F1RMGP 2014: may the Fourth Season be with us!

[DanielPT]

F1RM CONSIDERING DROPPING PURE ENGINE?

Following F1RM failure to win the last two races, F1RM is reportedly rumored to drop the PURE engine if the result did not go better. "We are bathplugged up with the engine, and Viking has beaten us now!", said a engineer from the F1RM team, during press confrence after the Mexican GP. The team have yet to confirm this.

What is F1RM doing?

Not to mention Dagnall, champion in title is, erm..., on 0 points.

[dinizintheoven]

Damon Hill was unavailable for comment... anyway, as for the fate of F1RM and their teething troubles with the new engine, the next race in Canada is just around the corner, eh. But... the teams won't be able to tinker with their equipment until they get back for the European season, with race four in (well, not in as such, but near) San Marino.

[dinizintheoven]

Round 3: Montreal, Canada
Saturday, 17 May 2014

THE GRID

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1 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'29.004
2 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'29.744
3 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'29.848
4 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'30.237
5 –    26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'30.242
6 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'30.331
7 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'30.365
8 –    18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'30.456
9 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'30.500
10 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'30.506
11 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'30.507
12 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'30.853
13 –   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'30.898

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14 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'30.948
15 –   22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'31.161
16 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'31.424
17 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'31.523
18 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'31.604
19 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'31.823
20 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'32.140
21 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'32.389
22 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'32.484
23 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'32.796
24 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'32.837
25 –   24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'32.873
26 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'33.099

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---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'33.322
DNQ –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'33.365
DNQ –  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'33.366
DNQ –  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'33.369
DNQ –  32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'33.405
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'33.757
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            1'34.910
DNQ –  23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1'35.006
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    1'35.168
DNQ –  31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         1'36.194
DNQ –  39 F. Fauzy        GTM            1'36.453
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    1'37.198

Viking Racing's blistering start to the season looked to continue in Friday qualifying at Montreal, with Þorvaldur Einarsson on provisional pole, Jan Magnussen not far behind and incredibly, after sliding into a DNQ in Mexico, Marco Apicella, looking all set to put one over his old team. And then came Yuji Ide. One lap, bam, pole. Stunned silence echoed, if that's the right word, through the Norwegian team's garage, not least that of everyone else. The Vikings were, though, courteous enough not to accuse Super Aguri of shoving meat pies under their engine covers, or putting Redex in their fuel tank. Not that Yuji Ide would have cared, although if that had been the case, you have to wonder why Shinji Nakano was left out of the rations. Also finding a blinding turn of speed was Philippe Alliot, who posted competitive times throughout the session, putting his SPAM in a deserved fifth – ahead of Badoer, Nakano, both Leyton Houses, and both F1RMs who were again, too far down the grid for comfort. Fabrizio Barbazza was delighted with eighth after a couple of dubious qualifying performances, while Gabriele Tarquini's tenth had the same lifting effect for AGS. Pity about both their team-mates, though. The inexperience of the Leyton House team showed again, as they constantly fluffed the setup of the car and the thromping power of the Suzuki engine was neutralised, Noda taking ninth and Giacomelli twelfth. Chris Dagnall limped to a frustrated eleventh, with Stéphane Sarrazin rounding out the top half of the grid on a great day for SPAM.

Andrea Montermini kicked off the bottom half of the grid in 14th, with a subdued Jean-Denis Délétraz 17th; between them were the ATS Rial of Volker Weidler, finally getting his act together under Audi control, and Enrico Bertaggia in the EuroBrun. Olivier Beretta, in 18th, was the lead Spyker; both cars made it into the race, Gregor Foitek managing 24th. Scuderia Andrea Coloni and Toleman found themselves firmly at the opposite end to the grid that they'd imagined they would be, with Joachim Winkelhock lurking amongst them in 22nd; at the third time of asking, all four diesel cars make it to race day. On the back row of the grid, Esteban Tuero couldn't beat Foitek's Spyker and was perilously close to being eliminated, as was Marko Asmer, whose desperate dive for the line at least made sure there was one Simtek on the grid. Because, not so lucky was Paul Belmondo; that he failed to beat his inexperienced team-mate, deliver the goods right when it mattered and rack up a DNQ in the process, and all this when he is second in the Drivers' Championship table, is enough to earn him Reject Of The Race before said race has even started. That award, though, has to be shared with Emanuele Naspetti, the driver knocked out at the death by Asmer; why he was even in such a sticky situation defies belief when Marco Apicella put the same car in third place. Others to fall at the first hurdle were Pierre-Henri Raphanel... again, testing the incognito Team Julien's patience to breaking point; Claudio Langes also failed, and EuroBrun can't seem to get two cars into a race at the moment; Olivier Grouillard and Alex Yoong crashed out but at least could watch their team-mates race on the Saturday, whereas Stefan, GTM and David Price all packed up and went home with their tails, yet again, between their legs. Those three teams have one race start out of a possible 18 between them.



CLASSIFICATION

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1 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    69   1h 47'09.495
2 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         69   1h 47'39.817
3 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         69   1h 47'55.728
4 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           69   1h 48'05.562
5 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          69   1h 48'20.645
6 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           69   1h 48'38.137
7 –    22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       68   + 1 lap
8 –    28 A. Montermini   Forti          68   + 1 lap
9 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            68   + 1 lap
10 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   68   + 1 lap
11 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           68   + 1 lap
12 –   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           68   + 1 lap
13 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            68   + 1 lap

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14 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    68   + 1 lap
15 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   68   + 1 lap
16 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     68   + 1 lap
17 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            68   + 1 lap
18 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       68   + 1 lap
19 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         67   + 2 laps
20 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       67   + 2 laps
21 –   24 E. Tuero        Minardi        67   + 2 laps
22 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         66   + 3 laps
23 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        64   + 5 laps (DNF)
24 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        58   engine
25 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         15   transmission
26 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           11   turbo

And for the third time, pole position on Friday is very ominous for the race result on Saturday. Even so, Yuji Ide didn't have it all his own way; a blinding start saw Philippe Alliot take the lead off, with Marco Apicella immediately behind, with his former team-mate swarming all over him. The Vikings traded a bit of gold paint, Þorvaldur Einarsson came out on top of that altercation, and after a bit more barging, Yuji Ide took the lead, with the Icelander hunting him down. But Yuji was a determined man, who'd been right on top of his game all weekend, and pulled out a substantial lead. For all the best efforts of the Vikings, the lead kept on growing, every lap, and was only increased further as Ide was the last to pit for fuel and tyres. So it came as no surprise to see the order on the podium when the race finally ended; Ide won the race by a clear 30 seconds, Aguri Suzuki went mad, the Vikings looked reasonably pleased at a job well done to streak ahead in the Constructors' Championship, and Þorvaldur allowed himself a grimace of satisfaction at the thought he'd definitely be leading the way for the Drivers' title after the next race was done as well. But by far the biggest smile was on the face of Marco Apicella; after a stellar performance on the Friday, which Emanuele Naspetti utterly failed to match, Apicella kept pace with the Vikings such that he brought his Dome home fourth, which counts as an instant unrejectification for the team, and thoroughly vindicated their decision to join the series; they'll be a true threat if they can sort out their consistency. Luca Badoer finished fifth and CHris Dagnall sixth, still on the lead lap, but questions are definitely being asked at F1RM as to where this slow start to the season came from, and Craig Cod might have to answer some of those questions. Were they deliberately running light in testing? Expect an investigation of sorts. Marco Apicella wasn't the only one to be utterly delighted; Volker Weidler, somewhat improbably, scored the first points for a diesel car. So he was a lap down, but it was his best finish, and ATS Rial's. Pierre-Henri Raphanel must be wondering how he managed to end up with the wrong end of the stick yet again after being turfed out of the German team; still, at least his replacement didn't score. The points were completed by Andrea Montermini, Pedro Chaves and a rather subdued Hideki Noda; a rookie he may be at this circuit, as well as his team, but he was hoping for more.

Making a mockery of this circuit's reputation as a car-breaker, classified finishers went all the way down to 23rd, although Ralph Firman ended the race with his car parked in the pits, spitting blue smoke at all the mechanics; even so, only three others would not see the chequered flag. Jean-Denis Délétraz trundled round to eleventh, in a train with Stéphane Sarrazin, who found overtaking too tricky with the unusual torque pattern of the diesel SPAM, and Perry McCarthy, who didn't have the power to do so. Shinji Nakano and Bruno Giacomelli were supposed to have finished much higher, but a couple of ugly spins and a bizarre mistake for Jacko, driving straight on at the old pits hairpin, saw them sink down the order. That Gabriele Tarquini barely made it past Enrico Bertaggia's EuroBrun and spent the rest of the race staring at Fabrizio Barbazza's gearbox will be a cause for concern for the AGS team, if PHR's limp performance isn't already ringing the alarm bells; at least they remained one lap down, though they were all in Yuji Ide's sights, he ran right out of laps.

Two laps down were Olivier Beretta, in his Spyker which proved to be reliable but slow; Joachim Winkelhock in the diesel-powered ATS Rial couldn't hold a candle to his team-mate and having his nosecone sliced off by the errant Minardi of Esteban Tuero, who he would eventually pass on the last lap, didn't help his cause. Marko Asmer ran his own race, bewildered by the sudden lack of pace of the Simtek that had made his job so hard all weekend and had already consigned his team-mate to sitting out the race altogether. Even so, he was not the last classified finisher, Ralph Firman's Toleman having coughed to a halt with engine troubles, he at least covered enough distance to be classified 23rd. Only three cars retired; Philippe Alliot paid the ultimate price for his first lap heroics, losing a turbocharger on lap 12 – he had one to spare, but it wasn't enough, Gregor Foitek wished he had the reliability of his team-mate's car, having suffered his third retirement out of the three races so far, the gearbox seizing in lap 16, and finally, Allan McNish's blown engine was a sign of worse things to come for Toleman; how both cars could get so close to the finish and then scream enough will have the Renault technical team scratching their heads.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

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1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         68
2 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    37
3 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          28
4 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         27
5 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         20
6 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   19
7 =   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    15
7 =   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
9 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   14
10 –  36 M. Apicella     Dome           12
11 –  28 A. Montermini   Forti          10
12 =  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       8
12 =  1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           8

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14 –  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         7
15 –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       6
16 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            4
18 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       2
18 =  11 P. Chaves       SAC            2
20 –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP

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1 –   Viking         95
2 –   Super Aguri    52
3 –   Forti          38
4 –   Leyton House   33
5 –   Simtek         27
6 –   F1RM           23
7 –   Dome           13
8 –   EuroBrun       10
9 =   SAC            6
9 =   ATS Rial       6

APERTURA: SEMI FINALS

(16) McCarthy (13th) v (4) Délétraz (11th)
(2) Magnussen (3rd) v (3) Einarsson (2nd)

[Phoenix]

This season promises to be extremely interesting, I tell you...

[dinizintheoven]

Round 4: Imola, 60 miles NW of San Marino
Saturday, 7 June 2014

THE GRID

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1 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'28.155
2 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'28.784
3 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'29.137
4 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'29.223
5 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'29.488
6 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'29.922
7 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'30.202
8 –    2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'30.275
9 –    28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'30.518
10 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'30.522
11 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'30.622
12 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'30.629
13 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'30.634

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14 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'30.701
15 –   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'30.826
16 –   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'30.900
17 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'31.058
18 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'31.288
19 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'31.489
20 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'31.922
21 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'32.390
22 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'32.435
23 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'32.549
24 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'32.585
25 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'32.629
26 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'32.945

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---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'32.956
DNQ –  32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'33.167
DNQ –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'33.251
DNQ –  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'33.257
DNQ –  31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         1'33.652
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'33.970
DNQ –  39 F. Fauzy        GTM            1'34.706
DNQ –  23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1'35.015
DNQ –  24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'35.726
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    1'36.902
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            1'37.127
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    1'38.152

The sleeping giants have awoken. Stung by the lightning-speed start to the season from his younger team-mate, Jan Magnussen snapped out of his coma, and after only a couple of flying laps of the Imola track, he'd set a time that nobody was going to beat. The man who came so close to the Drivers' title yet so far for the last two years finally showed that he meant business. Not that the Thundergod was going to give him too much of a break though, finishing best of the rest, if six tenths off the Dane's pole time. Hideki Noda again showed what the Leyton House is capable of in the right hands, and Chris Dagnall finally out F1RM back at the sharp end of the grid; for all PURE's troubles, a top-drawer driver can usually get them out of their predicament. Bruno Giacomelli and Jean-Denis Délétraz in the other Leyton House and F1RM cars weren't too far behind, either, with Yuji Ide and Pedro Chaves in the mix. Behind the top eight, Forti looked a bit subdued at their drivers' home race, Andrea Montermini coming out ahead of Luca Badoer, ninth and 13th respectively, with Gabriele Tarquini in the heavily-tweaked AGS, Perry McCarthy in the second SAC and Ralph Firman for Toleman between them.

Into the second half of the grid, Paul Belmondo held off Stéphane Sarrazin and Emanuele Naspetti for 14th; all three drivers cleared the 1'31 mark. Nobody really knew what Shinji Nakano had been doing, but he'd turned up for qualifying looking worse for wear and it was speculated that he'd overdone the sake the night before; he lined up 17th. Enrico Bertaggia, in 18th, was the sole EuroBrun in the race again, ahead of – hooray! Pierre-Henri Raphanel finally qualified his AGS at the fourth time of asking, and ahead of his former team; that badly-needed remedial work on the JH31 paid dividends. Marko Asmer completed the 1'31s, ahead of Fabrizio Barbazza, the two Spykers of Olivier Beretta and Gregor Foitek in 25th, with Joachim Winkelhock and a frustrated Marco Apicella between them. Finally, in 26th, Allan McNish plodded lazily around the circuit for most of the session, only being give the hurry-up at the last minute; his final lap put him all of a hundredth of a second ahead of an infuriated Philippe Alliot, who thought he was safe, but ended up as a spectator on the Saturday.

Also dropping through the trap door were Volker Weidler, showing that his brief surge of form in Canada might have been a flash in the pan, Claudio Langes, now with three DNQs to Bertaggia's one in the inter-team battle, and Olivier Grouillard, to nobody's surprise whatsoever. The teams to pack up and go home were Stefan, GTM, David Price and, for the first time this season, Minardi. They'll want to put that right... quickly.



CLASSIFICATION

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1 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         61   1h 36'27.802
2 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         61   1h 36'29.267
3 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   61   1h 36'59.173
4 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   61   1h 37'29.813
5 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    61   1h 37'29.975
6 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            61   1h 37'49.794
7 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    60   + 1 lap
8 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          60   + 1 lap
9 –    25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           60   + 1 lap
10 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          60   + 1 lap
11 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            60   + 1 lap
12 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            60   + 1 lap
13 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         60   + 1 lap

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14 –   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           60   + 1 lap
15 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       60   + 1 lap
16 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         59   + 2 laps
17 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           59   + 2 laps
18 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     59   + 2 laps
19 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         59   + 2 laps (DNF)
20 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        58   + 3 laps
21 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       57   + 4 laps
22 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            56   + 5 laps (DNF)
23 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        56   + 5 laps (DNF)
24 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         52   engine
25 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           42   engine
26 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           7    oil leak

It was all going so well. No sooner had the lights gone out than we were treated to a Magnussen masterclass. The driver of old, he who had threatened to tear lumps out of the hopes and dreams of every other driver on the grid for the past two seasons (without ever actually getting there in the end...) was back. Nobody had an answer, not Þorvaldur Einarsson, nor the Leyton Houses, Super Aguris or any other challenger. And then, just over half way into the race... the Dane came up to lap the Toleman of Allan McNish, who had been as desperately and inexplicably slow in the race as he had in qualifying. At Acque Minerale on lap 38, the Scot chopped right across the racing line, not knowing which way to go to get out of the way, and sent them both pirouetting off the track in a move that Torvill and Dean would have been proud of. His nosecone amputated, Magnussen had to return to the pits, and by that time Þorvaldur had said "þakka þer fyrir" and that was that. Magnussen rejoined behind the two Leyton Houses, and only recovered to second by making some insane daredevil moves, braking so late that nobody could ever have believed he could have held onto the track, such is the power of the Suzuki engine in the back of the Leyton Houses that he could not pass on the straights. In the end, the Japanese team had to concede second best to Magnussen, who was warmly congratulated by his team-mate on the podium for that spirited fightback. For Þorvaldur, the race had gone perfectly; news had filtered through his radio that Jean-Denis Délétraz had sprung an oil leak after only seven laps, confirming him as the 2014 Apertura champion, for a bit of early-season bragging rights. For Allan McNish, his hatchet job on Jan Magnussen that cost the Dane the victory, plus his general dawdling throughout the weekend, saw him marked as a deserved Reject Of The Race. And a word for Bruno Giacomelli – he may have missed his first podium, but he unrejectified himself admirably after having spent three seasons in the ever decreasing circle that was Life Racing Engines.

