Raikkonen tests Le Mans Peugeot in Spain

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Kimi Raikkonen tests for Peugeot’s Le Mans team at Motorland Aragon in Spain.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Kimi Raikkonen, Peugeot 908, Motorland Aragon, 2011

Peugeot Sport on Twitter

“35 laps for Kimi Raikkonen in the 908 today on the Aragon circuit.”

All my best wishes Michael! (Ferrari)

Fernando Alonso: “Tomorrow is the start of what is a very special weekend for one driver who has played his part in the history of Formula 1 and Ferrari in particular: Michael Schumacher. It’s not for me to say he is the greatest of all time as usually, it is the numbers that do the talking: seven world titles, 91 wins, these are incredible records. I hold Michael in very high esteem and I feel honoured to have raced alongside him.”

Paffett tests Lew’s 2012 McLaren (The Sun)

“He said that contrary to many fans’ expectations, and even though their driving styles differ, their set-up preferences for their McLarens ‘are actually a lot closer than people might think’.”

Stephen Hood interview (Daily Telegraph)

“It’s probably fair to say much of the technology we started out working with didn’t have the intricacies of Formula One in mind. It’s still a very flexible engine – 2010 is testament to that – but we’re such Formula One nuts we started implementing features nobody could have previously envisaged needing so, if anything, we’ve just added to the capabilities of Ego.”

Racing fan builds 170mph F1 lookalike car out of motorbike and banger parts (Daily Mail)

“Motor racing fan Russ Bost leaves motorists and shoppers open-mouthed when he ventures out in this 170mph custom-built kit vehicle.”

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Comment of the day

A question from raymondu999:

With HP (who I believe is still a partner/sponsor of Renault) acquiring Autonomy (who is a partner/sponsor of Mercedes) what will happen there? Does anyone know?
raymondu999

From the forum

Australian wonders if BMW will come back to F1?

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Hugh and Michael Williamson!

On this day in F1

Michael Schumacher made his F1 debut 20 years ago today in the Belgian Grand Prix.

A special feature on that race will appear on the site later today.

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63 comments on “Raikkonen tests Le Mans Peugeot in Spain”

  1. Good to see Raikenon back on top level motorsports…

    1. her her!

      Le Mans for Raikkonen please with Loeb and Davidson for the 2012 LeMans win!

      1. I guess now Kimi will try every sort of motorsport but F1 a place where he deserve to be.

        1. I think that Kimi trying different motorsports so frequently shows he isn’t satisfacted with his current one.

          1. I think Kimi is trying to win the “Triple Crown of Motorsport.”

      2. MagillaGorilla
        25th August 2011, 4:48

        Oh are all three finally going to drive for Audi…cause that’s the only way I see a Le Mans victory.

      3. Lucas Alexander Munro - "Mr. Veloce" of Britalia
        25th August 2011, 10:52

        Hold on, is it offical that Seb Loeb, Ant Davidson and Kimi are in the Peugeot Le Mans team? If that is so, then that is the dream time right there!

    2. That implies the WRC is not top level motorsport!

      1. strange notion, isn’t it.

        I would like Kimi to do LeMans with Peugeot and win it. Would be amazing if he then jumped into a car at ChipGanassi or Penske for the next Indy race and have a shot at the triple crown.

        But I feel Kimi is just a bit impatient with his relative lack of success so far in WRC and is looking what to do next.

        1. He certainly is being rather impatient. Hopefully his good result in Germany will make him think otherwise.

      2. the junior car that Raikkonen was driving certainly isn’t :)

  2. That home made F1 car looks rough compared to a real one obviously, given the guys resources and budget compared to an F1 teams, but 0-60mph in 3 seconds isn’t to be sniffed at!!

    Also it looks like there is a white homemade F1 car in the background of the daily mail article.

    1. I thought a lookalike had to actually look like what it pays homage to. Not look like a heap of crap. There’s a reason people are left open-mouthed, and it isn’t a good one.

      1. If it looked like it though, it wouldn’t be road-legal. Anyway, it looks more like a mid-nineties F1 car!

        1. It says its road legal. I think it looks good, better then the one that was made in China a few years ago anyway.

        2. Or maybe a bit like an early eighties car, as it doesn’t have the flowing lines later cars had.

          But yeah, great idea and wonderfull enterprise to build this, and acutally make it work to be road legal. Would have to have LED lights here, as we are obliged to run lights even at day, but that would be only a minor thing, I guess.

