Less than a year after an accident which was close to killing the Brazilian Felipe Massa was on the grid for the first race of the season in Bahrain. This was an achievement in its self but then finishing second in his first race back over shone this. Massa could have had more points this year as well if he didn?t ...
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/riF-4vMWWDw/the-top-10-f1-drivers-of-the-year
The 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix is our chosen race for the final edition of our classic Formula 1 series this year.
That means we will broadcast the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme shown on BBC Two at the time, as well as the shorter highlights edit that we have cut for all our choices.
That 'Grand Prix' programme is embedded below, with the shorter highlights clips linked underneath. There are also short and long versions of last year's inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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Watch short highlights of the 1979 US Grand Prix East
Watch short highlights of the 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix
Watch short highlights of the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix
Watch short highlights of the 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix
Watch short highlights of the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Watch long highlights of the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The classic races will be available on the BBC red button in the UK on satellite and cable from 2200 GMT on Wednesday 10 November until 1300 GMT on Friday 12 November. On Freeview, they will be available between first and second practice on Friday (approximately 1040-1240 GMT).
The 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix is a fascinating race, not only for the action on the track, but also for the fact that it has something of a fin de si�cle feeling about it.
It was an event that, in hindsight, seems to encapsulate the passing of the torch from one generation to the next.
It was the race at which the great Alain Prost clinched his fourth, and final, world championship title, and at which he announced his retirement, not willing to go toe-to-toe again with Ayrton Senna, who had signed to drive in 1994 for Williams, where Prost drove in 1993.
The Frenchman won the title by finishing second to an emerging star called Michael Schumacher. The German's Benetton was slower than Prost's Williams but Schumacher defended his lead with all the lack of compromise for which he was to become notorious in future years.
Meanwhile, McLaren gave a debut to another promising talent, a certain Mika Hakkinen.
The Finn would go on to win two world titles in 1998 and 1999, becoming the man to push Schumacher hardest until the emergence of Fernando Alonso, but was, at this stage of his career, McLaren's test driver.
Hakkinen had driven for struggling Lotus in 1991-2, but moved to McLaren in a downgraded role in 1993 on the promise of being given a chance to race at some stage.
That chance came in Portugal, after team boss Ron Dennis had grown frustrated by the continuing struggles of Michael Andretti.
Hakkinen wowed F1 by outqualifying Senna on his debut. The great Brazilian was very far from amused.
Senna wasted no time in dispensing with Hakkinen in the race, but the Finn had made his point - this was a special talent awaiting the chance to blossom.
So, it is a superb race, laden with symbolism.
As I explained in my blog on Tuesday, though, all the choices this time were great in their own way.
There was a victory by the incomparable Gilles Villeneuve at Watkins Glen in 1979, his final win in a year that established him as the finest driver in the world, following a battle with Alan Jones of Williams, whose race ended when he accelerated away from a tyre stop too soon and he lost a wheel.
And in Portugal in 1988, there is one of the defining episodes in the bitter battle between Prost and Senna, when Senna pushed Prost so close to the pit wall in trying to defend the lead that those holding signalling boards had to move them out of the way.
Finally, there is a fight between team-mates in a great car, with Riccardo Patrese getting the better of Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell in the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix despite the Italian suffering from a stomach upset.
I hope you enjoy them.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/11/your_classic_grand_prix_-_race_6.html
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/massa-fastest-on-first-pirelli-tyre-test-day/
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/a-return-to-the-bad-old-days/
Roberto Bussinello Jenson Button Tommy Byrne Giulio Cabianca
A sole Ferrari of Fernando Alonso made it to the top ten. He finished seventh, while his team mate Felipe Massa finished 12th. Ferrari featured an 'all red' engine cover with no white 'Marlboro box'.
Giancarlo Fisichella John Fitch Christian Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi
I am in need of a set of 4 all-terain type tires, a battery box(like in a boat or the trunk of a race car), and a max 6gal. fuel cell. I would like to know what diff. kits or suppliers might have these items. Or if anyone out there wants to dig them out of the junkyard box; let's deal!
