Hamilton takes first win of the season
Lewis Hamilton was able to shine a light on his dismal season with a win at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. The man from Stevenage took full advantage of the newly updated McLaren to take a well deserved victory. Kimi Raikkonen gave his Ferrari team a welcome boost after Massa's qualifying crash to finish second. Marc Webber continued his excellent form with a fine third. Jensen Button only managed a seventh place finish and must now be wondering if he can hold onto his championship lead, as Webber is eating chunks out of his points total.
However, the weekend was overshadowed by the serious accident that befell Philipé Massa in practice and the death of Henry Surtees in a Formula 2 race at Brand Hatch. Massa was hit on the helmet by flying debris that had broken off Barrichello's Brawn, causing him head and eye injuries. It is hoped that he will fully recover, but the chances of him taking part in the next few Grand Prix are slim.
How safe?
Despite all the hot air surrounding the FIA/FOTA battle, the rampant commercialism and the disappearance of 'traditional' races, recent events have emphasised once again that Motor sport IS dangerous. Travelling at speeds of up to 200 mph will put you in harms way, no doubt about it. However, motor sport is infinitely safer in 2009 than it was in say, 1974. Drivers from all classes of racing were regularly killed back then; with most F1 drivers knowing that in anyone season, more than one death was likely, not to mention serious career-ending injuries. Additionally, anyone who has read the Barry Sheene book by Nick Harris and Steve Parrish will know that the FIM Motorcycle World Championship was an extremely dangerous affair in the 60's and 70's, no matter what class you raced in.
We fortunately now live in times where accidents are less likely, due to much improved safety measures. Since the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenburger in 1994, Formula 1 has constantly tried to improve driver safety and MotoGP no longer requires riders to risk their necks on the Isle of Man and the railway crossings of Imatra. We should however understand that you can never take the danger out of motor racing entirely and accidents do occur out of the blue, no matter how much we try to prepare for them.
Rossi beats Lorenzo to Sachsenring victory
Valentino Rossi staked another claim to the 2009 MotoGP World Championship by beating his team mate Jorge Lorenzo to the flag at the German Grand Prix on Sunday. Australia's Casey Stoner originally held the lead from the sixth lap, but soon fell by the wayside as his tyres wore out. Rossi then took over, but with five laps to go, his team mate Jorge Lorenzo took lead (with contract negotiations in the offing, the Spaniard was no doubt looking to show his considerable worth).
However, Rossi hustled his way past and led over the line to win from Lorenzo. Spain's other great white hope, Dani Pedrosa finished in third. James Toseland was 10th and didn't get black flagged.
Elsewhere...
The F1 comedy circus hits the snore-laden curves of the Hungaroring this weekend. Who knows what will happen other than no one will overtake. Oh, and Bourdais has been ejected from Toro Rosso. Didn't see that one coming...
Weekly round-up 14/07/09
So what is happening in the wonderful world of Motorsport? Well, there seems to be plenty of shuffling of the cards going on in Formula One, with the seemingly endless FIA/FOM/CVC/FOTA wrangling still raging on. It appears that an alternative series is still very much on the cards and Bernie may be jumping ship with FOTA (the name GP1 has been registered with his company). Former World Rally champ Ari Vatanen Is planning to stand for election as FIA president, so all we can do is await Max & Bernie's next move...
MotoGP teams pull out
Elsewhere, Sete Gibernau's Grupo Francisco Hernando team has pulled out of the MotoGP class with immediate effect. This follows on from Kawasaki's announcement that there will be no Hayate team next year either, leaving both Gibernau and Marco Melandri without a ride. Kawasaki cannot afford to provide a bike for the Italian anymore, despite his excellent showing on the Hayate (particularly at Mugello). The Japanese firm wish to make savings and removing the cost of a Grand Prix bike will do that.
Silly season begins
The chess pieces that are being moved at the moment are:
- Marco Simoncelli has signed for the Gresini Honda team next year, taking up another space on the already sparse grid.
- The Italian paper Gazzetto dello Sport believes that Ben Spies has signed a two year deal with Yamaha. The American will contest the World Superbike series in 2010 and then move onto MotoGP in 2011.
- Sebastien Bourdais may be replaced by Jaime Alguersuari for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Toro Rosso driver has not had a good season so far and it appears he will lose his seat.
- Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat believes that Nelson Piquet will be dropped from the Renault team in place of Roman Grosjean.
Marc Webber breaks duck to take German GP win
Marc Webber took his first victory in yesterday's race at the Nurburgring in Germany. The Australian was able to command the race from the front, despite serving a drive-through penalty for swerving in front of Rubens Barrichello's Brawn at the start. Webber dropped to eighth after his first pit stop, but was back in the lead by the halfway point of the race and was able to cruise to the chequered flag.
Sebastien Vettel came in second place, cutting the championship lead of Jensen Button down to 21 points. Phillipe Massa was happy to take the third space on the podium for Ferrari, with Nico Rosberg in fourth, Button fifth, Barrichello in sixth, Alonso seventh and Kovalainen in eighth.
