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Issue No 130

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MONDAY August 22, 2011

YEARS AGO
wRC: Ogier breaks Loebs German streak MOtOGP: Yamaha reveals 1000

Juho Hanninen (FIN), Skoda Fabia S2000, followed closely by Martin Prokop (CZE), Ford Fiesta S2000, on Stage 10 of Rally Deutschland.

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ISSUE 130
EDITOR: ADAM HAY-NICHOLLS adam@hay-nicholls.com Assistant Editors Naoise Holohan, Kate Walker MotoGP Editor: Michael Scott michael@gpweek.com Rally Editor: Martin Holmes martin@gpweek.com Production Artist (Australia): Cedric Dufour, Asstistant: Callum Branagan Photography Sutton Motorsport Images www.sutton-images.com Keith Sutton keith@gpweek.com Publisher Chris Lambden publisher@gpweek.com
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First female in six years tests F1 ... plus the latest from the worlds of F1 and MotoGP

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Renault gives F1 test to female racer

DURING the F1 summer break, Spanish driver Maria de Villota was given the chance to test a Formula One car at Frances Paul Ricard Circuit. De Villotas test for Renault marked the first time since 2005 when current DTM driver Katherine Legge tested for Minardi that a female driver had been given a chance behind the wheel of a Formula One car. As a female driver, I was very happy to get the opportunity to drive in a Formula One car, de Villota said after the test. Formula One is the pinnacle of motor racing and has always been a dream for me. The running went very well, conditions were ideal, and the team made me feel at ease straight away, she added. It did not take too long to get used to the car and, after I felt comfortable with it, I was able to start pushing and, as a result, really enjoyed the experience. De Villota has driven in WTCC and in the Superleague Formula, and in the test for Renault she completed more than 180 miles behind the wheel of the teams 2009 car. Eric Boullier, Renault team principal, said that de Vilotta performed as expected at the test. We were delighted to offer Maria the chance to drive in the R29, Boullier said. As a team, we pride ourselves on our ability to assess new talents and offer different drivers opportunities with us. Maria did exactly what was expected of her; she took things one step at a time, and achieved some very reasonable laptimes, not putting a foot wrong all day. Despite being offered the chance to test for Renault, it is unlikely that the 32year-old will be offered a full-time or test role with a Formula One team. In an age when the lack of in-season testing makes it hard for up and coming young drivers to find an F1 seat, de Villotas age and inexperience count against her.

>> F1 NEWS

More surgery for Kubica

ROBERT Kubica is on the road to recovery following his horrific February crash in Italys Ronde di Andora rally, but the Polish driver has to complete one more round of surgery on his right elbow and a host of rehabilitation. Dr Riccardo Ceccarelli, who has been supervising Kubica on the road to recovery, told AFP that this latest operation is a vital step in the Renault drivers recuperation. We need to do this to free his elbow more. With his elbow blocked, we havent had the chance to work on a full recovery programme as we would do normally, Ceccarelli said. However, we have kept the other joints moving as much as possible, with the goal of having as much flexibility as we can the greatest possible muscular mass available once the elbow is unblocked. Renault are holding the Poles race seat for him, but Kubicas Formula One return will depend on the outcome of his surgery and rehabilitation, as it will take time for him to rebuild his strength and fine motor skills once the operations are complete. Kubica is quoted by Italys Autosprint as saying that he is in no hurry to accelerate his recovery. I always enjoy setting a goal, when circumstances allow, Autosprint quote the Polish driver as saying. Well see how my rehabilitation goes over the next few months. Im satisfied with whats been happening until now; there are no complications. There is no hurry. What is important is that Renault is keeping my place.

Teams discuss in-season testing proposals

TEAM bosses are pressing ahead with plans to reintroduce some form of in-season testing to Formula One, after it was banned for cost reasons in 2009. F1 teams are currently restricted to four weeks of pre-season testing in February, and Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn told ITV that one of the proposals currently under discussion would see one of those weeks moved into the season itself. While the end of limitless in-season testing has led to widespread cost reductions across the board, there have long been concerns that the ban has disadvantaged upcoming and rookie drivers, who now arrive in Formula One with very little if any time spent behind the wheel of a current car. Theres a lot of discussion at the moment but the plan is to try and defer one of the winter tests into the season at a convenient time and to spread those winter tests with a little bit more gap in between, Brawn told ITV. What we found this year was with four tests but with hardly any gap in between theres not much you can do between the tests particularly when youre trying to sort a car out, he continued. It was an incredibly tense period and I think everyone found it [a] very difficult period, because we dont have test teams anymore the guys are working exceptionally long hours, going straight from one test to the next. So the plan is to have three major winter tests which will be split by about a week, leading up to the season and then another test in the early-ish part of the season perhaps after the flyaways, perhaps just after one of the European races, the Mercedes boss concluded. I think thats a better programme.

Short Straights
n Where do you go from a 600,000 engagement party featuring Rihanna? If youre Petra Ecclestone, youngest daughter of Bernie, the only answer is a three-day 1.3 million wedding. According to reports in the British media, Petras celebritystyle wedding to take place at the same Italian castle that was the backdrop to Tom Cruises marriage to Katie Holmes will see private performances from Eric Clapton and the Black Eyed Peas, plus a 40,000 midnight fireworks extravaganza. American tabloids are reporting that Petra is planning a post-wedding Stateside bash in her recently-acquired $85 million LA mansion. n Get ready for Force Indias next top model. Or something like that, anyway. According to reports in the Indian media, national TV network NDTV Good Times will begin airing the second season of Force India The Fast and the Gorgeous this week. FITFatG (not the best acronym ever) narrows down 16 babes to one eventual winner of a competition to be the face of the Force India F1 team. Competitors will be judged on endurance, speed, and overall appeal. n BBC pundit Eddie Jordan has accused the Renault team management of bullying. Both team principal Eric Boullier and chairman Gerard Lopez have said publicly that the German needs to up his game, despite the fact that hes two points ahead of team-mate Vitaly Petrov in the championship. They probably want to wear him down so he throws in the towel voluntarily, said Jordan, who went on to defend his former driver. For me hes Mr Consistency. 2004 was a very difficult year for Jordan financially, and we could not give him the car that he deserved. The same is true also at the moment of the Lotus-Renault, he added.

Haug: Mercedes needs more time

WHEN Mercedes announced that they would be buying Brawn GP, the 2009 double-title winning team, and had signed seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher as a driver, expectations were high. But mid-way through the well-funded teams second season, Mercedes best result has been three third place finishes scored by Nico Rosberg. According to Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug, the Brackley-based racing outfit needs more time before it can challenge for wins and eventual championships. In a wide-ranging interview with Autosport, Haug spoke of high expectations, a poor start to the season, and an everdecreasing gap to the front of the pack, Compared to Red Bull, it took five years to build up that system and the first race was won by Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso, which is a similar car, Haug told Autosport. With all respect and credit to them, it has taken time. We need to accept that it needs building up time. Im not speaking about two years from now, but a longer period of time. If you achieve [success] in less than five years without throwing money at it, which teams did in the past, then you are really very special. After Februarys pre-season tests were

completed, it was widely believed that Mercedes 2011 challenger would be more competitive than the MGP W01. You could argue that our anticipation from the beginning was not exactly spot on, Haug told Autosport, and we had this cooling issue we had to concentrate on resolving, so once the train had started and you need to run behind the train, then its quite difficult [to catch up]. But in a way, if we were in the same position it would be worrying if the gap became bigger and bigger. There is an intense rhythm of development. Speak to Ferrari, speak to McLaren, speak to Red Bull and they will admit that they have upgrades at each and every race. While it might not be immediately obvious that the gap to the front is narrowing, Haug cited statistics that speak for themselves: In Australia, the difference to the leaders was 2.3 percent, in Malaysia 2.0 percent, in China 1.0 percent, in Turkey 0.6 percent more than half a second in Spain 2 percent, Monaco 1.5 percent, Canada 1.1. percent, Great Britain 1.1 percent, Germany 1.3 percent. Anyway, I think its stabilized in a way, Haug continued. The rhythm that the front cars are having is changing, but we have at least kept the same margin. The target is to start on a higher basis and then go from there.

