributing to six of the team’s Constructors’ titles. No other driver has ever won as much with the Scuderia.
F1 will miss the legend.