F1 Drivers

Mika Pauli Häkkinen

2008-03-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Mika Pauli Häkkinen (pronunciation (help·info)) (born September 28, 1968 in Helsingin maalaiskunta) is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One champion. He was Michael Schumacher's greatest rival in F1 from 1998-2000 (see results section below). The German has said himself that Häkkinen is the rival he respected the most during his Formula One career.

Personal and early life

Mika Häkkinen was born in Helsingin maalaiskunta (now Vantaa), Finland on September 28, 1968 to Harri, a short wave radio operator and part-time taxi driver, and Aila Häkkinen, who worked as a secretary. Mika grew up with one sister, Nina, who ran a fan site for her brother until its closure in 1998. Häkkinen married Erja Honkanen in 1998. The couple have one son, Hugo Ronan (born December 11, 2000) and one daughter, Aina Julia (born May 12, 2005). Media reports in early 2008 suggested the couple were applying for divorce. Since 1991, Häkkinen has resided in Monte Carlo although he also has houses in France and Finland.

Racing career

Pre-Formula One (until 1990)

When Häkkinen was five years old, his parents hired a go-kart for him to take to a track near their home. On his first lap, Häkkinen was involved in an accident, escaping unhurt. Despite this crash, Häkkinen wished to continue racing and after persistently annoying his parents, the young Finn got his wish. His father bought Häkkinen his first go-kart, one that Henri Toivonen had previously competed with.

By 1986, Häkkinen had won five karting championships. 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg helped Häkkinen by arranging him sponsorship that aided the Finn through the junior categories of open wheel racing. The "New Flying Finn" won three Scandinavian championships, then the Opel Lotus Euroseries championship before winning the British Formula Three championship and coming close to winning the 1990 Macau Grand Prix but missing out due to an accident, which resulted in his promotion to Formula One with the Lotus team.

Formula One (1991-2001)

Lotus (1991-1992)

1991

Häkkinen joined Lotus in 1991. He qualified 13th for his Grand Prix debut in Phoenix, and would also have finished the race in the same position but his car experienced an engine failure on lap 60. Häkkinen scored his first Grand Prix points two rounds later in Imola, where he finished fifth from 25th on the grid, three laps behind the race winner, Ayrton Senna. Häkkinen finished the season in equal 15th alongside Satoru Nakajima and Martin Brundle.

1992

Johnny Herbert joined Häkkinen for 1992. The Finn continued his form from 1991, with points scoring finishes in six Grands Prix, his best finishes being fourth places in France and Hungary. Häkkinen finished the season in eighth place in the Drivers' Championship, with almost six times as many points as during the previous season.

McLaren (1993-2001)

1993

In 1993, Häkkinen joined McLaren as test driver with a view to be promoted into the race team later on. In Monaco he returned to racing with a guest drive in the Porsche Supercup race, an event he dominated. His hopes of stepping up to the race team were realised after Monza, when Michael Andretti left F1 after disappointing results. Häkkinen's McLaren race debut at Estoril was impressive. In his first outing for the team, he outqualified their star driver Ayrton Senna, much to the Brazilian legend's annoyance. Unfortunately, when pushing too hard through the final corner of the track during the race, he ran wide onto the dirty side of the curb, launching the car towards the pit wall. At the time he was running in a point-scoring position. He went on to score a podium finish fifteen seconds behind his triple world champion team-mate during the next weekend at Suzuka, his first career podium.

1994

With Senna departing to Williams for 1994, Häkkinen became the leading driver for McLaren with Martin Brundle as his teammate. McLaren had also switched from Ford engines to Peugeot. During the season, Häkkinen took six more podium finishes to add to his sole podium of 1993, including a second place in Belgium. The Finn finished the year fourth in the Drivers' Championship with a tally of 26 points.

1995

1995 would be the start of a long relationship between Häkkinen's McLaren team and the German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. A further two second places in Italy and Japan put the Finn's tally of podiums up to nine. Then, at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, Häkkinen had a tyre failure during free practice, which resulted in him crashing heavily into the wall. He was saved only due to an emergency tracheotomy that was performed by the side of the track. This incident forged a strong bond between Häkkinen and team principal Ron Dennis, and also sent forth a new movement for extra safety in the sport. Luckily, Häkkinen recovered almost fully and was fit to race again in 1996 thus only missing one race.

1996

The 1996 season saw McLaren improve; Mercedes-Benz were in their second season of engine supply to the team and Häkkinen managed to return to the podium, although his first win still eluded him. That season saw David Coulthard join the team from Williams. At the Spa circuit he nearly registered his first win while using a one stop race strategy, until Jos Verstappen caused a yellow flag to allow all other cars to pit under yellow. Based on timing, Häkkinen would have won the race by over 10 seconds without this event. Häkkinen finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship, scoring a total of 31 points.

1997

McLaren were confident of success in 1997. With the distinctive red and white colours of Marlboro replaced by the silver and black colours of West, the team returned to their winning ways. Coulthard took the first win for McLaren in over three seasons at the Australian Grand Prix. Through the year the McLarens began to regularly challenge the frontrunners, but it was Coulthard who finished higher in the championship. Häkkinen came close to an elusive breakthrough victory a number of times in 1997, not least at Silverstone, A1-Ring and Nürburgring. At Jerez he finally managed to cross the line first, although Villeneuve had allegedly been asked to consider whether it was necessary to keep the Finn behind him at all costs in the closing stages of the race, this being due to the incident with Michael Schumacher in the closing stages of the race - an incident similar to the one in 1994's final race.

1998

A winner at last, Häkkinen was confident of further success in 1998. With Adrian Newey, the renowned former Williams-Renault designer, now on board at McLaren, Häkkinen found himself in the fastest car for early 1998 season. He did not waste the opportunity, going on to win eight races and a maiden World Championship. His speed when under pressure was highly impressive, particularly at the final race in Japan, where he held his nerves and won the race. His title rival Michael Schumacher on the other hand, stalled on the grid, leaving himself too much to do to beat Häkkinen.

1999

His title defence in 1999 was tougher. With the McLaren not as reliable as the previous year, he lost out on a number of points early in the season, but by the time of Schumacher's leg-breaking crash at Silverstone, he had overtaken the German in the standings. Eddie Irvine now took on the mantle of Ferrari team leader and through reliability problems with the McLaren, and mistakes from Häkkinen, took the title battle down to the last race, again in Japan. Häkkinen had made several major errors at Imola and Monza, both times crashing out whilst in a strong lead, and some questioned whether he could handle the pressure of a title decider once more. Come Japan however, he was back on top form and romped to a victory that secured him a second world championship, almost an entire lap ahead of title rival Irvine with Schumacher a close second.

2000

As a double World Champion, he had joined an elite group of drivers. For 2000, he was eager to score a hat-trick of crowns, but an improved Ferrari, combined with some inspired driving from Michael Schumacher, saw him finish runner-up to the German. At Spa however, he had taken his greatest victory, with a sensational simultaneous pass on Michael Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta in the Kemmel straight. This was the last point in his career when he was both the reigning world champion and also leading the world championship of the current year, as in the next Grand Prix Schumacher took over the Championship lead, which he was to ascertain in an epic duel with Mika at the 2000 Japanese Grand Prix. Schumacher went on to describe his championship fight with Mika as the most satisfying one in his career, an indication of the great respect between the two multiple champions.

2001

In 2001, he took part in what would prove to be his last season of Formula One. The McLaren was not as competitive and it was Coulthard who carried the threat to Schumacher for much of the season. There were days however when Häkkinen reminded people of his skills. In Spain he was in the lead on the last lap to record his fourth straight Spanish Grand Prix victory but he had a failure and was forced to retire yards away from victory. At Silverstone he dominated the race to take his first victory of the year, whilst at Indianapolis he put in a stirring drive to take his last Grand Prix win. At the end of the season he left racing, initially for a sabbatical, but by mid-2002 this had become full-time retirement.

DTM (2005-2007)

During 2004 Häkkinen announced plans for a Grand Prix comeback and held talks with Williams for 2005. A deal was not reached and he instead made a race comeback in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), with Mercedes-Benz. It was a successful season, including one win at Spa.

For 2006 he again competed in the DTM championships with Mercedes, although it was a more difficult season, with a couple of second places his best results. Autosport magazine has speculated that Mika's style of driving is not especially suited to a DTM car.

At the 2006 Goodwood Festival Of Speed, Häkkinen drove the 2005 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20. Many said that it was great once again to see Häkkinen in a McLaren, as he was the last driver to win the World Championship in a McLaren.

On the 26th January 2007 it was confirmed on www.dtm.de that Mika would stay on at Mercedes for a third season in the series. His third season in the series though tainted by some bad luck in places, has been by far his most competitive, regularly qualifying on the front row and is currently the only driver in the series to have won two races this season.

Possible Return to F1

After Häkkinen's sabbatical year and subsequent retirement, rumours of his return have been reported on several occasions. Häkkinen was linked to Williams during the 2004 season, because of Montoya going to McLaren-Mercedes following year.

At the end of the 2006 season there were further rumours regarding Häkkinen returning to the wheel of a McLaren-Mercedes for the 2007 season. Autosport magazine reported that Häkkinen had tested a McLaren simulator twice during November and discussed a possible comeback with the team. On November 24 McLaren announced that Lewis Hamilton would take the team's second seat in 2007, ending the speculation of a possible return to a Formula One drivers seat. However, Mika may still participate in an advisory role with Ron Dennis stating that "Mika can evaluate some of the things we are developing and bringing to the car." On Thursday, November 30, Häkkinen tested the 2006 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-21 for a full day at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Barcelona, Spain. Mika completed 79 laps of the circuit, but his fastest lap was three seconds off the pace of regular race drivers. McLaren are using his expertise to see how Formula One has evolved over the years since his retirement from Formula One at the 2001 Japanese Grand Prix for possible developments which may come out of this testing. Ron Dennis has stated that this might be Häkkinen's only Formula One test for the Woking team.

