I'm halfway home, says Alonso
IT IS too early to claim outright victory, but Fernando Alonso believes he is halfway to the Formula One World Championship as he approaches what he now regards as his home race in Britain. Although born in Oviedo and a Spanish sporting hero, Alonso lives in Oxford and drives for a Renault team whose headquarters are a 30-minute drive from Silverstone, where 80,000 fans will turn up for the British Grand Prix this weekend.
Alonso made his name in this country at a time when he could not get his homeland to take his career seriously and there will be a glorious welcome on Sunday for a young driver who cut his teeth on the famous old circuit. How much more glorious would it be if he extended his winning sequence this year to the British Grand Prix, in front of hundreds of Renault workers who will turn the Silverstone stands yellow and blue for the weekend.
Alonso, 24, has not won a Formula One race at Silverstone in his four seasons in the sport but he is not in the least bit worried if he does not lift the winner's trophy this weekend. His priority is to produce the same sort of consistency that brought him the title last season to make him Formula One's youngest champion. A podium finish will do if it means he tightens his grip on a championship that even at this stage with Silverstone the eighth grand prix on an 18 race calendar seems to be going his way. He has four wins to his name already and has not yet been off the podium.
'I am concentrating on consistency,' Alonso said. 'I won the championship last year without making any mistakes and by finishing with 15 podiums. In seven races so far, four wins and three seconds is an almost perfect start and if I keep doing that, the championship will look very good. Every race now gets more interesting and important in terms of the championship.
'I am feeling very confident ahead of this race at Silverstone, after taking victories in the last two grands prix. We had a good test at Silverstone and know the characteristics of the circuit are good for our car so there is no reason to think we won't be fighting at the front.'
The question now is who can take on the supremely confident Alonso. The pundits talk of Alonso as the new Michael Schumacher which comes as something of a surprise to Schumacher himself, who reckons he is not finished with Formula One yet, even at the age of 37. Schumacher remains the biggest obstacle to Alonso retaining his title but Formula One's biggest star could face a hostile welcome from British fans who will have regarded his antics in Monaco a week ago with disgust. Parking his Ferrari minutes from the end of qualifying to block Alonso's potential pole position lap brought widespread condemnation and it seems Schumacher is the only person who can forget it happened.
'I look ahead in life,' he said yesterday. 'You have to understand that in certain moments there is no point in talking about the past. In our job, it is important to focus now on what happens in the future and that is what I am doing. We have been working very well in the past few days and things look very positive. We are coming to Silverstone to win the race.'
Given Schumacher's storming drive through the crowded Monaco field, starting last on the grid to finish fifth, it would be difficult to write him off on a Silverstone circuit where he has won three times.
There seems precious little threat outside the two leaders in the World Championship, with Jenson Button writing off his own chances, while the McLarens of Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya are not yet showing the speed to challenge the Renault or Ferrari of Alonso and Schumacher.
Dubai lining up next Middle East Grand Prix
The United Arab Emirates kingdom of Dubai is planning a bid to stage a second Formula One Grand Prix in the Middle East.
The driving force behind the plan is rally driver Mohammad Bin Sulayem who was recently appointed as president of the Automobile and Touring Club for the UAE (ATCUAE).
Bin Sulayem said, "We can bring F1 to Dubai. It is not too late and it’s not impossible. We will know in the next two or three years if something is going to happen.
According to the Gulf News newspaper F1 commercial rights holder and deal maker Bernie Ecclestone has already visited Bin Sulayem to talk about the plan and the fact that the neighbouring kingdom of Bahrain already hosts a Formula One GP is not seen as a problem.
"We can cooperate with Bahrain,” said Bin Sulayem. “We should not forget that they are the holders of F1 and we should be joining them and supporting them and not stepping over them. With the way the Middle East and Dubai are going we can have two races; one at the start and one at the end of the season. We are neighbours and while competition is good it is unnecessary to have a battle."