Behind the Vikings and the Leyton Houses, Super Aguri were next in the pecking order – Yuji Ide taking fifth, and Shinji Nakano seventh, with Pedro Chaves between them as the last driver on the lead lap. Nakano woke up on race day, and had to fight his way through the field twice with his pit stops out of sync with the others, to take that seventh. Another sandwich featured Stéphane Sarrazin in ninth, taking the first points for SPAM, sitting between Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini, the Fortis' qualifying fortunes being well and truly reversed on race day. Eleventh, and first to miss out on the points, was Pierre-Henri Raphanel – but it hadn't been for the lack of trying. Coming out on top of the battle with Perry McCarthy and Paul Belmondo was at least something of a consolation, and showed to the AGS management that they should maybe not write him off as a bad job just yet. Emanuele Naspetti and Enrico Bertaggia slugged it out for the right to not be the last once-lapped driver, Naspetti coming out on top of that one. And Gregor Foitek would have joined them, had his engine not exploded on the last lap – so he made his first classified finish of the season, in 19th, but has still yet to see the chequered flag. Other drivers lapped twice were Marko Asmer, Marco Apicella and Fabrizio Barbazza, all ahead of Foitek by default; nobody could quite believe how slow Allan McNish had been all weekend, but his exploits have been well mentioned, and how Smokin' Jo conspired to finish four laps behind is anyone's guess.

It wasn't looking too bad for retirements for most of the race, because even up until McNish and Magnussen tangled, there had only been one retirement; as Jean-Denis Délétraz's F1RM sprayed its oil all over the track, which amazingly claimed no victims, the team still believed they were on for some decent points. Chris Dagnall was running fifth behind the Leyton Houses (and, later, Magnussen) and keeping pace with all of them. Could the PURE engine finally show its true colours... could Daggers finally stab his way onto the podium? The answer was given on lap 43: blue was the colour, smoke was the pain, poor old Chris Dagnall, he wished he'd got the train... out of there, as fast as possible. Even at this stage, the championship was running away from him faster than a cheetah on steroids. 43 laps gone, both F1RMs out. But at least they had the consolation, if you can call it that, of Olivier Beretta suffering the same fate, as would Gabriele Tarquini and Ralph Firman, although those two had covered enough distance to be classified. Questions, questions, many they ask, of the future, and some of the glory days which are now increasingly in the past. Jamie, Enoch, HWNSNBM, think fast.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         93
2 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    47
3 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         45
4 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   34
5 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          32
6 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   26
7 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    21
8 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         20
9 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
10 –  36 M. Apicella     Dome           12
11 –  28 A. Montermini   Forti          11
12 –  11 P. Chaves       SAC            10

Code: Select all

13 =  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       8
13 =  1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           8
15 –  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         7
16 –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       6
17 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            4
18 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       2
18 =  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
20 –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   Viking         138
2 –   Super Aguri    68
3 –   Leyton House   60
4 –   Forti          43
5 –   Simtek         27
6 –   F1RM           23
7 –   SAC            14
8 –   Dome           13
9 –   EuroBrun       10
10 –  ATS Rial       6
11 –  SPAM           2

APERTURA: FINAL

(4) Délétraz (DNF) v (3) Einarsson (1st)

...and it all happened on lap 8. There'll be some mead drunk in the Viking garage tonight.

[FMecha]

F1RM cars tampered?

In last four races F1RM has failed to win any races so that we consider them for a early ROTY nomination. There are possiblities that the PURE engine were actually slow (Crash.net reported that they are considering to drop PURE engine) and are considering to sue them for breach of contract. However, a unconfirmed source has said that the car has tampered - proably by rival team. The team has yet to answer on this.

Super Aguri blocks Arrows from possible take over: Team management

Super Aguri has blocked Arrows from taking over the team, as Aguri Suzuki said recently. "We have tried to prevent (bathplugging ) Prince Malik from taking over our team!", said Aguri-san recently. Malik have yet to response on this.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Spyker accused of tampering with F1RM cars

The Spyker team have been accused of espionage when a unidentified man wearing a Spyker shirt was found the in F1RM garage. Minutes earlier, the man had also been seen exiting the Spyker truck with smoke pouring out of his mouth, presumably from one of Spyker's "paddock parties". All that's known about his activites was the aforementioned party and him yelling something about how he conquered the world in the world's ugliest BMW, presumably as a result of one of the effects of the consumables at the party.

[dinizintheoven]

Round 5: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Saturday, 21 June 2014

THE GRID

Code: Select all

1 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'26.256
2 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'26.770
3 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'26.934
4 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'27.599
5 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'27.735
6 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'27.770
7 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'27.898
8 –    28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'28.105
9 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'28.260
10 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'28.268
11 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'28.772
12 –   22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'29.053
13 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'29.067

Code: Select all

14 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'29.184
15 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'29.530
16 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'29.570
17 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'29.694
18 –   23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1'30.073
19 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'30.231
20 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'30.274
21 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'30.453
22 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'30.616
23 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'31.027
24 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'31.117
25 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'31.192
26 –   37 P. Kralev       David Price    1'31.241

Code: Select all

---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'31.245
DNQ –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'31.412
DNQ –  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'31.704
DNQ –  33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'31.775
DNQ –  39 F. Fauzy        GTM            1'31.907
DNQ –  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'31.908
DNQ –  31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         1'31.915
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'32.245
DNQ –  24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'33.538
DNQ –  32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'34.114
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            1'35.455
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    1'35.369

Someone must do something right now. So far, Yuji Ide has been the one man standing in the way of this whole season becoming a Viking benefit gig, and even then, that's only happened once. Jan Magnussen was absolutely peerless in qualifying, beating his younger team-mate by half a second, and the only nearby challenger was – not terribly surprisingly, given his team's record at this circuit – Pedro Chaves. Fourth and fifth came a Japanese assault with Italian drivers in the form of Bruno Giacomelli and Marco Apicella, of Leyton House and Dome respectively. Both Fortis and Super Aguris took four of the remaining top ten places, Chris Dagnall being the errant driver in the mix, though it's hardly likely that he'll be too chuffed with ninth as the F1RM team continue their mystifying struggle. Allan McNish shook off the blues from Imola by taking a fine eleventh, which seems to be about Toleman's level these days, followed by Volker Weidler, who drove out of his skin to put his ATS Rial in twelfth – ahead of Hideki Noda in the very powerful Leyton House, although power counts for a lot less at this circuit.

Just try telling that to Jean-Denis Délétraz, though. So the PURE engine is still down on power, but so is the aging MGN W12 in the back of Pierre-Henri Raphanel's AGS, and yet the misfiring Frenchman managed to outqualify his French-speaking rival. That Enrico Bertaggia was ahead of them, again in the only EuroBrun to qualify, was neither here nor there. Perry McCarthy couldn't reproduce the good form of his team-mate who is more of a Monaco specialist, while Alex Yoong trounced several cars who were meant to be faster than him – Olivier Beretta is not so much better off in the Spyker, but Gabriele Tarquini, Ralph Firman, Fabrizio Barbazza, Philippe Alliot, Marko Asmer and Smokin' Jo Winkelhock should all be rather embarrassed to be lining up behind the Minardi. And finally, in 26th place... causing the shock of the millennium, how Plamen Kralev managed to drag his David Price soapbox racer onto that last place of the grid is going to be a continuing mystery. But still, it's the first start of the year for the tail-end Daves, and there was unmitigated joy in their garage... right up until the point where they realised they'd have to keep working on the car for race day.

The Fire King's heroics came at the expense of some far bigger names, though, and how Emnauele Naspetti and Paul Belmondo, the first two drivers to be eliminated (in a shocking parallel of their performance in Canada) must have taken it was anyone's guess. Rumblings of foul play emanated from the Dome garage, given that Kralev had beaten Naspetti by four thousandths of a second, but the stewards rejected any such allegations, pointing to the standard risible performance of Christophe Hurni right at the back. Others who had to walk the plank into the harbour were Claudio Langes, Gregor Foitek, Stéphane Sarrazin, Olivier Grouillard and Esteban Tuero, along with both Stefans and both GTMs. At least there was a crumb of comfort for the Malaysian team, as Fairuz Fauzy posted a time far closer to challenging for a spot in the race than usual. That said, it still wasn't enough, and the glum faces on the Saturday as Plamen Kralev took the start when nobody at GTM had done so were all too obvious. As the lights went out on race day, Tony Fernandes and Dany Bahar tightened their hands round each others' throats...



CLASSIFICATION

Code: Select all

1 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         78   2h 01'03.699
2 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            78   2h 01'55.006
3 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           78   2h 02'26.386
4 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   77   + 1 lap
5 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    77   + 1 lap
6 –    4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            77   + 1 lap
7 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          77   + 1 lap
8 –    22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       77   + 1 lap
9 –    6  A. McNish       Toleman        77   + 1 lap
10 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          77   + 1 lap
11 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           77   + 1 lap
12 –   23 A. Yoong        Minardi        76   + 2 laps
13 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            76   + 2 laps

Code: Select all

14 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       76   + 2 laps            
15 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           76   + 2 laps            
16 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     76   + 2 laps            
17 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       72   + 6 laps (DNF)            
18 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         68   suspension
19 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        47   transmission            
20 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    38   suspension
21 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           29   oil leak            
22 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         29   transmission            
23 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            23   crash            
24 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         23   transmission            
25 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   14   crash            
26 –   37 P. Kralev       David Price    6    loose wheel            

As Murray Walker once said, this time the boot is on the other Schumacher. Jan Magnussen may have shown the way in qualifying, but Þorvaldur Einarsson has been the one with all the luck recently. On a sunny day in Monte Carlo, home of the casinos where the rich and famous lose all their money, his luck ran out. He'd burnt Magnussen off at the start, and the two had spent most of the race welded to each other's gearboxes as the rest of the field went backwards. Jan The Man took the lead on lap 21. Thundergod took it back again on lap 40, with a hefty shove intended to show his team-mate who was boss. But Magnussen pounced again on lap 49... and Þorvaldur started to retreat, unusually for him. A few concerned radio transmissions later, the problem finally revealed itself as his suspension shattered into a million fragments and he was left cursing his luck at the side of the track, as his team-mate was left to cruise to an easy win. All I'll say is, don't visit the casino this evening, Þorvaldur. His loss was a delighted Pedro Chaves' gain, the SAC driver proving that his heroics in the previous year's race were no fluke. This time, he had to give second best to Magnussen, but it boosted SAC's season no end. However, the wildest celebrations in front of the royal box came from Marco Apicella; Dome thought they had a decent car, but could never have predicted it was worthy of a podium, even if it was slightly fluky. Suffice to say he's over that DNQ in Mexico now. Just off the podium, again, was Bruno Giacomelli, hauling in more points for the Leyton House team, handicapped somewhat round the streets of Monaco where there are no real straights to show the Suzuki engine's superior firepower. Shinji Nakano had an interesting race; half of it was spent locking wheels with Yuji Ide the way the two Vikings had done, which was only resolved in Nakano's favour when Ide's suspension gave up the ghost; afterwards, he had, of all people, Pierre-Henri Raphanel swarming all over him! Who'd have thought it; the ignominy of three DNQs in the flyaway races, and it is he who scored the AGS team's first points of the season. There's his career given a huge stay of execution. Luca Badoer had to fight off another unlikely source of trouble – Volker Weidler, who bounces between the sublime and the ridiculous, as so far he's scored points on the two occasions he's made the grid, and all ATS Rial's points come from him – a points tally which is now more than the team's total of the last two seasons combined. Toleman were on a blank until now, but Allan McNish recovered from his awful performance at Imola to break that duck, with Andrea Montermini rounding off the top ten.

Poor old Chris Dagnall, he just can't get a break. How is it, that on this circuit where a power deficit matters little, that he managed to end up eleventh? There was nothing wrong with the tyres, no mechanical gremlins, just the muted whoosh of a turbo not quite working properly, leaving him in a dire predicament that is making the defence of his title about as easy as getting a PhD in subatomic physics. He was the last runner to be lapped only once; the first of those that Jan Magnussen passed twice was Alex Yoong, who was so close to a point for Minardi, yet so far... if only there could have been another couple of retirements. Even so, he beat Tarquini, Bertaggia, Alliot and Barbazza, all faster cars than his Minardi, hamstrung as it is by an ancient engine. As for the retirements: David Price Racing's first foray into the race itself ended after only five and a half laps as Plamen Kralev's right rear wheel worked itself loose at Loews – whch just goes to show how woefully underprepared for the actual race this team was. Hideki Noda was the next to perish; Ste. Devote always claims one victom, and this time, he was the one, driving straight into the tyre wall, spearing the nose of the car deep into the protective wall of rubber, leaving him looking like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. Reject Of The Race for you for that schoolboy error, me old mucker. Olivier Beretta succumbed to transmission failure, Perry McCarthy hit the barriers at Portier, Marko Asmer's gearbox jammed itself in first, and Jean-Denis Délétraz was undone by exactly the same oil leak that had seen him off in San Marino. Ralph Firman was another driver with a box of neutrals; the smashed suspensions of Yuji Ide and Þorvaldur Einarsson we have already dealt with, and the last to drop was Joachim Winkelhock, with engine trouble; the thick, sooty smoke that followed him through the tunnel could have caused a lot more damage if it had happened earlier in the race, but he's completed enough laps to be classified.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         93
2 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         70
3 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    47
4 =   27 L. Badoer       Forti          38
4 =   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   38
6 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   34
7 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    31
8 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            28
9 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           27
10 –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         20
11 –  2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
12 –  28 A. Montermini   Forti          12
13 –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       10

Code: Select all

14 =  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       8
14 =  1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           8
14 =  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            8
17 –  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         7
18 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            4
19 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       2
19 =  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
19 =  6  A. McNish       Toleman        2
22 –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   Viking         163
2 –   Super Aguri    78
3 –   Leyton House   72
4 –   Forti          50
5 –   SAC            32
6 –   Dome           28
7 –   Simtek         27
8 –   F1RM           23
9 =   EuroBrun       10
9 =   ATS Rial       10
11 –  AGS            8
12 =  SPAM           2
12 =  Toleman        2

WHO'S UNREJECTIFIED?

2011: Délétraz, Ide
2012: Dagnall, Tarquini, Magnussen, Einarsson, Chaves, Barbazza, Belmondo, Apicella
2013: Firman, McNish, McCarthy, Langes, Alliot, Badoer, Montermini
2014: Nakano, Noda, Giacomelli

Results counting towards unrejectification:

Two sixths: Bertaggia
One sixth: Raphanel, Winkelhock, Foitek

[dinizintheoven]

What? No comments? Not even from SuperAguri about meat pies? Maybe round six is what you need to wake you all up...


