F1RMGP 2015: The Fifth (season) and the Fury

[tristan1117]

I am shocked that Pedro Chaves going to Forti instead of trying to stay at SAAC backfired horribly and I think he might be the Jean Alesi of F1RMGP...

...so what of Gabriele Tarquini, who hasn't won a race at all in this series? Leading the championship he might be, but there's still that blank in the top column...

He's the ultimate Nick Heidfeld.

Or the second coming of Keke Rosberg.

[dinizintheoven]

Because Nick Heidfeld never came anywhere near an F1 championship...

[dinizintheoven]

Round 8: Zandvoort, Netherlands
Saturday, 11 July 2015



PRE-QUALIFYING

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1 –    36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'13.489
2 –    25 E. Collard          SPAM           1'13.490
3 –    26 C. Bouchut          SPAM           1'13.606
4 –    34 K. Chandhok         Spyker         1'13.612
5 –    41 K. Andersen         Polestar       1'13.726
6 –    42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       1'13.816
7 –    30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         1'13.852
8 –    17 A. Montermini       Pacific        1'14.209

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DNPQ – 20 M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       1'14.406
DNPQ – 35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         1'14.968
DNPQ – 31 P. McCarthy         Stefan         1'15.085
DNPQ – 33 G. Foitek           Spyker         1'15.172
DNPQ – 29 P. Belmondo         Simtek         1'15.179
DNPQ – 32 M. Pavlovic         Stefan         1'15.211
DNPQ – 18 J-D. Délétraz       Pacific        1'15.248

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DNPQ – 22 N. Fontana          Hispania       1'15.295
DNPQ – 19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       1'15.521
DNPQ – 39 E. Salazar          FIRST          1'15.810
DNPQ – 21 S. Yamamoto         Hispania       1'16.330
DNPQ – 37 C. Nissany          Shekel         1'16.446
DNPQ – 38 A. Shankar          Shekel         1'17.201
DNPQ – 40 J. Camathias        FIRST          1'17.771

From Belgium to the Netherlands, and a welcome change of weather – the sun was out over the dunes, so much that it almost resembled Bahrain, except that there were people drinking beer, there was actually a crowd, and the prospect of an exciting race loomed ahead – at least for those who could make it through the fiendish Thursday eliminator. Vincenzo Sospiri triumphed in the pre-qualifying war, by a thousandth of a second over Emmanuel Collard, who it seems is finally getting used to racing in F1RMGP. With Christophe Bouchut joining him in third place, that's the first time both SPAMs have made it into qualifying proper this year. Karun Chandhok reminded us all of his potential ability on a good day, forcing his Spyker through pre-qualifying on its home territory, followed by the two Polestars, Kasper Andersen just ahead of Sebastian Hohenthal. Jérôme d'Ambrosio found pre-qualifying a bit tougher than he had done in Belgium, but made it through in seventh place, with Andrea Montermini just scraping through, the only driver to do so without beating the 1'14 barrier.

Michael Ammermüller was the first to miss out, and couldn't make up the two tenths he needed to knock Monty out of the running; the others were always going to be too far behind. Vitantonio Liuzzi got it all wrong, otherwise he might have made it to give Arrows a fighting chance, and Perry McCarthy didn't beat the 1'15 barrier. Behind him, Gregor Foitek couldn't get the second Spyker through the Thursday ordeal, Paul Belmondo was yet again trounced by his new team-mate, Milos Pavlovic was better than usual but still nowhere near, but at least he beat Jean-Denis Délétraz, Norberto Fontana and then all the others who were way behind. Joachim Winkelhock was all at sea, and if he'd gone any further off the track would have actually been in the sea, Eliseo Salazar couldn't repeat his heroics from the very wet Spa, and all Sakon Yamamoto could beat was the two Shekels and a painfully slow Joël Camathias, who won't be happy at propping up the timesheets again.



QUALIFYING

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1 –    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         1'11.487
2 –    15 H. Noda             Leyton House   1'11.971
3 –    23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        1'12.096
4 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        1'12.222
5 –    7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    1'12.453
6 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    1'12.454
7 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           1'12.455
8 –    36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'12.491
9 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           1'12.581
10 –   2  T. Rustad           Viking         1'12.932
11 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           1'12.975
12 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       1'12.977
13 –   28 L. Badoer           SAAC           1'12.983

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14 –   5  M. Apicella         Dome           1'13.165
15 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          1'13.223
16 –   12 A. Sutil            Forti          1'13.374
17 –   14 M. Asmer            Ice One        1'13.487
18 –   25 E. Collard          SPAM           1'13.496
19 –   16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   1'13.497
20 –   34 K. Chandhok         Spyker         1'13.699
21 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         1'13.935
22 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        1'14.054
23 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            1'14.092
24 –   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       1'14.257
25 –   17 A. Montermini       Pacific        1'14.301
26 –   6  A. Yoong            Dome           1'14.610

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DNQ –  4  O. Beretta          AGS            1'14.700
DNQ –  26 C. Bouchut          SPAM           1'14.849

Dutch sand dunes seem like a strange place for a Viking raid, but it happened nonetheless. Þorvaldur Einarsson's second pole of the season, and the first since the dominant Thursday-morning-to-flag victory in Brazil, was a long time coming, but we always knew it'd happen. Hideki Noda will be keeping him honest on the front row of the grid, finally finding some form after it seemed Leyton House had lost their way a bit this year. Jan Magnussen thought he was in prime position to fight his old team-mate (and eventual adversary), but reckoned without the Il Barone Rampante B-team; after a brief slide recently, Enrico Bertaggia has got his game together again and stormed the field to take third on the grid, ahead of both drivers in the senior team. Row three is occupied by the Super Aguris, Shinji Nakano getting the better of Yuji Ide this time, while Gabriele Tarquini took seventh – these three drivers were all separated by gaps of a thousandth of a second, so tight is this season. Keeping the championship leader company on row four is Vincenzo Sospiri, who needs another good result for Arrows in their quest to escape pre-qualifying for the final leg of the season, while Chris Dagnall and Tommy Rustad complete the top ten. Row six sees Eric van de Poele leading the Belgian charge, with Sebastian Hohenthal back on the grid after a three-race DNPQ streak, determined to regain superiority in the intra-Polestar battle. Luca Badoer was the last driver to break the 1'13 barrier, and also finishes the top half of the grid.

Marco Apicella, 14th, is desperately trying to make the best of the equipment available to him; it is common knowledge that Mugen and Honda are deliberately throwing everything they've got at Super Aguri, leaving Dome trailing in their wake. The two Fortis ended up line astern on row eight, ahead of Marko Asmer, misfiring again for Ice One – maybe he too might be suffering from Fisichellitis? He's got Emmanuel Collard for company, who never qualified until the last race. Talking of Fisichellitis again, there's Fabrizio Barbazza in 19th on a day when his team-mate is on the front row, and rounding out the top 20, Karun Chandhok managed to drag his Spyker up that far so the home crowd has a car to cheer on, as do about a billion people in India if only they can be crowbarred away from the latest cricket match. Towards the back of the grid, Jérôme d'Ambrosio hauled his Simtek past the 1'14 barrier, not bad for that ailing car, but slower than his pre-qualifying time. Not clearing 1'14 were Colin McRae, way back from where he should be although Esteban Tuero probably wouldn't have made it onto the grid, with Paul Ricard winner Philippe Alliot lining up 23rd – that one really was a flash in the pan, by the looks of things (or maybe there was a bit of assistance from beyond the grave via Jean-Marie Balestre?) Kasper Andersen left it too close for comfort, with only Andrea Montermini and Alex Yoong behind him remaining to qualify, the Malaysian having done so with a desperate lunge round the final corner that would have seen him in the gravel trap 99 times out of 100. But he made it – Olivier Beretta and Christophe Bouchut were not so lucky. So, potentially, it could have been four French diesels on the grid tomorrow and no Germans, but that little French victory has already been chopped in half.



RACE

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1 –    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         72   1h 32'07.801
2 –    15 H. Noda             Leyton House   72   1h 33'03.392
3 –    23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        72   1h 33'17.139
4 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           71   + 1 lap                                                     
5 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           71   + 1 lap                                                     
6 –    5  M. Apicella         Dome           71   + 1 lap                                                     
7 –    28 L. Badoer           SAAC           71   + 1 lap                                                     
8 –    2  T. Rustad           Viking         70   + 2 laps                                                    
9 –    12 A. Sutil            Forti          70   + 2 laps                                                    
10 –   14 M. Asmer            Ice One        70   + 2 laps                                                    
11 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           70   + 2 laps                                                    
12 –   25 E. Collard          SPAM           70   + 2 laps                                                    
13 –   34 K. Chandhok         Spyker         70   + 2 laps                                                    

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14 –   17 A. Montermini       Pacific        70   + 2 laps                                                    
15 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         69   + 3 laps                                                    
16 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          69   + 3 laps                                                    
17 –   6  A. Yoong            Dome           69   + 3 laps                                                    
18 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        41   puncture                                                    
19 –   7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    35   crash                                                       
20 –   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         20   transmission                                                
21 –   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       17   turbo                                                       
22 –   16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   15   crash                                                       
23 –   8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    7    transmission                                                
24 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            6    puncture                                                    
25 –   13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        3    loose wheel                                                 
26 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       3    crash                                                       