Mika has also been named as the Responsible Drinking Ambassador for McLaren sponsor Johnnie Walker.^[9]

Retirement

Häkkinen announced his retirement from competitive motorsport on Sunday, November 4th 2007. He was quoted as saying that the decision "was not an easy one," but added that "racing is still in my blood and this decision does not mean that this will prevent me from racing for pleasure."

Pictures of more like Wallpapers of Mika Häkkinen

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pic 1: F1 1992 Mika Hakkinen during San Marino Grand Prix
pic 2: F1 1995 Mika Hakkinen in the garage in Buenos Aires

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pic 1: F1 1992 Johnny Herbert chases Mika Hakkinenin Mexico
pic 2: F1 1992 Mika Hakkinen during British Grand Prix

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pic 1: The Flying Finn Mika Hakkinen
pic 2: F1 1996 Mika Hakkinen in the garage at Silverstone

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pic 1: F1 1996 Mika Hakkinen during Australian Grand Prix
pic 2: F1 1996 Mika Hakkinen in Budapest

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pic 1: F1 1995 Mika Hakkinen in Argentina
pic 2: F1 1993 Mika Hakkinen prepares to his first race with McLaren team

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pic 1: F1 1996 Mika Hakkinen at Albert Park circuit
pic 2: F1 1996 Mika Hakkinen at Magny Cours

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pic 1: F1 1996 Mika Hakkinen at Monza
pic 2: F1 1994 Mika Hakkinen at Monza

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pic 1: F1 1995 Mika Hakkinen at Catalunya
pic 2: F1 1995 Mika Hakkinen during Spanish Grand Prix

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pic 1: F1 1995 Mika Hakkinenin Montreal
pic 2: F1 1997 Mika Hakkinen in the garage in Barcelona

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pic 1: F1 1997 Mika Hakkinen at Catalunya
pic 2: F1 1997 Mika Hakkinen at Jerez

Michael Schumacher

2008-03-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

Michael Schumacher (pronounced [ˈmɪçaʔeːl ˈʃuːmaχɐ], born January 3, 1969, in Hürth Hermülheim, Germany) is a former Formula One driver, and seven-time world champion. According to the official Formula One website, he is "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen". He is the first German to win the Formula One World championship and is credited with popularising Formula One in Germany. In a 2006 FIA survey, Michael Schumacher was voted the most popular driver among Formula One fans.

After winning two championships with Benetton, Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996 and won five consecutive drivers' titles with them from 2000-2004. Schumacher holds many records in Formula One, including most drivers' championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions, points scored and most races won in a single season. Schumacher is the first and only Formula One driver to have an entire season of podium finishes (2002). His driving sometimes created controversy: he was twice involved in collisions that determined the outcome of the world championship, most notably his disqualification from the 1997 championship for causing a collision with Jacques Villeneuve. After the 2006 Formula One season Schumacher retired from race driving. He was an assistant to Scuderia Ferrari CEO Jean Todt for the 2007 Formula One season.

Off the track, Schumacher is an ambassador for UNESCO and a spokesman for driver safety. He has been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts throughout his life. He is the elder brother of former Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher.

Early years

Schumacher was born in Hürth Hermülheim, to Rolf, a bricklayer, and Elisabeth. When Schumacher was four, his father modified the young boy's pedal kart by adding a small motorcycle engine. After the young Schumacher crashed it into a lamp post in Kerpen, his parents took him to the local karting track at Kerpen-Horrem where he became the youngest member of the karting club. His father soon built him a proper kart from discarded parts and at the age of six Schumacher won his first club championship. To support his son's racing, Rolf Schumacher took on a second job renting and repairing karts at the circuit, while his wife worked at the track's canteen stand. Despite the extra income, when Schumacher needed a new engine costing DM800 (400 €) his parents were unable to afford it, but their son was able to continue racing through support offered by several local businessmen.

In Germany the regulations required the driver to be at least 14 years old in order to obtain a kart license. To get around this, Schumacher obtained a license in Luxembourg in 1981, at the age of 12. In 1983 he obtained his German license and the year after he won the German Junior Kart Championship. From 1984, Schumacher won numerous German and European kart championships. He joined Eurokart dealer Adolf Neubert in 1985. By 1987 he was the German and European kart champion, at which point he withdrew from school and began working as a mechanic. In 1988 Schumacher made his first step into single-seat car racing by racing in the German Formula Ford and Formula König series, the second of which he won.

In 1989 Michael signed with Willi Weber's WTS Formula 3 team. For the next two years, funded by Weber, he competed in the German Formula 3 series, winning the title in 1990. Towards the end of 1990, along with his Formula 3 rivals Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger, he joined the Mercedes junior racing programme in the World Sports-Prototype Championship. This was an unusual move for a young driver: most of Schumacher's contemporaries would instead compete in Formula 3000 on their way to Formula One. However, Weber advised Schumacher that exposure to professional press conferences and driving powerful cars in long distance races would help his career. He gained victory at the season finale at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in a Sauber-Mercedes C11 and finished fifth in the drivers' championship. He continued with the team in the 1991 season, winning again at the final race of the season at Autopolis in Japan with a Sauber-Mercedes-Benz C291, leading to a ninth place finish in the drivers championship. In 1991 he competed in one race in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship, finishing second.

Formula One career

Overview

Schumacher was noted throughout his career for his ability to produce fast laps at crucial moments in a race, to push his car to the very limit for sustained periods. Motor sport author Christopher Hilton observed in 2003 that "A measure of a driver's capabilities is his performance in wet races, because the most delicate car control and sensitivity are needed," and noted that like other great drivers, Schumacher's record in wet conditions shows very few mistakes: up to the end of the 2003 season, Schumacher won 17 of the 30 races in wet conditions he contested. Some of Schumacher's best performances occurred in such conditions, earning him the title "Regenkönig" (rain king) or "Regenmeister" (rain master). He is known as "the Red Baron", due to his red Ferrari and in reference to the German Manfred von Richthofen, the famous flying ace of World War I. Schumacher's nicknames include "Schumi", "Schuey","Regenmeister" and "Schu".

Schumacher is often credited with popularising Formula One in Germany, where it was formerly considered a fringe sport. In 2006, three of the top ten drivers were German, more than any other nationality and more than have ever been present in Formula One history. Younger German drivers, such as Sebastian Vettel, feel Schumacher was key in their becoming Formula One drivers.

In the latter part of his Formula One career, and as one of the senior drivers, Schumacher was the president of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.

Debut

Schumacher made his Formula One debut with the Jordan-Ford team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix as a replacement for the imprisoned Bertrand Gachot. Schumacher, still a contracted Mercedes driver, was signed by Eddie Jordan after Mercedes paid Jordan $150,000 for his debut. The week before the race, Schumacher impressed Jordan designer Gary Anderson and team manager Trevor Foster during a test drive at Silverstone. His manager Willi Weber assured Jordan that though Schumacher had only seen the challenging Spa track as a spectator, he knew it well. During the race weekend, teammate Andrea de Cesaris was meant to show Schumacher the circuit but was held up with contract negotiations. Schumacher then learned the track on his own, by cycling around the track on a fold-up bike he had brought with him. He impressed the paddock by qualifying seventh in this race, his first competition in a Formula One car. This matched the team's season-best grid position, and out-qualified 11-year veteran de Cesaris. Motorsport journalist Joe Saward reported that after qualifying "clumps of German journalists were talking about 'the best talent since Stefan Bellof'". Schumacher retired on the first lap of the race with clutch problems.

Benetton years

After his debut, and despite Jordan's signed agreement in principle with Schumacher's Mercedes management for the remainder of the season, Schumacher was signed by Benetton-Ford for the following race. Jordan applied for an injunction in the UK courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton, but lost the case as they had not yet signed a contract. Schumacher finished the 1991 season with four points in six races. His best finish was fifth in his second race, the Italian Grand Prix, in which he outpaced his teammate and three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet.

At the start of the 1992 Formula One season the Sauber team, planning their Formula One debut with Mercedes backing for the following year, invoked a clause in Schumacher's contract which stated that if Mercedes entered Formula One, Schumacher would drive for them. It was eventually agreed that Schumacher would stay with Benetton, Peter Sauber commenting "Michael didn't want to drive for us. Why would I have forced him?". The year was dominated by the Williams of Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese, featuring powerful Renault engines, semi-automatic gearboxes and active suspension to control the car's ride height. At the test session in preperation for the 1992 German Grand Prix, Schumacher was grabbed by the throat by Ayrton Senna. In the 'conventional' Benetton B192 Schumacher took his place on the podium for the first time, after finishing third in the 1992 Mexican Grand Prix. He went on to take his first victory at the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix, in a wet race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which by 2003 he would call "far and away my favourite track". He finished third in the Drivers' Championship in 1992 with 53 points, three points behind runner-up Patrese.

The 1993 championship was again dominated by the Williams-Renaults of Damon Hill and Alain Prost. Benetton introduced their own active suspension and traction control early in the season, last of the frontrunning teams to do so. Schumacher was partnered by Riccardo Patrese in Patrese's last year in F1. Schumacher won one race, the Portuguese Grand Prix where he beat Prost, and had nine podium finishes, but retired in seven of the other 15 races. He finished the season in fourth, with 52 points.

1994–1995: World Championship years

In 1994, Schumacher won his first Drivers' Championship. The season, however, was marred by the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger during the third race of the year, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola and by allegations of cheating.