Pedrosa takes US GP win
2009 hasn't been the best of years for Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard has spent most of the season either injured or being flung off his Honda, while his compatriot and sworn enemy Jorge Lorenzo has been fighting Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner for the championship. Fortunately at Laguna Seca on Sunday, Pedrosa was able to improve his own chances by taking the US Grand Prix win.
Right from the start, the Honda rider took advantage of a quick getaway to take the lead with Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner pursuing him. Diving through the sweeps and turns of the superb Laguna Seca track, the top four chased each other, yet the Spaniard was able to keep in front and pull out a lead.
Britain's James Toseland had a race that he'd rather forget, having been deemed by the authorities to have made a jump start. JT then either missed the pit board asking him to come in for his drive through penalty, or he chose to ignore it. Either way, he was black flagged, adding another woe to a very difficult season for the Englishman.
For Lorenzo and Stoner this was to be a particularly gruelling race, as both riders had suffered massive high-side crashes in practice, yet they managed to finish third and fourth respectively. The Ducati rider gave Rossi a real challenge in the early stages of the race and we though that there maybe a repeat of last years race, albeit for second place. However, after a time, Rossi's superior fitness won through. Unfortunately, Stoner continues to be dogged by a mysterious illness that is affecting his stamina and is currently waiting to undergo tests to determine what the ailment is.
In the closing stages of the race it seemed that Pedrosa was taking it a little easy, trying to make savings on his tyres and brakes, as Rossi caught up with him rapidly. The Italian made a last minute lunge on the final corner aka Barcelona, but he was unable to snatch the victory. However, second place netted him plenty of points, putting him nine points ahead of Lorenzo in the championship.
Thoughts on Assen
After watching the Dutch TT last Saturday, a few things sprung to mind about motorsport and racetracks.
I would never argue that the conditions that bike racers put up with in the 60's and 70's were anything but sub-standard. Racing on circuits that made no effort with safety provisions and next to non-existent pay (unless you were a top rider with the gift of the gab, step forward Mr Sheene), is not a situation that one would want to return. However, progress, big business and professionalism isn't always a good thing as we do appear to be in the middle of an era where the racetrack takes a poor second to grandiose pit buildings and hospitality suites. Racetracks have to be TV friendly, i.e. short with plenty of slow corners so sponsors logos can be seen and not much else going for them. Unfortunately many old tracks are following these developments and seem desperate to copy them, including Assen.
The Cathedral of racing
There are only two permanent racetracks in Holland: Assen and Zandvoort. Whilst the latter is regarded as one of Formula One's great tracks, the former has hosted the Dutch TT as part of the Motorcycle World Championship since it's beginning, held races since 1923 and is regarded as the 'Cathedral of Racing'. Originally a loose triangle of local public roads, the track had two long road layouts before settling on a more permanent 5 mile (approx) arrangement in 1955.
The track consisted of local farm roads and featured lightly banked curves that helped maintain a bikes speed. As a result, the track was quite narrow, yet it retained the 'crown' of a normal public road and was ideal for bike racing. One interesting fact is that despite the changing layout of the track through the decades, the start/finish area remained the same, with riders lining up on the same grid that their predecessors lined up on back in the forties.
If you want to see Assen in it's classic guise, click here to see local hero, 'Jumping' Jack Middelburg, take a well deserved victory at the 1980 Dutch TT. It is also interesting to note that the second place man is one Graziano Rossi, Valentino's father, who was gaining a name for himself as fine rider before injury cut his career short. You'll also notice that the Assen track was twice the length, with the full Northern loop in operation. Whilst a real challenge with some quick corners, it was no Nurburgring or Imatra (both on the calendar that year) in the danger stakes, with the latter requiring the bikes to wheelie over a railway crossing!!!
Watching the clip it was also interesting to see how Health and Safety hadn't got to the Netherlands at that point. Crowds are closer to the track and there are trees and tractors on the infield (admittedly nowhere near where riders were likely to crash). As cars break for the Strubben hairpin you can see a pond, a car and a pile of people positioned inside! Not to mention a large pile of cigarette ends and crisp packets everywhere...
Modern day woe
Compared with this film, Assen 2009 seemed a far more clinical affair, despite a master-class from Valentino Rossi, fine weather and what looked like an incredibly drunk crowd. To say that the circuit has been emasculated in recent years is something of an understatement. This may be in the owners desire to attract more money and a Champ Car. Hire Hermann Tilke and to redesign your track and you will see fast stretches replaced by second gear complexes and challenging corners made easy.
As of 2006, the whole of the North Loop was discarded (a small amount was cut out in 1984) and a Tilke complex of slow bends were put in to replace it. The second half of development has yet to be completed: a museum about the Assen TT circuit, built on part of the Assen TT circuit!!! Just shows that some people get promoted higher than they should...
However, as this article from the MotoGP matters website shows, there are other problems that Assen faces in this hypocritical, money-only-matters age. With people like F1's Bernie Ecclestone squeezing every last drop out of them in fees and cynical businesses biting the hand that feeds, race circuits don't have a great time of things do they? Ok, that's my rant over, I'll go and quiver in the corner of a darkened room now.
Now for something slightly different...
By the way, it's the US Grand Prix for MotoGP this weekend. Let's hope for some more superb racing, like we saw last year!