Follow the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix second practice session on F1 Fanatic Live.
F1 Fanatic Live combines updates from the teams and drivers in real-time via Twitter with comments from F1 Fanatic readers and more.
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Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen have ten victories between them at Spa-Francorchamps.
But neither of them have won so far this year. Will that come to an end this weekend as the pair race together at the track for the first time since 2005?
Fernando Alonso is aiming for his first ever win at Spa while Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber have all won here before.
Who will triumph this year? If you can produce the best prediction for the Grand Prix you could win one of three prizes this weekend.
Remember all predictions must be made before qualifying starts so get yours in now below. You can edit your predictions up to the deadline.
To enter, predict the pole sitter and the top five finishers in the race. You can also enter a prediction for the pole position lap time ' this may be used as a tie-breaker.
Enter your pole position lap time prediction as follows: MM:SS.ccc
For example, for a lap of one minute, 23.456 seconds you would enter 01:23.456
You need to log in using an F1 Fanatic account to make your prediction.
If you haven't got one yet the sign-up process is quick, simple and entirely free: sign up here now.
After entering your prediction, you will receive an email confirming your entry. If this does not happen, or you are concerned your prediction has not been received, please get in touch using the contact form.
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Grand prize: Two grandstands tickets to the 2013 British Grand Prix
The person who scores the most points over the whole season will win two grandstand tickets to the 2013 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The grand prize winner will receive tickets to all three days of the event with reserved seating for the race.
Second place prize: An F1 painting of your choice
The second place finisher will win a Formula 1 painting by Rob Ijbema.
You get to choose which F1 driver, present or past, will feature in the painting.
Or you can pick one of the other motor racing paintings on Rob's site:
Runner-up prize: Racecar Engineering subscriptions
The five players with the next highest scores (positions three to seven) will each win a year's subscription to Racecar Engineering magazine.
Racecar Engineering is the world's leading motorsport technology magazine. Every issue is packed with in-depth features, interviews and analysis from Formula One, Le Mans and all forms racing and rallying.
Runner-up prize: Autocourse calendars
The five players with the next highest scores (positions eight to 12) will each win a 2013 Autocourse calendar.
The Autocourse Grand Prix calendar contains images taken during the season of all the major players competing in the Formula One World Championship.
The images are high resolution and taken by one of the world's leading Grand Prix photographers, the calendar is printed on art quality paper and comes with a stiffened backing board and shrink wrapped for protection.
Race winner's prize: Autocourse eBooks
The highest scorer in each race will win an Autocourse eBook. The 1971 edition will be the first prize up for grabs, and later players will have the chance to win 1972 to 1976 editions.
The Autocourse eBooks are faithful reproductions of the original annuals in digital form. The colour, clarity of images and text have been improved to modern standards, but the content remains in original format.
Autocourse has become the definitive record of Formula One racing the world over and early editions are collector's items, which regularly trade for hundreds of pounds.
First runner-up prize: Grand Prix Heroes DVD
The second-placed player in each race will win their choice of one of Duke Video's new Grand Prix Heroes DVDs (pictured top).
Videos are available on such famous F1 figures as Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Mika Hakkinen, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jody Scheckter, Ronnie Peterson, Peter Revson and Frank Williams.
Second runner-up prize: F1 posters by PJ Tierney
The third-placed player in each race will win one of PJ Tierney's excellent unofficial Formula 1 posters.
You can view PJ's posters along with his other work on his website:
Competition terms and conditions
1. Maximum one entry per household.
2. The competition is not open to employees, friends or family of F1 Fanatic, Silverstone Circuit, Car-a-Day, Icon Publishing or Chelsea Magazines.
3. Predictions will be promoted on the front page of F1 Fanatic before closing prior to the start of qualifying.
4. In each round players are invited to predict (a) who will be on pole position and (b) what the top five finishers will be (five different drivers).
5. Players score points in each round as follows:
a. Correctly naming the pole sitter: 2 points
b. Correctly naming one/two/three/four/five driver/s who finish in the top five: 1/2/3/5/8 points
c. Correctly predicting where one/two/three/four/five driver/s finish: 2/6/14/24/40 points
6. Whoever scores the most points in every race counting towards the Formula 1 World Championship wins the grand prize.
7. In the event of a tie on points the winner will be determined by who is closest to predicting the pole position time correctly. If that fails to produce a winner the editor will choose a means of deciding who has won.
8. Predictions must be entered using the form above. If you have trouble submitting your entry via the form please contact F1 Fanatic via email and send your prediction using the contact form.
9. In the event of a dispute the editor's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
10. No cash alternative is offered for any of the prizes.
11. Grand Prix tickets: Children must be accompanied by an adult. Accommodation and transport to the venue not included.
12. Players who have won prizes will be notified by email within seven days of each Grand Prix. Grand Prix tickets will be despatched once they are available.
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
The first practice session was wet and saw little running ' but the second was wetter and saw even less action.
Rain fell constantly from the beginning of practice and not a single driver ventured out of the pits in the first half of the 90-minute session.
Finally, with 41 minutes remaining on the clock, Nico Rosberg tentatively emerged from the pits, completing three laps in order to do practice starts.
Team mate Michael Schumacher did the same shortly afterwards. Heikki Kovalainen joined them but returned to the pits after spinning at Les Combes.
As the rain continued to fall other drivers appeared on-track briefly, including the McLaren pair and Sebastian Vettel.
A further group of drivers appeared on the track at the end of the session to do practice starts, setting the first and only times of the session.
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Sebastian Vettel makes an appearance in the video for American R&B performer Melanie Fiona's new song 'Watch me Work'.
The two-times world champion appears alongside Fiona at the wheel of an Infiniti G37. The road car manufacturer is a sponsor of Red Bull and Vettel put his name to a special edition of the car earlier this year.
Here's Vettel in the video:
The video was filmed in New Jersey while Vettel made a recent visit to the location of the 2013 Grand Prix of America.
'It was a great experience to shoot a music video, and certainly very different to what I'm used to,' said Vettel. 'But music is without question an inspiration to many and I'm very proud to have been part of this. I think the lyrics are quite fitting to what we can all do if we put our mind to it.'
Fiona said: 'It's not often you get the chance to be driven by an F1 world champion and when the opportunity came up to have Seb driving me in the video I was like, yes please!
'This is one of my favourite songs and one that I've been wanting to put out for a while so to have him involved was great.'
More on the making of the video in this 'behind the scenes' feature including interviews with Vettel and Fiona:
Rain and Spa go together like frites and mayonnaise.
But although a spell of wet weather does feature in the forecast for this weekend, at the moment it is not expected to affect the race.
Friday's two practice sessions are the most likely to see wet running. After that the rain is expected to clear up with a good chance of a dry qualifying session and race.
But this region is notorious for its rapidly-changing weather conditions and there may be changes in the forecast between now and Sunday.
Temperatures are likely to be on the cool side to begin with. Although the weekend will get warmer the maximum temperature is likely to be no higher than around 17C. Tomorrow will be a chilly 11C.
There will be regular updates on the track conditions during each session on F1 Fanatic Live and the F1 Fanatic Twitter account.
See the location of every race on the 2012 F1 calendar here:
Image © Force India F1 Team
Martin Whitmarsh has denied McLaren will introduced a version of Mercedes' 'Double DRS' at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
'McLaren will not have a Double DRS in Belgium,' he told a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in, following speculation the team had built such an upgrade for its MP4-27.
Whitmarsh said the team had looked at the concept but focused resources on other areas which they believed would yield greater performance increases.
