Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix

Formula One is fast, and fast is dangerous. That's the assumption formed on the basis of decades of fatal crashes in the sport when the slow advancement of safety measures couldn't keep up with the ever-increasing speeds of grand prix racing. But those assumptions and those safety measures were again put to the test this weekend in Spain, where McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen crashed at 220 km/h (137mph) into a wall of tires, resulting in an estimated impact force of 26 Gs. The crash, which occurred on the 22nd lap of the race, was attributed to a wheel/tire malfunction, and Kovalainen is expected to return in two weeks to race in Turkey.

As jarring as it was, Heikki's crash was only one of the many times the safety car was deployed in a race that was dominated by the color yellow of the caution flag. The next most dominant color at Catalunya, however, was surely red, as Ferrari dominated the race virtually from start to finish, with Kimi Raikkonen sailing to an easy checkered flag with his team mate Felipe Massa close behind. Towards the end of the race, Kovalainen's teammate Lewis Hamilton was closing in on Massa, but ended up taking the third step on the podium, giving defending champion Raikkonen a commanding nine point lead over Hamilton. The perfect finish for Ferrari likewise gave the team a commanding lead in the constructors' championship, leading 47 to BMW Sauber's 35 and McLaren's 34. BMW, which entered the race with the lead for the constructors' title, didn't fair as well as hoped, with Kubica finishing an admirable fourth while his teammate Heidfeld came in outside the points in 9th after suffering a drive-through penalty. However, that wasn't nearly as bad as second-tier rival Renault did under the Spanish sun, with neither local hero Fernando Alonso nor his teammate Nelsinho Piquet completing the race. All in all, a shocking nine drivers retired before the last lap, including Nico Rosberg (Williams), Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri), both the Toro Rosso drivers (Bourdais and Vettel) in addition to the Renaults and the aforementioned Kovalainen.

Follow the jump for the full results, current standings after four rounds of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship and a video of Kovalainen's crash.

[Source: Autosport]

Loyalty is not one of the qualities generally displayed in the Formula One circus. The market for grand prix drivers is as fluid as the Mediterranean, but Kimi Raikkonen says he's at home. The returning champion has two years left on his contract with Ferrari, and though he doesn't know what he'll decide to do when his contract runs out, he's declared that he sees no reason to move to another F1 team.

Speaking with the Spanish newspaper Marca while leading the time boards at the official testing sessions at the Valencia circuit, Raikkonen says that at the end of next year, he'll either stay with Ferrari, retire from motorsports or possibly contest a few rallies. One way or another, it's got to be a relief for Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo. CEO Jean Todt and team principal Stefano Domenicali says that, assuming Kimi keeps his word, they'll never have to worry about chasing the Ice Man around the track again.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by DIEGO TUSON/AFP/Getty]

An investigation by Formula 1 stewards regarding fuel temperature of the BMW-Sauber and Williams teams initially put into question Raikonen's F1 title. Article 6.5.5 of the Formula 1 technical regulations states that the fuel on board a car can not be more than 10 degrees centigrate below the ambient temperature, and the four cars from the BMW-Sauber and Williams teams were found to be in violation of this rule following the Grand Prix yesterday. Three of those four cars - driven by Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, and Nick Heidfeld - finished in the top six ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The exclusion of those drivers from the race results would put Hamilton in fourth, giving him enough points to move past Raikkonen in the overall points. However, stewards chose not to punish the teams for the violation and confirmed that the F1 championship would go to Raikkonen. McLaren has notified the FIA that they plan to appeal the decision.

[Source: F1Way.com, Photo by Clive Mason/Getty]

For many motorsports aficionados, allegiance to Ferrari transcends the lines of age and social class. Young and old, from the everyman to captains of industry, on race days the differences are tossed out the window and they gather en masse, a sea of red in the stands, as tifosi. Ferrari knows this, and as a result, its strength as a merchandiser is unparalleled in the automotive landscape. Leveraging its iconic logos, rich history and legions of owners and fans, it has created a machine that churns out collectibles and accessories designed to fit almost any budget.

And now, the tifosi have a new bauble to fight over, and it's priced for the deeper-pockets crowd. In honor of the 1-2 podium finish at the Turkish GP for Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari has offered 50 signed baseball caps. Each lid is autographed by both Felipe and Kimi, arrives in a big red Ferrari cardboard box, has a certificate of authenticity, and costs a whopping €400. On the Ferrari Store website, the conversion to USD is helpfully provided. $526.20 (plus VAT) worth of available credit on your plastic of choice is all it'll take. We don't recommend wearing this one to go out and mow the lawn. For that, we suggest the vastly more economical (yet still pricey at $33 USD) un-autographed version.

[Source: Ferrari Store]

Last weekend's rain soaked European Grand Prix at Germany's Nurburgring saw many of the drivers aquaplaning out of control early on in the event. Rain started in just the second lap of the race and it had to be restarted by the fourth lap due to dangerous conditions. By the time the race restarted the rain had stopped and the track dried up quickly.