It wasn't the utterly destructive victory of Brazil, nor was it totally lights-to-flag, because Hideki Noda had the audacity to nip past Þorvaldur Einarsson on the first lap. The Icelander returned the complement as they crossed the line to start lap 2, and that was it... game over for the rest. Even so, Enrico Bertaggia hadn't read the script, and determined to show that even the Rampant Baron's B-team could have their day if the cards fell right for them, he pulled no punches in defending himself against an equally determined Jan Magnussen at the start, and that seemed to be the battle to watch... for all of three laps, before Magnussen's race was ended when it was barely underway, more inept pit work from Ice One seeing the Dane overtaken by one of his own rear wheels. Similar to his post-Bathurst disappearance, he disappeared backstage without saying a word to the mechanics, and was not seen again for the rest of the day. His loss was the gain of everyone behind him, and barely believing his luck, Bertaggia set about chasing Hideki Noda for second place. Which he got, within about a minute of Magnussen's untimely demise. Bertie dared to dream – though Þorvaldur was thundering away into the distance by a margin that would only be explained by a light fuel load, and when the Icelander stopped for fuel two laps after Bertaggia, it wouldn't quite be the Minardi's day. Still, second place was going to be an almost unbelievable result for this team which had barely made the grid for the last two years, right? And who should spoil it, but... Colin McRae, of all people. 42 laps into the race, with the Scot fighting for a non-points position with Pedro Chaves, he made an overtake which was never on, just at the point that Bertaggia was about to overtake them both. Chaves was bashed right down to dead last, behind even the likes of Alex Yoong and Andrea Montermini, McRae retired a lap later with a shredded tyre that had been cut to pieces on Chaves' front wing, and Bertaggia was punted into a spin by the crash. Paul Stoddart screamed blue murder on the pit wall as Hideki Noda passed for second place. But Bertie picked himself up, checked for damage... there was none, and he chased Noda as if his life depended on it. Ultimately unsuccessful, he finished 14 seconds behind the Leyton House, but still found time to smile on the podium – the first for him, the first for Minardi, even though that third could have been second – or, if anything untoward had happened to Þorvaldur Einarsson, it might even have been a win. Colin McRae, on the other hand, was given the dressing-down of his afterlife, and no doubt he was the worthy recipient of Reject Of The Race.

So what of the others? Such was Þorvaldur Einarsson's blistering pace that everyone who didn't make the podium was lapped, and that started with Gabriele Tarquini, the lead SAAC, but not the lead Lancia. Chris Dagnall ended up fifth after an eventful afternoon – he, and Tommy Rustad, who finished eighth, had both had lengthy and unscheduled trips into the pits for front wing changes after a nasty altercation each – Dagnall when trying to lap Karun Chandhok, who was race-rusty after Spyker's relentless problems getting through pre-qualifying, and Rustad suffered when Luca Badoer moved a bit too close for comfort. Both were able to move up through the field, and Rustad might take some consolation that although Badoer suffered no damage to his own car, he was beaten by Daggers even though his accident happened 20 laps later. Marco Apicella rounded out the top six, having bounced back from a miserable race at Spa when the Dome team got everything wrong that they could possibly have done, and at this stage that might be enough to save them from plunging into pre-qualifying later in the year, which some said was a possibility. He'll need more results like that, though. Finally, rounding out the points were Adrian Sutil and Marko Asmer, the Estonian in a much faster car, but somehow unable to pull out the kind of result it deserved. Still, Hungary gets ever closer, the race where he managed to win against all the odds. Eric van de Poele has had an upturn in form recently, but it wasn't enough this time, and he finished where he started – 11th, despite the retirements ahead of him. In fact, he was chased all the way by Emmanuel Collard, who must be developing a taste for this race-day lark, and if he can keep his form up, there might be points ahead for SPAM. Karun Chandhok rolled in 13th, after compromising Chris Dagnall's race, but he'll be pleased to bring the car home, as will the rest of the team, because it is still in one piece. Andrea Montermini, last of all at one stage, mnanaged to pass a few cars on his way to 14th, one of which was Jérôme d'Ambrosio, three laps down and sent crashing back to Earth with a bump – although he was still by far the better of the Simteks over the weekend. Pedro Chaves, hindered by the altercation with the two Minardis that could so easily have been avoided, was 16th, and last of all – no surprises to find that it's Alex Yoong, but at least he made it to the chequered flag, which is not something that the following can say...

Sebastian Hohenthal was pleased to be back on the grid again on race day, but all that happened was that he binned it after three laps. Utterly unprovoked, that would have been ROTR material if only Colin McRae hadn't had his moment of madness. Jan Magnussen retired on the same lap with a loose wheel, the fallout of which we've seen already. Next to go was Philippe Alliot, with an unexplainable puncture, followed by Yuji Ide with driveshaft failure. So much for Japanese reliability, eh? Ide wasn't on for the win today, but if he wants to be champion, this has to be eliminated. So, four cars down at one-tenth distance... Fabrizio Barbazza was next, getting it all wrong at Panorama and hitting the tyre wall; it seems he's got a nose bleed from hitting the heights of second earlier in the season and has sunk like a stone. Lap 17, Polestar were gone, Kasper Andersen leaving the race with a busted turbo; Arrows were already one down after pre-qualifying but that fine result eluded Vincenzo Sospiri as a deceased gearbox put paid to him after 20 laps. He'd been falling down the field, though he was running ninth at the time. Come half distance it was all over for Super Aguri, Shinji Nakano blowing all their hopes of points for another race into the gravel trap – and last of all to retire was a very red-faced Scot who nearly took his team-mate out of that podium finish. See, even holograms can change colour.

You can go from hero to zero very quickly in this series. Never forget this, Colin!



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup

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1 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           98
2 –    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         85
3 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           83
4 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        67
5 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    56
6 –    7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    52
7 –    15 H. Noda             Leyton House   50
8 –    12 A. Sutil            Forti          49
9 –    28 L. Badoer           SAAC           42
10 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            31
11 –   2  T. Rustad           Viking         29
12 –   5  M. Apicella         Dome           27
13 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        25

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14 –   16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   20
15 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           19
16 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          18
17 –   14 M. Asmer            Ice One        13
18 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        12
19 –   26 C. Bouchut          SPAM           10
20 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         8
21 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       5
22 –   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       4
23 –   4  O. Beretta          AGS            3
24 =   19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       1
24 =   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Willi Kauhsen Cup

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1 –    SAAC           140
2 –    Viking         114
3 –    Super Aguri    108
4 –    F1RM           102
5 –    Ice One        80
6 –    Leyton House   70
7 –    Forti          67
8 –    Minardi        37
9 –    AGS            34
10 –   Dome           27
11 –   SPAM           10
12 –   Polestar       9
13 –   Simtek         8

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14 =   ATS Rial       1
14 =   Arrows         1

[DemocalypseNow]

Enrico, Y U NO LET MICHAE...GABRIELE PAST FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?!

[dinizintheoven]

Eh, Signor Lindsay? There was this, eh, gold car with "VIKING" all over it between, eh, me and 'im, Gabriele is minus one lap. Also, you know when Signor Vettel drives for the, eh, Red Bull Giovanile Squadra...

You give me the drive at SAAC now, si? Luca is, 'ow you say, not so good.

[joeyTKM]

Dalmas looking for career change

Having recently visited Toulon for a rugby match, who did I bump into? Yannick Dalmas. The wily old fox was rather pleasant, signing autographs etc. I mentioned to him the current F1RMGP situation....and he suddenly changed. He became angry, and muttered something roughly translated as "I f**king wish that f**king Beretta would f**k off and give me that f**king AGS seat. I f**king replaced at him Larrousse, and was miles f**king better!" - or something similar. Maybe Mr Shekelslike should contact him? Just a thought









New to the forum, massive rejects fan: this is dynamite guys, dinizintheoven is a genius of Adrian Newey proportions.

[dinizintheoven]

New to the forum, massive rejects fan: this is dynamite guys, dinizintheoven is a genius of Adrian Newey proportions.

Quoted for good measure. And I think I'll shove it on the wiki as well.

That loud parp you just heard? Yes, that is the sound of me blowing my own trumpet. Even though I can't play the trumpet.

[joeyTKM]

Why thank you! But seriously, Yannick really wanted that space. He's a hero of mine. He won Le Mans in a car that had the rear lights of a BMW Z3.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Dalmas looking for career change

Having recently visited Toulon for a rugby match, who did I bump into? Yannick Dalmas. The wily old fox was rather pleasant, signing autographs etc. I mentioned to him the current F1RMGP situation....and he suddenly changed. He became angry, and muttered something roughly translated as "I f**king wish that f**king Beretta would f**k off and give me that f**king AGS seat. I f**king replaced at him Larrousse, and was miles f**king better!" - or something similar. Maybe Mr Shekelslike should contact him? Just a thought

For a second, I though that was Mr Dinizintheoven himself posting that. But that's not a bad thing. And welcome to the forum.

[dinizintheoven]

Why thank you! But seriously, Yannick really wanted that space. He's a hero of mine. He won Le Mans in a car that had the rear lights of a BMW Z3.

So he did. Co-driven by Smokin' Jo WInkelhock, in F1RMGP until the end of this season, and Pierluigi Martini, who's done a three-year stint with Minardi...

[joeyTKM]

Why thank you! But seriously, Yannick really wanted that space. He's a hero of mine. He won Le Mans in a car that had the rear lights of a BMW Z3.

So he did. Co-driven by Smokin' Jo WInkelhock, in F1RMGP until the end of this season, and Pierluigi Martini, who's done a three-year stint with Minardi...

