Formula1 from mar 12 - october 22 2006

[kizzi]

Midland F1 has officially been sold to Dutch car manufacturer Spyker, the team confirmed late on Saturday evening.

The deal, valued at $106.6 million, will see Alex Shnaider’s Midland Group transfer all of its shares in MF1 Racing to Spyker by the end of this month.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=37294

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[u][highlight]
Fernando Alonso has been relegated to 10th on the Italian Grand Prix grid for impeding Felipe Massa during qualifying.

Alonso was called to the stewards’ office on Saturday afternoon after Massa complained that the world champion held him up on his final flying lap and cost him three-tenths of a second.
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http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=37287

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[highlight]PPL DONT MISS THE ITALIAN GRANDPRIX TOMORROW AFTERNOON

RACE STARTS AT 5:00PM PAKISTAN STANDARD TIME[/highlight]

[kizzi]

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER TOOK AN HISTORIC 90TH CAREER VICTORY, AND HIS LAST IN ITALY, ON SUNDAY.
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL DRIVER IN HISTORY ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT FROM FORMULA 1 AT THE END OF 2006.

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Ferrari confirms Raikkonen signing

Ferrari has confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen will take the retiring Michael Schumacher’s place in the team next year.

Finally making public Formula 1’s worst-kept secret, the Maranello squad announced that it has signed a three-year contract with the 26-year-old Finn.

Massa’s contract has been renewed through to the end of 2008.

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Livid Alonso brands F1 'not a sport'

World champion Fernando Alonso has declared that he no longer considers Formula 1 a sport after stewards demoted him five places on the Italian Grand Prix starting grid.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=37300

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Mosley seeking new 'block' rule

FIA president Max Mosley has admitted that the sport’s governing body is considering changes to the regulations to avoid a repeat of the controversy that has resulted in a furious Fernando Alonso being demoted five places on the Italian GP grid.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=37301

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CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS AFTER 15 RACES OF THE SEASON

RESULTS OF THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

[nightsurfer]

It will be really hard for fans like me to see Schumacher off. I haven't missed a single race since the good old days of Shumacher-Hakkinnen rivalry. And now that he has made his decisoin, there will be a big gap in F1. Almost half of the fans that follow Formula 1 are Schumacher fans. So millions of people may lose their interest in F1.

Raikonnen's inclusion in Ferrari will ease the pain a little bit but I feel he wont be able to fill the gap created by Schumacher's departure.

[nightsurfer]

Michael leaves Formula 1 holding almost all the records. To date, he has taken seven Drivers’ world titles and has contributed to the same number of team wins in the Constructors’ Championship. He has taken part in 247 Formula 1 Grands Prix (178 of them at the wheel of a Ferrari,) won 90 (71,) been on pole 68 (58) times, setting 75 (52) fastest race laps. He has amassed a total of 1354 points, 1051 of them in a Maranello car. No one in the world of motor racing has done better.

[khan4ever]

I am a die hard Micheal Schummacher Fan have been following his career since 1995 and its just really really sad that he will be retiring at the end of the season but i hope he leaves the sport on top and as an 8 time World Champion.What a amazing career this man has had just a few records which i know of his
Most Wins 90
Most pole Position 68
Most Driver Championship Points 1344
Most Fastest Laps 75
Most Laps in Lead
Most Wins in a season 13
Most Consecutive wins 7
Most Consecutive Podiums
52 Consecutive races without a retirement
Most Championship Points In a Season 148
Most World Championships 7
Most race wins from pole position: 40
Most "clean-sweeps" (pole position, race win, and fastest lap): 22
Being World Champion 5 times in a row
Most Podium Finishes
Most Races won with 1 team Ferrari 71
Most podium finishes in a season: 17 (in 17 races)
Most fastest laps in a season: 10
Only racing driver ever, in any racing class, to win 5 times at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Only driver in history to win the same Grand Prix 8 times
Only driver to lead over 5,000 laps.(Achieved at 2006 German Grand Prix)
Most time between first and last race wins: 13 years, 11 months, and 3 days
Most second place finishes: 43
Most points finishes: 187

Just a stunning driver the best of all time for sure end of a great racing legend is coming i hope he wins his 8th championship go SCHUMIIIIIIII GO

[nightsurfer]

This really is one of the sadest moments.

Now coming back to the race.