Round 6: Barcelona, 120 miles south of Andorra
Saturday, 5 July 2014

THE GRID

Code: Select all

1 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'27.876
2 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'27.987
3 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'29.001
4 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'29.429
5 –    12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'29.681
6 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'29.713
7 –    28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'29.726
8 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'29.990
9 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'30.277
10 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'30.314
11 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'30.355
12 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'31.147
13 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'31.242

Code: Select all

14 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'31.470
15 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'31.590
16 –   23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1'31.685
17 –   24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'32.111
18 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'32.164
19 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'32.276
20 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'32.352
21 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'32.708
22 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'32.760
23 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'33.113
24 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'33.631
25 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'33.642
26 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'33.668

Code: Select all

---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'33.673
DNQ –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'33.787
DNQ –  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'33.793
DNQ –  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'33.995
DNQ –  39 F. Fauzy        GTM            1'34.230
DNQ –  31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         1'34.323
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'34.343
DNQ –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'34.351
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            1'34.395
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    1'34.790
DNQ –  32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'36.028
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    1'39.306

So, F1RMGP gets its first race in Andorra. Well, underneath that flag anyway... at least the language is correct, because it's at the Catalan-speaking Barcelona circuit, that old testing favourite, near a city that's almost as big as the country that the race is named after. There must be something in the water here, as there's been something of a shake-up in the order. Luca Badoer, for the first time this season, took pole – and also for the first time this season, Chris Dagnall looked like snatching it, finally finding the speed in the F1RM that he probably always knew was there. Hideki Noda, for Leyton House, was third, but over a second behind the reigning champion, with Marco Apicella putting in another scorching performance for Dome, followed by Perry McCarthy. Some say the Vikings over-indulged on paella and sangria the night before, but nobody could prove anything, and as Þorvaldur Einarsson lumbered to sixth – practically the back of the grid by this team's standards – and Jan Magnussen to eighth, with Andrea Montermini between them, lous Scandinavian curses were heard from the garage. Polite Japanese curses were also heard round Super Aguri, as Shinji Nakano and Yuji Ide were line astern in ninth and tenth. Paul Belmondo put some recent difficulties behind him to take eleventh, ahead of Bruno Giacomelli, who got the short end of the stick for this session from the team, and Enrico Bertaggia... need I say this, the sole EuroBrun in the race, six times out of six now, and five times it's been him.

Whatever Chris Dagnall did to put his car at the front, Jean-Denis Délétraz didn't, and he ended up 14th, ahead of an equally subdued Pedro Chaves after his Monaco heroics. The Minardis of Alex Yoong and Esteban Tuero, usually both threatened with being dumped out on the Friday afternoon, made it high up the grid by their standards, qualifying 16th and 17th. Looking further down, we find those who'd usually manage to qualify but not get terribly high up; Olivier Beretta was the first of the Spykers, Gabriele Tarquini the one representative for AGS (amazing how quickly things turn round and bite your arse, isn't it, PHR?), the two Tolemans with Fabrizio Barbazza between them (no prizes for guessing what happened to his team-mate); two diesels of the four, in the form of Joachim Winkelhock and Philippe Alliot, made up row twelve, with Marko Asmer and a very relieved Gregor Foitek completing the grid. Swept away once again were Pierre-Henri Raphanel, missing the cut by an agonising five thousandths of a second, in a car far faster than the Spyker – also Emanuele Naspetti, who should have cleaned up both of them, and should never have been threatened with a DNQ anyway. He's done that twice in a row now, when Apicella has been right up at the sharp end, and for that, there is no doubt he deserves Reject Of The Race... on qualifying day. Claudio Langes is getting miserable – five DNQs out of six, things only get worse for him, as they do for Olivier Grouillard, five places behind – but far more was expected of the Italian. Between them, the familiar faces of Fairuz Fauzy and Kazuki Nakajima – you'd think that Stéphane Sarrazin would have done more, though; his season is threatening to turn into the damp squib that his debut with DAMS was last year, if SPAM can't sort their car out – it should be a lot better. Then again, so should ATS Rial's, even if they were starting from a lot further back – the Audi engine is very powerful, so why Volker Weidler has blown very cold again, nobody knows. Finally, Jacques Villeneuve almost suffered the ultimate humiliation – beaten by Ricardo Teixeira and Plamen Kralev by over a second, at least the mirthsome performance of Christophe Hurni ensured he'd not be dead last on the timesheets.



CLASSIFICATION

Code: Select all

1 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           65   1h 43'08.349
2 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   65   1h 43'53.037
3 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           65   1h 44'19.918
4 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    64   + 1 lap
5 –    12 P. McCarthy     SAC            64   + 1 lap
6 –    20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       64   + 1 lap
7 –    29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         64   + 1 lap
8 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         64   + 1 lap
9 –    3  G. Tarquini     AGS            63   + 2 laps
10 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        63   + 2 laps
11 –   24 E. Tuero        Minardi        63   + 2 laps
12 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            63   + 2 laps
13 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         62   + 3 laps

Code: Select all

14 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         61   + 4 laps
15 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         52   suspension
16 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        50   transmission
17 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     41   transmission
18 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           39   engine
19 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          33   crash
20 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           31   brakes
21 –   23 A. Yoong        Minardi        31   transmission
22 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         29   supercharger
23 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   29   engine
24 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          17   crash
25 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       3    engine
26 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1    loose wheel

He's back. Some doubted him, some doubted his team, everyone doubted the engine. But he's back.

For most of the race, it had been a three-way fight; Luca Badoer held the lead, with Hideki Noda swarming all round him and, occasionally, getting his nose in front, while Daggers kept watch at a safe distance, just in case anything untoward happened. On lap 33, it did – a bit of nudging here and there, and a hint of intervention from Ralph Firman who was being lapped, sent Badoer spearing off into the tyre barriers in a rather violent manner. Daggers took advantage of Noda's pit stop to fit himself with a new nose, surging into the lead. Next thing he knew, he had the turquoise Leyton House all over him, the massive power of the Suzuki turbo threatening to swallow his race win alive. But after such a torrid start to the season, the champ was having none of it. Every single trick he could employ, that he had learned during his introductory stint with Toleman, that he had perfected in his championship year, was used to maximum effect as the Japanese driver hounded him for lap after lap, even on the long straight where he'd have been expected to blast past. For Daggers, it has just been a case of losing half a turn of wing at his previous stop, loading extra fuel on board and turning everything up to eleven. The PURE engine held itself together and held off Noda, who was soon so demoralised that he decided to save honour and drop back... almost into the clutches of Marco Apicella, who could smell blood in the Japanese inter-team rivalry. That was not to be, as Noda eventually cruised to second, but it was Chris Dagnall's day, with joyous celebrations from Jamie, Enoch, HWNSNBM and the most immense gasp of relief from Craig Cod who had so far looked like a haunted man.

Behind the front three, Yuji Ide completed a 2-3-4 result for the three Japanese teams, but Aguri Suzuki was none too pleased to be the third-ranked of those, and vowed that his squad would improve – even though they're tied for second in the Constructors' Championship. Perry McCarthy, though, was over the moon with fifth, banking another ten points for SAC on a day when Pedro Chaves was off-colour and AGS were way behind again; meanwhile, champagne was out in the EuroBrun garage, as with his third sixth place, Enrico Bertaggia celebrated unrejectification, having done it the hard way. Claudio Langes was unavailable for comment. Paul Belmondo, in seventh, had another fine performance on his CV, while Jan Magnussen in eighth was accused of blatantly not trying, after the panic that had shot round the Viking garage on lap 29. Gabriele Tarquini scored his first points of the season, if only two of them for ninth, with the points rounded out by Ralph Firman, unpenalised for his altercation with Luca Badoer that had probably cost the Italian the race. So near, and still, yet so far was Esteban Tuero in eleventh, landing Minardi with a continuing blank scoresheet for the season, but in their position, they're lucky even to be on zero with that engine. Even so, he beat Pedro Chaves, as well as Marko Asmer, a further lap down with engine trouble, and Gregor Foitek, who limped over the line four laps down with hydraulic problems – but even so, it was his first sight of the chequered flag this year!

As for those who did not make it; the faces of the Super Aguri mechanics were as red as most of their car as Shinji Nakano shed a wheel on the second lap, someone having failed to attach it properly, someone who has probably now been sacked. Smokin' Jo's engine once again smoked as much as he does, ATS Rial having failed to check that the "new" Audi engine was actually new and not a rebuilt unit that had blown before, while Andrea Montermini spun off into a gravel trap, completely unprovoked. Then, after 29 laps, came a whole spate of DNFs; first, Bruno Giacomelli. Whose Suzuki engine screamed enough, followed on the same lap by Þorvaldur Einarsson's car erupting like Eyjafjallajökull. The hole blasted in the bodywork was caused by a sudden and cataclysmic failure of all the innards of one of the superchargers – not something that had ever happened before, but it was enough to send Jan Magnussen into life-preservation mode. Two laps later, Alex Yoong lost all his gears, and Jean-Denis Délétraz had a rather scarier exit with brake failure, bits of shattered disc littering the track for most of the rest of the race. It is unknown whether the argy-bargy between Noda, Badoer and Firman was caused by bits of smashed brake, but as Firman skipped alarmingly the wrong way, the Toleman crew took that as a valid excuse, which is probably why the alleged Irishman escaped punishment. All was quiet for a while, but there were still four more cars to drop: Philippe Alliot, showing that Peugeot's diesel is no less fragile than Audi's, followed by Fabrizio Barbazza and Allan McNish, both with driveshaft failure, and finally Olivier Beretta with busted suspension.

I remind you again of the events up front, though... he's back. Don't forget it.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         93
2 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         74
3 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    59
4 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   52
5 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           42
6 =   27 L. Badoer       Forti          38
6 =   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   38
8 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           33
9 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    31
10 –  11 P. Chaves       SAC            28
11 –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         26
12 –  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       16
13 –  2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15

Code: Select all

14 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            14
15 –  28 A. Montermini   Forti          12
16 –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       10
17 –  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            8
18 –  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         7
19 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       2
19 =  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
19 =  6  A. McNish       Toleman        2
19 =  3  G. Tarquini     AGS            2
23 =  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1
23 =  5  R. Firman       Toleman        1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   Viking         167
2 =   Super Aguri    90
2 =   Leyton House   90
4 –   Forti          50
5 –   F1RM           48
6 –   Dome           43
7 –   SAC            42
8 –   Simtek         33
9 –   EuroBrun       18
10 =  ATS Rial       10
10 =  AGS            10
12 –  Toleman        3
13 –  SPAM           2

[FMecha]

Finally! F1RM won!

[TomWazzleshaw]

What? No comments? Not even from SuperAguri about meat pies? Maybe round six is what you need to wake you all up...

It's PRECISELY because he's not here that nobody else is posting. We really need him around to expand on the F1RM tampering rumours (especially with the mysterious Spyker 'employee' that nobody ever sees and everything )

[Phoenix]

I don't regularly post here, but TBH I'm really thrilled with Leyton House's performances.

[dinizintheoven]

We need Some Publication back as well. Where has the salamander slithered off to, other than those exams that I thought would be finished by now...

[TomWazzleshaw]

Spyker Saboteur Strikes Again
The mysterious "Spkyer Spiker" has struck again, this time allegedly tampering with the supercharger on Þorvaldur Einarsson's car after another one of the "harvest parties" the team tends to hold. No further details are available as of this moment.

[SuperAguri]

Will post here a bit later

[Salamander]

We need Some Publication back as well. Where has the salamander slithered off to, other than those exams that I thought would be finished by now...

Dragon Age has taken over my life. I'll see about cooking something off over the weekend.

[dinizintheoven]

So, while Some Publication's cookery column is being written, here comes the next thrilling instalment!

Round 7: Magny-Cours, France
Saturday, 19 July 2014

THE GRID

Code: Select all

1 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'22.347
2 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'22.591
3 –    28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'22.847
4 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'22.921
5 –    21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'23.385
6 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'23.419
7 –    12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'23.634
8 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'23.672
9 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'23.719
10 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'23.727
11 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'23.803
12 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'23.852
13 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'23.880

Code: Select all

14 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'24.008
15 –   22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'24.224
16 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'24.633
17 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'24.688
18 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'24.763
19 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'25.259
20 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'25.305
21 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'25.764
22 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'25.841
23 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'25.888
24 –   39 F. Fauzy        GTM            1'25.928
25 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'26.055
26 –   31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         1'26.062

Code: Select all

---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'26.092
DNQ –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'26.093
DNQ –  33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'26.096
DNQ –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'26.433
DNQ –  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'26.436
DNQ –  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'26.549
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'26.930
DNQ –  32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'27.592
DNQ –  23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1'28.013
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            1'28.384
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    1'30.001
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    1'31.045

For once, it's close at the front – and, until the beginning of this season at least, might have been seenas "the battle of the number twos" – with Þorvaldur Einarsson, Andrea Montermini and Bruno Giacomelli duelling for supremacy at the front, with only Chris Dagnall representing the bona fide number ones. But nobody really knows the pecking order at Leyton House – after all, it was Giacomelli who was effectively chosen first at that team – and the balance of power at Viking has had a noticeable shift. While the Thundergod sat right up the front of the grid, Jan Magnussen had to consider life in the middle of the pack – tenth, behind such star names as Joachim Winkelhock, again doing a superb job for the ATS Rial team – and Marco Apicella, who most thought had taken a step back when he joined Dome. Also in the mix ahead of the Great Dane were both SACs, Chaves ahead of McCarthy taking sixth and seventh, and also Shinji Nakano – again, a "number two" given that he's taken the less lucky oriental number in the Super Aguri squad. That number did little good for Yuji Ide, in eleventh, with another "number one", Luca Badoer, behind him, followed by Ralph Firman and Hideki Noda – in the second half of the grid. Trouble may be brewing in that turquoise car.

At least, of those mid-placed number ones, Firman could be happy that he'd blown his team-mate into the weeds. Behind Noda, Volker Weidler had at least qualified and qualified well, Winkelhock's performance be damned; in a painful recurrence of the EuroBrun team's problems this year, again only one took to the grid... Enrico Bertaggia. You'd have to wonder if Neotech are supplying them with one good engine and one duff one at this rate. Pierre-Henri Raphanel must have been turning circles, after his early season problems, now he'd outqualified a dismal Délétraz outing as well as his team-mate; JDD did not like being the Swiss cheese in a French baguette one bit. Only one Spyker made it to the race, that of Olivier Beretta, the same went for Monteverdi and SPAM, Fab Fab and Philippe Alliot being the drivers we'd see the next day. And behind Allan McNish... Marko Asmer must have been wondering if someone had put something in his tea, as he'd see Fairuz Fauzy in a GTM in front of him and Kazuki Nakajima in the Stefan behind... neither of whom had qualified so far this year.

The fall guys had a slightly less familiar look about them. Esteban Tuero was the first not to make it, losing out by three hundredths of a second – and a thousandth behind him, Paul Belmondo had been caught napping again, as had Gregor Foitek, and – yet again – Emanuele Naspetti. With Claudio Langes, Stéphane Sarrazin, Olivier Grouillard, Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Teixeira all falling out, that left Minardi and David Price as the only teams not to have a representative in the race the next day.



