As Keith recovers from his stag do and a weekend at Rockingham watching the British F3 race, I’ll be filling in on today’s round-up.
Come back later for the full British Grand Prix technical review.
Links
“‘It was a message to my team,’ says Webber. ‘But it’s a fair admission that I put too much out to the world. I would have liked it not to have got out. But it did.
‘I don’t want any favouritism; just a fair deal… On Saturday I was obviously a bit hot under the collar with what was going on. It was a unique situation because it was the first time we had just one component. It was a tricky decision to make. I was pretty disappointed by it.
‘But the upshot is that it will go the other way in the future – it just will, even if that’s hard for people to believe. He was given the wing because he was higher in the championship than me. Now I am higher, so you can follow the logic.'”
Jacques Villeneuve joins forces with Durango for Formula One bid (The Guardian)
“The former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve is linking up with Italy’s Durango in a bid to return to Formula One next season, according to the team’s owner, Ivone Pinton.
Pinton told the 422race.com website that Durango had joined forces with the 39-year-old Canadian, who last raced in Formula One in 2006, and Villeneuve Racing to seek an entry as the 13th team on the starting grid.
‘I really hope together we will find a place,’ he said. ‘We still don’t know where the car would be built, but the team’s base will definitely be ours, in the Veneto [a region in the north-east of Italy],’ added Pinton, who ran Villeneuve’s car in the Dubai-based Speedcar series until it folded last year. ‘As well as being the driver, I’m sure he will make a useful contribution to the company. I think he’s preparing a job to do after he hangs up his helmet.'”
2010 Seat Leon Eurocup at Brands Hatch (YouTube)
Pole-sitter Francisco Carvalho was uninjured following a high speed accident during the Seat Leon Eurocup race at Brands Hatch today.
Carvalho made contact with Stian Paulsen whilst fighting for position at Sheene Curve. The impact caused Carvalho’s Seat to become airborne and roll several times, before coming to rest on the bank behind.
Comment of the day
Not many have come out defending HRT’s decision to replace Karun Chandhok with Sakon Yamamoto, but Tom L. has a different angle:
Pre-season, a lot of people had dismissed Chandhok because, let’s be honest, he hadn’t set the world alight in GP2. However, he’s earned people’s respect over time.
When has Yamamoto even had the opportunity to do that? He’s been drafted into struggling teams, mid-season, on three different occasions now – how do you expect him to do anything more than trail round at the back?
Tom L.
From the forum
The F1 Fanatic Rolling Trivia Quiz is back in action
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Cube and Phil G, the latter’s celebrating his 21st today.
On this day in F1
Emerson Fittipaldi scored his last F1 win on this day 35 years ago, at the 1975 British Grand Prix.
Following a collision involving ten cars during the first lap of the previous Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1973, a new chicane had been installed at Woodcote Corner.
On race day, a sudden deluge caused chaos – 16 drivers crashed, the lead changed nine times between seven drivers and just six cars were still running at the end of the race. Fittipaldi was declared the winner ten laps before the race was due to finish – he was stationary in the pits.
The British Grand Prix was also held on this day in 1952, 1958 and 1969 – each race was held on a Saturday.
Charlie Watts
19th July 2010, 0:07
Congratulations Keith!
James
19th July 2010, 0:10
I bet those marshalls are counting themselves very lucky this evening too! What a crash.
LewisC
19th July 2010, 1:24
Incredible crash. I was standing right there only a few weeks ago…
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
19th July 2010, 2:28
I know that any modern racing car is equip with good safety feature but how on earth did the Marshal escaped that car?
They should be lucky.Nowadays too much racing car is getting airborne what’s wrong with the air.
TommyC
19th July 2010, 3:39
holy flip, that was ridiculous. very lucky indeed.
BasCB
19th July 2010, 6:24
The marshalls and the fans standing right next to it. It might have ended in tears, but luckily the car did not hit anyone.
Charlie Watts
19th July 2010, 0:11
Secondly, that marshall is a seriously lucky to be alive in the Seat race, unbelievable!
SoLiDG (@solidg)
19th July 2010, 0:28
wow what a freakish crash. very lucky marshals indeed!
Michael Griffin
19th July 2010, 0:31
If I were that marshall, I’d be doing a 100 lines on the lottery with that kind of luck…
Bernard
19th July 2010, 12:59
It aint luck if you throw a hundred bets down on something. :)
sato113
19th July 2010, 1:00
the marshall should have just ducked next to the barrier. but obviously he didn’t have time to think! very lucky.
Joey-Poey
19th July 2010, 16:35
At first I thought the same thing, but if you watch, the car hits the ground RIGHT next to the inside of the barrier. Unfortunately he still could have been crushed had he tried that. If it came at the barrier at a steeper angle that might have worked.
Eric
19th July 2010, 1:00
scary crash, great to see no one badly hurt, pretty lucky marshals alright.
Mark an Vettel.
well i cant see anything is going to be different in the future,
they are still at it.