'There's no denying the Double DRS is interesting,' Whitmarsh said. 'I think other variants of it are starting to be seen on teams who might not all follow the pattern that we saw on Mercedes, which was innovative.'
'But we're not announcing when, where or if we're going to introduce it.'
He confirmed the car would have revised wings and other visible changes on its car at Spa.
Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei
It may have been a longer summer break than usual but we now have incredibly busy end to the world championship in front of us.
The three months ahead are crammed with F1 races including four pairs of back-to-back Grands Prix. The nine rounds that will decide the title are packed into just 13 weeks.
It kicks off with two tracks that remind us why we love Formula 1. Spa-Francorchamps and Monza are the two fastest tracks in F1 and both date back to the inception of the world championship.
'Spa is the daddy of them all, one of the all-time great Grand Prix tracks,' Jenson Button enthused, 'and Monza is one of the most historic and evocative circuits on the calendar'.
The home of the Belgian Grand Prix has recently been confirmed on the F1 calendar for three more years, and that's definitely something to celebrate. Spa is a thrilling circuit and dozens of F1 Fanatic readers are heading there for this weekend's race.
Last year the Red Bull drivers romped to a one-two victory. Mark Webber made the Pass of the Year as he bravely dived past Fernando Alonso on the entry to Eau Rouge.
But Alonso took the place back on the very next lap with a straightforward pass in the DRS zone. It was one of several 'motorway-style' passes seen during the race which has led the FIA to shorten the zone by 50 metres this year.
The ban on using DRS through Eau Rouge ' effective throughout the weekend ' remains unchanged. The limited run-off at the corner prompted the move last year.
The FIA's concern is that some drivers may be tempted to try using DRS in the corner. But the high speed and limited space in the corner would leave them with no room to correct a mistake. That could lead to a major crash such as that suffered by Fabio Leimer in GP2 last year.
What has changed for this year is the tyre allocation. Pirelli are bringing their hardest tyre mix ' medium and hard ' instead of the soft/medium combination used in 2011.
Both Red Bull drivers made their first pit stops within the first five laps last year due to tyre damage caused by running camber angles beyond the upper limits recommended by Pirelli. Those limits have since been made mandatory which, along with the harder compounds, should prevent a repeat.
Last year Red Bull surprised everyone by winning comfortably at a track which, on paper, was expect not to suit their car well.
The RB8 has exhibited much the same characteristics of its predecessors: all that downforce comes with a loss of straightline speed. They've been among the slowest through the traps this year. But that may not matter if they can plant their cars on the front row.
McLaren went into the summer break as the team to beat and aim to pick up where they left off.
'My win in Hungary was a fantastic way to go into the summer break,' said Lewis Hamilton. 'It had the added bonus of sending the whole team away for their holidays with a positive feeling in their hearts.
'It's also given me the hope and assurance that we can come back for the final nine races with a real chance to go for both world championships.'
But they may be concerned by the early forecast suggestions of rain. The team have not had as much success getting the MP4-27 to work on intermediate and wet weather tyres.
The prospect of rain will certainly put a smile on Fernando Alonso's face. The F2012 may be much-improved but it's not quite a match for the quickest cars on pure pace in normal conditions yet.
But as we saw in Malaysia (in the race), Britain and Germany (in qualifying), Alonso can be relied upon to deliver when the conditions are less than perfect.
Michael Schumacher reaches a landmark 300th participation in a race weekend at Spa. It is a special circuit for him, scene of his first Grand Prix, first win, and final championship triumph.
He can usually be relied upon to produce something special here. Last year he charged from last on the grid to finish fifth.
Having begun 2012 on a high with victory in China, Mercedes have slipped back into the midfield. But the strength of their engine allied to their innovative Double DRS may prove their saving grace at high-speed Spa.
There are several reasons to keep an eye on Lotus's progress this weekend ' not least Kimi Raikkonen's superb record at Spa, with four wins in his last five appearances here.
The team are expected to finally race their version of the Double DRS, which has appeared on their cars in practice at the last two Grands Prix.
Their E20 has shown superb race pace. Both Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean put Hamilton under pressure for victory in Hungary and although neither was able to pass, that is likely to be less of a problem in Belgium.
With their excellent race pace and improving qualifying performances, Lotus are surely overdue a win. But the conservative choice of tyre compounds for this race may not play to their strengths.
Team principal Vijay Mallya has set his team the target of taking back the sixth in the championship they finished last year. That will mean consistently out-scoring Sauber and Williams in the second half of the year.
That looks like a tall order but Paul di Resta is confident in the car's potential.
Sergio Perez has high hopes for this weekend: 'I believe the fast circuit in the Ardennes will suit our car.
'We should get everything right there and make sure we start into a productive second part of the season. Last year I qualified ninth there, but retired in the race. In what will be my second Formula One Grand Prix in Spa I want to at least score points.'
Toro Rosso are dropping off the tail of the midfield and are in a state of flux as technical director Giorgio Ascanelli has left the team and his replacement ' expected to be ex-Sauber man James Key ' is yet to be confirmed.
That's not going to help their situation as they increasingly come under threat from Caterham.
The contest between the Williams drivers is entering an interesting phase. Bruno Senna showed a noticeable improvement at Hungary, and from this point on he is racing on tracks he competed at with Renault last year.
Pastor Maldonado has decisively held the upper hand on pace so far this year but needs to stop crashing into people. Worryingly, he couldn't even make it through the summer break without hitting something.
Caterham's summer break was occupied with their move to a new base at Leafield, formerly home to Super Aguri. Despite the upheaval and the mandatory two-week factory closure all the teams have observed, the team will have some tweaks for the CT01 this weekend.
Technical director Mark Smith said: 'Obviously we could not work on the car during the August break, but before and after the holiday we have been working on a slightly revised exhaust layout and a number of small aero updates to areas like the brake ducts.'
The team aim to bring more steps forward after Monza: 'For Singapore we have some new parts that will be run for the first time when we head back to the Far East.
'We will then be bringing updates to every race until the end of the season and while the refurbishment program at Leafield may create a few technical and logistical challenges in our update schedule, we already have plans in place to work around any issues that may crop up, and are determined to fight until the last lap of the last race of the season.'
HRT will revert to the medium-downforce package used in Canada, though hopefully without a repeat of the braking problems that forced them to retire both cars in that race.
Charles Pic has had a good start to his first F1 season and hopes to build on it: 'I ended the first part of the season on a strong note, partly due to the team's improved performance, and satisfied with my progress so far in my debut season.
'The break has given me time to reflect on those eleven races, which seemed to pass by so quickly, and my plan is to consolidate everything I have learned from the team and the car and wrap it all together to have what I hope will be an even stronger second part of the year.'
If you're heading to Spa-Francorchamps for this weekend's race, we want to hear from you.
We've got a dedicated group and forum for people going to the race.
You can embed your pictures from the race via Flickr and videos via YouTube and other major video-sharing accounts. Join in here:
Images © Red Bull/Getty images, McLaren/Hoch Zwei, Lotus F1 Team/LAT, Caterham/LAT
In the round-up: The DRS zone at Spa-Francorchamps will be shortened by 50 metres.
#Spa#F1 FIA modified DRS activation point ' Now is 320m after T4, so 50m later than 2011' Xevi Pujolar (@xevipujolar) August 28, 2012
Valtteri
#BOTTAS turns 23 today. He used to race in kart number 111, here's a pic from 1996' twitter.com/WilliamsF1Team'' Williams F1 (@WilliamsF1Team) August 28, 2012
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Back to work at Spa-Francorchamps (Ferrari)
Head of engines and electronics Luca Marmorini: 'We are always trying to reduce the inevitable performance drop that can affect engines as they are used, because some engines having to complete two or three races, therefore it's important to try and maintain the same performance level throughout. If you consider that an engine can lose five horsepower per race, then by the third race it can have lost a total of 15 horsepower, which is a significant figure.'