It was an outstanding race. A dream come true for the Italians. Schumacher gaining 10 points on Alonso, who really drove like a man fired up. He was unlcuky to be penalised for blocking Massa in the qualifying..

Drivers of the day for me.

1) Micheal Schumacher: Business as usual. Winning his last Italian grand prix in style. He kept going from the start and had to avoid a charging Kimi Raikonnen.

2) Kimi Raikonnen: Another strong second place for him, he did a fantastic qualiifying run. But he lost to Schumacher in the race. Apart from that, it was a good race.

3) Robert Kubica: Just the third race of his career, and a podium finish, a great drive for him. Thankfully, BMW was on the pace today and he benifitted big time after Alonso's departure.

[zia1288]

The best of bests is leaving F1 thats sad but he's doing it in style by winning this year's championship.
Well done schumi!

[kizzi]

Renault boss Flavio Briatore has moved to defuse a potential furore with the FIA over remarks he made following the Italian Grand Prix, which suggested that the outcome of this year’s world championship is being manipulated by the governing body.

[color=#ffff33]“This is a world championship which has already been decided at the table,” Briatore told Italian television station RAI, shortly after watching Alonso’s title lead dwindle to two points.

“These comments which have been attributed to me in the press today have been completely taken out of context,” he said in a statement.
“A jokey remark has been turned into something it was not intended to be.
“I have every confidence in the governance of our sport and look forward to our team fighting and winning the Formula 1 world championship this season.”

[nightsurfer]

Michael Schumacher confident

Michael Schumacher is determined to sign off with an eighth Formula One title this season but said he would not underestimate the threat posed by Renault and their reigning champion Fernando Alonso.

Schumacher announced his retirement after winning the last Grand Prix in Monza and is now just two points behind Alonso in the drivers' championship heading into Sunday's Shanghai Grand Prix.

"I think we can win the title again but I think it will be tight. You can't underestimate Renault and we will certainly not make that mistake," Schumacher said on his homepage www.michael-schumacher.rtl.de. "We will concentrate on our strengths and give everything in the final three races."

Shanghai has not proved a lucky venue for Schumacher in the past but the Ferrari driver is not letting that get to him.

"It is true that this race has not been the best for me but Rubens (Barrichello) won the premiere there so that shows that our car is fine on the track," Schumacher added. "I expect it to be better this time around and I am looking forward to this fight in the last few races. I have a two-point gap and that can be bridged."

The race in China will be Schumacher's first since announcing his retirement from the sport and he wants to forget about all the tabloid talk.

"I am happy with my decision and, as I said in Monza, I want to concentrate 100 percent on the world championship," he said. "That is the only thing that counts now."

[nightsurfer]

Raikkonen likely to get early Ferrari test

Kimi Raikkonen may be released to test for Ferrari later this year.

It was recently reported that the Finn would probably have to wait for his McLaren Mercedes contract to expire on 31 December.

But it now emerges that, if Renault similarly agree to release Fernando Alonso to start at the Woking based team shortly after the final Grand Prix of 2006, McLaren might allow Raikkonen to start running at the wheel of his new red cockpit.

"It is a discussion that we will have with Ferrari," a McLaren source confirmed. "I believe that our attitude will be just as pragmatic as Flavio Briatore's."

[nightsurfer]

Hakkinen says Schumacher will come back

Mika Hakkinen thinks Michael Schumacher, who announced his impending retirement at Monza two weeks ago, will one day return to the race tracks.

"Racing is in the blood of all of us," the Finn, Schumacher's chief rival between 1998-2000 before hanging up his helmet in 2001, said.

37-year-old Hakkinen flirted with a return to Formula One with Williams and BAR Honda a couple of years ago before joining the DTM series.

He said of his fellow racers: "We love racing, we love driving cars.
"

But Mika, speaking at the scene of the DTM race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, did not want to speculate further about Schumacher's future return.

"No idea," he said, "because probably even he does not know."

[nightsurfer]

Alonso stands by 'emotional' outbursts

Renault's Fernando Alonso has refused to follow the lead of team boss Flavio Briatore in back-pedalling from accusing the FIA of a conspiracy to help Ferrari win the world title.

In the form of a team press statement, Briatore issued a formal retraction after his own outburst at Monza, and is also said to have apologised personally to Max Mosley.

But, even in the days after the qualifying controversy, Alonso said: "We have been seeing very, very strange decisions in the last month."

Mosley, the FIA President, passed off Alonso's repeated comments as an 'emotional outburst', but the 25-year-old racer said he stood by every word when speaking with reporters prior to the weekend.

He explained: "What I have said already I am not going to repeat (but) everybody knows what I said and I will always think the same."

Alonso, meanwhile - sporting a new goatee beard - backed eastern city Valencia's bid to host a second Spanish grand prix in the future.

"The more races in Spain, the better," he said.

[nightsurfer]

McLaren agree to release Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya will shortly begin testing and racing for his NASCAR team, after a deal was reportedly struck between the Chip Ganassi and McLaren squads.

Journalist Bob Margolis, of Yahoo! Sports, said the Colombian, who left Ron Dennis' F1 team earlier in 2006 but remained under contract until the last day of the year, could even test as soon as this week.

Margolis cited a Ganassi source as informing that an announcement of the Montoya-Ganassi-McLaren deal can be expected soon.

Montoya, 31, could then race at least four times this season before debuting in the premier Nextel Cup in 2007.

Dennis had said in July: "If we so choose, Montoya will test and race for us again, so that is our option and nobody else's. He is contracted to us and it will stay that way unless there is some commercial arrangement between ourselves and the NASCAR team or Juan himself."

[nightsurfer]

Lauda tips Schumacher for final crown

Niki Lauda thinks Michael Schumacher's recent retirement announcement could be a boost in his final championship fight.

"I remember when I said that I was going to stop," the triple World Champion told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "I won the next race."

With more doubt, however, Lauda prophesised about the future of Schumacher's Ferrari team, which is to be headed by new number one driver Kimi Raikkonen until at least 2009.

"Raikkonen can drive fast," the 57-year-old told German magazine Focus, "but he can't do anything else.
"

"McLaren is not an emotional team like Ferrari."

"Italians look for excuses by nature and that's why Kimi risks a lot - one beer too many and he becomes the scapegoat for everything."

[kizzi]

@Nightsurfer
good updates

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher may be retiring from the sport but his popularity is as strong as ever according to the results of the FIA/AMD Formula 1 survey, published on Tuesday.

[nightsurfer]

Yeah, I cant wait till saturday. Schumacher's very last races will be extremely disappointing but equally relishing.

[nightsurfer]

No Team Principal role for Schumacher

Michael Schumacher's manager has rubbished speculation that the retiring Ferrari driver could be groomed in 2007 so as to one day replace team boss Jean Todt.

"He'll surely not be a Team Principal like (Todt)," Willi Weber told Racer magazine. "That's not possible."

However, ever since the 37-year-old multiple world champion announced his impending retirement at Monza - and even before - rumours have been doing the rounds that Schumacher's future role at the Maranello based team will be more than nominal 'PR' tasks.

Some at Ferrari, for example, are pushing for Schumacher to become a regular test driver.

But Weber said: "(That is) not in the plan yet. He (will have) a break of maybe five or six months, and then he needs to do something, that's for sure."

[kizzi]

Interesting

[nightsurfer]

German Grand Prix to alternate

The German Grand Prix will alternate between the tracks at Nurburgring and Hockenheim over the next four years, Hockenheim chiefs confirmed Wednesday.

The Nurburgring will host next year's German Grand Prix and the 2009 edition while Hockenheim have secured the rights for 2008 and 2010.

Since 1995 there have been two Formula One races in Germany but one was dropped from the calendar as spectator revenue fell.

Not enough fans were turning up for the two races and with Germany's seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher in retirement next season attendances were expected to drop further.

Hockenheim, with debts of 29 million euros, was the favourite to be axed - after recording a reported three million euro loss at this year's Grand Prix - but the deal to alternate tracks has given them an extended foothold in motor sport.

[nightsurfer]

Raikkonen quiet about Ferrari move

Kimi Raikkonen made a brief pit stop in Dubai on Tuesday before completing his journey to China.

The McLaren Mercedes driver demonstrated his F1 single seater on public roads in the port city, according to the English language newspaper Khaleej Times.

Asked about his impending move to Ferrari, the 26-year-old Finn - in Dubai to appear for McLaren airline sponsor Emirates - said: "One thing at a time. You cannot look too far ahead. What happens next year is next season - we will see when it comes.
"

Williams' Mark Webber, meanwhile, was in Hong Kong for a ride in the Royal Bank of Scotland-sponsored yacht 'Hi Fi'.