CLASSIFICATION

Code: Select all

1 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           72   1h 47'08.900
2 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   72   1h 47'53.851
3 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            72   1h 47'58.810
4 –    28 A. Montermini   Forti          72   1h 48'11.583
5 –    21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       72   1h 48'14.384
6 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         72   1h 48'20.767
7 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    72   1h 48'22.581
8 –    12 P. McCarthy     SAC            72   1h 48'30.517
9 –    5  R. Firman       Toleman        72   1h 48'36.773
10 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         71   + 1 lap
11 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       71   + 1 lap
12 –   22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       71   + 1 lap
13 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    71   + 1 lap

Code: Select all

14 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          71   + 1 lap
15 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            71   + 1 lap
16 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           71   + 1 lap
17 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            71   + 1 lap
18 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           70   + 2 laps
19 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     70   + 2 laps
20 –   31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         69   + 3 laps
21 –   39 F. Fauzy        GTM            64   electrical
22 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         52   crash
23 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         49   engine
24 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        14   crash
25 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   7    transmission
26 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           2    engine

Let it be said again: write off Chris Dagnall at your extreme peril.

This time, he was barely in a race; lap 16 was when it all fell apart... for Þorvaldur Einarsson. Bashed out of the lead as he lapped a careless Kazuki Nakajima, the Icelander sank back into the pack, and left to Daggers to pull away from the rest. Not spectacularly, given the grunt of the car behind him – Bruno Giacomelli's Leyton House, which was powerful but handled poorly, allowing Daggers to get away, and Pedro Chaves to hound his countryman to the end of the race. The two traded positions occasionally, but by the time Jacko had established himself as the winner of this mini-battle, the war with Daggers had been lost. Jacko didn't mind, though, celebrating his finest hour in F1RMGP – it was his first time on the podium – and Chaves wasn't too disappointed with third, either. And then... came the chasing pack, which had been bunched up with each other for most of the race, only spreading out within the last ten laps or so. Andrea Montermini headed it, as he had done for most of the race after he had taken the third place from Joachim Winkelhock, and held it – four-pot petrol beats six-pot diesel, one turbo each, but the German was happy enough; he escaped unrejectification via a sixth last year and a fifth now, and these were his first points of the season. Þorvaldur Einarsson ended up sixth, after a race-long scrap that resulted in the hardest eight points he'd ever earned; that altercation with Nakajima had sent him right back to twelfth, from where he mounted a surgically precise fightback – or at least he would have done, being given a firm clout by Ralph Firman on lap 28, which was for position, and by Olivier Beretta on lap 33, which wasn't. A fair bit of damage was sustained to the car, but even so, the Icelander brought it home ahead of Shinji Nakano, Perry McCarthy and the aggressive Firman.

Jan Magnussen was the last to score a point, but again, was languishing in a place he shouldn't, and a lap down at that – only passed by Dagnall, contrary to the brags of the Suzuki bigwigs, but even so, he desperately needs to get his mojo back. Behind him and without a score to show for it were Enrico Bertaggia, Volker Weidler, Yuji Ide – also far further back than he had any right to be, as was Luca Badoer, followed by Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Jean-Denis Délétraz – who finished in much the same situation as he'd started – and Gabriele Tarquini. Three drivers couldn't stay within two laps of the leader – Philippe Alliot, Fabrizio Barbazza and the butcher of lap 16, Kazuki Nakajima, whose racecraft is as rusty as his driving.

And so to the retirements. The whole of Japan gasped in horror as Marco Apicella's engine exploded on the third lap, followed not so long afterwards by Hideki Noda suddnely losing all drive. Investigation of the car after the race showed that a bolt on the gearbox hadn't been fully tightened, all the oil had leaked out and the gears had seized. It cost Noda a shot at some decent points, and failing to set up Bruno Giacomelli's car correctly so that it handled like a whale cost him a shot at victory. Hence, Leyton House's mechanics receive Reject Of The Race in France, and one in particular may be wishing he was never born. Back to those cars who failed to finish, Allan McNish misjudged the Lycée hairpin and stuffed his car into the pit wall without actually wanting to pit; then, there was a gap of 35 laps before Olivier Beretta's engine blew up – Spyker's reliablility record is looking particularly terrible at the moment. There was still time for Marko Asmer to end up in a gravel trap after being too ambitious around Estoril, and for Fairuz Fauzy's GTM to splutter to a halt only one lap short of a classified finish. It's unlikely that he'll get too many chances to improve on that on race day.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

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1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         101
2 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         75
3 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    59
4 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           58
5 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   56
6 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   52
7 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            43
8 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           42
9 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          38
10 –  7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    37
11 –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         26
12 –  28 A. Montermini   Forti          24
13 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            18

Code: Select all

14 –  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       16
15 –  2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
16 =  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       10
16 =  21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       10
18 –  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            8
19 –  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         7
20 –  5  R. Firman       Toleman        3
21 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       2
21 =  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
21 =  6  A. McNish       Toleman        2
21 =  3  G. Tarquini     AGS            2
23 =  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   Viking         176
2 –   Leyton House   108
3 –   Super Aguri    96
4 –   F1RM           73
5 –   Forti          62
6 –   SAC            61
7 –   Dome           43
8 –   Simtek         33
9 –   ATS Rial       20
10 –  EuroBrun       18
11 –  AGS            10
12 –  Toleman        5
13 –  SPAM           2

[DanielPT]

Bruno Giacomelli's Leyton House, which was powerful but handled poorly, allowing Daggers to get away, and Pedro Chaves to hound his countryman to the end of the race.

Humm... I always thought that Chaves was the only Portuguese driver in the F1RMGP...

[FMecha]

And F1RM won again!

What's behind the F1RM success?

In last two races we can say that F1RM has awaken from their crisis as Dagnall won the previous two races. But, what's the secret? Has Viking cars began to be tampered? Or has something changed in F1RM?
[This article is part of J.O.U.R.N.A.L Plus; a subscription is required Subscribe here.]

[dinizintheoven]

Bruno Giacomelli's Leyton House, which was powerful but handled poorly, allowing Daggers to get away, and Pedro Chaves to hound his countryman to the end of the race.

Humm... I always thought that Chaves was the only Portuguese driver in the F1RMGP...

I may have written this late at night and posted it later. Either that or I blame Murray Hunt and James Walker, the official F1RMGP commentators. Both are liable to make mistakes, or predictions that immediately turn out to be wrong, and at least one of them has an irrational hatred of Olivier Grouillard. Good job he's not doing terribly well this year...

[Waris]

I forgot... does this season run in quasi-real-time in a parallel universe where it's now 2014, or is this supposed to be in the real year 2014 (so it runs in the future)?

[dinizintheoven]

I forgot... does this season run in quasi-real-time in a parallel universe where it's now 2014, or is this supposed to be in the real year 2014 (so it runs in the future)?

It runs in the future. There are pitfalls to doing so, such as Chris Dagnall signing for Barnsley at the beginning of 2012, after the 2012 Toleman and 2013 F1RM carried Scunthorpe United sponsorship...

[Salamander]

I forgot... does this season run in quasi-real-time in a parallel universe where it's now 2014, or is this supposed to be in the real year 2014 (so it runs in the future)?

It runs in the future. There are pitfalls to doing so, such as Chris Dagnall signing for Barnsley at the beginning of 2012, after the 2012 Toleman and 2013 F1RM carried Scunthorpe United sponsorship...

Clearly this is an alternate universe where Daggers played for Scunthorpe in those years.

[dinizintheoven]

Round 8: Silverstone, Great Britain
Saturday, 26 July 2014

THE GRID

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1 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'32.285
2 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'32.796
3 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'32.807
4 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'32.963
5 –    18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'33.706
6 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'33.779
7 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'33.886
8 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'33.900
9 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'33.929
10 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'33.940
11 –   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'34.190
12 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'34.264
13 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'34.295

Code: Select all

14 –   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'34.902
15 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'34.949
16 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'35.157
17 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'35.259
18 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'35.634
19 –   31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         1'36.086
20 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'36.284
21 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'36.361
22 –   24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'36.363
23 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'36.487
24 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'36.604
25 –   40 R. Teixeira     GTM            1'36.687
26 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'36.716

Code: Select all

---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'36.721
DNQ –  34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'36.913
DNQ –  21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'37.085
DNQ –  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'37.061
DNQ –  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'37.095
DNQ –  33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'37.214
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'37.335
DNQ –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'37.377
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    1'37.952
DNQ –  39 F. Fauzy        GTM            1'38.468
DNQ –  23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1'38.713
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    1'42.306

Let this be a lesson to everyone. Arrogance does not pay! It was always suspected that the Great British Weather might intervene in the day's proceedings, but only a few took advantage of it, and some were left with their weekend utterly devastated. As it used to be in F1 in the days of The Qualifying Hour, there was little activity when the pit lane opened, and just a few drivers went out early to wave at the crowd and get themselves noticed; Ricardo Teixeira, for instance, as well as the two Stefans, Fabrizio Barbazza in his underperforming Monteverdi, Esteban Tuero in the equally shaky Minardi... and Yuji Ide. Ide shot to the top of the timesheets, Teixeira to the bottom, but still (at that point) sixth. And then, a raincloud jumped out of nowhere, doused the track, and suddenly a lot of drivers had a lot to think about. The fastest cars all qualified easily on the damp track, but none could touch Ide – except for three, some superb performances from Luca Badoer, Bruno Giacomelli and Chris Dagnall at the end of the session, as the track dried slightly, got Badoer within half a second of Ide's pole time – a brilliant performance under the circumstances. Barbazza ended up fifth, having set his lap in the dry, followed by a trail of Shinji Nakano, Pedro Chaves, Hideki Noda, Þorvaldur Einarsson and Marco Apicella, all within a quarter of a second of the generously-barnetted Italian. Stéphane Sarrazin shook off some recent troubles, snatching eleventh at the end of the session, ahead of Andrea Montermini and Jan Magnussen, both hindered by traffic, setting their clean laps at the worst possible time.

In the second half of the grid, Emanuele Naspetti was unusually competitive, even in the damp conditions; he ended half a tenth in front of Jacques Villeneuve, star of those first crucial ten minutes. Caught in that crossfire were Marko Asmer in the semi-competitive Simtek, Allan McNish in the ailing Toleman and Jean-Denis Délétraz in the F1RM that's supposed to be a front runner... Kazuki Nakajima completed that triple-decker sandwich, making this the first race where both Stefans have qualified, if rather fortuitously. Kaznak managed to beat Paul Belmondo in the other Simtek, both AGSs, Esteban Tuero (who'd also set his time in the dry), Philippe Alliot... and would you believe it, he'd spent the whole of the wet period of qualifying nervously watching his name tumble down the timesheets, but Ricardo Teixeira and his pit crew exploded with delight as only 24 cars beat his time, and he qualified for the first time this year, in a car demonstrably worse than last year's red and green horror show. Tony Fernandes and Dany Bahar temporarily stopped hating each other and hugged like a couple of long-lost lovers. Ralph Firman was the last man to qualify, and was rather miffed at who he saw in front of him...

...but nowhere as miffed as those who found themselves dean and buried in DNQ territory at the end of the session. Perry McCarthy kicked himself, kicked the dog and kicked a bin over with rage when the alleged Irishman edged him out for that last grid slot. But consider this; while a double-DNQ for ATS Rial was nothing new in the last two seasons, this time it was, Smoking Jo having made it onto every race day so far... until now, and the Audi paymasters were heard saying something like "ze cooler... two weeks" to both drivers. Also dumped out were both Spykers and both EuroBruns, which makes an unexpected trip home early for the Neotech engineers; no idea what they'd done with the engines, but even in the dry, none of the Spyker or EuroBrun drivers ever looked like qualifying at this race. Back to Austria with them with something serious to think about. And as for the others, it was the usual suspects; Olivier Grouillard, Fairuz Fauzy (who was unlucky enough to have had to change to the spare car, and by that time it was raining, or he might have qualified as well) and both David Prices, who failed to go out early in the dry, and Christophe Hurni spent most of the session doing brilliant impersonations of Torvill and Dean. Six points for artistic impression, a big fat zero and a chucklesome time for technical ability.



CLASSIFICATION

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1 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   60   1h 38'34.814
2 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    60   1h 38'48.107
3 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           60   1h 39'09.926
4 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          60   1h 39'19.279
5 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   60   1h 40'01.680
6 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         60   1h 40'19.219
7 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           59   + 1 lap
8 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    59   + 1 lap
9 –    35 E. Naspetti     Dome           59   + 1 lap
10 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         59   + 1 lap
11 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          59   + 1 lap
12 –   6  A. McNish       Toleman        59   + 1 lap
13 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            58   + 2 laps

Code: Select all

14 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           58   + 2 laps
15 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         58   + 2 laps
16 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        58   + 2 laps
17 –   24 E. Tuero        Minardi        58   + 2 laps
18 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           53   crash
19 –   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           52   engine
20 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         26   loose wheel
21 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         22   transmission
22 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            17   suspension
23 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     13   suspension
24 –   31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         12   puncture
25 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            3    engine
26 –   40 R. Teixeira     GTM            2    transmission

The race was dry, and so on this circuit that is known to favour cars with power, Bruno Giacomelli grabbed the opportunity he'd been given with both hands, and probably some other limbs as well. He took Yuji Ide at the first corner, but the Japanese driver would never give up – he may have won one race this year, but he'd been the one charged by his team boss with bringing home both championship trophies this year, and it hadn't gone totally according to plan... not that it had been for the lack of trying, as was so admirably demonstrated. In the end, that's how it stayed, Ide finally giving second best near the end of the race after they'd been locked in combat for most of it; a late spurt by Chris Dagnall caused him to break away from the clutched of Luca Badoer and secure that last podium spot. It's fair to say his season, and F1RM's, is back on track – but nobody was happier, nobody at all, than Bruno Giacomelli as Il Canto degli Italiani blasted out for him on the podium, and he sprayed a year's worth of champage in one ceremony as those years of frustration with Alfa Romeo, Toleman, the hopeless Life, and the slightly less hopeless but still pretty rejectful F1RMGP reincarnation of that team, all melted away in the space of a couple of minutes. His team-mate watched the ceremony proudly, but wondered why it had not been him who'd been the first in the turquoise overalls to climb that top step. Even so, it was more points for the Leyton House team to add to Jacko's maximum haul, as they closed in on the Viking fortress that once seemed impenetrable...

By their high standards, the Vikings are having a bit of a crisis. Yet again, Þorvaldur Einarsson had a rough time, but his miserable start was his own undoing. In essence, he would spend most of the race defending some extremely aggressive tactics employed by the three cars behind him – Marco Apicella, Shinji Nakano and Emanuele Naspetti. The six-pronged assault of Japanese cars had been designed to unseat the Vikings from their throne, but no way did Þorvaldur think they were going to give him this much of a battering. Sixth place, last of the unlapped runners, was scant reward for such a spirited defence – but still he held off the Domes, and many had the impression that once Naspetti qualified again he'd help the team to their first double points finish – having snapped at the Thundergod for half the race, he had to turn his attention to depriving Nakano of his eighth place... which he ultimately couldn't, but more points for the team means they've scored a highly creditable 51 at this half way stage. Rounding out the points was Marko Asmer, putting Simtek back on the scoreboard for the first time since Mexico, which is certain to keep Richard Branson slightly less disinterested than he was with Virgin Racing. Out the points and one lap down were Andrea Montermini, monstered by Asmer for that last point, and Allan McNish, who had never looked likely to threaten. Gabriele Tarquini, in the ailing AGS, was two laps down, but still made it to the finish ahead of Jean-Denis Délétraz... maybe those conspiracy theorists who said F1RM were having their cars tampered with may have had a point, as JDD has really been looking very off colour this year. Paul Belmondo, Ralph Firman and Esteban Tuero were the only other cars to finish, all four laps down.