Marks, last statement:
“We’ve got two of us at the front. It’s a sensational problem to have. I could be at the stage of my career when I say, ‘It’s fine, mate, I don’t really care,’ but unfortunately – or fortunately – I can’t do that.
“Who knows, in the next few months, if we’re both still racing at the front, things could become more tense between us.”
Vettels last statement:
Vettel told Der Spiegel magazine in Germany. “The team-mate is the first you want to beat because he has the same equipment.”
sure good for Formula 1.
BasCB
19th July 2010, 20:24
From what the big boss at RB says here (http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns22445.html – taken from an interview with a German paper) it seems he’s feeling the need to get his companies image improved again.
And he’s fully supportive Mark winning and these guys battling it out.
It took a while, but that’s what i would expect of the Red Bull life style!
BasCB
19th July 2010, 20:27
The same interview was picked up by autosport, who added some detail.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85379
US_Peter (@us_peter)
19th July 2010, 20:34
Very interesting. Thanks for the links.
Mike
19th July 2010, 1:06
That’s probably not what that marshall had in mind for his day… Lucky guy.
I’ve heard rumours about Villinuerve teaming up with both Durango and Flavio, Unless it’s gonna be some sort of disgusting threesome thing going on *shudders*, can someone shed some light on this?
Oh and Keith, I’d have to find it again to show you, but what is your position on other sites, sort of, copy and pasting your articles?
anthony
19th July 2010, 2:48
god they were lucky not to have killed.
Scalextric
19th July 2010, 3:17
Congratulations Keith. And the marshals.
Here’s the 1973 crash that caused the Woodcote chicane to be installed. And a great look at how Silverstone used to be. Plus the beeb pre-Murray Walker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R_XId0YabQ
TommyC
19th July 2010, 3:49
it’s unbelievable that it used to be that unsafe. there’s like a thousand people running onto the track before the yellows are even out properly. the track itself looks in pretty poor condition and there’s hardly even a fence to protect spectators. and that photographer on the inside of copse is just insane! i’m surprised it took so long for people to realise how stupidly dangerous that form of racing was. i’m glad we got to where we are today, that’s for sure
BasCB
19th July 2010, 6:36
Hat of to Steward and Lauda for starting to push for some basic safety measures.
From those images you can easily understand why a lot of people died in F1.
LewisC
19th July 2010, 12:49
Hear hear. It must be said – can never be said enough – that the quality of the marshalling is amazing and improving all the time. Far too often in the old days, even if there was a marshal nearby, they’d stand there and do nothing useful…
Andrew
19th July 2010, 3:56
Congratulations Tomás, excelent article!
Take a look Keith!
James_mc (@james_mc)
19th July 2010, 5:42
Indiana Jones and The Holy Grail anyone?
GeeMac
19th July 2010, 5:45
Villeneuve Racing…I realy hope they don’t paint the car the colours of JV’s helmet!
Bleu
19th July 2010, 6:14
Was that the same corner where Henry Surtees hit the outside wall after he was hit by the tyre?
HounslowBusGarage
19th July 2010, 8:55
I saw the Henry Surtees incident live (and I never want to see it again) but as I recall, it happened two corners prior at the exit of Westfield, whereas this looks like the short straight between Sheene Curve and Stirlings Bend.
BasCB
19th July 2010, 6:42
Thanks Cari for standing in for Keith! Must have been an exiting weekend for him, losing his phone as well in the proces.
glue (@glue)
19th July 2010, 7:41
I’ve never liked Brands Hatch because of the ridiculous number of serious crashes it produced throughout the years..why is this circuit still deemed safe whilst they “had to” remove or mutate some other perfectly good tracks
matt90
19th July 2010, 9:15
Which tracks? A lot have been changed because of F1, but I didn’t think many smaller tracks were being changed. And anyway, that crash in particular was a result of a coming together, not because the track is unsafe, and perhaps there will simply be a fence there next year.
glue (@glue)
19th July 2010, 9:30
I’m not saying the track itself is causing the accidents, I’m only saying there have been many dangerous crashes there
Mark Hitchcock
19th July 2010, 10:07
Incredibly lucky marshals in that crash.
They do such a dangerous job and don’t get enough thanks for it.
Steph90 (@steph90)
19th July 2010, 15:11
You’re right Mark they don’t. Often we don’t even see them but they’re always close to danger and there to literally pick up the pieces after crashes and are straight there to help drivers. I’m truly grateful for their presence and the work they do.
BasCB
19th July 2010, 17:21
A while ago we had some guys doing Marshalling work posting on the subject here. One of them even had a try at making a guest appearance. That was really nice.
Great work from them, it’s risky, time consuming and they hardly get enough respect for the job.
Enigma (@enigma)
19th July 2010, 11:22
Henry Surtees died in Brands Hatch crash on July 19th last year. R.I.P.
