Three races into the 2008 season and, with Formula One heading back to Europe for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, world champion Kimi Raikkonen holds a three-point lead in the drivers' championship.
Little in the way of a shock there, perhaps, although the identity of the second-placed driver, Nick Heidfeld, points to the early-season surprise package: BMW Sauber, whose form is reflected in their lead of the constructors' championship.
The German-Swiss outfit may only hold a one-point lead over Ferrari - the defending champions in turn holding the same advantage over McLaren-Mercedes - but it's a deserved lead. And, let's face it, the table never lies.
The way in which the Swiss-German team have risen to the top of the standings fully reflects the unobtrusive manner in which they go about their business. However, assuming BMW Sauber can continue the form which brought both themselves and Robert Kubica a maiden pole position at Sakhir, then expect that to change.
The three weeks that have passed since Bahrain have, of course, seen headlines largely concerned with matters off-track; hopefully, this weekend's outing at the Circuit de Catalunya will bring the type of raciness more normally associated with Formula One, the teams once more getting in the swing during last week's test - at the same venue - of car upgrades.
However, trying to make sense of the four-day outing - a difficult task at the best of times - was complicated, not only by bad weather but also by the occasional use of grippier slick tyres and less efficient aerodynamic packages approximating those to be seen next year.
Bahrain winner Felipe Massa set a stunning pace on the opening day, the Brazilian lapping two-and-a-half seconds quicker than the next quickest car; however, his Ferrari's performance was aided by running both 2009 slicks and higher 2008 downforce levels.
However, Massa then switched to grooved tyres the following day and emerged only third quickest behind Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India - the latter boosting his performance by running on slicks.
New nose
Much excitement surrounded the appearance of Ferrari's new nose, which now has two holes (nostrils?) poking out the top in an attempt to better control the airflow over the F2008's front wing and to the rear wing and diffuser - increased aerodynamic load being the objective.
However, chief designer Nikolas Tombazis claimed other updates were just as important, saying: "The influence on car performance of the slotted nose has been greatly over emphasised.
"You cannot measure the effect of one component in isolation and the nose is just one part of a bigger package and in fact, its effect is not that big. Overall, we expect the new aero package to produce some improvement in performance, but it would be wrong to call it a race-winning item."
McLaren also introduce upgrades in Barcelona, with the team doubtless hoping that the weekend will bring an improvement upon their poor performance last time out in the Middle East - BMW Sauber comprehensively outperforming them for the first time.
Lewis Hamilton will certainly be looking to improve upon the horror show that was Sakhir. Besides his dominant showing in Australia, the young Englishman's career seems to have regressed during recent races: the types of mistakes which ended his 2007 title campaign surfacing once again three weeks ago.
In a style becoming typical of British sportsman in the 21st century, Hamilton said he had "let the team down" in the aftermath of his 13th-place finish in Bahrain - McLaren having subsequently responded by giving their prized asset plenty of psychological mollycoddling in the press.
Support has also come from other quarters, with 1996 world champion Damon Hill saying that recent less-than-stellar performances simply contrast with those offered during the balance of the 23-year-old's amazing rookie year.
Hill also believes that Hamilton's recent showings represent the flipside of a talent that could well place him among the sport's all-time greats. "Sometimes with a driver who is extremely ambitious, they can overextend," Hill told The Times. "You see that in nearly all the great drivers - Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher overdid it occasionally.
"Lewis is the sort of person who has got to where he is by pushing himself beyond his limits and continually extending those limits, and sometimes that will show up and even appear to be slightly desperate. But I don't think that is a bad sign. It's much better to have that than it is to have a driver who never puts a foot wrong but never does anything brilliant."
It's a hypothesis that makes sense. If nothing else, Hamilton can ignore the talk of him needing to get his "faltering title bid back on track" - after all, the facts speak for themselves: with no fewer than 15(!) races remaining, Hamilton lies third in the drivers' championship - five points behind Raikkonen. Crisis? What crisis?
A driver with more to worry about ahead of his home grand prix is Fernando Alonso who, of course, was rear-ended by Hamilton on lap two of the Bahrain Grand Prix - an outcome that reflected, but hardly conspired towards, his 10th-place finish.
Ungainly addition
Renault were certainly prominent at last week's Barcelona test, a new engine cover fin being a rather ungainly addition to their R28's aerodynamic get-up - a new front wing and suspension updates also bolted on in an attempt to find grip in both high and low speed corners.
The team's technical director, Bob Bell, believes a big step forward has been taken, meaning "multiple tenths of a second", while team boss Flavio Briatore is convinced they will be able to jump ahead of the likes of Williams, Toyota and Red Bull this weekend.
However, in a week when Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said that lining up the Spaniard alongside Raikkonen at the Scuderia "would mean wanting to damage yourself", the man himself seems ambivalent on the subject of any improvement - Alonso saying the test was "encouraging", yet also reckoning that a podium finish remains out of the question.
