F1 Madness

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  • Ferrari vs Lotus: Personnel Wars

    Ferrari vs Lotus: Personnel Wars

    Kimi Raikkonen is not the only thing Ferrari has poached from the Lotus F1 team. The Italian squad has announced two new members who are set to join from the Enstone based team.

    Ferrari has bolstered its technical side of operations by signing Lotus’ head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer. Earlier in the year Ferrari snapped up the highly sought-after former Lotus technical director James Allison. Allison’s Ferrari duties officially started at the beginning of September. Team principal Stefano Domenicalli has also revealed that Allison’s account of Raikkonen’s ability to deliver techincal input and feedback helped convince the team to lure the Finn back to the Ferrari stable.

    Jarrod Murphy, head of computer aided design (CAD) in Enstone will also set off for Ferrari after 17 years of service. It is believed that Ferrari has made the signing of Murphy on the request of James Allison.

    In turn, Lotus has signed up Ferrari’s chief aerodynamicist Nicolas Hennel. Hennel is expected to start work at Lotus next month and his focus will be required on the 2014 car from the get-go.

    It is also believed that Felipe Massa is now in contention for a seat at Lotus for 2014. Nicolas Todt, Massa’s manager, and Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has revealed that the Brazilian in the running for what they term to be “the best seat” left on the grid. “What is certain is that other teams are interested in Felipe,” said Todt. “Felipe will never play second fiddle in a small team, so what we need to do is find him a car that allows him to play a leading role in Formula 1.”

    Up until this point Nico Hulkenberg has been linked with replacing Raikkonen at Lotus. Hulkenberg was also in contention at Ferrari and is highly regarded by the top teams in the paddock.

  • Vettel Skipped Webber’s European Farewell Party

    Vettel Skipped Webber’s European Farewell Party

    Sebastian Vettel skipped Mark Webber’s farewell party after the Italian Grand Prix according to sources.

    The Italian GP was the final European race of the current season and also Mark Webber’s last Formula 1 race in the continent.

    Red Bull hosted a farewell party for Webber to mark the occasion but his team mate was missing from the celebrations.

    Sebastian Vettel skipped the farewell party which was attended by several other F1 drivers and team personnel.

    The party was held upstairs in Red Bull’s motor home at Monza and according to Bild, the German was sitting in the floor below playing with his iPhone.

    The rocky relationship between the Red Bull teammates, turned significantly sour after the episode at the Malaysian GP earlier this year where Vettel chose to ignore team orders and steal the win from Webber. Since then, the two are rarely seen in the paddock talking to each other.

    Webber himself has been avoiding taking part in the team photos and celebrations that Red Bull conduct after one of their drivers win a race. Vettel’s first win of the season was in Malaysia, but the photo call was dropped entirely due to the tension between the two drivers. Webber has since skipped all photo sessions for Vettel’s next four race wins.

    Webber was present for the team photo call again in Monza, however, since it was his best result at the Italian GP and his final European F1 race.

    There most certainly will be no love lost between the Red Bull team mates when Webber leaves for sportscar racing with Porsche next season.

     

    Photo: Red Bull Racing

     

  • Ferrari’s 2014 driver lineup explosive says Schumacher

    Ferrari’s 2014 driver lineup explosive says Schumacher

    According to former team champion Michael Schumacher, Ferrari has put together a potentially “explosive” driver lineup for 2014, referring to the appointment of Kimi Raikkonen alongside their current ‘number 1’ driver Fernando Alonso.

    Schumacher, who was pushed into his first retirement at the end of 2006 when Ferrari signed Raikkonen, said that “For motor sport fans it will certainly be a blast, and make for a tough competition.”

    “It will be exciting to watch,” Schumacher told Bild newspaper. “But Ferrari with Fernando and Kimi — it sounds like an explosive mixture,” he added.

    Another former Ferrari driver, four time world champion Alain Prost, as voiced some concern over how Fernando Alonso will handle Raikkonen alongside him. “Now he will no longer be the undisputed number 1, at least not initially, and I’m not sure Stefano Domenicali has the ability of a Jean Todt or a Ross Brawn to handle a situation like this,” Prost told a French TV broadcaster.

    “In Italy the press applies a lot of pressure, so I presume that sooner or later there will be trouble,” added Prost.