    2. It looks absolutely terrible and who knows if it even handles OK. I think 3 seconds to 60 is a bit optimistic given the weight of the car and lack of torque of the bike motor; and even if it does do that, acceleration would fall off pretty hard at higher speeds.

      I’ll take a used Caterham or Radical SR3 for the same price, thx.

    3. Credit must be given where it’s due. It’s a great effort though it isn’t an F1-lookalike per se, but more a single-seater lookalike.

  3. With Kimi’s reputation for drinking, I can’t help but be reminded of the “Sadly, probably apocryphal) story of Duncan Hamilton: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Hamilton_(racing_driver)#1953_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans

    1. Brilliant!

      I always find I tend to race better when ‘under the influence’, but this is on a game, not in real life ;)

  4. It’s weird.

    I absolutely HATED Schumacher as a child. I watched Formula 1 avidly from the age of 5. I put up with the Schumacher dominance and always supported McLaren, because people didn’t like him (I assume after what he did to Hill). When he retired in 2006, however, it seemed a hole had been left.

    To watch, without doubt the greatest Formula 1 driver who has ever lived, almost seems like a privilege. His battles with Mika Hakkinen inspired me to follow Formula 1 to the degree that I have done for many years now, and although Sebastian Vettel may beat a few or even a handful of his incredible records, I very highly doubt he can beat 91 race wins, 7 world titles, 5 consecutive, most wins for a single team, most days as champion and so forth.

    I find his ability behind the wheel incredible. He has had some fantastic races, even since his comeback. Korea last year, Canada this year notable. Most people say Senna was a better driver, and that is arguable. But at the end of the day, nobody can question the numbers. And people say that’s because Ferrari had the best car all the time, well that wasn’t true also. He won 2 titles with a Benneton which was midfield-worthy in 1994 and an occasional race-winner in 1995 in other hands. He, single-handedly completely rebuilt Ferrari, and won 3 races in a useless car in 1996. 1997 saw him finish runner-up to Villeneuve in a car not as strong as the Williams, and to Hakkinen in 1998 in a similar situation with McLaren. 1999 delayed his progress with a broken leg, he could have won that season easily. Finally having built that team to almost perfection, success came massively. The FIA actually had to alter the rules to HURT Ferrari and Schumacher for 2005. 2006 he was, at 37, still able to keep up with Alonso (who I rate as one of the greatest of all time) and narrowly missed out due to bad luck more than anything.

    People will question his sportsmanship but Senna took out his rivals, winning is everything in motor racing. Different drivers have different approaches to it.

    Chris Evans – “He rewrote the handbook of how to be a Formula 1 driver, he also tried to rewrite the rulebook, but he definitely rewrote the handbook.”

    I’d like to see anybody question these stats:

    1. Schumacher 91
    2. Prost 51
    3. Senna 41
    4. Mansell 31
    5. Stewart/Alonso 27

    1. I agree with your comments.

      Motorsport is an unforgiving sport and the drivers will do anything to win. Fierce competitors like Senna and Schumacher did that, sometimes line between win at all costs and cheating gets thin.

      Great to see that you rate Alonso as one of the greatest, some folk reckon he’s over rated! If he had a better car in 08 and 09…Im pretty sure he would ahead of Mansell..anyways its only a matter of time before Vettel smashes all the records

      1. Alonso is quite underrated! He put Minardis up in places they shouldn’t be to start with, got the highly-anticipated driver Jenson Button sacked from Renault, destroyed Trulli (who used to be a half-decent driver) and annihilated the very highly-rated Giancarlo Fisichella.

        27 race wins in an era where he won just 6 in non-Schumacher years is something to raise an eyebrow at. People say he was beat by Hamilton in 2007, but they finished equal on points. I only saw Alonso have 1 bad race that year and that was Canada. It’s a case of when he will win a 3rd title, not if.

        Still, not as great as Schumacher.

        1. Yorricksfriend
          25th August 2011, 3:16

          Still, not as great as Schumacher.

          Not yet. It’s impossible to make comparisons. Between Alonso and Schumacher. Between Schumacher and Senna. Between Vettel and Schumacher. The (successful) parts of their careers have been in different eras, and for Vettel and Alonso that era is one still going. Schumacher may have been an incredible character in F1, but he did his best to kill it – I look back on the early 2000s with a yawn. I hope for F1’s sake that no one breaks his records because they will turn F1 into a bore-fest in the process.

          I don’t think we really realise just how lucky we are having 4 of 5 really top drivers. It makes for a tremendous spectacle, but it makes it harder for those drivers to get Schumacher’s records.

          1. Yorricksfield,

            You stole the words out of my mouth. I too hate the 2000s. Ironically that’s when I started watching Formula 1.

        2. Not to mention out performing Massa 24/7.

      2. I agree with craig-o’s comments too.

        If he had a better car in 08 and 09…Im pretty sure he would ahead of Mansell

        I agree Jay, Alonso has also done very well with what he’s been given, taking 2 wins and a pole in the 08/09 Renault. And it’s only a matter of time before he does overtake Mansell’s 31 wins. Probably early next season.

    2. While I mostly agree with you on Schumi’s greatness, some things you said are just ridiculously wrong. 1994 Benetton a midfield car? and 1995 Benetton an occasional winner? I’m sorry but only Schumi’s fanboys of the extreme kind ever believed those tales. Single-handedly rebuilt Ferrari? Well yes, if you discount the fact that Ferrari’s results began to climb up ever since Todt and Barnard arrived in 1993. And 1996 Ferrari wasn’t slow, just unreliable. On all the fast tracks it was very competitive, while on the slow ones it wasn’t.

      And, completely unrelated, I agree with you Alonso did destroy Trulli… to be more exact Alonso’s manager Flavio destroyed Trulli’s career because Trulli was beating his golden boy. Against Alonso AND Flavio. Jarno really didn’t stand a chance. Who said F1 is not a team sport?

      1. The 1994 Benetton was a curiosity. Blazingly quick with Schumacher at the wheel, a true midfield runner with Lehto or Verstappen at the wheel. If you check their qualifying positions, they’d normally be hanging around in Rows 3-5, while Schumacher would be in Rows 1 or 2.

        The 1995 Benetton was no occasional winner – but it was clearly not as quick as the Williams. Williams scored more poles that year than Benetton, but poor strategy and driver errors usually cost them race wins.

        I would agree that Schumi didn’t single-handedly rebuild Ferrari, but let’s not forget that Schumacher won more races in 1996 alone than Todt and Barnard did from 1993-1995. While Brawn and Byrne did ensure they would win the championship years later, it was Schumacher who recruited them to Maranello.

        Also, ironically, Flav destroyed (well, tried to) Button’s career to ensure he could get Alonso AND Trulli (who he both managed) into Renaults.

    3. He, single-handedly completely rebuilt Ferrari

      I think that Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne may have something to say about that but the point is a good one none the less. ;)

      1. yes exactly.

  5. Wow those Alonso comments sound really heartfelt and not written by someone on the Ferrari website…

    1. Actually, a few harsh words about new teams and the testing ban doesn’t mean people at Ferrari can’t be heartfelt.

    2. The drivers write the letter in their native language, and then the editorial department converts it to English. Thats why it would never sound like its him.

      Alonso has been very under the radar this last year with little to no outbursts.

  6. Also interesting stat: Between 1976 and 1986 there were 11 different Belgian GP winners. 8 of those at Zolder, 3 at Spa.

    ’76 – Niki Lauda
    ’77 – Gunnar Nilsson
    ’78 – Mario Andretti
    ’79 – Jody Schecker
    ’80 – Didier Pironi
    ’81 – Carlos Reutemann
    ’82 – John Watson
    ’83 – Alain Prost (Spa)
    ’84 – Michele Alboreto
    ’85 – Ayrton Senna (Spa)
    ’86 – Nigel Mansell (Spa)

    Also, like Monaco, all the greats (except Jim Clark there) win at Spa:

    Schumacher (6 times)
    Senna (5 times)
    Clark (4 times)
    Fangio (3 times)
    Lauda (2 times)
    Stewart
    Hakkinen

    All of which I consider in my top 10. The only 3 that don’t appear are Moss and Villeneuve (Gilles), ironically, both of which never won the championship, and Alonso interestingly. Vettel also is yet to win here…

    1. Prost is missing from your 2nd list.

    2. Yorricksfriend
      25th August 2011, 3:24

      Not forgetting Raikkonen won 4 Belgian Grand Prix

      1. and Monaco

        1. Raikkonen won 1 Monaco GP.

  7. It appears the online petition againt the 2012 broadcast arrangement has stalled. It’s been stuck on 21,870 signatures for a few days now.

    1. It might spring back into life with the rest of F1 this weekend.

    2. I’ve checked it every day and it’s been going up, albeit not very quickly.

    3. I bet it will leap up next year when people find they can’t watch half the races live.

    4. its up to 22,075 by now, so still going up by several hundreds a day.

