Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support FoxesTalk by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content
The Stig

Formula 1 Thread 2009

By The Stig, in General Football and Sport

Recommended Posts

StanSP

StanSP

Posted
Posted
Kovalainen's got no chance of keeping his seat though lol

My guess is McLaren will re-sign Raikkonen, cause with Massa recovering and Alonso an imminent arrival, he's gonna be out of a seat.

Is Fisichella only there til the end of the season then?

dogadug

dogadug

Posted
Posted
He's meant to be staying as Ferrari test driver. Liuzzi is more than capable of taking his FI seat anyway, i've always liked him.

Who did Liuzzi used to drive for a few seasons ago?

Asha

Asha

Posted
Posted
Who did Liuzzi used to drive for a few seasons ago?

Started off in Red Bull for 4 races, then had a couple of years in the Toro Rosso.

JimmyK

JimmyK

Posted
Posted
Who did Liuzzi used to drive for a few seasons ago?

At Red Bull in 2005 it switched between him and Christian Klien every so often. They were in competition for the full seat in 2006, and in the end Klien's results were a fair bit better, so he got the Red Bull seat in 2006 (where is he now? I lost track of him after they got Webber to replace him) and Liuzzi got shifted to Toro Rosso. Got dropped at the end of 2007 I think.

Brainy

Brainy

Posted
Posted

Team Radio:

Today The Times can reveal extracts from the radio conversations between key Renault personnel during last year’s controversial Singapore Grand Prix leading up to, and including, the moment when Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on lap 14.

This radio traffic between the Renault pitwall and Piquet, as well as among members of the pitwall, is a fascinating insight into the minutes leading up to the crash and the chaotic moments after it.

The transcript will form part of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council’s deliberations on Monday when it decides whether Piquet was told to crash his car, an allegation Renault and Flavio Briatore, the team principal, deny.

The Renault group on the wall at races includes two race engineers, plus Briatore and Pat Symonds, the director of engineering who runs the management of the race.

Related Links

Formula One is the real crash victim

Briatore comes out fighting in ‘cheat’ storm

F1 is in shock over Piquet Jr's allegations

Multimedia

Graphic: the Piquet crash

Symonds has been offered immunity from prosecution by the FIA in return for full disclosure about the alleged scheme to have Piquet crash on purpose.

The aim of the conspiracy alleged by the FIA was for Renault to cause a safety car interruption immediately after Fernando Alonso, who has said he was not party to any scheme to cheat, had made an unscheduled and early pitstop. Alonso pitted on lap 12 of the race, four laps earlier than originally intended, and Piquet’s car hit the wall two laps later.

The safety car duly appeared and circulated for six laps. During that time almost all of Alonso’s rivals pitted, enabling the Spaniard to climb steadily through the field and win the race from fifteenth on the grid.

In the early part of the race, there were several exchanges between Symonds and the engineers about Alonso’s race strategy, with Symonds preparing the ground to drop the original three-stop approach and change it to a two-stop strategy that would better fit with any plan for Piquet to crash.

“I can tell you now we are not three-stopping,” Symonds is heard to say on the transcript made by the FIA as part of its evidence in the case, a copy of which has been seen by The Times.

Later Symonds adds to an unnamed engineer: “Don’t worry about fuel because I’m going to get him [Alonso] out of this traffic earlier than that.”

Not long afterwards comes an unusual intervention from Piquet, who was running towards the back of the field in the early stages of Formula One’s first night race. But the novelty factor for him was not the floodlights. It has now been suggested that he was worried about which lap he was on because he knew he had special instructions for lap 14.

Piquet says: “What lap are we in, what lap are we in?”

A few seconds later an engineer tells the others on the wall: “He just asked: ‘What lap are we in?’ ”

Symonds intervenes: “Yeah, tell him that he’s about to complete lap 8.”

Symonds insists Piquet is then told something he should know from his pitboard, which is shown to him at the end of every lap. “No, just tell him, he is about, he’s just completing, he’s about to complete lap eight.”

After Piquet is given the information, the discussion returns to the timing of Alonso’s first stop and Symonds makes his decision. “Right, I’m going to . . . I think we’re going to stop him just before we catch him [a reference to the Williams driver, Kazuki Nakajima, who was ahead of Alonso] and get him out of it, the reason being we’ve still got this worry on the fuel pump. It’s only a couple of laps short. We’re going to be stopping him early and we’re going to go to lap 40.”

This decision prompts an engineer, who wants assurance from Symonds that a tactical option that would drop Alonso to last is the right thing to do. “Pat, do you still not think that this is a bit too early?” he asks a few minutes later. “We only did six tenths that lap.”

Symonds replies: “No, no it’s going to be all right.”

“OK, OK, understood,” the engineer responds.

Once Alonso has made his stop, Symonds tells everybody that it is time to “concentrate on” Piquet. After assessing the Brazilian’s position, he and Briatore decide Piquet has to quicken up as the fateful lap draws near.

Symonds to the engineer: “OK right, you’ve got to push him really bloody hard now. If he doesn’t get past Barrichello, he’s going nowhere, he’s got to get past Barrichello this lap.”

“Tell him, push . . .,” Briatore says.

Piquet’s race engineer gives him the hurry-up: “Nelson, no excuses now, you’ve got to get past Barrichello. You’ve got four clicks straight-line advantage. Come on, you’ve got to push now, you must get past him.”

Moments later Piquet crashes at turn 17, where there are no cranes to lift the wreckage, making a safety car inevitable, and at the point at which he alleges Symonds told him to do the deed during a meeting before the race.

Multiple voices: “Nelson’s off. F***ing hell. Nelson’s had a crash. I would say that would be a red flag. It’s huge [all speaking at the same time] .

