commadore183

Singapore GP results 1) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 2) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 3) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 4) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 5) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 6) #9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 7) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault 8) #7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari 9) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes* 10) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth* 11) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault 12) #17 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 14) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth 16) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth Ret) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth (Hydraulics) Ret) #22 Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber-Ferrari (Accident) Ret) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes (Accident) Ret) #20 Christian Klein, HRT-Cosworth (Hydraulics) Ret) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari (Accident) Ret) #21 Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth (Accident) Ret) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth (Hydraulics) Ret) Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes (Accident damage) * Sutil and Hulkenburg both were nailed with a 20 second post-race penalty for "leaving the circuit and gained an unfair advantage" on the first lap of the race. Not sure why it took them so long to issue the penalty. Lewis Hamilton had his second straight DNF in the season after driving into Mark Webber in one of the turns, causing no damage to Webber's car. For some reason, the Stewards felt the need to investigate the incident when it was a racing incident, but nothing further happened. Later in the race, Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld got together in one of the turns, ending Heidfeld's race but Schumacher continued. Again, the Stewards investigated the racing incident, but nothing further. About two laps from the end, Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus caught fire, with Heikki parking it right on the main straight next to the pit wall. He managed to get a fire extinguisher from some team officials and put it out himself. No other drama came from that. WDC Points 1) Mark Webber: 202 2) Fernando Alonso: 191 (-11) 3) Lewis Hamilton: 182 (-20) 4) Sebastian Vettel: 181 (-21) 5) Jenson Button: 177 (-25) 6) Felipe Massa: 128 (-74) 7) Nico Rosberg: 122 (-80) 8) Robert Kubica: 114 (-88) 9) Adrian Sutil: 47 (-155) 10) Michael Schumacher: 46 (-156) 11) Rubens Barrichello: 39 (-163) 12) Kamui Kobayashi: 21 (-181) 13) Vitaly Petrov: 19 (-183) 14) Nico Hulkenberg: 17 (-185) 15) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 13 (-189) 16) Sebastien Buemi: 7 (-195) 17) Pedro de la Rosa: 6 (-196) 18) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-199) 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 25) Sakon Yamamoto: 0 26) Nick Heidfeld: 0 Maximum points gain for the rest of the season is 100. First through ninth still have a change, but it seems like its between Webber and Alonso, as Hamilton has pretty much ruled out a championship after his second consecutive DNF. WCC Points 1) Red Bull-Renault: 383 2) McLaren-Mercedes: 359 (-24) 3) Ferrari: 319 (-64) 4) Mercedes GP: 168 (-215) 5) Renault: 133 (-250) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 60 (-323) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 56 (-327) 8) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 27 (-356) 9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 10 (-373) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 Maximum points on offer for the rest of the season is 172, so that leaves just Red Bull, McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari left to battle for the Constructors' Championship. However, that can all change if the Korean Grand Prix gets cancelled: Next race is the Japanese Grand Prix on October 10.