I think he feels left out then. He's been running Ferme de Dalmauriol together with ex-World Rally Champ on Dimoxynil fan Didier Auriol, and AGS aren't based too far from Toulon. Beretta's 2 DNQs compared to a win for Alliot show that he isn't extracting the most from the car. Maybe he'd be better leading a struggling team - I'm sure no-one in the paddock would miss Adrian Shankar (even if he is the world's cleverest man, and winner of University Challenge 2003).

[dinizintheoven]

I'm sure no-one in the paddock would miss Adrian Shankar (even if he is the world's cleverest man, and winner of University Challenge 2003).

Don't forget he also won Mastermind in 2002 and 2007. But those series were never broadcast because his brilliance was just too much for the nation to handle. Those seven Olympic rowing medals that put Sir Steve Redgrave to shame also somehow haven't been mentioned, either, plus being the first man to dive unaided to the bottom of the Marianas Trench...

[Salamander]

I'm sure no-one in the paddock would miss Adrian Shankar (even if he is the world's cleverest man, and winner of University Challenge 2003).

Don't forget he also won Mastermind in 2002 and 2007. But those series were never broadcast because his brilliance was just too much for the nation to handle. Those seven Olympic rowing medals that put Sir Steve Redgrave to shame also somehow haven't been mentioned, either, plus being the first man to dive unaided to the bottom of the Marianas Trench...

Didn't he manage to build a spacecraft that put himself on the moon a couple years ago, too?

[joeyTKM]

Yeah, he also jumped from 128,000ft disguised as Felix Baumgartner. Hey, this gives me an idea - do you reckon Felix would be up for following his namesake into F1RMGP? Maybe for ATS Rial Deutscland Jagermeister Luftwaffe (or whatever Gunter is doing these days)

[dinizintheoven]

Oi! I vill haf you know Jägermeister vere MY sponsors!

Ja, und I am very much liking our deal vith Eichbaum. Iiiiiiiiiiiiin Mannhei, steht ein Eichbaumhaus, eins! Zwei! G'suffa! (etc etc etc)

...and soon the world will love you, sweet leaf...

Yes. I have found my brother's secret vodka stash.

Perkele!

Is you all havin' a rave, innit? That is well dope. Can I bring Nicole?

...icicles in my brain...

Oui, mon frère Tcheque!

Wodka!

Wodka! Wodka! Wodka! Wodka!

*plays accordion*

...Marilyn Manson... Marilyn Manson...

[dinizintheoven]

Round 9: Anderstorp, Sweden
Saturday, 25 July 2015



PRE-QUALIFYING

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1 –    41 K. Andersen         Polestar       1'18.821
2 –    20 M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       1'19.568
3 –    30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         1'19.623
4 –    42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       1'19.690
5 –    36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'20.366
6 –    35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         1'21.331
7 –    19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       1'21.369
8 –    25 E. Collard          SPAM           1'21.514

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DNPQ – 31 P. McCarthy         Stefan         1'21.559
DNPQ – 18 J-D. Délétraz       Pacific        1'21.644
DNPQ – 22 N. Fontana          Hispania       1'21.684
DNPQ – 17 A. Montermini       Pacific        1'21.917
DNPQ – 21 S. Yamamoto         Hispania       1'22.442
DNPQ – 34 K. Chandhok         Spyker         1'22.557
DNPQ – 39 E. Salazar          FIRST          1'22.881

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DNPQ – 29 P. Belmondo         Simtek         1'23.029
DNPQ – 26 C. Bouchut          SPAM           1'23.319
DNPQ – 33 G. Foitek           Spyker         1'23.954
DNPQ – 37 C. Nissany          Shekel         1'24.744
DNPQ – 32 M. Pavlovic         Stefan         1'25.381
DNPQ – 40 J. Camathias        FIRST          1'25.984
DNPQ – 38 A. Shankar          Shekel         1'29.368

With the fervour for F1RMGP in the Nordic countries fuelled by the success of Jan Magnussen and Þorvaldur Einarsson, not to mention Marko Asmer across the Baltic Sea, the series had to expand somewhere in the frozen Northern lands, and Anderstorp in Sweden was the perfect venue. Now with two extra Nordic teams to cheer on, one of them still has to pre-qualify so the crowds turned out in force on the Thursday afternoon to cheer on the Polestars throughout the day. Sure enough, the Swedish team prevailed, but it was the Dane in the team who topped the timesheets, with a highly impressive 1'18 time that was comparable to the drivers in the top teams during free practice. It was a fine day for Michael Ammermüller as well, launching the diesel-powered ATS Rial to second, with a 1'19 – it was thought that any time in the 1'20s would be sufficient to clear the Thursday hurdle. Third was Jérôme d'Ambrosio, still to taste the bitter pill of Thursday defeat, and the team will hope this streak continues. Sebastian Hohenthal, in front of his home crowd, said afterwards that he was sandbagging slightly, and still recorded a marvellous time. The two Arrows also made it through, as did Joachim Winkelhock and Emmanuel Collard – so that's three diesels out of six, or three out of four that might actually have a chance of making it, through to qualifying proper.

Perry McCarthy in particular was left kicking his car in frustration, being on course to post a time that would have put him sixth until the notoriously unreliable Stefan failed on him – they're out of contention, not for the lack of trying. Jean-Denis Délétraz doesn't usually get this close to qualifying, but still he was... close but nowhere near. He was followed by Norberto Fontana, who initially looked to be in the running but was beaten as the last times rolled in; the other two Pacific and Hispania cars followed, then Karun Chandhok and Eliseo Salazar rounded off the 1'22s – both have qualified for a race recently, but today was not to be. Paul Belmondo's limp performance must mean he has the axe hovering near him despite his loyal service to Simtek since 2012, Christophe Bouchut had an utter nightmare, and Gregor Foitek's car never really got going properly. Still, he did manage to beat the Obvious Bottom Four, one of whom – the notorious Adrian Shankar – was considerably worse than usual. Three and a half seconds adrift of the next worst time? I ask you. Still, he'll most likely have an SAAC to play with on Sunday, let's see how badly he can screw up in that...



QUALIFYING

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1 –    2  T. Rustad           Viking         1'18.572
2 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        1'18.858
3 –    41 K. Andersen         Polestar       1'18.898
4 –    42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       1'18.981
5 –    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         1'19.374
6 –    20 M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       1'19.728
7 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    1'19.770
8 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           1'19.814
9 –    15 H. Noda             Leyton House   1'19.849
10 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        1'19.853
11 –   16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   1'19.854
12 –   28 L. Badoer           SAAC           1'19.929
13 –   7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    1'20.052

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14 –   14 M. Asmer            Ice One        1'20.175
15 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        1'20.334
16 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         1'20.529
17 –   12 A. Sutil            Forti          1'20.564
18 –   27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           1'20.842
19 –   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'20.964
20 –   35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         1'21.288
21 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          1'21.483
22 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           1'21.484
23 –   4  O. Beretta          AGS            1'21.557
24 –   25 E. Collard          SPAM           1'21.563
25 –   19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       1'21.681
26 –   5  M. Apicella         Dome           1'22.154

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DNQ –  6  A. Yoong            Dome           1'22.190
DNQ –  3  P. Alliot           AGS            1'22.281

Qualifying brought an unexpected surprise. Not that a Viking was on pole, as the Norwegian contingent roared them on to success, but definitely unexpected that it was Tommy Rustad who took the glory – he'd done it once in Monaco, but surely this was close enough to being Þorvaldur Einarsson's territory... right? No. Even Jan Magnussen, widely tipped as the second favourite for pole, couldn't find a way past Rustad at the top, but at least he'll have a clear view of the first corner come race day. And while everyone expected the Polestars to shine brightly, I don't think anyone could have predicted that they'd lock out row two, ahead of reigning champion Þorvaldur Einarsson? But they did, and race day will be the best chance they'll ever have of extricating themselves from pre-qualifying for the final stint. Michael Ammermüller, in sixth, also proved that his pre-qualifying performance was no fluke; when was the last time you saw an ATS Rial that high up on the grid, unless it's in the WEC? So the "regular" grid, if you like, starts in seventh place – Yuji Ide was the best of the rest, with a huge bunch of Chris Dagnall, Hideki Noda, Enrico Bertaggia, Fabrizio Barbazza and Luca Badoer all cramming into the 1'19s – note how, again, Bertaggia has outqualified both the SAACs. Into the 1'20s and Shinji Nakano took 13th, ahead of Marko Asmer – the Estonian feeling a bit left out of the Nordic party that Tommy, Jan and the others were having up the front. But he bided his time, plotting his revenge (most likely to be unleashed at the Hungaroring, knowing him).

On row eight, Colin McRae had a bit of explaining to do after the last race and aimed to make up for it, while Jérôme d'Ambrosio continued to adjust well to life in F1RMGP. Adrian Sutil and particularly Gabriele Tarquini – the championship leader – were annoyed to be as far down as row nine, while row ten was an all-Arrows affair, Vincenzo Sospiri posting a time just faster and just into the 1'20s. If Tarquini was aggravated at his lowly position, though, Pedro Chaves and Eric van de Poele were even angrier – Forti weren't looking particularly good, but van de Poele was heard grumbling about how his setup had been sacrificed to give Chris Dagnall a chance of wrecking the Northern party up the front. AGS were in very poor form throughout the session, Olivier Beretta managing 23rd, which is at least a step up from a DNQ in the Netherlands, but still, unspectacular. Emmanuel Collard, from the other side of the French diesel divide, was there to keep him company. Finally, Joachim Winkelhock just managed to qualify 25th, and Marco Apicella hardly covered himself in glory, scraping into last place at the expense of his team-mate. Dome might have suffered the ignominy of a double-DNQ, though, if only fate hadn't intervened with Philippe Alliot's inexplicably limp performance. Did he really win by such an enormous margin in France? This is how the mighty fall. Then again, Pedro Chaves knows all about racking up four DNQs in the same season he scored a win, and we do not mention to Jan Magnussen – ever – what happened to him round the streets of Monaco.



