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Formula 1 news, results and statistics when you need it Flat Out - The Heretic |
Michael Schumacher 2001 Ferrari ... more die-cast |
How far can Kimi Raikkonen go ?
24 September - 1
October
News |
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1-Oct: The Toyota Formula 1 concluded testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia with both Mika Salo and Allan McNish driving. The team concentrated on gathering circuit data as well as testing their electronic mapping and traction control. Mika Salo set the best time during the test with a 1:42.59. The Pole position time this year was 1:35.22 by Michael Schumacher. Minardi's boss Paul Stoddart has indicated that he is optimistic of keeping Spanish sensation Fernando Alonso at Minardi for 2002. Alonso has been doing extremely well this season given the Minardi's limitations. He is under contract with Flavio Briatore who runs Renault (Benetton) and could give Alonso a drive at Renault given the relatively poor performance of Jenson Button. There is also speculation the Alonso could land a drive with Jordan. Paul Stoddard said "We want him to stay put and we hope he will stay put. Fernando's contract is owned by Renault, but we are confident he will be joining us next season. We are just waiting for Benetton and Renault to confirm Jenson Button as their second driver for 2002 and then we can re-sign Fernando."
30-Sep: At the post Race press conference for the US GP,
Mika Hakkinen described his win as one of his highlights of the season and said "Yeah, that was definitely one of the highlights of
season for me, definitely. And winning the British Grand Prix this year
was for me for something I always wanted in my book basically; and
Indianapolis was the other one and this is it, you know. I'm absolutely
still a bit confused, to be honest really, to experience what has happened
today, particular because of this morning's incident, what happened to me.
Damaged the race car and so the mechanics did the fantastic work to be
able to fix that, first of all. And second thing was what I went through
with the red lights today, this morning in free practice and the stewards
decided to give me a penalty for that and they dropped me to second row. I
qualified second, so they put me in fourth position. So disappointing it
was obviously. And all that frustration, what happened this morning, and
to sitting here and winning the Grand Prix, it's just flat out, you know.
I don't know, it's just incredible. I'm very happy, pleased. I don't know
the words to even say, you know."
Michael Schumacher
described the race as "boring" but
singled out Montoya's move and said "Not many excitement except the
one I had with Montoya. I don't know where he was coming from. I mean, I
looked in the mirrors and he was quite far back when I left Turn 11, and
then I saw him coming flying at me down the straight. I tried to make it
as difficult as possible, but obviously our tires at this stage in the end
of their life weren't as good as their tires. I mean, he was all over me
before that. So he got me. Except that, it was pretty boring." David Coulthard indicated that while he doesn't wish to score points out of other's misfortunes, he is happy to finish 3rd and strengthen his position in the Championship and said "I think I've been very fortunate today. I've obviously benefited from other people's misfortune, allowed me to come back up into third place. Obviously, it's helped me a little bit in the championship, the fact that Rubens dropped out. It's never nice to accept points that way, but I've had a lot of misfortune in my racing career. So you have to take the results as they come." 30-Sep: What the teams and drivers said after the Race at Indianapolis ... Report
30-Sep: Jarno Trulli has been
excluded from the Official Race Classification by the stewards due to the
skid block not complying to regulation. A statement made by the Stewards
read "The Stewards of the Meeting received a
report from the Technical Delegate, stating that car number 11 (Jarno
Trulli) did not comply with Article 3.13.1(d) of the 2001 FIA Technical
Regulations.
Soon afterwards the
Jordan team
issued a statement indicating that they will appeal the decision. The
statement read "Jordan Grand Prix will be appealing against the
decision of the Stewards of the Meeting, to exclude car number 11 (Jarno
Trulli) from the Official Race Classification of the United States Grand
Prix. Article 3.13.1(d) reads "Beneath
the surface formed by all parts lying on the reference plane, a
rectangular skid block, with a 50mm radius (+/-2mm) on each front corner,
must be fitted. This skid block may comprise more than one piece but must
: This means that the results of the race will remain provisional until the appeal is heard. If the decision stands, it means that Eddie Irvine finishes 4th ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Jean Alesi. 30-Sep: United States Grand Prix - Race: Mika Hakkinen wins the race ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Jarno Trulli, Eddie Irvine and Nick Heidfeld make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes. 30-Sep: United States Grand Prix - Warm-up: Ralf Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Michael Schumacher, Jos Verstappen and Juan Pablo Montoya make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.