Italian GP results 1) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 2) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 3) #7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari 4) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 5) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 6) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 7) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 8) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault 9) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 10) #9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 11) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12) #15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 13) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault 14) #22 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 15) #17 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 17) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth 18) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth 19) #20 Sakon Yamamoto, HRT-Cosworth 20) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth Ret) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth (Gearbox) Ret) #21 Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth (Hydraulics) Ret) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes (Accident) Ret) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari (Gearbox) Hamilton exited the race after making contact with Massa's LR tyre with his RF, damaging the suspension and going off at the first Lesmo turn. Pit road was closed for several laps because of an incident in the HRT pits where Yamamoto knocked down one of his crew members and an ambulance was called to cart him away; HRT was fined $25,000 for an unsafe pit release. WDC Points 1) Mark Webber: 187 2) Lewis Hamilton: 182 (-5) 3) Fernando Alonso: 166 (-21) 4) Jenson Button: 165 (-22) 5) Sebastian Vettel: 163 (-24) 6) Felipe Massa: 124 (-63) 7) Nico Rosberg: 112 (-75) 8) Robert Kubica: 108 (-79) 9) Michael Schumacher: 46 (-141) 10) Adrian Sutil: 45 (-142) 11) Rubens Barrichello: 31 (-156) 12) Kamui Kobayashi: 21 (-166) 13) Vitaly Petrov: 19 (-168) 14) Nico Hulkenberg: 16 (-171) 15) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 13 (-174) 16) Sebastien Buemi: 7 (-180) 17) Pedro de la Rosa: 6 (-181) 18) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-184) 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 25) Sakon Yamamoto: 0 Names in bold means that the drivers are still in contention for the championship, mathematically. The maximum number of points available for the remaining season is 125. WCC Points 1) Red Bull-Renault: 350 2) McLaren-Mercedes: 347 (-3) 3) Ferrari: 290 (-60) 4) Mercedes GP: 158 (-192) 5) Renault: 127 (-223) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 58 (-292) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 47 (-303) 8) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 27 (-323) 9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 10 (-340) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 Constructors in bold means that they are still mathematically in contention for the championship. The maximum number of points on offer for the remain season is 215. The next race is the Singapore GP on September 26th. EDIT: Sauber confirms Heidfeld in, de la Rosa out

Yep. It's a one-year deal, and it's a two-way deal as well. If the Wings don't see any use for him during the season, he'll be sent to GR, help mentor some of the young guys there, and if there's a position that Maltby would fit, he'll be back to fill that in. It's a win-win situation.

FIA press release regarding the extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sports Council The basics of the summary is that Ferrari escapes any further punishment from the WMSC and the WMSC recommends that the Sporting Working Group, consisting of representatives of the FIA and the FOTA, to review and, possibly, re-write the article. Hopefully, they'll just drop the ban on team orders.

Belgian GP results 1) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 2) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 3) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault 4) #7 Felipe Massa 5) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 6) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 7) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 8) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 9) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault 10) #15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 11) #22 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 12) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13) #17 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari* 14) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 15) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 16) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth 17) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth 18) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth 19) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth 20) #20 Sakon Yamamoto, HRT-Cosworth Ret) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari (Accident) Ret) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes (Accident) Ret) #21 Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth (Suspension) Ret) #9 Rubens Barrichello (Accident) *Alguersuari was hit with a 20 second time penalty after the race after the stewards deemed he gained an unfair advantage by cutting through the final chicane. He dropped from 10th to 13th. Bit of a wild race, as rain came and went, which caused havoc for some teams. At the start, Barrichello plowed into the right-rear of Alonso's Ferrari at the final chicane, severing Barrichello's left-front wheel, but somehow Alonso got away from that incident without any real damage (he did crash out near the end of the race due to rain). Hell, practically everyone was going off at the final chicane because of rain there. Vettel was caught out in the changing conditions and lost control of his car heading into the final chicane trying to pass Button. Vettel's car speared into the left sidepod of Button's McLaren, terminally damaging it, while Vettel contined, but, for some reason, was hit with a drive-through penalty. Vettel would also come to some grief with one of the Force India cars. WDC Points 1) Lewis Hamilton: 182 2) Mark Webber: 179 (-3) 3) Sebastian Vettel: 151 (-31) 4) Jenson Button: 147 (-35) 5) Fernando Alonso: 141 (-41) 6) Felipe Massa: 109 (-73) 7) Robert Kubica: 104 (78) 8) Nico Rosberg: 102 (-80) 9) Adrian Sutil: 45 (-137) 10) Michael Schumacher: 44 (-138) 11) Rubens Barrichello: 30 (-152) 12) Kamui Kobayashi: 21 (-161) 13) Vitaly Petrov: 19 (163) 14) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 13 (-169) 15) Nico Hulkenberg: 10 (-172) 16) Sebastien Buemi: 7 (-175) 17) Pedro de la Rosa: 6 (-176) 18) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-179) 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 25) Sakon Yamamoto: 0 The bolded names are the drivers that are still mathematically in contention to win the WDC, as far as I know. Now we'll start eliminating drivers as the season winds down. WCC Points 1) Red Bull-Renault: 330 2) McLaren-Mercedes: 329 (-1) 3) Ferrari: 250 (-80) 4) Mercedes GP: 146 (-184) 5) Renault: 123 (-207) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 58 (-272) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 40 (-290) 8) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 27 (-303) 9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 10 (-320) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 The next grand prix will the Italian GP on September 12th. Also, the circuit layout for the 2012 USGP has been revealed. It will have 20 turns and run at 3.4 miles in length.