RACE

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1 –    2  T. Rustad           Viking         80   1h 52'51.861
2 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        80   1h 52'56.197
3 –    41 K. Andersen         Polestar       80   1h 53'28.658
4 –    16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   80   1h 53'38.372
5 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    80   1h 53'55.769
6 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           80   1h 54'07.000
7 –    7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    79   + 1 lap                                                     
8 –    24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        79   + 1 lap                                                     
9 –    12 A. Sutil            Forti          79   + 1 lap                                                     
10 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         79   + 1 lap                                                     
11 –   27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           79   + 1 lap                                                     
12 –   28 L. Badoer           SAAC           79   + 1 lap                                                     
13 –   35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         78   + 2 laps                                                    

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14 –   19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       78   + 2 laps                                                    
15 –   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         78   + 2 laps                                                    
16 –   25 E. Collard          SPAM           78   + 2 laps                                                    
17 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           77   + 3 laps                                                    
18 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          77   + 3 laps                                                    
19 –   4  O. Beretta          AGS            77   + 3 laps                                                    
20 –   1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         70   engine                                                      
21 –   5  M. Apicella         Dome           68   crash                                                       
22 –   14 M. Asmer            Ice One        28   collision                                                   
23 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       28   collision                                                   
24 –   15 H. Noda             Leyton House   22   turbo                                                       
25 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        20   throttle                                                    
26 –   20 M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       8    transmission                                                

Sweden expected, the racers delivered. Well, 25 of them did.

The man who delivered the most was Tommy Rustad. Panned earlier in the season, seen as the weak link in the Viking line-up, he'd said what he really wanted to achieve was a win. Only appalling bad luck at Monaco had robbed him of it so far, but today he was karmically repaid. This was thanks in some way to Jan Magnussen, who by all rights should have won at a canter, except for two problems; one was Läktar, the final corner of the circuit, which seemed to catch a lot of drivers out and caused them to spin, usually on their way into the pits. Magnuseen was the first to suffer this fate; Yuji Ide, Luca Badoer and Olivier Beretta (twice!) all followed suit. This lost the Dane a lot of time, but nowhere near as much as an incident later in the race, which we'll get to soon enough. The other minor player in Rustad's luck was team-mate Þorvaldur Einarsson, who saw fit to let the Norwegian pass unhindered, just as he was radioing the pits to warn them of an intermittent misfire. Changing the steering wheel midway through the race never helped, and as he'd finally drifted out the points, the problem became terminal on lap 70. Still, that was a minor help for Rustad. He needed it, though, because after his altercation at Läktar, Magnussen had been on a charge... right up until he met Marco Apicella. The Italian, for some reason, was in a foul mood, dead last after the previous day's humiliation, passed by Beretta who had already spun twice, and decided he would not let anyone else past – including Magnussen. So much time did Magnussen lose that his Danish compatriot, Kasper Andersen, in the underpowered Polestar, was able to catch up with him. I would say it was amazing that Andersen passed them both in a Häkkinen-plus-Zonta arrangement, but even more amazing was that he'd been leading the race earlier on after he stayed out when the leaders had made their first pit stops. Andersen charged off into the distance, rotten engine be damned, and Magnussen lost a further nineteen seconds behind Apicella's disgusting display of blocking. He passed eventually, and charged off in a fury, not knowing that Andersen had to pit again. When he did, Magnussen was in a clear second, closed in on Rustad, but could not quite make it in the end. If anything, though, Andersen's drive was even more impressive. Leading the race, that move on Magnussen and the tantrum-throwing Apicella, then finding himself sixth after his last pit stop – he set about chasing the leaders, and in 17 laps, passed Chris Dagnall, Yuji Ide and even Fabrizio Barbazza – right at the death, almost, on lap 78 – despite the wide power difference between the two. Polestar had hoped they could score points this race. They could have had more, as it turned out – Sebastian Hohenthal was running 8th early on when he was crudely biffed out of contention by Marko Asmer – but they never dared to dream of a podium. Better still, this might just rescue them from pre-qualifying in the last part of the season, and then the rest of the field really will have to watch out, especially if Andersen can keep his form this way after a slow start to the year. As for Asmer, he was one of the contenders for Reject Of The Race for that hatchet job on Hohenthal, because he was on for points as well. Olivier Beretta was another one, as he'd found Läktar far too much effort to be able to take properly. But in the end, Marco Apicella won it by a country mile, for an abysmal display of petulant blocking that even Olivier Grouillard and Jean-Pierre Jarier at their lowest ebb would have found embarrassing, and when the Italian finally threw the car into the wall at Läktar – where else – trying to take Olivier Beretta with him for a third excursion off the track, his fate was well and truly sealed.

Barbazza, Ide and Dagnall we have already mentioned. These were the last three on the lead lap, but how they couldn't fend off Kasper Andersen is and will always be a mystery, Barbazza in particular. What are you doing with all those extra horses, eh, Fab? We will never know. Seventh, and lapped, was Shinji Nakano, who had a very uneventful race while all around him were causing chaos. Colin McRae kept his nose clean after an embarrassing display at Zandvoort, but almost fell victim to Marco Apicella, who didn't care whether he was one, two or three laps down on those who were trying to pass him. Adrian Sutil was ninth at Zandvoort and ninth here – that's consistency, you'd have to say – and Jérôme d'Ambrosio took the final point for Simtek, every point is precious to them after all, although it was effectively gifted to him after Þorvaldur Einarsson's retirement. So in the end, Gabriele Tarquini took the Golden Papaya for 11th, his first non-score of the season, with Luca Badoer just behind him – SAAC were really not at the races this weekend but by the skin of their teeth they've retained the lead in both championships. Arrows couldn't work any magic either, both cars finishing two laps down in 13th and 15th, with Joachim Winkelhock between them – by far the slower of the ATS Rials, and if Michael Ammermüller could have brought the car home, that'd have been points for them, almost certainly, because he was keeping pace with the leaders in the early stages before his untimely gearbox gremlins. Emmanuel Collard was the last to finish two laps down – Eric van de Poele, Pedro Chaves and Olivier Beretta, who couldn't always keep his car pointing in the right direction, were three away, with Beretta the last finisher – but if Marco Apicella had finished he would almost certainly be four down. Of the retirements we haven't covered, Enrico Bertaggia found his throttle had broken in the early stages of the race, and Hideki Noda was running right up the front and troubling Tommy Rustad before his turbo gave up the ghost.

We're at the half-way point, it's anyone's championship, in both cups. At least now the teams have a chance to let off steam in the Grand Reversal, though whether Marco Apicella will be particularly welcome on the track tomorrow morning is a different matter.



DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup

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1 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           98
2 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           91
3 =    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         85
3 =    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        85
5 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    66
6 –    7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    58
7 –    2  T. Rustad           Viking         54
8 –    12 A. Sutil            Forti          51
9 –    15 H. Noda             Leyton House   50
10 –   28 L. Badoer           SAAC           42
11 –   16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   32
12 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            31
13 –   5  M. Apicella         Dome           27

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14 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        25
15 =   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           19
15 =   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       19
17 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          18
18 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        16
19 –   14 M. Asmer            Ice One        13
20 –   26 C. Bouchut          SPAM           10
21 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         9
22 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       5
23 –   4  O. Beretta          AGS            3
24 =   19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       1
24 =   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Willi Kauhsen Cup

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1 –    SAAC           140
2 –    Viking         139
3 –    Super Aguri    124
4 –    F1RM           110
5 –    Ice One        98
6 –    Leyton House   82
7 –    Forti          69
8 –    Minardi        41
9 –    AGS            34
10 –   Dome           27

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11 –   Polestar       24
12 –   SPAM           10
13 –   Simtek         9
14 =   ATS Rial       1
14 =   Arrows         1

AND THE REST OF THE STANDINGS...
sorting it out for the Grand Reversal

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POS    TEAM           PTS   DN(P)Q
---    ----           ---   ------
14     Arrows         1     5
15     ATS Rial       1     6
----------------------------------
16     Pacific        0     13
17     Stefan         0     15 (14 DNPQ, 1 DNQ)
18     Spyker         0     15 (15 DNPQ)
19     FIRST          0     17
20     Hispania       0     18 (17 DNPQ, 1 DNQ)
21     Shekel         0     18 (18 DNPQ)

[dinizintheoven]

NEWSFLASH: APICELLA BANNED FOR TWO RACES
The F1RMGP stewards have universally taken an extremely dim view on Marco Apicella's driving standards, and after being called into their offices at Anderstorp, it came as no surprise to anyone that his punishment was going to be particularly harsh. Knowing that the world was about to turn against him, Apicella immediately called a press conference to issue a full and unreserved apology to the entire F1RMGP field, whether or not he had personally tangled with them, though he did mention Jan Magnussen by name as his behaviour towards the Dane was particularly unsporting. Even so, the apology was not enough to see him escape a ban – it would have been three races, only by apologising so sincerely was it cut to two. One of these race bans will be served at the Grand Reversal, and as Dome have no replacement driver lined up they have withdrawn from the race. This does now mean that with an even number of teams in the field, no driver will stay with his current team, which the Polestar drivers would have done otherwise.

