F1 - Hartley to test Red Bull at Jerez

Fresh from his excellent third place at the Macau Grand Prix and his fine debut British Formula 3 season, Kiwi Brendon Hartley will join the Red Bull Racing team at the Jerez test next month.

The New Zealander, who had already driven a Formula One car when he tested for Toro Rosso earlier this year, will join Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Buemi for the test, which takes place on 15-17 December.

Hartley will work with the team after Australian Mark Webber was sidelined from winter testing when he broke a leg in a mountain bike crash.

A1GP - Ireland Commands Sepang Feature Race

Sepang, Malaysia A1 Team Ireland became the first nation to score two victories this season, as Adam Carroll dominated the Sepang Feature race in Malaysia. Filipe Albuquerque took an excellent second place for Portugal while Marco Andretti finished a great third for the USA from eighth on the grid. Ireland now leads the championship heading into the Christmas break.

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As the lights went out, Adam Carroll got a clean start from pole position to lead the pack into the first corner. Daniel Morad got a brilliant start from third, capitalising on Lebanons best ever grid slot to move ahead of a slow starting Danny Watts for Great Britain in second.

In an eventful first lap, Netherlands and India collided with Narain Karthikeyan spinning into retirement. A good start from Portugal helped Albuquerque move from fifth to third into Turn 1, before Albuquerque moved ahead of Lebanon for second. Switzerland then spun, resulting in the safety car being deployed at the end of lap one to allow the marshals time to pick up both the Swiss and Indian cars from dangerous places.

A couple of laps later and the race was back on, with Ireland leading from Portugal, Lebanon, Malaysia, Great Britain, Netherlands, USA and France.

Monacos race ended early as Clivio Piccione pitted with technical problems. Boosted by his home crowds, Malaysias Fairuz Fauzy made a move around the outside of Morad to grab fourth. Great Britains Watts then began putting pressure on Lebanon as he tried to make up for his bad start. Watts made a move but the pair ran wide allowing Netherlands and the USA to get through.  Brazil dived up the inside of a recovering Watts, but France, to the right of him, chopped across in front taking off the British cars nose and leaving France with a puncture.

The order at the front was now Ireland from Portugal, Malaysia, Netherlands, USA, Lebanon, China and Brazil.

On lap eight the first pit window opened and Malaysia was first in, followed by Netherlands, USA, China and Lebanon. China had a fantastic stop which got it out ahead of both USA and Lebanon. Portugal pittted on the next lap as Ireland remained out in front, still putting in consistently quick lap times.

Marco Andretti in the USA car was now piling the pressure on China, eventually making his move stick around the outside of the hairpin at Turn 9.

With a 15-second lead, Ireland pitted with another fantastic stop from the Irish crew, getting Carroll back out comfortably at the front.

Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen, was in fourth when he received a drive-through penalty for the first lap collision with India, which was deemed avoidable, dropping him down the field to a disappointing 14th. Australias John Martin passed China down the main straight and then started attacking Adrian Zaugg, whose South African team had got him out quickly in the pit stops.

After the first round of pit stops Ireland had a five-second lead over Portugal, Malaysia, USA, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, China, Lebanon and New Zealand.

Lebanons Morad made a mistake through Turns 7 and 8 and ran wide, losing a further two places to drop him down to 11th.

On lap17, from third position, home favourite Fairuz Fauzy confused his team and the watching crowds by diving into the pit lane unexpectedly. A communications glitch meant he received a radio call, that only he heard, to pit that was from another team. His bemused team sent him straight off, but the time lost cost him a potential podium and dropped the Malaysian to 14th.

The USAs Marco Andretti was now promoted to third. After being involved in a huge start line crash earlier in the day; the 21-year-old was back on track with the help of Koreas rear wing as the Korean team didnt make either race due to technical problems that couldnt be resolved after qualifying.