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' Managing Director Jonathan Neale chats ahead of Spa (YouTube)
McLaren's future 'never brighter' (Autosport)
Martin Whitmarsh: 'People will and have taken pot shots at us to say, 'you are distracted because of the vision of Ron [Dennis] for MTC [the McLaren Technology Centre] and other businesses', but I think people would now say that industrially and economically we are stronger by being more diverse.'
Belgian Grand Prix View (Caterham)
'We have not scored our first point yet, and we have much more work to do to chip away at that gap to the pack ahead, which is now less than one second, but it is fair to say we are disappointed with where we are, as I am sure many people who follow us are.'
Why Caterham's Leafield move is more than just bricks and mortar (James Allen on F1)
'The Leafield site has a long-established history in F1, dating back to Arrows' purchase of it in 1993, since Super Aguri's demise in early 2008 no F1 team has occupied the building. Webb says the passing of teams means some refurbishment has been inevitable ' with the process expected to be completed by mid-late October.'
No outcome in Verstappen vandalism case (GPUpdate)
'Magistrates in Roermond will not be ruling over a case of vandalism involving former Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen. The situation has been declared inadmissible after an error was made by the public prosecutor.'
Formula 1 Ross Brawn (Replay Motorsport)
'I don't normally blub but at Brazil 2009 I did, such was the enormity of what we achieved.'
Formel 1 Überholstatistik (exklusiv): Mehr echte Überholmanöver als 2011 (Auto Motor und Sport)
Gallery of great overtaking moves.
@Melkurion sees greatness in Fernando Alonso's title bid:
I am seriously not an Alonso fan, but I have to respect his driving, and if he does win the title this year, with a clearly inferior car, it will go down in the books as one of the greatest achievements.
Best comparison I can think of is Alain Prost in 1986 when [Nigel] Mansell and [Nelson] Piquet in the Williams were clearly faster, but he still took the title. And that was only against two better cars, Alonso will have beaten three superior teams if he pulls it off.
@Melkurion
Happy birthday to Jelle van der Meer, Metrium and f199player!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
It all came together for Keke Rosberg in the Swiss Grand Prix, held at Dijon in France, 30 years ago today.
He scored his first Grand Prix victory and with it took the lead of the world championship.
Rosberg passed Alain Prost ' leading for Renault on home ground ' with two laps to go. Niki Lauda claimed third for McLaren.
Here are highlights from the race:
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Marussia will use a Kinetic Energy Recovery System for the first time in 2013.
Technical consultant Pat Symonds confirmed the team's 2013 MR02 chassis will incorporate KERS in a Q&A released by the team.
'Yes we will be using KERS next year,' said Symonds. 'We plan to adopt the system that has been developed by Williams, which was used by them with the Cosworth engine last year and is currently with their Renault-engine car.
'Our 2013 unit is a development of this. We've been very impressed with the engineering, the efficiency and the weight. Williams are also a pleasure to work with both technically and commercially.'
There will be no change in the team's choice of engine supplier: 'We will continue with the Cosworth engine.'
'We are happy with the work we are doing with them and I think that we are working together to try and improve the areas that we are able to under the regulations. We are concentrating on improving the driveability of the engine and enhancing its performance as a unit with the car.'
The team's 2013 car is 'on schedule', he added. 'As always, it's a tight schedule, but that's the way it should be if you want to bring maximum performance to the car.
'There are some reasonably significant changes, but in many ways it's a progression of the MR01 ' the lessons we have learnt from that car, from racing it now for half a season and some of the things that we wanted to do to that car that we simply didn't have time to do last year. So everything is on schedule and we are looking forward to a productive winter of testing and a strong start to the 2013 season.'
Symonds declared himself pleased with the progress the team had made since it began to use a wind tunnel for development:
'The wind tunnel programme commenced at the end of last year. It takes quite a long while to build the very sophisticated models that we use in a Formula One wind tunnel, and therefore the influence of that programme was not really felt in the first iterations of the MR01.
'As we progressed through the early part of the season, we were able to bring relatively small upgrades to the car as a result of the wind tunnel programme, but our first major upgrade was the one we introduced at Silverstone.
'Just to give some examples of that, we had a new nose, which had a preliminary release from aerodynamics towards the end of May, having been in the tunnel in the third week of May. The sidepods and the exhaust were developed at a similar time.
'The rear wing, which was totally new, began even earlier and we saw the preliminary aero release of that towards the end of April, the May wind tunnel session providing the opportunity to tune that.
'So really, by the end of May, we'd defined our Silverstone upgrade and we spent June on the detailed design and manufacturing the hardware that we needed for the race at Silverstone.'
Symonds said the Silverstone upgrade had delivered in line with the team's expectations: 'We're very pleased with the correlation we're seeing from the wind tunnel.
'We're using the McLaren Applied Technologies wind tunnel as part of our technical partnership and, generally speaking, I think our predictions from that are being seen on the circuit, both in the measurements that we take on the Friday during free practice and indeed in the improved performance that we are seeing on the car.
'We still have a number of upgrades that we can bring to the car this season. We are fortunate in a way that the 2013 aerodynamics regulations are quite similar to the 2012 regulations and therefore components that we are developing now can be common to the end of this season and indeed the start of next season on the 2013 car.
'So while certainly our focus now is on 2013, we have improvements for Spa and more coming for Singapore and indeed I'm sure that won't be the end of our developments.'
Image © Marussia
In the round-up: Robert Kubica appears to be considering a future in rallying.
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Kubica a aidé Ford à progresser (Lavenir, French)
Belgian website Lavenir reports Robert Kubica recently attended a four-day test with the Ford WRC team and drivers Petter Solberg and Jari-Matti Latvala at the Circuit des Ecuyers in France. Thanks @Cyclops_pl for the tip.
Pay TV switch 'good for F1' (Autosport)
Martin Whitmarsh: 'I think Sky has put a tremendous amount of energy into the coverage. We used to be obsessed with bums on seats in front of television sets, but that is going to be as antiquated as considering the lending of library books as a measurement for literature.'
Paralympics 2012: Alex Zanardi back at Brands Hatch on a hand bike (The Guardian)
'It's not much different to Formula One where they are improving the cars constantly. The difference is every hand biker needs a different bike depending on their residual ability.'
Williams in 60 seconds: Machine Shop (Williams via YouTube)
New FIA Formula E Championship powered by electric energy (FIA)
'The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has reached an agreement to licence the commercial rights of the FIA Formula E Championship to a consortium of international investors, Formula E Holdings Ltd (FEH).'
Penske engineer recalls the day Ayrton Senna drove an IndyCar (Auto123)
'[Emerson] Fittipaldi's best lap was a 49.70 compared to Senna's 49.09. At the end of the day, Emerson did a 48.5 in the new car, and that was just 0.6 second quicker than Senna. That was very good considering Ayrton was driving a year-old car on old tyres.'
Will a woman ever win F1? (Channel 4)
Suzie Wolff: 'I train for the next level, so I'm training at the moment not for GP3 but GP2, I'm training my neck for G-forces of GP2 or Formula 1 so hopefully if I get the chance to move up my body is ready for it and my neck won't be screaming. You're always training for the next stage up.'
Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan is looking to shift gears (Daily Mail)
'There's everything to learn from Pedro's vast experience. The Pirelli-McLaren tyres have been quite difficult and they have been specifically designed to make the races interesting. It is one of the reasons why this season has been so exciting. A lot depends on tyre pressure and temperature and all these aspects need to be taken care of.'