29-Sep: At the post Qualifying
press conference for the US GP, Michael Schumacher indicated that
the reason he didn't go out for his 4th run was because he didn't feel he
could go any better and said "I was confident that I couldn't
improve. We have seen this several times this year that I didn't go
because I thought it was not worth it. I simply know when I have achieved
the maximum. If I make any mistake, that's my fault to the others' gain." Mika Hakkinen indicated that he was delighted to be back on the front row and added that he was comfortable with the car throughout the session. When asked if having a different race engineer made the difference he said "It's difficult to say. Everybody works a little bit differently. Mark Williams, I have worked with him since '98 in testing and he got the opportunity at this Grand Prix to engineer. He has done great work and I'm very pleased."
Ralf Schumacher
didn't expect to be this high up the grid here
and said "I think we didn't expect to be where we are now because we
struggled the whole weekend to find a decent balance. We worked our way
through it in the qualifying, and that's where we are now. But it's going
to be a difficult race for us." 29-Sep: What the teams and drivers said following Qualifying at Indianapolis ... Report 29-Sep: United States Grand Prix - Qualifying: Michael Schumacher grabs his 10th Pole position of the season ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Ralf Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya was 4th ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes. 29-Sep: United States Grand Prix - 2nd Saturday Practice: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Nick Heidfeld. Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes 29-Sep: United States Grand Prix - 1st Saturday Practice: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard and Juan Pablo Montoya ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes
28-Sep: At the
Friday press conference for the US GP, Michael Schumacher indicated
that being with his family helped him through the difficult times and said
"Being together with the family, and especially with the kids. I did
mention that yesterday already that being together with the kids, they
obviously don't realize very much what has gone on. They're too young for
this. They simply want to go on. They want to play and they want to enjoy
life. They want to educate and develop themselves. That's when you get
over it after many days, you get back to normal life."
Flavio Briatore
hit back at Michael's comments regarding the
Monza start and said "Different head, different idea. I believe it
was not only me, was BAR - who's the man? Pollock was in the same line.
Everything I see, for me it was the approach of the drivers was wrong.
Thursday, the drivers at the briefing, nobody talking about any kind of
new start. Then I feel it was unfair Sunday midday to hear this news. I
talked with my drivers and this is not true all the drivers was together
because Fisichella basically tell me "I want to start normally but
Schumacher decide for everybody." Everybody now is with Michael.
Button was not so strong as well. Villeneuve was not strong at all, Panis
was not so strong. I mean, I believe it was the approach. If the drivers
come to us Thursday and nicely talking, maybe we find a solution. Not
Sunday midday before the race."
Frank Williams
indicated that Juan Pablo Montoya changed his
approach following the Canadian Grand Prix and he has been improving since
then and said "A Grand Prix car is a very complex piece of machinery.
It just takes a lot to understand which buttons not to push, in very
simple terms; and it does require experience. He changed a bit after
Montreal in his approach." When asked what did Montoya change, Frank
said "Well, the keyword I use was "approach." That means a
number of things, his own attitude, the way he goes to work." Gerhard Berger was asked about his thoughts on Juan Pablo Montoya and whether he'll be able to win the Formula 1 Championship, he said "Well, I would say watching Juan Pablo this year, I think he is a great talent. He has a lot of natural talent, a lot of car control. But he's still not able to use every weekend, the potential of the car to the optimum. Simple experience, reason. He just needs a bit more time, a bit more races to use all the tools what you have in Formula One to the optimum. So in some race circuits we see him doing a fantastic job, some others he's still driving very good but he cannot get the job done because the car is not right or he couldn't get the car setup right. So I think we're just going to see his real potential next year. This year was a bit too much at once. He had to learn some circuits, he had to learn to know the team. So for this he did a very, very good job. I think sometimes we forget how short he is in here. I think we're going to see a lot of good races of him in the future."
Eddie Jordan
indicated that he gave Justin Wilson and Narain
Karthikeyan a test in the Jordan car last week to further assess their
abilities and said "I think both of them are very impressive. What is
interesting for particularly the guys who have been around a bit, that
there is a group of young lads coming. There's a group of very good
drivers there in Formula One at the moment, but maybe it will need
somebody new who, like Michael was, we all were in total awe of the great
Ayrton Senna but it needed somebody new who had not been there at the
early stages of Senna's career to come. A young driver and the drivers in
Formula One, when they see Michael coming up to lap them, they move out of
the way. They need somebody who's different to that."
Eddie Irvine
has admitted that he is looking at ways to improve
his qualifying form despite his bad luck and said "I've had problems.