>> F1 NEWS

Ecclestone sued over F1 sale

FOLLOWING the revelations that F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone paid $44 million in alleged bribes to German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, the sports former owner has sued over $100 million in lost payments. Prior to the 2005 sale of Formula One to CVC Capital Partners, the sport was owned by Constantin Medien AG, an important German media group. Constantin Medien acquired a 50 percent stake in F1 in 2000 for $1.6 billion, but sold up when they were required to pay a further billion for an additional 25 percent under the terms of a put option. Constantin Mediens decision not to follow through with the put option saw a number of German banks including Bayerische Landesbank, Gribkowskys employer take over control of the Formula One business and sale. While formal details of Constantin Mediens case against Ecclestone, holding company Bambino Holdings, Gribkowsky, and Stephen Mullens a business partner of Ecclestones have yet to be released, it is thought that the case rests on the alleged manipulation of the sale which cost the German media giant an estimated $100 million. CVC has yet to comment on what has become known as the Gribkowsky affair, but Britains Daily Telegraph reports that the investment firm will be discussing the issue at an extraordinary meeting in September, designed to alleviate investors concerns.

and blames BBC for Sky F1 deal

FORMULA One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has told the British media that the BBC is responsible for F1s move to subscription television service Sky Sports. In an interview with British tabloid The Mirror, Ecclestone explained that the BBCs existing contract was the stumbling block to deals with terrestrial stations ITV and Channel 4. In addition, he revealed, it was the BBC not FOM who opened up negotiations with Sky. The BBC/Sky deal, which was announced in Hungary last month, will see the two broadcasters share F1 coverage from 2012 to 2018. The BBCs original exclusive contract was due to expire at the end of 2013. [The BBC] had a contract in force already, from 2012 all the way through to 2014. They got to grips with Sky themselves, Ecclestone told The Mirror. According to Ecclestone, the BBCs existing contract prevented FOM from negotiating with other broadcasters. If [Channel 4] had said they wanted to sign a contract today to start broadcasting for 45m a year, then we would have probably

done it. But thats the problem. We couldnt deal with them, even if they had wanted to. I spoke with ITV and came up with the same problem as Channel 4 had, he explained. We had a contract with the BBC which didnt run out until 2014. We couldnt very well do a deal with other people for them to start doing something next year, because we had that contract. Other broadcasters wouldnt want to wait until 2014 to decide

Kolles: HRT not planning to join FOTa

HRT team principal Colin Killes ACCORDING to HRT team principal Colin Kolles, the Spanish racing outfit have no plans to rejoin the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA). The Spanish team took the decision to leave FOTA in January 2011; a statement released at the time explained the decision came about because membership made no sense for a small team as we are, because of the politics. But given the financial struggles HRT were experiencing at the time, and reports that the team had in fact been expelled for non-payment of dues, it was widely believed that the exit was motivated by money, not politics. In an interview with Autosport, Kolles explained that the decision was political, not financial. In his eyes, Kolles said, FOTA was an organisation for the front running teams who were unwilling to support those outfits lower down the grid. To my knowledge, FOTA is just a name and its not really existing if you take it in the real world, Kolles told Autosport. We are very happy as it is. Maybe we can think about things if people would accommodate our needs, but I think we understand our own problems better than the chairman of FOTA, who runs maybe a different structure, so I dont see the need for somebody else to negotiate our commercial deals. I think we are good enough and strong enough to negotiate our own deals, the confident team boss concluded.

Malaysia to host F1 in Schools final

ORGANISERS of F1 in Schools have announced that this years finals will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the runup to the neighbouring Singapore Grand Prix. It is always our aim to tie in our World Finals with a Formula One Grand Prix and with the proximity of Malaysia to Singapore we are able to offer the students the addon of a trip to the Singapore Grand Prix, Founder and Chairman of F1 in Schools Andrew Denford told Formula1.com. Out of seven F1 in Schools World Finals held since the competitions inception in 1999, two will have been hosted by Malaysia, Denford said. This will be the second time that the World Finals have been held in Malaysia, with our first visit in 2008 proving to be highly successful, he said. We are delighted that we have received official endorsement from the Ministry for Education in Malaysia. With their support we are anticipating another very popular and well-staged event and we know that the students who have won through to the World Finals from their National events will have the trip of a lifetime when they arrive in this beautiful country. There are over 800 schools engaged in F1 in Schools in Malaysia so

Founder and Chairman of F1 in Schools Andrew Denford

home grown competition will be even stronger this year! F1 in Schools is open to 15 million students around the world, and was designed to promote careers in mathematics, engineering, science and technology. Entrants design and manufacture a model F1 car powered by compressed air before racing their machines on a specially-designed 20metre track. The 2011 World Final will see 23 competing teams from 17 countries arrive in Kuala Lumpur with the aim of winning automotive and motorsport engineering scholarships to Londons City University.

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>> F1 NEWS

Lotus boss buys QPR from Bernie and Flav

TEAM Lotus boss Tony Fernandes has bought a controlling stake in British Premier League football club Queens Park Rangers from former owners Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore. The opportunity to get involved with the club was mentioned to me by the previous owners and here I am, Fernandes told the teams website. Ive always wanted to be involved in football and the appeal of a London club, like QPR, was too good an opportunity to turn down. Fernandes is known to be a West Ham fan, but two previous attempts to buy the club were both unsuccessful. In addition to owning a controlling stake in Queens Park Rangers, the Malaysian businessman will serve as the teams chairman. Ecclestone owned the lions share of his and Briatores interest after buying the bulk of the Italian businessmans shares at the end of 2010; their joint interest in QPR began in 2007. Briatore and Ecclestone originally held a 66 percent stake in the club, which Fernandes has now acquired. The remaining one-third interest belongs to steel giant Lakshmi Mittal.

For your daily dose of Formula 1 news ...

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EXT years factory Yamaha M1 made a belated debut at the postBrno test day, with both Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies revelling in the extra horsepower, and carving chunks of time of their best laps on this years 800cc machine almost a full second for the American. It was an excellent showing for a first attempt, on a day when all factory teams except the absent Suzuki made the most of warm dry weather, confounding forecasts of rain. But Casey Stoner sent a warning shot across Yamahas bow, in his own second test of the upgraded prototype of Hondas 2012 machine: setting a time almost half-asecond quicker.

Yamaha 1000 breaks out at Brno but Honda tops the time sheets N
Hondas tests were confined to the new 1000, while Yamaha also tested upgrades to the 800cc motor, with a positive if lukewarm response for the riders, who still hope for more. But both were thrilled with the 1000cc experience. I realised the 1000cc bike was incredible when I saw the power on the straight, said Lorenzo, who only reluctantly turned back to his 800. Ive been just an hour with our future bike and I can say that the next MotoGP season will be amazing. much more power, and you go out of the corners sliding. I cant wait. Spies echoed the enthusiasm. For the first day to go faster than the 800 was a surprise, and theres more improvements

to be made for sure. Stoner ran into chatter problems that he thought would be easily fixable, adding to his earlier comments by saying Its a lot of fun incredible acceleration, most of the time too much. For Dani Pedrosa, just over a second off Stoners top time and fourth overall, it reminded him of his entry to MotoGP, in the last year of the 990s. You can feel the difference in torque and power. Perhaps I was still riding it with 800cc style: I need a little more understanding again to ride it differently. But the bike seems to work quite well. The factory Yamahas topped the 800cc times, with third-placed Nicky Hayden (Ducati) over a second down.

1

>> Moto GP news

CRT teams take heart as SuterBMW steps up

TILL the only CRT machine to have seen the light of day, the Suter-BMW that had been so disappointing on its first outing at Mugello took a big step forward at the second attempt, with rider Mika Kallio (right) cutting one full third off the margin to Stoners fastest time. The improvement is the more significant because the sixsecond gap at Mugello was to an 800cc machine, whereas 4.083 seconds at Brno was compared with a full 1000cc Honda, itself more than half-a-second faster than the 800. The lap time renewed hopes for several entrants to the class: both the proposed Interwetten team and the Marc VDS team that is helping develop the Suter had been wavering in their resolve after the discouraging first outing. IRTA general secretary Mike Trimby said there was still some doubt about some of the teams accepted for MotoGP this year, and that they will lose their deposits if they pull out.At the moment, as far as we know, Forward Racing and Speed Master are going ahead, BQR have a Kawasaki project under way. There was some doubt about Paddock GP Racing and Marc VDS, pending results of Brno tests which were more encouraging. We extended the deadline for Kiefer Racing, but that extension has passed. Their participation depends on getting the backing to run a satellite Honda for Stefan Bradl.