Schumacher won six of the first seven races. He had been leading the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth round, before a gearbox failure left him stuck in fifth gear for 42 laps. Schumacher finished the race in second place, behind Hill. Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren teams were investigated on suspicion of breaking the FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids. Benetton and McLaren initially refused to hand over their source code for investigation. When they did so, the FIA discovered hidden functionality in both teams' software, but no evidence that it had been used in a race. Both teams were fined $100,000 for their initial refusal to cooperate. At the British Grand Prix, Schumacher was penalised for overtaking on the formation lap. He then ignored the penalty and the subsequent black flag, which indicates that the driver must immediately return to the pits, for which he was disqualified and later given a two-race ban. Benetton blamed the fiasco on a communication error between the stewards and the team. Schumacher was also disqualified after winning the Belgian Grand Prix after his car was found to have illegal wear on its skidblock, a measure used after the accidents at Imola to limit downforce and hence cornering speed. Benetton protested that the skidblock had been damaged when Schumacher spun over a kerb, but the FIA rejected their appeal. These incidents helped Damon Hill close the points gap. With Schumacher leading by a single point going into the final race in Australia, Schumacher made a mistake and left the track. After rejoining, he collided with Hill and crashed out of the race. Furthermore, the damage to Hill's car from the collision forced him to retire. Thus, he became the first German to win the Formula One World Championship.

In 1995 Schumacher successfully defended his title with Benetton. He now had the same Renault engine as Williams. He accumulated 33 more points than second-placed Damon Hill. With teammate Johnny Herbert, he took Benetton to its first Constructors' Championship and became the youngest two-time world champion in Formula One history.

The season was marred by several collisions with Hill, in particular an overtaking manoeuvre by Hill took them both out of the British Grand Prix near the start of the race. Schumacher won nine of the 17 races, and finished on the podium 11 times. Only once did he qualify worse than fourth; at the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix, he qualified 16th, but went on to win the race. After Schumacher left Benetton, the team would win only one more race before being bought by Renault in 2000.

Ferrari years

For 1996, Schumacher joined Ferrari, a team which had last won the Drivers' Championship with Jody Scheckter in 1979 and which had not won the Constructors' Cup since 1983 with drivers Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay at the wheel. He left Benetton a year before his contract with them expired; he later cited the team's damaging actions in 1994 as his reason for opting out of his deal. A year later, ex-Benneton employees Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn, who had been Technical Director at Benetton since 1991 , and who was one of the key members behind Schumacher's title successes with the team in 1994 and 1995, decided to join Schumacher at Ferrari. This highlighted Schumacher's enticement to build a more experienced and potentially championship-winning team around him.

Ferrari had previously come close to the championship in 1982 and 1990. The team had suffered a disastrous downturn in the early 1990s, partially as their famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of their competitors. Various drivers, notably Alain Prost, had given the vehicles labels such as "truck", "pig", and "accident waiting to happen". The poor performance of the Ferrari pit crews was considered a running joke. At the end of 1995, though the team had improved into a solid competitor, it was still considered inferior to front-running teams such as Benetton and Williams. Schumacher declared the Ferrari 412T good enough to win the championship.

Schumacher, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, and Jean Todt (hired in 1993), have been credited as turning this once struggling team into the most successful team in Formula One history. Three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart believes the transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher's greatest feat. Eddie Irvine also joined the team, moving from Jordan.

1996–1999

"It was not a race. It was a demonstration of brilliance."
Stirling Moss about Schumacher at the 1996 Spanish GP^[43]

In 1996, Schumacher finished third in the Drivers' Championship, as well as helping Ferrari edge out his old team Benetton for second in the constructors' race. He won three races, more than the team's total tally for the period from 1991 to 1995. During the initial part of the 1996 season, the car had had reliability trouble and Schumacher did not finish 6 of the 16 races. He took his first win for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he lapped the entire field up to third place in the wet, using an uncharacteristically flamboyant oversteering style. In the French Grand Prix Schumacher qualified in pole position, but suffered engine failure on the race's formation lap. However at Spa-Francorchamps, Schumacher used well-timed pit-stops to fend off the Williams' Jacques Villeneuve. Following that, at Monza, Schumacher scored a momentous win in front of the tifosi. Schumacher's ability, combined with the improving reliability of Ferrari, enabled him to end the season, putting up a challenge to eventual race and championship winner Damon Hill at Suzuka.

Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve vied for the title in 1997. Villeneuve, driving the superior Williams FW19, led the championship in the early part of the season. However, by mid-season, Schumacher had taken the Championship lead, winning five races, and entered the season's final Grand Prix with a one-point advantage. During the race, held at Jerez, Schumacher and Villeneuve collided as Villeneuve passed his rival. Schumacher retired from the race and Villeneuve scored four points to take the championship. Schumacher was held to be at fault for the collision and was disqualified from the Drivers' Championship.

In 1998, Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen became Schumacher's main title competition. Häkkinen won the first two races of the season, gaining a 16 point advantage over Schumacher. With the Ferrari improving significantly and being faster in the second half of the season, Schumacher won six races and had five other podium finishes. Ferrari took a 1-2 finish at the Italian Grand Prix, which tied Schumacher with Häkkinen for the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 80 points, but Häkkinen won the Championship by winning the final two races. There were two controversies; at the British Grand Prix Schumacher was leading on the last lap when he turned into the pit lane, crossed the start finish line and stopped for a ten second stop go penalty. There was some doubt on if this counted as serving the penalty, but the win stood. At Spa, Schumacher was leading the race by 40 seconds in heavy spray, but collided with David Coulthard's McLaren when the Scot, a lap down, slowed in very poor visibility to let Schumacher past. After both cars returned to the pits, Schumacher rushed to McLaren's garage and accused Coulthard of trying to kill him. Later in 2003 David Coulthard admited it was his mistake after he was involved in a similar incident in the European Grand Prix, this time he shunted the back of the backmarker just like Micheal did in 1998.

Schumacher's efforts helped Ferrari win the Constructors title in 1999. He lost his chance to win the Drivers' Championship at the British Grand Prix: At the high-speed Stowe Corner, his car's rear brake failed, sending him off the track and resulting in a broken leg. During his long absence, he was replaced by Finnish driver Mika Salo. After missing six races, he made his return at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix, qualifying in the pole position by almost a second. He then assumed the role of second driver, assisting team mate Eddie Irvine's bid to win the Drivers' Championship for Ferrari. In the last race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix, Häkkinen won his second consecutive title. Schumacher would later say that Häkkinen was the opponent he respected the most.

2000–2004: World Championship years

Schumacher won his third World Championship in 2000 after a year-long battle with Häkkinen. Schumacher won the first three races of the season and five of the first eight. Mid-way through the year, Schumacher's chances suffered with three consecutive non-finishes, allowing Häkkinen to close the gap in the standings. Häkkinen then took another two victories, before Schumacher won at the Italian Grand Prix. At the post race press conference, after equalling the number of wins (41) won by his idol, Ayrton Senna, Schumacher broke into tears. The championship fight would come down to the penultimate race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Schumacher had the early lead, but soon lost it to Häkkinen. After his second pit-stop, however, Schumacher came out ahead of Häkkinen and went on to win the race and the championship.

In 2001, Schumacher took his fourth drivers' title. Four other drivers won races, but none sustained a season-long challenge for the championship. Schumacher scored a record-tying nine wins and clinched the world championship with four races yet to run. He finished the championship with 123 points, 58 ahead of runner-up Coulthard. Season highlights included the Canadian Grand Prix, where Schumacher finished 2nd to his brother Ralf, thus scoring the first ever 1–2 finish by brothers in Formula One; and the Belgian Grand Prix in which Schumacher scored his 52nd career win, breaking Alain Prost's record for most career wins.

In 2002, Schumacher used the Ferrari F2002, widely considered to be one of the most dominant racing cars in Formula One, to retain his Drivers' Championship.At the Austrian Grand Prix his teammate, Rubens Barrichello was leading but in the final metres of the race, under orders, slowed to allow Schumacher to win the race.^[54] In winning the Drivers' Championship he equalled the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio of five world championships. Ferrari won 15 out of 17 races, and Schumacher won the title with six races remaining in the season. Schumacher broke his own record, shared with Nigel Mansell, of nine race wins in a season, by winning eleven times and finishing every race on the podium. He finished with 144 points, a record-breaking 67 points ahead of the runner-up, his teammate Rubens Barrichello. This pair finished 9 of the 17 races in the first two places.

Schumacher broke Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five World Drivers' Championships by winning the drivers' title for the sixth time in 2003, a closely contested season. The biggest competition came once again from the McLaren Mercedes and Williams BMW teams. In the first race, Schumacher ran off track, and in the following two, was involved in collisions.^[55]^[56]^[57] He fell 16 points behind Kimi Räikkönen. Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix and the next two races, and closed within two points of Räikkönen. Aside from Schumacher's victory in Canada, and Barrichello's victory in Britain, the mid-season was dominated by Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, who each claimed two victories. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Räikkönen by only one and two points, respectively. Ahead of the next race, the FIA announced changes to the way tyre widths were to be measured: this forced Michelin, supplier to Williams and McLaren among others, to rapidly redesign their tyres before the Italian Grand Prix. Schumacher, running on Bridgestone tyres, won the next two races. After Montoya was penalised in the United States Grand Prix, only Schumacher and Räikkönen remained in contention for the title. At the final round, the Japanese Grand Prix, Schumacher needed only one point whilst Räikkönen needed to win. By finishing the race in eighth place, Schumacher took one point and assured his sixth World Drivers' title, ending the season two points ahead of Räikkönen.

In 2004, Schumacher won a record twelve of the first thirteen races of the season, only failing to finish in Monaco after an accident with Juan Pablo Montoya during a safety car period when he briefly locked his car's brakes. He clinched a record seventh drivers' title at the Belgian Grand Prix. He finished that season with a record 148 points, 34 points ahead of the runner-up, teammate Rubens Barrichello, and set a new record of 13 race wins out of a possible 18, surpassing his previous best of 11 wins from the 2002 season.

