The F1 title chase

Formula One enters it's critical stage with Lewis Hamilton temporarily (pending result of Belgian GP appeal) leading Felipe Massa by 2 points with defending champ Kimi Raikkonen 17 points back after having failed to score in the last two races. This appears to be setting up to be another Ferrari vs McLaren duel with both Felipe and Lewis very evenly matched this season. Kimi Raikkonen may end up as the wild card in this chase as the Kimster is insisting that he is not out of it yet while at McLaren there is no question that Lewis Hamilton is numero uno and Heikki Kovalainen is his reargunner. That Kovalainen tends not to be too close to Hamilton is besides the point but for the most part at the Scuderia Kimi has only occasionally been on the pace of Massa. Ferrari really should just tell Raikkonen that from here on in Massa is their man and he should play wingman to ensure that Felipe triumphs over Hamilton much in the way that Massa helped Raikkonen last year. Unfortunately this is easier said than done because Kimi is a major star and the defending world champion and thus has an ego the size of Maranello. Kimi has never had to play second fiddle to any teammate in his F1 career and I am sure that he is not willing to start now. Kimi Raikkonen is a never-say-die racer who has said many times that second place means nothing, victory is the only object, which may explain some of his accidents and mistakes when not in the lead. Ferrari are also mindful that Kimi is still sort of waffling on his future, will he retire after next year or won't he? Rumours suggest that Ferrari are already lining up a back up should he decide to call it quits, but if he continues not to drive as well as his teammate the replacement might be for him without his wishes. Either way, as long as Kimi Raikkonen continues to race his own teammate he is only helping one driver, Lewis Hamilton, and that is certainly not what Ferrari need. Lewis Hamilton has driven like a man possesed in the second half of the season and has recieved the full support of his teammate while Massa has been much better than his teammate in the second half, he has yet to really stamp his authority on his team and has yet to prove that he is a better driver than Hamilton due to his lack of adaptability. My conclusion is that if Kimi Raikkonen does not decide to help his teammate then Lewis Hamilton will win the world champion, if Kimi does decide to step in line and play support man then Massa has every chance of winning, but Ferrari have to sort their reliability out because, as scandalous as this seems given the recent history of this rivalry, Mclaren have had much better reliability than their red foes.

News and Rumour Roundup: Wednesday September 10

Hi there loyal Reader(s) it's time for an epic-level news and rumour roundup. Lots to talk about with th F1 silly season getting exciting and the IRL game of musical chairs is getting to be fun. I will sort my news in two sections, first the F1 and then the Indy Car news.

Formula One
The juiciest rumour to come out of F1 recently is one reported on Italian TV on Sunday that suggests that Fernando Alonso has signed a three year deal to drive for BMW starting in 2009. As shocking as this seems it is not entirely implausable, but unlikely. The first stumbling block to a potential Alonso to Beemer story is that there have been swirling rumours that Alonso has signed an agreement in principle to join Ferrari in 2010. It is obvious that Fernando wants to win races NOW, not in a few years when Renault can get their act together and if this Beemer story is true then it raises some interesting questions. If Fernando does go to Munich/Hinwil then it is obvious that Nick Heidfeld will be the odd man out. If that happens then Nick could end up taking Fernando's place at BMW, or he could end up with another mediocre midfielder like Williams or Toro Rosso. An Alonso move to BMW would also get Robert Kubica hot and bothered because he at the moment is BMW's designated number one and as we saw last year Fernando doesn't play second fiddle to anyone. If Alonso does go to BMW then it could mean that Kubica could head to Ferrari for 2010. Either way this years silly season hinges on Fernando Alonso once again.

The next piece of note is the rumour that the USGP may be back on sooner rather than later. The story goes that the manufactures are putting pressure on Bernie Ecclestone to get the US Grand Prix back on the schedule. At the moment the only logical venue is Indianapolis and the Speedway and Mr. E. are very far apart on the manner of money, Bernie wants a truckload more per year than Tony George is willing to pay. The manufactures ideally would want a race closer to their bigger markets on the east and west coasts, but nobody in those places has stepped up to the plate thus far with money to build a track and pay Mr. E the money he wants.

IndyCar Series
The big piece of interest in IndyCar racing is the future of KV racing. The former Champ Car team was mighty impressive this year but could face financial problems if there is no race in Australia next year. The number 8 car of Will Power is sponsored by Aussie Vinyards wine and they are saying they will pull the plug on sponsorship if the Surfers Paradise race does not re-appear. This could leave the team with no money and two talented drivers, Will Power and Oriol Servia would be unemployed. CDW sponsored Servia in Chicago and may pony up the money to run Servia all year, but Power, one of the real talents in the sport, could be out of luck.