At least Renault will be racing on Sunday; at the time of writing it remains unclear whether Super Aguri will take to the grid, the team having arrived in Barcelona despite a proposed takeover deal falling through last week.
According to team boss Aguri Suzuki, "discussions regarding investment" are ongoing and, although the team "look forward to our weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix", there was no explicit confirmation as to whether they will actually compete.
Weekend weather update - dry race in prospect
Welcome to the start of the European leg of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya outside Barcelona.
The weather will be a marked contrast to the 30+ degrees Celsius conditions of the three opening races. It will be partly cloudy all weekend, with sunny spells and the ambient temperature fluctuating between 16 and 18 degrees.
The race will run over its usual 66 laps or 307.104 kilometres (190.834 miles) and will start at 1400 hours local time, which is two hours ahead of GMT.
Fantastic preview post, Mark. I can't wait for this race. I used to watch F1 religiously when I was little, but ever since the TV rights were transferred to SPEED, I sort of stopped following it for quite awhile. I'm enjoying getting back into it this year.
"Collar turned up, back straight, chest stuck out, he glided into the arena as if he owned the fucking place. Any arena, but nowhere more effectively than Old Trafford. This was his stage. He loved it, the crowd loved him" -Roy Keane on Eric Cantona
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has won the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya to extend his lead in the drivers' championship.
The world champion took his second victory of the season, leading home team-mate Felipe Massa, with Lewis Hamilton taking the final podium place for McLaren-Mercedes.
However, Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen suffered a major accident on lap 22 of an incident-filled 66-lap race.
Having apparently suffered a left-front wheel rim failure, the Finn's car plunged off the circuit at the entry to turn three at some 150 mph before hitting a tyre wall head on at unabated speed.
As the safety car appeared on track, marshals and medical personnel worked to release Kovalainen from the wrecked chassis - the front of the McLaren appearing to have been ripped off.
He was then taken to the track's medical centre before subsequently being helicoptered to hospital.
Luckily, however, Kovalainen was conscious and appears to have suffered no injury beyond concussion.
The race eventually continued, with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica finishing fourth ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber.
Honda's Jenson Button scored his first points of the season with sixth, ahead of Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima and Toyota's Jarno Trulli.
Subdued
Barcelona has a habit of turning polesitters into race winners and so it proved again, with polesitter Raikkonen getting the drop Massa, who subdued the home crowd by passing Fernando Alonso on the run down to turn one.
Hamilton also got the drop on the fourth-starting Kubica, but lap one proved chaotic at the back of the pack as Adrian Sutil spun, his Force India being collected by Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso.
The safety car thus appeared and, upon resumption of racing, the Ferrari one-two edged away from the third-placed Alonso, who held position until making his opening stop on lap 16.
Massa and Raikkonen both made their opening stops three laps later, with Hamilton then leading for three laps before his own first stop.
It was at this stage that Kovalainen left the track - the safety car coming out once more and staying out for six laps.
Running a long opening stint after qualifying ninth, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld had inherited the lead by this stage.
However, because rules state that the pit lane cannot open until cars settle behind the safety car in the correct order, the German had to pit regardless to avoid running out of fuel.
He rejoined in fifth place but, having to take a stop-go penalty, Heidfeld eventually finished back in ninth.
In a race which ultimately brought nine retirements, Alonso pulled off the circuit from fifth place on lap 35 - his Renault suffering an engine failure.
Rubens Barrichello - who lost his front wing exiting the pitlane during the second SC period after apparently colliding with Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella - was also out by this point, with Nico Rosberg retiring his Williams on the pit straight on lap 41.
The high attrition rate allowed the likes of Fisichella and even Super Aguri's Takuma Sato to briefly threaten for points.
Button takes advantage
However, the two drivers who eventually took advantage were Button who, after starting 13th on the grid ran as high as fifth place, and Nakajima, who started 12th.
The race leaders made their second stops on laps 47 and 48 and, although Hamilton took a few tenths out of Massa during the closing laps, the order remained static.
After qualifying ten places behind team-mate Webber on the grid, David Coulthard eventually finished 12th, the Scot having yet another coming together during a race, this time with Toyota's Timo Glock.
Meanwhile, Anthony Davidson retired on lap eight after one of his car's radiators was punctured by a piece of track debris.
After 4 races the Drivers and Teams Standings are:
DRIVERS:
TEAMS:
Kovalainen safe after high-speed accident in Spain
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen has been taken by medical helicopter to a Barcelona hospital for precautionary checks after crashing heavily midway through Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. According to McLaren, Kovalainen is conscious, in a stable condition and has no visible signs of injury.