HE old men of the MotoGP grid Loris Capirossi (38) and Colin Edwards (37) are both considering deferring planned retirement for one more year. And each may end up back on the World Superbike grid, if there is no MotoGP slot available. Capirossi had promised an important announcement at the last round at Brno, and had hinted it would be or retirement. But instead he said the announcement would come only in two races time

Capirossi and Edwards eye Superbike switch

and this time a different possibility has emerged: of a return to Ducati, in the production-machine series. Edwards had also expected that this would be his last year, having already prolonged his career considerably longer than he had expected. My plan was that at 32 or 33 Id be done. And I could have done that. Problem is, I am still motivated to race motorcycles. Edwards hoped he might stay at Yamahas satellite Tech 3 team for another

year, but negotiations were not promising, as his next comment about Yamaha racing boss Lin Jarvis revealed. In Lin Jarviss eyes [the motivation] is a bad thing. In my eyes ... Im the boss of me. Ill decide what I want to do. He had been in contact with BMW, he admitted, in talks about joining the factory Superbike team. Ive spoken to them. Theres an idea ... but theres also another idea. Well wait and see.

13

HIGH SIDES
n Nortons injection of funds 7.5-million from the British Government has not reawakened the firms immediate interest in the GP return. Norton had made tentative enquiries earlier this year, according to teams association IRTA, but nothing had been heard since. n The Indianapolis Mile a round of the US flat track Grand National championship and a favourite raceeve entertainment to MotoGP has been cancelled, in the wake of the collapse of stage overhead rigging in a storm during a country music concert two weeks before the race. Five people were killed in the collapse and the track strewn with debris. Due to the police investigation, it cannot be moved. n Opposition from World Superbike to the use of production engines can be expected to die away, after confirmation that Dorna owners Bridgepoint Finance had taken financial control of InFront, the Dorna equivalent in SBK. Racing pundits foresee further dumbing down of SBK regulations to take the series further from MotoGP and closer to its street-bike roots. n Stoners Brno win saw him overtake first Australian champion Wayne Gardner with a 54th rostrum appearance putting him one ahead of the 1987 winner. Stoner has 29 premier class wins to Gardners 18. But he has a long way to go to catch compatriot Mick Doohan, with 95 rostrum visits, 54 of them in first place and only 10 in third. n Swiss chassis manufacturer Suter is contemplating a small production run of the Suter-BMW currently undergoing tests for next years MotoGP class. The machines would be sold to private buyers for trackday use. n Fast blonde US Supersport rider Elena Myers is to get her go on a Suzuki MotoGP bike after all. A test proposed last year but fell through: now she will essay a few laps at Indianapolis on the day before practice. Shes fast not for a girl, just fast, team boss Paul Denning told pressmen.

Times not important for Ducati test

UCATI concentrated on its current 800cc machine at the Brno test, and on gathering data on various extreme chassis setting for the future with lap times taking a back seat in a busy day at Brno. Valentino Rossi ran a full 75 laps more than three times race distance calling in an out of the pits for different parts and settings, and to debrief with his engineers and Ducati Corse chief Filippo Preziosi. Nicky Hayden ran a few laps on his race bike, the step-two GP11 just to start from zero, and then switched to the completely different GP11.1 that Rossi has been racing since Assen, five races before. As when he had ridden the new bike briefly at Laguna, I was immediately just as fast, but steadily through the day, I was quicker and quicker. He plans to finish the season with the machine. For Rossi, it was a day of research and experiment, engine up sixth-fastest out of the 800cc bikes, but more than 1.5 seconds off the pace. We tried many changes in every outing. Its not easy riding like that, as it requires a lot of concentration, he said. Apart

from some electronic updates, we were thinking more toward the future, mainly trying different geometries, weight distributions, and settings that were a little strange everything to remove any doubts and to understand some things about the GP11.1. It was a successful test, even if we sacrificed some performance, since we had other objectives. Preziosi, fending off questions as to whether he was making an aluminium chassis, explained the philosophy. We used the day to try very extreme setup solutions, with the goal of giving the engineers guidance for the nextgeneration bikes. Therefore, we brought parts that allowed us to make much bigger adjustments than is normally possible. Practically, these are tests that help us to understand what happens when you move the centre of gravity significantly or increase stiffness by an extreme amount, and so on. Some of the experiments involved a less rigid front axle mounting, and steeringbearing inserts with a small degree of controlled compliance, to make up for the very stiff monocoque chassis.

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1

>> Moto GP news

OTOGP bosses are bracing themselves for a fresh twist in the riders revolution about the Motegi GP, as they await clarification of reports that Rossi does not intend to attend the rescheduled race on October 2 because of his fears of radiation. Rossi was quoted by various Italian sources as well as the BBC as calling the rescheduling of the race the wrong decision, and saying: I really dont think Ill go to Japan. His words fly in the face of the favourable independent report, describing the radiation risk as negligible. Riders had been expected to abide by the

Motegi Rossi clouds the waters

findings of the report; while factory riders for Japanese teams have also had massive pressure to attend the race. After the race at Brno, Rossi told GPWeek: Honestly, I am afraid to go to Motegi. Later reports quoted him as saying: I was hoping the championship organisers would make the right decision, but that hasnt been the case and now weve got a serious problem. IRTA General Secretary Mike Trimby said: Its a bit confusing. We hope to find out the truth of it at Indy. If he has made that decision, it could affect some of the satellite teams too. Until now Rossi has avoided making a definite statement. Both Stoner and Lorenzo had earlier said they would not go, but at Brno both prepared the ground to change their minds, with Stoner revealing the statement had been made at a highly emotional time, when we had just discovered that Adriana was pregnant. Footnote: The first international event at the Motegi circuit, the penultimate round of the World Trials Championship, took place at the track on Saturday, with a couple of absentees. A NASCAR race is also scheduled to take place there before the MotoGP race.

Cagiva and MV Augusta chief Castiglioni dies

as success in motocross and the Paris Dakar rally, the brothers also supported an independent 500cc GP bike, which was unsuccessful for many years until in 1991 Claudio recruited four-times champion Eddie Lawson. The effort was transformed, with Lawson winning the marques first GP in 1992. John Kocinski later added two more race wins. From his Varese base, Castiglioni also bought Husqvarna and Moto Morini, and was owner for a time of Ducati.
The world of MoTorsporT direcTly To your deskTo

LAUDIO Castiglioni, founder of the Cagiva motorcycle brand and the man who revived MV Agusta, has died at the age of 64. The industrialist and patron of the Cagiva GP teams death was announced by MV Agusta. He died after a long battle with cancer last Wednesday. He was president of the company; his son Giovanni had already taken his place. Claudio, together with his brother Gianfranco, founded Cagiva motorcycles at the steel works founded b his father. As well

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1

Loeb Stays On
SEVEN times World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb has decided to stay on in the sport for another two years, still with Citroen, throwing open the door for continued high-tension pressure as Loeb struggles to maintain his superiority over his younger teammate Sebastien Ogier. Viewing the situation from Citroen's opposition, M-Sport chief Malcolm Wilson, commented: I think it is fantastic. A lot of people say oh, its going to make it more difficult (for Citroen)' sure its going to make it difficult because Sebastien Loeb is the best, the most successful driver. But we, I personally, see it as a challenge for us. It is a real challenge to find a way to keep him off the top step of the podium." And what of the Loeb/Ogier dynamics? We've seen some of the incidents (within Citroen) this year and I'm sure in Loeb's new contract a lot of those issues are going to be addressed, but I suppose we'll all have to wait and see what happens on rallies in the future. Put it this way I don't see this as a problem. For me that would be a nice problem." Jari-Matti Latvala: I was expecting that he would retire. He has got everything, all the possible records. So I was thinking that he has achieved everything if he is champion at the end of this year. If Sebastien had stopped it would have bought one more place open which would have created quite a lot of interest in who is going to

take that place but I don't think we will see any major changes. As for Sebastien Ogier, I do not think he will want to look for an escape clause in his contract. He's got another two years left of his contract so they are both going to be out of contract at the same time. I'm sure he'll look upon (Loeb's continued presence) as a challenge because it is a great chance for him if he can find a way to beat him on a regular basis then for sure he is going to be standing on the top step of the podium as well."