Hungarian GP results 1) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 2) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 3) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 4) #7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari 5) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault 6) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 7) #22 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 8) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 9) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 10) #9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 11) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 12) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13) #15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 14) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth 15) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth 16) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth 17) #21 Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth 18) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth 19) #20 Sakon Yamamoto, HRT-Cosworth Ret) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes (Gearbox) Ret) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault (Accident damage) Ret) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP (Loose wheel) Ret) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes (Accident) Ret) Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Mechanical) The Safety Car was deployed because of a piece of someone's front wing was out in the middle of the track. Everyone took advantage of it and pitted, except for Webber. The lollipop man for Robert Kubica cocked up majorly and sent Kubica out into the path of a pitting Sutil, ending Sutil's race right there. Kubica was hit with a 10 second stop-go penalty by the Stewards, who also fined Renault $50,000 for violating Article 23.1(j) of the Sporting Regulations. Mercedes GP then decided to join in on the pit lane Amateur Hour by releasing Rosberg with a loose right-rear wheel, which then flew off and bounced around until someone from the Williams garage actually tried to CATCH the 40+ pound wheel and tyre assembly; fortunately, the guy was okay, but Mercedes GP was $50,000 lighter in the wallet for violating Article 23.1(j). Before the restart, second-place Vettel fell back more than 10 car lengths from leader Webber (it looked like you can fit one and a half tractor trailers between the two Red Bull cars). Vettel was rewarded with a drive-through penalty for breaking Article 40.9. Vettel then proceed to pout for the rest of the race, even going so far as to wave a hand wildly during his drive through and proceeded to carry on his shenanigans going to parc ferme. Finally, Schumacher decided that he hadn't had a controversy in a while, so he pulled off a Mark Webber of blocking attempts, nearly running former team mate Rubens Barrichello into the pit wall on the main straight and almost into the grass. Fortunately, they all stayed in one piece, with Barrichello getting the better of the 7 time World Drivers Champion. Schumi was then slapped with a 10 grid spot penalty for the Belgian GP in a month. WDC Points 1)Mark Webber: 161 2) Lewis Hamilton: 157 (-4) 3) Sebastian Vettel: 151 (-10) 4) Jenson Button: 147 (-14) 5) Fernando Alonso: 141 (-20) 6) Felipe Massa: 97 (-64) 7) Nico Rosberg: 94 (-67) 8) Robert Kubica: 89 (-72) 9) Michael Schumacher: 38 (-123) 10) Adrian Sutil: 35 (-126) 11) Rubens Barrichello: 30 (-131) 12) Vitaly Petrov: 17 (-144) 13) Kamui Kobayashi: 17 (-144) 14) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 12 (-149) 15) Nico Hulkenberg: 10 (-151) 16) Sebastien Buemi: 7 (-154) 17) Pedro de la Rosa: 6 (-155) 18) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-158) 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 25) Sakon Yamamoto: 0 WCC Points 1) Red Bull-Renault: 312 2) McLaren-Mercedes: 304 (-8) 3) Ferrari: 238 (-74) 4) Mercedes GP: 132 (-180) 5) Renault: 106 (-206) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 47 (-265) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 40 (-272) 8) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 23 (-289) 9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 10 (-302) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 New Constructors Points 1) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 2) HRT-Cosworth: 0 3) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 The next race is the Belgian GP on August 29. Take care. Official FIA Press Release regarding the Ferrari team orders issue that occured at the German GP on July 25th. The WMSC will meet on September 8th to discuss the issue and, possibly, dole out any punishment they seem fit.

German GP results 1) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari* 2) #7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari* 3) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 4) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 5) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 6) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 7) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault 8) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 9) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 10) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault 11) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 12) #9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 13) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 14) #22 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 15) #17 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16) #15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 17) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 18) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth 19) #21 Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth Ret) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth (Accident damage) Ret) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth (Suspension) Ret) #20 Sakon Yamamoto, HRT-Cosworth (Mechanical) Ret) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth (Gearbox) Ret) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Accident damage) *Ferrari has been fined $100,000 USD after the race Stewards deemed they have breached Article 39.1 of the Sporting Regulations regarding the ban on team orders, as well as the infamous Article 151c of the International Sporting Code. This came after Massa's race strategist, Rob Smedley, radioed to Massa that "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?", apparently a code to allow the faster Alonso by, which did happen several laps later at the hairpin. Ferrari has also be called before the World Motor Sports Council for their actions. No word yet on when the WMSC will convene. The points will be unofficial until the WMSC rules on the matter. WDC Points 1) Lewis Hamilton: 157 2) Jenson Button: 143 (-14) 3) Mark Webber: 136 (-21) 4) Sebastian Vettel: 136 (-21) 5) Fernando Alonso: 123 (-34) 6) Nico Rosberg: 94 (-63) 7) Robert Kubica: 89 (-78) 8) Felipe Massa: 85 (-72) 9) Michael Schumacher: 38 (-119 10) Adrian Sutil: 35 (-122) 11) Rubens Barrichello: 29 (-128) 12) Kamui Kobayashi: 15 (-142) 13) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 12 (-145) 14) Vitaly Petrov: 7 (-150) 15) Sebastien Buemi: 7 (-150) 16) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-154) 17) Nico Hulkenberg: 2 (-155) 18) Pedro de la Rosa: 0 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 25) Sakon Yamamoto: 0 WCC Points 1) McLaren-Mercedes: 300 2) Red Bull-Renault: 272 (-28) 3) Ferrari: 208 (-92) 4) Mercedes GP: 132 (-168 5) Renault: 96 (-204) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 47 (-253) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 31 (-269) 8) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 15 (-285) 9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 10 (-290) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 New Constructors Points 1) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 2) HRT-Cosworth: 0 3) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 The next race is the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 1st. Hopefully the WMSC will convene soon to sort out the team orders issue. To be honest, I think the team orders ban is ridiculous as it goes against the history of Formula One (and Grand Prix) racing. Besides, the teams are STILL going around the ban by using codes, like when McLaren asked their drivers to "conserve fuel" several races ago. Ferrari gave themselves an out by telling Massa that "Alonso is faster. Do you copy?" sort of thing. Granted, anyone with more than 3 operational neurons would know that Ferrari want's Massa to give way to the faster (and highest placed) driver on the team. I just think it's ridiculous that Ferrari gets hauled in before the WMSC while McLaren gets away with it. Either nail everyone when they use coded messages or just drop the ban as it clearly isn't a) working and b) being enforced.

It's musical chairs at HRT! Anyone with $$$$$$ can participate! Fun for the whole team! Well, except for the contracted drivers: Yamamoto replaces Chandhok at HRT I love this little gem they put out: LOL! Well, if they mean "We liked how fast the money went into our bank account!", then I guess it was a positive performance. Remember, before it became HRT, it was known as Campos Meta 1, which had to be bought out because they barely had the funds to buy the cars from Dallara, let alone complete a season. I wouldn't be surprised if HRT either was bought out (again) or just ceased to exist.

I do feel bad for Christian Horner and the management at Red Bull Racing. They have to control 2 drivers who have no love for each other and that could cost them the championship down the line if they don't get it together. I'm certainly pulling for Webber to take it, but man RBR is going to make it a bit difficult for him with them apparently favoring Vettel. I can say for sure that this rivalry will certainly be entertaining for us fans .