2005–2006

In 2005 Schumacher's sole win came at the United States Grand Prix. Prior to that race, the Michelin tyres, used by most teams, were found to have significant safety issues. When no compromise between the teams and the FIA could be reached, all but the six drivers using Bridgestone tyres dropped out of the race after the formation lap. However, rule changes for the 2005 and 2006 seasons required tyres to last an entire race, tipping the overall advantage to teams using Michelins over teams such as Ferrari that relied on Bridgestone tyres. The rule changes were partly in an effort to dent Ferrari's dominance and make the series more interesting. Less than half-way through the season, Schumacher said "I don't think I can count myself in this battle any more. It was like trying to fight with a blunted weapon.... If your weapons are weak you don't have a chance." The most notable moment of the season for Schumacher was his battle with Fernando Alonso in San Marino, where he started 13th and finished only 0.2 seconds behind the Spanish driver. Schumacher retired in six of the 19 races. He finished the season in third with 62 points, less than half the points of world champion Alonso.

2006 became the last season of Schumacher's racing career. After three races, Schumacher had 11 points and was already 17 points behind Alonso. He won the following two races, his first wins in 18 months, not including the boycotted 2005 United States Grand Prix. Schumacher was stripped of pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix and started the race at the back of the grid. This was due to him stopping his car and blocking part of the circuit while Alonso was on his qualifying lap; he still managed to work his way up to 5th place on the notoriously cramped Monaco circuit. By the Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth race of the season, he was 25 points behind Alonso, and the three wins that followed helped him reduce his disadvantage to 11. After his victories in Italy (in which Alonso had an engine failure) and China, in which Alonso had tyre problems, Schumacher led in the championship standings for the first time during the season. Although he and Alonso had the same point total, Schumacher was in front because he had won more races.

The Japanese Grand Prix was led by Schumacher with only 16 laps to go, when, for the first time since the 2000 French Grand Prix, Schumacher's car suffered engine failure. Alonso won the race, which gave him a 10 point championship lead. With only one race left in the season, Schumacher could only win the championship if he won the season finale and Alonso scored no points.

Before the Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race of his career, Schumacher conceded the title to Alonso. In pre-race ceremonies, football legend Pelé presented a trophy to Schumacher for his years of dedication to Formula One. During the race's qualifying session, Schumacher had the best time of all drivers through the first two sessions; but a fuel pressure problem prevented him from completing a single lap during the third session, forcing him to start the race in tenth position. Early in the race Schumacher moved up to sixth place. However, in overtaking Alonso's teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, Schumacher experienced a tyre puncture caused by the front wing of Fisichella's car. Schumacher pitted and consequently fell to 19th place, 70 seconds behind teammate and race leader Felipe Massa. Schumacher recovered and overtook both Fisichella and Räikkönen to secure fourth place. His performance was classified in the press as "heroic", an "utterly breath-taking drive", and a "performance that ... sums up his career".

Schumacher returned to an F1 cockpit for the first time since retirement on 13th and 14th of November 2007, in Barcelona. The reason for this test was to help Ferrari prepare for 2008 season, the first without Traction Control and using Standard ECU (Electronic Control Unit). Upon return, Schumacher contributed fastest lap times, and it is confirmed that he will continue to test for Ferrari in Jerez. Testing is scheduled to begin on December 4th, marked with the return of slick tyres for the first time since the ban in 1998.

Retirement

While Schumacher was on the podium after winning the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari issued a press release stating that he would retire from racing at the end of the 2006 season. Schumacher confirmed his retirement. The press release stated that Schumacher would continue working for Ferrari. It was revealed on 29 October 2006 that Ferrari wanted Schumacher to act as assistant to the newly appointed CEO Jean Todt. This would involve selecting the team's future drivers. After Schumacher's announcement, leading Formula One figures such as Niki Lauda and David Coulthard hailed Schumacher as the greatest all-round racing driver in the history of Formula One. The tifosi and the Italian press, who did not always take to Schumacher's relatively cold public persona, displayed an affectionate response after he announced his retirement.

Honours

In recognition of his contribution to Formula One racing the Nürburgring has renamed turns 8 and 9 (the Audi and Shell Kurves) as the Schumacher S. In a similar act of honouring Schumacher, he was awarded an FIA Gold Medal for Motor Sport in 2006.

The following year the Swiss Football Association appointed Schumacher as the Swiss ambassador for the 2008 European football championship. A month later he presented A1 Team Germany with the World Cup trophy at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport 2007 awards ceremony. He received a standing ovation from the gathered crowd when he was announced on stage.

Schumacher has been honoured during his career. He has won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award twice, in 2002 and 2004 for his performances in the 2001 and 2003 seasons respectively. He has received nominations for the 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 awards. No-one has been nominated more times than Schumacher in the award's 7-year history.

Helmet

Schumacher in conjunction with Schuberth helped develop the first lightweight carbon helmet. In 2004, a prototype was publicly tested by being driven over by a tank; it survived intact. The helmet keeps the driver cool by funneling directed airflow through fifty holes.

Schumacher's helmet sports the colours of the German flag and his sponsor's decals. On the top is a blue circle with white astroids. After Schumacher joined Ferrari, a prancing horse was added on the back. In 2000 in order to differentiate his colours from new teammate Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher changed the upper blue colour and some of the white areas to red. In his final Grand Prix race, Schumacher wore a special helmet that included the names of his ninety-one Grand Prix victories.

Advisor for Ferrari

2007: advisor

During the 2007 Formula One season Schumacher acted as Ferrari's advisor and Jean Todt's 'super assistant'. The German attended several Grands Prix during the season, even though that initially wasn't planned. Schumacher drove the Ferrari F2007 for the first time on October 24 at Ferrari's home track in Fiorano, Italy. He ran no more than five laps and no lap times were recorded. A Ferrari spokesman said the short drive was done for the Fiat board of directors, who were holding their meeting in Maranello.

On 13 November 2007 Schumacher, who had not driven a Grand Prix car since he retired from Formula One a year ago, drove in Ferrari's F2007 in a testing session for Ferrari. He returned again on December 6-7 to continue helping Ferrari with their development program at Jerez circuit. He focused on testing electronics and tyres for the 2009 Formula One season.

2008: development of the car and third driver

In 2007, former Ferrari top manager Ross Brawn said that Schumacher is very likely and also happy to continue testing in 2008. In January of 2008, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo confirmed this, stating that Schumacher will be one of the team's third drivers. Michael Schumacher later explained his role further, saying that he will "deal with the development of the car inside Gestione Sportiva", and as part of that, will drive the car, but not too often.

Controversies and criticism

During his long career Schumacher has been involved in several incidents which caused considerable controversy. Schumacher has been vilified in the British media for his involvement in title-deciding collisions in 1994 and 1997. German and Italian newspapers have widely condemned his actions in 1997.

Championship deciding collisions

Going into the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the 1994 season, Schumacher led Damon Hill by a single point in the Drivers' Championship. Schumacher led the race from the beginning with Hill closely following him. On lap 35, Schumacher went off track, hitting a wall with his right side wheels. It is unknown whether Schumacher's car was damaged, as he returned to the track at reduced speed but still leading the race. At the next corner, when Hill attempted a pass on the inside while Schumacher was turning into the corner, Schumacher and Hill collided. Schumacher's car was tipped up onto two wheels and eliminated on the spot. Hill pitted immediately and retired from the race with unrepairable damage. As neither driver scored Schumacher took the title.

Opinion is divided over the incident. British Formula One journalist and author Alan Henry has written that Schumacher was blamed by "many F1 insiders" for the incident, however longtime British Formula One commentator Murray Walker believes it was not a deliberate move. The race stewards judged it a racing accident and took no action against either driver.

At the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez, the last race of the season, Schumacher led another driver, this time Williams' Jacques Villeneuve, by one point in the Drivers' Championship. Although Schumacher and Villeneuve had set the same time during qualifying, the Canadian driver started the race in pole position due to his being the first to set the time. By the first corner of the race, Schumacher was ahead of Villeneuve. On lap 48, Villeneuve passed Schumacher at the Dry Sac Corner. As he did so, Schumacher turned into the Williams, the right-front wheel of Schumacher's Ferrari hitting the left sidepod of Villeneuve's car. Schumacher retired from the race immediately while Villeneuve was able to finish the race in the third place, taking four points and so becoming the World Champion.

Two weeks after the race, Schumacher was excluded from the results for the season after a FIA disciplinary hearing disqualified him, finding that his "manoeuvre was an instinctive reaction and although deliberate not made with malice or premeditation. It was a serious error." This made him the only driver in the history of the sport, as of 2007 to be disqualified from a World Championship. Schumacher accepted the decision and admitted having made a mistake.

Other incidents

Two laps from the finish of the 1998 British Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher was leading the race when he was issued a stop-and-go penalty for overtaking a lapped car (Alexander Wurz) under a yellow flag. This penalty involves going into the pit lane and stopping for 10 seconds. But as the penalty was given with fewer than 12 laps remaining, and since it was issued as a handwritten note, the Ferrari team was confused as to whether the penalty was a stop and go penalty or merely a penalty of 10 seconds to be added to Schumacher's race time. The rules state that a driver must serve his penalty within three laps of the penalty being issued, and on the third lap after receiving the penalty, Schumacher turned into the pit lane to serve his penalty. However, this happened to be the last lap of the race, and Ferrari's pit box was located after the start/finish line, meaning that Schumacher finished the race before serving the penalty. The stewards initially resolved that problem by adding 10 seconds to Schumacher's race time, then later rescinded the penalty completely. In the same season, after a race-ending collision whilst trying to lap David Coulthard during the Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher stormed into the McLaren garage and accused Coulthard of trying to kill him.

