Gene does Ferrari demonstration in Norway

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Marc Gene does a demonstration run for Ferrari at the Rudskogen Motorfestival.

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A wet party in the Norwegian forest (Ferrari)

“Over 22,000 spectators watched the first demonstration of a Ferrari Formula 1 car on Norwegian soil.”

Only desi marshals at F1 Indian Grand Prix (News Track India)

“It has taken three races for the Indian marshals to get well versed with the ways of F1 and this time they will be performing the chores without overseas assistance.”

Jackie Stewart praises new F1 film Rush (The Telegraph)

“I think it will do very well for Formula One… particularly in the United States, where Formula One isn’t really recognised.”

Niki Lauda’s Courageous Comeback (F1 Speedwriter)

Niki Lauda on the 1976 Italian Grand Prix, his first race after his near-fatal crash at the Nurburgring Nordschleife: “I was fourth in the race which some people thought was quite good. But I hid the truth. In practice I was rigid with fear. Terrified. Diarrhoea. Heart pounding. Throwing up. Being scared is intolerable. I told myself you can’t drive a car like that. So I waited quite consciously for the car to slide and began with the precision work of handling the drift. After that it was not so hard. The worst was behind me. I had crossed the threshold and was once more at my normal rate.”

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Comment of the day

@Foleyger’s thoughts on Rush. Add your review of the film here.

The opening scene was superb at the Nurburgring. Both Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth were excellent. I thought it was superb. The scenes after Lauda’s accident just showed how incredible it was for him to come back six weeks later.
@Foleyger

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Adam Milleneuve (F1 Badger), Joao Pedro CQ and Handcart!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

Kimi Raikkonen claimed his third consecutive victory at Spa Francorchamps on this day in 2007.

He led a dominant one-two for Ferrari, reducing his deficit to points leader Lewis Hamilton to 13. Felipe Massa was second ahead of Fernando Alonso and Hamilton.

Images © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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53 comments on “Gene does Ferrari demonstration in Norway”

  1. How lame is it that here in Argentina, a place that feels (and rightfully so) part of F1, that vibrates every other sunday when the race is on the telly, and loves motorsport, is not gonna get Rush shown at cinemas…

    1. yes it’s anoying

    2. Same situation here in Uruguay but hey, the new One Direction movie is out! Yay! *hits head against nearest wall*

      1. Really sorry to hear that. Both the fact that Rush is not screening….and the fact that One Direction is……

      2. @mtlracer @mach1 same here ! not only One Direction, there’s also Morrisey…

    3. Ahh we need to go back to Buenos Aires! Argentina will match up well with Canada/USA/Mexico/Brazil!

      Also Facu Regalia looks like he might win the GP3 championship for Argentina!

      Is it as bad as I’ve heard it to be? I.e. that Argentina’s economy is not doing too well. This hinders any chance of paying Bernie for an Argentine GP.

      1. @fastiesty depends how you look at it. Compared to 10 years ago, when we were today’s Greece or Spain, we’re pretty much okay. Still behind a lot of countries, but not bad as in 2002 when we had that hideous meltdown in our economy.

        That said, we’re not getting an Argie GP because Bernie’s fees are out of this world, and there’s no company like Carlos Slim’s in Mexico to back that up. To put it in perspective, next year we’ll have WRC, Dakar, MotoGP, WTCC… add to that our typical weekends of local racing (which is high standard already) and we’ll pretty much get every worldwide motorsport, bar F1. And it’s not because we don’t want it, it’s just that we’re not Abu Dhabi…

    4. If RUSH is not playing in your country, it’s simply because no movie distributor has bought the rights for your country. Remember, this is in an indie movie, privately financed, which Universal only decided to distribute once they realized how good it would be.

      1. It’s still lame.

      2. @mtlracer I know. I asked about it at the cinema’s, via twitter and facebook too. They told me that.

        It’s still VERY lame… plenty of people would watch it. I understood that they didn’t show Senna, but this one should be out here.