The next story surrounds Justin Wilson. Wilson has revealed that he does not have a contract with Newman/Haas/Lanigan for next year despite winning a race and out-scoring teammate Graham Rahal. The speculation is that NHL are waiting on the future of Sebastien Bourdais to decide what to do with Wilson. Bourdais would be a great addition to the sport, but at the expense of Justin Wilson it may not be that big of a gain. Bourdais would be great for the team and he could probably compete for the title immediately but Wilson is an amazing talent who should be a regular in the IRL.

The future of Vitor Meira is very much up in the air but there are rumours that he may end up in a second Rahal-Letterman car if they can come up with the money. A Meira-Hunter-Reay lineup for Rahal-Letterman would be a very good lineup and could go a long way to returning the team to contender status. I hope Vitor gets a ride for next year as he is one of the sports true good guys.

Vision Racing have confirmed both Ed Carpenter and AJ Foyt IV will be back for 2009. Both drivers drove very well at Chicago but have struggled on road courses. I still don't think that Vision are done and we may see Bryan Herta at some Road Courses or a third car all year. If Vision want to be taken seriously they will have to be better at turning both ways.

A new team may enter IndyCars next year called 3G Motorsports led by former team owner Greg Beck and Steve Sudler. Beck ran a team for a few years in the IRL and I have never heard of Sudler. They are saying that they will run in the Indycar series and in Indy Lights but I am skeptical. They are claiming they have the money and sponsorship but they will not reveal any details. That either means they are lying about having sponsorship or they only have sponsorship to run part time. Either way it is not exactly confidence inspiring ans do I file this team rumour in the "I'll believe it when I see it" file.

Crash.net is reporting that the IRL may be asking Marty Roth to retire and focus on team management. The IRL are trying to get some of their Indy Lights drivers in the top flight but the influx of drivers from Europe and the talentless hacks like Marty make seats few and far between. If this is true then there should be dancing in the streets as Marty is the worst race car driver the open wheel world has seen since Jean-Denis Deletraz. Marty is a very smart businessman and could be very succesful as a team owner, but nobody will sponsor his team as long as they have him in the car, because Marty as a driver makes the whole team look amateurish.

Alex Lloyd has re-signed with CHip Ganassi as Chip tries to get him in the IRL. There are rumours of a third Ganassi car, or of Lloyd getting farmed out to a smaller team, but as with all rumours of this nature, I'll believe it when I see it.

HVM appear to be on the verge of running a second car for RObert Doornbos for next year. Bobby D has already said he has a deal in a "good team" for next year and Keith Wiggins has said he wants to expand to two cars. Doornbos can bring sponsorship from Trust, Muermans, and ING and could be a very attractive choice for any team. The Personable Dutchman would be a great addition to the IRL as the series tries to gain international credibility.

F1 race report: F1 throws up a thriller and then screws up the result.

Lewis Hamilton has every right to feel aggrieved by the the result. He won the race fair and square only to be screwed by some over zealous rule nazi's in the stewards room. In all fairness to Kimi Raikkonen, had the rain not come he would have coasted to victory, but the rain did come and Lewis Hamilton did what Lewis Hamilton does best in the rain and forced the issue, Kimi trued to defend but Hamilton would not be defeated. At the new bus stop chicane He tried around the outside, Kimi pushed wide and forced Lewis to cut the corner. Hamilton smartly let Kimi back before then fooling him at the next corner. Charlie Whiting told McLaren that Lewis had done nothing wrong and so Hamilton went on his merry way while a frustrated Kimi Raikkonen made a spectacular mess of things by first spinning later on the lap and then crashing just before the bus stop, throwing away a certain 8 points and all but eliminating himself from the championship. The backroom shenanigans finally gifted the win to Felipe Massa, who did not deserve it at all, but had proven his critics sort of wrong by not making a complete ass of himself in the rain, as he is prone to do and kept out of trouble. Second, but really third, went to Nick Heidfeld who did a lot to boost his stock in BMW land. Quick Nick gambled on intermediate tyres in the late race wet weather and was lapping 20 seconds per lap faster than anyone and if he had a few more laps he would have won the race, alas he did not have those laps and had to settle for third, only to inherit second after the insanity. That Lewis Hamilton was classified third is scat consolation considering how well he drove, but he does lead the championship by two points, but it should be more. Fernando Alonso finished fourth from Sebastien Vettel, Robert Kubica, Sebastien Bourdais, and Mark Webber. It was an impressive result for the Toro Rosso drivers, who were very good all weekend, taking advantage of the Grunt of the Ferrari engines. For the most part Seb Bourdais was on the pace of Seb Vettel and a few more performances like this could be enough to save his job, although with the likes of Takuma Sato, Sebastien Buemi, and Bruno Senna breathing down his neck nothing is certain. Timo Glock had finished seventh on the road but was also dinged with a 25 second penalty, this one for overtaking under yellow flags, a penalty which was justified. It was a pretty dismal day for both Williams and Honda, both teams failing to get anywhere near the points and Honda in particular being particularly woeful. With Force India improving, suddenly Honda are getting closer and closer to being the worst of the worst. It was a good race, they usually are at Spa where the men are separated from the boys, but FOM always goes with their money, not what the fans want when it comes to circuit selection.