Citroen and Peugeot go for R4T

OLIVIER Quesnel (pictured right), competition chief for Citroen and Peugeot, has confirmed that both Citroen and Peugeot want to prepare cars for the new R4T four-wheel-drive rally formula. "We expect to be ready with the Citroen car, based on the DS3 R3, at the start of the 2012 season. In relation to the Peugeot, this will come later, because it will be based on a new model, the new 207'. The final decision will only be made once the new formula has been ratified by the World Motor Sport Council, and if we are convinced that R4T will be considerably cheaper than the current S2000. We want the finished car to cost half of the 2-litre normally-aspirated S2000 cars say 170,000 Euros not only at the start of the formula but to continue to be available at that level into the future." After his company privately express concern about the cost viability of the proposed R4T rules, which protagonists hope will become a poor man's S2000', Ford of Europe's competition chief Gerard Quinn has emphasised that future competition formulae must ensure that costs are affordable. In relation to the new R4T formula, only Citroen and Peugeot have homologated 1.6 litre turbo cars with direct injection, which the proposed R4T rules demand, but Ford have the Eco Boost version of the Focus fitted with this engine in production. Ford sources have not announced plans for this vehicle to be used in competition. "Our wish is that new technology can be enjoyed by customers in competition," said Quinn.

Henriksson leaves the Academy

VICTOR Henriksson, the Swedish WRC Academy driver who withdrew from Rallye Deutschland, has confirmed he has run out of budget following the crash in the Neste Rally Finland and will have to quit the Academy series. He is now starting to work towards a programme for 2013, when he hopes to run a 4WD probably mainly in Sweden. Victor came to prominence when he was awarded a scholarship from M-Sport after an international selection process under the Fiesta International Sporting Trophy scheme in 2008. He is the third driver forced to withdraw from the Academy this year, so 15 drivers remain.

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>> RALLY news

Qatar Plans a WRC team

COLLEAGUES of Nasser Al Attiyah say that the chances of Nasser continuing with Volkswagen are almost zero, following Nassers sponsors demand that he contests Dakar in 2012, which VW will not do. Nasser should know in the next few days if BMW will make it possible for him to compete in Dakar 2012 in one of their Minis. Meanwhile a five-year plan for Qatar to be active in world championship rallying is progressing, starting with Nasser to drive selected WRC events in 2012. Meetings were expected to be held in Trier between Qatar authorities and Citroen to discover if this would be possible. Nasser: The budget is promised for a five-year activity, starting with me driving a World Rally Car, while the team finds a young driver from Qatar to support. Motor sport in Qatar is now growing fast and high and there are many young drivers who want to go rallying. My dream is to have a WRC team like Abu Dhabi! My other dream, my personal Qatar Olympic shooting dream, is still alive. 2012 will be a good season

Sideways to Success
CITROEN'S resounding success in Germany came not so much from weather forecasting, as expected, but from tyre management. All the teams knew there was a risk of rain, and none of them knew how heavy it would be, and the winning trick came with knowing how to mount the hard and the soft tyres, and on which wheels they should be used. While all the other top team cars left service with five tyres all hard compound, Citroen left with a total of six, of which only two were hard compound. Their drivers left the service park en route to the first stage in the loop with two soft tyres mounted on the right-hand side of the car and two hard tyres mounted on the left, and both drivers carried two soft tyres as spares. The first stage was dry and Latvala's Ford, fitted with all hard tyres, was quickest, but the storm gathered before Stage 2, with no certainty of intensity, and the Citroen drivers then placed the two spare soft tyres on the car instead of the hard tyres. The rest of the story is history. The only unexplained factor about Rallye Deutschland, however, is why Ford had so many punctures and Citroen had only one.

No more NASCAR for Raikkonen.

KIMI Raikkonen told Finnish colleagues in Trier that he has lost interest in racing round ovals and his special motivation is for rallying. He declined to say what he wanted to do after the end of this season, but he is encouraged by his rallying speed this year. He said that on every event he has been happier than he was last year. In NORF, he finished third highest Finn, behind Latvala and Hirvonen.

Twisters also give you wings

AS staff in the service park at Trier two days before the start of the rally pondered the ever-present threat of sudden rain storms came a big surprise a twister descended from the sky. Two teams were taken completely by surprise. The Red Bull-sponsored Skoda team suddenly saw their awnings floating across the service park roads, and next to them the Petter Solberg team had the same experience with their awning. And just across the access way they saw an even more shocking sight their product sales manager was floating through the air, still holding on to his own awning: "I suppose we flew some 15 metres, two or three metres above the ground. Instinct told me I must not let go." Red Bull is not exclusive in giving you wings

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5 MINUTES WITH ...

NICK HEIDFELD

Adam Hay-Nicholls asks the German veteran if he could cut the mustard on Masterchef, and whether hed like to punch another driver ...
GPWEEK: What were your emotions when you heard Robert Kubica had personally recommended you for this job? NICK HEIDFELD: Obviously it was nice to hear. We worked together for nearly four seasons at BMW Sauber, so he knows me quite well. From which driver have you learned the most in your career? This is a difficult question. Ive tried to learn from every team-mate Ive had, and the more inexperienced you are, the more you learn from the other driver. Visualization is key to many drivers race prep. What do you think about before the visor comes down? I always try to focus on what is ahead of me. Before the race, Im thinking about the start. Before qualifying Im visualizing the perfect lap. Do KERS and DRS legitimately improve the show, or does it make passing too easy? I think its a bit of both. It makes passing too easy sometimes, but on the other hand it what the fans want. They want more overtaking. From my point of view I dont like things that are too artificial, although in Barcelona for example, where I started last and finished eighth, it was great. In the past, in Barcelona, there would be no show at all. One car would drive behind the other for the entire race. Thats painfully boring, isnt it? So KERS makes a difference, although you can argue that if everyone has it theres no advantage. Thats not entirely true because you still chose where you use it. If you could re-write the rule book, what changes would you make to the F1 regs? Thats a good question. I dont know, I think its not bad at the moment. I didnt like in the past how qualifying was on race fuel, so you didnt know who had the fastest car until the first round of pit-stops.

Yeah, at the moment its good. Ill have to think about what Id change. How would you describe your driving style? I wouldnt, but people from the outside say Im quite a smooth driver, which is demonstrated by the fact that I get a lot of life out of the tyres. Sometimes, though, being gentle is a problem because I struggle to heat them up. I like to think that I can read the conditions well, especially during the race. Im not bad at overtaking, and I actually enjoy that quite a lot. Whats been the best passing move of your career? I think in 2007 and 2008 I had a few nice ones. Probably the best was on Alonso when he was at McLaren in 2007, in Bahrain. I got him on the outside going into Turn 4. And then I had a few double overtakings in 2008. Malaysia especially was quite nice. Whats been your scariest experience in a racing car? [long pause] Well two come to mind. The first was in Austria when I hit Takuma Sato, backwards, very heavily. I wasnt really hurt, I just had a bit of a limp afterwards. I got out and he stayed in the car. That was very scary because I didnt know if he was okay or not. Youre always scared if youre approaching a wall at high speed and out of control. I think my scariest crash was at a circuit that everyone considers

to be very safe Le Castellet, in France. There are many possibilities for different circuit configurations there. Instead of on a straight having the Armco either side, some are at a stupid angle. Unluckily I once hit one at a very dangerous angle. When was the last time you wanted to punch another driver? I think that was in China, where I was close to getting a good result. I could have maybe been on the podium, but on the last lap, at the penultimate corner, there was a big mess with drivers just sitting in their cars. I tell you, I did think about it. Black and gold are obviously very evocative colours. Were you already watching grands prix when the JPSLotuss were racing? What are your memories from this period? No, it was really before I started taking an active interest in F1, although I had seen pictures of course. Those cars were iconic and as a young boy I did absorb that imagery. Youre a bit of a gourmet arent you? Whats your favourite meal to cook yourself? Well I dont cook that much, but yes I do love to eat! At home I rarely find the time to cook. Would you ever go on Masterchef? Oh goodness, definitely not!

