Formula 1

[charlos3000]

since honda's seen fit to disappoint the hell out of me, i'm announcing that for the remainder of the season, i'm officially putting my hopes on SUPER AGURI to win a race before honda does

congrats to taku!

[bones2380]

Lewis Hamilton
4 Podiums
Points leads
Will he win Monaco?

[Jook Sing Vegas]

No win for Lewis but another podium.
McLaren's got their act together for the most part so far.

[bones2380]

MONTREAL (AP) -- Lewis Hamilton's learning curve just got shorter -- a lot shorter.

The 22-year-old Englishman, the first black driver in Formula One history, added his first F1 victory to an already remarkable career start by winning the crash-filled Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

And he made it look easy.

Hamilton started from the pole, also for the first time. Apart from losing the lead for three laps when he made his first of two pit stops, he led all the way and was never challenged.

The slim, soft-spoken youngster has six consecutive top-three finishes in six starts, something no other first-year F1 driver has accomplished.

"This is history," Hamilton said, grinning.

The only one to give the Mercedes McLaren driver any competition during the 70-lap race on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's 2.71-mile road course was BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld. He chased Hamilton all day without catching him.

The only thing that kept the race at all was accidents -- four full-course caution flags that wiped out the leads Hamilton built with seeming ease. He kept winning the restarts though and beat Heidfeld to the finish by 4.3 seconds.

"It was a was a fairly simple race, apart from the restarts," Hamilton said. "On those, I was just trying to keep the tires warm and not make a mistake. The last few laps I was just counting down.

"I'm the type of guy that will usually push right to the end, but it's a tricky circuit, and if you make one mistake you go into the marbles and into the wall. So I quieted down towards the end and just enjoyed it."

Once he had the race in hand, the youngster scrambled out of his cockpit. He thrust his arms in the air and jumped up and down. He then bounced to the ground, trotted to a barrier and jumped across to dive into the midst of his crew, hugging everyone in sight.

"It's been a fantastic season already," he said. "We've had six podiums and I've been ready for quite some time for the win -- it's just been a matter of when and where. The team gave me the best car and I had no problems during the race at all."

Heidfeld was almost as happy with his runner-up finish, matching his career best.

"I think I had a very good chance to finish second even in normal race conditions, without so many safety cars (on the track) and without Fernando (Alonso) being penalized," Heidfeld said.

Alonso, the two-time and reigning F1 champion, started alongside his McLaren teammate on the front row. He made a mistake on the start when he drove off the course in the first turn and allowed Heidfeld to dive past into second.

That was just the beginning of a very bad day for Alonso, who was hit with a penalty for pitting too soon during one of the full-course cautions. That set the Spaniard back to 14th, but he got back as high as sixth before two more off-course excursions slowed him. Alonso was passed two laps from the finish by Super Aguri'a Takuma Sato and finished seventh.

Hamilton, who came into the race tied with Alonso at the top of the standings, will take an eight-point lead into next Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis.

"The next dream is to win the Formula One championship," he said. "But, bear in mind, I'm still a rookie and there's bound to be some bad times, too."

Robert Kubica, a 22-year-old driver from Poland and Heidfeld's teammate, was involved in a frightening crash just before the halfway point. Team officials said he broke his right leg.

Considered one of the rising stars of F1, Kubica was racing with the Toyota of Jarno Trulli and the Ferrari of Felipe Massa when he suddenly veered off course into the grass as they drove toward the hairpin turn.

Kubica's car slammed into the inside concrete wall, then somersaulted across the track in a shower of debris. He then hit the outside wall and came to rest with what was left of the car on its side. The Ferraris of Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were expected to pose a threat for the McLarens, but both had problems.

Massa was running fourth when he was disqualified, along with Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella, who was eighth at the time. Officials said they both ran a red light at the end of pit road during a caution.

Raikkonen ran through the grass several times and struggled to a fifth-place finish, coming in behind the Williams of Alexander Wurz and the Renault of Heikki Kovalainen. Ralf Schumacher, driving a Toyota, took the eighth and final points position.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press.


So when does he get a Nike Contract?
I think he is the real deal.
Will he pass Schuey?

[nagasawa]

Amazing race. Hamilton is the fucking real deal. Got my tix in the mail Saturday for the Indy race this weekend. w00t!

[charlos3000]

hamilton's good, but my jury's still out on him.

the highlight of the f1 season so far was taku passing FA.

new reports say that kubica didn't even break a leg. sprained ankle and some bruises. that's amazing.

[nagasawa]

So how's your Super Aguri swag coming along?

[Umbilicus]

Kubica is my favorite F1 driver OF ALL TIME!

[Steven P]

Kubica is my favorite too. I went to the race in Indy last week and had the VERY good fortune of meeting Kubica in our hotel lobby. Too bad he didn't run. Aside from the Brazilian fans, the Polish were a close second in numbers, support and all around wackiness.

