Raikkonen considering future in F1

Vows to see out his current Ferrari deal Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that he may not stay in Formula One beyond the expiry of his 2010 contract...  

Button pips Vettel to pole in Spain

• Jenson Button posts quickest time in dramatic last lap• Lewis Hamilton starts 14th on the grid in McLarenBrawn GP's Jenson Button snatched pole position from Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel in a dramatic finish to qualifying at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.The British driver posted the fastest time of the day on his final lap with a time of one minute 20.52 seconds to beat Germany's Vettel to the No1 slot on the grid by just 0.133 seconds. The last eight winners at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, and 13 of the last 14 overall, have all started on pole, underlining how notoriously difficult it is to overtake on this track. It was Button's sixth pole of his career, and third this season.The current champion, Lewis Hamilton, finished a disappointing 14th after yesterday being honoured by unveiling a champions plaque at the circuit.The season's two most impressive drivers now look set to slug it out for the drivers' championship with Button on 31 points and Vettel on 19 for the four races to date. Button will be hoping to make it four wins out of five tomorrow."It could have gone very wrong, but it was by far the best lap I've had this weekend, so I'm very happy. It was a bit of a surprise," Button said."When I heard the shouts I had qualified on pole, it felt very good. The package is a good step forward. We have to work with it a bit more, and get the most out of it – I hope we can anyway. But I'm excited. I didn't expect to be sat in this position at the moment."Vettel, who has qualified in the top three in each of the five races this season, said: "We have a very strong car. This weekend it has worked pretty well, but not good enough to beat Jenson. I would have loved to have had the pole, but second position is great."Lewis Hamilton's 14th is the worst position of his F1 career in the dry."I guess it's a bit of a disappointing qualifying for us. We did the best we could, but the laps weren't fantastic. We had hoped to be higher up," Hamilton said."But it's not last, and there's lots that can happen. It's a long tough race, so I hope we can get a point, that would be great."Kimi Raikkonen's miserable season continued with 16th place after Ferrari mistakenly calculated his time after just five laps would be enough. It was the second time this season Ferrari had called a driver in too early, with Felipe Massa suffering due to the team's overconfidence in Malaysia.Raikkonen was forced to sit in the garage as his name slowly slid down the timing screen until coming to rest at 16th, his worst performance since Australia last year.Raikkonen said: "It's really disappointing because the car was looking in good shape this weekend. I was not too keen to go out again either really because I thought the time we had done would be enough."1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1min 20.527secs2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:20.6603 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:20.7624 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:20.9345 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21.0496 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:21.2477 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.2548 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:21.3929 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:22.55810 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:22.68511 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:20.53112 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 1:20.60413 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:20.67614 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:20.80515 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.06716 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:21.29117 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.30018 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:21.67519 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:21.74220 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:22.204Formula oneJenson ButtonLewis Hamiltonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Ferrari dismiss tabloid rumours

Pressure on Ferrari to perform in Spain Rumours in the Barcelona paddock indicate that tension between Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferrari management is growing...  

Raikkonen to contest another rally

Moving from gravel to asphalt this time Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen is set to contest yet another professional rally, his third of the year...  

Jenson Button on Monaco pole

• British driver pips Kimi Raikkonen into second position• World champion Hamilton to start 16th after sliding offJenson Button put himself in the perfect position from which to win his fifth race of the season when he took pole position for tomorrow's Monaco grand prix with a last-minute lap of 1min 14.902 sec during today's final qualifying session.Next to his Brawn-Mercedes on the front row will be the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, with the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello and the Red Bull-Renault of Sebastian Vettel behind them. Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Nico Rosberg are on the third row, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren-Mercedes and Mark Webber's Red Bull.Of the 55 editions of the race held since the second world war, 22 have been won by the driver starting from pole position. The forecast is for fine weather in the principality tomorrow, reducing the risk of the sort of chaos that can produce a surprise result on this tight street circuit.Button's challengers are unlikely to include Lewis Hamilton, who found his way past an all-Ferrari front row to win his first Monaco GP with a brilliant display last year but crashed out of today's first session. He had just clocked the fastest first-sector time when he lost control under heavy braking for the sharp right-hander at Mirabeau, sliding wide and clouting the barrier with his left rear wheel.The red flag came out to call a temporary halt to the session while marshals removed the McLaren-Mercedes and Hamilton walked back to the pits, resigned to a place on the eighth row of the grid for tomorrow's race. To compound his frustration, the car had been looking like a candidate for its best result of the season on a circuit where its mechanical grip is not compromised by its aerodynamic deficiencies.Others who failed to make it past the first session included the entire BMW and Toyota teams, with Nick Heifeld and Robert Kubica an ignominious 17th and 18th in the German cars and Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock an even worse 19th and 20th for the Japanese manufacturer.Trulli, normally an outstanding performer in qualifying and a winner of this race from pole position five years ago, claimed to have been baulked by a Renault. For the BMWs, however, there was no excuse. Those who were watching the morning's untimed session out by the entry to the swimming pool complex could not fail to notice how twitchy the white cars looked as they changed direction through the fast left-right flick, a place in which the Brawns looked almost unnaturally stable."It's not going to be easy," Button said afterwards, looking forward to starting as favourite to win for the first time in the place where he has lived for the past eight years. "But it's a great feeling to be on pole here."Formula oneJenson ButtonLewis HamiltonMotor sportMcLarenBrawnFerrariguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Raikkonen crashes out of tarmac rally

Ferrari star at the wheel of the Abarthe Grande Punto Kimi Raikkonen at the weekend crashed out of his latest foray into the world of professional rallying...