Looking at the retirements, we see the karmic balance being restored. Those who fluked their way into the race were soon rectified by the hand of fate, and all it took was two laps for Ricardo Teixeira's flimsy driveshaft to snap, upon which Tony Fernandes and Dany Bahar resumed killing each other with axes. Pierre-Henri Raphanel has been doing better recently, but his race was run after three laps as all three banks of his W12 engine burst at once. Ten laps later, Kazuki Nakajima biffed a kerb a bit too hard, shredding his left front tyre and sending him hurtling into the gravel trap – two anomalies down, one to go. The next two retirements were suspension failures; Fabrizio Barbazza was seen beating the steering wheel hard as his right rear shattered, because he'd had the pace to keep up with the leaders and score Monteverdi's first points of the season; it was not to be. Pedro Chaves soon suffered the same fate. Following this was Jan Magnussen, who had so far finished all the races up to this point; by his standards, he'd been having a substandard year, though, and this first retirement made him angry, ordering a full investigation into his gearbox failure as his team-mate and some Italo-Japanese interlopers swept further ahead. And then, on only lap 26, Jacques Villeneuve lost a wheel after his first pit stop – after all, it's not as if the Stefan mechanics have had much practice in race conditions this year, and the sight of him staring folornly at his stricken Stefan, which he thought could have been brought to the chequered flag, was not a pretty one.

However, one team would surpass all others in terms of rejectfulness. They'd been going well; both had climbed through the field to challenge for a haul of points, with Stéphane Sarrazin in the unusual territory of having a nibble at Marco Apicella and Þorvaldur Einarsson. However, Sarrazin thrashed his car so hard, using all the available acceleration of the Peugeot turbo diesel, that it screamed for mercy within sight of the flag, with four points beckoning for eighth. Once Philippe Alliot heard news of his team-mate's expiry in a cloud of black smoke, he decided to put the boot down hard and go for the last point. In an insane lunge at the end of Hangar Straight, Alliot shot straight onwards into the gravel trap, ending his race only a lap after Sarrazin's, and so... it's the Reject Of The Race award for SPAM.

With half the season gone, we now have the full line-up for The Grand Reversal. It was decided that rather than cart all the cars off to Spain, the race should be held the day after the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone, because at least all the cars would be here, as would the mechanics, spare parts, and the like... and everyone can have a bit of fun in someone else's car before knocking off for the five-week summer break.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         109
2 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   81
3 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    77
4 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         75
5 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           73
6 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   52
7 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          50
8 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           48
9 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            43
10 –  7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    41
11 –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         26
12 –  28 A. Montermini   Forti          24
13 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            18

Code: Select all

14 –  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       16
15 –  2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
16 =  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       10
16 =  21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       10
18 =  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            8
18 =  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         8
20 =  5  R. Firman       Toleman        3
20 =  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           3
22 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       2
22 =  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
22 =  6  A. McNish       Toleman        2
22 =  3  G. Tarquini     AGS            2

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
This is where who will be driving what car in The Grand Reversal is determined...

Code: Select all

1 –   Viking         176
2 –   Leyton House   108
3 –   Super Aguri    96
4 –   F1RM           73
5 –   Forti          62
6 –   SAC            61
7 –   Dome           43
8 –   Simtek         33
9 –   ATS Rial       20
10 –  EuroBrun       18
11 –  AGS            10
12 –  Toleman        5
13 –  SPAM           2

Code: Select all

NON-SCORING TEAMS:   DNQ   BEST FINISH
14 –  Spyker         5     14th × 1
15 –  Monteverdi     7     16th × 3
16 –  Minardi        8     11th × 1
17 –  Stefan         12    20th × 1
18 –  GTM            14    n/a
19 –  David Price    15    n/a

And so...

Jan Magnussen and Þorvaldur Einarsson will drive for David Price (that'll be a laugh a minute)
Hideki Noda and Bruno Giacomelli will drive for GTM
Yuji Ide and Shinji Nakano will drive for Stefan
Chris Dagnall and Jean-Denis Délétraz will drive for Minardi
Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini will drive for Monteverdi (and they both have experience of hatefully slow cars)
Pedro Chaves and Perry McCarthy will drive for Spyker
Emanuele Naspetti and Marco Apicella will drive for SPAM
Paul Belmondo and Marko Asmer will drive for Toleman
Joachim Winkelhock and Volker Weidler will drive for AGS (sound familiar, Jo?)
Claudio Langes and Enrico Bertaggia are in the allegedly advantageous position of driving their own cars (EuroBrun) but given their performances this year... hmmm.
Gabriele Tarquini and Pierre-Henri Raphanel will drive for ATS Rial (great to see you again, Günther... isn't it?)
Ralph Firman and Allan McNish will drive for Simtek
Stéphane Sarrazin and Philippe Alliot will drive for Dome
Gregor Foitek and Olivier Beretta will drive for SAC
Olivier Grouillard and Fabrizio Barbazza will drive for Forti
Alex Yoong and Esteban Tuero will drive for F1RM
Jacques Villeneuve and Kazuki Nakajima will drive for Super Aguri (oh no, not him again, says Aggers...)
Fairuz Fauzy and Ricardo Teixeira will drive for Leyton House (AAAAAAAAAAAHHH! CRASHUUUU! CRASHUUUUUUU!)

And finally... I never thought I'd say this... Plamen Kralev and Christophe Hurni will drive for Viking. (Stefan Johansson has been seen on the internet looking for cheap car insurance on comparethemarket.com. Simples? Not with those two at the wheel...)

[dinizintheoven]

Experiment number one for this season... is go! And as qualifying starts in the morning, nobody really knows what this bizarre idea that has actually been carried out will bring, and the atmosphere is so tense you could cut it with a cricket stump.


Non-Championship Race: The Grand Reversal
Silverstone, Great Britain
Sunday, 27 July 2014

THE GRID

Code: Select all

1 –    28 F. Barbazza     Forti          1'33.182
2 –    3  J. Winkelhock   AGS            1'33.527
3 –    23 C. Dagnall      Minardi        1'33.609
4 –    36 P. Alliot       Dome           1'33.867
5 –    5  P. Belmondo     Toleman        1'33.989
6 –    37 J. Magnussen    David Price    1'34.062
7 –    17 L. Badoer       Monteverdi     1'34.221
8 –    18 A. Montermini   Monteverdi     1'34.272
9 –    1  A. Yoong        F1RM           1'34.429
10 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'34.546
11 –   4  V. Weidler      AGS            1'34.552
12 –   22 P-H. Raphanel   ATS Rial       1'34.554
13 –   38 Þ. Einarsson    David Price    1'34.587

Code: Select all

14 –   32 Y. Ide          Stefan         1'34.668
15 –   19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'34.749
16 –   33 P. Chaves       Spyker         1'34.754
17 –   31 S. Nakano       Stefan         1'34.791
18 –   21 G. Tarquini     ATS Rial       1'35.150
19 –   40 B. Giacomelli   GTM            1'35.152
20 –   34 P. McCarthy     Spyker         1'35.203
21 –   9  P. Kralev       Viking         1'35.443
22 –   29 R. Firman       Simtek         1'35.642
23 –   26 M. Apicella     SPAM           1'35.761
24 –   30 A. McNish       Simtek         1'35.847
25 –   7  K. Nakajima     Super Aguri    1'36.248
26 –   24 J-D. Délétraz   Minardi        1'36.323

Code: Select all

---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  6  M. Asmer        Toleman        1'36.522
DNQ –  39 H. Noda         GTM            1'36.532
DNQ –  25 E. Naspetti     SPAM           1'36.689
DNQ –  12 O. Beretta      SAC            1'36.842
DNQ –  27 O. Grouillard   Forti          1'36.848
DNQ –  11 G. Foitek       SAC            1'36.964
DNQ –  15 F. Fauzy        Leyton House   1'37.094
DNQ –  35 S. Sarrazin     Dome           1'37.368
DNQ –  2  E. Tuero        F1RM           1'37.582
DNQ –  8  J. Villeneuve   Super Aguri    1'37.784
DNQ –  16 R. Teixeira     Leyton House   1'38.069
DNQ –  10 C. Hurni        Viking         1'39.438

So, the first of these great experiments... held at Silverstone, the day after the British Grand Prix. Qualifying in the morning, race in the afternoon, a fiver per spectator for the potential comedy spectacle. A whole raft of conclusions can be drawn from the qualifying session, mainly that a top-line driver can get an amount of performance unheard of from a rolling bathtub, whereas a shocking driver is likely to be shocking in any car. At least, on a single lap basis, anyway. He who came out on top in the morning was Fabrizio Barbazza, being treated to a drive in a Forti; had his team-mate been more useful, Monteverdi wouldn't have been in the position they are in, Fab would have been trading cars with, say, SAC or Dome – but he didn't spurn this golden opportunity to put himself in the shop window. Joachim Winkelhock, temporarily reunited with AGS, if not the JH31, put the French bumblebee on the front row, hotly pursued by... Chris Dagnall. In a Minardi. (I remind you all that, at this point, the Women's European Cup is five races into the season, and Vanina Ickx has won them all, in a 2013 Minardi.) Top banana, Daggers. Immediately behind him, Philippe Alliot took to the Dome like a duck to water, and Paul Belmondo wasn't too annoyed at trading his Simtek for a Toleman. And in sixth? Jan Magnussen... driving for David Price. That's right, the undriveable heap of junk that has been rooted to the rear of the field and deep in the DNQs for pretty much every single qualifying session, the Great Dane wrestled to sixth. In fact, his time would have been good enough for eleventh in the real Grand Prix, beating the time that he set in his regular car! This was on a bone dry track, mind, but still... how did he do that? We may never know. Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini were line astern on row four, resplendent in purple instead of the colours of Brazil, followed by Alex Yoong, in an allegedly front-running F1RM with a slightly suspect engine... he's in a direct car swap with Chris Dagnall and has managed to be six places and eight tenths of a second behind the champ. Enrico Bertaggia was tenth, driving his familiar EuroBrun, in the first race of the season for which both EuroBruns have qualified... pity it's jusr for fun, isn't it? Volker Weidler in the AGS beat Pierre-Henri Raphanel in a more powerful ATS Rial than he was ever used to, which might cause the Frenchman some concern... and they both beat Þorvaldur Einarsson, whose tirade of expletives about the David Price car (which had been set up for the woefully inept Christophe Hurni) meant that the Icelandic TV transmission had to be temporarily stopped. Still... he managed to qualify it in the top half of the grid, but was genuinely astounded at what his team-mate had done.

Into the second half, and is that a lesser spotted Stefan I see? It's two of them, which Yuji Ide and Shinji Nakano managed to put in 14th and 17th place respectively, something which is a severe rarity for Stefan's regular drivers; between them, Claudio Langes wrenched his EuroBrun to 15th, amongst unfamiliar competition, with Pedro Chaves lurking just behind; his undoubted abilities should have seen him drag that Spyker into the top half. Behind Nakano, Gabriele Tarquini familiarised himself with an ATS Rial and the strange power delivery of its diesel engine just enough to take 18th, but not break the 1'35 mark, while Bruno Giacomelli, buoyed massively by the win in the Grand Prix the day before, took the GTM he'd been given, thrashed it as hard as possible, and though he qualified, when he saw what Jan Magnussen had done with the David Price, his jaw hit the floor. Maybe, just maybe, it is this horrid Malaysian pile of scrap carbon fibre and bits fished out of a skip that is the worst car on the grid... anyway, Perry McCarthy, also driving for Spyker, sat just behind... and Plamen Kralev surprised everyone. With a Viking Racing car at his disposal, he qualified, reasonably easily, but even so... two and a half seconds off the pole time, down in 21st, that's what it means to be a rejectful driver. Behind him, the Toleman drivers couldn't get to grip with the Simteks they were driving for the day, and ended up 22nd and 24th with Marco Apicella, also baffled by the diesel SPAM, between them. Super Aguri must have groaned when Kazuki Nakajima turned up in their garage after his failure-ridden 2011 season with them, but at least some mechanics still knew him, were sympathetic to his cause, and were obviously all fluent in Japanese. So Kaznak claimed the 25th grid slot, but there's no doubting that Aguri Suzuki made the right decision at the end of 2011, as Nakajima was beaten by both current Super Aguri drivers, driving Stefans, and also by his replacement at the team, Marco Apicella. And the last grid slot... some may ask "what is Délétraz doing?" but I know what he was doing – finding the transition to a Minardi a lot harder than Chris Dagnall had done.

And so to the non-qualifiers. Marko Asmer has qualified for every race this season... until now, that is, and he was not exactly complimentary about the handling of the Toleman. Hideki Noda, though, should have done more in the GTM, although with Jacko not terribly high up the grid, the theory that the GTM is actually the worst car on the grid holds up, either that or the Vikings are truly superb drivers. Marco Apicella may have found the diesel SPAM difficult to drive, but it was so hard for Emanuele Naspetti that he failed to make the grid. Olivier Beretta and Gregor Foitek had both been eliminated from the Grand Prix on Friday afternoon; they fared no better on the Grand Reversal, driving an SAC each, known to be a more powerful car. Olivier Grouillard, DNQing in the slot between them, fared no better despite having a Forti at his disposal that Barb had put on pole. Meanwhile, at Leyton House, they were only too pleased to pack up and go home; the sight of Fairuz Fauzy strolling into their garage was not something they relished, and he duly failed to qualify. Stéphane Sarrazin was another who found the change of teams too hard to deal with... and then, we get to the final four. Esteban Tuero managed to qualify for the Grand Prix in a Minardi; in a F1RM, albeit that of Jean-Denis Délétraz which had been driven slowly all weekend, he couldn't. Jacques Villeneuve just plain couldn't understand what he was doing in the Super Aguri, and despite the translation of what the Japanese engineers saying "just shut up and drive", the whinging Canuck posted a miserable time, and clearly could barely be bothered. He was more interested in knowing what Yuji Ide was doing in his Stefan. The final two... oh dear. Ricardo Teixeira had been a hero on the Friday, and had actually qualified for the Grand Prix... here, in a very powerful Leyton House, he posted a time 1.4 seconds slower than his Friday qualifying time, and if ever there was a "Reject Of The Qualifying" it should have been him... though Olivier Grouillard ran him close. And then there's Christophe Hurni – I think it is safe to say that this is the only way a Viking will ever be dead last on the timesheets, 1.4 seconds away from even Teixeira's woeful time, but he managed to shave almost three seconds off the time he'd set on Friday – I suppose that's what comes with all the extra power of the Viking, but the fact remains, he is still such an inept racing driver that he could not lift the car that is currently way out in front in the Constructors' Championship off the very bottom of the times. Not that the Viking mechanics minded one bit... well, half of them, anyway. They downed tools, cracked open a can or ten of beer that is their team sponsor, and prepared to cheer on their regular drivers...



CLASSIFICATION

Code: Select all

1 –    28 F. Barbazza     Forti          60   1h 39'31.557
2 –    17 L. Badoer       Monteverdi     60   1h 39'41.554
3 –    18 A. Montermini   Monteverdi     60   1h 39'55.582
4 –    37 J. Magnussen    David Price    60   1h 40'10.906
5 –    36 P. Alliot       Dome           60   1h 40'23.013
6 –    22 P-H. Raphanel   ATS Rial       60   1h 40'23.503
7 –    1  A. Yoong        F1RM           60   1h 40'24.722
8 –    4  V. Weidler      AGS            60   1h 40'42.081
9 –    20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       60   1h 40'46.921
10 –   34 P. McCarthy     Spyker         60   1h 40'55.006
11 –   29 R. Firman       Simtek         60   1h 41'03.430
12 –   21 G. Tarquini     ATS Rial       60   1h 41'10.020
13 –   19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       59   + 1 lap

Code: Select all

14 –   26 M. Apicella     SPAM           59   + 1 lap
15 –   31 S. Nakano       Stefan         59   + 1 lap
16 –   38 Þ. Einarsson    David Price    59   + 1 lap
17 –   32 Y. Ide          Stefan         59   + 1 lap
18 –   7  K. Nakajima     Super Aguri    59   + 1 lap
19 –   30 A. McNish       Simtek         59   + 1 lap
20 –   24 J-D. Délétraz   Minardi        58   + 2 laps
21 –   9  P. Kralev       Viking         54   + 6 laps (DNF)
22 –   5  P. Belmondo     Toleman        42   engine
23 –   23 C. Dagnall      Minardi        33   engine
24 –   3  J. Winkelhock   AGS            29   engine
25 –   40 B. Giacomelli   GTM            9    engine
26 –   33 P. Chaves       Spyker         9    loose wheel

Glory to the man with the biggest hair in the F1RMGP paddock!

