When last in Gay Paree (sexual connotation in deference to Max “The Littlest Perv” Mosley) Lewis Hamilton was facing an FIA[sco] Inquisition over StepnyGate and Mclaren was slammed for 200 LARGE.

This week Hamilton will meet with the FIA[sco] Appeals Court on Tuesday in a bid to get his Belgian Grand Prix victory reinstated.

McLaren decided to appeal Hamilton’s 25-second time penalty which he incurred on his way to victory at Spa earlier this month.

The penalty was given when it was deemed Hamilton gained an advantage by cutting a chicane during the race and unfortunately for the British driver the victory was handed to his main championship rival Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

Hamilton’s lead over Massa is now down to only one point after last week’s Italian GP, but if he regains his points his lead will extend to seven.

“All we can do is present the facts,” said McLaren chief executive .

“We have just got to present the data and, whatever the outcome is, that is the outcome.”

Three judges appointed to the International Court of Appeal will decided whether or not McLaren’s plea is justified.

Hamilton was battling with Massa’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the final stages of the race and cut across the Bus Stop chicane to overtake him, however Hamilton allowed Raikkonen to immediately overtake and reclaim the lead before overtaking him again at the next corner.

It’s now up to the judges to decide if Hamilton sufficiently surrendered the advantage he gained from cutting the chicane.

“Most people who were watching would say Lewis deserved to win that race and not Felipe,” Whitmarsh said.

“I’m probably slightly partisan on this but I do actually believe that’s what most people would imagine.”

A majority of the F1 drivers have said they think Hamilton benefited from the maneuver.

Max “The Littlest Perv” Mosley in all his *glory*.

FIA president Max Mosley favours the introduction of a common engine across the board for Formula One race cars.

He told a French newspaper that the measure would help put a lid on the sport’s exploding costs. Mosley also said development of a common engine would help make F1 research more applicable to ordinary automobiles.

Is it just me?

Does anyone else see the the proposal floated in the first paragraph negating any possibility of events detailed in the second from ever happening?

Maybe I’m stupid, but if forced into participating using a spec engine what incentive would there be to develop technology applicable to street vehicles? Sure they could develop parts and pieces that are common across the board, innocuous things where tech transfer doesn’t compromise proprietary information.

Having a common engine you limit chances of applicable technology being developed. Less manufacturer engine depts equals less engineers, equals less chances of somethine coming out of the pipeline.

What will Max have the manufactures do, brain storm within their engineering depts then submit proposals for cost cutting or “ecco-friendly” technology to the entity selected to produce the engines?

How does that cut down costs with any large scale benefit?

I won’t even touch the brand identity thing, it’s patently obvious the big reason the likes of BMW or Honda are in the sport and it damn sure isn’t to place some generic lump of high tech metal in the back of their machines.

I guess Max hasn’t learned a damn thing from his KERS project that’s been imposed of F1.

Several teams are producing their own KERS system and you can bet your last dollar they will produce it at a faster pace, and with more diverse ideas by having more “heads together,” than it a single team would be capable of and the end turn out a better product.

And get this, as reported by L’Equipe, Max’s final word was him calling teams’ investment in technology development “irrational.”

Pardon me while I invoke the Pot, Kettle, Black rule.

Williams are to design the new Formula Two car to be used when the series makes its return next year.

Jonathan Palmer, who won the penultimate F2 championship in 1983, has won the tender to supply chassis and engines via his company, MotorSport Vision (MSV).

MSV have commissioned Williams to design a car that will be built to Formula One level safety standards and will be powered by a 1.8-litre Audi engine.

The first prototype is scheduled to makes its test debut in November, with the 16-race, eight-event series to begin next May.

Formula Two was revived in June by FIA president Max Mosley as a cheaper alternative to F1’s existing feeder series, GP2.

The series is to have fixed annual race budgets of no more than 250,000 euros (£205,000) per driver - a figure rather less than those required to be competitive in either GP2 or even Formula Three.

Mosley said: “The objective is to make top-level international single-seater racing available to drivers who at present have difficulty in raising enough money to demonstrate their talent.