Seeing and hearing and feeling those cars in person is absolultely amazing. TV does the experience little justice. This was the first race I actually attended, when we got there for Friday practice and I got to see this all live, I was practically brought to tears with all the emotion flowing through me as the cars screamed past along that straight-away.

It's quite hard to capture the cars in pics witha slow digital camera. Here's some of the few pictures I got...

[Jook Sing Vegas]

^ cool pics Steve

[Steven P]

Thanks. It was a blast. Next time I'll bring a better camera.

[nagasawa]

Holy crap, I didn't know you were at the race! I was there too, will upload pics tomorrow.

Well, glad I caught it cuz it's official:

Formula One Will Not Return In 2008 To Indianapolis Motor Speedway

[nagasawa]

Here's a few race pics:







Steven P, if I knew you were in town we could have met over a beer.

[Jook Sing Vegas]

McLaren stripped of constructors' points and fined $100 million in Formula One spy case
By ROB MURRAY, AP Sports Writer

September 13, 2007

PARIS (AP) -- The McLaren team was fined $100 million and stripped of its points in the constructors' standings Thursday in the spying scandal that has rocked the sport

McLaren, which leads the current drivers' and constructors' standings, was punished by the World Motor Sports Council for allegedly using leaked secret technical documents belonging to F1 rival Ferrari.


Team drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, currently 1-2 in the championship standings, were not punished and can continue to compete for the season title.

``Ferrari is satisfied that the truth has now emerged,'' the Italian team said in a statement.

The $100 million penalty includes McLaren's expected loss of income, and McLaren still could be penalized for the 2008 championship, FIA said in a statement after a hearing.

``We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home,'' McLaren team chief Ron Dennis said. ``The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today.''

McLaren escaped the harshest possible penalty, as FIA could have kicked the team and its drivers out of the 2007 and 2008 championships. In December, FIA will decide on any possible sanctions against McLaren for the 2008 season.

FIA said it did not penalize McLaren's drivers ``due to exceptional circumstances'' because they provided evidence in exchange for immunity.

``We believe we have grounds for appeal,'' team chief Ron Dennis said. ``But of course we are going to wait for the findings of the FIA which are going to be published. The most important thing is that we go motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and next season.''

The case broke open in July when a 780-page technical dossier on Ferrari cars was found at the home of McLaren's chief designer, Mike Coughlan, who later was suspended. Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney, who allegedly supplied the documents, was fired.

Rookie English driver Hamilton leads the standings with 92 points, followed by two-time F1 champion Alonso of Spain with 89. Ferrari teammates Kimi Raikkonen (74) and Felipe Massa (69) are third and fourth. Four races remain in the season, starting with Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

Alonso and Hamilton finished 1-2 in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix -- at Ferrari's home track of Monza -- to extend McLaren's lead in the constructors' championship to 23 points. McLaren had 166, Ferrari 143.

Under Thursday's ruling, McLaren loses all its constructors' points and is ineligible from scoring any more in the season's final races.

The World Motor Sport Council ruled in July that McLaren was guilty of fraudulent conduct for possessing the Ferrari documents but did not punish the team because there was insufficient evidence the material was misused. However, the council warned that McLaren could be kicked out of the 2007 and 2008 series if it is found in the future that the information has been used ``to the detriment of the championship.''

FIA announced last week it was calling a new hearing of the council after ``new evidence'' had emerged.

Among those appearing at the hearing before the 26-member council were Hamilton, Dennis and McLaren test driver Pedro De La Rosa. Alonso did not attend.

Others attending included Ross Brawn, Ferrari's former technical director, and team officials from Red Bull, Williams and Spyker.

FIA president Max Mosley sent letters to Alonso, Hamilton and De La Rosa on Aug. 31, saying the sport's regulator had been told that ``one or more McLaren drivers may be in possession ... of written evidence relevant to this investigation.''

Mosley asked the three drivers to cooperate ``in the interests of the sport and the championship'' and offered them amnesty in return. Mosley also wrote that ``serious consequences would follow'' if they were later found to ``have withheld any potentially relevant information.''

The case against McLaren reportedly consists of a 166-page dossier that includes e-mail exchanges between De la Rosa and Alonso, as well as details of phone and text message traffic between Coughlan and Stepney supplied to FIA by authorities in Italy.

Separately, McLaren was notified Saturday that it is being investigated in a separate criminal inquiry in Italy. Dennis and five other team personnel are reportedly under investigation.

Those allegations stem from Ferrari's criminal case against Stepney for allegedly placing a mysterious white powder on the gas tanks of the team's cars before the Monaco GP, in a supposed sabotage attempt.

Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, and Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.

McLaren will appeal and the fine will magically disappear to nothing.
I don't see them getting more than a slap on the wrist if the fine does not hold up.


Edit: I guess I was wrong.

[wonki wonki]

That was some crazy shit in Japan. I just watched some of the highlights. I can't even imagine what it's like to push things to the edge in those conditions.

Pretty much done and over, the points race? Is Hamilton just going to cruise through the remaining Grands Prix?