'Pirelli-McLaren tyres'? Post your best guesses on that one in the comments'
When Spa Was Deadly (F1 Speedwriter)
Stirling Moss: 'The next thing I remember is being on my hands and knees in the dirt. I was scared and thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe, you see. I couldn't see either, and that worried me, but mostly I couldn't breathe.'
Brundle: Alonso not title dead cert (Sky)
'I think Alonso's going to have to rely on Red Bull and McLaren and Lotus taking points off each other and he needs [Felipe] Massa to get in and help him by taking points off his main rivals.'
Is there a star at STR? (Podium Finish)
'Although neither of the two young [Toro Rosso] drivers has set the F1 world alight so far this season their predecessors, Alguersuari and Buemi, were given three seasons driving for STR before they were deemed not to be good enough. It is far too early, therefore, to decide whether Vergne and/or Ricciardo might up to scratch after just 11 races with the team.'
Is Bernie Getting Soft? (F1 Goggles)
'I'm wondering if the external hardened shell is showing signs of softening in its old age.'
#Spa#F1 DRS always disabled between 200-1500m (Eau Rouge, same as 2011).Race DRS Detection 235m before T2, Activation 270m after T4(as2011)' Xevi Pujolar (@xevipujolar) August 27, 2012
So holidays are finished, back on duty tomorrow. Had a great last training session with
@jensonbutton@nicholasgates1, great spin.' Paul Di Resta (@pauldirestaf1) August 27, 2012
@Colossal-Squid's view on the outcome of the championship:
I said after Australia that Hamilton would win the championship and I still believe that today. He's been driving brilliantly, and the McLaren is back on form. I think Hamilton is in the position to start to dominate the second half of the season a little bit. If he starts doing what he did in 2010 ' stringing together podiums with a few wins ' he'll have Alonso within his sights by the last few races of the season.
I want Alonso to win, and I believe he's the best driver right now, but Hamilton and McLaren are looking too strong and too confident to ignore. As for Kimi, unfortunately I don't think he'll get that breakthrough win this year, while Vettel and Webber will have a continuation of fortunes from the first half of the season ' good but not enough to take it all.
@Colossal-Squid
Happy birthday to Malibu_GP!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
The Dutch Grand Prix was won by Niki Lauda on this day in 1977, putting him comfortably in the lead of the drivers' championship.
Two of his rivals, Mario Andretti and James Hunt, collided at Tarzan, as you can see in this video:
Michael Schumacher will make his 300th appearance at an F1 race this weekend.
But one driver got there before him: his former team mate Rubens Barrichello. Ger Foley has a question about the driver whose F1 career ended with his 322nd start at home in Brazil last year:
As Rubens Barrichello has the most starts in F1, I would like to know how many countries has he raced in the world championship and also how many different circuits has he raced on in F1? Thanks
Ger Foley
Barrichello appeared in 326 races (making 322 starts) in 25 different countries as follows:
Barrichello began his F1 career in the 1993 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami ' a venue F1 has not returned to since.
He made the most starts in countries which have held multiple races in a season. First among which is Italy, which had the Italian and San Marino Grands Prix (the latter held at Imola in Italy) until 2006.
Note that Barrichello failed to start on four occasions:
Here are the circuits he raced on, including the six tracks he visited in all 19 of his F1 seasons:
Monza was Barrichello's most successful circuit. He won there three times in 2002, 2004 and his final F1 victory for Brawn in 2009.
But he seldom enjoyed much luck at his home race. He retired nine times in a row at Interlagos from 1994 to 2003 ' on the latter occasion he ran out of fuel while leading. His best result, third, followed in 2004, and was the only time he stood on the podium in front of his home crowd.
For comparison, here's how the F1 calendar looked in Barrichello's first and last seasons in F1:
NB. The Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit was cancelled.
Since leaving F1 Barrichello has made a new home in IndyCar, where he has had to get used to circuits which are bumpier than F1's and generally have much less run-off. He scored his best result to date with fourth at the Sonoma road course on Sunday.
See here for more statistics and details on Rubens Barrichello's career:
And if you consider yourself an expert on him have a go at the F1 Fanatic Rubens Barrichello quiz:
Got a question for F1 Fanatic? Send it in via the contact form. Please include your real name.
Image © Ford.com
Pirelli say the decision to bring their hardest tyre compounds for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix will reduce the need for drivers to conserve their tyres during the race.
F1's official tyre supplier are bringing their hard and medium compounds for this weekend's race, whereas last year the medium and soft tyres were used.
Motorsport director Paul Hembery said: 'From a tyre perspective, it's certainly one of the most demanding circuits that we face all year, because of the high speeds and extreme forces involved, which are often acting on the tyres in more than one dimension.
'The nomination of the hard and the medium tyres will allow drivers to push hard from start to finish, which is what Spa was designed for.'
Some teams experienced problems during last year's Belgian Grand Prix after they set their cambers beyond the limit recommended by the tyre supplier. 'The high speeds increase tyre temperature, particularly if an aggressive camber set-up is adopted to maximise grip,' Pirelli added.
Test driver Jaime Alguersuari did Pirelli's most recent test at the circuit.: 'Spa is relatively smooth,' he said. 'So it is not tough on the tyres but it does pose its own unique challenges.
'There are a lot of high-speed areas where considerable lateral force is put on the construction of the sidewall. It is similar to Japan's Suzuka race circuit, and requires the same set-up and handling.'
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
In the round-up: Ron Dennis talks about how Neil Armstrong, who died on Saturday, inspired him.
McLaren group executive chairman Ron Dennis had this to say about the late Neil Armstrong yesterday:
I was saddened to hear of the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon.
The achievement of Armstrong and his colleagues remains perhaps the single most iconic triumph of scientific ambition, against all odds, that the world has seen. It was, and is still, truly inspiring.
It certainly inspired me. In 1969, when Armstrong took that famous 'one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind', I was a 22-year-old motor racing technician. But Armstrong showed me, and many others like me, that in our own small way we could also dare to try ' and 'dare to try' remains a McLaren mantra to this day.
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Third marriage for Ecclestone (Crash)
'F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has married for the third time, committing in secret to Brazilian fiancee Fabiana Flosi at a ceremony in Switzerland.'
A sneak preview of the F1 2012 game (James Allen on F1)
Codemasters creative director: 'Sometimes I think the hardcore community think we are trying to dumb down the game or turn it into an arcade game, but the commentators on TV are always explaining these things and that's what we are trying to do. It's more of an accessible game.'
The number 1 track in the world (F1elvis)
'The punishment which hurt most and to be honest, still hurts now, was being excluded from the world constructors' championship of 2007. Many within the team, myself included, felt incredibly angry that in a year where we had a real chance of winning the 'team' championship, something we hadn't done for almost ten years, the stupid actions of one or two individuals had taken it away from us all through no fault of our own.'
Watching DTM at Zandvoort, looks tricky with the rain. But not enough to put wets on. Easier decision sat on my sofa with a cup of tea!
' Paul Di Resta (@pauldirestaf1) August 26, 2012
Are tickets sales for the Belgian Grand Prix really that poor? @Spawinte has this to say:
I don't believe those poor tickets sales stories either. I was there in 2010 and the place was rammed come race day.
If they are true it's because general admission prices are very bad value for money. Views of the track are blocked by trees in many of the most spectacular places or just limited viewing space. They've got so much open ground at the track that they're not making use of.
@Spawinte
Happy birthday to Vettelfan, Pemsell and Monosodico!
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Jack Brabham won the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport 45 years ago today in tricky wet conditions, followed by his team mate Denny Hulme.