(Max, let me correct that misprint: The objective is to lesson the importance of GP, a series wholly supported by Bernie Ecclestone. There, that’s better - ed.)

“Formula One, and other major championships, will benefit by being able to draw on a far larger pool of drivers, while competitors from countries which do not yet have an established motor-racing structure will find it easier to make progress.

“We hope to reveal talent that might otherwise never have emerged, and we look forward to seeing drivers coming into Formula One with super licences gained in Formula Two.”

Palmer’s MSV organisation currently own and operate five circuits in the UK and have run the Formula Palmer Audi racing championship for the last 11 years.

Sebastian Vettel became the youngest Formula One pole winner after he captured his first career pole at the age of 21 in a wet Italian Grand Prix qualifying session.

In his 22nd start, Vettel gave Toro Rosso a pole on their home turf with a lap of 1:37.555 in session three.

“It was my dream to one day drive a Formula One car and even if my target has been to fight for poles and race wins, I didn’t expect it today and it feels fantastic,” Vettel said.

“Doing it here, in Italy is also amazing. There are two Italian teams, Ferrari is the bigger one, but I think today people will also know about Scuderia Toro Rosso.“

Vettel was over seven-hundredths of a second faster than the second fastest driver, Heikki Kovalainen, in the difficult conditions.

“A really close session,” said Kovalainen, who turned a lap of 1:37.631. “I missed pole by just .076 seconds. My first attempt in Q3 wasn’t perfect and further rain later in the session made it almost impossible to improve. On my final run, I gave it everything but there wasn’t enough grip to beat Sebastian Vettel.”

Mark Webber qualified third for Team Red Bull with a lap of 1:38.117.

“I didn’t have a very good run on my first lap in Q3 and thought I’d messed up the session, as I was told it was going to rain again,” Webber said. “It was difficult to get the lap in at the end with the conditions as they were, but I knew I had to do it.”

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who trails Hamilton by two points, will start sixth. He can take over the championship lead with a steady drive in treacherous conditions as rain is also expected for Sunday’s race.

Overall F1 leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren will start Sunday’s race from 15th place and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen from 14th after both drivers failed to compete in the second session because of the rain.

Formula One was plunged into new controversy on Sunday when race stewards at the Belgian Grand Prix stunningly stripped Lewis Hamilton of a brilliant victory.

The stewards’ decision, which will be seen by many as part of a conspiracy to rig the results to ensure a close fight in the title race, came long after the race when they hit the Briton and his McLaren team with a 25-second penalty.

Their decision came in relation to a move in the final stages of the race when after attempting to pass Ferrari world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who was leading, he was forced off the circuit and cut out the ‘Bus Stop’ chicane.

Hamilton recognized immediately that he had done this - and gained an advantage by going ahead of the Finn - so he slowed to allow his rival to re-pass him and lead as they completed the lap in teeming rain.

When they began racing again, 23-year-old Hamilton passed Raikkonen and went on to win after the Finn slipped on the rain-drenched surface and crashed out.

Hamilton was relegated to third and the race victory was handed to Ferrari’s Brazilian driver Felipe Massa who had struggled to keep pace with the Briton and Raikkonen.

McLaren said they would appeal the decision.

“We have studied the details and put them before the FIA stewards,” said a team statement.

“They show that after cutting the chicane Lewis lifted off, he was 6km/h slower than Kimi. After conceding the lead to Kimi, Lewis repositioned his car on the right and beat Kimi on the brakes going into the hairpin.”

Critics and paddock observers were swift in their condemnation of a decision that reeked of potential favoritism for Ferrari and seemed entirely unjustified following the most exciting race of the year.

Last year, the sport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA) was accused of a ‘witch-hunt’ against McLaren and this specter was raised again by their stewards action at the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

In the immediate post-race euphoria on Sunday, there were no calls for an investigation by any driver or team, but the stewards announced they would be making an official investigation.

The decision to hit Hamilton with a ‘drive-through’ penalty worth 25 seconds wrecked the value of the race as a spectacle and at the same time devalued Massa’s win to nothing more than a hollow sporting victory gifted to him.

