Raikkonen to quit F1 for rallying - report

Jul.14 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen looks likely to quit formula one to launch a full time rallying foray in 2010, the Finnish sports magazine Veikkaaja claims.

Domenicali: "Believe team and facts, not rumours"

Jul.15 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen's Finnish agent as well as Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali have fended off the latest round of rumours regarding the 2007 world champion.

Raikkonen's agent and Domenicali deny rumours

WRC foray changes nothing to F1 commitment Kimi Raikkonen's Finnish agent, as well as Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali, have fended off the latest round of rumours regarding the 2007 World Champion...  

Massa crashes in qualifying race

• Alonso takes pole with Red Bull duo second and third• Button qualifies in eighth with Hamilton fourthFelipe Massa was airlifted to a local hospital following a crash in qualifying for the Hungarian grand prix that knocked the Brazilian unconscious.Massa ran over a piece of debris on the track towards the close of the middle 15-minute session that had been deposited earlier by Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP. The debris appeared to lodge beneath the Ferrari, seemingly locking into place not only the steering column, but also the throttle. On-screen graphics showed the throttle was open as he straight-lined off the track at turn four, ploughing nose first into a tyre barrier.Skid marks across the considerable run-off area showed the 28-year-old had at least attempted to brake before the collision. However, the fact he made no attempt to turn away from the impact suggested a further problem with the steering.The force of the collision knocked Massa unconscious as he showed no signs of movement inside the cockpit of his car for some time before being attended to by on-track paramedics. After being taken to the circuit's medical centre in what the FIA described as "a stable condition", Massa was then flown to a city hospital for further examination, a standard procedure in formula one.To add to the drama, the timing screens went black towards the end of the top-10 shootout, throwing everybody into confusion as not even the drivers had a clue as to who had taken pole. After several minutes, it finally came through that Fernando Alonso for Renault had taken pole, followed by the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, with Lewis Hamilton fourth for McLaren.It was the double world champion's first pole since the Italian Grand Prix in 2007, and the 18th of his career. Explaining the chaos at the end, Alonso said: "We were chatting amongst ourselves in parc ferme trying to find out what happened. It was a fantastic effort from the team. We put in some new parts at the Nurburging [German Grand Prix], and we've showed we have made a step forward."Behind world champion Hamilton will be Williams' Nico Rosberg, the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, with championship leader Jenson Button down in eighth. The heat of Budapest was meant to aid Button's cause after the cool of Britain and Germany had led to Red Bull one-twos in the last two races. But not even the sunshine could come to Button's aid, and his 21-point lead in the title race threatens to be eroded further at the Hungaroring.Behind Button are Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, with Massa 10th as he naturally took no part in the closing 10 minutes, however, he will be in a position to race tomorrow.In the 15-minute Q2, the biggest loser was Rubens Barrichello, with the Brazilian failing to make it into the top 10 for the first time this season due to the part that broke off his car.The 37-year-old will start a miserable 13th, with that failure potentially wrecking his championship chances, which could now prompt Brawn into putting all their eggs into Button's basket.Although rookie Jaime Alguersuari became the youngest to take part in a Formula One qualifying session, there was no fairytale for the 19-year-old. Alguersuari had run faultlessly through three practice sessions, at least proving he was anything but "a danger" as suggested by triple world champion Niki Lauda.In qualifying, however, Alguersuari was undermined by an electrical fault that forced him to pull his Toro Rosso off track in the final sector. Come the conclusion of the 20-minute period, Alguersuari sat at the bottom of the timesheets, in many respects where he was expected to finish even if his car had not let him down.Grid positions after Qualifying1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1min 21.569secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:21.607, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21.741, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:21.839, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:21.890, 6 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:22.095, 7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:22.468, 8 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:22.511, 9 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:22.835, 10 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari No time, 11 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.002, 12 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.082, 13 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:21.222, 14 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:21.242, 15 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:21.389, 16 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:21.738, 17 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:21.807, 18 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:21.868, 19 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:21.901, 20 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.359Formula OneLewis HamiltonJenson ButtonMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hamilton returns to winning ways