Champ Car investigating Malta Grand Prix
The organisers of the US based Champ Car World Series are reported to be investigating the possibility of staging a round of their race series on the Mediterranean island of Malta.
Greg Macdonald, Eleasha Naso and Robert Vilas who are part of the organising group of the Grand Prix of Edmonton CCWS street race in Canada visited Malta last Wednesday to meet with the local promoters, potential suppliers, future investors and members of Maltese Government including an organisation named Grand Prix Malta headed by Bert Kuehne and Martin Mintoff that has been in existence since the late 90s.
The delegation from Canada made a presentation to a three Maltese Ministers outlining what staging a race involves and the anticipated economic benefit to Malta.
P1 Motorsport sells to Comtec
P1 Motorsport the Wymondham, Norfolk, UK based Formula Three race team has been bought by the Comtec Racing based nearby in Attleborough, which runs a team in the World Series by Renault international one make championship.
P1 Motorsport founder Roly Vincini joined Comtec earlier in 2006 as its head of engineering. Comtec team owner Jonathan Lewis said, "These are new and challenging times within the world of Comtec Racing. Having Roly Vincini as our head of engineering, an opportunity arose for us to purchase his Formula Three team. Having within our team the people with the experience and know-how, this presents an excellent opportunity to make full use of their skills."
Former F1 driver Martin Donnelly has been appointed as the head of Comtec British F3 Championship programme.
Mansell buys sons race team
Nigel Mansell, the 1992 FIA Formula One World Drivers Champion has bought the team that has been running his sons in the 2006 Formula BMW UK junior single seater racing championship.
Mansell, who bought the Somerset UK based Team SWR from owner Trevor Powell, said, "This move was a natural progression and it's important we control our own destiny. It's an amicable split and we've bought the assets from Trevor".
Mansell is believed to be forging a deal with the Daventry based Fortec Motorsport organisation to run his team.
Powell will continue in the Formula BMW UK series running cars under the Team Loctite banner.
Shell extends Le Mans Series supply deal
Chester, UK based Shell Racing Solutions has extended is arrangement as the official fuel supplier of the Le Mans Series endurance sportscar racing championship for a further two years.
Under the terms of the agreement SRS will supply more than 150,000 litres
per season of its “Shell Racing Fuel LMS” and “Shell V-Power LM24” Diesel fuels as well as dedicated support both on and off the track, including the provision of support staff at every race and the supply of fuel to each circuit.
Shell Racing Solutions business development manager Peter Fordemann said, “We’re delighted to extend our successful relationship with the Le Mans Series. This series has wide appeal to teams, drivers and car manufacturers, all of which makes for a very competitive and fast-growing championship. Shell continues to demonstrate the performance of its future fuels technologies by supplying teams and car manufacturers in one of the toughest endurance series in the world.”
British GP grid passes in UK hospital charity auction
Two VIP visitor packages for the 2006 Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone on June 10 are being offered in a charity auction in aid of the Oxford Children’s Hospital.
The winning bidders will receive private helicopter transfers to and from the circuit, hospitality in the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) suite and seats in the private BRDC grandstand, two VIP passes to the F1 paddock and a personal invitation to join F1 deal maker Bernie Ecclestone on a pre-race grid walk.
Bids can be placed by email at www.chox.org.uk from 9am BST on Monday May 22 to 4pm on Friday June 2.
Congestion charge u-turn
LONDON mayor Ken Livingstone has prompted suprise in the fleet industry after hinting that he would raise the capital’s congestion charge to £10 a day. Three years ago Livingstone vowed not to raise the then-£5 tariff for 10 years. It now stands at £8. Speaking at the annual State of London debate, Livingstone said the £2 increase was ‘very likely’, and could be included in his next manifesto.
But David Dippie, chairman of the London West region of Acfo, the fleet operators’ body, said a rise needed to be justified. He said: ‘Any increase affects fleets and running costs and that means businesses going in and out of London will have to pass those charges on to customers. I’d like to see that an increase will benefit the infrastructure in London.’