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>> F1 CHAT

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Something to say? Email us at mail@gpweek.com

Email us

Whereto the laurel? Very interesting note about champagne and car racing celebrations! It reminded me about a curiosity I had for some time now: When and why have laurel wreaths disappeared from F1 celebrations. Any idea? Thanks! Hector Velasquez, Los Angeles, CA, USA hvelasq@gmail.com ED: In the modern sponsored world of F1, a wreath covers the sponsors' logos on drivers' race suits ... Stats tell a story? I was interested to read John Gray's comments about Valentino's lack of ability on the Ducati and did a bit of quick research... Casey Stoner completed the 22 laps of the Czech GP in 2010 on a Ducati in a time of 43' 34.064 (with a fastest lap time of 1'58.121), finishing in third position. Valentino Rossi completed the 22 laps in 2011 in a time of 43' 29.428 (with a fastest lap of 1' 57.844) finishing in 6th position. What this proves is that although Valentino was, on average, 0.210 seconds a lap faster than Casey on the same bike (which it isn't) the pace of development from 2010 to 2011 (particularly by Honda) has left the current Ducati trailing in its wake. When a rider joins a new team he is relying on the development of the previous year's riders to give him his starting point for the season. What the current situation at Ducati highlights is the lack of development at the tail end of last season (perhaps Casey already knew he was moving on) and perhaps we should be praising Dani Pedrosa a bit more for providing Casey with a race-winning bike for this season. Rossi should therefore be judged on the bike he is developing for 2012, and perhaps the true test of Stoner's abilities will be to see how competitive he can be on the 1000 cc 2012 machine which is being developed from the "feedback" he gives. I like a bit of national pride but not when it turns to jingoism! David Pickworth david@chrome4croc.com Double Acts Recently saw the Senna movie and was reminded of the ferocity of the Senna-Prost feud. And now, in WRC we have Loeb-Ogier developing nicely. F1? The movie also reminded me how sanitised F1 (drivers) are now! Michel Dupres Ontario, Canada

Looking forwar
opinion

NAOISE HOLOHAN
GPWeek Deputy Editor

This coming weekend will mark 20 years since Michael Schumacher first arrived in Formula One, having raced a Jordan from seventh on the grid to a first lap retirement at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. While the German celebrates the past with a gathering in the paddock to mark the special occasion, those looking to the future will be watching out for young Mercedes protege Paul di Resta. I met Paul for the first time just over a year ago at the 2010 British Grand Prix. Back then the young Scot was on his way to a well-deserved DTM crown and an equally well-deserved call-up to the Force India race team for 2011. As drivers go, he was a very likeable character, well-spoken, honest, engaging and down-to-earth. At the time, Paul chatted to me about his

hopes to be promoted from a test seat with the Silverstone team, but now 12 months on, hes eyeing much grander targets in the form of a Mercedes race seat. While its easy to dismiss Pauls credentials thanks to his unorthodox route to F1, which included an unprecedented four years in DTM, he is a serious talent. He (now) famously beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel to the 2006 Formula 3 Euroseries crown and, although F1 would have been an obvious follow-up, the rising star had to turn his attention to DTM, as McLaren were Mercedes only partner in F1 at the time. But now, with Michael Schumachers uncertain future and Nico Rosberg yet to extend his contract with the team, Paul may well find himself at the wheel of a Mercedes GP W03 next season, the world champions of just a few years ago, lets not forget. Although a Force India driver at present, di Resta is primarily a Mercedes recruit, being stored at Silverstone to gain valuable race experience before making the inevitable jump to Mercedes factory at Brackley.

Sentimental jour
MIcHAEL ScOtt
MotoGP Editor
Racing will be robbed of an annual treat next weekend. The cancellation of the Indy Mile (see News briefs) means the oneweekend visitors will miss out on what had, in a short space of time, become a high point of the season. Theres nothing quite like a brakeless 750 V-twin all clattering pushrods bucking and thundering down a surprisingly long straight at more than a ton, then being hurled sideways, power back on hard, to set it up for the looping 180-degree curve. Acceleration is under power obviously; but so also is turning and (to a degree) even slowing down. Throttle control is everything, and even the most callow 125 rookie can understand that. What he might not fully appreciate is the debt GP racing owes to the Indy Mile and scores of other mile and half-mile ovals the breadth of the USA.

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opinion

>> GPWEEK OPINION

ds, not backwards

With the season beginning to draw to a close, next weekends Belgian Grand Prix offers Paul a fantastic opportunity to prove his talent. All-toooften in recent races luck has conspired against him to deny him a points-scoring finish. At his home race in Silverstone, a superb sixth on the grid was lost to a fumbled pitstop, and then in Germany, while teammate Sutil was wowing all and sundry with a drive to sixth, di Resta was battling his way through from last having been tapped into a spin early in the first lap. In Belgium though, di Resta returns to a happy stomping ground for Force India. Since 2009 when the new regulations came in, Force India have been on top of their game there. In 2009, Giancarlo Fisichella took pole and was only denied victory by Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen, while last year, Adrian Sutil came home in fifth place to record his teams jointbest finish of the year. Theres no denying that di Resta has shown solid potential so far this year, with top ten finishes in his first two races and a 7-4 qualifying lead over team-mate Sutil. In Belgium however, he has a chance to be fighting with the main Mercedes team, and has a great chance to show Mercedes bosses that hes the man for the job. Any lingering doubts they may have about Schumachers commitment or Rosbergs killer instinct could bring an eye-catching drive by di Resta further into focus. One final push of encouragement is all it might take. Beating your team-mate and scoring the odd point here or there is all well and good, but a top-five finish in a midfield Force India is sure to catch the attention of top Mercedes executives.

rney

For a spell, quite a long spell, if you hadnt perfected your craft on US or Australian dirt tracks, you neednt apply for a chance of winning the 500cc World Championship. The cross-over started with the recently departed and sadly missed Gary Nixon, Kenny Roberts and a couple of others. Roberts became the only rookie World Champion in the premier class in 1978, and won the next two years straight. The next generation took over completely from 1984 (four-time champion Eddie Lawson) until the end of Mick Doohans reign in 1998. Only Kevin Schwantz (1993) came to GPs via a different route.

Things are so different now. Rossi and the older riders came in mainly via Italian mini-bike racing round go-kart tracks; Pedrosa and the rest have climbed Dornas riders ladder: via rookie cups and the Spanish national championships. The technique imprinted on them from pre-teen years is what works best with modern bikes and tyres. Stoner is the exception. He cut his teeth on Oz pre-teen dirt-tracks before going to Spain. It explains a lot. The technical explanation is clear enough. Dirt-trackers learn how to ride with too much power and not enough grip.

The rise of the two-stroke in the 500 class meant the same conditions applied: chassis were flimsy and tyres even more so. You had to go out of control to keep control. It could hardly be different with the 800cc MotoGP bikes. A modern rider has instead to cut the finest edge on a precisely defined limit. Some hope for a return to knockabout racing with next years 1000cc bikes. And a new generation of dirt-track heroes? Sadly, I think not. Unless they bring back the same tyres and chassis they had in 1980. And switch off all those electronics.

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>> F1 FEATURE

THE DEBUTANT
22-24 August 1991
Adam Hay-Nicholls turns the clock back 20 years to re-live the arrival of Michael Schumacher

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When youve never driven an F1 car before and after two laps youre taking Eau Rouge flat, well I couldnt believe it. Andrea de Cesaris trails off. And its not from embarrassment, because while some might find it hard to take youve competed in 160 grands prix and suddenly heres this kid who youve never heard of and the only experience he has to his name is 20 laps of Silverstone three days ago, and now your race engineer is showing you telemetry which confirms the new boy is quicker than you, and its Friday and not even lunchtime yet Andrea feels no bitterness. Just sheer admiration and a sense of pride that he was there. Andrea was Michael Schumachers first Formula One teammate and he knew he would be dining out on that story for the rest of his life. I said to my engineer: This guys got guts. I realized straight away that he wasnt just some newcomer this guy could really drive. Now its easy to say that he was really bloody quick, but Spa is no picnic. Its one of the toughest tracks, very quick, long and extremely challenging. In short, its unforgiving and I expected the rookie to struggle there. Id never met him before we arrived at the circuit. Straight away he was as quick as me. My engineer, Gary Anderson, came to me and said: Look, Michael is taking Blanchimont flat and youre not. You have to take

this corner flat. For me it was a very demanding weekend! Legendary British journalist Denis Jenkinson was standing at the crest of Eau Rouge and took note. Jenks was a man who had spent the previous half-century watching the best in the business at close quarters. He timed each driver with a stopwatch from the La Source hairpin through to when they passed him, and announced the 22-year-old fifth fastest behind Senna, Mansell, Patrese and Berger. He was right of course, says Financial Times writer James Allen, who was next to Jenks during Friday qualifying. The Jordan looked amazing. Jenks said that we should keep an eye on this boy. He looked like the real thing. Michael Schumacher was an underground talent who had gone largely unnoticed by all but F1s sharpest spotters. After winning the German F3 title in 1990 he had been signed to Mercedes-Benz, who ran him in their Group C Sportscar team alongside countrymen Karl Wendlinger and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Many stories have been told about who really was the quickest of us three, recalls Frentzen. Lets put it this way, we were pretty much on the same level in those 800bhp silver arrows, and it was not always Michael who was quickest. I met Michael once when he was in Group C, says Gerhard Berger. I wouldnt say that I made a note of him

having the potential that he would go on to prove, because once youre in Formula One you dont pay much attention to Group C and places like this. We were all a bit surprised when he turned up at Spa and was really strong. He came out of nowhere really. The Jordan seat had come on the market following an incident which occurred at Londons Hyde Park Corner some eight months previously. Bertrand Gachot was driving his girlfriends Alfa Romeo when he collided with a taxi. An altercation between Gachot and the cabbie ensued, which resulted in the taxi driver being sprayed in the face with CS gas and Gachot appearing in court. Illegal in the UK, possession of the CS gas canister earned Gachot a six-month prison sentence which ran concurrently with the 18-months he received for assault. The F1 driver was led away in handcuffs. It was just a week before the Jordan boys would be heading out to Belgium and the team was short of a driver. Eddie Jordan considered several experienced pilots before he agreed to take Michael Schumacher, along with 150,000 of Mercedes money. I think Eddie must have seen him winning F3 in Macau, says former Jordan commercial director Ian Phillips. There were various people representing Michael coming to GPs and looking around. When Gachot got thrown in