British GP results 1) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 2) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 3) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 4) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 5) #9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 6) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 7) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 8) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 9) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 10) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 11) #15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 12) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault 14) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 15) #7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari 16) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth 17) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth 18) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin Cosworth 19) #20 Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth 20) #21 Sakon Yamamoto, HRT-Cosworth Ret) #17 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Brakes) Ret) #22 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari (Disintegrating car) Ret) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault (Driveshaft) Ret) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth (Hydraulics) The safety car was deployed once in this race because of de la Rosa's car disintegrating on him while driving, which left debris on Hangar Straight and the main straight. Fernando Alonso was given a drive though penalty for short-cutting the track at Club (I think that's the turn) to pass Kubica, who later dropped out of the race because of a driveshaft failure. WDC Points 1) Lewis Hamilton: 145 2) Jenson Button: 133 (-12) 3) Mark Webber: 128 (-17) 4) Sebastian Vettel: 121 (-24) 5) Fernando Alonso: 98 (-47) 6) Nico Rosberg: 90 (-55) 7) Robert Kubica: 83 (-62) 8) Felipe Massa: 67 (-78) 9) Michael Schumacher: 36 (-109) 10) Adrian Sutil: 35 (-110) 11) Rubens Barrichello: 29 (-116) 12) Kamui Kobayashi: 15 (-130) 13) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 12 (-133) 14) Sebastien Buemi: 7 (-138) 15) Vitaly Petrov: 6 (-139) 16) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-142) 17) Nico Hulkenberg: 2 (-143) 18) Pedro de la Rosa: 0 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 25) Sakon Yamamoto: 0 WCC Points 1) McLaren-Mercedes: 278 2) Red Bull-Renault: 249 (-29) 3) Ferrari: 165 (-113) 4) Mercedes GP: 126 (-152) 5) Renault: 89 (-189) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 47 (-231) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 31 (-247) 8) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 15 (-263) 9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 10 (-268) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 New Constructors Points 1) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 2) HRT-Cosworth: 0 3) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 The German Grand Prix will be on July 25th. Enjoy.

Some news items: Kubica to stay at Renault through 2012 Safety car procedures revamped Yamamoto to race as Senna out of HRT seat Senna will continue to race for HRT This one sounds like a "Thanks for the money, here have a ride!" thing to me. Remember, HRT was formerly known as Campos Meta 1 before Adrian Campos failed to find the funding to 1) run the team and 2) pay for the chassis. Campos sold his team to Collin Kolles who apparently brought enough money to run the team for at least this season, thanks in part to Yamamoto. Senna will return at the next race, which is the German GP, I think. Don't be surprised if Senna (or Chandhok) get bumped again for Yamamoto's pleasure drives .

Wow, just heard about this on the radio a few minutes ago. Surprise doesn't even describe it. Thoughts and prayers to Probert's family and friends.

I was down in Ohio for the past week, missing most of the racing action around the world as we didn't have all of the channels where I stayed. Thankfully, I managed to catch the GP thanks to it being on FOX . European GP results 1) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 2) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 3) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes* 4) #9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth* 5) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault* 6) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes* 7) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 8) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 9) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari* 10) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 11) #7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari 12) #22 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari* 13) #17 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault* 15) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 16) #15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes* 17) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth 18) #20 Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth 19) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth+ 20) #21 Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth 21) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth Ret) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth (Exhaust)* Ret) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth (Accident damage) Ret) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault (Accident) * = Penalized 5 seconds () after the race for speeding under safety car conditions. + = Penalized 20 for failing to heed the blue flags. Scariest moment of the race was when Mark Webber was blocked by Kovalainen, sending the Aussie into a flip and into the tyre barriers at the turn, taking with him a trackside sign board. Fortunately, Webber's okay and will race at Silverstone, but the same cannot be said of the chassis, let alone the signage. Webber is getting a new chassis for the British GP. WDC Points 1) Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes: 127 2) Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes: 121 (-6) 3) Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault: 115 (-12) 4) Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault: 103 (-24) 5) Fernando Alonso, Ferrari: 98 (-29) 6) Robert Kubica, Renault: 83 (-44) 7) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP: 75 (-52) 8) Felipe Massa, Ferrari: 67 (-60) 9) Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP: 34 (-93) 10) Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes: 31 (-96) 11) Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth: 19 (-108) 12) Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes: 12 (-115) 13) Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 7 (-120) 14) Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 7 (-120) 15) Vitaly Petrov, Renault: 6 (-121) 16) Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 3 (-124) 17) Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth: 1 (-126) 18) Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 0 19) Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth: 0 20) Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth: 0 22) Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth: 0 23) Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth: 0 24) Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth: 0 WCC Points 1) McLaren-Mercedes: 248 2) Red Bull-Renault: 218 (-30) 3) Ferrari: 165 (-83) 4) Mercedes GP: 109 (-139) 5) Renault: 89 (-159) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 43 (-205) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 20 (228) 8) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 10 (-238) 9) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 7 (-241) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 New Constructors Points 1) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 2) HRT-Cosworth: 0 3) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 Next race is the British GP at Silverstone on July 11th. Later.