That Fabrizio Barbazza's first win came at a non-championship race that is considered "purely for fun" might be annoying in a way, but he has said "look, this is what I can do given the right machinery at my disposal!" That said, his usual machinery was what chased him all the way to the line; Luca Badoer is one of the most highly rated drivers in the series, and as the two drivers had effectively switched cars, it may be him who is the one to demonstrate the higher level of ability. Not that Fab cared too much, and it will most likely motivate him for the rest of the season if he knows that his usual ride is capable of more than he thought he could get for it (and so much more than Olivier Grouillard has so far done). The real star of the show, though, didn't end up on the podium. It doesn't count towards the final standings in any way, but... David Price and André Herck could barely believe their eyes as Jan Magnussen dragged their fearful pile of junk to fourth. Yes... fourth. On the lead lap, in a position that would have paid them 12 points, and instant unrejectification. The Dane was heard to comment that he'd even surprised himself, not realising that such a strong result could be extracted from such a gutless car. DPR's problem, of course, is not just the car, it's their drivers. Philippe Alliot and Pierre-Henri Raphanel were ultimately separated by only half a second at the line, the Dome's superior acceleration out of the last corner being what won it – but PHR had at least proved that he was no mug, even if he'd had to go back to his old team to do it. Alex Yoong kept his nose clean, and the F1RM's nose intact, as he cruised to seventh ahead of Volker Weidler and Enrico Bertaggia, the Italian driving a particularly feisty race as he was not saddled with the problem of driving someone else's car. Perry McCarthy, Ralph Firman and Gabriele Tarquini did nothing spectactular, but ended up on the lead lap, which is more than can be said of Claudio Langes; having also not had to change car, he should probably have done more. Marco Apicella was also hamstrung by the strange power delivery of the Peugeot diesel in his SPAM ride for the day, and failed to challenge.

One of the most interesting battles was deep in the lower-midfield, as Þorvaldur Einarsson duelled it out for supremacy with Shinji Nakano and Yuji Ide. Nothing unusual about that, most of the time, except that the battle was for 15th place and was contested between two evil-handling Stefans and the comically awful David Price car. The battle lasted for the whole race, Nakano eventually winning it, but both Japanese drivers said they'd be utterly thrilled to be rejoining Super Aguri and realised that this car could be their fate should they not perform – that's how Kazuki Nakajima came to drive it, after all. Þorvaldur was just left to marvel at how Jan Magnussen had extracted such a sterling performance out of such a painfully awful car. Kazuki Nakajima's fate had already been put in the spotlight in qualifying, as there is no way that he should have been behind either of the Stefans on his brief return to Super Aguri, now considered a far better team than when he drove for them – but the fact is, both Stefans beat him and that's why he has the regular Stefan drive, and why Nakano and Ide have something superior. Kaznak did at least have to consolation of beating Allan McNish, though, who was no more able to handle a Simtek than he is a Toleman at the moment, and as for Jean-Denis Délétraz... well, at least he finished.

The retirements will have sent shockwaves through the already nervous pit crews, as the last thing they needed was for their precious cars to be crashed or blown up by a driver from a rival team. Five of them suffered that fate, and you'd have to say Spyker were the team that got away lightly; Pedro Chaves, driving the #33 Spyker for the day, was eliminated after nine laps when his rear right wheel decided it no longer wanted to be part of the race and bounced off down Hangar Straight of its own accord; half a lap later, Bruno Giacomelli saw white smoke in his mirrors, and given that he was driving the horribly unreliable GTM, he shouldn't have been too surprised. His parting shot to Tony Fernandes and Dany Bahar was that both David Price cars had made it to the chequered flag, and that if there was any justice in this world, GTM would have been ranked last, he'd have had a DPR to drive and might have been in with a shot at glory... when was the last time you heard anything like that? So, for ruining the chances of one of the potential drivers to put the cat in a whole flock of pigeons, and let's not forget Hideki Noda couldn't even qualify the car, Genii Team Malaysia take Reject Of The Race as punishment for sliding behind DPR in the pecking order, whatever the final standings might say. Then, all was quiet for a while, but engine trouble saw off Joachim Winkelhock, on his visit to his former team, followed by the same problem for Chris Dagnall. He was annoyed; he'd been running third and hounding Luca Badoer for second, even believing he could go on and win the way Vanina Ickx had been doing in the previous year's car, but it all fell apart as the Motori Moderni engine rejected his ideas and gave up. The last to fall with engine trouble was Paul Belmondo, blowing up a Renault engine in the back of the Toleman, although given what Ralph Firman had been doing with that car recently, it defies belief that it was the engine that failed and not the bodywork. Finally, the Viking crew had been the most nervous of the lot; letting a reckless Bulgarian fortysomething reject with more money than sense drive their car on race day had not filled them with the joys of the Fimbul Winter, but the Fire King had been doing a respectable job; he was between Yuji Ide and Kazuki Nakajima, and not a million miles away from Þorvaldur Einarsson, when electrical gremlins sent the car coasting to a halt. But, seeing as the Viking crew thought Kralev would have crashed the car and an expensive rebuild job was on the cards, he didn't, it wasn't, and for that they were grateful. Though I think they'd still have preferred it if he hadn't qualified, and they could have had the day off.

So concludes the report on the first Grand Reversal. It is fair to say some drivers' stock has risen, whereas some have embarrassed themselves, and much the same goes for the teams. One thing is for sure, there are some drivers who certainly deserve a better drive than they are getting.

[Barbazza]

Glory to the man with the biggest hair in the F1RMGP paddock!

Hooray!!!

[dinizintheoven]

I should mention at this point, F1RMGP is actually on its "mid-season break"; normal service will be resumed in about a week. Just in case any of you were wondering.

This would be an opportune moment for some crazily speculative news from Autosport or Some Publication... wouldn't it?

[dinizintheoven]

Real-life update

The mid-season break is scheduled to be over on 20th/21st February, as the last post implied.

[FMecha]

Who's the F1RMGP pundit?

[dinizintheoven]

...Marktin Brundell is the one who usually combs through the news that we're not getting at the moment, because Autosport's roving reporter seems to have mysteriously disappeared.

Anyway, I'm back, so the season will continue in due course!

[dinizintheoven]

...it really has been a long break, hasn't it? Anyway, fear not! The season continues here!


Round 9: Hockenheim, Germany
Saturday, 30 August 2014

THE GRID

Code: Select all

1 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'54.644
2 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'54.681
3 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'54.978
4 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'55.143
5 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'55.388
6 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'55.440
7 –    26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'55.468
8 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'55.646
9 –    18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'55.768
10 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'55.817
11 –   22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'55.853
12 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'56.892
13 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'56.303

Code: Select all

14 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'56.310
15 –   19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'56.694
16 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'56.938
17 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'57.185
18 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'57.521
19 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'57.820
20 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'57.946
21 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'58.112
22 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'58.156
23 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'58.228
24 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'58.230
25 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'58.235
26 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'58.271

Code: Select all

---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'58.443
DNQ –  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'34.190
DNQ –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'58.941
DNQ –  24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'59.028
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'59.071
DNQ –  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'59.403
DNQ –  31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         2'01.160
DNQ –  23 A. Yoong        Minardi        2'01.236
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    2'01.533
DNQ –  39 F. Fauzy        GTM            2'02.377
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    2'03.159
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            2'03.242

Five weeks away, in which some drivers still had their eyes on racing... others didn't. It is alleged that some teams used their time wisely to do a bit of development work, while others languished on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific. Either way, a clear Top Three looks to have taken hold, in that Viking, Super Aguri and Leyton House returned to action to fill the top six grid slots at Hockenheim – Þorvaldur Einarsson again showing his more experienced team-mate the way. So Yuji Ide found himself in a Scandinavian sandwich (which usually only has one slice of bread?), with Hideki Noda, Shinji Nakano and Bruno Giacomelli, the winner at the last race in Silverstone, for compant. Philippe Alliot was best of the rest, putting his diesel power to good use on the long straights; Marco Apicella kept him honest, Fabrizio Barbazza again punched well above his car's weight, but bizarrely all three were the sole representatives of their teams on the grid. Chris Dagnall rounded out the top ten, getting all he could from the slightly underpowered F1RM, which could have done with a bit more tweaking over the summer break. Rather more chuffed with his performance was Volker Weidler, taking a fine eleventh for ATS Rial and kicking his awful qualifying disasters this season into touch. The two Fortis were rather out of place, rounding out the top half of the grid...

...and starting the second half, there was much rejoicing in the EuroBrun garage, as finally (with the exception of The Grand Reversal) they managed to get both cars into the race! With an especially torrid season for Claudio Langes that means this is only his second start of the year, they'll be looking for a good result. Olivier Beretta in the Spyker, also with Neotech power, followed them closely, Jean-Denis Délétraz couldn't work out what he was doing behind those three, and Joachim Winkelhock wondered how he'd ended up in 18th. Meanwhile, Jacques Villeneuve made a rare start for Stefan, who have definitely been working on their car, as have Toyota with the reticent V12 engine that never turned a piston in anger first time round, while some teams that were once stars were really down in the dumps; two SACs sandwiching Ralph Firman in the Toleman, for 20th to 22nd places. Simtek are also descending back towards their recent dark days, with Marko Asmer and Paul Belmondo barely scraping into 23rd and 26th... Gabriele Tarquini managed to get his AGS into 24th, in a year when he'd been hoping for a win, and Gregor Foitek sat and snarled in his Spyker as news of what his team-mate had achieved filtered through.

It could have been worse for all of them, though. Allan McNish scored Toleman's first DNQ of the year, while Stéphane Sarrazin, Emanuele Naspetti and Olivier Grouillard also missed the cut while simultaneously being trounced by the other halves of their garage. Pierre-Henri Raphanel is getting annoyingly used to sitting out the race on Saturday, a fate he thought he'd escaped by shipping out of ATS Rial (just when they were on the way up...), while it seems no amount of engine tweaks can get Kazuki Nakajima into the race. GTM had apparently been working on their engine as well, but given that it was such utter trash to start with, not a lot could save them. They're out, along with Minardi and David Price, and some embarrassing times over two minutes will not do any of their causes any good, only Esteban Tuero making it over that barrier.



CLASSIFICATION

Code: Select all

1 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         45   1h 31'58.288
2 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    45   1h 32'06.031
3 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   45   1h 32'26.164
4 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   45   1h 32'52.221
5 –    22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       44   + 1 lap
6 –    26 P. Alliot       SPAM           44   + 1 lap
7 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           44   + 1 lap
8 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    44   + 1 lap
9 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           44   + 1 lap
10 –   19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       44   + 1 lap
11 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         44   + 1 lap
12 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         44   + 1 lap
13 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       44   + 1 lap

Code: Select all

14 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         44   + 1 lap
15 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           44   + 1 lap
16 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       44   + 1 lap
17 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          44   + 1 lap
18 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         44   + 1 lap
19 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            44   + 1 lap
20 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        44   + 1 lap
21 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            43   + 2 laps
22 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         38   suspension
23 –   3  G. Tarquini     AGS            24   electrical
24 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          12   crash
25 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         11   crash
26 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     8    transmission

The lean spell from the last four races is over. It will not surprise anyone to learn that Þorvaldur Einarsson spent his summer hammering round the track at Rudskogen Motorsenter, training the next generation of Norwegian cadets, and attempting to instil some talent into Pål Varhaug. There was also a week getting sunburnt and drenched in turn at Metal Camp, but that's less relevant. Either way, that's the kind of training regime that ultimately caused him to hold off a determined Japanese assault that never let up throughout the whole race. Yuji Ide came closest with some true banzai driving that would probably have seen him win anywhere else, but which could only net him second here, such was the astounding pace of the Viking. Hideki Noda took the other podium place; the Leyton House's slightly inferior aerodynamics cost them around the Ostkurve and the stadium section, despite the awesome power of the Suzuki engine. How Chris Dagnall must be wishing the F1RM management had decided to take that on instead of Craig Cod's untried experiment... he wasn't even in the picture, as Bruno Giacomelli was the last driver on the lead lap, still excited about his Silverstone win.

Fifth, and absolutely over the moon, was Volker Weidler – that's his best result by a mile, it's ATS Rial's equal best result, it's a giant leap towards unrejectification, and Günther Schmidt nearly had the hologrammatic equivalent of a coronary – but for good reasons, obviously. Never mind that the cheeky Icelander slid past him on the last lap so he would not complete the full race distance, that's a proper shot in the arm for both driver and team. Phillippe Alliot wasn't too annoyed with sixth, either – points have been rather harder to come by at SPAM than they were with Prost last year, the merged team seeming to be the average of its component parts rather than an improvement. Behind him, with a face full of black diesel smoke, was Chris Dagnall, cursing his luck in a way that's already been mentioned; a couple of mid-season wins he may have had, but this is not how he saw his title defence working out. Shinji Nakano, behind him in eighth, should have done better, really – in a way, so should Marco Apicella, but rounding out the points, Claudio Langes put all his troubles behind him to put only one more notch on his scoreboard... but it'll do, won't it? He's scored at both races he's qualified for as well. Olivier Beretta, on the other hand, was in agony at the end, having been unable to overhaul the Italian for that last precious point, which would have been Spyker's first. Still, Monza calls, potentially...

Such was the dominance of those drivers at the front that almost all the field ended up a lap down. From Paul Belmondo, who made a respectable job of taking 12th from his miserable grid slot, through Jacques Villeneuve who was happy just to be amongst the racing and Jean-Denis Délétraz who looked lost this far down the field and ended up 15th, through to the sandwich that finished as it started; Pedro Chaves, Ralph Firman and – two laps down – Perry McCarthy, bringing up the rear. But this was still not enough of a disappointment to earn the dreaded Reject Of The Race award. Neither does it go to Fabrizio Barbazza, whose excellent qualifying performance counted for nothing after his driveshaft snapped on lap 9 – nothing he could do about that. No, the award goes, for the first time ever, to a Viking. Jan Magnussen, it's you. An awful start dropped him from third on the grid into the pack, while Luca Badoer had made a lightning start faster than a toilet stop in rattlesnake country. It had brought the two of them together, and they snapped and snarled at each other, Badoer in front, until a truly unbelievable move on the part of the Desperate Dane saw the two cars collide at the last corner, Magnussen attempting to overtake round the outside of the corner and shove Badoer forcibly aside, but with Badoer not giving an inch, the result was inevitable, Magnussen splattering against the wall right in front of the crowd, and Badoer coasting to a halt over the finish line – hence the extra lap – with his left rear wheel crudely amputated. He wasn't happy, but decided not to get too angry with Magnussen, as it is well known what awaits in the Viking garage. Magnussen had only himself to blame, and has now recorded two successive blanks as that young upstart on the other side of the garage has surged further ahead... the last casualties of the race were Gabriele Tarquini, succumbing to electrical failure after 24 laps, and Marko Asmer getting as far as 38 laps into the race before his suspension broke. Curses in Estonian were heard all around the racetrack, though not as loud as those in Danish which followed Jan Magnussen back to his garage.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

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1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         134
2 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    95
3 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   93
4 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           79
5 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   77
6 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         75
7 =   27 L. Badoer       Forti          50
7 =   36 M. Apicella     Dome           50
9 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    45
10 –  11 P. Chaves       SAC            43
11 –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         26
12 –  28 A. Montermini   Forti          24
13 –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       20

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14 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            18
15 –  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       16
16 –  2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
17 –  21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       10
18 =  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            8
18 =  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         8
18 =  26 P. Alliot       SPAM           8
21 =  5  R. Firman       Toleman        3
21 =  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           3
21 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       3
22 =  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
22 =  6  A. McNish       Toleman        2
22 =  3  G. Tarquini     AGS            2

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP

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1 –   Viking         209
2 –   Leyton House   170
3 –   Super Aguri    140
4 –   F1RM           94
5 –   Forti          74
6 –   SAC            61
7 –   Dome           53
8 –   Simtek         34
9 –   ATS Rial       30
10 –  EuroBrun       19
11 =  AGS            10
11 =  SPAM           10
13 –  Toleman        5

[FMecha]

Oh crap... what is F1RM DOING?