As was so often the case in 1967, Jim Clark led to begin with but his Lotus suffered a technical problem ' this time it was electrical in nature.
Here's footage from the race:
Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei
F1 is set for a frenetic end to the season with nine races crammed into 13 weekends.
These races will decide the outcome of the world championships, currently led by Fernando Alonso and Red Bull.
Both have some rapid rivals behind them who are getting within striking range. Can they hold on to claim the titles ' or will there be more changes at the top before the year is out?
After 11 races last year Sebastian Vettel held an 85-point lead in the drivers' championship over Mark Webber.
Alonso's advantage is less than half that at the same stage this year. He has a 40-point margin over second place which once again is occupied by Webber. There is a maximum of 225 points available over the remaining races.
This chart shows drivers' scores throughout the season. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:
164 points
Alonso has rarely failed to get the most out of the Ferrari. Since the beginning of the European season the F2012 is much-improved and, though still not the fastest car, is a strong all-rounder. The well-drilled Ferrari team have turned out some excellent pit stops.
But if one of his better-equipped rivals emerges from the pack as a consistent challenger, he may yet be kept from a third world championship.
124 points (-40)
When the season began, just 11% of readers tipped Webber to out-score Vettel. He has done so far but in recent races the momentum has been with his team mate.
122 points (-42)
Unlucky not to win in Valencia and doubly so that Alonso picked up the victory. But his car remains more than a match for the Ferrari on pure pace and gives him the chance to grind down Alonso's lead in the coming races.
117 points (-47)
Winning in Hungary was a vital boost to his championship credentials. Like Vettel, he will need to score consistently better than Alonso in the coming races to get back in the hunt, but that's not always been a feature of his title campaigns.
116 points (-48)
The 2007 champion is a fascinating dark horse in the title race. There is much expectation that Lotus, armed with their new double DRS, will finally come good this weekend and deliver their overdue first win of 2012. That and the E20's kindness to its tyres could prove significant weapons in Raikkonen's arsenal.
Who will win the 2012 F1 drivers' title?
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Red Bull hold a 53-point lead in the teams' title race with 387 still to be won.
This chart shows teams' scores throughout the season. Use the controls below to show/hide different teams.
246 points
Red Bull's situation in the constructors' championship is akin to Alonso's in the drivers' title race. They have a healthy lead but not enough to relax and they could do with their closest rivals takings points off each other in the coming races.
Their key strength is that both drivers have been consistently scoring decent points, with just three no-scores between them.
193 points (-53)
It's 14 years since McLaren last won the constructors' championship and you sense they are aching to end that streak. Especially as they've been second on seven occasions in that time (and not forgetting 2007 as well).
Going into the summer break McLaren had sorted out their pit stop problems and made a major performance gain with their last upgrade. If they return to action as competitive as they were at the end of July, with Jenson Button seemingly recovered from his early-season slump, they should be Red Bull's closest challengers.
192 points (-54)
Lotus have done everything but win a race so far this year ' they've even had both drivers on the podium on two separate occasions. Third place is already in excess of their pre-season aims, but that's not going to stop them aiming even higher.
189 points (-57)
Ferrari are fourth in the constructors' championship while Alonso leads the drivers' title. That is a credit to Alonso's driving and a damning indictment of Felipe Massa's.
If Massa can increase his contribution to their points tally (currently just 13%) they should make progress. It may even save his place at the team for next year, though it's hard to believe it isn't already too late for that.
Who will win the 2012 F1 constructors' title?
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Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Red Bull/Getty images, McLaren/Hoch Zwei
In the round-up: Williams CEO Alex Burns likens running an F1 team to 'warfare'.
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Festival of Business: Williams' search for a winning formula (The Telegraph)
'The technology, high- performance engineering, use of carbon-fibre composites, that's all like aerospace. What's different is the speed we do things here, the intensity of the competition. Being focused on the end game of doing better at racing ' that drives an incredible speed of decision making and innovation.'
Narain's F1 demo drive plan cancelled (Deccan Herald)
'The demo drive was caught in a legal tangle after a social activist filed a PIL in a local court seeking cancellation of the demo, saying 40kph [24.8mph] was the maximum permissible speed limit on the road from Kowdiar Palace to Fine Arts College, where the drive was to be organised.'
Indian F1: 21,000 tickets sold already (NDTV)
'With just two months left for the F1 Indian Grand Prix, the organisers have sold 21,000 tickets, with the maximum sale coming from South India where more than 6000 fans have bought the entry tickets.'
Mita ihmetta!? F1-tahti kaljoitteli MM-kultaa (Iltalehti, Finnish)
Pictures of Valtteri Bottas competing in a triathlon-type event which appeared to include necking a large glass of beer! Thanks to @Nebulaf1ghter for the tip.
9 Formula One Drivers Lucky To Be Alive (DownUnderSteer)
'The drivers on this list are the ones who all had their bell rung since that fateful day at Imola but can still talk about it today, even if some of them still don't quite remember the fine details.'
Looks like Eliseo Salazar will be the drivers' advisor to the stewards in Spa:
El próximo weekend Schumacher cumplirá su carrera numero 300 en Spa. Sera un honor ser el Comisario de los pilotos de F1, en esa ocasión
' Eliseo Salazar (@eliseosalazar) August 25, 2012
There was no shortage of great suggestion in yesterday's Michael Schumacher Caption Competition. Among the best were those from Verstappen, Thecollarboys, Cryptowillem, Myles Scullion, Matt and Max Jacobson.
But my favourite this week came from Sumedh:
I am still number one among the over-forty-years-old in F1. In your face, Pedro!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today.
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
Felipe Massa won the Turkish Grand Prix five years ago today, leading home a Ferrari one-two ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Lewis Hamilton held third until suffering a puncture which dropped him behind team mate Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld.
Judging by the numbers of F1 Fanatics heading to Spa-Francorchamps for next week's race, it's hard to believe the reports of poor ticket sales at the track in recent years.
Dozens of readers will descend on the Ardennes track next weekend for the 12 round of the 2012 championship.
Here's what those who've been to Spa before have to say about the track, and a few words from those heading to this year's race.
Some tips from fans who've been to the track before:
I had a good wander around the track last year and boy is it a hard track to walk round. The TV does not do justice to the elevation changes, Eau Rouge is a hill not a [gentle] slope!
Food at the track was basic and expensive, so I took food with me, drinks were just ridiculous prices so again took it with me. Had no problems taking food and drink into the track
Craig (@Bostic)
The burgers and sausages are revolting, but the chips are great and the waffle places are like a European convention for wasps.
Tim (@Supertbone)
We had General Admission tickets which gave you a lot of options around the track. There is lots of walking involved through the woods ' bit it was worth every second.
It rained all weekend so be prepared. But again it was worth it and we can't wait to go this year.
Katy Evans (@camelgirl)
Lots of fans have been asking about the pit lane visit on Thursday. Toni has some advice:
Ideally you get down there for Thursday afternoon there is a pit lane walkabout and you get to meet loads of drivers. It's advertised as starting at 4pm but we queued from 2pm and got in a bit early in 2011.
Toni (@Tonsky)
Spa is a great circuit for camping and several readers will be pitching up outside the track. Craig has done it before and provided some information:
The campsite was basic, there were showers in the football club and a Portacabin, they weren't the cleanest I've been in but they did the job. Toilets were the usual 'thunderboxes' but they were emptied every morning until Sunday. By Monday morning they were nasty!
I read reviews of people being charged extra for taking too much space and people coming round with tape measures, but I saw none of this. They did cram us in pretty tight but no worse than any other campsite at a big event.