2007 tyres: No One Can Have an Advantage
With Michelin planning to leave the Formula One championship at the end of the current season, the teams they currently partner will be forced to switch to their Japanese rival, Bridgestone.
However, with the new found pace of Ferrari, that is mainly attributed to their Bridgestone rubber, Michelin runners are concerned that the Maranello based squad could have an unfair advantage next year.
Flavio Briatore, head of the Renault team, is concerned that the favouritism between Bridgestone and Ferrari will hurt everyone next year, as it is already apparent that the long standing relationship between the two is beneficial in comparison to the other Bridgestone runners, namely Toyota and Williams.
Added to this is the fact that anyone running on Bridgestone this year will also have the advantage next year, something Briatore believes could be negated if the FIA change the current compound so that everyone starts off with a clean slate in 07.
"If we are all on Bridgestone next year, then if you use them already you will surely have an advantage," Briatore told Autosport. "I believe what the FIA and Bridgestone need to do is to change the compound and change the construction completely. I don't think it is fair to give an advantage to some teams - whoever those teams are. I don't care if it is just Ferrari. I believe we need to have equal possibility to do our job."
The suggestion that they switch to slick tyres a year early did not go by instated and for Briatore, this could be the perfect solution....
"For me it would be fantastic. Whatever we do we need to do it quickly because we need to design the car," he said. "I am completely open to whatever the rules are. We need to be correct and we need to make sure that no one has an advantage. I don't ask for anything special for us, I want the competition to be fair and the tyre is so predominant. And it is not only me that thinks this. Everybody in Michelin has the same problems. I think even my friend Ron Dennis thinks like this."
Tiago Monteiro has new management
CSS Stellar Management, a company dedicated to international management, specialising in sport, is pleased to announce that they have signed a new partner, Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro who will race for the MidlandF1 team in 2006, contesting his second season of Formula One.
Tim Sice, General Manager of CSS Stellar Management, commented: "We are very glad to have Tiago as one of our customers. He proved to have enormous potential during his first season in Formula One, and we intend to make his situation mature further by being in charge of his commercial business now and in the future."
Said a delighted Tiago, "I am convinced that we will work well together, and that we will benefit from all the opportunities that present themselves to us, which will make my life easier."
"At this stage of my sporting career, there are a lot of things to consider apart from the car, and it is important to be able to count on the best professionals."
Renault F1 President to retire
Patrick Faure has confirmed that he will retire from his role as president of Renault Sport in 2006.
Faure told French reporters at the launch of the 2006 Renault Formula One car in Monaco, "I will leave during the second part of the year on a date that will be suitable for Carlos Ghosn (Renault-Nissan chairman).
"Time is passing. I will be 60 years old and that means I have been in F1 for 21 years. After winning the titles as an engine supplier, I wanted to finish the circle and leave after the last challenge - a constructors' championship (as a team). We produced that in 2005."
Formula One Roadshow begins TODAY!
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT (SIC), promoter and organiser of this year’s Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix, will kick off their Formula One Roadshow today in Penang, with a host of exciting activities lined up at Gurney Plaza throughout the three-day programme.
After Penang, the Formula One Roadshow proceeds to Berjaya Megamall in Kuantan next weekend before moving on to City Square, Johor Bahru (Feb17-19); Mahkota Parade, Malacca (Feb 24-26); Langkawi (Feb 24-6); KL Sentral Kuala Lumpur (Mar 3-5); Berjaya Times Square Kuala Lumpur (March 3-5); Genting Highlands (March 8-12); One Utama, Bandar Utama (March 8-12) and Bukit Bintang Plaza; Kuala Lumpur from March 16-18.
Events organised at the Formula One Roadshows will include the TAMIYA F1 Driver Challenge; the Formula One Simulator Challenge; the Colour The F1 Car Contest; Match the F1 Team Contest; Dress-Up Like An F1 Driver; quizzes and lucky draws.
