Black Friday Tonic: Top Drivers try to put Golf on two wheels, fail.

Throwback Thursday: "Oversteer will come just before impact"

One of the best segments ever on Drive with Chris Harris playing straight man to David Coulthard hilariously dry humor.

Raikkonen and Loeb at the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours...

Keep an eye on the 2010 24 Hours, it has the potential of being the most interesting in years. The latest rumors are of a Red Bull sponsored Peugeot 908 Hdi driven by Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastien Loeb and perhaps David Coulthard. Certainly would attract media attention, something RedBull has show to have a certain talent for over the years...

Also in 2010, BMW will return to contest as an official factory team for the first time in years. There will be GT2 M3s but perhaps also the new GT3 class Z4 racer the bavarians have cooked up. Stay tuned for updates.
(autohebdo.fr, motorsportblog.it)






end of post

Michael Schumacher Interview.

The BBC ran a lenghty interview with Rubens Barrichello's nemesis before the race on Sunday. Interviewed with Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard, the seven time champion looks pretty relaxed but hasn't quite forgotten the Spa incident of 1998. (videos of the 1998 accident and subsequent scrum after the jump)

Asked about his future involvement in F1, Schumacher gives a fairly definitive answer.

When it rain it pours: it's dump on Ferrari day!

I guess it's a natural effect of Ferrari' s dominance that when the team is down, people line up for a swift kick. Some of the criticism is tough but not unfair, some is plain comical.

David Coulthard's criticism on his Telegraph.co.uk column reaches a bit with:

" If Force India's Adrian Sutil had managed to bring the car home in sixth place in China, with just five laps of the race remaining, the 2008 constructors' champions would be the only team left on the grid still without a point this season; an unbelievable state of affairs for a team tipped to be the dominant force this year."

OK, and Massa would have been third if his electronics had not given up... His comment on Ferrari's drivers are more interesting even though I suspect some will say he still bares a grudge towards Kimi from their Mclaren days:

"Kimi Raikkonen would never have been wondering about the pits with a choc ice and a coke, as he was in Malaysia when the race was still technically in session, had Todt still been in charge.
Then you have the drivers. I don't know Felipe Massa that well, so I can't really comment too much on him, but Raikkonen is a former team-mate of mine and the Finn has never shown me he can lead a car's development. Sure, he has blistering natural speed, but I suspect Ferrari will improve dramatically if and when Fernando Alonso arrives."

I can't disagree.

Now to the ridiculous, Niki Lauda. Lauda has traditionally kept his name in the news with a sort of automotive tourrette syndrome and today he came up with a great one!:

"‘In those days, Ross, because he is English, was the ideal bridge between the Italians, with their spaghetti culture, and Schumacher, with his German efficiency. Now the Italians are running it all. Does it work? It could be chaos. That’s the problem."

Forgetting for a moment that Ross Brawn has not been at active at Ferrari for the past two seasons which saw Ferrari win in 2007 and come within one point in 2008, in 1974-77 Lauda won two championship when employed by Maranello and the team was run by Luca di Montezemolo and Mauro Forghieri. But I guess he liked spaghetti then!

And here is the rest of it.

Hamilton-Mclaren Penalty Explained.

If you are waiting for the Malaysian GP to start but are still confused about what the penalty to Lewis Hamilton after the Australian race was all about, take a look at this portion of the BBC's qualifying show.

While over the top dramatic, it does explain what happened very clearly. Journalists really don't mince words and commentary by David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan are very useful. Thirteen minutes well spent.

This was the first full BBC broadcast of a race I saw and I must say they do a super job. Having someone like Coulthard really adds the kind of extra dimension only a recently retired racer can bring to a show. I loved when he asked Stefano Domenicali: "...when he was my team mate, Kimi was the laziest driver you ever saw...how do you deal with that at Ferrari?..." Priceless.

And here is the rest of it.

Chin Cam

Ever wonder what David Coulthard's epic chin sees during a race?
Thanks to advances of modern technology the question can finally be answered!

Formula 1 rumor roundup

Let's face it, sometimes there is not a whole lot to discuss between races...or is there? Let's examine a few of the rumors floating around before the British GP.








Rumor #1: David Coulthard turns in on Formula 1 career.

The speculation is that the square jawed Scot will use the occasion of the British GP to announce he is finally moving full time into the hotel business. Presumably DC got into the hospitality industry so that he would always have room for his many girlfriends because DC not only has the fourth best point scoring record (533) but also worked his skirt on a considerable considerable carnet of conquests.




Coulthard also holds the record for most embarrassing promotional tie in ever when he took to the podium in Monaco with a Superman cape. In the picture even Montoya looks embarrassed!





Rumor #2: Senna in F1.

Bruno Senna is a marketer's no brainer so if he is anything better than competent he will get an F1 ride. So far rumors have him close to BMW or Red Bull/STR.




Rumor #3: Tony Stewart?

This is by far the best one. As reported by GrandPrix.com, this would be the next step in the birth of an American Formula 1 team. It could not be more bizarre as it involves a man currently in jail for tax fraud... just the stuff F1 is made of! Let's read:

"The future of Tony Stewart remains a talking point in NASCAR. The 2002 and 2005 champion, is now close to doing a deal to leave Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and rumours say that he could buy into Haas CNC Racing.
What does this have to do with F1? Haas CNC racing is funded by machine tool magnate Gene Haas, who is currently in jail for tax evasion. He is due to be released in October 2009. It is speculated that Haas may move on from NASCAR and could be the man to help bankroll the rumoured American F1 Honda team. Haas is also the owner of the Wind Shear windtunnel in Charlotte and employs Ken Anderson, the man who is tipped to be heading the F1 team.

Haas's company Haas Automation is one of the largest computerized numerical control machine manufacturers in the world, selling around 12,000 machining centers and lathes every year. The company is aiming to raise its turnover to $2bn by 2015, which will require manufacturing outside the USA. The firm recently opened its first non-US facility in Shanghai and is trying to cash in on the booming markets in Asia and the Middle East. A Formula 1 project thus makes a lot of sense for the company."

GP.com looks to have pulled the article...perfect rumor material!

Three Wide

This was one of my favorite moments from the last GP in Malaysia. Clip starts onboard Alonso's Renault in a sandwich between Couthard and Nick Heidfeld. Alonso trying all he can to get past the Scottish Chicane, finally suckers him into taking a too defensive line and gets the jump off the corner. But when Coulthard moves over to try and block him, Heidfeld in the BMW makes the right guess and burns them both. Great bit of racing in a formula where there is not supposed to be any passing...

Voodoo Suspension

Coulthard better stop messing with Massa.

Looks like Brazilian fans of the little guy put some serious macumba voodoo on square jaw kilt boy's front suspension making it shatter like glass just as the scot was practicing his moving chicane technique! (ok, ok, officially he went off track when a track rod failed... mysteriously)

That left David kicking tree colors of sh*! out of his rear tires rather than the little ferrarista.

Red Bull is on fire!

Today, during the Turkish GP free practice, Red Bull Renault showed off their latest technological breakthrough in tire warming.

DC continued to channel Hollywood starlets by declaring "That's SO hot!"

Catty F1 News

When Christian Horner said David Coulthard was "...still very hungry" was he referring to David's Nicole Ritchie days?

"In my mind the only way I could keep my weight down was by making myself vomit."

Meanwhile, BMW Sauber ended any speculation of an Alonso switch to the Hinwil outfit by confirming they will again be running the glamour twins of F1, Kubica and Heidfeld.






To celebrate, they allowed Little Nick to speak to the media: