With F1’s Prestigious Monaco Grad Prix on tap this weekend one has to wonder if all the bad news of the last week will follow them to the second smallest nation on the planet.
Exhibit A is pictured below. That’s seven time world champion Michael Schumacher taking a header after charging from his 39th starting spot to 21st in race two at Oschersleben on his Honda Fireblade. The seven-time Formula One world champ was a guest of the Wittenberger team in Germany’s national championship.
Then there’s exhibit B, former Ferrari Mclaren driver (thanks for the correction Wolf) and world champion Mika Pauli Häkkinen had to flee one of his homes on Saturday after it caught fire while he slept, according to reports.
The 39-year-old Finn, and two women - one believed to be his new girlfriend - escaped the blaze in southern France, but a dog reportedly perished. Hakkinen’s $12m, ten-bedroom villa was located in the village of Callian, in the Provence region.
Exhibit C is Martin Bullen, who works at supercar garage Romans International in Banstead, UK. Bullen was was at the wheel of a Ferrari 500 GTB Fiorano when he heard a strange sound followed by a brilliant display of smoke and fire.
The £250,000 exotic was a total loss, and the 28-year-veteran of the high-end garage had to inform his boss of the Ferrari’s fate. If you happen to be a Tifosi with a weak heart spare yourself and skip the image.
Finally exhibit D, workers at Ferrari’s formula one factory in Italy have been told to keep working despite an outbreak of the infectious disease tuberculosis.
The British newspaper The Sun reports that a staff member was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with TB, a common and deadly disease that - if untreated - kills up to half of its victims.
The Sun said the staff member was a carbon fibre specialist, and Ferrari confirmed that he has a “mild form” of tuberculosis.
It is reported that the 25 technicians whose job it is to build Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa’s cars for each grand prix are currently undergoing blood tests to see if they have also been infected.
Ferrari said Raikkonen and Massa will not need tests. “We’re not happy,” a British employee is quoted as saying from Maranello. “We think the lab should be shut down until we get an all-clear. It feels as if Ferrari are putting cars before people.”
Technorati Tags: Ferrari, Felipe Massa, Formula One, Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso
Tags: Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Formula One, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher
F1Wolf wrote,
Ooops … How did Mika Hakkinen, the former McLaren driver, make the list of people with Ferrari connection
?
Link | May 20th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Rage-in-Chief wrote,
Um… because I had a case of brain freeze and was thinking of one Finn and wrote another. Hey, what can I say, they all have blond hair, speak with a funny accent and eat pickled herring.
Oh, well, it’s an interesting story none the less.
And besides, we learn Mika’s got a new main squeeze and they both made out out of the inferno alive and well.
Link | May 20th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Alianora La Canta wrote,
Perhaps you were thinking of Mika Salo, who did drive for Ferrari for a few races? If so, kudos to you because not many people remember Salo these days…
Link | May 21st, 2008 at 2:30 pm
F1Wolf wrote,
yep, few races in the red car for Salo while Schumi was nursing his broken leg …
Link | May 21st, 2008 at 3:22 pm