Noise levels at night were never a problem, I slept every night. It was a short walk through Francorchamps to the track, with the added bonus that you could look out for drivers making their way in.
Craig (@Bostic)
Camping can make this one of the bet-value ways of seeing a race:
I always try and do it on the cheap. Get a General Admission ticket (sit on the hill at Pouhon ' bit of a walk but worth it), Eurostar to Brussells (£69ish return from London, 1hr 15 from track), crappy hire car, arm with cheap beer and supplies in Verviers, campsite at Francorchamps where there's bars, parties, fireworks etc till about 4am (about £140 for a group of four). Looking forward to it already.
Tim (@Supertbone)
But camping's not for everyone and some prefer an alternative approach to getting to the track:
I'm going with my dad, and we seem to be going a different approach to most people ' staying in a hotel in Brussels and getting a coach over each day. Early starts, but my dad doesn't fancy camping!
@Kthxrawr
Some of our readers are travelling from other continents to see the race. Here's two of them:
Hi from Durban, South Africa. I'm taking my son to Spa and then Monza. It's the first time I've been to a F1 race since 1974 (Kyalami ' won by Carlos Reutemann).
Andrew Wedderburn-Maxwell (@admax83)
This Is my first Grand Prix, I am flying out from Mexico to support Sergio Perez.
We are only two, my fiancee and myself. We will be renting a car in Brussels so we can go Spa. Our plan is to arrive at Spa early on Friday to redeem our tickets to Grandstand Gold 8.
Esteban Urtaza (@eurtaza)
A few readers who had purchased tickets through The Ticket Enterprise had a scare when the company hit financial trouble.
They do seem to have sent out the tickets which had already been paid for. If you've ordered tickets and have not received them have a look in the forum for more information.
Here are some of the F1 Fanatic readers who've said they're going to this year's race. Have a great time everyone and remember to share your images and videos with us when you get back!
Jenni (@jens7259), @The_narv, @Siberianlady, Craig (@Bostic), Craig Green (@craigybhoy985), Carole (@cazntrev), @Nicola, @AndrewTanner, @JT19, Katy Evans (@camelgirl), Benjamin Ford (@benj87), @Nick-UK, @Kthxrawr, @Clareanddavid, Aman (@Kaptaaan), Kate Whitaker (@Kate941), @Amesywozencroft, @Mattc888, @Steevp, Jenni (@jens7259), Steve (@Speedy123), Andrei (@tzigaie), Matt Gration (@n8mlg), Jorge Garcia (@jogardu), @Girts, @Chrisrhyswilliams, @Thebladerunner, @Ed24f1, @Roelofjan, @Dimitris-1395, @Mikebyrne, Hannah Cox (@cheeryhannah), @Steved1976, Alan (@Dogmop), Michael Tate (@miketate), Esteban Urtaza (@eurtaza) and Andrew Wedderburn-Maxwell (@admax83).
If you're heading to the race join in the discussion in the forum:
Going to a Grand Prix on F1 Fanatic is sponsored by Grandstand Motor Sports
Image © Virgin
Michael Schumacher will make his 300th appearance in an F1 race this weekend ' becoming the second driver to do so after Rubens Barrichello.
Hopefully it'll go better than his 299th Grand Prix appearance, which was spoiled when he lined up in the wrong grid slot in Hungary.
Can you think of a good caption for the picture above? Post your funniest suggestion in the comments.
As usual a pick of the best will feature in the daily round-up.
Image © Mercedes/Hoch Zwei
In the round-up: Paul di Resta reckons Force India could spring a surprise in the second half of the season.
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Paul on Spa (Force India)
'Williams are not too far ahead of us but Sauber have a big points advantage and it's going to be a big task to overcome that. But we won't give up; we'll keep pushing and see what we can do. We definitely have the potential to get some big results before the end of the year.'
Eric Boullier Q&A: Lotus looking 'very promising' (F1)
'We used the summer shutdown to perform a comprehensive maintenance and upgrade programme at the factory. This involved the upgrading of a number of production machines and was no small investment. We've also made more investments in our wind tunnel and a new gearbox dyno facility is being built. These are all substantial developments to improve our performance potential and position ourselves as one of the very best teams in this highly competitive sport.'
Return of the King ' Kimi Raikkonen on the Belgian Grand Prix (Lotus)
'For me there have only been good memories from Spa and it's great to go racing there. You can't get the same kind of a feeling anywhere else. It's great to race with a modern racing car at a proper circuit that has such a great tradition.'
Spa steps in to resolve ticket issue (Autosport)
'Belgian Grand Prix organisers have stepped in to assist almost 6,000 Formula 1 fans who risked not getting their tickets for next weekend's race.'
2012 Belgian Grand Prix preview (McLaren)
Lewis Hamilton: 'It's going to be an extremely tough, tactical and interesting finale to the season. There's no team with a clear advantage ' although we're all pushing hard to catch Fernando [Alonso]'s points tally in the drivers' championship ' so there's still everything to play for.'
COTA's countdown (ESPN)
'While passing FIA inspection is vital to the race's success, there remain obstacles that the Austin race organisers have yet to face. One of the main concerns raised by both locals and members of the F1 circus is access to the circuit. The Travis County race track is currently accessible by only two major roads, and traffic management is going to play a vital role in the public's response to the race.'
@AndrewT reckons a certain driver is overdue a win at Spa-Francorchamps:
Kimi, the 'other' 'King of Spa', as the pitboard showed after his to date last win in Belgium, 2009. With a good strategy, a reliable Lotus, and with his devastating speed, he could even go for the win in Spa, which unfortunately Schumacher won't be able to do.
However, I would love to see Alonso win here, as all he has is 2 podium finishes in Spa from 2005 and 2007. I think a winner trophy from Spa is one of the most wanted that an exeptional driver would like to have.
@AndrewT
Happy birthday to Hugh and Michael Williamson!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
The non-championship Danish Grand Prix 50 years ago today was won by Jack Brabham in a Lotus.
The race was held at a track in Roskilde and run across three heats, each of which was won by Brabham.
Image © Sahara Force India F1 Team
F1's summer break is almost at an end. One week from today practice will begin for the Belgian Grand Prix.
To tide you over until then, here's a brand new quiz all about one of the most historic races on the calendar.
As usual you'll be up against the clock so when you're ready, take on these 20 questions on the Belgian Grand Prix in five minutes:
If you've not taken one of our quizzes before, have a quick look at this quick guide first:
You can compare your overall score with other F1 Fanatics and take more quizzes here:
If you don't already have one, you will need to register an F1 Fanatic account to participate in the quizzes. Details on how to get one can be found below:
How did you get on? Share your score in the comments ' but remember not to leave clues about the questions!
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Michael Schumacher will make his 300th F1 race appearance at next week's Belgian Grand Prix.
Schumacher reaches the milestone at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit where he made his F1 debut 21 years ago.
'Spa is like my living room,' said Schumacher. 'For me, it's clearly the number one race track in the world.
'It's uncanny how I always seem to have special moments there ' my debut, my first win, a world championship victory and many great races.
'The fact that I will also take part in my 300th Grand Prix at Spa was somehow almost inevitable and we will have to celebrate it in the right way.'
Rubens Barrichello is the only other driver in F1 history to achieve 300 participations.
Schumacher added: 'I'm proud to be just the second driver in the history of the sport to reach this milestone and there's no question that we are looking to have a particularly nice weekend.
'We delivered a good performance in Spa last year; I'll be doing everything possible to drive a strong race.'