Historically, team orders had always been permitted in Formula One. During Schumacher's tenure at Ferrari, the team often employed team orders to benefit one of their drivers over the other. Usually Schumacher, as team leader, benefited. The notable exception came in the 1999 season in which he played a supporting role for Eddie Irvine after missing part of the season with a broken leg. However, at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Schumacher's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, took pole and led the race from the start. In the final metres of the race, the Brazilian driver, under orders from Ferrari, slowed his car to make way for Schumacher to pass and win the race. This angered fans who were watching the race. At the podium ceremony, Schumacher pushed Barrichello onto the top step, and for this disturbance, the Ferrari team incurred a US$1 million fine. Later in the season at the end of the 2002 United States Grand Prix, Schumacher let Barrichello pass in a similar fashion, causing a similar outcry. The FIA subsequently banned "Team orders which interfere with the race result".^[100]^[101]

Although Schumacher took the pole position during the qualifying for the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, there was controversy near the end of the session. Schumacher stopped his car in the Rascasse corner, partially blocking the circuit, while his main contender for the season title, Fernando Alonso, was on his qualifying lap. Schumacher stated that he simply locked up the wheels going into the corner and that the car then stalled while he attempted to reverse out. Alonso believed he would have been on pole if the incident had not happened. Schumacher was later stripped of pole position by the race stewards and started the race at the back of the grid.

Family and off-track life

Schumacher's younger brother Ralf was a Formula One driver until the end of 2007. In August 1995, Michael married Corinna Betsch. They have two children, Gina-Maria (born in 1997) and Mick (born in 1999). He has always been very protective of his private life and is known to dislike the celebrity spotlight, preferring a simple life. The family currently lives in Gland, Switzerland, near Lake Geneva. They will move in 2007 to a new $50M, 7000 ft² (650 m²) home with its own underground garage and petrol station, and with a private beach on Lake Geneva. The family has two dogs - one stray that Corinna fell in love with in Brazil, and a German Shepherd "Ed" whose entrance to the family made headlines after Schumacher personally drove a taxi through the Bavarian town of Coburg so that the family could catch a return flight to Switzerland, for which both Schumacher and the taxi driver would be reprimanded.

In 2005 Eurobusiness magazine identified Schumacher as the world's first billionaire athlete. His 2004 salary was reported to be around US$80 million. Forbes magazine ranked him 17th in their "The World's Most Powerful Celebrities" list. A significant share of his income came from advertising. For example, Deutsche Vermögensberatung paid him $8 million over three years from 1999 for wearing a 10 by 8 centimetre advertisement on his post-race cap. The deal was extended until 2010. He donated $10 million for aid after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. His donation surpassed that of any other sports person, most sports leagues, many worldwide corporations and even some countries.

One of his main hobbies is horse riding, and he plays football for his local team FC Echichens. He has appeared in several football charity games and organised games between Formula One drivers.

Schumacher is a special ambassador to UNESCO and has donated 1.5 million Euros to the organization. Additionally, he paid for the construction of a school for poor children and for area improvements in Dakar, Senegal. He supports a hospital for child victims of war in Sarajevo, which specialises in caring for amputees. In Lima, Peru he funded the "Palace for the Poor", a centre for helping homeless street children obtain an education, clothing, food, medical attention, and shelter. He stated his interest in these various efforts was piqued both by his love for children and the fact that these causes had received little attention. While an exact figure for the amount of money he has donated throughout his life is unknown, it is known that in his last four years as a driver, he donated at least $50 million.

Since his participation in a FIA European road safety campaign, as part of his punishment after the collision at the 1997 European Grand Prix, Schumacher has continued to support other campaigns, such as Make Roads Safe, which is led by the FIA Foundation and calls on G8 countries and the UN to recognise global road deaths as a major global health issue.

Schumacher provided the voice of a Rosso Corsa Ferrari F430 in Disney-Pixar's animated feature film Cars. In early March 2006, it was reported that Schumacher will play a small role in the movie Asterix at the Olympic Games.

Only pictures from 1991 to 2008 (one out of each year), but there is more to come!

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Jordan 1991
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Benetton 1992

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Benetton 1993
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Benetton 1994

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Benetton 1995
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1996

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1997
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1998

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1999
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2000

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2001
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2002

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2003
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2004

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2005
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2006

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pic 1: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2007*
pic 2: Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2008*
*testing for Ferrari

Jean Alesi

2008-02-27T08:29:00.001-08:00

Jean Alesi (born Giovanni Alesi June 11, 1964) is a French racing driver of Italian origins. His Formula One career included spells at Tyrrell, Benetton, Sauber, Prost, Jordan and most notably Ferrari where he proved very popular among the tifosi (Italian fanbase).

Early career

Alesi was born to Sicilian parents in Avignon, Vaucluse, which makes him an Italian national too. Starting his career with a passion for rallying rather than racing, he graduated to single seaters through the French Renault 5 championship. In the late 1980s he was very much a coming man in motor racing, winning the 1988 French Formula 3 title, and following it up in 1989 with the International Formula 3000 crown, both after duels with his rival Érik Comas. In 1989 Alesi actually tied on points for the F3000 title with Comas but won on the basis of better points finishes.

Formula One

Alesi debuted in the 1989 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard in a Tyrrell-Cosworth, finishing fourth. He drove most of the rest of the season for Tyrrell while continuing his successful Formula 3000 campaign, (occasionally giving the car up in favour of Johnny Herbert when Formula 3000 clashed), scoring points again at the Italian and Spanish Grands Prix.

1990 was his first full year in Grand Prix racing, with the underfunded Tyrrell team. At the first event, the United States Grand Prix at Phoenix, he was a sensation, leading for 25 laps in front of Ayrton Senna with a car considered as inferior, and also re-passing Senna after the Brazilian had first overtaken for the lead. Second place in the Monaco Grand Prix followed the second place gained in Phoenix, and by mid-season, top teams were clamouring for his services in 1991. A very confused situation erupted, with Tyrrell, Williams, and Ferrari all claiming to have signed the driver within a very short period.

Ferrari were championship contenders at the time, and there he would be driving with fellow countryman Alain Prost, at that time the most successful driver in Formula One history. Alesi signed with Ferrari, making the choice that not only appeared to maximize his chances for winning the championship and for learning from an experienced and successful teammate, but that fulfilled his childhood dream of driving for the Italian team.

Ferrari, however, experienced a disastrous downturn in form in 1991, while the Williams team experienced a resurgence which would lead them to win five constructor's titles between 1992 and 1997. Alesi's choice of Ferrari over Williams seemed the most logical at the time, but turned out to be very unfortunate. One of the reasons for this failure was because Ferrari's famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of their competitors. Having a dismal 1991 season, Prost left the team describing the car as a "truck" and took a sabbatical.

In five years at the Italian marque Alesi gained little, except the passionate devotion of the Tifosi (Italian word that means supporters), who loved his aggressive style. That style, and his use of the number 27 on his car, led many to associate him with Gilles Villeneuve, a beloved and still-popular Ferrari driver from 1977-1982. Alesi and teammate Gerhard Berger won only one race each at Ferrari.

When Benetton's Michael Schumacher joined Ferrari in 1996, Alesi and teammate Gerhard Berger swapped places with him. Though Benetton was the defending constructors' champions, they were about to experience a lull in form like Ferrari in 1991. Schumacher went on to rejuvenate Ferrari, while Alesi and Berger spent two seasons at a declining Benetton riddled with bad luck and internal politics.

Alesi moved on, initially to Sauber and later Prost, the latter which was owned by his former Ferrari teammate Alain Prost. With Prost, Alesi was consistent, finishing every race, occasionally in points scoring positions, his best finish being at Canada. A fallout after the British Grand Prix, however saw Alesi walk out after the German Grand Prix, where he scored a point.

Alesi ended his open-wheel career in 2001 with Jordan, bookending his career nicely: Alesi had driven for Jordan in Formula 3000 when he won the championship in 1989.

Legacy

Alesi was often regarded as flamboyant and emotional, but after his spectacular performance at Phoenix in 1990, his career was notable more for its longevity than for its results. In 2001, he became only the fifth driver to start 200 Grand Prix races, and he achieved thirty-two podiums, yet he only gained one victory. It could be suggested that Alesi's potential was unfulfilled since he spent his peak years during the uncompetitive period at Ferrari.

His sole win was an emotional triumph at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on his 31st birthday. Although he had inherited the lead when Michael Schumacher pitted with electrical problems and Damon Hill's hydraulics failed, the victory was a popular one, particularly after several excellent but ultimately unrewarded drives the year before, namely in Italy. Alesi's win at Montreal was voted the most popular race victory of the season by many, as it was the scarlet red number 27 Ferrari - once belonging to the famous Gilles Villeneuve at his much loved home Grand Prix. Memorably, Schumacher gave Alesi a lift back to the pits after Alesi's car ran out of fuel just before the Pits Hairpin.

Alesi would never win another Formula One Grand Prix, although in 1996 only a suspension failure prevented him from taking victory at Monaco, while in 1997 he led the Italian Grand Prix from pole before relinquishing the lead to David Coulthard courtesy of a slow pit stop in the closing stages of the race.

In 2001, after coming in fifth at Canada, Prost's best result of the season, Alesi did a few donuts and threw his helmet into the crowd. He had previously won that race with Ferrari

Post-Formula One career

After Formula One, Alesi was a popular and successful driver in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship), where he placed fifth in the 2002 championship for Mercedes with one victory. He repeated this in 2003 but this time scoring two victories. In 2004 he finished seventh in the championship scoring no victories. In 2005 he won the opening race and went on to take seventh place in the standings once more. He retired from the DTM after finishing the 2006 season in 9th place.

Alesi is a wine connoisseur and has a vineyard near his hometown of Avignon, where he resides with his wife, Japanese model, actress, and pop singer Kumiko Goto( 後藤久美子 ), and their three children.