'Berserk' devices found at Magnussen, Badoer cars

A Viking and Forti mechanic recently noticed a 'berserk' device - that could make a car go berserk - was found in Jan Magnussen's and Luca Badoer's car(s) respectively. The devices were apparently sold as a trap by a mysterious ArrowTech F1RWRS Team manager The Fox, claiming it as a 'performance enhacher'. Such devices has also been reportedly found on F1RM cars, which was caught after 3 races. Neither Viking and Forti have to confirm them.

Arrows entry propaganda: Malik, RWRS sisters caught at David Price garage

In order to promote Arrows wish for an entry on 2015 F1RMGP season, Arrows has reportedly used David Price team as a target. Prince Malik, together with two sisters that raced at RWRS - Shinobu Katayama and Yuka Katayama, were reportedly seen at David Price garage. The trio warned that David Price won't survive and progressed by vandalising the garage, and leaving it. Neither David Price, Prince Malik, Shinobu Katayama, nor Yuka were available for comment.

Update: Two more people - reportedly Malik's impersonators (known as Falik and Walik) were also found taking technical documents, proably as a part of espionage plot.

(Sorry, I can't resist the ArrowTech and Katayama sisters' remark )

[dinizintheoven]

Round 10: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Saturday, 6 September 2014

THE GRID

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1 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         2'02.899
2 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    2'03.223
3 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           2'03.384
4 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   2'03.557
5 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           2'04.574
6 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            2'04.657
7 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   2'04.826
8 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         2'04.981
9 –    3  G. Tarquini     AGS            2'04.986
10 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         2'05.434
11 –   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       2'05.462
12 –   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2'05.841
13 –   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           2'05.912

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14 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          2'06.009
15 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    2'06.041
16 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          2'06.126
17 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       2'06.161
18 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            2'06.366
19 –   22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       2'06.651
20 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         2'07.185
21 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           2'07.401
22 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         2'08.050
23 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         2'08.288
24 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            2'08.378
25 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     2'08.453
26 –   39 F. Fauzy        GTM            2'08.656

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---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  5  R. Firman       Toleman        2'08.696
DNQ –  6  A. McNish       Toleman        2'08.994
DNQ –  31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         2'09.094
DNQ –  26 P. Alliot       SPAM           2'09.105
DNQ –  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       2'09.834
DNQ –  34 O. Beretta      Spyker         2'10.005
DNQ –  17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     2'10.523
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    2'10.855
DNQ –  23 A. Yoong        Minardi        2'11.516
DNQ –  24 E. Tuero        Minardi        2'12.525
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            2'13.474
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    2'14.864

Barely a week after the blast through the forests in Germany, it was time for a second helping in Belgium. The hectic schedule and the need for some to conserve their cars shone through; Jan Magnussen, for instance, had no such concerns, having had such a short race in Germany he went for broke at Spa and took pole, breaking the 2'03 barrier. Equally, Chris Dagnall had not covered himself in glory at Hockenheim, and forced every ounce of performance out of his PURE engine to take third, with Yuji Ide, ever the charger, between them. It was a different story on the other side of the Viking garage, with Þorvaldur Einarsson having thrashed the field in Germany, and thrashed his car in the process, he now had to nurse the car to a mere eighth before something broke. Both Leyton Houses were ahead of him, as well as Marco Apicella, putting in another strong performance for Dome, and Pedro Chaves, getting more out of his SAC than he's been used to recently. Gabriele Tarquini took ninth – it's been a torrid season for AGS so far, the bee-striped JH31 having not been the car the team were looking for, so this was a decent reward for the work the bald Italian has put in recently. Equally, Paul Belmondo found himself tenth, further up the field than Simtek have been for a while. Rounding out the top half of the grid were Joachim Winkelhock and a rejuvenated Stéphane Sarrazin in the diesel-powered ATS Rial and SPAM respectively, and Emanuele Naspetti, recovering from a torrent of DNQs to not quite match his team-mate, but the Japanese team will be far happier with that that with what he's been limping to for most of the season.

Nobody could quite work out what was happening at Forti, as their Brazilian four-pot engines have consistently been more powerful than expected since Pedro Diniz' magic hand hauled them up the field in 2012. Somehow, that magic touch deserted them here, and it was lower-midfield slots for both drivers, Montermini 14th and Badoer 16th, still with damaged bodywork from the assault of a Viking berserker in Germany. Shinji Nakano was between them, somehow failing to get to grips with the Ardennes circuit in one of the most powerful cars in the field. Behind the Fortis was Enrico Bertaggia, once again the sole EuroBrun in the race; Pierre-Henri Raphanel was 18th for AGS, which given his mishaps this season, is something of a result. Volker Weidler came crashing back down to earth in 19th, Marko Asmer lined up behind him, and in 21st... forgive me for repeating the cliché, but what is Délétraz doing? I'm not sure even he can answer that. Spyker were having an awful time, Gregor Foitek languishing in 22nd with Jacques Villeneuve for company, Perry McCarthy also failed to see the funny side of qualifying 24th, Fabrizio Barbazza was the top Monteverdi... on the back row, for their worst qualifying performance since the dark-ish days of 2011, but taking the final slot, and completely thrilled to do so, was Fairuz Fauzy, taking only GTM's third start for the season.

Toleman really have hit the nadir of their F1RMGP existence. They racked up two DNQs in 2012, one per driver, but in a crazily inconsistent season, they also scored five wins. This time, they look nowhere near winning, and with both cars dropping on the Friday, this will be the first time their garage has emptied before the end of the race weekend – an ignominy usually reserved for the likes of Stefan, GTM (both of whom have one car in the race) and David Price (who don't). Kazuki Nakajima, at least, was slower than both. Meanwhile, three drivers who had expected more also crashed out; Philippe Alliot was victim to a mechanical cock-up whereby he was sent to qualify with the same car he'd torn all the life out of in chasing sixth place in Germany, and said it felt like someone had left a croissant in the airbox, so short of power was he and so rough was the delivery. Claudio Langes and Olivier Beretta had no such excuses; neither did Olivier Grouillard, but then, his excuses ran out long ago – at least Fab wasn't so fab this time, as if that was any consolation. And, bringing up the rear – both Minardis, Ricardo Teixeira and the Fire King all lef the circuit with their tails between their legs, as Christope Hurni pulled out a blinder – by his standards, at least, which meant beating them to finish only fifth from last – nowhere near qualifying for the race, of course, but at least it gave him a few bragging rights.



CLASSIFICATION

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1 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         44   1h 38'02.877
2 –    36 M. Apicella     Dome           44   1h 38'18.010
3 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            44   1h 38'37.548
4 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         44   1h 38'41.038
5 –    3  G. Tarquini     AGS            44   1h 38'46.550
6 –    29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         44   1h 39'08.535
7 –    21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       44   1h 39'11.853
8 –    22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       44   1h 39'27.036
9 –    18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     43   + 1 lap
10 –   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           43   + 1 lap
11 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         43   + 1 lap
12 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         43   + 1 lap
13 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            43   + 1 lap

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14 –   39 F. Fauzy        GTM            40   + 4 laps
15 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          33   turbo
16 –   33 G. Foitek       Spyker         29   spin
17 –   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           27   bodywork
18 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   24   engine
19 –   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       23   crash
20 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           18   crash
21 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          18   crash
22 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   17   turbo
23 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           15   fuel system
24 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            15   electrical
25 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    14   crash
26 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    5    engine

I would say "how's that for a comeback?", but don't go thinking Jan Magnussen had it all his way; this was the most fortuitous win he will ever have. If anything, he should only have been third or fourth, but when his rivals fell by the wayside, he was there to pick up the pieces and keep his championship challenge alive. It was lost for Magnussen's rivals, mainly, in three crazy laps. The first to perish was Yuji Ide, whose surrender of the commanding lead he had built up was as spectacular as it was ridiculous; threatening to blast the entire field into the weeds, and sprinting away from the pack at almost a second a lap, Ide inexplicably flung his car into the wall turning left into the entrance of Bus Stop, which earned him Reject Of The Race; it was his race to lose, and he lost it. That left Hideki Noda in the lead for Leyton House, with Giacomelli, Dagnall and Magnussen behind him. The Englishman was almost immediately sidelined with a fuel system failure, Craig Cod for once being totally blameless for F1RM's troubles, and two laps further on, the turbo on Giacomelli's Suzuki engine ate itself for lunch. That left Magnussen to chase down Noda for the win. It should have been a Japanese celebration all the way, only for Noda's engine to blow after 24 laps, and as the oxymoron that is polite Japanese obscenities were shrieked over the Leyton House team's radio, Magnussen cruised to victory over the last 20 laps, slacking off at the end to bask in a victory which should never have been his. Still, anything was welcome after a ROTR award in Germany...

It wasn't all doom and gloom for Japan, as the Dome team battered their countrymen. Marco Apicella recorded the team's best ever finish; can he finally make that final jump to the top step? Someone else who has done before is Pedro Chaves, if only once, but he took his third podium of the season and that suited him just fine. For all his potential fears about a fragile car, Þorvaldur Einarsson guided it home to fourth, occasionally looking to attack Chaves for the final podium position but deciding caution was the better option this time; a similar distance behind, he had to keep an eye on Gabriele Tarquini, whose fifth place doubled AGS' points tally for the season. You could say that's unrejectified them for this year with Raphanel's sixth place in Monaco... but they were hoping for wins this year, not the occasional few points. Sixth was Paul Belmondo, who was locked in battle with Tarquini for most of the race, but eventually fell back as his tyres were shot on the last stint, almost into the clutches of Joachim Winkelhock, who led Volker Weidler home to ATS Rial's first ever double-points finish. Even this time last year, that would have been unthinkable. Also unthinkable was the idea that Monteverdi were going to draw a blank for the season; after one of the team's least competitive showings since their regular-DNQ days, Fabrizio Barbazza kept his head, with all that mass of hair on it, where others around him were losing theirs, and steered his reticent Montverdi home for two points. Emanuele Naspetti was the last scorer, which made him very happy, until he found out what his team mate had done in the sister car. Marko Asmer hounded Naspetti for that last point, but couldn't quite take it off him; further back, also one lap off the lead, Jacques Villeneuve and Pierre-Henri Raphanel traded insults, paintwork and places in an attempt to see who could not finish last. Not that either of them would, because Fairuz Fauzy trundled home in 14th, four laps down and painfully slow for the entire race. That's a lot for Tony Fernandes and Dany Bahar to bicker about, each one blaming the other for the car's limp performance, but hey, at least it made it into a race for once...

The list of retirements was unusually long, two lengthy power circuits one week after the other not helping that situation at all. Super Aguri, F1RM, Forti and Leyton House all lost both cars, and Super Aguri's race was run at only one-third distance. Shinji Nakano hadn't set the world on fire in qualifying, and the reason was soon revealed as his engine croaked to a halt after only five laps; Yuji Ide's self-inflicted brush with the wall has already been covered. Perry McCarthy's SAC was the next to expire, a lap later, with electrical gremlins; on that same lap, Chris Dagnall's fuel system glitch brought his race to an infuriatingly early end; Bruno Giacomelli's turbo trouble has also already been mentioned. Then, on lap 18, came another incident which would have been Reject Of The Race any other day; why can't Forti get any luck at the moment? Luca Badoer was barged out of the way by Jan Magnussen at Hockenheim, this time Andrea Montermini found Jean-Denis Délétraz using him as a brake, having decided the middle pedal was surplus to requirements as Montermini slowed down for La Source. The resulting collision almost sent the two of them into the next village. That was it for the crazy carnage, though there was still time for five more retirements: Enrico Bertaggia overcooked it at the end of the main straight in a move that Lewis Hamilton would have been proud of, Hideki Noda's engine gave up on him while in the lead, as I've said before, Stéphane Sarrazin's bodywork decided to drop off for no other reason than that the car is French, Gregor Foitek went for a scenic spin into the gravel trap at Stavelot, and Luca Badoer's turbo exploded at three-quarters distance.

With six races to go and Þorvaldur Einarsson having scored 146 points, this is the last point in the season at which anyone can still mathematically win the championship. Yes, including Christophe Hurni. But seeing as he can't qualify even when he has a Viking at his disposal, I think we can rule out that possibility...



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

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1 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         146
2 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         100
3 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    95
4 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   93
5 –   1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           79
6 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   77
7 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           68
8 –   11 P. Chaves       SAC            58
9 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          50
10 –  7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    45
11 –  29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         34
12 =  28 A. Montermini   Forti          24
12 =  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       24

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14 –  12 P. McCarthy     SAC            18
15 =  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       16
15 =  21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       16
17 –  2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
18 –  3  G. Tarquini     AGS            12
19 =  4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            8
19 =  30 M. Asmer        Simtek         8
19 =  26 P. Alliot       SPAM           8
22 –  35 E. Naspetti     Dome           4
23 =  5  R. Firman       Toleman        3
23 =  19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       3

Code: Select all

25 =  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
25 =  6  A. McNish       Toleman        2
25 =  18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     2

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP

Code: Select all

1 –   Viking         246
2 –   Leyton House   170
3 –   Super Aguri    140
4 –   F1RM           94
5 –   SAC            76
6 –   Forti          74
7 –   Dome           72
8 –   Simtek         42
9 –   ATS Rial       40
10 –  AGS            20
11 –  EuroBrun       19
12 –  SPAM           10
13 –  Toleman        5

Code: Select all

14 –  Monteverdi     2

[FMecha]

I'm fearing that F1RM would be hopeless this year. Also, might you want to post official statements (from F1RMGP management) about news from Autosport, J.O.U.R.N.A.L, or Some Publication before the race.

J.O.U.R.N.A.L's (nearly) daily round-up

Lotus Bakeries admit 'nearly defaulting' to GTM

Earlier before qualifying of Belgian F1RMGP round, it was reported that Lotus Bakeries - a bakery associated with RonDen Racing Engineering team in other leagues - had silently signed a sponsorship agreement with Genii Team Malaysia, hence why some noticed Lotus Bakeries' logos on Fauzy's GTM. It was later reported that Lotus Bakeries failed to give GTM the sponsorship money until the last minute. "We just notified by our PR division that we almost forget to pay sponsorship money to Genii Team Malaysia F1RMGP Team", said Lotus Bakeries spokeperson.

The deal was reported worth 350,000 euros. GTM have yet to comment on this.

Berserk devices found again at nearly all retired cars

Recently, it was found that almost every cars that retired from Belgian F1RMGP race were found to have 'berserk' devices. The devices apparently originated and sold by The Fox, of ArrowTech fame. The devices were found in nearly all cars that failed to finish, save Foitek's Spyker. No-one has yet to confirm this.