New Zealands Earl Bamber, who started down in 15th, was making good progress, passing China's Ho-Pin Tung around the outside of the final hairpin for eighth.

On lap 18 Mexico's David Garza threw away tenth place by spinning while challenging Daniel Morad's Lebanon car.

Out at the front Portugal was keeping Ireland honest, with the pair putting in consistently close lap times in the blistering heat.

On lap 22, the second pit window was open and the cars began coming in. Australias mechanics did another superb job getting John Martin out ahead of South Africa, in what would eventually be fourth position after all the pit stops.

A1 Team Ireland kept up its reputation of being one of the best crews in the pit lane, helping their man retain a healthy lead from Portugal. 

Great Britain was back in the pits again on lap 25 to fix a brake problem, getting Watts back out although six laps down, to end a disappointing day for the team with no points scored.

In the closing stages of the race Malaysia was fighting hard as Fauzy passed Lebanon to move up into 12th. Italy's Edoardo Piscopo gave away ninth place by running wide at the final hairpin and promoting Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen. Malaysia and Italy then had a great battle for the final point.
In a great wheel-to-wheel battle, Fauzys superb driving got him ahead of Piscopo to take tenth, much to the delight of the cheering crowds.

As the chequered flag came out, Ireland claimed its second victory of the season ahead of Portugal. USAs Marco Andretti and Australias John Martin both put in great drives to come through the field to finish a commendable third and fourth respectively.

Adam Carroll completed the perfect race taking the win, pole position and fastest lap to give the team an eight-point lead at the top of the championship as A1GP World Cup of Motorsport heads into the Christmas break.

He said: We were starting from pole position and I just concentrated on getting a good start, which allowed me to control the race from there. Its a long race, the cars heavy at the start so you just run as fast as you can and be smooth and it allowed us to open up quite a good gap.

Its all team work though, it doesnt just come down to one person as everybody works extremely hard. Its been hard for the guys to be out here since Tuesday at the circuit in this heat and humidity, but they practiced pit stops every night to make sure they did a good job.

We planned to come here and try and come away leading the championship and we have. Winning the race is just a good bonus and Im going to fight hard to keep it.

Portugals Filipe Albuquerque said: I achieved our goals. Actually, I went better than what we were expecting. We wanted to go to the first pit stop in third, but it was even better as we were in second. I was doing whatever I could to keep the pace, but it all needs to be perfect, and Ireland did a good pit stop and we didnt. We are also missing one guy from our crew whos in hospital, so I wish him the best. In the end it was good to just take the points. You cannot win every time and they were just perfect and Im really happy with the second place.

A1 Team USAs Marco Andretti said: The start was a bit of survival and I used the PowerBoost when everybody was close together and we needed the track position. The boys did a good job in the pits and then we werent threatened from behind, but I had nothing on these guys in front so I was just enjoying the car and Sepang. Its a lovely circuit.

Malaysias Fairuz Fauzy expressed his disappointment saying: Throughout the race my car was very strong, but I just suffered a few handling problems, nothing major though. The team called me in for the first pit stop, it was fine, and we went out in the same position again, with the same gap to second placed Portugal. After ten laps I was struggling with oversteer on the car. Im not sure why maybe the rear tyres pressures were too high, or the rears had just gone. I tried to radio the team, got nothing, and then I heard Box this lap twice, and then Copy that, then I pitted. When I came in I saw the team was not ready so I knew something was not right. I just had to carry on, but obviously I was very disappointed.

Considering we had the extra pit stop it was a really good recovery, the car was very strong. If we hadn't had the pit issue, we would have had a podium easily. After the last pit stop, I was running about a second quicker. Its tough for us all.

At the end of the day, we win, we lose, we are one team and the most important thing is the support. The crowd showed me such support, so I was able to use this and to catch up and finish in the top 10. The most important thing is we scored one point; every point is like gold and will make a lot of difference towards the end of the season.