     

    Photo Credit
    By Morio (photo taken by Morio) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

  • Mark Slade to be Raikkonen’s Ferrari Race Engineer?

    Mark Slade to be Raikkonen’s Ferrari Race Engineer?

    Kimi Raikkonen has been officially announced as a Ferrari driver for 2014. Will Mark Slade take the reins on the pitwall as his race engineer?

    The rapport between driver and engineer is one of the most crucial relationships within any Formula 1 team and with Raikkonen’s move away from Lotus speculation has been rife as to who will take over as the monosyllabic Finn’s race engineer.  Rumoured to be in the running is current race engineer, Mark Slade.

    The Raikkonen/Slade relationship goes back quite a ways. Mark Slade first became Raikkonen’s primary race engineer in 2002, his first season at McLaren. Slade continued as Raikkonen’s engineer throughout all five seasons at McLaren.

    Raikkonen’s first three seasons at Ferrari were shared between Chris Dyer (2007 – 2008) and Fernando Alonso’s current engineer, Andrea Stella (2009).

    A brief partnership with Simon Rennie at Lotus in 2012 was responsible for the now infamous “just leave me alone, I know what I’m doing” radio message. However,  in 2013 Raikkonen once again teamed up with Mark Slade. It comes as no surprise then that Slade is rumoured to be moving with Raikkonen to Ferrari.

    Felipe Massa’s race engineer, Rob Smedley, has been linked with a move to Williams but may yet end up with the Brazilian at his next team.

    Photo: Lotuscars.com

  • Lotus will make driver decision shortly says Boullier

    Lotus will make driver decision shortly says Boullier

    Lotus will make a decision on its 2014 driver line-up “shortly” after losing Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari earlier this week.

    Raikkonen’s decision leaves Lotus with at least one vacant seat. Romain Grosjean, who is out of contract at the end of the season is now more likely to stay with Lotus to provide some stability.

    Team principal, Eric Boullier says he is already talking to a number of drivers and should be in a position to announce Raikkonen’s replacement shortly, although he says that Lotus has no reason to hurry.

    “We are currently in discussion with a few people and will make a decision shortly,” Boullier told the official Lotus F1 Team’s website.

    “We are in the privileged position of being the most desirable team on the grid with a seat available, so we are therefore in no rush to announce anyone without establishing what will be the best for our team and the future.”

    Boullier added that he hoped Raikkonen could end his time with Lotus on a high.

    “We still have seven races together and our aim is to provide both him and Romain with the best machinery possible. There’s still a tough fight out there and we’re still pushing to improve on last season again with P3 in the constructors’ championship.”

    Photo by Lotus F1 Team

     

  • Ferrari said no to Hulkenberg via sms

    Ferrari said no to Hulkenberg via sms

    Nico Hulkenberg’s manager has revealed that Ferrari broke the bad news to the German driver via sms this week and has expressed his disappointment.

    Hulkenberg was apparently being seriously considered by Ferrari as the replacement for Felipe Massa.

    But when Ferrari signed Raikkonen, the Maranello based team let Hulkenberg know via an sms, according to the German driver’s manager, Werner Heinz.

    Heinz told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “After two months of negotiations, I expected at least a phone call.”

    Heinz said that five lawyers worked for eight weeks on the Ferrari contract and ultimately, all that was still needed to finalise the deal, was Luca di Montezemolo’s signature.

    “The contracts went back and forth and in the end only had to be signed,” he told the German newspaper Bild.

    “Domenicali sent us a SMS at 22.50 on Tuesday,” he added.

  • Raikkonen happy to be returning to Maranello

    Raikkonen happy to be returning to Maranello

    Following the announcement that Kimi Raikkonen will be returning to drive for Ferrari in 2014, the Finn has said that he is very happy to be returning to Maranello saying that he can’t wait to be driving a “Prancing Horse car” again.

    Speaking to the Ferrari.com website, Raikkonen said, “I am really happy to be returning to Maranello where I previously spent three fantastic and very successful years.”

    “I have so many memories of my time at Ferrari, memories which have stayed with me these past years, first and foremost, winning the World Championship title in 2007, which was really unforgettable,” Raikkonen said. “I can’t wait to be driving a Prancing Horse car again and to reacquaint myself with so many people with whom I had such close links, as well as working with Fernando, whom I consider a great driver, in order to bring the team the success it deserves.”