Ive got to call him in and tell him to slow down ... Jordan engineer Trevor Foster after Michaels first four laps


>> F1 FEATURE

jail, Eddie sent me down the traditional route, which was: Derek Warwick, Keke Rosberg or Stefan Johannson. The Sunday before the race Eddie called me at 6pm to say Ive done a deal with Michael Schumacher. Eddie had been on holiday in Spain and had agreed the deal over the phone with, principally, Jochen Neerpasch, who was the competitions chief for Mercedes-Benz as well as an agent for IMG (Mark McCormacks sports management company). Michael was at the Nurburgring that weekend with the Sauber-Mercedes team. Twenty-four hours later we were all at Silverstone, says Phillips. Willi [Weber Michaels manager] and Michael turned up. He was as good as gold. We did a seat fitting for him, and the next day we went testing. After four laps Trevor Foster came on the radio and said Ive got to call him in and tell him to slow down. Phone Eddie and tell him weve got a star. I rang Eddie, and Eddie said Tell him hes in. Thats absolutely correct, confirms Foster, who was Schumachers race engineer in Belgium. We did a very small shakedown after the trucks had already left for Spa, just to let Michael familiarize himself with the controls. Instantly, within three laps, he looked like hed been in the car all season. He looked totally at home. Schumachers first taste of F1 came on the 1.969 mile Silverstones South Circuit,

which Jordan Grand Prix shared that Tuesday with the Brabham team. He only did about 20 laps, but his fastest lap was as good as wed ever done at that circuit, recounts Gary Anderson. His commitment and car control were very impressive. He pushed pretty hard and found the absolute limit. His English was acceptable but it was not brilliant, says Foster. He had to gain confidence in working with an English team. But it wasnt a problem, and over the weekend he got more confident in speaking the language. At no point was he overawed with the situation. It never fazed him. His fitness levels were right up to the mark. He said I dont know how fit you have to be to be a racing driver, but if Im as fit as I can be then I know that if the pace of the car drops off it isnt me getting tired, it must be something to do with the car, or the engine, or the track, or the tyres. He didnt want to leave anything to chance, he wanted to deal with known facts. Spa Francorchamps is no great distance from Michaels home town of Kerpen, and it was assumed that being a German racing driver with, despite his youth, a respectable portfolio of competition experience behind him, he would know the treacherous Ardennes tarmac as well as the back of his hand. In conversation with Eddie Jordan, Willi Weber alluded to this being true, but that wasnt the case.

Schumacher had never driven the circuit. From the word go he was very confident, says Gary Anderson. I said to him Ah, youve done sportscars so you must know Spa quite well. He admitted hed never actually seen the track, which came as a shock. On the Thursday evening he fished around in the boot of his Mercedes to reveal a foldup bicycle and went out for four pedalpowered laps while the team had their dinner. The next morning his mode of transport was the Jordan-Ford 191, chassis number five. Schumachers first qualifying run that Friday was spoiled when the red flags came out following Eric van de Poeles high-speed spin. After van de Poeles accident, I came straight back into the pits and had only one lap left in which to qualify, said Schumacher with some relish. To the disbelief of the entire paddock, he set a 1:53.290, the eighth-fastest time of the day. He went one place better on the Saturday, claiming a 1:51.212, and would have posted a quicker time had Jean Alesi not blocked him at the Bus Stop on his final lap. Yeah, sure, Im really happy, said Michael when he heard his final position. I have to say that with this car you can do this qualifying time. The car feels good, which makes it a lot of fun to drive. For the time Im really happy.

He went out for four pedal-powered laps while the team had their dinner. Michael had never driven around Spa
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What he couldnt do on the Friday he knew he could do on the Saturday, says Anderson. He knew he had a couple of days to build himself up and it wasnt worth trying to get everything perfect on day one and making a stupid mistake. He was disciplined. Foster recalls that Schumacher soon found where the limit was and stuck to it: Wed had a lot of promising youngsters have a go in the car that year and quite often theyd get ahead of themselves and go off. It was sometimes a bit of a problem, financially. We were quite under-resourced and one knock could ruin a whole weekend for us. Michael, in the sessions, was never out of the top eight. I pulled him in at one point to ask him Are you sure youre not going over the limit? His tone was just so calm: Its OK, dont worry, Im on the limit but Im not over it. He was totally relaxed and took everything in his stride. Michael suffered a water leak on the Cosworth in one of the sessions, and back then that would have been an engine-out job which would have put us out for the

rest of the afternoon. Andrea felt there was something wrong with his car too and, because he was the senior driver, took the spare car. To get more laps I asked Gary if it would be OK for Michael to take Andreas car. We bundled Michael in, and had no chance to even adjust the pedals or anything. Well, immediately, Michael was beating Andrea again it was surreal. Foster remembers their post-qualifying debrief as a clear indication of Michaels commitment in the cockpit: Andrea went into great detail about how, when he entered Blanchimont, the rear of the car would get very nervous, and there was a bump there where theyd resurfaced it. It would make the car unstable, which is why he wasnt able to take it flat. Andrea gave this long and detailed explanation, and at the end I asked Michael Is it the same for you? Michael said: Well, it was for the first three laps but after that I just took it flat. If you keep your foot planted it stabilizes the car and away you go. In Sector 3 he was always in the top three. Before he came into F1 he wasnt talked about as the next messiah, adds Foster.

People would say he wasnt as quick as Hakkinen or Frentzen. He wasnt the star man. Karl Wendlinger, who had been such a close match for Schumachers pace in Group C, was sitting at home listening to the radio when he heard of Michaels qualifying times: I had the weekend off and heard the Saturday result on the news. My first thought was: If he can walk in at such a high level, maybe I should start thinking about it too. Later that afternoon, though, for about half an hour it was questionable as to whether either Jordan driver would be taking to the track again that weekend. Belgian driver Philippe Adams claimed the team owed him money and, concerned that Eddie Jordan would leave Belgium without settling the debt, won a court order. Late on Saturday, police impounded Jordans garage and a bailiff demanded payment. We werent allowed to touch anything. The bailiff wanted about 140,000 I think, says Ian Phillips.