With Portugal, France, and next event-holders New Zealand close behind in the points standings, Ireland will be looking to continue its dominance when battle resumes in New Zealand on 23 25 January 2009.

Feature race results

Fastest lap: A1 Team IRL set the fastest lap (1m48.563s) of the Feature race with a speed of 183.8 kph on lap 25.

2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport points standings

A1GP - Switzerland Wins Dramatic Sepang Sprint Race

Sepang, Malaysia Neel Jani became the fifth different race winner this season as A1 Team Switzerland took victory in a dramatic Sprint race at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. After a red flag, Switzerland controlled the re-start and made a slick pit-stop to take a comfortable win in the hot and humid conditions. Frances Loc Duval finished second ahead of a charging Earl Bamber for A1 Team New Zealand.

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As the cars came in formation towards the rolling start, an incident involving USA, Brazil and India brought out the red flag. The pack appeared to pick up pace as it approached the start line, but then backed off causing a concertina effect towards the back of the field.

The USA car of Marco Andretti and the Brazilian car of Felipe Guimares took it in turn to climb over the back of Narain Karhtikeyans Indian entry scattering debris across the pit straight.

Marco Andretti commented: Im disappointed. You can say its unavoidable but at the time I thought everyone was going and I could only see two rows ahead of me. I couldnt see ahead of the whole field. I was about to grab fourth gear, and as soon as the rear tyres were hooking up that was when I needed to be stopping the car so there was no hope. Once you are committed you are kind of stuck with it. In the States you either go or you dont. Here, they went, and then stopped. No one was to blame, it was just racing, but ultimately I crashed out two cars.

Australia's John Martin had lightening reactions to dive left and onto the grass to avoid the accident as the race was immediately red flagged.

After a 30-minute delay the cars lined up in single file to start behind the Safety Car, but Danny Watts was now in trouble having to crawl back to the pits as the Great Britain car was stuck in first gear.

With the race finally underway, Switzerland held the lead as the pack came round for a cautious single file race start. Further down the field, David Garza was under pressure losing out to The Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen, who grabbed seventh round the outside of the Mexican at Turn 9.

South Africa then made a move down the inside of the final hairpin to pass Mexico and as the pair both ran wide, home nation Malaysia was right in the thick of the action, as Fairuz Fauzy snatched eighth going through on the inside of both cars.

South Africa tried to fight back and as the pair went wheel-to-wheel they touched with Malaysia picking up a left rear puncture. Fauzy limped back to the pits much to the disappointment of the Malaysian crowd.

After 3 laps the order at the front settled with Switzerland having a 2.3-second lead from France, New Zealand, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa. With changes to the regulations this season, the cars headed towards their first ever mandatory Sprint race pit stop with France and New Zealand being the first to dive in.

France had a slower stop, and New Zealands Earl Bamber was released alongside France. With New Zealands nose being just ahead France was forced to ease off allowing Bamber to take the position as the pair exited the pit lane. However, the team made the call to give the position back to France to avoid any further penalty for what could be deemed to be an unsafe release.

A lap later Jani pitted and, after a slick stop by the Swiss crew, rejoined with a comfortable lead. A great stop from the Irish team also leap-frogged Adam Carroll ahead of Italy and into fifth. On lap 7 the order was Switzerland still up at the front from New Zealand, France, Portugal, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy and Australia.

Switzerland held on to win the Sepang Sprint race for the third year running to become the fifth different race winner in the five races so far this season.

It was a great race, we had very good pace, a good re-start and pit stop so it was just a perfect race for me, said Jani.

The big race is the Feature race though, and we are at the back of the grid so its a totally different task. Its about the average of the weekend and we need to get a good points average.

Frances Loc Duval said: The pit stop was not that good and I ended up third.  I thought New Zealand may have a drive-through or something like that as the car was released in front of me from the stop, but he let me go back past. The car was not that good so we have to improve a little bit for this afternoon but after that, we were ok and there was no problem at all.