Schumacher has won the Belgian Grand Prix six times, more than any other driver. He has appeared at 299 races so far and failed to start two of them: the 1996 French Grand Prix (engine failure on the formation lap) and the 1999 British Grand Prix (did not participate in restart).
Image © Mercedes/Hoch Zwei
F1 Fanatic is very pleased to welcome Grandstand Motor Sports as the new sponsor of Going to a Grand Prix.
Grandstand Motor Sports will feature there and in the Going to a Grand Prix forums for the remaining races of the 2012 season.
There you can discover more about their range of tours to Formula 1 races.
Grandstand Motor Sports will also be participating in the forums via the @grandstandmotorsports account to answer any questions you may have about their tour packages.
For more information see the Going to a Grand Prix section which is accessible under Info > Going to a Grand Prix in the top navigation menu:
In the round-up: Martin Whitmarsh gives the strongest indication yet that Lewis Hamilton will remain at McLaren.
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Hamilton 'wants McLaren contract' (BBC)
Martin Whitmarsh: 'If Lewis wants to stay in the team, which he has told me he does, then he should do'.
Alonso happy to ignore critics (ESPN)
'When you're fighting other drivers from that country, it's normal that this sort of thing would happen. It happened in Germany, too. Everything was fine until I was competitive and fighting Michael [Schumacher].'
Nico Hulkenberg Q&A: Happy but not satisfied (F1)
'I made some small mistakes in the first few races and felt occasionally that a little more could have been possible. This was especially the case in qualifying, when Paul (di Resta) finished ahead of me several times. But now that's changed and I am fully comfortable. Of course I am not perfect. But I would say that I have definitely improved my personal performance when I compare now to the first few races.'
Brawn: F1 must not become 'random' (Autosport)
'What we cannot have in motorsport is a randomness where you don't know who is going to win, and that you could work really hard to improve the car but your car doesn't suit the conditions and you are not competitive. That is not where we want to be.'
James Allison on the 2012 F1 World Championship Race (Lotus via YouTube)
City of Austin again moving to annex Circuit of the Americas (Austin-American Statesman)
'Annexation extends the city's regulatory authority on the site and will add the track to its tax rolls.'
Hewland Engineering founder dies aged 89 (Maidenhead Advertiser)
'The business continued to grow and moved from North Town Road to Boyn Valley Road, where Hewland Engineering had well over 100 employees in the 1970s. In the 60s, 70s and 80s, Hewland gearboxes became synonymous with motorsport and Formula One.'
Fun Clip: Tit-for-Tat ' Sauber F1 Team (Sauber via YouTube)
Govt to decide on demo drive today (The Times of India)
'The revised proposal submitted by the organizers will make the event cheaper by Rs30 lakh and will involve two lower calibre cars instead of one F1 car. Arjun Balu will drive MRF's Formula 1600cc Ford car and Narain [Karthikeyan] will be behind the wheels of MRF's brand-new Formula 2000cc car with a Renault engine and Dallara chassis, which is likely to be unveiled in Chennai on August 25.'
Yesterday's piece on closed cockpits and covered wheels provoked strongly-held and well-argued views from both sides of the safety debate. Here's two of them:
The right to be safe can only be extended so far. Up to a certain point you have to decide if you're comfortable taking part, be it crossing the road on your way to work or driving a Formula 1 car.
The drivers may not want to race in these cars but the public want to see them race these cars. They have a choice to make, and it should be a choice. I don't demand to be wrapped in cotton wool everywhere I go, neither should they. There simply has to be risk or it's not sport and it's definitely not life.
@Spawinte
I don't think you can ever say that they are 'safe enough'. Henry Surtees, Felipe Massa, Dan Wheldon, and Maria de Villota are all examples from the fast few years of drivers being seriously injured or killed because of their exposed heads. Two deaths and one near fatal injury don't constitute 'rare' or 'safe enough' to me.
Of course it would be impossible to pre-empt every single dangerous situation and take action against it, but when there is a glaringly obvious safety problem which is causing injuries on a fairly regular basis, I think that common sense suggests that it needs addressing. We haven't seen a fatality in a long time in F1, but it's clear that the danger remains.
Chris Goldsmith (@mazdachris)
Happy birthday to Innim and Tomas!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
Didier Pironi died in a powerboat accident 25 years ago today.
The three-times Grand Prix winner had been forced to quit the sport in 1982 after suffering serious leg injuries in a crash at the Hockenheimring.
Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei
Smartphones and video sharing websites have made filming footage at race weekends and letting others see it easier than ever before.
And now fans who filmed videos in the days before YouTube and DailyMotion have begun digitising and uploading their old clips as well.
This new series of articles will showcase some of these classic F1 race videos shot by fans.
We'll begin with a look at the 1990 season, which includes footage of Ayrton Senna losing victory in Mexico, Gerhard Berger and Nigel Mansell colliding in Hungary ' and some of F1's worst cars.
The big change on the driver market for 1990 saw world champion Alain Prost depart McLaren for Ferrari, taking the coveted number one with him.
Here he is testing the team's V12-engined car at Fiorano.
At the opposite end of the grid was the pre-qualifying brigade, seen here in some rare footage of them in action during the fifth round of the season in Canada. Nine drivers took part in the session bidding for a place in the top four which granted them a chance to participate in the rest of the weekend ' the other five were eliminated.
The entries shown in this video are as follows: Bruno Giacomelli, Life L190; Gabriele Tarquini, AGS-Ford JH25; Yannick Dalmas, AGS-Ford JH25; Bertrand Gachot, Coloni-Subari C3B; Olivier Grouillard, Osella FA1M; Roberto Moreno, Eurobrun-Judd ER189B. The two Larrousse-Lamborghinis of Aguri Suzuki and Eric Bernard are also seen very briefly on the track.
Moreno, Grouillard, Suzuka and Bernard all made it into qualifying proper. Tarquini was first to miss out by just 0.011s and Dalmas was half a second slower.
The rest posted times that were truly hopeless. Gachot managed just five laps and his 1'44.185 was 15.9 seconds slower than Moreno. Claudio Langes in the second Eurobrun was another three seconds slower but only did two laps before his car stopped.
And Giacomelli in the infamously dreadful Life was a shocking 21.985 seconds off the pace. Read more about this comically bad Grand Prix entry here:
Most of the regular field can be seen during these videos from practice for the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Keep an eye out for the Ferrari of Nigel Mansell on a tow rope two-and-a-half minutes into the second video. Reliability was a persistent problem for Mansell that year, though not in this race.
The dramatic final ten laps of the race, as seen from the hairpin.
Ayrton Senna led until lap 60 but dropped back into the clutches of Prost as he struggled with his tyres. Prost moved ahead of Senna, who dropped out with a puncture on lap 63 ' which you can see at 4:01.
Next the focus switches to their team mates. Mansell headed Gerhard Berger at first but the swapped places twice off-camera, first when Berger muscled his way through at the first corner.
Mansell struck back with an audacious pass around the outside of the fearsomely fast Peraltada. Unfortunately for this spectator, that all happened out of his view. But he did see a joyous Prost pass by at 7:20 ' and the crowd seem very appreciative of his efforts.
Footage of drivers in the paddock in Hungary including Prost, Thierry Boutsen, Alessandro Nannini, Mansell and Saturo Nakajima ' one of the favourites of these Japanese fans.
The fans train their camera first on Prost, then Nakajima as they head to the grid. They kept a close eye on the Tyrrell driver to begin with but turned their attention to the battle for the lead later in the race.
For many laps Ivan Capelli looked set to cause a major upset as he led in the Adrian Newey-designed Leyton House CG901 (from 5:30). But Capelli's oil bump broke with three laps to go, and Prost seized an opportunity to pass. Capelli nonetheless claimed an excellent second.