IRL race report: Helio wins a thriller, but Dixon is champ

Ooh baby, the two championship protagonists going wheel to wheel on the final lap with a photo finish, and in the end the closest finish in IRL history. Helio Castroneves finally, after several minutes of debate, won the race by 0.001 seconds from Scott Dixon after having started from the back of the field. There were the usual number of accidents, not surprising for a 28 car field, plenty of passing and close racing, some good runs by surprising sources, and an amazing finish. Ryan Briscoe started on the pole from Dixon and Kanaan with Helio Castroneves being demoted to last place after a dubious decision by the stewards after qualifying to send him to the back for repeated crossing of the white line below the track. Either way it did not matter as it made for an exciting first few laps as Helio scythed through the field like a hot knife through butter. By lap 10 he was up battling for the top 10 and by the time the first caution came out on lap 36 he was eighth. The first caution was for the fourth placed man Ed Carpenter who had a suspension failure and was pitched rather dramatically into the wall at the exit of turn 2. His fiery car came to a rest in the infield and an unfortunate Ed jumped out of his car uninjured. At the stops the Penske boys went to work and helped get Helio a couple of positions. At the restart the Brazilian continued to climb and managed to get the lead before Vitor Meira brought out the safety car again for an accident caused by a mechanical failure. At the restart Helio led and we had some great battles including three wide for the lead between Castroneves, Briscoe, and Dan Wheldon and other great battles that saw the likes of EJ Viso and AJ Foyt IV running in the top 5. The third caution was for debris and under said caution Graham Rahal blotted his copybook for the first time by stupidly running into Buddy Rice in the pitlane. Buddy was understandably infuriated and one starts to question whether or not Rahal is as mature as the pundits say he is. Later on he would bring out a caution for nudging the wall while running several laps down. After this restart we had more great racing as Dixon temporarily fell down the order, at one point Castroneves was mathematically leading the championship. Two cautions came out in the meantime, one for Sarah Fisher who had a mechanical failure and another for EJ Viso who just screwed up and crashed. The dust settled and we had just over fifty laps to go with Milka Duno, yes Milka Duno, leading at the restart. She was quickly overwhelmed by the drivers with talent and drifted back to 14th. The ding-dong battle at the front pursued with most of the top driver involved, including both Penske's, both Ganassi's, Tony Kannan and Danica Patrick, plus the surprising Mario Moraes, who unfortunately rubbed the wall late on and dropped back. This set up what would become one of the most dramatic finishes we have seen. For lap after lap Helio and Dixon diced it up, runnign side by side with Helio desperately trying to get around Dixon. COming around the final turn they were neck and neck and crossed the line side by side. At first the commentators thought that it was Dixon who won the race but the computers reveal the tiniest of secrets and a couple minutes later it emerged that it was in fact Helio Castroneves who had won the race, by the closest margin in IRL history. A great race brought to a close (well sort of) to the first merged season of open wheel racing since Tony George made his bone-headed split in 1996. Scott Dixon is a deserved champion for 2008 having won the most races, although Helio was consistend as hell, he did not get the wins he needed to take the title. There is always next year for him, but how many next years can a guy have? The top 10 was completed by Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, Will Power, Dan Wheldon, Darren Manning, Marco ANdretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Danica Patrick.

