It’s race day – and it’s also a year to the day since Felipe Massa’s horrible crash in Hungary. How fitting it would be if he scored his first victory since the crash today…
Here’s the Sunday round-up:
Links
F1 podcast: German Grand Prix (Daily Telegraph)
The Daily Telegraph’s Tom Cary reckons South Korean Grand Prix construction work is about a month behind schedule.
F1 test ban ridiculous – Michael Schumacher (BBC)
“It is completely ridiculous to do zero [testing]. Some kind of testing should be implemented. I hope there is common sense and we find a solution.”
McLaren aims to become top F1 brand (Autosport)
Martin Whitmarsh: “My opinion is that the biggest brand in Formula 1 today is Ferrari. And I acknowledge and accept it. McLaren I think is the second biggest brand in Formula 1 by a reasonable margin from whoever is the third. It might not be even in my career but in 10 years’, 20 years’ time why can’t we be the biggest brand? Twenty years ago that would have sounded ridiculous to say, but I don’t think it sounds so ridiculous now. Hopefully in 10 years’ time it will sound even more realistic and in 20 years’ time we’ll have done it.”
5 minutes with… Tavo Hellmund (ESPN)
“For people who aren’t Tilke fans, I think it’s a departure for Tilke.”
Comment of the day
Here’s Dan Thorn’s view on the balance of power between Ferrari and McLaren:
McLaren have had the second fastest car more often than not, but aside from a couple of races, Ferrari (read: Alonso) have had a car that’s just as quick. Now that they have an exhaust-blown diffuser that’s been run for two races and a decent amount of set-up information they’re able to exploit it and should be able to usurp McLaren as the second fastest team, possibly even proving faster than Red Bull.
McLaren meanwhile need to gain more knowledge on the EBD and on top of that have to sort out the whole engine retardation thing than Red Bull and now Ferrari seem to have. The wet running in practice wont have helped this and in my opinion it could be a little while before they can use it to maximum effectiveness and get back to the top. Having the extra few kph advantage wont rocket them to the front of the field if they cant manage a decent overall lap time.
Dan Thorn
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Rdiulv and LookingSpiffy!
On this day in F1
A difficult season for Ferrari turned into a terrifying brush with disaster in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix last year, when Felipe Massa was badly injured in a freak accident.
At first sight, Massa’s crash at turn four of the Hungaroring appeared to have been caused by some kind of car failure. But replays showed a component falling from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn and – with incredible misfortune – striking Massa’s crash helmet.
At first there were fears for Massa’s life but he made a full recovery, waved the chequered flag at his home race and returned to the cockpit this year. He owed his survival to the remarkable strength of his crash helmet, thanks to increased safety requirements introduced by the FIA a few years earlier.
Read more: Felipe Massa crashes after being struck by debris during qualifying (Video)
SoLiDG (@solidg)
25th July 2010, 0:16
Glad to see Massa up the front for tomorrow, and who knows. A podium would be as good as a victory for him, looking back at his season so far.
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
25th July 2010, 0:35
Is it just me or is anyone else reminded of Simon Gilett when they see any interview with Tavo Hellmund? Until the serious building work begins I will remain very sceptical about these plans
Dr. Gonzo
25th July 2010, 0:40
Whitmarsh’s statement is even more ridiculous now than it would have been 20 years ago. At the end of 1991 Ferrari had 8 Constructor Championships and McLaren had a remarkable string of wins in 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991; totalling 7 with 1974. Since then Ferrari has added Constructor Championships in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 and McLaren only 1 in 1998.
Calum
25th July 2010, 1:32
Any F1 related project in the states will forever be tarred with the same brush as USF1, so many people will be cynacal about the whole Austin Texas GP. However the fact the guy in that interview refuses to comment on the funding arises some suspicion, and only two months to get all the planning permison done, hmm. I really hope Herman Tilke’s extreme track design is something special, and doesn’t resemble anything done before, I know you can only do so much to a ring of asphalt, but you can tell his style and design straight away. Fair enough I seem quite against the idea of another Tilke, but until I see the plan, I shall say no more than, make it unique, fast and pray the money is there
Hamish
25th July 2010, 1:32
Brilliant – thats my quote of the day
LookingSpiffy
25th July 2010, 1:49
I’m looking forward to a MUCH better birthday than last year, whatever the race brings!
tharris19
25th July 2010, 2:20
Everythings big in Texas especially the lies, scheming and politics. They are bigger sports than football among the big money people down there.
wasiF1
25th July 2010, 2:23
I just hope things like this never happens in anymore of motor-racing in the near future.Aren’t we glad to see Massa still with us still racing, hope he gets a podium or something today which will for sure boost his confidence.