  8. Getting into oval racing through NASCAR, and now testing the Peugeot – is Kimi going for the Triple Crown? Or is he just bored and restless?

    1. Kimi is going for the ultimate crown. Next year: Endurance World Champion, Le Mans 24h winner. 2013: Daytona & Talladega 500. 2014: Indy 500. And then return to rally to win the championship.

      That would be something :P

      I’m guessing Kimi is neither bored nor restless, he’s just enjoying doing what he does best: driving a car – fast.

    2. I wish Kimi would go for the Triple Crown, if he doesn’t, Montoya should. They are the only drivers out there that can claim to have 2/3rds of it completed and still have a realistic chance at finishing.

      I applaud Kimi for trying so many forms of racing recently, though I wish he was still in F1 (imagine how much more exciting it would be) I am glad to see that he is still pushing.

      In an ideal world both Kimi and Montoya, and maybe even Villenueve too would all 3 share the same 908 at Le Mans next year and try to help each other to the Triple Crown.

      Imagine the publicity, the excitement, the history such an endeavor would create. I saw we all petition to make it happen. Villeneuve has already driven the 908 before, Kimi is testing it and although Montoya has not, he does have 2 Daytona 24 Hour wins under his belt!

      1. That is

        Kimi – F1 Champ/Monaco Winner

        Villenueve – F1 Champ – Indy Winner

        Montoya – Indy Winner – Monaco Winner

        1. I hate to spoil the party guys, but Kimi does not have 2/3 of a triple crown. He did not win at LeMans, nor did he gain an Indy win.
          And Villeneuve has only the Indy win, as he never won Monaco.

          Montaya would be closest as he has won at Indy and at Monaco, but I think him doing LeMans is pretty far from his current plans.

  9. Its nice to see Kimis helmet seems to have been ruined by a great big red bull sticker.

  10. And in case English-speaking media doesn’t cover this: JJ Lehto has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after the boat accident that killed his friend last summer. No date has been yet set for the court case.

    1. Have you got a link to anything on that?

        1. Good thing there are online translators to get an idea of what is written. Sounds like the prosecutor pulled out a pretty big charge on him, after it took a year before they acted.

  11. happy birthday to the both of you Hugh and Michael Williamson

  12. raymondu999: I don’t think HP is a Renault partner anymore. HP currently has no marketing collaterals with Renault on it. And in any case, HP has actually partnered multiple teams previously. In 2001-2002, they were a partner of Jaguar and Jordan. By mid-2002, Williams joined them as HP bought out Compaq. As HP was now a major Williams sponsor, they ended their partnerships with Jaguar and Jordan before the start of 2003.

    Given that HP’s latest foray was less sponsor and more partner (albeit with a generous livery placing), I can easily see HP working with multiple teams again if it came to that.

    1. As far as I know, the logos getting on the cars was part of a deal to supply HW and SW to the team anyway. Not a sponsorship deal where the team gives money to the team just to be there.

      I guess the only change might be, that HP decide to either put their name on the Mercedes (to promote their new SW only strategy) or keep the Autonomy brand as they just bought it so want it to be prominent.

  13. i think kimi is going to try every form of racing except formula 1
    although if he was offered a deal to drive for a top team he might consider a return to f1.seems unlikely though

    1. Where will he go? Ferrari will always have a secondary driver for Alonso,Mclaren seems happy with Button & Hamilton.Red Bull will bring someone from Torro Rosso alongside Vettel.Mercedes will have Di Resta or Sam Bird for Schumi.Renault won’t take him neither he will go there.& currently no other team have a guarantee of a good car so Kimi I guess have ended his F1 career in 2009,though I would have love to see him back.

  14. In answer to the comment of the day, Santander sponsor both Ferrari and McLaren, so I see no problem there. What is interesting is that HP is planning on pulling out of the computer business altogether, although I suspect their contract with Renault will expire long before that happens.

  15. Oh. My. God. 10,000 pounds is about $16,000 which is a DAMN good price for a regular road car! I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW BADLY I WANT TO BUY ONE.

    1. yeah, its a lot less than what you pay for a Caterham!

      And it seems he sells them to the US as well.

  16. Sravan Krishnan
    5th March 2016, 13:04

    I just took a trip back in time into the comments on this page. I’m staggered that I didn’t find a single ‘hate’ comment on anyone or anything!! Great sport everyone… :)

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