Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Heikki Kovalainen : Kovy



Heikki Kovalainen is a racing driver Finnish born the October 19th 1981 with Suomussalmi (Finland). It carries out its beginnings in the championship of the world of Formule 1 in 2007 on behalf of the stable Renault F1 TEAM, of which he was hitherto the pilot tester, at the sides of tried out pilot Italy N Giancarlo Fisichella.



BIOGRAPHY
Heikki Kovalainen begins its career in the competitions from Karting in 1991. Affirming itself with the passing of years like one of the world specialists in the speciality, it gains in particular in 2000 Masters Elf organized in Paris-Bercy.

In 2001, Kovalainen reaches the automobile sport in the British championship of Formule Renault, which it finishes in the fourth place of general classification with two victories, which makes of him the best beginning from the year. In 2002, supported by Renault Development Driver (a structure assembled by Bruno Michel and Flavio Briatore and intended to prepare the future pilots of the mark to the rhombus Formulates 1 of them), it passes in British F3, where it is affirmed again like the best beginning from the year with 5 victories and the 3rd place with the championship.

In 2003, always supported by Renault, Kovalainen disputes the championship of World Series by Nissan. For its first season in the discipline, it finishes vice-champion behind his fellow-member Franck Montagny, before conquering the title in 2004. But this year there, it is especially made off know general public by gaining at the Stade de France the “Race Champions”, competition of prestige during which it dominates several stars established of the automobile sport such as Sebastien Loeb or Michael Schumacher.

In 2005, it joined the new championship GP 2 Series which it approaches in position of favorite. But after a remarkable beginning of the season, it is finally beaten on the wire by Nico Rosberg and must be satisfied with the place of vice-champion. Parallel to its season of GP2, Kovalainen is in 2005 the second pilot tester of the Renault F1 TEAM (the other being Franck Montagny), before only occupying in 2006 the post of pilot tester. With more 18 000 kilometers covered in 2006, Heikki Kovalainen carried out - at the sides of its team-members Alonso and Fisichella - a big part of the development of the car world champion.

Heikki impressed the team, with the length of the meetings of tests, by its excellent technical knowledge, its capacity to progress and its natural speed at the wheel. Its services appeared sufficiently convincing with Renault so that the stable world champion decides to establish it in 2007 to replace Fernando Alonso, left at McLaren, thus offering opportunity to him of running in Grand Prix in a team of point.

After puffing beginnings, especially compared with those of Lewis Hamilton, Heikki proves to be a reliable pilot, since it will record its only abandonment of the season at the time of the last race, with Interlagos. Before that, he had managed to go up on the podium at the time of the insane Grand Prix of Japan, and he precedes with final his fellow-member Giancarlo Fisichella of nine points to the Championship!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

2009 wings to cause GP start chaos - R.Kubica


Robert Kubica is concerned that the new front wing regulations for 2009 may result in plenty of broken carbon-fibre at the start of grands prix.

The dubious aesthetics of the BMW-Sauber team's 2009-modified interim car at Barcelona this week have raised eyebrows, but the Polish driver seems more concerned about the functionality of the ultra-wide front wings.

"It is too wide," he is quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport, explaining that it will be all too easy to break the wings against the wheels of competitors in the frantic opening moments of a race.

"I am curious to see how many (wings) will be flying at the first race in Australia," Kubica added.

He is less concerned about what the spectators and paddock residents think of the awkward-looking single seaters.

"It looks better from inside the cockpit," the 23-year-old joked.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Lewis Hamilton: The 1st Black F1 Driver


















Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire) is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren Mercedes team.

Hamilton was named after the American sprinter Carl Lewis.[1] At the age of ten, he approached McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at an awards ceremony and told him "I want to race for you one day."; less than three years later, he was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme.[1] After winning the British Formula Renault, European Formula Three and GP2 championship,[1] he became a McLaren F1 driver for 2007, making his Formula One debut 12 years after his initial encounter with Dennis. Hamilton is often labelled "the first black driver in Formula One",[1][2][3][4][5] but is actually mixed-race, with a black father and white mother.[1][2]

In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton set numerous rookie records and finished second in the 2007 Formula One Championship, behind Kimi Räikkönen. He has stated that he wants to stay with the McLaren team for the rest of his F1 career.[6]

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Scuderia Ferrari F1











Scuderia Ferrari is the name for the Gestione Sportiva, the division of the Ferrari automobile company concerned with racing. Though the Scuderia and Ferrari Corse Clienti continue to manage the racing activities of numerous Ferrari customers and private teams, Ferrari's racing division has completely devoted its attention and funding to its Formula One team, Scuderia Ferrari. Scuderia is Italian for "Stable", and Ferrari is the name of its founder. The prancing horse was the symbol on Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca's fighter plane, and became the logo of Ferrari after the fallen ace's parents, good friends with Enzo Ferrari, asked him so, to continue his tradition of sportsmanship, gallantry and boldness.