SijS
25th July 2010, 3:06
If they are so keen to do it the anti-Tilke way, then why not hire someone else?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th July 2010, 10:20
Because Ecclestone likes Tllke, and you don’t get anywhere in F1 without keeping Ecclestone on-side.
adam mason
25th July 2010, 3:45
I disagree with shumi.At first i could’ent really fathom a testing ban,but now I feel ok with it,really their,s every chance that the Adrian Newey Red Bulls would be further infront if it werent for the testing ban.
kapow
25th July 2010, 4:49
it’s a rather graphic video, as it includes a reference to Surtees’ earlier crash :(
Hairs
25th July 2010, 9:48
Has anyone actually heard the results of any investigation into what caused the part to ocme from Rubens’ car in the first place? I haven’t seen a peep of it anywhere.
For all its “make roads safe” campaign, the FIA seems to be sitting on its hands when it comes to what happens on its race tracks. I can’t help feeling that Ari Vanaten would have done more than sweep this under the carpet. If this had happened on a public road, then I doubt the FIA would get away with no scrutiny. Equally, I am sure that had this accident happened in the UK, there would be a significant investigation by the authorities.
Are the FIA witholding the results of an investigation, or failing to investigate at all? If so, why? To protect a company that may have manufactured or used a faulty part? Protect someone who made a genuine human error putting the part on the car? Both seem like flimsy excuses. And equally, there is no reason to believe that an investigation like this could have taken a year.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th July 2010, 10:21
It was just a component failure, it wasn’t like what happened with Alonso’s wheel at Hungary where it hadn’t been secured properly.
Hairs
25th July 2010, 10:41
Still strange that little or nothing was heard of it, I think. Were fines handed out? Did the part pass testing? Were other parts from the same batch tested?
steph
25th July 2010, 11:20
I’m sure Brawn said the part had passed all the safety tests at the time. However, I would like to know why it failed and what exactly happened just to satisfy curiosity more than anything.
mateuss
25th July 2010, 11:38
Hairs I don’t think we heard very little of it, it was the talking point for many weeks. And I don’t understand what are you so upset about, many different parts of different cars fail every GP weekend, simply in this particular instance the consequences were very, very, very unfortunate and unlucky.
ErikF
25th July 2010, 9:09
I hope Massa wins today, exactly one year after his accident. It would be fantastic and very emotional.
Ed
25th July 2010, 9:13
yes, it would be a nice result – although I’m sure he would be thrilled with a podium considering his recent results.
Enigma (@enigma)
25th July 2010, 9:53
Yeah, just like Kubica’s win one year after the crash (not the same date; the same race though). And not many people expected that win.
mateuss
25th July 2010, 10:05
I hope Massa does win today. But I don’t think he is fully recovered yet from the horrible crash. The film with Richard and Stirling showed that it takes years to recover to the previous level before brain damage, but it seems he is improving and still be next year. If he wins today it will be better story than that of Kubica in Canada, or maybe he could win in Hungary that would be even more amazing, but for any of these scenarios to happen it will take something special.
Patrickl
25th July 2010, 12:39
I don understand how people can say that McLaren has been fastyer than Ferrari more often than not. McLare has scored better results, but that is something else.
McLaren was faster than Ferrari in Canada, Turky and Spain
Ferrari was faster than McLaren in Bahrain, Australia, Monaco, Valencia and Silverstone.
Malaysia and China are hard to say. Malaysia was a weird race and they were much on a similar performance (apart from Hamiltons overtaking skills) and in China Ferrari was faster in qualifying when McLaren had the race pace.
So of the clear races I’d say it’s 5 to 3 in favor of Ferrari being fastest.