It will be seen by most observers as another move by the FIA artificially to keep alive the championship and make it closer by hitting McLaren with a sanction.

At the previous race in Valencia, Ferrari escaped any punishment for taking advantage at a controversial pit-stop when most observers expected Massa, who escaped sanction, to be given a ‘drive-through’ penalty.

Sunday’s shock decision, which demoted Hamilton to third place behind Massa and BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld, left the British driver with just a two-point lead over Massa in the championship with only five races left.

“Kimi pushed me wide. I was a little bit ahead. I was outside on Turn One, I had no room and he basically pushed me so I went on the escape route,” said Hamilton before his punishment was announced.

“So I let him past, then got in his tow and he was ducking and diving left and right but I managed to get past him and I was pretty much gone from there.”

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain came home fourth for Renault ahead of German Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso and sixth-placed Pole Robert Kubica in the second BMW.

In another late development, Timo Glock of Toyota was demoted a place to ninth, with Mark Webber of Red Bull promoted to eighth, following a 25-second penalty for not taking notice of yellow flags. -

Ferrari confirms Raikkonen, Massa.

Finland’s reigning Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen and Brazilian Felipe Massa have been confirmed as Ferrari drivers for next season.

Team boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said both drivers would “absolutely” remain the same for 2009.

Renault driver Fernando Alonso had been mentioned in certain quarters as a possible recruit for Ferrari.

Di Montezemolo added: “I was disappointed to see a great champion like him not make the top 10 in Valencia (during the European Grand Prix on August 24 where he retired on the first lap).”

He also said on the recent difficulties by Raikkonen - third in the world championship standings, 57 points behind Britain’s Lewis Hamilton (first on 70 points) and Massa (second with 64 points) - that the Finn was “not in a crisis.”

“He is motivated and we must work hard so that he is in a position to make a quick start,” di Montezemolo said.

“Especially on the new circuits, which I don’t like and are doing harm to Formula One. You can’t overtake and nine times out of 10 whoever takes pole position wins.

“All this criticism of Raikonnen reminds me of when (Filippo) Inzaghi was at Juventus. If he did not score in three matches, everyone said he was in crisis.”

The Formula One bandwagon has already rolled on to Monza for testing ahead of the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks time. It was the Williams of Nico Rosberg which set the pace on the opening day of the three-day test. His closest rival was Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren, followed by Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.
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F1’s driver safety union, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, is concerned about Formula One’s forthcoming inaugural night race in Singapore.

The floodlit event, to be held on the streets of the Lion City at the end of next month, will take place without any prior pre-race testing under lights and that has GPDA concerned and allowed Toyota’s Jarno Trulli to bust out a carafe of whine.

“At the moment we still don’t know what the schedule of the weekend will be,” Toyota driver and GPDA stalwart Jarno Trulli told reporters at Valencia at the weekend.

“We are a little bit concerned,” the Italian admitted. “We go there, we haven’t tested, we don’t have any idea. It’s going to be a night race, it’s going to be the rainy season, so it’s not exactly what you really want from a safety point of view.

“It doesn’t look comfortable so far.”

Geesh, remind me again who’s allegedly the best drivers in the world? (Some make that claim, but I say the WRC pilots are, but I’ll leave that for now - ed.)

Trulli also made the claim it would be a waste of time comparing notes with the MotoGP riders who recently ran their first night event:

“Because riding a bike is different to driving a car. And they were racing on a circuit and we are racing on a street circuit. They had run-off and we have walls,” Trulli added.

Yeah but, it wouldn’t hurt would it Jarno? While there are major differences in the two disciplines one could get a feel for the lighting and any problems with glare caused by the lighting.

He could have taken a couple days from his less than normal packed schedule during F1’s break and checked the lighting in person. As one who’s spent a fair amount of time in the city I feel relatively confident in saying the locals would have been more than accommodating demonstrating what the circuit looks like at night.

Hell…, he may have been able to consult a local weather-guesser and learned the cities rainy season is from November to February, not late September. Too much to ask I suppose, better to look ill informed.