Kovalainen plunged off the circuit at speed at Turn Nine after an apparent failure on the front-left of the car, which ended up buried deep in the tyre wall as a result. A lengthy safety-car period followed and culminated with the Finn being stretchered away to the medical centre, waving to the crowd as he went.
McLaren are investigating the cause of the accident, which is believed to have resulted from something causing the front-left rim to separate from the tyre. Latest reports on Kovalainen, meanwhile, suggest he is suffering from nothing worse than concussion.
Heikki Kovalainen crash in Barcelona 2008
Good job Scuderia again, seems that Ferrari starts go find their pase and that's great news for all the red fans.
Good race; very eventful. The Kovalainen crash was frightening. Watching it from that on-board camera really gives you the jitters - he's absolutely screaming into the tire wall...
Unfortunate for Alonso; you could tell the fans were really disappointed. Also unfortunate for Coulthard getting his tire punctured.
"Collar turned up, back straight, chest stuck out, he glided into the arena as if he owned the fucking place. Any arena, but nowhere more effectively than Old Trafford. This was his stage. He loved it, the crowd loved him" -Roy Keane on Eric Cantona
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen said he had no fears about returning to racing in next week's Turkish Grand Prix after his big crash in Spain last weekend.
"I want to get back to racing as soon as possible," the Finn said.
"Since the accident at Barcelona it has been my only focus.
"Everyone involved in the sport, the FIA in particular, is always working on improving safety for the drivers but Formula One is a risky business. You know that as a driver, but you don't think about it.
"If you worry about things like that, you lose focus. I guess it's just not in my psyche," said Kovalainen.
The 26-year-old was knocked unconscious in the crash at the Circuit de Catalunya last Sunday and spent the night in hospital under observation.
He said afterwards that he had no recollection of the accident, in which his McLaren penetrated the tyre barrier at around 130kph.
Kovalainen, who will have a mandatory fitness test in Istanbul before being cleared to race, said he was feeling better and the stiffness in his neck had almost gone.
The Finn said he had left Spain on Thursday and returned to Finland to resume training.
British team mate Lewis Hamilton will join him over the weekend for training.
"I can't wait to get back into the car and race with the team next weekend," said Kovalainen. "But at the end of the day that decision is out of my hands, the FIA will make it based on safety grounds only."
McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh said the team would organise a full neurological examination for the driver before he left Finland.
He added that McLaren, who have Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa as reserve driver, had a plan in place should the FIA rule out Kovalainen's return in Istanbul.
If the Finn is cleared, he will race the team's spare car from Barcelona and a new spare would be sent to Turkey from McLaren's factory.
Following weeks of speculation concerning the future of the team, Super Aguri announced Tuesday that they are to withdraw from the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship with immediate effect.
Super Aguri, founded by former driver Aguri Suzuki, had been participating in Formula One racing since the 2006 season. The Japanese team, who scored their first championship points after only 22 races (Spanish Grand Prix, 2007) and finished ninth in the 2007 constructors’ championship, will cease all activities as of May 6, 2008.
The Honda-powered team, whose driver line-up comprised Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson, ran into financial difficulties last year, and completed little winter testing ahead of the 2008 season as a result. A planned buyout by the Magma Group looked set to save the team until that fell through last month, and only last week Suzuki expressed optimism about a new deal with German automotive company Weigl.
Explaining his decision to withdraw from Formula One racing, Aguri Suzuki released the following statement:
“In order to realize my dream to become an owner of a Formula One Team, I applied for a grid position in the FIA Formula One World Championship in November 2005. Since then, I have participated in the championship for 2 years and 4 months as the SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM, but regretfully I must inform you that the team will be ceasing its racing activities as of today.
“The team has competed against the many car manufacturer backed teams and has succeeded in obtaining the first points after only the 22nd race finishing in 9th place overall in the 2007 Constructors’ Championship. However, the breach of contract by the promised partner SS United Oil & Gas Company resulted in the loss of financial backing and immediately put the team into financial difficulties. Also, the change in direction of the environment surrounding the team, in terms of the use of customer chassis, has affected our ability to find partners.
“Meanwhile, with the help of Honda, we have somehow managed to keep the team going, but we find it difficult to establish a way to continue the activities in the future within the environment surrounding F1 and as a result, I have concluded to withdraw from the Championship.
“I would like to express my deepest thanks to Honda, Bridgestone, the sponsors, all the people who have given us advise during various situations over the past couple of years all the Team Staff who have kept their motivations high and always done their best, Anthony Davidson who has always pushed to the limit despite the very difficult conditions, Takuma Sato who has been with us from the very start and has always fought hard and led the team and lastly our fans from all over the world who have loyally supported the SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM.”
Spanish GP Preview
Spanish GP Preview -
04-25-2008, 04:40 AM
04-25-2008, 04:49 AM
***spoilers*** -
04-27-2008, 10:18 AM
Super Aguri out from F1 -
05-06-2008, 05:26 AM