Fernando Alonso managed to take the top spot on a day where it seemed that anyone could win, but even he suffered a hitch during the closing laps as he tried to overtake Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who was in first place. Massa's front wheel grazed the side of Alonso's McLaren and this led to a heated argument between the two post-race.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was one of the drivers who slid off the track in the beginning, but he was given a lifeline when his car was lifted by crane back onto the track. A poor decision to switch to dry tires too early after the rain had stopped saw him spin out again. This left him out of contention of a podium finish, and at the end the rookie came at in 9th place.

The major disappointment was pole sitter Kimi Raikkonen being forced to retire because of mechanical problems with his Ferrari. This allowed the competent Mark Webber to cruise into the third spot to gain his first podium finish at Red Bull racing. Another disappointment were the BMW boys, with sixth placed Nick Heidfeld hitting the side of team-mate Robert Kubica and then doing the same again with Ralf Schumacher.

For those who think this is shaping up to be an exciting F1 season, next year should be a stunner. The FIA has confirmed that traction control will not be allowed in 2008. With traction control about to be banned from F1, Formula One Drivers are split on the decision. Most have said they support the move, but most racers will usually say they prefer fewer electronic aids getting in the way of pure mechanical feel and control of the vehicle. At this level of performance, however, the drivers often like to talk a good game and downplay the significance of the devices. It's more driver skill, they'll tell you. But for some of today's drivers, electronics have been fitted to every car they have raced at this level of competition. The aids themselves have been used since 2001.

Follow the jump to see how some of the top drivers feel about this issue.

[Source: PaddockTalk]

To celebrate another season of teaming with Ferrari on both road and track, Shell Oil has issued a set of stickers depicting the fabled cars from Maranello. In addition to shots of the new F1 car, there are also stickers featuring both of the current drivers, the new 599 GTB Fiorano, and the logos of both Shell and Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are both giving a thumbs up, apparently satisfied with their debut performance from Australia in the 2007 World Championship. If this seems like the kind of thing you definitely have to get your hands on, there's even better news. The sheet of stickers is free while supplies last. All you need to do is give some basic information at the Shell website, accessible through the link below or by clicking the image above.

Thanks for the tip, Doug!

[Source: Shell via Deal Detectives]

Ferarri's new driver Kimi Raikkonen put in a dominant performance to win the opening round of the 2007 Formula One series over the McLaren duo of two-time champion Fernando Alonso and debutante Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen, who started from the pole position, had an incident-free race and at one point held a massive 15-second lead over the field. His Ferrari was clearly faster than many other cars in the race, allowing him to lap all but seven of his opponents by the end.

The race, run in perfect conditions, started impressively with a huge crush of vehicles successfully navigating the tight first and third turns of the course without any clashes.

There were a small number of vehicle failures throughout, and one spectacular collision when David Coulthard of the Red Bull team attempted an impossible passing maneuver around a tight, windy section of the temporary street circuit, cutting across the front of Williams-Toyota's Alexander Wurz. Coulthard's front left wheel assembly was smashed as his vehicle flicked up onto and then slid across the nose of Wurz's car and went flying through the air to land safely in the sand. Remarkably, Wurz was able to continue without any problems while Coulthard walked away from his ruined machine. Despite this, the pace car was not required throughout the 58 lap Australian Grand Prix, which ran very smoothly after requiring four stoppages last year.

[Source: The Age]

As the New Year approaches, it's easy to let our thoughts turn to the new racing season ahead. New seasons bring equipment and regulations changes, new venues and a few spiffed up old ones added to the schedule; manufacturers getting into new forms of motorsports; and some calling it quits. New seasons also mean personnel changes in most series.

Nowhere is this more closely followed than in the racing soap opera that is Formula 1. With astronomical budgets and such a small group of teams, it's easy to get caught up in the comings and goings of every driver. The biggest news from last year was the retirement of seven-time champion Michael Schummacher from Ferrari and the repeat driver's title for Renault's Fernando Alonso. It was a compelling title fight down to the last couple of races, but in the end the young and hugely talented Spaniard prevailed.

Whether cause or effect, the departure of MS from Ferrari left a huge void in the team, one that will hopefully be filled by the signing of the super talented Finn, Kimi Raikkonen. Admiring his brilliance while piloting the somewhat inferior McLaren the last few years, Ferrari made the decision to nab him and make him their new number one. For that privilege, Ferrari will be spending the tidy sum of $1 MILLION a week for calendar year 2007. OK, that's a slight exaggeration. According to Swiss newspaper Blick, the driver's salary for '07 will be $51m. That, folks, is reported to be $16 million more than Alonso will get to fill Raikkonen's vacated seat at McLaren. Not too bad for the fun-loving Finn.

[Source: Belfast Telegraph]

So what does a former F1 pilot do during retirement? Keep on truck-- err, driving.

According to an article in Sporting Life, Ferrari's engineers are concerned about Kimi Raikkonen's capacity to develop and test their vehicle at the same level Schumacher did during his tenure with the team. Raikkonen will be taking over driving duties for Michael Schumacher, who announced his retirement last week. Although Schumacher has confirmed that he'll be staying with the team for an undisclosed period of time, it was not assumed that the former world champion would fill the test driver position.

Ferrari's chief race engineer, Luca Baldisserri put it best, saying, "After all, driving is the thing [Schumacher] loves most."

[Source: Sporting Life]