Finally the cat is out of the bag. Ross Brawn will be joining Honda F1 team as Team Principal, bringing to an end, a year full of, which-team-will-he-join debate. And with equally good timings, Ferrari announced the changes in their top order with Jean Todt making way for Stefano Domenicali as the new Director of the F1 team.

Posted in F1, Ferrari, Formula 1, Honda Racing, Jean Todt, McLaren, Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn, Stefano Domenicali 3 Comments »

Even before Fernando Alonso could take the cork off from his champaign bottle for winning the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton vented out his anger & frustration regarding the team order to “take it easy” in the last few laps of the Grand Prix. And this started a possible controversy that is being investigated by FIA regarding team orders, not to forget the flank McLaren and Ron Dennis received from British Media.

Posted in F1, FIA, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Michael Schumacher, Monco GP, Reubens Barrichello, Ron Dennis 5 Comments »

And Kimi Raikkonen takes the chequered flag at 2007 ING Australian Grand Prix. Reigning champion Fernando Alonso finished second in his McLaren, followed by the rookie [and Fernando's teammate] Lewis Hamilton walking on the podium in his debut race.

If you thought Formula 1 racing were boring, think again. The race can’t get any more interesting and spectacular, with David Coulthard deciding to take “Aerial Route” literally on Alex Wurz. With Heikki Kovalainen thinking of Albert Park as Park, in literal sense, and driving his Renault in grass quiet a few times. With Takuma Sato finishing ahead of Jenson Button but behind Reubens Barrichello. With Felipe Massa managing to finish at 6th place after starting from 21st place on the grid [and thus proving my predictions for grid positions wrong]. With Williams managing to finish ahead of both of the Toyota’s.

Let’s look at what happened in some details.

Posted in Alez Wurz, Anthony Davidson, Australian GP, BMW-Sauber, Christijan Albers, David Coulthard, Editorial, F1, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula 1, Giancarlo Fisichella, Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, McLaren Mercedes, Michael Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Ralf Schumacher, Red Bull Racing, Renault, Robert Kubica, Scott Speed, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Spyker F1, Super Aguri, Takuma Sato, Toyota F1, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Williams F1 2 Comments »

Posted in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi GP, BMW-Sauber, Christijan Albers, F1, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula 1, Franck Montagny, Jerez, Marco Andretti, Mark Webber, McLaren Mercedes, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Red Bull Racing, Renault, Road to F1'07, Robert Kubica, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Spyker F1, Super Aguri, Teams, Toyota F1, Williams F1, images 1 Comment »

“I’d be delighted if he came to me and said: ‘Team principal is the next stage in my career’,” Ferrari general director Jean Todt said in an interview to be published in Wednesday’s auto, motor und sport magazine. He added, “Michael was an exceptional driver who accumulated an unbeatable amount of titles and victories. When he retired, then he did so for good reasons. He is a member of the Ferrari family. We suggested to him that he remain part of the firm by being an advisor. He knows so much about cars, not only racing cars, that we want to use his experience.”

As reported on M&C

Things just keep on getting more and more interesting at Ferrari with respect to Michael’s future role !! If Todt wants Michael to take Team Principal post, then what about Ross Brawn ? Does this means that the rumor about Brawn being linked to McLaren are not just rumors ? In that case what Clive “told us so” seems very possible.

Posted in F1, Ferrari, Formula 1, Jean Todt, McLaren Mercedes, Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn 1 Comment »

As reported on sportinglife

Marc Gene believes new Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen has a chance of beating Alonso to the 2007 World title. “Schumacher won so much with Ferrari that some doubt if, with Schumacher gone, Ferrari can continue in the same form,” Gene told Diario As. “As I see it, though, Ferrari is still Ferrari and Raikkonen is a great driver.”

“At this time last year we were not in as strong a position as we are right now, so we believe we will start the year level with the competition,” he said.

The Ferrari & Kimi’s fans won’t settle for anything less for sure, specially TIFOSI. And this is Kimi’s chance to prove that he is not the “Mr Unreliable” where ever he goes. And what about Massa, we believe he will have a bigger part to play this year and will give even fight to Kimi all year round.

Posted in F1, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula 1, Kimi Raikkonen, Marc Gene, Michael Schumacher, TIFOSI No Comments »

As reporte don DueMotori.com

Retired seven time world champion Michael Schumacher has slipped seamlessly into his new role as a Ferrari advisor. That is the claim of Felipe Massa, who was the 38-year-old German’s last teammate in a sixteen year career.

Under Schumacher’s watch, 25-year-old Massa track-debuted the new F2007 at Fiorano this week and observed afterwards: “He asked me everything I knew about the car from my first experience and then advised the technicians. He is already one of them.”

And the image proves the words, featuring Michael Schumacher & Kimi Raikkonen looking over while Felipe Massa takes F2007 on it’s maiden run.

Posted in F1, F2007, Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Formula 1, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher No Comments »

As reported on F1Racing.net

“After Michael it’ll be a difficult year for Ferrari,” Peter Sauber said. “Michael was really fast and also excellent on the technical side. I’m sure Jean Todt knows exactly how good Raikkonen is and where his strengths and weaknesses are.”

“Kimi isn’t so interested in the technical issues and today in F1 that’s vital to develop the car,” he added. “I think Felipe will be a good support for him and he made a good step forward last year.”

We all know the legend of Michael Schumacher when it comes to technicalities and the detailed inputs he gave to engineers regarding this cars. And we also know that Kimi is not in the same league. But we are sure that Ferrari would have these things in mind before they signed Kimi.

Posted in Engineers, F1, Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Formula 1, Jean Todt, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Peter Sauber 4 Comments »

As reported on motoring.co.za

Ferrari’s president Luca di Montezemolo said ahead of the first test of the F2007 race car on the team’s Fiorano circuit: “This year is not about transition or anything else but winning the World championship. The challengers have changed over the years but Ferrari is always the team to beat.”

Montezemolo defended the decision to promote from within rather than bring in new blood. He said: “If we had brought in people from outside we would have risked two errors. First, you never know how people will fit; second, you risk de-motivating staff who hope to progress. We made the right choices and I hope that will be confirmed by the results.”

“We’ve had our eye on Kimi since Magny Cours in 2002 and Schumacher agreed he was the best solution,” he said. “We have two fast young drivers and I am sure Kimi will have a long history with us.

How is it that no statement that ever comes out of Ferrari, or it’s people, is never completed without mentioning Michael Schumacher ? Well, we call it his legacy.

As for Montezemolo, before talking about history with Kimi, let’s get down to business this season and prove your decision right.

Posted in F1, Ferrari, Formula 1, Kimi Raikkonen, Luca Di Montezemolo, Michael Schumacher No Comments »