Weekend Racing Preview

There are two major races in open wheel racing this weekend, the Belgian Grand Prix at the awesomely awesome Spa-Francorchamps, and the Indycar series title showdown at the decidedly average Chicagoland speedway. The Belgian Grand Prix could be the race that makes or breaks the championship because a win here could be the momentum that a Lewis Hamilton or Felipe Massa need to win the title. Lewis Hamilton is talking up his chances this weekend, as he usually does, but Ferrari have been the best car out there the last few races and with the modern day Spa-master, Kimi Raikkonen, in a red car, we could be looking at a Ferrari win. I could really see the Kimster run away with this race and make it a three mat title chase, but I could also see Lewis Hamilton or Felipe Massa win to all but eliminate the defending world champion Raikkonen from contention. Spa is a track that separates the men from the boys, so I expect the cream of the crop to rise up and make an impression. The Car is important, but Spa is a track that rewards the driver more than most tracks do and it could be an interesting Ferrari-Hamilton duel this weekend. Of the rest it is hard to say, I can see Fernando Alonso outperforming his car, but Spa is a track that rewards engine power and the Renault engine has very little of that compared to the rest, something which could hinder the Red Bull team as well. This dependence on Engine Power could give an advantage to BMW and the Toyota engined cars, who look more likely to take the minor points than the Renault engined cars, although Renault do have Alonso. We will see what happens, but it could be an exciting race, especially if Spa throws up it's usual cocktail of interesting weather.

The IndyCar boys will be deciding their championship in Chicago with Scott DIxon holding a 30 point lead over Helio Castroneves. In reality this means that all Dixon has to do is finish eighth to clinch the title, regardless of what Castroneves does. There are 28 cars in the field for Sunday with Sarah Fisher returning and with AJ Foyt running a second car for Franck Perera, which could be an audition for a potential second car all year next year. Elsewhere in backmarkerland Alex Tagliani will be back in the 36 Conquest car to replace the wounded Enrique Bernoldi, and that Tags will race in the non-championship race in Australia. The team insists that Bernoldi hasn't been fired, but I am skeptical of the truthiness of that statement. Back to the race, I would be surprised if Dixon does not win the title, but anything could happen, and with some of the idiots at the back in this race he very easily could be collected in an accident among backmarkers. Helio has been dynamite the last couple of races and has every chance of stealing the title. He has to go balls out and pray that a calamity befalls Dixon. This race could be exciting due to the number of talented drivers with nothing to lose, this includes the more accident prone of them like Marco Andretti. This should be an exciting race, hopefully it will be on Television up here in Canada.

News Analysis: Ganassi thows us a curveball

Just yesterday I was convinced that Dan Wheldon was on the verge of re-signing with Chip Ganassi racing for 2009, I mean why wouldn't i? He is in the best team in the business and is improving on the road courses, staying at Ganassi is the logical choice to keep winning, right? Well apparantly things aren't that simple in the Indycar world as today Chip Ganassi stood up and said he would have a second top driver in his team and that driver is............. Dario Franchitti!!! Wait, rewind, Franchitti? You mean the guy who left Indycar for NASCAR after winning the title saying that the open wheel chapeter of his life is closed, that Dario Franchitti? Yes boys and girls it is true, Dario Franchitti is back in the IRL after a rather dismal go at NASCAR this year. The domino effect of this is that within a couple of hours Wheldon was confirmed as joining Panther racing for next year to replace the eternally unlucky Vitor Meira in the number four car. The immediate reaction is that this is good for the sport, which it is as it does raise the talent level in the field, but it does cruelly deny one of the sports true good guys of a decent job. The panther people are touting the same old story that if Vitor comes up with sponsorship they will run a second car, but it does not seem bloody likely at this point. There will be the usual scrap jobs out there if Vitor can come up with the cash, but it does not look all that promising for the man with the most starts without a career win. One must wonder what the stumbling block was to Wheldon's re-signing. Certainly he could not have been expecting the same amount of money that he had been receiving up to now, but there has to be more to it than that. Dan is no moron and he knows that Ganassi is the best team in the business. He must realize that he will need to take a pay cut to stay in the game and there is no way that Panther racing has anywhere near the money that Wheldon wants, heck they pretty much don't have any money. This must have to do with status within the team. Chip probably told Wheldon that he would be number two within the team to Scott Dixon and Dan wants equal billing. He can go to panther racing and be the man on an average team as opposed to being second fiddle on a great team. I wish Dan all the best as he is one of the big talents in the sport, and it is good to see more big names back in Indycar, hopefully it comes at the expense of the lousy backmarkers and not at the expense of the genuine good drivers like Meira.

Race Report and Rumour roundup: Labour day Weekend

Justin Wilson won the Indycar race at Belle Isle Park in Detroit. The former Minardi and Jaguar F1 man qualified second and trailed the championship protagonists closly most of the day before mounting a serious challenge on Helio Castroneves late in the race. Helio furiously blocked Wilson, something which is a big no-no in the IRL and was forced to let Wilson pass him, giving the Englisman his first series victory and Newman/Haas/Lanigan's second win of the season. The race was one which was, unsurprisingly, devoid of overtaking and ended as a rather processional event. Wilson showed that he is truly among the elite on road courses and that Newman/Haas are clearly the class of the field of former Champ car teams. KV racing have been very fast but have not been able to put together good races, although Oriol Servia and Will Power scored solid fourth and eighth place finishes respectively. The usual gang of idiots in the back of the field were up to their usual tricks with Marty Roth not starting due to an accident and Milka Duno getting tangled with Bruno Junquiera. EJ Viso had the biggest accident of the race when he smashed his HVM car on lap 32, while other drivers to be involved in dramas included Bruno Junquiera (who collided with Duno) Dan Wheldon (who collided with Jaime Camara and spun on his own later on), and the pair of Vitor Meira and Danica Patrick, who had a coming together. One of the usual idiots, Enrique Bernoldi, was not there this weekend. He injured his wrist and while he raced at Sonoma he could not compete in Detroit and his seat was taken by Canadian Veteran Alex Tagliani. Considering that Tags jumped into the car on Saturday morning, a 21st place grid position was pretty good and he backed that up with some good running only to be sidelined by mechanical gremlins. Hopefully this will lead to more appearances for Tagliani. I apologize for the brief race report, the race was not on Television where I am as it was on TSN2 in Canada, a channel not available to most people at the moment. The final result saw Helio Castroneves second, Tony Kanaan third, Oriol Servia fourth, and championship leader Scott Dixon fifth. This result extends the championship chase to the final race of the season, next week at Chicagoland speedway, with Dixon's lead over Castroneves down to 30 points. The last race is on an oval, where anything could happen, but I doubt that we will get that dramatic a turn in events and we will probably see Dixon crowned next week, but stranger things could happen and Helio Won't stop believin'!!!

News and Rumour Roundup
The big, and potentially saddest news, is the death of 1961 F1 champion Phill Hill last week at the age of 81. One of the least known champions and the only American born world championship, Hill made his name with Ferrari, winning three F1 races and the 24 hours of Le Mans Three times. His memory will live on as one of the legends of American motorsports.

In other sad news it has been revealed that there are plans to neuter the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Apparantly the organizers are looking at having the cars go right at the exit of Pouhon and cut across to meet up with the old track just before Blanchimont. This would cut out some brilliant driver corners like Les Fagnes and Stavelot. This has yet to be confirmed and the reasons are a little vague but if they are true then it would be a tragic defacing of one of the worlds best racetracks. There is a rumour that the changes are brought about by Mr B Ecclestone being unhappy with the low lap count at Spa and if this is true then it is yet another dickeaded action by one of the world's great assholes. I hope it is not true, and although Bernie has flipped F1 history the bird in the past, this would be an unforgivabel act in my mind. Eau Rouge may be a challenging corner, but with the drivers able to take it flat out now, this section is the best place where the circuit separates the men from the boys. If this happens then shame on you bernie, shame on you Belgian GP organizers, and shame on you F1 world which has become so politicized and money sucking.

In the Indycar world a few drivers appear to be on the verge of running full time and the 2009 Car count could go up. The first rumour is that HVM are on the verge of being able to run a second car for next year, coinciding with former F1 and Champ Car man Robert Doornbos saying that he is driving for a "good" f1 team. Doornbos has connections with Keith Wiggins and although HVM's status as a "good" team is questionable, it would be great to see Doornbos back. Elsewhere Alex Lloyd and Chip Ganassi racing are apparantly close to securing the funding necessary to run Lloyd in a third Ganassi car. If this is true then it is fantastic news for Lloyd as he will be stepping into the best team in the business. Hopefully this works out as Lloyd is talented and more cars are always better.

In F1 news Luca Di Montezemelo has won the Grand Prix of stating the obvious by confirming that both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen will be back at Ferrari next year. Both men are among the best in the business and have forged a pretty good working relationship.