We got a really good pit stop, said Bamber who brought Black Beauty home in third. The team did a fantastic job and it was quite close between me and Loc where I just squeezed past, but the team radioed me to let France back past because of an unsafe release. I let him pass on the back straight and then I finished the race in third. It was a good result so we will see how I do from 15th this afternoon.

Despite what looked like an extremely bad crash at the start, USA, Brazil and India will all be ready to take the grid for this afternoons Feature race, where even more excitement can be expected.

Sprint race results

Fastest lap: A1 Team SUI set the fastest lap (1m48.550s) of the Sprint race with a speed of 183.8 kph on lap 8.

2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport points standings

F1 - WEBBER EXPECTED TO BE FIT FOR MELBOURNE

Mark Webber will miss winter testing after breaking his leg in Australia while taking part in the 2008 Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge today. The surgery to insert a rod in his broken leg was successful and Mark is expected to be fully fit for the season opener in Melbourne in March.

Webber was involved in a collision with a car while cycling on the roads around Port Arthur on the penultimate day of the 250km endurance event which raises money for charity.

He was treated immediately at the scene by event medical staff before being transferred to a Tasmanian hospital where a rod was inserted in his right leg. The surgery was a success.

 Mark will remain in Tasmania for a few days before continuing his recovery in the UK.

While it looks like he's out of the winter testing programme, we fully expect Mark to make the starting grid in Melbourne next March.

 Mark has said he's relieved to know the driver of the motor vehicle was uninjured and expressed his thanks to the many well wishes from family, friends and supporters. 

F1 - HONDA TO QUIT F1

Honda are on the brink of announcing that it is withdrawing from Formula 1. Sources reveal that team principal Ross Brawn addressed the team this evening and he explained that Honda is putting its team up for sale. They will continue to fund the team for three months, but if no buyer is found by March then the team will be closed down.

Due to the World Economic Crisis and a large downturn in car sales in both Japan and North America, Honda already has its car factories in Japan working part-time shifts, and clearly the management feel that they can no longer justify spending up to $500 million a year on F1, even if cost-cutting measures are in the pipeline. Honda’s withdrawal is a troubling development as it is one of the most profitable of the car makers currently engaged in F1. Honda however does have a track record of sudden withdrawals from F1, pulling out of in 1968, dumping Williams in 1987 to switch to McLaren and then withdrawing from F1 again in 1992.

Honda took full ownership of the BAR team in 2005 and the highlight of its brief career was Jenson Button's win at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2006. The team has been spending big in recent years in an attempt to get back to the front of the grid. They have added 100 new staff in the last few years- taking the total to 667 - and were investing heavily in the Ross Brawn plan for the future. It is believed that their budget last year was almost $100 million more than McLaren’s and yet they finished second last in the constructors championship.

The news will be a devastating blow to drivers Jenson Button, who renewed his contract with the team shortly before the Japanese Grand Prix and Rubens Barrichello who was hoping for at least one more year in F1. With all the top seats filled and on the back of an indifferent season, Button will be feeling nervous about his prospects for 2009. Barrichello, who has also been in contact with Scuderia Toro Rosso, was waiting for an answer from Honda regarding his position next year.

If Honda can make this decision, so can the others. Toyota are also under pressure and they may use the withdrawal of their major rival as an excuse to get out, should they feel the conditions demand it. The loss of any races in North America due to Bernie Ecclestone’s exhorbitant financial demands has annoyed many of the manufacturers as this is one of their most important markets and most of them must be considering their continued participation in these difficult financial times. Max Mosely is likely to use this difficult situation to reiterate that radical cost-cutting measures need to be taken with immediate effect.

The rumour is that Ross Brawn is attempting to put together a deal that does not involve running Honda engines, but instead involves Ferrari engines as the supply formerly going to Force India is now available after their deal with McLaren-Mercedes.
Sam Snape
 
5/12/2008