Ferrari fight on after French court defeat

Ferrari hit back on Wednesday after a French court rejected their bid to prevent Formula One’s governing body introducing controversial new rules next season

Massa leads Ferrari one-two

Spanish GP - Third practice The final practice session ahead of the all-important qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix saw Ferrari vault to the head of the timesheets with Felipe Massa recording the fastest lap of the one hour session on a 1:20...  

Felipe Massa's injuries may get Michael Schumacher back on track

Schumacher, a seven-time Formula One champion, might come out of retirement to drive again for Ferrari in place of Massa, who was seriously hurt in a freak accident Saturday. An already strange Formula One season is growing only more curious -- and intriguing.

British grand prix – live!

Join Gemma for all the action. Any insights, questions or comments can be e-mailed hereLap 17: Raikkonen (P10) has leap-frogged Nakajima (P11) in those stops. Hamilton - being held up by the slower Kubica - tells his engineer he cannot pass as he has no grip.Lap 16: Kazuki 'I'm running on a wisp of fuel' Nakajima is the first to pit. He stays on the harder tyre. Vettel does another fastest lap. Button is now 27.4 seconds adrift of the leader. Raikkonen also pits.Lap 12: Not much drama to report I'm afraid folks. Here's the order: Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Nakajima (I know!), Raikkonen, Rosberg, Trulli, Button, Massa, Glock, Fisichella (go on my son), Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica, Hamilton, Piquet, Bourdais, Buemi, Kovalainen and Sutil.Lap 11: My carefully-positioned boyfriend... erm, sorry, I mean track-side mole... is embedded at Club. But all he has to report is that there are plenty of chips being consumed (gernerous servings too, apparently). And it's a bit chilly.Lap 10: Vettel's lead now 10 seconds and he's just posted another fastest lap. Webber maintains his close pursuit of Barrichello but has not thrown any moves.Lap nine: Hamilton's engineers have told him he must get past Kubica (P14). But the Brit said yesterday that his car is so poor the only way to drive it is slowly.Lap eight: Heidfeld is running well in 12th, having started 15th, despite his poorly nose (on the car, you understand).Lap seven: Vettel's lead is over 7 seconds now, but there's only eight tenths between Barrichello and Webber. Button still in eighth - he's over 15 seconds shy of the race leader now.Lap five: Webber is six seconds behind his team-mate in third. He'll need to get past Barrichello if he wants to hunt him down. Kubica has taken 14th from Hamilton - looks like happened when Alonso (in P13) ran wide and held up Hamilton, allowing the BMW through.Lap four: Over the radio we can hear Heidfeld's engineer telling him 'box! box!' (which means pit, not slam another driver in the face) for a new nose. But the militant German says 'nein'. He'll wait until the first stop. Vettel's lead now 4.4sec.Lap three: Vettel is storming - he made almost a second on Barrichello in that lap. Kovalainen wins the prize for worst start: he lined up in 13th and he's back in 19th.Lap two: Vettel's lead is already 2.5seconds, he's the fastest car on track. Hamilton is up to 14th already - he can see a points finish in his sights. Button has re-passed Massa for eighth.Lap one: Trulli also dropped down the order at the start. The Ferraris both got flyers - Massa looked fantastic surging past Button. The order in the top ten after the first tour: Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Nakajima, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Trulli, Massa, Button and Glock.The start: Vettel good start, keeps ahead of Barrichello and Webber. Button has dropped down to eighth.Most of the frontrunners - apart from the Williams cars - are starting on the softer option tyres. We're about to get underway...Enough politics. We're counting down to the start of the GP now. It looks a little breezy at the former airfield. Flavio Briatore has told the BBC's Martin Brundle that he "loves" Bernie Ecclestone. Victoria Pendleton "cannot believe" that she's been standing on the Formula One grid. And Lewis Hamilton is casting round for a pair of binoculars so he can get a glimpse of the front of the pack...More breaking news: The Big Row has given Donington Park a 'get out of jail free' card. Apparently, if the planned breakaway goes ahead, the