Thanks and have a great day,
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/thread/925558.aspx
Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Fred Gamble Howden Ganley Frank Gardner
hey guys, i have a quick question, what do most of you use for for polishing or rubbing out your paint jobs?? any help would be great, thank force 1000
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/thread/925333.aspx
Ted Whiteaway Graham Whitehead Peter Whitehead Bill Whitehouse
Heikki Kovalainen was the best of the new team drivers in 19th. His Lotus team mate Jarno Trulli will start from 21st position. Seems like the Virgins have made a step forward with the new updates as Timo Glock managed to split the two Lotuses.Webber was the first to set a Q3 time and logged a 1m29.758s, easily the fastest lap of the new Silverstone layout up to that point ? but moments later Vettel stopped the clocks in 1m29.695s.
Webber was unable to respond on his second run so Vettel?s pole was secure, but that didn?t stop the young German shaving another few hundredths off his own benchmark just to emphasise who had the upper hand.
His final time of 1m29.615s represented an average speed of 147mph for the revised 3.7-mile circuit, almost identical to the average he recorded on the previous layout in last year?s low-fuel Q2 session.
-iTV
Only a mishap (such as a broken nosecone which Sebastian Vettel suffered in practice) is likely to prevent a Red Bull victory
It?s been over a decade since Michael Schumacher tried to run Jacques Villeneuve off an F1 track but on Thursday the two champions had nothing but good things to say about each other
But on his way back to the pits on a slowing-down lap, Hamilton's team radioed him to turn off his engine and save fuel as he had no sufficient fuel left in the tank for a mandatory fuel sample.
 Fernando Alonso is the new favourite for the title |
?He is the man with the momentum and, on the same basis that I backed Mark Webber to win the title before Korea, is now my favourite to claim the world title in Abu Dhabi on Nov 14. ?When the cars are so evenly-matched you have to back the man in possession. Especially when that man is a two-time world champion and arguably the finest driver of his generation.?The Mirror?s Byron Young drew comparisons between Alonso and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher as the Spaniard bids to become the sport?s youngest ever triple world champion.
?Like Schumacher, Alonso accepts no opposition within his team. Ultimately he fell out with McLaren over their refusal in 2007 to bring Lewis Hamilton to heel. ?He returned to Renault on condition he was No.1, only to be at the centre of the Singapore cheat scandal - engineered to hand him victory. ?The Spaniard has always denied involvement but at the German GP in July he was brazen enough to radio Ferrari to rein in team-mate Felipe Massa so he could start the winning streak that has taken him to the brink of history.?
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/alonso_the_new_favourite_1.php
Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen
Hi guys, thought I would post a few pictures of what I have be working on here lately. The 32 Roadster, was a glue bomb that someone had tried to glue the interior tub and firewall in with liquid glue. It had glue fingerprints all over it. After many hours of wet sanding starting with 1500 grit and polishing with 3M perfect-it II, I was able to save it. I painted the interior and firewall white, the engine red, and the suspension parts with Krylon matte aluminum. I used the wheels and tires from the Revell 32 Ford Couple.
The 30 Ford coupe is being built using an old original Monogram kit. I am using parts from the Monogram 29 Ford roadster p/u, such as the front axle, engine, and such. The headers came from the Revell 354 Caddy parts pack. This has been a pretty easy assembly, using these to old kits and a few parts from the parts box. I have cleared the fenders and hopefully get around to the body this weekend.
Hope ya'll enjoy and let me know what you think.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/thread/910828.aspx
Jochen Rindt John RiseleyPrichard Giovanni de Riu Richard Robarts
It?s been over a decade since Michael Schumacher tried to run Jacques Villeneuve off an F1 track but on Thursday the two champions had nothing but good things to say about each otherEugene Chaboud Jay Chamberlain Karun Chandhok Alain de Changy
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/PEJ90F3O_i8/the-celebrity-pit-stop-challenge
Red Bull appear to be having a bit of fun with the watching world ahead of the deciding race of the 2010 Formula 1 world championship.
With their drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel both trying to chase down the championship leader, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the big question heading into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend is whether Vettel will help Webber win the championship if the German cannot do it himself.
This is quite a likely scenario, given the positions of the three drivers in the championship standings.
Alonso leads Webber by eight points and Vettel by 15. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is still mathematically in contention 24 points behind the Spaniard but is realistically out of the running, with only 25 points available on Sunday.
There are any number of potential permutations and if you want to explore them all fully, Spain's Marca newspaper has produced a fun tool that does the job nicely.
On pure performance, Vettel, Webber and Alonso are likely to occupy the top three positions in Abu Dhabi, just as they did in Brazil last Sunday. If that happens, the permutations are relatively simple.
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If Webber wins the race, Alonso must be second to win the championship; if Vettel does, the Ferrari man need only finish fourth.
But what if Vettel is leading going into the last lap and Webber is behind him and Alonso third or fourth? Would Vettel hand the lead to the Australian?
Given the fractious relationship between the two men at times this season, it would not be an easy thing for Vettel to do. But both he and team principal Christian Horner hinted after the Brazilian Grand Prix that he would.
"In that scenario, it is something you will think of," said Vettel. "I think it's clear."
Since then, though, Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the man who founded the drinks company and has since made billions from it, has thrown in a curve ball.
The Austrian told Gerhard Kuntschick, a reporter from the Salzburger Nachtrichten to whom he is close, that if they cannot win he would prefer his drivers to lose out to Alonso "in the correct circumstances".
That is a reference to Ferrari's actions at the German Grand Prix, when the team gave Felipe Massa a coded message to let Alonso by into the lead so he could maximise his points in the championship.
Team orders are banned in F1. Ferrari's punishment, at the race and later confirmed at a hearing of the sport's governing body the FIA in September, was a $100,000 fine.
Without the extra seven points he gained at Hockenheim, Alonso would be leading Webber by only one point and Vettel by eight. That would have made the Abu Dhabi race a winner-takes-all scenario for Webber and Alonso, and for Vettel if he headed a Red Bull one-two with Alonso third.
Mateschitz continued: "To interfere with the drivers was never a possibility for us. The whole world condemned Ferrari after what they did in Hockenheim, but we have turned out as idiots because we did not act in this way."
Mateschitz said Red Bull had never considered getting one driver to back the other "as long as both our drivers remain in the hunt for the championship".
He added: "A second place under correct circumstances might be better than a win on grounds of orders and confirmations."
What does this mean?
Will Red Bull really refuse to intercede and risk losing the championship to Alonso? Will they leave it up to Vettel's conscience?
Does the phrase "as long as both our drivers remain in the running for the championship" mean that Vettel will let Webber by to prevent Alonso winning the title (on the basis that Vettel, at that point, would no longer be in the running for the championship)? Apparently not.
Could Horner's "best result for the team" conceivably mean what Mateschitz says - that it is better to lose the title because they have not resorted to team tactics, rather than win it because they have?
If Red Bull will not use team tactics, why not?
Is that a decision based purely on wanting to be seen to be competing in the right way - following the old adage that it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game?
If so, this is not, shall we say, a philosophy that is universally shared in the "piranha club" of the F1 paddock.
Or is there more going on here than meets the eye?
The cynics in the F1 paddock - and there are a lot - will have a field day with these conflicting messages from the leading figures at Red Bull.
Just how alone is Webber at Red Bull this weekend? Photo: Darren Heath
If Vettel is in a position to help Webber and does not, some will wonder if that is because Red Bull simply do not want Webber to win the title, and would rather wait another year for Vettel to become their first champion. If that is the case, why would they not want Webber to win? Is Webber, as was speculated in Brazil last weekend, leaving the team at the end of the year following his complaints of favouritism?
All of this adds an intriguing extra dimension to an already absorbing climax to one of the best F1 seasons there has ever been. And it seems fitting to be discussing it at the end of a season in which Red Bull's perceived preference for Vettel over Webber has caused so much heartache within the team, and drawn so much attention from outside.
There was the fall-out from losing a one-two in the Turkish Grand Prix following a collision between the two drivers, when the team initially appeared to pin the blame on Webber, when most of the watching world felt Vettel was at fault. And three races later, there was the decision to take the only remaining example of a new front wing off Webber's car at Silverstone and give it to Vettel.
What else has been going on behind the scenes that the outside world does not know about?
Horner has continued to insist throughout that the team have supported both drivers equally - he reiterated that view to me in Brazil last weekend - but it has not always looked that way. I have spoken to a number of people in F1 this season who believe there is evidence that some kind of team tactics have been employed behind the scenes at Red Bull.
After inflicting so much damage on themselves in Turkey, did Red Bull dictate that once a driver was ahead, the other was not allowed to race him? If not, what - to bring up just one example - did Webber mean after following Vettel home in the Japanese Grand Prix last month? "It was fun to bring the gap back down to Seb and after that track position is king," said the Australian. "I know the rules and that's how it is."