THE GRAND REVERSAL - LINE-UPS

Gabriele Tarquini and Luca Badoer will drive for Shekel
Þorvaldur Einarsson and Tommy Rustad will drive for Hispania
Shinji Nakano and Yuji Ide will drive for FIRST
Chris Dagnall and Eric van de Poele will drive for Spyker
Jan Magnussen and Marko Asmer will drive for Stefan
Hideki Noda and Fabrizio Barbazza will drive for Pacific
Pedro Chaves and Adrian Sutil will drive for ATS Rial (Sutil was originally considered for this team, incidentally...)
Enrico Bertaggia and Colin McRae will drive for Arrows (which was effectively formed from the ashes of Bertie's old team, EuroBrun)
Philippe Alliot and Olivier Beretta will drive for Simtek
Kasper Andersen and Sebastian Hohenthal will drive for SPAM
Emmanuel Collard and Christophe Bouchut will drive for Polestar
Paul Belmondo and Jérôme d'Ambrosio will drive for AGS
Vitantonio Liuzzi and Vincenzo Sospiri will drive for Minardi
Joachim Winkelhock and Michael Ammermüller will drive for Forti
Andrea Montermini and Jean-Denis Délétraz will drive for Leyton House
Perry McCarthy and Milos Pavlovic will drive for Ice One
Gregor Foitek and Karun Chandhok will drive for F1RM
Eliseo Salazar and Joël Camathias will drive for Super Aguri
Sakon Yamamoto and Norberto Fontana will drive for Viking
Chanoch Nissany and Adrian Shankar will drive for SAAC

There is only one qualifying hour for this race – with the drivers all in unfamiliar cars and 40 of them will be out there all at once. Enjoy the chaos.

Especially you, Mr Lindsay...

[dinizintheoven]

So, you thought the WEC race and then the Main Series race couldn't get any more bonkers? Think again. It's time for the return of...

Non-Championship Race: The Grand Reversal
Anderstorp, Sweden - Sunday, 26 July 2015



QUALIFYING

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1 –    22 Þ. Einarsson        Hispania       1'19.487
2 –    33 C. Dagnall          Spyker         1'19.644
3 –    38 L. Badoer           Shekel         1'19.845
4 –    31 J. Magnussen        Stefan         1'20.294
5 –    39 Y. Ide              FIRST          1'20.294
6 –    19 P. Chaves           ATS Rial       1'20.456
7 –    21 T. Rustad           Hispania       1'20.531
8 –    40 S. Nakano           FIRST          1'20.535
9 –    17 H. Noda             Pacific        1'20.644
10 –   35 E. Bertaggia        Arrows         1'20.680
11 –   23 V. Liuzzi           Minardi        1'20.763
12 –   18 F. Barbazza         Pacific        1'20.767
13 –   15 A. Montermini       Leyton House   1'20.885

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14 –   26 S. Hohenthal        SPAM           1'20.892
15 –   4  J. d'Ambrosio       AGS            1'20.921
16 –   7  E. Salazar          Super Aguri    1'21.006
17 –   34 E. van de Poele     Spyker         1'21.242
18 –   24 V. Sospiri          Minardi        1'21.244
19 –   37 G. Tarquini         Shekel         1'21.247
20 –   25 K. Andersen         SPAM           1'21.253
21 –   20 A. Sutil            ATS Rial       1'21.329
22 –   32 M. Asmer            Stefan         1'21.485
23 –   3  P. Belmondo         AGS            1'21.713
24 –   36 C. McRae (H)        Arrows         1'22.035
25 –   10 K. Chandhok         F1RM           1'22.084
26 –   29 P. Alliot           Simtek         1'22.366

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DNQ –  41 E. Collard          Polestar       1'22.414
DNQ –  16 J-D. Délétraz       Leyton House   1'22.550
DNQ –  9  G. Foitek           F1RM           1'22.555
DNQ –  14 M. Pavlovic         Ice One        1'22.560
DNQ –  13 P. McCarthy         Ice One        1'22.597
DNQ –  42 C. Bouchut          Polestar       1'22.732
DNQ –  8  J. Camathias        Super Aguri    1'22.796

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DNQ –  30 O. Beretta          Simtek         1'22.838
DNQ –  2  N. Fontana          Viking         1'22.996
DNQ –  12 M. Ammermüller      Forti          1'23.079
DNQ –  11 J. Winkelhock       Forti          1'23.231
DNQ –  1  S. Yamamoto         Viking         1'24.029
DNQ –  27 C. Nissany          SAAC           1'25.346
DNQ –  28 A. Shankar          SAAC           1'26.385

Last year's Grand Reversal said a lot about the fates of various drivers up and down the grid – fine drivers saddled with crap cars rose to the top as their shed was replaced by some up-front machinery, those used to driving the cars at the front had to drag the bathtubs from the back up the grid, and shamefully rejectful drivers were handed top-notch cars on a silver plate and somehow still conspired to turn them into DNQ material. The undisputed star of last year's show was Jan Magnussen, who managed to work wonders with a David Price, while Fabrizio Barbazza won the race, having swapped his limping Monteverdi for a Forti and turned that into success; meanwhile, at the other end of the grid, perennial backmarker Christophe Hurni was given Þorvaldur Einarsson's Viking for the day, and still ended up dead last.

And so it has been again this time round. This time, Þorvaldur has found himself piloting the Hispania CH115 and has had a lot more luck with it than his experience with the David Price DPR-1 last year. It's got a powerful SEAT diesel engine which its current drivers have never been able to make use of – Norberto Fontana dragged it out of pre-qualifying once only to fall at the Friday hurdle, so it's never seen a race. Wham bam and onto pole position it goes, cue celebrations from Adrián Campos and José Ramón Carabante, and brown trousers time for their regular drivers. Two champions appeared on the front row – fittingly – with Chris Dagnall driving a Spyker to positions it's also never seen, but right behind them... if Campos and Carabante were overjoyed then imagine what Guy Nègre must be thinking now. Having deliberately sent his new engine to Shekel Racing knowing it would never see race day during the regular season, this was the sign he was looking for that his engine was a good one, or at least the first bit of it; car 38 usually spends its days being driven ineptly by Adrian Shankar, getting in the way of the others in free practice and pre-qualifying; put Luca Badoer behind the wheel, suddenly that Shekel's shot up to third. Jan Magnussen repeated his heroics from last year, though the Stefan he was driving isn't quite as bad as the David Price was, and another star drive from a backmarker car was Yuji Ide, throwing the hideously off-the-pace FIRST into fifth with an identical time to Magnussen; this car at least has seen race day, once, if not much of it. Pedro Chaves has been quiet of late, but sixth in a diesel ATS Rial will give him hope for this race; behind him is Tommy Rustad, still celebrating from the day before, confirming Hispania as the strongest team overall for this race. Shinji Nakano, driving the other FIRST, will keep jhim company on row four. Hideki Noda and Fabrizio Barbazza, last year's winner, have traded their Leyton Houses for a less powerful PURE-engined Pacific, and made 9th and 12th – between them are Enrico Bertaggia and Vitantonio Liuzzi, each driving the other's car for the day and locked together on the grid. Rounding out the top half, it's Andrea Montermini, driving a Leyton House and desperate to show he can get back into a top team.

Kasper Andersen may have brought home the Danish bacon for Polestar in a big way in the main race, but Sebastian Hohenthal is still there to show he's not going to be forgottem, lining up 14th in a SPAM that's far more powerful than his regular ride, if only it would work properly. Jérôme d'Ambrosio got to drive an AGS for the day and put it 15th, and in what will definitely be his highest grid position for the season, Eliseo Salazar has shown he's no mug – not quite up to the usual standards of the average Super Aguri driver (although those who rememeber Kazuki Nakajima's efforts in 2011 might disagree), but way beyond what he could expect to do in a FIRST. Eric van de Poele in the second Spyker is followed by two of the IBR diaspora – Vinnie Sospiri, driving a Minardi for the day and determined to show what he can do in it, and Gabriele Tarquini, dropped into a Shekel and having considerably more trouble with it than Badoer did. But still, he qualified. Two Shekels on the grid, two FIRSTs... and also two Stefans, with Marko Asmer just managing 22nd – Kasper Andersen, not-so-fresh from the celebration of his heroics the previous day, and Adrian Sutil in an ATS Rial that he was almost driving in for the whole season, are just ahead of him. To the last four – Paul Belmondo used his AGS to half-decent effect, at least qualifying for the race in a way he looks unlikely to do much for the rest of the year now that Simtek have to pre-qualify, Colin McRae had to get used to life again recently and was rather confused by the change of car, Karun Chandhok just managed to get onto the grid in a F1RM, much to the annoyance of the mechanics who'd rather have had the day off, and last of all, Philippe Alliot made up for his indiscretion by hauling a Simtek onto the grid which is technically inferior to the AGS he failed to qualify in on the Friday...