    Today’s announcement came after Felipe Massa announced his departure from the team last night.

    Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali said that he is very pleased to “welcome Kimi back to the Scuderia, the team with which he won his world championship title.” He went on to say, “I sense he is very happy to be returning to Maranello and very determined to tackle the work that awaits him in the best way possible.”

    Fernando Alonso echoed the sentiments of his team principal, saying, “I’d like to welcome my new travelling companion: together, starting next year, we will have to tackle a very demanding technical and racing challenge.”

    Domenicali and Alonso both paid tribute to Felipe Massa today and thanked him for his tenure with the team.

     

     

  • Domenicali and Alonso pay tribute to Felipe Massa

    Domenicali and Alonso pay tribute to Felipe Massa

    Ferrari Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali and driver Fernando Alonso have paid tribute to Felipe Massa after he announced his exit from the team on Twitter last night.

    Ferrari announced today that Kimi Raikkonen would replace Massa at Ferrari, and following both announcements Domenicali thanked Massa for his eight years with the team and praised Massa for being a “real team player”.

    “I wish to thank Felipe with all my heart and also on behalf of all our fans around the world, for the extraordinary job he has done for the team over so many years,” Domenicali said. “Felipe has always behaved like a real team player. Together we have lived through some great times and also a few dramatic moments, which have helped to cement a truly unique relationship on both a professional and personal level.”

    alonso-massa“He will always be part of our family and we wish him all the very best for the future. Now we must concentrate all our efforts on the remaining seven races of the season and we know that, as always, we can count on Felipe’s contribution, while we work together to reach our goals. Our determination will not waver one iota right to the very end.”

    Fernando Alonso also took to Twitter to thank his team mate of the past four years.

    Posted with a collage of photos of their time together, Alonso wrote, “All the luck for next years! You will be a strong opponent in any team! And we still have 7 GP to have some fun!”

     

     

    Photo Credits:

    Alonso and Massa, top photo – Ferrari F1 Twitter Team

    Alonso and Massa collage – Fernando Alonso, posted on Twitter

     

  • Confirmed – Raikkonen to Rejoin Ferrari in 2014

    Confirmed – Raikkonen to Rejoin Ferrari in 2014

    Ferrari have announced that Kimi Raikkonen will return to the team for the 2014 season.

    Raikkonen, who will partner Fernando Alonso, is said to have agreed to a two-year deal. It is believed that Shell will be footing the bill for Raikkonen to join the team. The Finn will reportedly earn 20 million Euro per season. Another alleged condition of Raikkonen’s contract includes his current race engineer, Mark Slade, make the move to Ferrari as well.

    Raikkonen’s return to Ferrari comes on the heels of months of speculation about fragile negotiations with the Lotus team. Raikkonen was believed to have asked for a closer working relationship between Lotus and the Renault factory. Reports had also been making the rounds about Lotus inability to pay Raikkonen’s wages.

    The end of the first relationship between Raikkonen and Ferrari at the end of 2009 could have been handled better but Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has already been smoothing the waters. Asked about the events surrounding the end of the 2009 season and what happened with Raikkonen Montezemolo said “What happened with Kimi? We won a world championship with him.”

    Attention will now turn to the relationship between Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso as they become the first Ferrari championship pairing since 1954. On a personal level Raikkonen could care less about who his teammate is. On a professional level buckle up race fans because this is going to be some ride.

  • Felipe Massa Announces Departure from Ferrari

    Felipe Massa Announces Departure from Ferrari

    Felipe Massa has  announced to his fans, on Instagram, that he will no longer be driving for Ferrari in 2014.

    Massa, who started at Ferrari in 2006 will end his career with the Italian squad at the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix.

    “I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together. Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my Sponsors”, said Massa.

    However, he isn’t quite ready to close the door on his F1 career. “Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining 7 races. For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the Championship which remains my greatest objective!”

    This leaves the door open for Kimi Raikkonen to join Ferrari. No doubt that this is surely going to happen now. The question remains. If Massa manages to stay in F1, which team will he move to? Rumours have been making the rounds that the Brazilian’s management have been in talks with the Lotus teams for a couple of weeks others suggest that DTM may be alternative for the 2008 runner-up.