Piquet: “Sorry guys. I had a little outing.”

Engineer: “Is he all right, Is he all right?”

Symonds: “Ask him if he’s all right.”

Engineer: “Are you OK? Are you OK?”

Engineer: “Fernando’s just gone past it.”

Engineer: “OK, yellow flag.”

Piquet: “Yeah, I hit my head in the back. I think I’m OK.”

Engineer: “OK, understood.”

Symonds: “Right [inaudible], stop him.”

Engineer: “Safety car, safety car, safety car, safety car. Fernando, safety car, mixture three.”

Symonds: “Tell him to be careful, turn 17 I think it is.”

After several exchanges about Alonso, an engineer expresses concern, presumably after seeing the crash on the television monitor, but Briatore seems unconcerned and is angry with Piquet.

Engineer: “F***ing hell that was a big shunt.”

Briatore: “F***ing hell . . . my every f***ing disgrace, f***ing, he’s not a driver.”

Then Symonds asks about Alonso’s suddenly improving prospects.

Symonds: “What position is Fernando in?”

Engineer: “Well, we were 20, and we’re first guy to pick the safety car up.”

Symonds: “Yeah, we’re not . . .”

Engineer: “He will get away past it but he’s got to wait.”

Later Briatore and Symonds discuss Alonso’s chances. “What position we are now in all this?” asks Briatore.

Symonds replies: “To be honest, I don’t know Flavio. It’s got to have been good for Fernando. But I honestly don’t know where he is.”

In the final part of the transcript, several minutes after the crash, the Renault team return to the subject of Piquet and his condition and at this stage Briatore adds his own concern for the young Brazilian driver’s welfare.

Engineer: “Where is Nelson? Have you seen him?”

Briatore: “Is he OK, Nelson? Is he OK?”

Alonso: “The pitlane is closed until we arrive?”

Engineer: “He climbed out, mate, and ran across the track.”

Engineer: “Yeah, the pitlane is still closed.”

Taken as a whole the transcript does not provide a killer-blow against Symonds or Briatore and could be read either way.

The FIA, the sport’s governing body, is known to be particularly concerned that the alleged conspiracy not only amounted to cheating but also involved a reckless act that could have resulted in injury or loss of life.

The pitwall recording shows that, on this score, the Renault team were also extremely concerned about Piquet’s safety.

isaidno

isaidno

Posted
Posted
German car manufacturer BMW says it has agreed to sell its Formula 1 team to Swiss-based Qadbak Investments.

BMW has been looking for a buyer for the team since it announced in July that it was pulling out of the sport at the end of the current season.

Qadbak bought Notts County FC in July through its Munto Finance company.

Earlier on Tuesday, F1's governing body gave BMW Sauber "14th place" on the grid next year, meaning they are first reserves to fill any vacancy.

The FIA has announced the expansion of the F1 grid to 13 teams for next season, with Lotus, Campos GP, Manor and US F1 all joining.

The team expects to line up on the grid for the first race of the 2010 season

However, it will be "consulting urgently" with the 10 existing teams with a view to increasing the number of teams to 14.

There are also doubts over the F1 future of current teams Renault and Toyota.

Renault are embroiled in a race-fixing controversy while Toyota insist they are not signing off their F1 budget until November.

Despite previous doubts over its future, the FIA described BMW's application as "high quality" and a team statement said: "We are pleased to confirm that the FIA has indicated that we may have a place in the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship.

"The team expects to line up on the grid for the first race of the 2010 season."

BMW have been saved and now their place has gone to Lotus :D

The Canadian Gp is now a definate for 2010 :scarf:

dandannieldanok

dandannieldanok

Posted
Posted

That team radio is very insightful. I would say the key bit is Briatore's angry swearing about Piquet. Now unless that's a cover up (quite clever if it is), that's not the reaction you would expect if indeed they'd told him to crash.

Brainy

Brainy

Posted
Posted

No team in F1 should be stupid enough to tell somebody to simply 'crash' over team radio. There's a few things in that transcript which conspiracy theorists may think are a cover up. Chances are they used some kind of code, possibly "Push Nelson" but there's nothing in that transcript where you can easily say they told him to crash. I presume there's more evidence.

dogadug

dogadug

Posted
Posted
No team in F1 should be stupid enough to tell somebody to simply 'crash' over team radio. There's a few things in that transcript which conspiracy theorists may think are a cover up. Chances are they used some kind of code, possibly "Push Nelson" but there's nothing in that transcript where you can easily say they told him to crash. I presume there's more evidence.

but why would you just make it up :dunno:

Brainy

Brainy

Posted
Posted

Why would Piquet make it up? Because Piquet came out after he had been sacked and said that Briatore was an 'executioner'. He's also said quite a lot of things about the team which made him sound bitter, although if he was speaking the truth then I feel sorry for him.

I think if Renault are cleared, then it's more down to there being a lack of sufficient evidence rather than it being a lie.

Jimmy

Jimmy

Posted
Posted

If they don't get at the very least the same punishment McLaren got over spygate, then the FIA will look even more biased

Wycombe Fox

Wycombe Fox

Posted
Posted

Bloody hell!

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_new...es_art_id=39026

Renault has announced that it will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix and that Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have left the team.

A brief statement issued this afternoon (Wednesday) reads as follows:

The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team.

Before attending the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment.

Brainy

Brainy

Posted
Posted
If they don't get at the very least the same punishment McLaren got over spygate, then the FIA will look even more biased

I didn't follow the spygate saga but they got fined a stupendous amount of money. Race fixing is probably deemed more unacceptable than lying to the stewards also. Renault put the lives of Piquet, the marshalls and the spectators are danger so if they get disqualified from this years championship then they cant complain.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...