So, to those who didn't make it. Jean-Denis Délétraz is in trouble now. He can't regularly qualify a Pacific... he can't qualify the most powerful car in the field, either. Oh dear. Gregor Foitek tried hard in the F1RM, but failed, so at least half the garage got their time off. Milos Pavlovic, for once, beat Perry McCarthy in qualifying, but still neither of them made it, and that's Milos' best chance to appear in a race this season down the swanee. Give him an Ice Once with a Koenigsegg engine, and still, no dice. Next was Olivier Beretta, recently subject to a fierce rant from ex-team-mate Yannick Dalmas, who probably has his eye on the AGS seat even more now. And in the final six positions, it's down with the tools in the Viking, Forti and SAAC garages. Truth be told, Norberto Fontana and Sakon Yamamoto didn't have much of a chance – Fontana had Tommy Rustad's car which had just been thrashed to within an inch of its life to win the race the day before, and Yamamoto was in Þorvaldur Einarsson's car, which had a misfiring engine and the mechanics didn't seem too bothered about fixing it (some say they were pretending to work on it in anticipation of the arrival of these two jokers). Alasdair Lindsay need not have worried about his precious blue, black and white chariots being subject to an unnecessary prang by either Chanoch Nissany or Adrian Shankar – most of the time, they're going too slowly to have a serious crash. With a powerful Lancia engine behind them they were still useless – witness what Luca Badoer did in Shankar's car, though, was that any great surprise given that we knew MGN's tactics all along? The real mystery was ATS Rial's regular drivers; given Fortis for the day, both of them failed miserably, and after Michael Ammermüller had threatened to put a load of points on ATS Rial's scoresheet the previous day before his gearbox crunched itself to pieces (it was fixed, and Adrian Sutil tried to nurse it through qualifying here), nobody could fathom why he was so slow. Even Smokin' Jo was almost a second away from making the cut. But so it is – we've lost both cars from four top-ranked teams, and one each from Leyton House, F1RM, Super Aguri and Simtek has also perished. It's not every day that happens, but then, this is no ordinary race.

Incidentally, and slightly irrelevantly, Þorvaldur Einarsson traded cars with his team-mate – Tommy Rustad drove car 21 in his 1998 BTCC Independents' Cup championship season, and jumped at the chance to get it again. Yuji Ide and Shinji Nakano did the same, so Ide didn't have to drive a car with a 4 on it.



RACE

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1 –    22 Þ. Einarsson        Hispania       80   1h 53'11.750
2 –    38 L. Badoer           Shekel         80   1h 53'31.637
3 –    26 S. Hohenthal        SPAM           79   + 1 lap                                                     
4 –    35 E. Bertaggia        Arrows         79   + 1 lap                                                     
5 –    15 A. Montermini       Leyton House   79   + 1 lap                                                     
6 –    31 J. Magnussen        Stefan         79   + 1 lap                                                     
7 –    20 A. Sutil            ATS Rial       79   + 1 lap                                                     
8 –    34 E. van de Poele     Spyker         79   + 1 lap                                                     
9 –    24 V. Sospiri          Minardi        79   + 1 lap                                                     
10 –   25 K. Andersen         SPAM           79   + 1 lap                                                     
11 –   36 C. McRae (H)        Arrows         78   + 2 laps                                                    
12 –   37 G. Tarquini         Shekel         78   + 2 laps                                                    
13 –   7  E. Salazar          Super Aguri    78   + 2 laps                                                    

Code: Select all

14 –   40 S. Nakano           FIRST          78   + 2 laps                                                    
15 –   3  P. Belmondo         AGS            78   + 2 laps                                                    
16 –   4  J. d'Ambrosio       AGS            77   + 3 laps                                                    
17 –   23 V. Liuzzi           Minardi        70   crash                                                       
18 –   21 T. Rustad           Hispania       65   transmission                                                
19 –   33 C. Dagnall          Spyker         51   engine                                                      
20 –   10 K. Chandhok         F1RM           48   suspension                                                  
21 –   32 M. Asmer            Stefan         45   oil leak                                                    
22 –   18 F. Barbazza         Pacific        40   puncture                                                    
23 –   39 Y. Ide              FIRST          37   transmission                                                
24 –   17 H. Noda             Pacific        37   crash                                                       
25 –   19 P. Chaves           ATS Rial       24   crash                                                       
26 –   29 P. Alliot           Simtek         14   puncture                                                    

"Läktar". I'm told it is Swedish for "gallery", but I'm not so sure. I think it must mean something like "chaos", "mayhem", or maybe "extreme rejectfulness".

After the opening lap, in which Þorvaldur Einarsson, Chris Dagnall and Luca Badoer all duelled for the lead (yes, you heard me, Luca Badoer led the race in a Shekel), the race settled into a dull procession, which threatened to send the entire crowd to sleep. Top-notch drivers streaked out ahead, poor machinery be damned, while the hapless rejects at the back, who may have had better cars than usual, fell away. Fabrizio Barbazza caused a train of cars from tenth downwards that was more akin to Jarno Trulli, where no one could pass. Even the first retirement failed at add any spice – it was Philippe Alliot, who was running last, so even then there was no change in the order. Some were questioning what the point of the race was.

And then came lap 24.

It had been a problem in the feature race on the Saturday: Läktar, the final corner before the pit entrance, usually posed no problems except to those drivers who had to pit for fuel and tyres – then, suddenly, it became a damn-near-impossible proposition and nobody could quite work out why. But the pit entrance is on the inside of the corner, so why so many cars understeered off the track and into the tyre barrier is a mystery. Some got away with it, others spent two laps mired in the traps around the corner. Eric van de Poele and Shinji Nakano were the first victims, clashing at that final corner as both needed to pit. Paul Belmondo and Karun Chandhok were caught in the carnage. Eventually, they cleared out the way, but over the next five laps, car after car after car went hurtling off the track towards that tyre wall, bounced off it and, if they were lucky, managed to crawl towards the pits within a lap. Jan Magnussen! Who'd have thought it, even if he has been rather more prone to errors than usual this year. Then... Eliseo Salazar! Hideki Noda! Tonio Liuzzi! Andrea Montermini! Vincenzo Sospiri! Chris Dagnall, from the lead of the race! He floundered for three thoroughly rejectful laps trying to get out of his predicament. Still they came. Yuji Ide, from third! Fabrizio Barbazza and Sebastian Hohenthal, from fourth and fifth, both into the wall they went, line astern! Marko Asmer! At this point, the commentary team for the English-speaking world was reduced to one – James Walker, thoroughly disgusted by Marco Apicella's driving the previous day, had had enough, and walked out live on air, declaring this was the most ridiculous farce he'd ever seen and was off to get drunk. Murray Hunt had to continue by himself. In fact, Walker's decision turned out to be the right one, so you'd say. Kasper Andersen managed not to go into the wall but was given a firm bash on his way into the pits by the lapped Eliseo Salazar, who'd already been off the track. And then, from the lead of the race at that point... Luca Badoer! Fortunately for him, seeing as he was driving Adrian Shankar's Shekel which was effectively brand new, the car stood up to its rough treatment and he was able to continue. Meanwhile, Þorvaldur Einarsson took the lead back and continued on his merry way in the Hispania.

This was the order after the pit stops.

Lead lap: Einarsson – Badoer – Ide – Bertaggia – Sospiri – Rustad – Hohenthal – van de Poele – Sutil – Montermini – Tarquini – Andersen – Magnussen
+ 1 lap: McRae – Asmer – Noda – Liuzzi – Belmondo – Chandhok – Salazar – Barbazza
+ 2 laps: Nakano
+ 3 laps: Dagnall – d'Ambrosio (who'd been off the track at Gislaved instead...)

So, a very different scenario to the early stages of the race, then. And still, there would be more – as some of the cars which had suffered damage in this first round of altercations with the wall dropped out – Noda, Ide, Barbazza, Asmer, Chandhok, Dagnall – though Noda's was a self-inflicted crash, he radioed his pit crew for the day to say something unspecified had broken and that had put him into the wall (not at Läktar, this time, at least). And then... amongst all the chaos, some pit crews had rather unbelievably decided to short-fuel their cars so that a second pit stop would be needed; hadn't the Läktar chaos told them something? Clearly not. So it was on lap 57 that Colin McRae headed towards the pits for the second time, and slid wildly, but held it together for an uneventful stop. The Arrows crew looked distinctly relieved. Between then and near the end of the race – lap 75, would you believe, in an 80-lap race – Jan Magnussen, Sebastian Hohenthal, Shinji Nakano, Kasper Andersen and Þorvaldur Einarsson made it round that last corner, though Hohenthal and the champion – pitting from a 46-second lead – had a hairy moment which was just gathered up at the last instant. Those drivers who were not so lucky, though, either that or just plain terrible: van de Poele (again), Sospiri (again), Montermini (again), Bertaggia, Liuzzi (again), and Sutil, all hit the tyre wall on the second round of pit stops. However, Reject Of The Race, which could have gone to any of these drivers who managed to make the same mistake twice, was awarded in the end to Vitantonio Liuzzi. On course for the podium at one point, as well as knocking on Alasdair Lindsay's door for a Minardi drive if Colin McRae's hologram was ever to be switched off, the Italian ruined everything, not just with the second crash at the same corner – but that his crash was the only one to see his race finished. And all that within sight of the chequered flag, as well.