Pretty entertaining Canadian GP. Nice to see some more on track action, thanks in part to Bridgestone bring some subpar tyres to the race (super softs and mediums were the ones brought to the race, I think I heard). They degraded enough to make the drivers work a bit, which is always good in my book (I would also like that combination on a a nice bumpy race track to really work over the driver's skills). Canadian GP Results 1) #2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 2) #1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 3) #8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 4) #5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 5) #6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 6) #4 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 7) #11 Robert Kubica, Renault 8) #16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 9) #15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 10) #14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 11) #3 Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 12) #17 Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13) #10 Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 14) #9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 15) #7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari* 16) #19 Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth 17) #12 Vitaly Petrov, Renault 18) #20 Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth 19) #25 Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth Ret) #24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth (Steering) Ret) #18 Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth (Brakes) Ret) #22 Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari Ret) #21 Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth Ret) #23 Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari *Felipe Massa was assessed a 20 second time penalty after the race for speeding on pit lane. Since he was a lap over P16, it did not affect his position. WDC Points 1) Lewis Hamilton: 109 2) Jenson Button: 106 (-3) 3) Mark Webber: 103 (-6) 4) Fernando Alonso: 94 (-15) 5) Sebastian Vettel: 90 (-19) 6) Nico Rosberg: 74 (-35) 7) Robert Kubica: 73 (-36) 8) Felipe Massa: 67 (-42) 9) Michael Schumacher: 34 (-75) 10) Adrian Sutil: 23 (-86) 11) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 12 (-97) 12) Rubens Barrichello: 7 (-102) 13) Vitaly Petrov: 6 (-103) 14) Sebastien Buemi: 5 (-104) 15) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-106) 16) Kamui Kobayashi: 1 (-108) 17) Nico Hulkenberg: 1 (-108) 18) Pedro de la Rosa: 0 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 WCC Point 1) McLaren-Mercedes: 215 2) Red Bull-Renault: 193 (-22) 3) Ferrari: 161 (-54) 4) Mercedes GP: 108 (-107) 5) Renault: 79 (-136) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 35 (-180) 7) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 8 (-207) 8) Williams-Cosworth: 8 (-207) 9) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 1 (-214) 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 New Constructor's Points 1)Lotus-Cosworth: 0 2) HRT-Cosworth: 0 3) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 Next grand prix is on June 27th. Have a good time!