I had yellow flags and red flags, to be honest, the last two races and the
T car before that. But, obviously, it's still something you've got to look
at yourself and continuously monitor. That's all I can do, keep pushing
and try to figure out what's going on. You know, last year I qualified
consistently in the top ten; this year I'm really struggling to get
anywhere near it, to be honest. So I need to figure out whether it's the
car, whether it's my approach or what it is. You know, it's just a series
of incidents that have gone against me." 28-Sep: What the teams and drivers said following Friday Practice at Indianapolis ... Report 28-Sep: United States Grand Prix - 2nd Friday Practice: Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine and Nick Heidfeld make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes 28-Sep: United States Grand Prix - 1st Friday Practice: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello. Giancarlo Fisichella, Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes 28-Sep: At the Thursday press conference for the US GP, Mika Hakkinen indicated that despite his plans to take a break next year, he will give it all in the final 2 races and said "It would be still correct to win some races, to be honest, is the goal and I have a commitment to the team to finish the season. So I'm going to go for it in these two races." Mika also talked about his plans for next year and said "I'm going to take it easy one year. I'm going to see what it feels like and I have all the doors open. So at the moment the plan is just take it easy and see what happens. But I think after a few months, four or five months, I could start feeling that way and I want to come back. We'll see."
Jacques Villeneuve
indicated that he'll always have great
memories of Indianapolis as his win at the Indy 500 opened the door for
his Formula 1 career and said "Great memories here, definitely.
Having won here, it opened the door to Williams for '96. So it's been a
very important race and I will always remember it, of course."
Juan Pablo Montoya
indicated that he was relieved to have won a
race this season and said "I thought, you know, big relief. We've
been working for it really hard all year long and there's few occasions we
had chance to win and didn't came and now I think I was patient enough
that it came; and it feels good."
Kimi Raikkonen
indicated that he never thought that he'll be
driving a McLaren so early in his Formula 1 career and said "For sure
not. Because I think at the same time last year I even didn't know that I
would race in Formula One this year. Suddenly I had a chance to call
McLaren and I'm very happy to go there. Things have happened very quickly
for me in the last two years but I think it's only in a positive way that
the things are going and I'm only looking forward."
Pedro de la Rosa
indicated that they have finally got it
together at Monza and socred 2 points and said "Basically, we put
together a strong performance from a team point of view. Strategy was very
good and from driving point of view. So finally we made it." All the drivers also paid tribute to Murray Walker who will be commentating on a Formula 1 race for the last time here at Indianapolis.
27-Sep:
Last year Formula 1 returned to the United States after a 9 year
absence. The last Formula 1 race held in the US before then was at
Phoenix, Arizona in 1991.
During the 80's and early 90's, Ayrton Senna dominated
the US races. He competed in 9 Grand Prix races in the USA since he made his debut in
Formula 1 in 1984. His first 2 races (Detroit and Dallas in 84) he was driving a Toleman
Hart and retired on both occasions, in 85 in Dallas he was driving a Lotus Renault and
grabbed pole and set the fastest lap but retired as a result of an accident just 12 laps
from the end. Last year Juan Pablo Montoya won the Indy 500 in his first attempt while driving for the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Will he win the US GP in his first attempt or will Michael Schumacher make it his second win at Indy in a row ? 26-Sep: "How far can Kimi Raikkonen go ?" - Topic of the week - Have Your Say
26-Sep: Michael Schumacher who is
leaving for the United States today has indicated that he never had any
doubt racing in the US and said "I never had any doubts about racing
in Indianapolis. Naturally, like everyone, I wanted to see if anything
would happen after the attacks in the USA, but, as I said, in principle, I
always wanted to race there." The Arrows team have announced the signing of Sergio Rinland as their Chief Designer. Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw was delighted with the announcement and said "We're very pleased to welcome Sergio to the OrangeArrows team. Next year's car, the A23 is at a critical stage so Sergio's input will help us to achieve our targets. We have a deal with Premier Performance Division and Cosworth next year which will give us the power we need to compete and now we have a strengthened design team so we are doing everything we can to continue to improve our performance." Rinland was the Chief Designer at Sauber until January of this year when he left for private reasons. He starts at Arrow immediately.
Murray Walker
has decided to cover his last Formula 1 race this
weekend at Indianapolis rather than wait for the last race in Japan. He
indicated that saying goodbye to his viewers at prime time (in the UK)
will be a lot more satisfying than doing so from Japan in the early hours
of the morning in the UK. Despite his decision to quit he still would like
to carry on and said "I want to carry on, but we all grow old and I'd
rather go too early than too late. I am at ease with myself over my
decision to quit." 25-Sep: "Flat Out" ... A message from the Heretic
25-Sep: A number of team bosses have
publicly supported the idea of going ahead with the US GP on the 30th of
September despite the tragic events that occurred in the US on the 11th of
September. 24-Sep: "Can Montoya make it 2 in a row ?" The Untied States Grand Prix Preview is now available ... Race Preview US Formula 1 Grand Prix Schedule:
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