So the cars – those that were left unscathed – finally made it to the finish line. Þorvaldur Einarsson, driving a Hispania CH115 that had only ever been out of pre-qualifying once only to fail on the Friday in Norberto Fontana's hands, won the race – proving, clearly, that it's the drivers that are the problem at Hispania, not the car. Second, and the only other driver on the lead lap, was Luca Badoer – driving the Shekel Aleph that had never been higher than 16th in pre-qualifying (via Chanoch Nissany at Paul Ricard). That, Guy Nègre said, was all the vindication he needed that his decision to supply his prototype five-pot turbo to a bunch of idiots at the back was the right one – knowing all along that at this race, someone with true ability would be driving it to glory. That was Luca Badoer, and he delivered – though had he not been in the wall with a load of the others, if only once, then he might even have been challenging for the win. One lap down, but third and on the podium, was Sebastian Hohenthal, making it two diesels on the podium; Kasper Andersen had delivered for Polestar the day before and had bagged all the points, but Seb wasn't going to take that lying down and had well and truly come out on top today... if only it meant something to the championship! Enrico Bertaggia, trading his Minardi for an Arrows, took fourth despite also having an excursion into the wall, while Andrea Montermini – who went in twice – took fifth for Leyton House, the power of the Suzuki engine making up for his double-barelled errors. Jan Magnussen, again, performed wonders in a back-of-the-grid car, this time a Stefan, which can occasionally be fast, but is as reliable as a misfiring 2CV – how he managed to get it to the finish, we will never know – maybe it was magic. Adrian Sutil, Eric van de Poele, Vincenzo Sospiri and Kasper Andersen completed the top ten, and also those one lap down – Andersen said afterwards he was very disappointed to have been beaten by his team-mate in this race, but may have been affected by all the celebrations from him doing the business the day before, in the race where the result actually counts for something...

As for the rest, two laps down, Colin McRae led Gabriele Tarquini home, the IBR drivers not particularly enjoying their new rides for the day – Tarquini in particular never got to grips with the Shekel the way Luca Badoer did, but one car was all Guy Nègre wanted up the front to prove his point. Eliseo Salazar also finished, two laps down, the Super Aguri he'd been handed for the day infinitely helping his cause to scramble up the field – though this is as far as he went. Shinji Nakano was right behind – the two were in each other's team's car for the day, and Salazar would have kicked himself if he'd been neaten by Nakano (though Yuji Ide would certainly have done if he hadn't had to retire). Last of the finishers, Paul Belmondo and Jérôme d'Ambrosio didn't put their AGSs to much use – and all d'Ambrosio had for company for most of the race was Chris Dagnall, who was three laps down when he didn't know the meaning of "give up, you're stuck in the gravel trap forever".

Philippe Alliot and Pedro Chaves had both retired before the chaos kicked off, though Chaves just missed it by throwing his ATS Rial into the barriers on the same lap as the Curse Of Läktar started to strike. Noda, Ide, Barbazza, Asmer, Chandhok, Dagnall, Liuzzi – I've told of their fate, and one more was still to drop: Tommy Rustad, yesterday's winner, was running in the unrejectification places, having not had a spectacular race but at least had stayed out of the wall, only for the driveshaft in his Hispania to snap when it decided enough was enough. Overall, though, Hispania was clearly the best bet from the backmarker teams which for one day and one day only had top-drawer drivers in them; Shekel, though, were a close second, and if that doesn't make their regular drivers look utterly shameful, I don't know what will. Maybe the turning of the driver merry-go-round really starts here.

Onwards now, to the mid-season break. I think we all need it after this madness.

[FMecha]

There are rumors that Dome has ran out of money and will only able to run one car from next round until Apicella's ban expires. More information as it comes from J.O.U.R.N.A.L.

[DemocalypseNow]

If F1RMGP ever decides to go to Sweden again, IBR will boycott the race. There is no way this pile of garbage racetrack should be on the calendar!

[TomWazzleshaw]

There are rumors that Dome has ran out of money and will only able to run one car from next round until Apicella's ban expires. More information as it comes from J.O.U.R.N.A.L.

Haven't we already explained the two-car or no-car rule once already?

[RonDenisDeletraz]

There are rumors that Dome has ran out of money and will only able to run one car from next round until Apicella's ban expires. More information as it comes from J.O.U.R.N.A.L.

Haven't we already explained the two-car or no-car rule once already?

FMecha doesn't seem to be able to read. That has been proved in the F1RGP2C thread where he continually trys to get Megumi into a Jordan race seat, ignoring the small detail that there is no vacancy.

[FMecha]

Ah, s**te. There was a mistake on the J.O.U.R.N.A.L report. The corrected one now reads:

There are rumors that Dome is going cash-strappedand Daniel Ricciardo will drive for them until Apicella's ban expires. More information as it comes from J.O.U.R.N.A.L.

We/I stand corrected. [/metagaming]

[dinizintheoven]

FMecha, I see your correction, but be prepared to eat those words with a generous helping of chips and gravy. Because it's time for...

Marktin Brundell's Mid-Season Newsround, part one of nobody knows how many

A reprieve for the "Sunday" driver
Marco Apicella, serving his second race ban at the upcoming race in Germany, will be temporarily replaced by Domenico "my first name means Sunday and my last name is unpronounceable" Schiattarella. Fired by Simtek earlier in the season for some foully awful performances which resulted in four DNQs out of six races and a best finish of 15th, that best finish showed that he had a glimmer of promise and Dome have preferred him for this one-off appearance to Toranosuke "Grrrr, I'm a tiger" Takagi, who is likely to be Alex Yoong's replacement if his performances drift any further south. But it's just the one race, Dom... unless Marco Apicella misbehaves again, which many suspect he won't.

Anderstorp off the calendar for 2016
Legendarily irascible Il Barone Rampante team principal Alasdair Lindsay may have been the one to say it, but everyone else was thinking the same thing. Howls of condemnation were hurled at the Anderstorp Raceway executives for failing to prepare a circuit suitable for racing on... at least on laps where the cars were trying to get into the pits. Nobody has yet worked out why any car trying to get into the pits - on the inside of the Läktar curve - was highly likely to understeer off the track and into the wall, but whereas the circuit owners are trying to put all the blame on the drivers, they're having none of it and Sir Bernard Shekelslike has personally waded into the furore. "No way," said the scarecrow-headed ringmaster, "no way on this earth are we going back to Anderstorp next year. I cannot allow this series to lose face with such an awful farce as we had this weekend. And if anyone tries to make us go..."
Said to be cackling with utter delight in a way that all the teams weren't - nearby teams Viking, Polestar and Ice One included - was Sven-Erik-Björn-Benny-Fredrik Höstebösteföstelandström, CEO of the Mantorp Park circuit, who it is alleged has immediately fired off a letter to Sir Bernie offering to host the 2016 Swedish Grand Prix Sponsored By "Anderstorp's Oddbods Are A Bunch Of Wallies".

The first new team breaks cover...
...and the bidder is a mystery team by the name of "ZNuV". Not even a "Motorsport" or a "Racing" attached to it, just "ZNuV". Said to be based in a shed behind the Österreichring, more details of this shady team may come to light once the F1RMGP circus arrives there shortly. Teams said to be worried by this development are: ATS Rial and Hispania, who might be subject to a takeover bid by the Austrian team if they want to get hold of a VW-Audi-Seat-Skoda LMP diesel engine, and also Arrows and Spyker, currently running Austrian Neotech engines, who might have to give way if the VAG deal falls through, because an Austrian team with an Austrian engine sounds more than feasible. Arrows, though, may push for the new team to take over ATS Rial - because with Günther Schmidt switched off, that may pave the way for Tom Walkinshaw to be hologrammatically resurrected to lead the team to glory.
With the rumour mills having gone into overdrive in the way Arrows arrived in this series, who knows what will happen with these possibly-soon-to-be-new kids on the block?

FIRST: "Eat it! With a side order of lettuce from Saladworks..."
Many commentators this season have written off FIRST as a complete joke who had about as much chance of qualifying for a race as a Fiat Punto at Le Mans. They were proved wrong at Spa, of all places, where Eliseo Salazar hauled the FR-2 through pre-qualifying and even into the race, despite a horrific power deficit. Not only are FIRST now defiantly declaring their survival to see next season, they've got a new driver lined up as Salazar, 61 later this year, will almost certainly retire - and also, they say they've secured some brilliant new sponsorship. Who might it be?

[joeyTKM]

Eh, Collard et Bouchut, Ils n'ont pas participé dans le Reversale Grande?! Pourqoui?

[dinizintheoven]

Eh, Collard et Bouchut, Ils n'ont pas participé dans le Reversale Grande?! Pourqoui?

Sacre Bleu! Dommage avec les resultats de qualifying pendant l'écrivage, qui était trop vite. Mais pas de dommage avec le race, parce que les français roulent lentement dans le Polestar avec moins de puissance qu'un Renault 4 avec le moteur qui fume 2,000 Gauloises chaque jour. Bonnet de douche, les lettres "D", "N" et "Q" pour les français.

Maintenant, fixé.

[joeyTKM]

Eh, Collard et Bouchut, Ils n'ont pas participé dans le Reversale Grande?! Pourqoui?

Sacre Bleu! Dommage avec les resultats de qualifying pendant l'écrivage, qui était trop vite. Mais pas de dommage avec le race, parce que les français roulent lentement dans le Polestar avec moins de puissance qu'un Renault 4 avec le moteur qui fume 2,000 Gauloises chaque jour. Bonnet de douche, les lettres "D", "N" et "Q" pour les français.

Maintenant, fixé.

Merci! Nous avions besoin de savoir ce qui est arrivé aux grenouilles. Il semble que le moteur Volvo est moins puissante qu'une femme française de presse à son mari la mendicité pour la monogamie.

[pasta_maldonado]

Eh, Collard et Bouchut, Ils n'ont pas participé dans le Reversale Grande?! Pourqoui?

