Formula One News — October 2008

Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of the Formula 1 practice on Friday afternoon but in the Ferrari and McLaren pits there was few knees knocking or lips trembling.

Brazilian GP - Friday Photos

Brazilian GP - Friday Press Conference

Brazilian GP - Friday Team Quotes

Brazilian GP - Practice 2 Results

Ingo Hoffman is not a name that will create many waves with modern Formula 1 fans, but back in the late 1970s the Sao Paulo driver was Brazil's big new hope for the future. In 1976 he was named as the second driver for the Fittipaldi F1 team, alongside Emerson Fittipaldi.

There may be a recession going on but some things do not lose their value. At least that is what seems to be the message from an auction in London which resulted in a 1997 McLaren F1 road car being sold for a record $4.1m, twice the estimate for the car.

Felipe Massa gave the Brazilian locals something to chatter about on Friday morning in Interlagos as he set the fastest time of the first session for the final Grand Prix of the season.

Brazilian GP - Practice 1 Results

The last few days have produced little in the way of interest in Formula 1 circles, with the title contenders having little to say prior to the World Championship showdown in Brazil.

Brazilian GP - Thursday Press Conference

The threat by Ferrari to pull out of Formula 1 if the FIA President Max Mosley goes on with his plans to introduce standard engines is not unexpected. This, of course, provides the media with a good story for the next 24 hours, but what does it really mean?

Ferrari says that it is not going to be involved in Formula 1 with standardised engines. This is reiterating what several other manufacturers have said (either on or off the record).

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says that he believes that the World Championship should not be settled on points, but rather on medals with race winners being given a gold medal, and the two runners up getting silver and bronze.

Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa go to Brazil this weekend to settle the World Championship with Hamilton needing to finish only fifth in order to win the title. Hamilton could therefore settle for a solid third place behind the Ferraris and there would be little that could be done about it.

Rumours suggest that Flavio Briatore's plan to put in an administrator at Renault F1 will result in the position being taken by his longtime sidekick Bruno Michel.

Montreal's mayor met with Bernie Ecclestone this week in London to try to find a solution to the problem of the Canadian Grand Prix. Although the Canadians say that the problems are not financial, there seems to be little other possible explanation not only for kicking the race out of the World Championship, but also for being able to do it.

The Formula 1 driver line-up for 2009 has been sneaking up on the sport for a while now with not much left available these days. Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, BMW Sauber, Force India and Red Bull Racing have all declared their intentions with the only movement being Sebastian Vettel's departure from Scuderia Toro Rosso to replace the retiring David Coulthard at Red Bull.

The Formula One Teams' Assocation (FOTA) has been very keen to keep itself out of the newspapers in recent weeks, despite the best efforts of the FIA to make the rule changes into a public debate.

Lewis Hamilton drove an absolutely perfect race in Shanghai, never looking in the least bit threatened and duly came home to win a brilliant victory. The two Ferraris struggled in his wake and in the end had to play out a public charade to allow Felipe Massa to pass Kimi Raikkonen in order to limit the damage. The McLaren victory means that Hamilton has to finish fifth or better in Brazil to win his first World Championship.

Gulf Air has agreed a new five-year deal to sponsor the Bahrain Grand Prix. Presumably the announcement was made in Shanghai in order to draw attention to the non-stop flights between Bahrain and Shanghai which were inaugurated in the summer.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone was giving a delegation from South Korea a tour around the Shanghai International Circuit last weekend. The Koreans are in the process of building a major motorsport facility near Mokpo, on the Muan Peninsular in the south-western corner of the country.

The news from Holland that the Dutch government is to buy shares in ING to help the company in the current financial crisis have raised questions about whether or not the bank will be continuing its involvement in F1 in the long term.

Alex Hitzinger, who has been at Red Bull Technologies in recent months, is rumoured to be on his way to join the FIA where he will be employed to work in technical policing of some sort or other.

The driver market has settled down in recent weeks, largely because it is not the most important thing on the minds of the F1 team bosses, who are trying to handle the political negotiations going on, and the economic turmoil in the financial markets.