Rumours that Nelson Piquet was ordered by Renault to crash during the 2008 Singapore GP have been described by a source close to the Brazilian as “utter bollocks” adding that he was “perfectly capable of crashing under his own initiative.”
27/03 Australia
10/04 Malaysia
17/04 China
08/05 Turkey
22/05 Spain
29/05 Monaco
12/06 Canada
26/06 Europe
10/07 Britain
24/07 Germany
31/07 Hungary
28/08 Belgium
11/09 Italy
25/09 Singapore
09/10 Japan
16/10 Korea
30/10 India
13/11 Abu Dhabi
27/11 Brazil
2010 Archive
Red Bull
McLaren
Ferrari
Mercedes
Renault
Williams
Force India
Sauber
Toro Rosso
Lotus
HRT
Virgin
2010 Archive
Archive for August, 2009
How not to curry favour with the boss…
Despite them having the best weekend in their short history, positive karma is in short supply at Force India, as their director of business affairs, Ian Phillips, has found himself in very hot water with his boss Vijay Mallya.
Phillips ventured… the opinion, held by everybody else on the planet apart from Dr Mallya, that Giancarlo Fisichella would be a Ferrari driver within days, which caused the King of Bling to choke on his naan before issuing a rather stern riposte.
“Ian Philips’ comments do not reflect the views of the team since he is not the designated spokesperson, nor is he authorised to speak to the media. His comments should therefore be ignored,”
We’ll ignore him, but he’s still right…
Fisi accidentally sends India into orbit
The effects of Force India’s amazing Belgian Grand Prix weekend have been felt in deep space, with the teams pole position on Saturday being directly linked to the loss of the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.
The £45 million, unmanned craft was launched… last October on a two year mission of exploration orbiting the Moon, but all contact was suddenly lost after qualifying on Saturday.
A spokesman at the Bangalore-based Space Research Organisation said the fault had been traced to a technician who had been watching events unfold in Belgium on the television, before banging his hands down on the control panel just as Giancarlo Fisichella secured pole, sending the Moon probe off on a one way trip in the direction of Jupiter.
The organisation though are not too unhappy, as like the rest of India they are busy celebrating India’s first pole and podium with a British based team, staffed mainly by Europeans with a car built in Northampton driven by an Italian with a German engine.
Well done India…
It’s the Eddie Jordan Show
For some reason, the BBC decided that Spa had to be all about Eddie Jordan, who was allowed far more air time than is sensible to give an Irishman with an opinion. First, the nation, sitting down to Sunday lunch, had to endure him in his trunks, belly flopping into Rubens Barrichello’s pool before there was much buddy-buddy back slapping over a game of golf.
Add in the fact that one of ‘his’ drivers (did he mention that?) came second in the race driving a car from ‘his’ old team, only prevented from winning by ‘his’ pet hate of KER’s and you had EJ meltdown time.
After the race Jordan, plainly keen to try and take some credit for his old team’s success, was all smiles with Vijay Mallya, despite having dumped ten tons of concrete on the Force India driveway last year because of a dispute between the two. Normally Irishmen want to help you fix your drive, not wreck it but there you go.
More amusement was to come in the BBC post-race show from McLaren’s motorhome, when EJ suddenly announced that one of his ears had stopped working, only for Martin Brundle to helpfully suggest he tried using the other one, as he had two.
By this stage, Eddie had plainly had enough of his big day and seemed to doze off, dropping and breaking his microphone.
Thank goodness for small mercies…
Badoer begged by team not to make any pit stops at Spa
Luca Badoer, who has recently committed more motoring offences than George Michael, has been instructed by Ferrari to take a radical approach to the Belgian Grand Prix - by running on a zero stop strategy.
At the Valencia race, Luca was… done four times for speeding in the pitlane, he managed to get overtaken by another car, in the pitlane and then got penalised for crossing the white line exiting, you guessed it, the pitlane. As if that wasn’t enough, he also managed to pile into Adrian Sutil’s stationary Force India…in the pitlane.
The team have therefore decided that as he is so slow on the track he is not a danger to anybody there, but keeping him away from the pitlane is definately a very good idea.
Ferrari name 21 candidates for Monza
Despite enduring the season from hell and having the modern day equivalent of Taki Inoue in one of their cars, Ferrari have at least managed to retain a sense of humour. With every man and his dog after Luca Badoers… drive for the Monza race, Ferrari have published the list of drivers they have been linked with, although they eerily say they have not included “some suggestions from the afterworld”. Here we go…
A as in Fernando Alonso
B as in Jules Bianchi, Mirko Bortolotti and Sebastien Bourdais
C as in David Coulthard
D as in Anthony Davidson
F as in Giancarlo Fisichella and Luca Filippi
G as in Marc Gené
H as in Nico Hulkenberg
K as in Robert Kubica
L as in André Lotterer and Vitantonio Liuzzi
P as in Nelson Piquet (Jr.) and Giorgio Pantano
R as in Valentino Rossi and Davide Rigon
S as in Takuma Sato and Bruno Senna
T as in Jarno Trulli
V as in Jos Verstappen
So, no Michael Schumacher then?
S & M at USF1?
According to the Wall Street Journal, American race fans are eager to see some ‘Helmet abuse’ at USF1. Whatever turns you on I suppose. (see article)
Force India forced to find new home
The rarefied atmosphere of the F1 paddock was somewhat spoilt today with the discovery of a positively down at heel motorhome, parked in the spot where Force India’s opulent glass palace normally sits.
Apparently there was not enough time between the… Valencia and Spa events for the team to reconstruct VJ Mallya’s luxury pad, so there was a last minute panic to find an alternative, which was not easy with the Belgian Bank Holiday weekend fast approaching.
RSS Subscribe | Trackback