Occasionally, he appears on the programs dedicated to the F1 season, aired on the Italian state television as a guest.

DTM results

Direxiv

Alesi was an active spokesman for the Direxiv team in their bid for entry to the 2008 Formula 1 series. It was planned as a McLaren B Team with backing and engines from Mercedes. However, the proposal was beaten to the final grid place by Prodrive.

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pic 1: F1 1990 Jean Alesi of France before the Portuguese Formula One Grand Prix held at the Estoril circuit
pic 2: F1 1991 Jean Alesi in Germany

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pic 1: Jean Alesi Sao Paulo 1996 Benetton B196
pic 2: Zeltweg 1997 Details: left Eddie Irvine Ferrari F310B, right Jean Alesi Benetton B197

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pic 1: F1 1993 Jean Alesiat Spa
pic 2: Jean alesi 1991

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pic 1: F1 1990 Jean Alesi driving Tyrrell Fordat Monaco Grand Prix
pic 2: Jean Alesi Le Castellet 1989 Tyrrell

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pic 1: F1 1992 Jean Alesi drinking water
pic 2: F1 1993 Jean Alesi ahead of both McLaren cars

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pic 1: F1 1992 Jean Alesi pushing hard in Budapest
pic 2: F1 1992 Jean Alesi in Hockenheim 92 deb 1921

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pic 1: F1 1992 Jean Alesi pushing hard in Monte Carlo
pic 2: F1 1991 Jean Alesi at San Marino Grand Prix

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pic 1: F1 1992 Jean Alesi sitting in his car during German GP
pic 2: F1 1991 Jean Alesi sitting in his Ferrari during US GP

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pic 1: F1 1991 Jean Alesi on pitstop during US GP
pic 2: F1 1991 Jean Alesi signing autographs in Monte Carlo

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pic 1: F1 1990 Jean Alesi sitting in his Tyrrell during French Grand Prix
pic 2: F1 1990 Jean Alesi in his Tyrrell Ford before the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany

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pic 1: F1 1991 Jean Alesi Racing Ahead
pic 2: F1 1991 Jean Alesi ahead of Alain Prostat Silverstone

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pic 1: Estoril 1993, in front Jean Alesi, Ferrari F93A, in the back Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4
pic 2: Jean Alesi Nürburgring 1995 Ferrari 412T2

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pic 1: F1 1989 Jean Alesi during his first French Grand Prix
pic 2: F1 1990 Jean Alesi battlesin first corner at Monaco

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pic 1: F1 1990 Jean Alesi driving Tyrrell Fordat Monaco Grand Prix
pic 2: F1 1990 Jean Alesi in Brazil

Alan Jones

2008-02-25T10:15:00.001-08:00

Alan Jones MBE (born November 2, 1946) is an Australian former racing driver. He was the first driver to win a Formula One World Championship with the Williams team.

Early Life

Jones was born in Melbourne, Australia and attended Xavier College.

He was the son of Stan Jones, an Australian driver, and wanted to follow in his footsteps. The younger Jones left for Europe in 1967 to make a name for himself but met little success.

Racing Career

Pre Formula One

It took about 6 years before any notable results of his own, in a Formula 3 car. In 1974 he managed to land a full time Formula Atlantic ride, and his team owner parlayed it into a chance at F1 the following season, after purchasing a car from the Hesketh racing team.

Formula One

After 4 races in F1 the team chose not to continue racing, but Jones did, as the race after his team disbanded he was named as an injury replacement for Rolf Stommelen on Graham Hill's racing team. He had a best finish of 5th at Hockenheim while there.

He earned his first full-time F1 drive in 1976, in John Surtees' racing team. Jones' car was mostly known for its infamous Durex sponsorship, but he managed several good finishes in it, a 4th in Japan being the best of them. Surtees dropped him after that year as he didn't get along well with the Aussie, and was racing in America when the Shadow team named Jones as a replacement for Tom Pryce, who had been killed in a freak racing accident in South Africa. He made the most of the opportunity and won at Österreichring for his maiden victory, finishing 7th in the championship.

In 1978, Jones, who was on the Williams F1 roster on alternate weekends, also signed with Haas-Hall racing, and competed in the Lola 333CS Chaparral in the Can-Am championship, taking 9 poles in 10 races. (Jones missed the Laguna Seca race due to a F1 scheduling conflict. Stand-in Brian Redman finished 12th in that race after the kill wire was crimped under a valve cover, resulting in intermittent ignition.) Of the 9 races in which he competed, Jones won 5 (Atlanta, Mosport, Road America, Mid-Ohio, and Riverside.) He finished 2nd to Elliot Forbes-Robinson at Charlotte after hitting a chicane and losing a spark plug wire, cracked up at St Jovite; lost a radiator at the Glen. He finished 3rd at Trois-Rivieres after losing a shift fork and being stuck with only 2nd and 5th gears on the tight road circuit. At that race, water-injected brakes were first used in Can-Am, developed by the Haas team and copied with varying degrees of success by others. Jones ran one Can-Am in 1979 (Mid-Ohio), where he and Keke Rosberg had fun running into each other and finishing 1-2, with Jones winning his last Can-Am start.

In 1977, he had already caught the attention of Frank Williams, who was looking to rebuild his F1 racing team. Williams Grand Prix had struggled for success in its first years and Jones was entrusted to give them their first taste of it. He didn't do much initially to do that, a second place finish in Watkins Glen being the best he could do, but he helped put the team on the F1 map in 1979 using the Williams FW07, after winning 4 races in the span of 5 events near the end of the season. Jones finished 3rd in the championship hunt that year, and it was the springboard to an excellent 1980 campaign.

Jones won 5 races in 1980, one of which was later declared non-championship so only 4 are officially recorded, and had a car which consistently made podiums, he was on 10 of them during the year. At the end of the season he had beaten Nelson Piquet by 13 points in the standings, becoming Australia's first World Champion since Sir Jack Brabham. He had a good chance at a repeat in 1981, but a very combative relationship with Carlos Reutemann led to an intense rivalry that possibly cost both drivers a chance at the championship. He finished 4 points behind Piquet for the championship and 3 behind Reutemann.

He announced his retirement after the season, which he managed to cap off with a win in Las Vegas, but came out of retirement for a one-time drive with Arrows in 1983. Two more years later, Team Haas was created and Jones was the first driver for that outfit, and he would race a full season in 1986, his first in 5 years, but after a series of disappointing results he left F1 for good.

Post Formula One

He raced in the Australian Touring Car Championship after leaving F1 but never achieved the same type of results that he used to in F1. He became a commentator with Channel Nine as part of their F1 coverage into Australia. Jones has since become involved in the Australian franchise of the A1 Grand Prix as Team Director. He attempted to race in the Grand Prix Masters World Series at Kyalami in November 2005 but had to pull out before qualifying due to neck pains. There was considerable discussion at the time that his exit was due more to a general lack of fitness.

Personal Life

Jones separated from his wife Beverley in the late 1980's. In 1996 he began a relationship with Amanda Butler Davis and in 2001 their twins, Zara and Jack, were born.

Jones also has a daughter, Camilla, who was born in 1990.

Jones' adopted son Christian, now races in various forms of motorsport.

Some pictures of Alan Jones

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Sir John Young Stewart

2008-02-24T13:01:00.001-08:00

Sir John Young Stewart, OBE (born 11 June 1939 in Milton, West Dunbartonshire), better known as Jackie, and nicknamed The Flying Scot, is a Scottish former racing driver. He competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am. He is well-known in the United States as a commentator of racing television broadcasts, and as a pitchman for Ford, where his Scottish accent made him a distinctive presence. Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team.

Early life

Jackie's early involvement with cars was in the family business, Dumbuck Garage, in Milton, where he worked as an apprentice mechanic. His family were Jaguar dealers and had built up a successful practice. Jackie's father had been an amateur^[4] motorcycle racer, and Jackie's brother Jimmy was a racing driver with a growing local reputation. Jimmy drove for Ecurie Ecosse and competed in the 1953 British Grand Prix, until he went off at Copse Corner in the wet. It was only natural Jackie would soon become involved in motor racing.

After his brother was injured in a crash at Le Mans, the sport was discouraged by their parents and Jackie took up shooting. In skeet shooting Stewart made a name for himself, only just missing the team for the 1960 Summer Olympics. (He chose racing over it in 1964.)

He took up an offer from Barry Filer, a customer of his family business, to test in a number of his cars at Oulton Park. For 1961, Filer provided a Marcos GT, in which Stewart scored four wins, and competed once in Filer's Aston DB4GT. In 1962, to decide if he was ready to turn pro, tested an E-type at Oulton Park, matching Ray Salvadori's times in a similar car the year before. He won two races, his first in England, in the E-type, and David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse offered him a ride in the Tojeiro EE Mk2, then their Cooper T49, in which he won at Goodwood. For 1963, he earned fourteen wins, a second, and two thirds, with just six retirements.

In 1964, he again signed with Ecurie Ecosse. More important, Ken Tyrrell, then running the Formula Junior team for Cooper, heard of the young Scotsman from Goodwood's track manager and called up Jimmy Stewart to see if his younger brother was interested in a tryout. Jackie came down for the test at Goodwood, taking over a new, and very competitive, Formula Three T72-BMC^[5] Bruce McLaren was testing. Soon Stewart was besting McLaren's times, causing McLaren to return to the track for some quicker laps. Again, Stewart was quicker, and Tyrrell offered Stewart a spot on the team. This would be the beginning of a great partnership that would see them reach the pinnacle of the sport.

Racing career

In 1964 he drove in Formula Three for Tyrrell. His debut, in the wet at Snetterton on 15 March, was dominant, taking an astounding 25 second lead in just two laps before coasting home to a win on a 44sec cushion. Within days, he was offered a Formula One ride with Cooper, but declined, preferring to gain experience under Tyrrell; he failed to win just two races (one to clutch failure, one to a spin) in becoming F3 champion.