• 'It's been a long time' says delighted McLaren driver• Fernando Alonso handed suspension for European grand prixLewis Hamilton had almost forgotten the routine for the first three finishers. Today the world champion, for two seasons so familiar with it, had to remind himself of the procedure after winning the Hungarian grand prix and finishing on the podium for the first time in 2009."Great to see you. It's been a long time," he said as he walked beaming into the conference room along with Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber. Hamilton's obvious pleasure came from reacquainting himself with spraying victory champagne and appreciating the McLaren team's efforts in returning him to the podium. "This has been a huge leap for us," he said. "We definitely deserve this after such a long time and after a season that has been very hard on everyone in the team."Once the McLaren engineers had finally established the fundamental faults with a car that Hamilton had, at times, found impossible to drive, the Woking team worked flat out to produce and test new parts, the latest changes to the front wing arriving on Friday. Hamilton rewarded the effort by qualifying fourth but confessed yesterday that he did not expect to win."It could have gone either way," he said. "But everything just sort of fell into place. I had quite a good start. It was very close and I immediately got into a fight with Mark [Webber]. He was very fair and I was able to use Kers to good advantage."McLaren and Ferrari are the only two teams persisting with Kers energy retention, a system which was not expected to deliver a significant performance advantage on the twists and turns of the Hungaroring. But Hamilton and Raikkonen, who finished second for Ferrari, used the 6.5sec power boost on the main straight as a means of keeping the opposition at bay.Hamilton's cause was helped by Renault's plans for a first win this season coming apart within 12 laps. Fernando Alonso had claimed pole position by running with a light load of fuel during qualifying and planning to stop three times for fuel as opposed to the two-stop strategy favoured by everyone else. Alonso took the lead as planned but was soon slowed by fuel pump problems. The denouement for the former world champion was more embarrassing when he lost a front wheel shortly after his first pit stop, letting Hamilton into a lead he would not lose.Renault, world champions in 2006 and 2007, were suspended from the next race in Valencia, a home grand prix for Alonso. The team have appealed. The stewards decided that Alonso was released from his pit in the knowledge that the wheel securing nut was not in position "which resulted in a heavy part of the car detaching at Turn 5 and the wheel itself detaching at Turn 9". It is perhaps no coincidence that the decision comes a week after Henry Surtees was killed by an errant wheel at Brands Hatch."Maybe we would not have won but we definitely missed an opportunity to finish on the podium," said Alonso, before hearing the stewards' decision. "The car was quick but there was a problem fitting the right-front wheel at the first pit stop. When I left the pits there was a lot of vibration and it felt like I had a puncture. But then a few corners later the wheel flew off my car. I made it back to the pits for a replacement but a problem I'd had with my fuel pump since lap two returned and I had to retire."It might have been Raikkonen assuming the lead had the Finn managed to overtake Hamilton during an eventful first lap as the Ferrari driver elbowed his way past Nico Rosberg's Williams, the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull."I had a collision on the first corner with Kimi," said Vettel. "I was on the inside and had a clear run to accelerate, his car came sideways and we touched. He crashed into my car; it can happen. At some point the front-left suspension gave up and we had to retire the car. There are still a few races left this season and the championship fight is still on."Vettel dropped to third place on the points standings after Webber finished on the podium for the fourth race in succession. "I think Lewis thoroughly deserved to win today," said Webber. "It was a good day for the sport to have McLaren and Ferrari back up there."Jenson Button, although disappointed with the performance of his Brawn, ought to agree because Hamilton and Raikkonen claimed points that otherwise would have gone to Webber, now Button's closest championship rival. Button's team never fully recovered from the setback during qualifying when a rear spring fell off Rubens Barrichello's car and caused the serious accident involving Felipe Massa. Button's qualifying was compromised as safety checks were made to his car but the championship leader was not happy from the outset of the race, complaining that he could barely drive the car.Hamilton had made similar comments about his McLaren during previous races and Button can only hope that his team can recover lost ground during the summer break before the European grand prix on 23 August.Formula OneLewis HamiltonJenson ButtonMcLarenMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Stewards verdicts: Raikkonen & Webber

Both Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber have received no punishment after being investigated by the stewards for two separate incidents. Webber and his team were called infront of the stewards for the unsafe release on Webber into Raikkonen's path, and Raikkonen for his first lap tangles with Vettel.