This video of testing at Silverstone begins with footage of the other Leyton House belonging to Mauricio Gugelmin. There's also some close-up footage of Senna and Berger in their McLaren MP4-5Bs, and Mark Blundell testing for Williams. Fast-forward to the end of the video for some track footage.
The final video from this season shows frustration getting the better of Berger at the Hungaroring as he tips former team mate Mansell out of the race at the chicane.
Have you captured any F1 footage from past seasons? Share them with F1 Fanatic in the forum, on Twitter or via F1 Fanatic on Youtube.
Image © Honda
F1 cars have had open cockpits and uncovered wheels for decades. It's become the defining feature of F1 car design.
But could a desire to improve safety and the search for more efficient performance lead to the covering of cockpits and wheels?
The FIA has been investigating the possible introduction of cockpit covers in F1 and other single-seater championships since 2009.
That year saw the fatal accident of Formula Two driver Henry Surtees, who was killed when he was struck by a flying wheel. Six days later, Felipe Massa was seriously injured when he was hit by a spring which had fallen off Rubens Barrichello's car.
Among the solutions being considered by the FIA are fully enclosed canopies and roll hoops mounted in front of the driver, each of which have different advantages and disadvantages.
Similar discussions have taken place in IndyCar following the death of Dan Wheldon in October last year.
Wheldon was killed when he was struck by a fence post after his car flew into the barriers at Las Vegas. Following the crash some IndyCar drivers such as Ryan Briscoe raised the possibility of IndyCar adopting cockpit covers.
In endurance racing the technical regulations allow for both open and closed-cockpit designs. Closed-cockpit solutions are the preferred design of the World Endurance Championship's manufacturer teams Audi and Toyota.
In an effort to improve safety, IndyCar took the hotly-debated step of enclosing the rear wheels on its new-for-2012 chassis. The result is something that looks like the offspring of an F1 car and a sports car (below).
The fairings are designed to prevent one of the greatest dangers of open-wheel racing: wheel-to-wheel contact at high speeds which propel a car into the air. Again, it's not hard to see how this could have prevented or at least reduced the carnage of Las Vegas.
As noted here recently, F1 has seen single-car airborne crashes such as those of Riccardo Patrese in 1992, Christian Fittipaldi in 1993 and Mark Webber in 2010.
They haven't been as prevalent in IndyCar, which has had a particular problem with 'pack racing' on ovals. But there is potential for an increase in this type of accident in F1.
The F1 field is getting closer in performance and innovations such as DRS, KERS and more variable tyre performance may increase the chance of a faster car hitting a slower one in this fashion.
As future regulations become increasingly concerned with improving efficiency in F1 car design, it's not hard to see how this could lead to a reappraisal of the merits of closed cockpits and covered wheels on grounds of performance as well as safety.
But open cockpits and wheels have been a defining feature of F1 car design for decades. Would getting rid of them amount to a desecration of F1's historic rules?
Not necessarily. Covered wheels and cockpits have been seen in F1 before and we'd probably still have them if they weren't forbidden by the current rules*.
The dominant F1 car of 1954 and 1955 ' the Mercedes W196 ' was raced in both open- and closed-wheel form. The team preferred the latter at tracks where aerodynamic efficiency was especially important, such as Monza.
Mercedes' success inspired other teams, including Ferrari and Maserati, to create 'streamliner' cars. The regulations were later changed to forbid this and impose the open-wheel look we have become familiar with.
Teams also experimented with cockpit canopies in the fifties and Jack Brabham ran one on his car during practice at Monza in 1967. These too were eventually banned.
Would today's F1 cars have covered wheels and cockpits if the rules did not forbid it? When F1's top designer Adrian Newey was asked to envisage an F1 car that ignored the rule book, his Red Bull X2010 sported both.
His creation also serves to illustrate that the aesthetic appeal of F1 cars needn't be diminished by such a radical change in design:
Could F1 one day see cars with wheel guards and enclosed cockpits? Would this be a change too far? Have your say in the comments.
*Technical regulations articles 3.8, 3.9, 3.10 and 3.11 define the limits on bodywork around the front and rear wheels. Technical regulations article 13.1.3 states 'The driver must be able to enter and get out of the cockpit without it being necessary to open a door or remove any part of the car other than the steering wheel'.
Ferrari image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, IndyCar images © Honda/LAT, X2010 images © Red Bull
In the round-up: Lotus technical director James Allison says the team will put more effort into its current car instead of next year's in the second half of the season
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
James Allison on the F1 Development Race (Lotus via YouTube)
Tom Cotter, President of the Group Bringing Formula One to New Jersey, Resigns (The New York Times)
'The race's promoters insist that sanctioning and licensing payments to Bernie Ecclestone, the president of the series, are current, and that the race would follow the Montreal Grand Prix on the 2013 calendar, as intended.'
Button: Set-up blind alley caused slump (Autosport)
'The worst races for me were Monaco and Canada. That was difficult, but when you've been racing for as long as I have, you know there are reasons for you not being on the pace, and I think we've solved a lot of those issues.'
Why business is the real engine which powers F1 (Yahoo)
'Since the signing of the first Concorde Agreement, F1's rights-holders have committed to keeping Grands Prix on free-to-air television: this has been a master-stroke, driving the sport's average TV audience up to 515 million ' making it the most-watched sporting event in the world over the course of a year. Coming full circle, F1 has established such a dominant position that it is now doing deals with subscription channels such as Sky Sports in the UK and Sky Italia in Italy. Despite having a seemingly unconquerable position, F1 has retained some degree of free-to-air coverage in these markets.'
Holidays and motor racing' (Joe Saward)
'The US automotive giant General Motors (GM) has announced a major new sponsorship, which should serve to wake Formula 1 up to the fact that it may not be doing everything right. GM is looking to turn Chevrolet into a global player. With new engines coming into F1 in 2014, it should have been an obvious decision to use the sport to do this, but GM has chosen to pay Manchester United $220 million over six years as its shirt sponsor from 2015.'
9.63s ' a numbers game (McLaren)
'55,372 ' Number of full race simulations carried out in 9.63 seconds by James and his strategy team ahead of each Grand Prix.'
Jody Scheckter (The Mighty Arms of Atlas)
'We parked in the paddock and made our way on to the pits roof top viewing area, and from there we could see Jody Scheckter having his first ever drive in a Formula One car. Later that year Jody made his Formula One race debut driving for McLaren in the American Grand Prix.'
Remember our One From A Billion winner, Arjun? Here he is winning best rookie prize at the Super One Series in Rawrah: twitter.com/clubforce/stat'
' Sahara Force India (@clubforce) August 21, 2012
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@Bosyber doesn't think the return of engine development will necessarily lead to one team dominating:
If Renault are the best in 2014, the are quite willing to supply more than four teams, so it would be the top eight battle, and a group behind. But I doubt Ferrari would be that far behind and aero still counts.
Though if Ferrari is the very best engine, that's a problem, unless Sauber really steps up, as we can't expect Toro Rosso to do it; hoping for Ferrari to again be not-on-top with aerodynamics would be in line with recent history a bit I suppose, but you'd think they have learned the lessen by 2014.
Mercedes best? Well, if McLaren can still get that engine too, we'd have them and Mercedes (finally with a really competitive package for the whole year?), then Force India perhaps.
@Bosyber
Happy birthday to Master firelee!
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One year ago today the FIA confirmed drivers would be banned from using DRS at Eau Rouge on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit:
Does Spa need a DRS zone? What about the other tracks on the F1 calendar? Have your say here:
Image © Lotus F1 Team/LAT