Sacre Bleu! Dommage avec les resultats de qualifying pendant l'écrivage, qui était trop vite. Mais pas de dommage avec le race, parce que les français roulent lentement dans le Polestar avec moins de puissance qu'un Renault 4 avec le moteur qui fume 2,000 Gauloises chaque jour. Bonnet de douche, les lettres "D", "N" et "Q" pour les français.

Maintenant, fixé.

Merci! Nous avions besoin de savoir ce qui est arrivé aux grenouilles. Il semble que le moteur Volvo est moins puissante qu'une femme française de presse à son mari la mendicité pour la monogamie.

Zut alors! What's with all the French?

[DemocalypseNow]

Eh, Collard et Bouchut, Ils n'ont pas participé dans le Reversale Grande?! Pourqoui?

Sacre Bleu! Dommage avec les resultats de qualifying pendant l'écrivage, qui était trop vite. Mais pas de dommage avec le race, parce que les français roulent lentement dans le Polestar avec moins de puissance qu'un Renault 4 avec le moteur qui fume 2,000 Gauloises chaque jour. Bonnet de douche, les lettres "D", "N" et "Q" pour les français.

Maintenant, fixé.

Merci! Nous avions besoin de savoir ce qui est arrivé aux grenouilles. Il semble que le moteur Volvo est moins puissante qu'une femme française de presse à son mari la mendicité pour la monogamie.

Pourpres singe de glace à la crème de lavage des machines à saveur! ICE1 Racing est super moment chatouillement drôle!

[joeyTKM]

Dalmas still looking for AGS seat

Recent reports from Southern France suggested that Yannick Dalmas was ready to ditch folically-challenged farm/business partner Didier Auriol, and replace struggling Olivier Beretta at AGS. When asked about the recent Swedish Grand Prix result, where Beretta did out-qualify team-mate Philippe Alliot (Alliot DNQ'd) and then finished 19th, Dalmas responded:

"Oh so he's HWNSNB-f**king-N now, just because he f**king finished 19th in f**king Abbaland? My dead spaniel could drive a car quicker than that f**king piece of Monegasque s**t! He's not even f**king French either! We need to royally f**k those f**kers at SPAM, so France can have 1 decent all French team, and 1 to train our future drivers. Instead we've got 1 s**t team and 1 team with a pensioner and a usual c**t! MERDE! Guy f**king Negre better pull his f**king finger out and give me a f**king drive"

Beretta has not yet commented on the situation.

[dinizintheoven]

Marktin Brundell's Mid-Season Newsround, part two of nobody knows how many

Günther Schmidt back on form!
The mysterious organisation "ZNuV" has provoked the anger of Günther Schmidt, usually known for his generally calm demeanour and complete unflappability... oh, wait, that's not right, is it. With ZNuV looking to buy their way into the 2016 season via an existing team, ATS Rial have been squarely in this new organisation's radar, seeing as this would all but guarantee a supply of powerful Audi diesel engines, currently used to very little effect. Schmidt did say something at a press conference, but it was so full of expletives that even Yannick Dalmas could not compete with it, and further word says Stan Boardman's career could be revived single-handedly with this one outburst. But a cleaned-up summary of Schmidt's statement can be given as "I'm not going anywhere."

Mantorp Park due to hold some tests
Sven-Erik-Björn-Benny-Fredrik Höstebösteföstelandström, CEO of Mantorp Park, has obtained some old F1RMGP cars that are not currently being used for the WEC season, and intends to hold a test around the circuit to confirm its suitability to hold the Swedish Grand Prix in 2016. One driver is already signed up - three more are required. The eccentric Swede is highly confident that his country's Grand Prix can be saved in a way that will allow him to gloat at Anderstorp in the process.

Dome have second thoughts about Apicella
Despite his grovelling apology after the Anderstorp fiasco, some say that Marco Apicella will still be about as welcome as a sausage at a bar mitzvah (or even in the Shekel garage) when he is due to return to the series in Austria. Then again, others say this information was deliberately planted by Domenico Schiattarella in an attempt to hang onto the Dome drive for more than just the one race...

[FMecha]

The long overdue rumor mill is back!

Dallara, Brabham linked to F1RMGP

Italian constructor Dallara has been linked to F1RMGP, possibly in a tie-in with BMS Scuderia Italia. Dallara built the chassis for BMS Scuderia Italia's Formula One campaign during 1988-1992, and they also comissioned the chassis for Hispania Racing F1 Team in 2010. A spokesman from Dallara considered this, but there is no official statement. Meanwhile, the legendary Brabham racing team is also linked with this series, possibly using a custom-built Repco engine - but no-one from Brabham family were available for comment.

Forti sponsor nearly defaulting on payments

A unnamed Chinese glass manufacturing company has been reported to default sponsorship to Forti F1RMGP team until last minute. The deal was inked at the Dutch Grand Prix - allegedy in exchange for "Adrian Sutil's weapons" but they did not pay anything to the team until yesterday. Forti has announced that they will take a legal action against them for late payment of sponsorship money.

Clatterham-Zakspeed in 2016?

The Sri Lankan touring car team Clatterham Racing is reported to join F1RMGP in 2016. The team was founded by a tea magnate Tony Fernando and has some success in various touring car series. Zakspeed, which is currently aiming to enter the series in 2016 with turbos being mandatory starting from the aforementioned season - is also linked with Clatterham, although nothing more can be heard from them.

Jones, Moggi in a sabotage conspiracy?

An anonymous conspiracy theorist has told us that Luciano Moggi and Sammy Jones is plotting a sabotage attempt to SAAC and Minardi cars - whose teams are owned by Alasdair Lindsay. Lindsay himself are against those two - Moggi for having links with Juventus and Jones for their problems in RWRS. The conspiracy theorist went away and Lindsay himself were not available for comment.

Stramala will be pleased with the last article.

[dinizintheoven]

One thing I can shoot down in flames without a second's hesitation: Tony Fernando is not interested in the slightest in single-seaters. Any involvement he might have with F1RMGP will be at the Bathurst Enduro.

Sir Bernard Shekelslike is also conducting a full enquiry into why the chaos at Anderstorp happened the way it did, and has personally taken control of finding a new venue for the Swedish (or maybe Danish or Finnish) Grand Prix in 2016.

[joeyTKM]

Brabham re-entering? In what guise? The Parmalat good ol' days, or the dark days of van der Poele, Amati and Foitek?

[Salamander]

Brabham re-entering? In what guise? The Parmalat good ol' days, or the dark days of van der Poele, Amati and Foitek?

Take a wild guess.

[dr-baker]

Brabham re-entering? In what guise? The Parmalat good ol' days, or the dark days of van der Poele, Amati and Foitek?

Take a wild guess.

Giovanna Amati! As teammate to her replacement, the very unrejectful Damon Hill!

[joeyTKM]

Brabham re-entering? In what guise? The Parmalat good ol' days, or the dark days of van der Poele, Amati and Foitek?

Take a wild guess.

To be fair, the Parmalat days had some pretty shocking drivers....Corrado Fabi, Francois Hesnault and Ricardo Zunino spring to mind!

[dinizintheoven]

François Hesnault's already had his shot at this series, and we all know how that went...

[joeyTKM]

I know, just putting the point out there that the not-quite-black and white 80s Brabham's weren't all piloted by charming Italians or a Brazilian who wet himself.

My Danish friend recently drove a Radical round Jyllands-Ringen, decent looking track near Silkeborg on Denmark's Jutland peninsula. Said it was a lot of fun, reminiscent of the Istanbul Otodrom with long corners. Possibly a replacement for Anderstorp?

Tried to get more information from Mr Dalmas....all I got on his answer-phone was "Leave a f**king message."

[joeyTKM]

I know, just putting the point out there that the not-quite-black and white 80s Brabham's weren't all piloted by charming Italians or a Brazilian who wet himself.

My Danish friend recently drove a Radical round Jyllands-Ringen, decent looking track near Silkeborg on Denmark's Jutland peninsula. Said it was a lot of fun, reminiscent of the Istanbul Otodrom with long corners. Possibly a replacement for Anderstorp?

Tried to get more information from Mr Dalmas....all I got on his answer-phone was "Leave a f**king message."

Right, who the f**k is in charge here? I drive the 30 f**king miles from Toulon to Gonfa-f**king-ron, to try and speak to that f**k Julien, and all he said was, "Yannick, parlez-en à dinizintheoven, il est le maître ici" - which basically f**king means that I need to take dinizintheoven and....

MONSIEUR DALMAS! Excusez-moi M. dinizintheoven. Je suis JP Jabouille, retired driver een Formula Un. I am now a loi-ah (oui, c'est vrai, avocat en anglais est loi-ah?) and M. Dalmas eez a client. I am 'eer for 2 reasons. Premier, to stop Yannick from saying somezing zat 'ee does not mean. Deuxieme, I have to repeat what my client 'az said, but in better Eenglish. 'ee eez annoyed at le performance from Olivier Beretta, and wishes zat 'ee would get out of l'AGS and (Yannick, qu'avez-vous dit? Ah, Je ne peux pas dire ça! Il est impoli!) go to ze place wiz ze fornication. 'ee zen asked me to come 'eer and officially lodge an interest in racing dans le Eff-un-air-emm-jay-pay Coupe du Monde. Alors, merci. Au revoir

Talk to that f**ker Shekelslike and get me that f**king seat, or I'll...

YANNICK!