After running John Coombs' E-type and practising in a Ferrari at Le Mans, he took a trial in an F1 Lotus 33-Climax, in which he impressed Colin Chapman and Jim Clark (who, needless to say, were not easily impressed); Stewart again refused a ride in F1, but went instead to the Lotus Formula Two team. In his F2 debut, he was second at the difficult Clermont-Ferrand circuit in a Lotus 32-Cosworth.

While he signed with BRM alongside Graham Hill in 1965, a contract which netted him £4,000, his first race in an F1 car was for Lotus, as stand-in for an injured Clark, at the Rand Grand Prix in December 1964; the Lotus broke in the first heat, but he won the second. On his F1 debut in South Africa, he scored his first Championship point, finishing sixth. His first major competition victory came in the BRDC International Trophy in the late spring, and before the end of the year he won his first World Championship race at Monza, fighting wheel-to-wheel with teammate Hill's P261. Stewart finished his rookie season with three seconds, a third, a fifth, and a sixth, and third place in the World Drivers' Championship. He also piloted Tyrrell's unsuccessful F2 Cooper T75-BRM, and ran Rover's revolutionary turbine car at Le Mans.

1966 saw him almost win the Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt, in John Meecom's Lola T90-Ford, only to be denied by a broken scavenge pump while leading by over a lap with eight laps to go; however, Stewart's performance, having had the race fully in hand and sidelined only by mechanical failure, won him Rookie of the Year honours, the only occasion to date in race history a rookie winner (Hill, team mate at Indianapolis as well, and final leader after Stewart) was deemed surpassed in performance by another rookie.

Also, in 1966, a crash triggered his fight for improved safety in racing. On lap one of the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, when sudden rain caused many crashes, he found himself trapped in his overturned BRM, getting soaked by leaking fuel. Any spark could cause a disaster. The marshals had no tools to help him, and it took his teammate Hill and Bob Bondurant, who had both also crashed nearby, to get him out. Since then, a main switch for electrics and a removable steering wheel have become standard. Also, noticing the long and slow transport to a hospital, he brought his own doctor to future races, while the BRM supplied a medical truck for the benefit of all. It was a poor year all around; the BRMs were notoriously unreliable, altough Stewart did win the Monaco Grand Prix. Stewart had some success in other forms of racing during the year, winning the 1966 Tasman Series and the 1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race.

BRM's fortunes did not improve in 1967, during which Stewart came no higher than second at Spa, though he won F2 events for Tyrrell at Karlskoga, Enna, Oulton Park, and Albi in a Matra M5S or M7S.

In Formula One, he gambled on a switch to Tyrrell's team, where he drove a Matra MS10-Cosworth for the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Skill (and improving tyres from Dunlop) brought a win in heavy rain at Zandvoort. Another win in rain and fog at the Nürburgring, where he won by a margin of four minutes, is considered as one of the finest ever, even though his rain tyres were probably better than those of the competition. He also took Watkins Glen, but missed Jarama and Monaco due to an F2 injury at Jarama, had the car fail at Mexico City, and so lost the driving title to Hill.

With wins at Kyalami, Jarama, Zandvoort, Silverstone, and Monza, Stewart became world champion in 1969 in a Matra MS80-Cosworth. Until September 2005, when Fernando Alonso in a Renault became champion, he was the only driver to have won the championship driving for a French marque and, as Alonso's Renault was actually built in the UK, Stewart remains the only driver to win the world championship in a French-built car.

For 1970, Matra (just taken over by Chrysler)^[6] insisted on using their own V12 engines, while Tyrrell and Stewart wanted to keep the Cosworths as well as the good connection to Ford. As a consequence, the Tyrrell team bought a chassis from March Engineering; Stewart took the March 701-Cosworth to wins at the Daily Mail Race of Champions and Jarama, but was soon overcome by Lotus' new 72. The new Tyrell 001-Cosworth, appearing in August, suffered problems, but Stewart saw better days for it in 1971, and stayed on. Tyrrell continued to be sponsored by French fuel company Elf, and Stewart raced in a car painted French Racing Blue for many years. Stewart also continued to race sporadically in Formula Two, winning at the Crystal Palace and placing at Thruxton; a projected Le Mans appearance, to co-drive the muscular 4.5 litre Porsche 917K with Steve McQueen, did not come off, for McQueen's inability to get insurance. He also tried Can-Am, in the revolutionary Chaparral 2J, managing to beat the juggernaut McLarens at St. Jovite and Mid-Ohio.

Stewart went on to win the Formula One world championship in 1971 using the excellent Tyrrell 003-Cosworth, winning Spain, Monaco, France, Britain, Germany, and Canada. He also did a full season in Can-Am, in a Lola T260-Chevrolet. and again in 1973. In the 1972 season he missed Spa, due to gastritis which was developed following frequent travelling, and had to cancel plans to drive a Can-Am McLaren, but won the Argentine, French, U.S., and Canadian Grands Prix, to come second to Emerson Fittipaldi in the drivers' standings. Stewart also competed in a Ford Capri RS2600 in the European Touring Car Championship, with F1 teammate François Cevert and other F1 pilots, at a time where the competition between Ford and BMW was at a height. Stewart shared a Capri with F1 Tyrrell teammate François Cevert in the 1972 6 hours of Paul Ricard, finishing second. He also earned the OBE.

Entering the 1973 season, Stewart had decided to retire. He nevertheless won at South Africa, Belgium, Monaco, Holland, and Austria. His last (and then record-setting) 27th victory came at the Nürburgring with a convincing 1-2 for Tyrrell. After the fatal crash of his teammate François Cevert in practice for the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Stewart retired one race earlier than intended and missed what would have been his 100th GP.

Racing Safety Advocate

During Stewart's F1 career, the chances of an F1 driver who raced for five years being killed in a crash were two out of three.

At Spa-Francorchamps in 1966, he ran off the track while driving 165 mph in heavy rain, and crashed into a telephone pole and a shed before coming to rest in a farmer's outbuilding. His steering column pinned his leg, while ruptured fuel tanks emptied their contents into the cockpit. There were no track crews to extricate him, nor were proper tools available. There were no doctors or medical facilities at the track, and Stewart was put in the bed of a pickup truck, remaining there until an ambulance finally arrived. He was first taken to the track's First Aid center, where he waited on a stretcher, which was placed on a floor strewn with cigarette butts and other garbage. Finally, another ambulance crew picked him up, but the ambulance driver got lost driving to a hospital in Liége. Finally, a private jet flew Stewart back to the UK for proper treatment. It has been well documented that without the help of the United Kingdom Air Ambulance, Stewart may well have died at the track.

After his crash at Spa, Stewart became an outspoken advocate for auto racing safety. Later, he explained, "If I have any legacy to leave the sport I hope it will be seen to be an area of safety because when I arrived in Grand Prix racing so-called precautions and safety measures were diabolical."

Stewart continued, commenting on his crash at Spa:

"I lay trapped in the car for twenty-five minutes, unable to be moved. Graham and Bob Bondurant got me out using the spanners from a spectator's toolkit. There were no doctors and there was nowhere to put me. They in fact put me in the back of a van. Eventually an ambulance took me to a first aid spot near the control tower and I was left on a stretcher, on the floor, surrounded by cigarette ends. I was put into an ambulance with a police escort and the police escort lost the ambulance, and the ambulance didn't know how to get to Liège. At the time they thought I had a spinal injury. As it turned out, I wasn't seriously injured, but they didn't know that."

"I realized that if this was the best we had there was something sadly wrong: things wrong with the race track, the cars, the medical side, the fire-fighting, and the emergency crews. There were also grass banks that were launch pads, things you went straight into, trees that were unprotected and so on. Young people today just wouldn't understand it. It was ridiculous."

In response, Stewart campaigned with Louis Stanley (BRM team boss) for improved emergency services and better safety barriers around race tracks. "We were racing at circuits where there were no crash barriers in front of the pits, and fuel was lying about in churns in the pit lane. A car could easily crash into the pits at any time. It was ridiculous." As a stop-gap measure, Stewart hired a private doctor to be at all his races, and taped a spanner to the steering shaft of his BRM in case it would be needed again. Stewart pressed for mandatory seat belt usage and full-face helmets for drivers, and today a race without those items is unthinkable. Likewise, he pressed track owners to modernize their track, including organizing driver boycotts of races at Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring, until barriers, run-off areas, fire crews, and medical facilities were improved.

Stewart's work was not appreciated by track owners, race organizers, some drivers, and members of the press. "I would have been a much more popular World Champion if I had always said what people wanted to hear. I might have been dead, but definitely more popular." However, his race wins, combined with his popularity with the public and his business savvy, prevented his message from being silenced. Certainly, after his victory in the 1968 German GP at the 187-corner Nordschleife -- in a torrential rain, driving with a broken wrist, winning by more than four minutes -- no one dared question his bravery as Stewart pushed for better safety standards.

Today, Stewart's legacy as a safety advocate in auto racing is as great as his legacy as a race winner.

Consultant, commentator, and team owner

Subsequently he became a consultant for the Ford Motor Company while continuing to be a spokesman for safer cars and circuits in Formula One.

Stewart covered NASCAR races and the Indianapolis 500 on American television during the 1970s and early 1980s, and has also worked on Australian TV coverage. As a commentator, he was known for his insightful analysis, Scottish accent, and rapid delivery, once causing Jim McKay to remark that Stewart spoke almost as fast as he drove.

In 1997 Stewart returned to Formula One, with Stewart Grand Prix, as a team owner in partnership with his son, Paul. As the works Ford team, their first race was the 1997 Australian Grand Prix. The only success of their first year came at the rain-affected Monaco Grand Prix where Rubens Barrichello finished an impressive second. Reliability was low however, with a likely 2nd place at the Nürburgring among several potential results lost. 1998 was even less competitive, with no podiums and few points.