Steph90 (@steph90)
19th July 2010, 15:09
Yes R.I.P. Henry. That was a truly horrendous day and my thoughts are still with the Surtees family.
bosyber
19th July 2010, 11:55
Okay, it’s planet F1, but: http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/6269466/Bernie-Monaco-could-get-the-axe seriously?
If european races are massively dropped in favour of high-paying exotic VIP parties, I think european tv stations might find that they have less to spend on F1.
For me, it helps that I can go to some of the races, if I spent a few hundred euros. I know ticket sales are not what drives Bernie. I also know the biggest fans aren’t the large cash cow group of consumers that the advertisers need, witness that LG survey.
But for me, it will take a lot of time to get used to having to potentially miss Monaco, and Spa. I could do with only one GP in Spain though. If Bernie starts dropping known circuits by the handfuls in a few years, I might feel a period of waning interest for F1 coming again. (Well, esp. if they are like the recent additions, if they are good race tracks, it is different, but is that likely? No.)
Anyone from the America or Asia that can comment on how much a difference it makes to have recognizable races reasonably reachable for your enjoyment of F1?
Klon
19th July 2010, 12:07
I highly doubt this is anything more than Bernie trying to squeeze some cash out of Monaco, and I’ll bet 5 bucks it will work. We will maybe hear a news item informing us Monaco has agreed to larger payments and then the topic of removing Monte Carlo from the F1 calender won’t come up until 2040.
Steph90
19th July 2010, 12:21
It’s planetf1 so at best (in terms of accuracy) Bernie wants some money and at worst their writers had a weird dream and believed it to be real.
Monaco gets away with paying nothing and has done for so long because it is Monaco. F1 doesn’t need anything but Monaco will be with us just as long as Ferrari will be.
BasCB
19th July 2010, 17:23
That’l be Bernie just having a little try at Monaco. Surely the contract is being negotiated and he tries again to get a bit more out of it.
He is not crazy enough to drop Monaco and they will probably not be ready to pay him, so in the end they just go on for another couple of years, or maybe he will get a part of the track signage now.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
19th July 2010, 18:03
As an American, even though it’s not as feasible for me to attend European races, I agree with you 100%. F1 without Monaco just wouldn’t be the same. Same goes for Spa, Monza, and Silverstone.
Scribe (@scribe)
19th July 2010, 18:27
No I think Steph’s got it, F1 doesn’t need historical names and races in reality. It would survive if Monaco sank into the sea an all of Ferrari everywhere spontaneously combusted, it would.
It’s not going to though, an those are the only ways Ferrari an Monaco are going out of F1. Personally, I wouldn’t be distraught if Monaco went off the calender, but only because I’ve never been there to see the cars as close as you can there, the racing isn’t generally very good though, sad to loose Ferrari, again, just another time.
It’d be taking seven kinds of s*** though, imagine if we lost Monaco! An Ferrari! It’d be someones fault as well, because theres no actual good reason why they should be forced to leave now.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
19th July 2010, 20:43
I’m not saying F1 wouldn’t survive without Monaco. Certainly it would, but for me personally it would be a great loss, as I’m sure it would be for many F1 fans around the world. I’m not a Ferrari or McLaren fan, but again, F1 without either of those teams would not be the same.
I’m sure Steph’s right that Bernie is trying to just leverage Monaco for more money. After all, that’s what he does. He thinks about money before he goes to bed at night, he dreams about rolling in a bed of money while he sleeps, he wakes up and thinks of nothing but money, and he goes to the office every day to try and think up new ways of getting more massive sums of money. In that recent one-on-one with Ron Dennis on f1.com he even seemed a bit proud of his love for money when Dennis brought it up. At least Bernie’s honest…
Kevin
19th July 2010, 13:01
Much as i’d like to see Jacques do well in F1 again, extremely unlikely i know, i would have thought that he would have learned from his previous experience (BAT in 1999) that owning part of a team which you drive for does not work
BasCB
19th July 2010, 20:17
I found this pretty nice piece on the action at the British GP for the rear end of the field (http://www.grandprix.com/ft/ft22444.html).
It goes to show how interesting the year is, and puts Di Grassi losing out ot Glock in qualli into perspective.
The 11 kg weight difference (4 from the car, 7 from the driver) proves how it is to compare drivers, and it might be a reason for Virgin to look at a lighter replacement for Di Grassi next year.
Tom L.
20th July 2010, 2:34
Yay, first comment of the day – and on my 21st birthday too! That one obviously slipped through the radar on the birthday thread, although I’m sure I posted cause I get an e-mail notification every time someone else adds theirs!
BasCB
20th July 2010, 6:20
A late Happy birthday wish for you Tom,.
mr. t
20th July 2010, 15:41
Having signed up to be a marshal recently, I’m now having major second thoughts…!
BasCB
20th July 2010, 15:52
Hey, look on the bright side, if you get close to such an accident, you might be in a video all over the internet as well.
For all fans, thank you for having a go at supporting these great sports.