As an avid motorsports fan, I'll be definitely tuned in to see this. This isn't the first time Lidstrom has appeared at a motorsports event. He was the grand marshall when the IndyCar Series made a stop at the Belle Isle temporary street circuit in 2008 (I believe). I think Kris Draper was also in attendence to that event as well. He could be the honorary pace car driver for the IZOD IndyCar Series, as they go at speeds over 100 MPH (160 km/h) before they let them go, where as the NASCAR pace cars (or safety cars as they are also called) generally go between 35 and 65 MPH (they run those speeds because NASCAR stock cars don't have speedometers to keep track of pit road speed, so they use the tachometer while behind the pace car on the parade laps to determine the pit road speed, where as the IndyCar has electronic pit road speed limiters that are automatically programmed to the pit lane speed, all by pushing or holding a button). There are different kinds of motorsports out there other than NASCAR. There's IndyCar, drag racing, Le Mans-style sports car racing, motorcycle racing, etc, so there's got to be something for everyone. Of course, I'll watch them all (Hell, I've even watched lawn mower racing before). The IndyCar series did a great race at Texas Motor Speedway last week (despite the flustercuck of a safety response to a fire).

Turkish GP Results 1) Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 2) Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 3) Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 4) Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 5) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 6) Robert Kubica, Renault 7) Felipe Massa, Ferrari 8) Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 9) Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 10) Kamui Kobayahi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 11) Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 12) Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13) Vitanonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 14) Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 15) Vitaly Petrov, Renault 16) Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17) Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 18) Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth 19) Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth 20) Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth (Fuel Pump) Ret) Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth (Fuel Pressure) Ret) Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault (Accident) Ret) Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth (Hydraulics) Ret) Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth (Hydraulics) WDC points 1) Mark Webber: 93 2) Jenson Button: 88 3) Lewis Hamilton: 84 4) Fernando Alonso: 79 5) Sebastian Vettel: 78 6) Robert Kubica: 67 7) Felipe Massa: 67 8) Nico Rosberg: 66 9) Michael Schumacher: 34 10) Adrian Sutil: 22 11) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 10 12) Rubens Barrichello: 7 13) Vitaly Petrov: 6 14) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 15) Sebastien Buemi: 1 16) Kamui Kobayashi: 1 17) Nico Hulkenberg: 1 18) Pedro de la Rosa: 0 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 WCC Points 1) McLaren-Mercedes: 172 2) Red Bull-Renault: 171 3) Ferrari: 146 4) Mercedes GP: 100 5) Renault: 73 6) Force India-Mercedes: 32 7) Williams-Cosworth: 8 8) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 4 9) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 1 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 Next race is the Canadian GP on June 13th. Enjoy.

US GP returns to Austin, TX The location for the purpose-built circuit has already been chosen and bought. Herman Tilke will design the circuit. They have about 2 years to complete the circuit, which will be a tall order. Hopefully this isn't one of those Bernie deals where he tries to pressure another promoter into accepting his deal or purposefully set up Full Throttle Productions to fail just so that Bernie can say to everyone "See, no one is serious about F1 in the US!". Going to be very interesting to see how this turns out. No circuit plan has been release yet, obviously, but they want the circuit to be similar to Silverstone or Spa, and the proposed site is said to be fairly hilly, so hopefully it'll work out.

Monaco GP Results 1) Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 2) Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 3) Robert Kubica, Renault 4) Felipe Massa, Ferrari 5) Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes 6) Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 7) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 8) Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 9) Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes 10) Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11) Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12) Michael Schumacher*, Mercedes GP 13) Vitaly Petrov, Renault (Retired) 14) Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth (Accident) 15) Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosowrth (Accident) Ret) Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth (Steering) Ret) Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth (Hydraulic) Ret) Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth (Accident) Ret) Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari (Gearbox) Ret) Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth (Wheel Problem) Ret) Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth (Rear Suspension) Ret) Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari (Hydraulics) Ret) Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes (Engine) Ret) Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth (Accident) *Michael Schumacher was originally scored in 6th position, but was docked 20 seconds for passing Fernando Alonso on the last lap under the safety car. Mercedes GP had stated that they would appeal the penalty, but have now decided to drop the appeal. As such, Schumacher is officially scored in 12th place. WDC Points 1) Mark Webber: 78 2) Sebastian Vettel: 78 (-0) 3) Fernando Alonso: 75 (-3) 4) Jenson Button: 70 (-8) 5) Felipe Massa: 61 (-17) 6) Robert Kubica: 59 (-19) 7) Lewis Hamilton: 59 (-19) 8) Nico Rosberg: 56 (-22) 9) Michael Schumacher: 22 (-56) 10) Adrian Sutil: 20 (-58) 11) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 10 (-68) 12) Rubens Barrichello: 7 (-71) 13) Vitaly Petrov: 6 (-72) 14) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-75) 15) Sebastien Buemi: 1 (-77) 16) Nico Hulkenberg: 1 (-77) 17) Pedro de la Rosa: 0 18) Kamui Kobayashi: 0 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Jarno Trulli: 0 23) Bruno Senna: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 WCC Points 1) Red Bull-Renault: 156 2) Ferrari: 136 (-20) 3) McLaren-Mercedes: 129 (-27) 4) Mercedes GP: 78 (-78) 5) Renault: 65 (-91) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 30 (-126) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 8 (-148) 8) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 4 (-152) 9) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 0 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 New Constructor's Points 1) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 2) HRT-Cosworth: 0 3) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 Next race will be the Turkish Grand Prix on May 30th. Later.