What's your opinion on these and previous news?

[Nessafox]

well to be precise, Bakeries initially paid in frangipanes, not in euros

[FMecha]

When will the next race start?

[Group Lotus]

Dany Bahar is reportedly furious with Tony Fernandes and he wants to start his own team.

[dinizintheoven]

I've been heavily involved in writing an exceptionally lengthy review of The Weekend That Caused F1RMGP's Summer Break To Go On A Bit Longer Than It Should Have, but...

When will the next race start?

Seeing as you asked, the answer is... right now!

Brace yourselves...


Round 11: Hungaroring, Hungary
Saturday, 20 September 2014

THE GRID

Code: Select all

1 –    9  J. Magnussen    Viking         1'26.115
2 –    8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    1'26.679
3 –    10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         1'26.959
4 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            1'27.638
5 –    2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           1'27.913
6 –    3  G. Tarquini     AGS            1'28.041
7 –    7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    1'28.155
8 –    5  R. Firman       Toleman        1'28.356
9 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           1'28.360
10 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          1'28.435
11 –   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           1'28.598
12 –   30 M. Asmer        Simtek         1'28.607
13 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         1'28.762

Code: Select all

14 –   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     1'28.804
15 –   27 L. Badoer       Forti          1'28.921
16 –   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           1'29.123
17 –   15 H. Noda         Leyton House   1'29.434
18 –   19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       1'29.439
19 –   16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   1'29.851
20 –   23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1'30.168
21 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            1'30.642
22 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            1'30.725
23 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         1'30.727
24 –   17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     1'31.090
25 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           1'31.093
26 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         1'31.528

Code: Select all

---------------- DID NOT QUALIFY ----------------
DNQ –  6  A. McNish       Toleman        1'31.563
DNQ –  21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       1'31.683
DNQ –  39 F. Fauzy        GTM            1'31.881
DNQ –  31 K. Nakajima     Stefan         1'31.932
DNQ –  20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       1'32.203
DNQ –  25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           1'32.204
DNQ –  22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       1'32.923
DNQ –  38 C. Hurni        David Price    1'33.040
DNQ –  33 G. Foitek       Spyker         1'33.085
DNQ –  37 P. Kralev       David Price    1'33.208
DNQ –  24 E. Tuero        Minardi        1'34.641
DNQ –  40 R. Teixeira     GTM            1'35.608

The rumour mill has been going into overdrive recently – if "overdrive" is the right word, after the mysterious disappearance of the Autosport reporter who fed it so fervently during the 2013 season. Was the Yakuza to blame? Certainly they'd be none too chuffed at the performance of one of the crack Japanese squads taking on this series. Super Aguri did just fine, though, Yuji Ide splitting the two Vikings to sit on that all-important front row, though he couldn't beat Jan Magnussen's time... nobody could. Þorvaldur Einarsson found himself with Pedro Chaves for company on row two, and whether Jean-Denis Délétraz has given himself a stern talking to over the past fortnight or whether it's been his team bosses, something's changed and he's found himself in fifth. The improved run from AGS has also continued, Gabriele Tarquini taking sixth ahead of Shinji Nakano. Equally, Ralph Firman must have been so embarrassed by that DNQ at Spa that he's kicked himself into action and taken a fine eighth, as we all knew the car was capable of it, in the right hands. He even managed to beat Chris Dagnall, the F1RM still not being quite right after its fuel problems at Spa, caused by him thrashing the living bathplug out of the car in an attempt to conjure up a result from it. Tenth was Andrea Montermini for Forti, ahead of Emanuele Naspetti and the two Simteks, as their revival continues.

Into the bottom half of the table, and leading the way there was Fabrizio Barbazza, again wrestling as much as he could out of his Monteverdi, so much so, that he even beat Luca Badoer, driving the Forti that Big-Haired Fab managed to win the Grand Reversal in. Next, in 16th, was Philippe Alliot – the sole SPAM and also the sole diesel runner in the field, as the other three mysteriously failed to get their setup right for the tight and twisty circuit. Mysteriously low down, and possibly too complacent about their superb power output, were Leyton House – that doesn't work on this circuit, and they soon found themselves swamped in qualifying, not in any danger of missing the cut, but 17th and 19th with serial non-qualifier Claudio Langes, of all people, between them was not the result they were looking for. Just behind Bruno Giacomelli was Alex Yoong, putting in a star performance just to drag his Minardi onto the grid, and to get so close to a Leyton House was a huge reward. Behind him, a dejected Perry McCarthy and Pierre-Henri Raphanel, whose team-mates had performed much better, surveyed the competition around them; a Minardi ahead, a Stefan and a Monteverdi behind... Jacques Villeneuve was making his fourth consecutive visit to the grid, but Olivier Grouillard had been so hopeless all year that this was only his second start! Still, I suppose that means there's hope for Monteverdi yet. Olivier Beretta lined up last, with Marco Apicella in front of him...

...and that's where the suspicion of sabotage started. Why, when Apicella has blitzed his team-mate all season, did he come so close to failing to qualify, and why was he beaten by Olivier Grouillard? Allan McNish was the first car to miss the cut, and his team-mate, Ralhp Firman, was lining up eighth. Were some of the teams favouring one car over the other, and had Apicella climbed into the wrong car? Why did Stéphane Sarrazin fail so horribly when Philippe Alliot managed to beat both Leyton Houses? What made Enrico Bertaggia perform so terribly when Claudio Langes has usually been the fall guy this year? And how did Esteban Tuero manage to end up posting a considerably slower time than both David Prices when Alex Yoong managed to qualify and qualify well?

Either way, it was an early bath for half of the garages at Toleman, Stefan, SPAM, EuroBrun, Spyker and Minardi, and goodnight Vienna for GTM, David Price and ATS Rial – just as much victims of the dreaded acceleration characteristics of this tight circuit as Sarrazin was for SPAM. Who knows how Philippe Alliot managed to do it...



CLASSIFICATION

Code: Select all

1 –    30 M. Asmer        Simtek         77   2h 00'10.523
2 –    3  G. Tarquini     AGS            77   2h 00'41.425
3 –    11 P. Chaves       SAC            77   2h 00'54.375
4 –    1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           76   + 1 lap
5 –    26 P. Alliot       SPAM           76   + 1 lap
6 –    27 L. Badoer       Forti          76   + 1 lap
7 –    16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   76   + 1 lap
8 –    15 H. Noda         Leyton House   76   + 1 lap
9 –    18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     76   + 1 lap
10 –   36 M. Apicella     Dome           75   + 2 laps
11 –   19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       75   + 2 laps
12 –   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            75   + 2 laps
13 –   17 O. Grouillard   Monteverdi     74   + 3 laps

Code: Select all

14 –   34 O. Beretta      Spyker         74   + 3 laps
15 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            74   + 3 laps
16 –   10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         71   + 6 laps (DNF, engine)
17 –   28 A. Montermini   Forti          55   engine
18 –   5  R. Firman       Toleman        54   engine
19 –   9  J. Magnussen    Viking         51   engine
20 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           26   engine
21 –   29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         25   suspension
22 –   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           25   crash
23 –   8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    10   engine
24 –   7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    10   engine
25 –   32 J. Villeneuve   Stefan         10   crash
26 –   23 A. Yoong        Minardi        1    engine

Hungary does it again. That must rank as one of the most bizarre races ever. Olivier Panis, Vittorio Brambilla, Alessandro Nannini, the 1999 edition of Johnny Herbert and Giancarlo Fisichella in his second Jordan stint must all know what it was like for fortune to smile on them in such a huge way that they were rewarded with a win that must have seemed almost unthinkable. And now, in F1RMGP, they've been joined by Marko Asmer.

Asmer's charge to the top step of the podium started as soon as the lights had gone out, which saw him locked in battle with the Vikings and Super Aguris, with Pedro Chaves and Gabriele Tarquini also trying to assert themselves on the frontrunning teams. Asmer came out on top of that "midfield" pack and was swarming all over Yuji Ide, to the Japanese driver's immense surprise, and a daring move at the back of the circuit almost gave Aguri Suzuki a heart attack as he watched on the monitors. But the driver to start off the day of chaos was at the back – Alex Yoong's notoriously fragile Motori Moderni engine exploded, setting off a chain reaction all the way up and down the field as the cars – well, Yoong's aside – which had taken such a thrashing at Hockenheim and Spa, decided they could take no more. Lap 10 say Jacques Villeneuve stuff it into Hungaroring's answer to the Wall Of Champions, followed by the dramatic synchronised self-destruction of both Super Aguris' engines. Within the length of one of the circuit's notoriously short straights, first Nakano's engine went bang and then Ide's, leaving the entire team shocked and speechless. Their loss was the almost unbelievable gain of Asmer, Tarquini and Chaves, who now had their midfield cars within sight of the Vikings. Such was Asmer's pace in those early stages that he even pulled an unbelievable move on Þorvaldur Einarsson – down the inside at the first corner, which Damon Hill would have been proud of from his Arrows days. Þorvaldur took it back in the first round of pit stops, though, deciding to defend rather harder for the rest of the race if called on to do so.

Lap 25 saw a potential massive double-points finish for Simtek wrecked, as Paul Belmondo's suspension was shattered by an extremely rash move from Emanuele Naspetti, a bit too determined to prove that his recent presence in the race deserves some points. He threw those points away, and totalled Belmondo's car in the process, in a move that Damon Hill would most definitely not have been proud of, reminiscent as it was of Michael Schumacher at Adelaide in 1994. For that, Naspetti is the well-deserved recipient of Reject Of The Race.

So, with both Super Aguris out, the next to fall was Jean-Denis Délétraz, who had been driving superbly, keeping those midfielders honest, and would most likely have overtaken them all during the course of the race – but his engine failed barely a lap after the Naspetti/Belmondo incident. And that, as ever, left a Viking benefit gig, with Jan Magnussen streaking out ahead, determined to do everything he could to close the championship gap on his younger team-mate. Asmer, now sitting in third place and on course to be spraying champagne at the two Viking drivers, was having the time of his life. All was calm until lap 52, when... kaboom, and out went... Jan Magnussen! The Dane jumped out of his car, and completely lost his calm, kicking the car viciously and injuring his toe in the process, such was the immense frustration at seeing his team-mate cruise to a win that would send him soaring towards the championship. Magnussen did not even say anything over the radio, he sat there on the wall, watching the cars go by and trying not to fly into a rage again. Asmer was second, Tarquini third, and what a payout that would be for AGS as well as Simtek. Ralph Firman and Andrea Montermini also followed the long line of deceased engines, Firman throwing almost as much of a strop as Magnussen had – a terrible season for Toleman could have done with a few points to give the team a bit more confidence for the future.

The race had its final twist on lap 72. Þorvaldur Einarsson was cruising to victory and had turned the wick down on the engine. It wasn't enough. The engine detonated, blasting off bits of the bodywork, collapsing under the strain of being hammered so hard for three races, and did so right in front of Jan Magnussen, finally walking back to the pits, who did not initially notice that the plume of smoke was coming from a gold car... he allowed himself a smile when he realised which car it was. The points gap between the two team-mates is still 46... but it could have been a more disastrous 71. Þorvaldur beat the steering wheel in frustration, hurled Icelandic obscenities into the air, plus a few in Finnish for good measure. He was classified 16th, but it was hardly a consolation...

...meanwhile, six laps later, Marko Asmer crossed the line in first place, and the screams of sheer unbelieveable joy and ecstasy were deafening. Both from him, over the team radio, even if all the screams were in Estonian, and from the team themselves. After the catastrophic decline of 2012 and 2013, they never thought they'd be in this position again, where they were in F1RMGP's early days, when Slim Borgudd won at Imola. There was even a little but of a smile from some of the Japanese contingent, with the Isuzu engine having more than proved itself worthy of bringing Simtek back to the front. Never has anyone sprayed the champagne on the podium quite so fervently, and never have two rivals – Gabriele Tarquini for AGS and Pedro Chaves for SAC – looked to happy to be on the podium together to share this moment.

So what of the rest of them? Chris Dagnall was fourth, a lap down, having nursed his car to the finish when it was ailing all weekend, but didn't suffer the same fate as Délétraz had. Philippe Alliot was equally relived to have taken fifth, thus unrejectifying the SPAM team for the season, and upheld the honour of diesel amongst the field, with the other three having all gone home the day before. Luca Badoer and the two Leyton Houses trundled in sixth to eighth almost apologetically, having been chronically off the pace all weekend, and had it not been for all those engine blow-ups, none of them would have come close to scoring at all. Even further away would have been Fabrizio Barbazza, who took his second points finish in a row for a Monteverdi team which had looked about as likely to score all season as a computer nerd at a chavvy nightclub. Marco Apicella took the final points place, two laps down, and so the voice of sabotage died down a bit... should it have done, though? On recent form, Apicella should have been in line to win this race. Now, Simtek have Dome within their sights. But it could have been worse. Claudio Langes, something of a strange to the grid this season, missed the points by one place; still, he kept Perry McCarthy behind him, while Olivier Grouillard was just happy to bring the car home, and have both his namesake and Pierre-Henri Raphanel behind him.

Marko Asmer couldn't care less where everyone else finished, or who finished. He spent the press conference singing Estonian victory songs, with a large bottle of vodka in his hand.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
It's that time again – the countdown to the end of the season. Five races remain, and 125 points are still available. Drivers who can still win the Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup are shown with a star.

Code: Select all

1 –  * 10 Þ. Einarsson    Viking         146
2 –  * 9  J. Magnussen    Viking         100
3 –  * 16 B. Giacomelli   Leyton House   99
4 –  * 8  Y. Ide          Super Aguri    95
5 –  * 1  C. Dagnall      F1RM           91
6 –  * 15 H. Noda         Leyton House   81
7 –  * 11 P. Chaves       SAC            73
8 –  * 36 M. Apicella     Dome           69
9 –  * 27 L. Badoer       Forti          58
10 – * 7  S. Nakano       Super Aguri    45
11 – * 29 P. Belmondo     Simtek         34
12 – * 30 M. Asmer        Simtek         33
13 – * 3  G. Tarquini     AGS            30

Code: Select all

14 = * 28 A. Montermini   Forti          24
14 = * 22 V. Weidler      ATS Rial       24
16 =   12 P. McCarthy     SAC            18
16 =   26 P. Alliot       SPAM           18
18 =   20 E. Bertaggia    EuroBrun       16
18 =   21 J. Winkelhock   ATS Rial       16
20 –   2  J-D. Délétraz   F1RM           15
21 –   4  P-H. Raphanel   AGS            8
22 =   35 E. Naspetti     Dome           4
22 =   18 F. Barbazza     Monteverdi     4
24 =   5  R. Firman       Toleman        3
24 =   19 C. Langes       EuroBrun       3

Code: Select all

26 =   25 S. Sarrazin     SPAM           2
26 =   6  A. McNish       Toleman        2

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
Five races remain, and 215 points are still available. Teams that can still win the Will Kauhsen Cup are shown with a star.

Code: Select all

1 –  * Viking         246
2 –  * Leyton House   180
3 –  * Super Aguri    140
4 –  * F1RM           106
5 –  * SAC            91
6 –  * Forti          82
7 –  * Dome           73
8 –  * Simtek         67
9 –  * ATS Rial       40
10 – * AGS            38

Code: Select all

11 –   SPAM           20
12 –   EuroBrun       19
13 –   Toleman        5
14 –   Monteverdi     4

[FMecha]

Yet another dramatic win for Simtek, I say. And what's the Management's opinion on the previous news articles?

I will assemble J.O.U.R.N.A.L's round-up later.

[wmetcalf68]

Simtek wins! What the bathplug!