In fact today’s three day Singapore forecast is for early morning and afternoon thunder-boomers. That’s not to say it won’t rain during the event, but they will be isolated and generally light and shouldn’t concern the “best drivers in the world.”

Felipe Massa: “It’s great to be on pole position, especially after the great disappointment of Budapest, but I’m well aware the race is tomorrow and so there is still a long way to go. My first run in Q3 was very good, and on the second I made a good improvement in the first sector and that’s where pole came from.

“The team did a great job in preparing for this event, and I want to thank them for giving me such a strong car. I hope we can have a good race tomorrow.”

Lewis Hamilton:

“We knew we had a great car, and we didn’t have any problems during qualifying. I felt really comfortable, and I decided to qualify with the option tyre. My first lap wasn’t perfect, and I lost almost one second compared with my second lap, but on my final lap everything went well.

“Second place on the grid is a good basis for tomorrow’s race. However, Felipe Massa was significantly faster in the first sector, and I hope we’ll be able to improve there tomorrow. Our team did a great job, and I’m confident we’ll be strong.”

Robert Kubica: “This was a very good qualifying for the team and me. After some unlucky races lately, the pace of the car here in Valencia is not that bad. However, there is still a small gap to Ferrari and McLaren.

“Qualifying went pretty smoothly, with only the weather a bit unstable. In the end there were only some rain drops in the second qualifying session, but this did not affect the result. The choice of tyres was pretty clear for me by yesterday – I went on the harder compound in Q1 and on the softer compound in Q2 and Q3.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “Fourth place is not what I was looking for, but it’s definitely not the end of the world. I could have been higher up the grid, but on my last run in Q3 I locked the wheels at a few points and lost valuable time.

“It was nothing dramatic, but at this circuit a small error is very costly. I still think I can be in the fight for the win, especially if I manage to get a good start. We have a good car, which should be especially competitive in the race.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “The balance of my car was good, and we improved continuously throughout the sessions. However, I’m a little disappointed with my fifth place on the grid as I didn’t make any mistakes and performed to the maximum.

“It’s now up to us to score as many points as possible and make a good start from the cleaner side of the grid. Our strategy should help us to gain positions during the race.”

Kimi Raikkonen spoiled Fernando Alonso’s bid to put a smile on the face of the Spanish people 48 hours after one of the worst airline disasters in the country’s history.

Alonso had earlier yesterday led a minute’s silence in memory of the 153 passengers killed in a crash at Madrid airport on Wednesday.

All the Formula One drivers, team principals and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone took part in the mark of respect that was conducted at noon.

Just over three hours later, Alonso was top of the standings in practice for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix at the newly-designed street circuit that winds its way around Valencia’s marina.

But in the closing moments reigning world champion Raikkonen posted the fastest lap of the day in his Ferrari of one minute, 39.477 seconds, knocking Alonso into second place by just 0.020secs.

It would be fair to assume in his bid to sit pretty, Alonso was running a low-fuel load late on, similarly with Jenson Button.

In a surprising turn of events, Button was third quickest in his Honda, in total contrast to team-mate Rubens Barrichello who was left propping up the standings at the end of the 90-minute run.

With Alonso and Button able to conjure such quick times, expect laps of sub one minute, 39 seconds in today’s qualifying session from the championship favorites.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was fourth overall, followed by the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, both just over 0.2secs adrift.

Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and Toyota’s Timo Glock were sixth and seventh, and the only other drivers to dip below one minute, 40 seconds for the 5.440km circuit.

Unlike Monaco that uses public roads around the streets of the principality, the Valencia track is predominantly purpose built.

There are a number of wide run-off areas to catch any mistakes, and there were many throughout the two sessions as the drivers acclimatised themselves to the virgin territory.

Nevertheless, it is still remarkably eye-catching, notably crossing a swing bridge that when in every-day use opens and closes to allow yachts and ships to enter and exit.

At one point, the fastest section where cars hit speeds of 315kph, there is the unusual sight of seeing them heading in one direction, whilst the other side of a large concrete barrier there is a dual roadway with ordinary road vehicles traveling in the other.