F1 2004 - Let the race begin :D

Yes, the race was anything but boring. Cars overtaking, people racing for positions. Damn this track is hot(meaning very good). Wish the FIA would get more race tracks of this caliber on the FIA calender. Some race tracks like Hungaroring and Monte Carlo are just procession tracks which is very boring indeed.

More tracks like the Dubai track should be made.

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Looking the the Drivers Championship, all one can say is wow. Jenson Third!! DB should be happy.

Looking at the Contructors' Championship Renault are looking good and BAR is there too. BAR definitely seem to have raised their game and I have to smile when I think in the beginning of the year when everyone was talking about the teams to be in this year were Ferrari, Williams, McLaren and Renault. Yet BAR seem to have pulled it out of the hat. Well done BAR(and Jenson).

The team to have totally lost the plot though must be McLaren. Very dissapointing indeed. And one must wonder what JPM must be thinking about joining the team and what he must be feeling after the comments he made earlier in the year. The comments went something like "Williams will be strong this year but next year McLaren next year will be much better."

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Well i'm glad to see BAR has risen to the challenge of Ferrari.

Last week at Barcelona, Jenson and Takuma ended faster than Michael.

This week at Paul Ricard, Jenson is again the fastest. Oh and BAR have introduced a wing just behind and above the driver like Ferrari has.

Next GP is on the 25th. I can't wait.

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BUTTON SHATTERS PAUL RICARD RECORD

Jenson Button was the king of the Formula 1 testing castle once again at Paul Ricard on Thursday, the BAR-Honda ace outpacing last year's world championship runner-up Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes by just over a second.

Button left the circuit in the south of France to make way for team-mate Takuma Sato on Friday, safe in the knowledge that his BAR team appears to have made yet more progress. The Briton logged a whacking 150 laps on the new Imola-spec Honda engine.

Jenson told autosport.com: "It's all very positive ahead of Imola, although we know Ferrari will be very strong there. I'm happy with what we've done, and the reliability has been flawless over the past two days. I'm not sure about the tyres for Imola, whether they will be good or not there, but we'll see what Taku does tomorrow."

Raikkonen was also happier than of late with his second fastest time. He told autosport.com: "I'm quite happy with the car's handling over these three days. We can see that BAR is very fast here, but as for Imola it is hard to tell at the moment. We'll have to wait and see when we get there."

When asked about his hopes for the start of the European season, he quipped: "I wish I could say that I could win the next five races, but I don't know!"

Antonio Pizzonia took over at Williams-BMW and set the third fastest time as he worked through an Imola tyre programme. The second McLaren of David Coulthard was fourth fastest.

DC told us: "We've managed a lot of mileage here, but at the end of the day it's only testing – I don't want to say it will be like this at Imola, but I think it could be very interesting. Straightline speed and handling over the kerbs is going to be vital. We've made some good improvements, and some average ones. I'm quite happy with it."

Fernando Alonso and Franck Montagny were next up, the Spaniard suffering with some problems with the new Imola-spec engine which caused him to halt the session. Toyota duo Olivier Panis and Ryan Briscoe were seventh and eighth.

Christian Klien was the slowest on the day after a rear suspension failure brought Jaguar's test to a premature end.

"It was a shame," Klien told autosport.com. "I felt something strange at the right rear, so I brought it in. The team wanted to check it out at the factory, so that was it."

Paul Ricard testing day 3 (unofficial)
Pos Driver Chassis-engine Tyres Time Laps
1 Jenson Button BAR-Honda M 1m06.301s 150
2 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m07.375s 99
3 Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW M 1m07.706s 110
4 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m07.786s 98
5 Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m08.077s 98
6 Franck Montagny Renault M 1m08.227s 66
7 Olivier Panis Toyota M 1m08.418s 97
8 Ryan Briscoe Toyota M 1m08.657s 128
9 Christian Klien Jaguar M 1m09.567s 25

News Source: AutoSport UK

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San Marino GP - Imola Track - 24th April 2004



Imola has hosted a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship every year since the Italian Grand Prix was staged on 14th September 1980. With two races held in Italy from 1981 onwards, Imola’s race became known as the San Marino Grand Prix. In total, Imola has hosted 24 World Championship events. In 1988, the circuit was officially named 'Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola'.

Imola has a population of approximately 65,000, is situated in the Emilia Romagna region and located in the province of Bologna. The Republic of San Marino, after which the Grand Prix is named, covers an area of just 60 square kilometres and lies to the southeast of Imola.

Races at Imola are run in an anti-clockwise direction. One lap of the circuit equates to 4.933 kilometres. With a race distance of 62 laps, the drivers will cover 305.609 kilometres. Last year, Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) took pole position with a lap time of 1:22.327 minutes. He also set a new lap record of 1:22.491 minutes and went on to win the race.

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Place your bets(j/k) people

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San Marino GP Timetable

The full schedule for the San Marino GP, round four of the F1 World Championship, which will take place 22nd to 24th April.

All times GMT (Italy is GMT + 2)

Thursday April 22 2004
13:00 : First FIA news conference with BAR's Takuma Sato and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher
13:30 : Second FIA news conference Sauber's Felipe Massa and Renault's Jarno Trulli

Friday April 23 2004
09:00 - 10:00 : First free practice
12:00 - 13:00 : Second free practice
14:00 : FIA news conference with Mercedes and BMW bosses Norbert Haug and Mario Theissen, Ferrari engine expert Paolo Martinelli, Honda's Otmar Szafnauer and Renault technical director Rob White

Saturday April 24 2004
07:00 - 07:45 : Third free practice
08:15 - 09:00 : Fourth free practice
11:00 - 13:00 : Qualifying
Followed by the post qualifying news conference with top three

Sunday April 25 2004
12:00 : Race
Followed by the post race news conference with top three

Track Information
Circuit: Imola
Length: 4.933km, race to be held over 62 laps with a total distance 305.609km
2003 pole position: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 1:22.327
2003 podium: 1. Michael Schumacher. 2. Kimi Raikkonen. 3. Rubens Barrichello
Race lap record: Michael Schumacher, 1:22.491 set in 2003

 

San Marino GP - Qualifying: Button takes Pole

Jenson Button will start Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix from pole position having clocked the fastest time in qualifying 2.

The Brit posted a 1:19.753 during his qualiyfing run. Although there were four other drivers still to qualify none were able to beat the Brit's time.

Michael Schumacher came the closest with a 1:20.011 however that was still 0.25 seconds of the pace. Juan Pablo Montoya could only manage third place, a further 0.2 seconds behind Michael. He was quickest in the opening qualifying session.

Rubens Barrichello slotted in at fourth place a further 0.24 seconds behind. The Brazilian will line up alongside Montoya and ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.

Takuma Sato slotted his BAR in at seventh place ahead of Mark Webber who made a remarkable improvement in the second qualifying session.

Jarno Trulli and Cristiano da Matta completed the top ten for the San Marino Grand Prix qualifying session.