Formula One News — June 2008

Heikki Kovalainen has been given a five-place grid penalty for getting in the way of Mark Webber while driving slowly on a one of his OUT laps during the qualifying session. This means that he will start 10th, unless there are other penalties between now and the start of the race.

French GP - Qualifying Results

Nelson Piquet set the fastest time of the Saturday morning session at Magny-Cours in his Renault, a rather surprising result given that the Brazilian has shown no pace at all this year.

French GP - Practice 3 Results

McLaren has launched a new book called "McLaren - The Cars 1964-2008", a large-format 304-page hardback book chronicling every McLaren ever built in exhaustive detail. The book includes a foreword was written by Ron Dennis and a postscript by Martin Whitmarsh.

Fernando Alonso set the fastest time in the Friday afternoon session for the French Grand Prix in his Renault, suggesting that the French company is keen for a bit of publicity in its home race.

French GP - Friday Photos

French GP - Friday Press Conference

French GP - Friday Team Quotes

French GP - Practice 2 Results

French GP - Practice 1 Results

The annual British Grand Prix controversy kicked off on schedule at the French GP with the unlikely tale that Formula 1 will once again be going to Donington Park. This is about as likely to happen as a French Grand Prix in Rouen.

French GP - Thursday Press Conference

Formula 1 will be in Manchester in on the weekend of the British GP with the BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park at the Trafford Centre. The mobile F1 theme park will be open to all visitors, free of charge and offers unrivalled access to the sounds, power and dynamics of the world's most exhilarating and high-tech sport.

Rouen says it will bid for the French Grand Prix. The city held five French Grands Prix between 1952 and 1968 but continued to hold races on the Les Essarts road circuit until 1993.

As we suggested yesterday, there is a project to be funded by the partners in the Magny-Cours circuit to upgrade the facility to meet the demands of the Formula One group.

There is talk of a drivers' strike ahead in Formula 1, but these things have never been successful in the past and are unlikely to be so in the future. Unity amongst racing drivers is a rare thing, indeed not all the current drivers are member of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, and so there is even less pressure on them to conform.

The French News is an English language publication, produced in English for those who live in France, but prefer their mother tongue. This week it is reporting from Burgundy, the region in which Magny-Cours in located, that it has been agreed that $46m is to be pumped into keeping the French Grand Prix going for a few more years to come.

Between Detroit and Chicago, in what they call the Irish Hills, is a settlement called Cambridge Junction, home of an old tavern where stagecoaches used to stop. It is this crossroads that led to the construction nearby of Michigan International Speedway in 1968, a two-mile high-banked oval which has long been one of the most challenging tracks in the United States, with a crowd capacity of around 80,000.

Renault announced the departure of Director of Aerodynamic Technology Dino Toso from the team today. Toso has spent the last eight years with the team working in the aerodynamics department.

There are stories doing the rounds in Europe that there might be a second Honda team again in F1 in 2009. This sounds rather unlikely given that Honda is still nursing the tips of its fingers, which were well heated by Super Aguri.

Last week Bernie Ecclestone seemed to be relatively conciliatory towards the FIA, but this week he is back on the attack again, banging on the drum of a breakaway Formula 1 series.

Audi Sport North America fought off a strong challenge from Peugeot Sport to win Audi's eighth win in nine years with Tom Kristenson winning his eighth Le Mans victory, Rinaldo Capello his third and Allan McNish his second.

Australian newspapers are reporting that a new deal has been done to keep the Australian GP in Melbourne until 2015. The deal is reportedly a verbal agreement at the moment but it is anticipated that it will be signed off shortly.

Queen Elizabeth II"s annual Birth Honours List in Britain has rewarded John Surtees, the former F1 World Champion and multiple motorcycle racing champion with the status of an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Surtees won his title back in 1964 but has had to wait until the age of 74 for recognition. Surtees ran his own Formula 1 team and more recently ran the British team in the A1GP Series.