If there have been tactics to control Webber, though, there is no hope of them happening in Abu Dhabi. With the title on the line, there will be no dutiful holding of position from whichever Red Bull driver is behind.
Of course, F1 would not be what it is without this added dimension of intrigue and politics - it's part of what makes it so fascinating. Yet it is easy to forget that before any team tactics can come into play, there is a race to be run.
Red Bull enter it as favourites, for the race if not the championship. But Alonso - who has beaten them three times in the last five races - can never be discounted. Of the three main title contenders, he is the only one with the experience of being in this situation before - when he won his back-to-back titles in 2005-6 with Renault.
With the pressure on all the title contenders so intense, will that be a deciding factor? Or, with all the contenders worried about engine mileage under F1's eight-engines-a-year rule, will it be reliability that wins the day?
One thing seems certain - it is hard to believe, after such an extraordinary year of shifting fortunes, that there will not be one final twist in the tale.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/11/are_red_bull_prepared_to_hand.html
Civilian catches Quattro on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California where the Audi crew confirmed the model was going to production.
For the last five years, the world champion has been crowned at Brazil's rollercoaster Interlagos circuit - and in 2009 it was Jenson Button's turn.
Last year in Sao Paulo, Button serenaded his team and the world television audience by spontaneously belting out 'We Are The Champions' over his Brawn team radio as he followed Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso into the history books.
"You can't plan to sing that badly, can you?" Button recalled in an exclusive BBC Sport interview. "In my defence, it is quite difficult singing with a crash helmet on."
Button's outburst of raw emotion may well have turned into cringing regret one year on but the 30-year-old has also been reflecting on a life-changing 12 months.
On Wednesday evening, the McLaren driver invited the British media for a steak dinner and sat dressed in plaid shirt and jeans, chatting amiably about life away from the pit lane.
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Those members of the press pack who have observed him since he arrived in the sport 11 years ago with Williams have seen him shed his erratic, playboy image and mature into a well-liked and responsible world champion.
"You become a lot more confident [as champion]," said Button, who underlined his new priorities by taking part in a Half Ironman triathlon in Miami just a week before the Brazilian Grand Prix.
"I wasn't so confident at making decisions before," he says. "This year I have had more of an opinion and that's important.
"My life has been a lot busier but I'm more relaxed. I'm still hungry but I'm in a position where I have already won the world championship, which is what I set out to do 23 years ago."
Button also led the standings earlier this season, after wins in Australia and China, but since then his title defence has gone backwards.
The Somerset-born driver now faces the prospect of falling out of the running unless he finishes first or second in Brazil and other results also go his way.
I spoke to his father John Button about his son's fading chances at the last race in South Korea, and he answered with a glint in his eye: "At least we've won it."
It is an opinion Button shares with his 'old man', revealing: "Someone said to me in Brazil 'So how does it feel that you possibly could lose the championship here?'"
"I said: 'That is not entirely true. It's possible that I won't be the reigning world champion next year but I'll always be world champion.' I like that.
"All the way through my career I said that I wanted to win the world championship. I never said I want to win it 10 times.
"You don't plan for whatever happens. Of course I want to win it again. Now it is very difficult for me to continue fighting for it but I'm going to come back stronger."
Until a few years ago, the Brazilian race had historically been run in the early part of the season, so Alonso was the first driver to capture the title in Brazil, when he was with Renault in 2005.
The Spaniard is the only driver who can lay claim to the 2010 crown on Sunday.
The double world champion has been in serene mood in the confined chaos of the Interlagos paddock.
When I asked him why he was so relaxed, he looked up and said: "All the cards are on the table.
"We will win the championship or we will lose the championship not because of the effort we put in the car or our abilities. It will be more a fact of destiny or luck."
Alonso is known as a man who makes his own luck, but if he is also looking for the stars to align then Brazil is an apt place to settle a title race.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2010/11/for_the_last_five_years.html
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/vettel-heads-for-berlin/
Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/11/19/teams-and-drivers-happy-with-pirelli-progress/
Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/massa-fastest-on-first-pirelli-tyre-test-day/
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/vettel-heads-for-berlin/
TITAN EVO consists of engine tuning on the diesel, S Hybrid and Turbo Cayennes as well as a new aerodynamic kit. 