circuit bosses can pull out of their contract to host the GP. Which would help them out of any hole, were they not to achieve the funding necessary to bring the circuit up to scratch, wouldn't it?I think the news editor will pull out my computer's power cable if I don't mention The Big Row. The latest news: in a quote that will leave the City's finest barristers weeping into their copies of the Sunday Times this morning, Max Mosley has said that a resolution is imminent. "I think we would rather talk than litigate," he said. "We are very, very close as far as the facts are concerned. It's just if the teams want to sit down and iron out the last few difficulties." So are we close to a resolution then? Let's hope so: my fingernails are already bitten to the quick and I can handle any more last-minute re-writes. But what do you care about my bleeding hands - email me with your thoughts.Elsewhere on the grid, the Williams pair were light-fuelled and running highly. But the big story had to be Lewis Hamilton's dire 19th position. He wasn't helped by the red flags coming out owing to Adrian Sutil's heafty shunt, but the reigning champion later claimed he had little more to come from his curtailed flying lap. At least it'll be fun to watch him try and work his way up the field. Funny, though, how we've been uttering that line for the past few races. But we absolutely won't say 'what a difference a year makes'. That would be too cliched. Ooops.So Vettel, the only man other than Jenson to have won a grand prix this season, sits on pole. And what a lap it was. Information on the fuel loads released last night showed that the young German's car was carrying two more laps of fuel compared to team-mate Webber - with the Brawn GP drivers' cars carrying less than both the Red Bulls. So you'd have to fancy that the energy drink-powered cars have the edge, right? Both drivers praised recent technical developments made by the Milton Keynes-based squad, while Button could only whinge about his skitterish Brawn.1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes3. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota5. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota6. Jenson Button, Brawn-Mercedes7. Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota8. Timo Glock, Toyota9. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari10. Fernando Alonso, Renault11. Felipe Massa, Ferrari12. Robert Kubica, BMW-Sauber13. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes14. Nelson Piquet, Renault15. Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber16. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India-Mercedes17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso-Ferrari18. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes19. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes20. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-FerrariBut let's say 'pah!' to those anoraks at the circuit anyway - they were smugly expecting to watch hero-de-jour Jenson Button triumph, weren't they? Not so confident now though. Sixth on the grid? What's all that about we demanded after yesterday's qualifying session. No grip, according to Sir Jenson of Frome. Skating around like a duckling on an icy pond, apparently. Ole Button has written off his chances of victory already, so what can we expect from today's race? Let's remind ourselves of the grid...Well hello. So you're not one of the 90,000 people who've made the pilgrimage to Silverstone for it's last-ever Formula One grand prix* (*possibly) then? Never mind. I was going to say that it'll probably rain and you're better off tucked up on your sofa watching the action with a mug of tea and a packet of Hob Nobs. But I have to report that when I left home this morning - the Briggs abode being close enough to the track that the fat cats' helicopters were interfering with my television signal as I tried to watch Roary the Racing Car early this morning - the skies were a beautiful blue and not a drop of moisture threatened my 'do.Formula oneMotor sportBrawnToyotaFerrariToro RossoRed BullForce IndiaRenaultSauberWilliamsMcLarenLewis HamiltonJenson Buttonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Race Review - Ferrari

Sakhir, 26th April 2009 - Kimi Raikkonen finished the Bahrain Grand Prix in sixth place, driving an attacking race to bring home the first points of the season, (three) for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.

Ferrari and co in pursuit of Brawn

Brawn and Red Bull blaze an early-season trail as the big guns play technical catch-upAt 8am yesterday, two hours before practice was due to begin for tomorrow's Spanish grand prix, a large red box was unloaded by forklift from a delivery truck with an Italian registration. The flat packing case, measuring 3 metres by 1.5 metres, was manoeuvred into the Ferrari area where the latest car parts were swiftly unpacked.It was part of a never-ending development process that has been accelerated by lessons learned in the first four races of the season. After grands prix in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain the teams have been able to return to their European bases for two weeks of work. Ferrari, along with McLaren and BMW, were the pre-season favourites but, instead of leading the way in the season's opening leg, all three have been forced to play catch-up thanks to the unexpected level of competitiveness displayed by Brawn, Red Bull Racing and, to a lesser degree, Toyota.Development has always been part of a routine that exists from the moment a new car first turns a wheel. When McLaren gave Lewis Hamilton a car capable of winning the championship in 2008, they made approximately 3,000 changes, some so small they were invisible to the untrained eye. But this year's schedule of improvement has increased in significance because of the far-reaching revisions to the technical regulations for 2009 and their successful interpretation, particularly by Brawn.The blessing conferred by the sport's governing body on the diffuser used by Brawn, Toyota and Williams has prompted the burning of midnight oil as McLaren, Ferrari and the rest introduce the aerodynamic device which is alleged to be worth as much as half a second a lap. Brawn say there is more to their car than merely the diffuser, a fact supported by Red Bull winning a race without one, but such an uncomfortable truth has done little to stem the frantic reworking of the cars at Ferrari and elsewhere."The first race in Europe usually represents something of a second start to the season," said Mario Theissen, BMW's director of motor sport. "For the BMW Sauber F1 Team, this applies more so than usual this year as we cannot be satisfied with the first four races. After our positive winter testing, all of us envisaged a rather different start. The car is not fast enough and we have only one podium finish – Nick Heidfeld's second in Malaysia."We are approaching this challenge in a positive way and we are working intensively to get back to our old form. We have brought an extensive aero­dynamics-focused development package to Barcelona and we are already working on further upgrades."BMW finished a strong third behind Ferrari and McLaren in the 2008 constructors' championship thanks in part to Robert Kubica scoring BMW's first win in Canada. BMW are sixth with a mere four points, less than a tenth of Brawn's tally. McLaren are marginally better off with 13 points thanks to Hamilton scoring in the past three races and a fifth place for Heikki Kovalainen in China.Unlike BMW, McLaren recognised immediately that their 2009 contender was off the pace and began a series of upgrades that were introduced during the so-called 'flyaway races' outside Europe."The schedule for the first four races was very tough for everyone," said Hamilton. "So coming back to Europe almost feels like a fresh start. After such a positive performance in Bahrain, we're fully aware that the characteristics of the Barcelona track won't suit our car so well. In addition, we won't have the bigger upgrades of some of the other teams as we already introduced several new parts during the opening flyaways, so it will be interesting to see where we sit in the order."Nevertheless the engineers are optimistic that our new diffuser and front wing will once again help us to make progress towards the front of the grid."If BMW have made the most wide-ranging changes, then Ferrari are not far behind with heavily revised aerodynamics, a factor that is more critical on the Circuit de Catalunya than anywhere else. Brawn may have made comparatively few changes thanks to having already used up most of their limited resources and, more important, the car being quick in the first place but, as their team principal, Ross Brawn, points out, there is no room for complacency."The team had to make a tremendous effort simply to have two cars on the grid for the first race in Melbourne," said Brawn. "The success we have achieved has been a well-deserved reward for all our hard work, which has been supported by the commitment of our engine partner Mercedes-Benz. The short break since returning from Bahrain has enabled the team to regroup in Brackley and spend time reflecting on our first four races."The field has compressed considerably since Australia and the performance margins at the front are now very tight indeed. Whilst we have been away racing over the past few weeks, the factory has been working extremely hard on our upgrade package for the car."The true value of such concentrated effort across the board will not become apparent until the end of 66 laps tomorrow afternoon. The chances are that, despite the remarkable endeavour, the status quo will remain.Formula oneMcLarenSauberFerrariBrawnRed BullMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds