Formula One News — September 2007

McLaren has responded to stories that it has been charged with criminal offences in Italy by pointing out that although the team did receive notification of being investigated by the Modena prosecution service, it has not been charged with anything.

Fernando Alonso took pole position for the Italian Grand Prix ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, the gap between the two men being just a fraction of a second.

Chip Ganassi Racing is expected to announce next week that Scotland's Dario Franchitti will drive in the NASCAR Nextel Cup next year, at the wheel of an Energizer-sponsored Dodge.

Italian GP - Saturday Photos

Italian GP - Saturday Press Conference

Italian GP - Saturday Team Quotes

The Modena prosecutor Giuseppe Tibis has issued of a string of notifications to McLaren personnel that they are under investigation. The notifications have not yet been delivered to McLaren yet.

Italian GP - Qualifying Results

Fuji International Speedway and Suzuki are to share the Japanese Grand Prix. Fuji will get the race again in 2008 but in 2009 Suzuka will be back on the calendar and after that the two tracks will alternate.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton ended the Saturday morning session in Monza well ahead of the opposition with the Spaniard a tenth faster than the Briton.

Italian GP - Practice 3 Results

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton led the way in the second practice session at Monza on Friday afternoon. The Spaniard was eight-tenths faster than the Englishman but Hamilton was three-tenths clear of Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault, which was a surprising fourth fastest ahead of Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg.

Italian GP - Friday Photos

Italian GP - Friday Press Conference

Italian GP - Friday Team Quotes

Italian GP - Practice 2 Results

McLaren has issued a statement regarding the current reports about the new evidence that the FIA has for the World Motor Sport Council next week.

The FIA has published the letter that was sent to the three McLaren drivers.

The letter sent by the FIA to the F1 teams has now come to light. This reveals that the federation is indeed focussing on the McLaren drivers.

Ferrari is usually quick at Monza - sometimes amazingly so - and the Italian Grand Prix weekend began with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa setting the fastest laps of the Friday morning session. The Finn was a tenth faster than the Brazilian.

Italian GP - Practice 1 Results

Italian GP - Thursday Press Conference

Max Mosley, the FIA President will deliver the keynote address to open the 2007 Motor Sport Business Forum in Monaco in December.

McLaren has been fined $50,000 by the FIA Stewards at Monza for failure to declare that it was using a new lightweight gearbox in Hungary. The team did not use the new gearbox in Istanbul two weeks ago after learning that it should have been crash-tested, but this procedure has now taken place under FIA supervision and the gearbox is to be used legitimately at Monza.

The Formula 1 paddock at Monza has been buzzing with stories about what it is that the FIA has discovered that has convinced the federation to bring the matter back to the World Council rather than dealing with it in the International Court of Appeal.