    5. Reading that I have no hope that it will come to my country… me sad

    6. That sucks, I’ve had that happen with other movies before, nowadays if it’s not a dumb superhero movie good luck trying to catch something in the theatres.

      Every year there’s dozens of great movies worth watching but they’re not as profitable as the blockbusters and they just won’t show them, I only go to the cinema if there’s something worth watching, Rush will probably be only the sixth time I’ll go this year.

      1. @mantresx indeed. And 3 out of 4 of those movies are usually **** with an enormous budget, and lots of CGI action…

        It’s very annoying…

  2. Just saw Rush tonight. Had the whole large cinema to myself and my brother!!!! It was like a personal screening (I don’t think that was due to the film popularity, more the area and time)!

    My Review:
    I was impressed, I enjoyed it a lot. It took a while to get going, but I did not mind the slow-ish build up. I am not enough of a “fanatic” of that era to spot “mistakes” etc. (I was not alive), so I was not distracted by those types of issues. I thought it nicely avoided Hollywood style cliché, and did not become a Hero/Villain film. It was respectful and critical of each driver in equal measure. I also like how it ended, it was quite personal and touching. I was very engaged with the characters and the actors did a good job in making them feel real ( I was worried it would be very corny). The visuals and sounds were great (especially in an empty cinema)! No bad VFX moments except a slightly poor CGI moment at the beginning as Keith mentioned in his review (it was only a few seconds worth though).
    Basically, watch it, it is worth it. A good cinema trip even if you are not an F1 fan. Although I am worried that the next real F1 race will seem a bit mundane…they don’t make F1 Like they used to! …..Puts on rose tinted specs…..

    1. ha. i always try to go to the cinema when it’s emptyish. hate distractions!

  3. Massa gave a very interesting interview to Globo today. Main points:

    – He will not help Alonso in the title fight;

    – He said he have serious talks with Lotus and McLaren and – most surprising – revealed that Perez have not yet signed a new contract with McLaren.

    LINK: http://globoesporte.globo.com/formula-1/videos/t/provas/v/felipe-massa-fala-em-aprendizado-na-ferrari-e-revela-sonho-de-ser-campeao-na-formula-1/2825690/

    1. Alonso doesn’t need any help because he won’t be able to get no were near Vettel for the championship….

      and even if that wasn’t the case, or Massa helped Alonso, or he would be dumped very quickly before the end of the championship… remember, this is ferrari, and they think of the driver as a slave lol

      Massa just said that because Brasilian people probably are fed up of barrichelo and massa being slave 2nd drivers, so didn’t want to look like he’s another slave… wich he is

    2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      16th September 2013, 2:07

      “The video is not available in your country” (Peru)
      If anybody can post a link where I can see it?

    3. If so, I hope Felipe can win a few races to show he’s still got it then

    4. Great, I hope he shows what he can really do without the pressures of helping Fernando all the time, he has one last chance to show us what he’s capable of, Mclaren is a bit too much but Lotus is clearly within reach.

    5. I can’t imagine Massa taking too well to the “corporate” lifestyle of McLaren.

    6. I watched it via Globo Internacional.

      He looked very confident that he’s going to get the Lotus empty seat. Apparently Nicolas Todt is trying to get big sponsors on board. I fear Lotus will be tempted no to sign Nico H. in order to get Massa and his sponsors… can’t blame them.

      But he didn’t look confident about McLaren, I felt like it was a long shot.

      1. Massa is past his prime and even if he experiences a rejuvenation at another team; he’d still be more of a liability to both Lotus and Mclaren than an asset. If Lotus wants cash, they would rather sign Maldonado, who is invariably quicker than Massa if less dependable. And it is not exactly as if Massa finished in points every race.

        Massa is now both slow and inconsistent. Though to be fair, I don’t think he’d do worse in that Mclaren than Perez is now doing.

        1. @einariliyev

          they would rather sign Maldonado, who is invariably quicker than Massa

          … seriously?

          1. @spoutnik It’s close, and Maldo’s got a narrow performance band, much like Button…but I think he’s marginally quicker than Massa

    7. He will not help Alonso in the title fight

      Really, and how will Massa not help Alonso? By finishing consistently behind Alonso’s rivals?

      Perez doesn’t have a McLaren contract yet but he brings to the negotiations a huge bag of Telmex money and his best years yet to come whereas Massa has nothing to put on the table but the memory of a 30 second glory and an experience of 4 uncompetitive seasons. I think it’s a no brainer for McLaren to choose Sergio.
      Lotus would do better with a pay driver than with Massa. Or bring Timo Glock back from DTM.

  4. That Marc Gene video….

    For an organisation that prides itself on its prestige and significance to Formula 1, that would have to be one of, if not the tackiest thing to come out of the four walls or Maranello.

    Direct Luca di Montezomolo to that video, and I’ll direct him to the toilet he can throw up in. It appears the quality control issues are pandemic at Ferrari.

    1. How can it be the tackiest thing to come out of Maranello’s four walls? Do you not remember the Ferrari 456?

    2. A ’97 kind of video, thanks Ferrari, we’re in 2013, enter the new millenium!

      1. And I wonder sometimes what the recruitment process is for some teams…..

  5. Spa 2007… The race I had tickets to (La Source,) and when my ride cancelled last minute, I couldn’t afford my way out to. *headdesk* I just went back to the house I grew up in and saw the tickets last Tuesday. It made my eye twitch angrily. I did get to Indianapolis and the Nurburgring that year. (Also remembering being ****** I missed getting to watch Kubica at Indy, if only I’d known I saw something better – the first GP of someone who’ll go down as a legend.)

    1. …way out to there. Oops.

    2. Senna is a legend. Prost is a legend. Clark is a legend. Stewart is a legend. Fangio is a legend. Sebastian Vettel?

  6. Yes, this video is far below par. The music, the editing, I just couldn’t bear to watch this. Was this really a Ferrari video from 2013?

  7. Ah, the F10. A great looking F1 car and, probably the only half decent car Ferrari has produced since the F2008. Looks weird though in 2013 livery. Why do Ferrari do that?

    In other news…

    Antonio Felix Da Costa is back. After reverting to a 2012 setup on his Formula Renault 3.5 car, the Portuguese driver driving for Arden Caterham team saw a renaissance of his 2012 form with an excellent win yesterday. The setup change could help Da Costa claim back some momentum lost after a difficult year; something made ever more crucial by the fact that he is now the favourite candidate for a Toro Rosso drive.

    Mike Rockenfeller and Andrew Jordan established concrete leads at the top of the table of their respective championships; namely the German and British touring car championship. What with Rocky, Vettel, Magnussen and Audi in WEC, motorsport in 2013 really is growing stale, thank god for GP2 and GP3.

    So that’s DTM, FR3.5 and BTCC on on the same weekend. Anyone wanna guess what I spent my weekend doing?

  8. I also echo @mach1 to recommend watching the rush on the screen.

    Even though I knew all the hard facts and this there were no element of surprise in it, the way that they presented characters and their interactions was excellent drama. Daniel Bruhl did a impeccable job of playing Lauda, esp his accent and way if talking both English and German. Niki is still a no ******** straight shooter (I watched him as F1 commentator in GPs on RTL for 5 years in Germany), but apparently he was more so in his youth. :)

    The above point is actually very poignant of Germanic drivers (from Schumacher to Vettel). What in Germany/Austria/Switzertland is considered candid is seen arrogant or even rude in Anglo-Saxon countries.

  9. Massa will not drive for McLaren next season guaranteed.

    Why? Because he is a wall magnet, because he isn’t close to being a top driver. Because Martin Whitmarsh isn’t that stupid.

    The only driver that is worse than Massa is Max Chilton and even he doesn’t bin it into the wall in practice, quali & the race.

    Pack ya bags Massa, you had your chance and blew it

    1. @bobby-balboa comments like that are useless. Just nonsense.