>> F1 FEATURE
We hadnt got it, and Eddie did a deal with Bernie who made sure the bailiff was OK. Eddie paid it back a few months later. It was sorted out very quickly and swept under the carpet. I dont honestly think Michael was aware of it. By the Sunday morning warm-up, having trading information, the Jordan team-mates were much closer. Michael finished the session fourth, one place ahead of de Cesaris and behind Patrese, Mansell and Senna. Schumacher lined up seventh on the grid for the race, Patrese having suffered a penalty because his reverse gear refused to engage. The way his mind worked was that if the car was up to scratch there was no reason why he couldnt win the race, says Foster. That might sound arrogant, but it wasnt arrogant in any way shape or form. Selfconfident, yes, but totally justified by the way he handled himself in and out of the car. Gantry lights extinguished, the whole field swept through La Source with no contact, but as they charged up the hill Schumacher was seen slowing. His race was over almost before it had begun. Having never taken a start before with a heavy fuel load, hed melted the clutch. The result was terminal. Jordans huge potential that day was best exhibited by de Cesaris who ran as high as third and had a possible victory within his grasp, but three laps before the flag his engine failed. Andrea did a great job that day, and I think some of it was down to Michael raising his game, says Foster. Im quite certain that if the clutch hadnt failed, Michael would have claimed a podium finish. Which step he would have stood on I wouldnt like to say. I had no chance to watch the race in jail, I was busy surviving, says Bertrand Gachot, who described Michael as a real gentleman when they met later that year. Some days later I received a letter from Andrea de Cesaris, a good friend. He wrote: That new boy dont worry! Im gonna get him at the next race! Schumacher and his entourage had left the circuit by the time the teams senior management came down from the pit wall. The next time Eddie Jordan and Ian Phillips saw Schumacher it was the Thursday night before Monza, at Lake Comos six-star Villa dEste. In Spa we stayed at a holiday camp. Five pounds a night. I shared a bathroom with him, says Phillips. In the space of a fortnight, Michael Schumacher had rocketed from being an unknown to the hottest property in Formula One and he had the lodgings to prove it. Phillips and Jordan had been summoned to the Villa dEste by Bernie Ecclestone. Since leaving Belgium 11 days earlier, their world had been turned upside down. Michaels talent had caught the eye of Benetton, a team which promised the opportunity to take Michael to the top. Ecclestone understood that a German championship hopeful would be box office gold and did all that he could to facilitate the deal. The two Jordan men stared through the plate glass windows as Schumacher, Ecclestone, Neerpasch, Weber, Flavio Briatore, Tom Walkinshaw and an army of lawyers finished their dessert course. The fact is that Schumacher, for whatever reason, had no contract with Jordan, revealed Walkinshaw, who was the Benetton team manager at the time. How anyone can allow a talent like that to be walking around the paddock I dont know. Thats their business. Neerpasch oversaw Schumacher sign a long-term contract with Benetton. Michael was having a seat fitting at Enstone on the Tuesday of that week when he sent his former boss a handwritten fax: Dear Eddie, Im sorry but I am unable to take up your offer of a drive. Yours sincerely, Michael. He would concede some years later: When I first came into F1, I didnt understand what it was all about. I could drive fast, of course, but I had little idea about the complexity of the whole business; which little wheel you had to set in motion in order to get everything going. In effect, I just used to drive.

Michael was a product of the Mercedes sportscar school

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>> MOTOGP FEATURE

TOO FEW, TOO LATE?

As the factories rev up their 2012 1000cc prototypes, will there be enough to fill the grid? And will the newgeneration CRT bikes make the difference? Michael Scott reports

The Aprilia RSV4 World Super Bike, a glimps of what can come of the new CRT regulations for Moto GP in 2012.

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he forthcoming 1000cc rules draw nearer, with still only one example of the production-based CRT machines having been seen in public. Its the same one that was seen before: the Suter-BMW, and with the same rider on board ... Mika Kallio. But this time, at the Brno post-race tests, the picture was a little more encouraging than it had been in the same circumstances at Mugello. At the Italian track, Kallio had been a woeful six seconds off the pace At Brno the gap had now shrunk significantly to four seconds. Still way off, but a major improvement all the same. This early in the bikes development, more still can be expected. Faith in the whole second-tier CRT concept the latest scheme to build up grid premier-class numbers was severely shaken by that first showing, where rider Mika Kallio had circulated the same track the day before less than a second slower on his humble 600cc Moto2 bike. Of the teams already accepted, Bradls Viessmann Kiefer squad are now seeking a lease works Honda instead; while the Marc VdS team the ones actually developing the bike in tandem with chassis manufacturer Suter is also having serious doubts. Thus the slightly more fruitful run at Brno was welcomed by those who see the success of CRT bikes as key to the immediate

future of a premier racing class that otherwise threatens to wither on the factory vine. A refresher course: CRT stands for Claiming Rule Teams, due to a quirky framing of the rules, which give only the factory teams the right to claim an engine for a fixed cost (as if any major motorcycle company would demean itself to such a degree). Aimed at revitalising the specialist chassis constructors, production-based engines are permitted. Engine allocation is double that for genuine prototypes: 12 instead of six; and they get almost ten percent more fuel, with 23 rather than 21 litres. One supporter is soon-to-retire Race Director Paul Butler, who dismisses the slow Mugello time with a wave of the hand. Definitely not representative and early shot. Butler prefers the term Constructor Teams to the CRT tag, thinking the claiming rule irrelevant because of the unlikelihood of it actually happening. As one of the GP Commission team who put the proposal together, and then managed to shove it past the reluctant manufacturers, his expressions of confidence in the new class are not surprising. Butler believes that with 1000cc, the performance levels of street-derived engines means: theyre putting out plenty of power. If you look at lap times, in terms of chassis efficiency,

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>> MOTOGP FEATURE

Far Left: Suters BMW Powered CRT machine hits the track for testing recently. Left Top: The 2012 model Yamaha M1meanwhile surfaces at Brno for testing, and goes pretty quick!. Left Bottom: Ben Spies heads into uncharted water on the new M1. Below: The BMW WSBK bike, akin to what the new 1000cc CRT machines for 2012.

there is no quantum leap waiting. And therefore a good set of engineers and mechanics with a good understanding of their rider can get a result. Im very optimistic that once this thing gets going Im not doing to call them CRT bikes, I am going to say Constructor bikes, they will be there or thereabouts. Top six ... why not? Six seconds off at Mugello was far from representative an early shot. But the slow take-up is a concern. Butler is also worried that the factory presence might shrink even below the current sparse 17-strong grid, with possible budget cuts looming for more than only Suzuki whose presence next year is yet to be confirmed. External forces have been huge in the last two years, said Butler. Motorcycle markets have suffered massively, in the western world particularly. And of course the financial crisis has had a huge impact. On top of that weve now had the tsunami in Japan. So its very difficult to guess what next years going to bring. This year obviously all the engineers and factories have been working on a budget that was established and provided over a year ago. You cant take the privateer teams out of the equation because the factories have to deal with their satellite teams, and theyre

very well aware of the fact there is very little sponsorship available out there, and how expensive it has got to be. Asked to provide lease engines, the factories had been unable to offer a realistic class. Since then, through the MSMA association, they have been obliged to give some ground to open the class to the new-generation CRT machines. Said Butler: I think there has been a shift in terms of realisation, but theres been no obvious pushing and shoving (from Dorna). Its been a negotiation and it seems to be moving in a good direction. Whether it is moving fast enough is a question. Although only the Suter-BMW has so far been seen, there are other machines under construction, and even in the case of the Spanish BQR effort soon to undergo testing. This machine combines an FTR chassis with a Kawasaki engine. British chassis constructors FTR are also essaying an Aprilia-powered alternative. Others in racing are on tenterhooks, for the same reason. If the new production-powered bikes fall short on performance, that is bad enough, but can be cured in time, and by fine-tuning the regulations. Vice versa in the unlikely event that one should turn out to be too fast. But if they fall short on numbers, then the whole reason for their existence is betrayed.

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>> WRC GERMANY

The A Team used to love it when a plan came together. In Germany, Citroens didnt and the other Sebastien won. Oh, and Mini beat Ford Martin Holmes explains
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WRC SNIPPETS
n North One Sport, the promoters of the FIA World Rally Championship, have appointed a Marketing Director, filling a vacancy which has existed since 2003. 44 year-old Tim Barkey comes with commercial expertise of building brand images. n Times are hard. Two Ford WRC drivers came to the start of Rallye Deutschland unsure whether they will be able to complete the season. Mads Ostberg had already decided to miss Australia, his team hoping to raise funds for the remaining three WRC events, while Matthew Wilson was not sure whether Australia would be his final event of the season. Australian driver Brendan Reeves, is the top seeded driver from the home country on Rally Australia, but his plans to enter a Mitsubishi Evo IX as a driver in the PCWRC category have fallen through. He was entered as a substitute driver by the Anders Grondal team. n M-Sports technical director Christian Loriaux impressed Finnish motor sport fans by competing as a private entry on the recent International Six Days Enduro - and finishing. He said All I wanted to do was finish so I really took it easy. Now I wish I had tried harder! n What are faster: old World Rally Cars or the new ones? Todays Michelins or last years Pirellis? 2litre and 1230kg minimum weight or 1. 6 litre with 1200kg? There was only one orthodox stage in Germany which could given an answer Moselland, Stages 3 and 6. Fastest Citroen last year was Sordos at 12m.01.3s; fastest Citroen this year was Loeb at 12m.01.9s. Fastest Ford last year was Hirvonen at 12m.12.7s, and this year Hirvonen did 12m.11.7s n Malcolm Wilson confirmed there were no current plans for Ford to homologate their Eco Boost Focus, as current blue-oval policy is to concentrate on Fiestas.