Spanish GP Results 1) Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault 2) Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 3) Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault 4) Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP 5) Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes 6) Felipe Massa, Ferrari 7) Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes 8) Robert Kubica, Renault 9) Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth 10) Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11) Vitaly Petrov, Renault 12) Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber-Ferrari 13) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP 14) Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes (Accident) 15) Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes (Technical) 16) Nico Hulkenberg, Williams-Cosworth 17) Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Cosworth 18) Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth 19) Lucas di Grassi, Virgin-Cosworth Ret) Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Hydraulics) Ret) Karun Chandhok, HRT-Cosworth (Suspension) Ret) Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber-Ferrari (Accident damage) Ret) Bruno Senna, HRT-Cosworth (Accident) Ret) Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Cosworth (Gearbox) WDC Points 1) Jenson Button: 70 2) Fernando Alonso: 67 (-3) 3) Sebastian Vettel: 60 (-10) 4) Mark Webber: 53 (-13) 5) Nico Rosberg: 50 (-20) 6) Lewis Hamilton: 49 (-21) 7) Felipe Massa: 49 (-21) 8) Robert Kubica: 44 (-26) 9) Michael Schumacher: 22 (-48) 10) Adrian Sutil: 16 (-54) 11) Vitantonio Liuzzi: 8 (-62) 12) Rubens Barrichello: 7 (-63) 13) Vitaly Petrov: 6 (-64) 14) Jaime Alguersuari: 3 (-67) 15) Nico Hulkenberg: 1 (-69) 16) Sebastien Buemi: 0 17) Pedro de la Rosa: 0 18) Kamui Kobayashi: 0 19) Heikki Kovalainen: 0 20) Karun Chandhok: 0 21) Lucas di Grassi: 0 22) Bruno Senna: 0 23) Jarno Trulli: 0 24) Timo Glock: 0 WCC Points{/b} 1) McLaren-Mercedes: 119 2) Ferrari: 116 (-3) 3) Red Bull-Renault: 113 (-6) 4) Mercedes GP: 72 (-47) 5) Renault: 50 (-69) 6) Force India-Mercedes: 24 (-95) 7) Williams-Cosworth: 8 (-111) 8) Toro Rosso-Ferrari: 3 (-116) 9) BMW Sauber-Ferrari: 0 10) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 11) HRT-Cosworth: 0 12) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 New Constructor's Points 1) Lotus-Cosworth: 0 2) HRT-Cosworth: 0 3) Virgin-Cosworth: 0 Next race is the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend. Enjoy!

EDIT: hope my netbook likes it under the bus, as that's where it will be for the next few hours .

Hope you get over this quickly Matt. Being sick sucks (as we've all known from personal experience). Get well, mate!

I'm done watching the game for the night. The officiating tonight has taken the enjoymentout of the game for me. Wings will win, but the refs' incompetence aren't helping anything. Night all, hope the game goes well for the rest of the night. ******* NHL and their tolerance of substandard officiating.

ANOTHER 4v4 coming up. Heatley back in the bin for tripping.

Blah, 4v4 now. The Todd off for slashing.