      1. Hyperbolic , maybe. But the sentiment is true. Massa has been at a top team for 6 or 7 years now and achieved the grand total of nothing. I’ll be very disappointed if he takes the seat off an up and coming driver.

        1. Like an up and coming driver would be given a chance. The turnover of drivers now is at snails pace. And its not as if all the drivers are there on merit alone.

          Single seater racing needs a complete overhaul and a collective sensible approach for the sake of its future. And yes that means cost control. It is amazing how much could be saved in each teams pockets without compromising the product that is delivered to the consumer.

          Sadly no one has the money or the balls to take on, and kill the king.

          1. Like an up and coming driver would be given a chance

            You mean except Grosjean, Perez and Ricciardo?

        2. I agree Massa isn’t what he used to be, but he was a world champion for a moment in 2008. So you can’t really say he didn’t achieve anything. He also helped Ferrari to two WCC’s and that isn’t exactly ‘nothing’ either.

      2. @spoutnik

        No my friend nonsense would be writing: Massa still has what it takes to be WC or now he is free of Ferrari he will show what an amazing driver he is or even Massa will be driving for McLaren next year. I think you will find

    2. What a joke,if according to you Felipe may not be a top driver but then you think that Perez is a top driver?
      And if both are given a good car then i am sure Felipe can deliver.
      In the past few years the poor results of massa are a result of slow cars and a superhuman team mate.
      I feel massa would perform better now in a smaller team like maybe sauber.

      1. @svarun

        WHAT! Alonso had the same car and he has had a good chance at winning the WDC in 2010 & 2012. Where the hell was Massa nowhere to be seen.

        Face it Massa has been garbage since his accident in 08. Done nothing to warrant that Ferrari seat and will continue to do nothing until he realises it himself.

        Please don’t fool yourself by thinking that his performances since 08 are not a result of his poor driving.

  10. Amazing words about Niki Lauda’s comeback drive, and how he overcame his fear. It says a lot about Lauda’s character (“Being scared is intolerable”!) in contrast with drivers who abandoned their comebacks when they found they could no longer drive instinctively, but were repeating a process from memory. Stirling Moss and Karl Wendlinger spring to mind.

    I’d imagine that would be impossible to film. Did ‘Rush’ manage to show his first steps back in the car? (Haven’t seen the film yet so don’t spoil it!)

  11. Massa to McLaren?
    I assumed Perez was nailed on when Telmex replace Vodafone as title sponsor.
    Any ideas?

    1. Telmex = Claro

      Claro is the biggest GSM operator in Latin America (and very large in Brazil) and also owned by Slim. Same money, bigger market.

      If this happens, unfortunately, I feel like Button is getting the boot.

    2. I am expecting Perez (and Button) to be retained. Although Perez hasn’t really impressed, the car has made it more difficult, and I’d assume McLaren would give him at least two years to show his worth (like Kovalainen had). What I am not sure of is Telmex being title sponsors. Maybe Claro and Telmex will be sponsors but I don’t see why Telmex would spend money on being a title sponsor when they aren’t a global company, only operating in South America. I’m expecting it to be Emirates.

  12. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    16th September 2013, 17:30

    As McLaren’s Martin Whitsmarth has stated before: They will take the 2 best drivers availble (Stop your “Button and Perez the best?” claims please) and Massa clearly doesn’t fit into that description. If they really want to fire Button or Perez, their most logical choice would be to grab Hulkenberg.
    And about Sergio, they want him to keep learning, and also, given how bad their car is this year, I would say he has been OK.

    1. I think it would be harsh to drop Perez after one season in a poor car. He hasn’t been as consistent as Button, but he’s kept him sweet in qualifying and shown good pace on occasion. Obviously he needs to do more than that in the future to be kept. If he doesn’t then it would be more understandable to drop him. They gave Kovalainen two seasons so I can imagine Perez having the same to prove his worth.

  13. Fastest Gene has ever been.

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