T was not planned to be this way! Right up until the final stage of Day 2, the Citroen camp were clear that the man who would win the rally was Sebastien Loeb. It would be his ninth successive victory on the same event, and a fitting way for Citroen to celebrate their record breaking 78th World Rally win. Right at the start of the rally there were hopes that Ford might stretch the resources of Citroen but by Stage 2 the weather had caught Ford out. From then on it was not the weather but the strength of the Michelin tyres which dictated events. At the end of Day 1 Loeb was given authority to win, but then the script was changed. The traditionally tyre-friendly World Champion himself punctured and his eager young teammate Sebastian Ogier went on to win. Citroen duly surpassed Ford to become statistically the most successful manufacturer in WRC history, but the glory of their success was clouded by ongoing team driver rivalry and the way that the fragility of the tyres supplied was unfairly influencing sporting battles. It was the first time Sebastien Loeb had been beaten on clear asphalt since 2004.

he traditionally mercurial weather was widely expected to be the deciding point for Rallye Deutschland, but it it was not so much a matter of forecasting as tyre management which made the difference. The official Citroen, Ford and Mini drivers had no certainty there would be heavy rain on the second stage. Ford and Mini drivers thought that dry conditions could be assumed, Citroen drivers felt that this was time for a gamble, to be prepared for the unlikely chance there could be rain. Their successful gamble therefore was the story of the rally, as was the clever way their cars were fitted with a mixture of both dry-weather hard and rain-friendly soft compound tyres, in such a way that would not be catastrophic if they were wrong. Fords Jari-Matti Latvala made best time on Stage 1, using his hard tyres on dry roads, but he was only marginally in front of Ogier who was on his complicated mixture of tyres, and from that moment onwards the two Sebs were well ahead of the field. At the end of Day 1 Loeb was 7.4 seconds in front of Ogier and the team decided that it was common sense for Ogier not to pressure Loeb. That hint did not go down well with the driver of Car 2. Ogier continued to hound Loeb through the second day of the rally, lying just 3.8 seconds behind before the long final stage of the day. This was where Loeb punctured and Ogier gained a healthy lead.

ord meanwhile were in a bad way. Latvala punctured and Hirvonen broke a damper on Stage 3, then Latvala had a strange electronic problem which slowed him through the second half of Day 1. Overnight he was 15th. Things were little better for Ford on Day 2. On the first run through the legendary Panzeplatte stage, Hirvonen punctured and dropped back to fourth behind the Mini of Dani Sordo and on the penultimate stages Latvala touched a tree stump, unknowingly punctured and went off the road on the next bend. Hirvonen finished the day in fourth place and now the focus of attention was on Mini. The performance of the Mini John Cooper Works on their first asphalt world championship rally was a delight . Through most of Day 1, Sordo and Meeke were lying fourth and fifth overall. Sordo used all his massive WRC experience to keep in contact with Hirvonen and when Hirvonen punctured he was up in a podium position. Meeke meanwhile made a slight driving error and swapped places with Petter Solbergs Citroen. Meeke dropped

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punctured and spent much of the rally testing tyres for the team. In the Minis, Patrik Flodin lost most of Day 1 with a broken alternator belt while the French Federations protege Pierre Campana had trouble with the brakes, but Armindo Araujo brought his car into eighth place. Unfortunately for Daniel Oliveira he went off the road and retired on Stage 18.

V
permanently back behind Solberg on Day 3 when he went off the road into the vineyards. He continued, but on the final orthodox stage the Mini stopped with a suspected alternator problem. Sordo achieved more than the team had dared to dream about, but it was the end of a galant run for his teammate. Petter Solberg ended up fifth and Kimi Raikkonen a most impressive sixth. Henning Solberg was the best-placed customer Ford while his colleagues had a litany of problems. Mads Ostberg started off with damaged rear suspension on Stage 3 and things only got worse, ending with a heavy crash on Stage16. Dennis Kuipers was an impressive seventh on Day 2 before he had to stop and change a flat tyre on a stage. Matthew Wilson

t was not such a happy rally for the WRC customer teams though, of the Citroens,

ictory in Germany has raised Ogier up to second place in the Drivers championship, 25 points behind Loeb. It seems its not over yet. Although the drivers have been assured that they share number one status in the team, it is Sebastien Loeb who is contracted by his team to compete on every event this season. Some months ago Loeb had been shocked when Ogier made enquiries about driving in future with Ford. After the rally Sebastien Loeb was asked how he would be able to work with Sebastien Ogier in the future, and he told journalists If Ogier cannot show respect to everyone in the team it is better that he leaves the team now. It is not possible the two of us can stay together in the same team!

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RALLYE Deutschland qualified for both the Super 2000 championship and the WRC Academy. The Skoda drivers were strong favourites for the SWRC but things did not go so well. Martin Prokop was initially fastest in his Ford but then went off the road, letting Juho Hanninen ahead of Ott Tanak, but on the final stage of Day 1 Hanninen and his Skoda teammate Hermann Gassner both cut the same corner and the underplate of their cars touched the ground. This slid the cars into the wall on the outside of the bend, wrecking the rear suspension of both. This was the same place where Sousa had done the same thing earlier in the day. Tanak inherited a healthy lead ahead of Karl Kruuda, who then punctured and Tanak gained an even healthier lead in front of Nasser Al Attiyah. Local Guest driver Felix Herbold had power steering failure which caused the car to go off the road into a tree. On the second day Gassner had two punctures and had to stop as he only had one spare wheel. Kruuda lost a wheel. Prokop was fastest in the category on all the Day 2 stages. All nine SWRC cars lined up for the

Super 2000 win to Tanak

final day with Frigyes Turas enjoying his unusually elevated third place, having survived power steering trouble on Day 2. Sousa lost a quarter hour off the road at the end of the event. Tanak eventually won by over five minutes from Al Attiyah and Turan, who were also the only three SWRC competitors to complete the route, and gained a 1-2-3 result by the Fiestas, the first time this had been achieved this season. The non-championship S2000 Skodas

of Weijs and Riedemann, which finished between Tanak and Al Attiyah, pushed hard but never actually won any of the stages. Juho Hanninen retained his lead in the SWRC while Tanaks win sees him rise to second ahead of Prokop. The SWRC title is now down to five drivers these three, Sousa and Gassner as despite Turans third place, and his best result so far, he joined the role of those unable to score enough points.

Breens Academy
IN the Academy category the Spanish islander Yeray Lemes was heading for victory until he overshoot a corner on the second day and let Craig Breen into the lead. This was a two-driver battle from start to finish. Lemes continued to chase the Irishman, who held on to the lead, but Breen eventually won by a quarter minute. It was the first time the Academy drivers had rallied on asphalt, which disadvantaged the series leader Egon Kaur, but the conditions provided a surprisingly equivalence of performance between drivers. Kaur continues to lead the Academy series, ahead of Breen and Reeves.

>> WRC GERMANY

Mini achievement
Dani Sordo took Mini John Coopers first WRC podium and spoke to Martin Holmes
HOLMES: Did you ever think you could get a success like this so quickly? Sordo: Honestly, no. Not for the performance, nothing useful, but in the testing the car was so good, a sensation. But we didnt know what the others are like. The start of the rally was not so bad, nothing bad on Panzerplatte or stages like that and we were really close, and today also we are close, so it is nice and Im really happy for the next rallies. It must have been like old times with you, with the Citroens. How do you think your experience with Citroen helped you on this rally? I think it helped me a little bit and also for the set-ups of the car I have a little bit of experience and the experience from Citroen cars because the feeling in those cars is the best on tarmac. But now the Mini is coming along really well and I am pretty happy with the car I have, a little bit sensation so it is nice. And you didnt have any punctures at all? No. Was that something to do with your skill or good luck? With the punctures, I think you can have really bad luck but normally puncture is when you are not in the road. But here sometimes you are out on the road and when you come back you can have fairly bad luck and puncture, but it is difficult to know. It is not only a little bit lucky. How do you think you will be in France and Spain? I think after the results here I am confident, but okay, now we have finished third but we know the Citroen are really fast and Ford are fast also so this is a busy time, so I need to start to work hard for the next rally (France). What do you think you can do to the car to improve it for France and Spain? You can always do something better, you know. I dont know the most important point we need to do better in the car but everybody can guess what it is (the engine) so I will not tell any more times, but I am really happy with the chassis because it is the most important part of the car and is the only thing you cannot change. So the chassis is good. The suspension is very good on tarmac so you need to produce a little bit for rallies like Spain or France but quite good.

Okay, so we cant get enough of Spa ... roll on this weekend!

>> GPWEEK PArting Shot