Scuderia Ferrari was founded in 1929, and raced for Alfa Romeo until 1939. Ferrari first competed in F1 in 1948 (the team's first F1 car was the Tipo 125 F1), making it the oldest and arguably the most successful team left in the championship. The team's numerous and ardent Italian fans are known as tifosi, though the team also has a vibrant international following.

The team's current drivers are Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen, who has signed on to Ferrari for a three-year contract after the retirement of Michael Schumacher following the 2006 season, and its test drivers are Luca Badoer and Marc Gené. Ferrari and Räikkönen are the reigning Constructors' and Drivers' title holders respectively, after the conclusion of the 2007 season.













On the 12th November 2007 Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo announced team's new structure, with Jean Todt moving up to his senior role as CEO of the company, Stefano Domenicali will be taking over as team principal as Ross Brawn declined a return following his sabbatical, who subsequently on the same day was announced as the new Team Principal of Honda F1, Aldo Costa as technical director and Mario Almondo as Operations Director.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Felippe Massa : 2nd Aryton Senna


















Peter Sauber is well known for his talent spotting abilities and at the end of the 2000 season he brought young Finn Kimi Raikkonen in to test out his F1 car. From there he quickly signed the youngster up to drive for him in the 2001 season and the rest is history. With Raikkonen opting to go to McLaren, Peter Sauber was forced to look elsewhere for his second driver and once again opted to sign a Grand Prix novice.

Felipe Massa, born on the 25th of April 1982 in Sao Paulo Brazil, was just 19 years old when he made his debut in Australia. Massa spent many years karting, staring back in 1990 when he finished fourth in the Sao Paolo Micro-Kart cat. Sixth the following year and third in '93, he continued in the series until 1998 when he made his debut in Formula Chevrolet with a fifth place finish in the Brazilian championship only to clinch the title the following season.

In 2000 he took victory in the Formula Renault Italian Series Championship followed the following year with yet another title to his name in the Formula Renault European Series Championship. 2001 saw yet another highlight in his career when he won the European F3000 championship with one race remaining. Riding high, Massa tested with Sauber at Mugello and signed up for the 2002 season.

His debut season saw a plenty of pace from Massa, but this was also punctuated with a wild streak that saw him spend plenty of time in gravel traps. Massa secured a season best placing of fifth in Spain, albeit it behind team-mate Nick Heidfeld as well as two other sixth positions. It was not enough to keep the Brazilian in Formula One, but after spending one season as a test driver for Ferrari in 2003, Massa returned to Sauber in 2004.

Having rid himself of some of his rougher edges testing with Ferrari, Massa was keen to show he fully deserved to be in F1 full time on his return. Massa scored points on five occasions and classifying himself 12th in the drivers' championship but could not quite match the pace of team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella over the season as a whole. The highlight of Massa's season was not his solid fourth position at Spa Francorchamps, but leading one lap of his home Grand Prix at Interlagos, the final race of the season.

Massa remained with Sauber in 2005 and was joined in the squad by former Champion Jacques Villeneuve. Undaunted by having a former Champion as a team-mate, Massa blitzed Villeneuve in the early part of the season as the Canadian adapted to life with the Swiss team. It was a tough season for all at Sauber however as Massa notched up just 11 points with his best result being a fourth position in Montreal.

The Brazilian got his big break in 2006 however as he moved from Sauber back to Ferrari but this time as a race driver. Lining up with Michael Schumacher, Massa was able to show his raw speed and on occasion even left Schumacher trailing. It was a solid first season with Ferrari for Massa. Playing the dutiful number two role to Schumacher, Massa was able to record his first Grand Prix win from pole position in Turkey and would finish the season in third position in the standings' behind Fernando Alonso and Schumacher after a dominant showing at his home Grand Prix in Brazil.

Massa faced another challenge in 2007 as he faced former Sauber protégé Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari. Two wins from the first four Grand Prix was a very promising start for Massa, but he would win just one more race over the season. His title challenge was blunted by brain fade in Montreal and a mechanical failure at Monza but despite this remained a championship contender until the latter stages of the season.

For 2008, Massa will be looking to improve on his fourth position in the 2007 championship and take the challenge to championship winning team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Kimi Raikkonen : Ice Man


















Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (pronounced /ˈki.mi ˈmɑ.ti.ɑs ˈræik.kø.nen/) (born October 17, 1979 in Espoo, Finland) is a race car driver, currently driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He is the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Champion.

Räikkönen entered Formula One as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in 2001. Having previously only raced in very junior open-wheel categories, he was given his Super Licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise from his team boss, Peter Sauber.[1] He joined McLaren Mercedes in 2002, and became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 championships to Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, respectively.

Switching to Ferrari in 2007, Räikkönen became the highest paid driver in the sport,[2] and secured his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point.

Räikkönen is very calm, cool, and calculating in his race strategy—prompting the nickname "Iceman", which is subtly written on the side of his current helmet design. His other nicknames include Kimppa, Räikkä and Kimster (used by his mechanics).