However, after Ford acquired Cosworth in July 1998, they risked designing and building a brand-new engine for 1999. It paid off. The SF3 was consistently competitive throughout the season. The team won one race at the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring with Johnny Herbert, albeit somewhat luckily, while Barrichello took three 3rd places, pole in France, and briefly led his home race at Interlagos. The team was later bought by Ford and became Jaguar Racing in 2000 (which became Red Bull Racing in 2005).

Honours

Stewart received Sports Illustrated magazine's 1973 "Sportsman of the Year" award, the only auto racer to win the title so far, and in the same year he also won BBC Television's "Sports Personality Of The Year" award, and was named as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year in which he was shared with American pro football legend O.J. Simpson. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

In 2001 Stewart received a knighthood

In 2002 he became a founding patron of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, and an inaugural inductee.

In 2003 The World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities presented Sir Jackie Stewart the Sport Shooting Ambassador Award. The Award goes to an outstanding individual whose efforts have promoted the shooting sports internationally.

Some pictures of Jackie Stewart

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Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve

2008-02-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve (Gilles Villeneuve pronounced [ʒil vilnœv]) (January 18, 1950 – May 8, 1982) was a Canadian racing driver. An enthusiast of cars and fast driving from an early age, he started his professional career in snowmobile racing in his native province of Quebec. He moved into single seaters — winning the US and Canadian Formula Atlantic

championships in 1976 before being offered a one-off drive with McLaren at the 1977 British Grand Prix. He was taken on by reigning world champions Ferrari for the end of the season — in only his fifth season racing cars — and from 1978 to his death in 1982 drove for the Italian team. He won six Grand Prix races in a short career at the highest level. In 1979 he finished second by four points in the championship to teammate Jody Scheckter.

Villeneuve died in a 140 mph (225 km/h) crash with the March of Jochen Mass during practice for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder (see more below). The accident came less than two weeks after an intense argument with his team-mate, Didier Pironi, over Pironi's move to pass Villeneuve at Imola despite team orders to remain in the same position until the end of the race. At the time of his death, Villeneuve was extremely popular with fans and with many journalists, on whom his death had a profound effect. Since 1982 he has become an iconic figure in the history of the sport, renowned for his car control, aggressive driving style, and a 'never give up' attitude. His son, Jacques Villeneuve, became Formula One world champion in 1997.

Personal and early life

Villeneuve was born in Richelieu, a small town in the French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada and grew up in the nearby town of Berthierville. He married Joann Barthe in 1970, with whom he had two children, Jacques and Melanie. During his early career Villeneuve took his family on the road with him in a motorhome during the racing season, a habit which he continued to some extent during his Formula One career. He often claimed to have been born in 1952. By the time he got his break in Formula One, he was already 27 years old and took two years off his age to avoid being considered too old to make it at the highest level of motorsports.

Like certain other great drivers, including Clark and Senna, Villeneuve was a curious mixture of seemingly disparate personality types. Lauda wrote of him, "He was the craziest devil I ever came across in Formula 1... The fact that, for all this, he was a sensitive and lovable character rather than an out-and-out hell-raiser made him such a unique human being". Flying, snowmobiling or driving, he was a risk-taker of classic proportions. Yet his fellow drivers said that on the track he was scrupulously fair and did not put anyone's safety other than his own in jeopardy and those who worked with him usually referred to him as introverted. This combination of traits made him exceptionally popular not only with fans but with teammates and opponents as well.

His younger brother Jacques, known as "uncle Jacques", also had a successful racing career in Formula Atlantic, Can Am and CART. Gilles' son, also named Jacques, won the Indianapolis 500 and CART championships in 1995 and became Formula One World Champion in 1997.

Racing career

Pre-Formula One

Villeneuve started competitive driving in local drag-racing events, entering his road car, a modified 1967 Ford Mustang. He was soon bored by this and entered the Jim Russell Racing School at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant to gain a racing license. He then had a very successful season in Quebec regional Formula Ford, running his own two year old car and winning seven of the ten races he entered. The next year he progressed to Formula Atlantic, competing there for four years, running his own car again for one of those seasons. He won his first Atlantic race in 1975 at Gimli Motosport Park in heavy rain. In 1976, teamed with Chris Harrison's Ecurie Canada and factory March race engineer Ray Wardell, he dominated the season by winning all but one of the races and taking the US and Canadian titles. He won the Canadian championship again in 1977.

Money was very tight in Villeneuve's early career. He was a professional racing driver from his late teens, with no other income. In the first few years the bulk of his income actually came from snowmobile racing, where he was extremely successful. He could demand appearance money as well as race money, especially after winning the 1974 World Championship Snowmobile Derby. His second season in Formula Atlantic was part-sponsored by his snowmobile manufacturer, Skiroule. He credited some of his success to his snowmobiling days: "Every winter, you would reckon on three or four big spills — and I'm talking about being thrown on to the ice at 100 mph. Those things used to slide a lot, which taught me a great deal about control. And the visibility was terrible! Unless you were leading, you could see nothing, with all the snow blowing about. Good for the reactions — and it stopped me having any worries about racing in the rain."

Formula One

After Villeneuve impressed McLaren driver James Hunt by beating him, and several other Grand Prix stars, in a non-championship Formula Atlantic race at Trois-Rivières, McLaren offered Villeneuve a deal for five races in a third car during 1977 and the young Canadian made his debut at the 1977 British Grand Prix. Villeneuve qualified an impressive 9th in McLaren's old M23, splitting the regular drivers Hunt and Jochen Mass. Delayed for two laps by a faulty temperature gauge he ran competitively, setting fifth fastest lap and finishing 11th. Despite this the team decided not to opt for Villeneuve's services again. Then in August 1977, Villeneuve met with Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari was immediately reminded by Villeneuve of the legendary Tazio Nuvolari. The obvious interest shown by Ferrari towards Villeneuve prompted Niki Lauda to leave at that year's Canadian Grand Prix, having already clinched his second championship. In the race, Gilles retired, after going off on another competitor's oil. He also raced in Japan, but also retired. On lap five of the race, Gilles tried to outbrake the Tyrrell P34 of Ronnie Peterson, but the pair banged wheels. Gilles' Ferrari went airborne and crashed down onto two spectators watching the race from a prohibited area. Both were killed.

After making his debut for Ferrari, he would later remark that: "If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari..."

The 1978 season saw a succession of retirements for Villeneuve, often after problems with the new Michelin radial tyres, but also due to his own inexperience — this was his fifth season of car racing. Despite calls in the Italian press for him to be replaced, Ferrari persisted with him and Villeneuve scored his first Grand Prix victory at his home race at the end of the season in front of an ecstatic crowd.

Villeneuve was joined by Jody Scheckter for 1979 after Carlos Reutemann moved to Lotus. The pair finished first and second in the championship, with Scheckter beating Villeneuve by just four points. Villeneuve won three races during the year. The 1980 season was a complete disaster. Villeneuve had been considered favourite for the drivers championship by UK bookmakers, but would only score six points in the whole campaign in the unwieldy 312T5 which had only partial ground effects. His world champion team-mate could manage only two points and retired at the end of the season.

In 1981 Ferrari's first turbo engined car, the 126C, was hardly an improvement. Although it produced tremendous power its handling was poor. Villeneuve, partnered by Didier Pironi, won two races against the odds during the season, at Monaco and in Spain. Pironi noted that at Ferrari, Villeneuve "had a little family there. But he made me welcome and made me feel at home overnight ... [He] treated me as an equal in every way." For 1982 Villeneuve's first few races were very promising. The new 126/C2 car was fast and reliable and he was seen as favourite for the world championship by fans and the press alike. He led in Brazil before spinning into retirement and finished third at Long Beach, although he was later disqualified for a technical infringement. At Imola he was overtaken by his team-mate near the finish, while leading. Gilles Villeneuve died in an horrific accident in qualifying for the next race at Zolder, attempting to beat his teammate Pironi's faster qualifying time.

Notable races

"The duel with Gilles is something I'll never forget. You can only race like that, you know, with someone you trust completely, and you don't meet many like him. He beat me, yes and in France, but it didn't worry me. I knew I'd been beaten by the best driver in the world."
René Arnoux after 1979 French GP

Dijon 1979: Remembered for his frenetic style which seemed more like that of a rally driver, Villeneuve's wheel-banging duel with René Arnoux in the last laps of the 1979 French Grand Prix at the Dijon circuit, when he stubbornly refused to accept his 312T4 was slower than Arnoux's faster Renault was one of the most intense moments in Formula One racing.^[17] Arnoux passed Villeneuve for second place with three laps to go, but Villeneuve re-passed him on the next lap. On the final lap Arnoux attempted to pass Villeneuve again, and the pair ran side-by-side through the first several corners of the lap, making contact several times. Arnoux took the position, but Villeneuve attempted an outside pass one corner later. The cars bumped hard, and Villeneuve slid wide. Villeneuve then tried an inside pass at a hairpin turn and managed to make it stick. He then held off Arnoux for the last half of the lap to secure 2nd place. Villeneuve commented afterwards, "I tell you, that was really fun! I thought for sure we were going to get on our heads, you know, because when you start interlocking wheels it's very easy for one car to climb over another."

Zandvoort 1979: Remembered for Villeneuve's determination, as a slow puncture collapsed his left rear tyre and put him off the track. He returned to the circuit and continued back to the pits on three wheels, with sparks flying from under the car and the punctured tyre flapping loose behind it. The deflated tyre soon tore the wheel away from the suspension. On his return to the pits Villeneuve insisted that the team replace the missing wheel, and had to be persuaded that the car was beyond repair.

Watkins Glen 1979: During the extremely wet Friday practice session for this race, Villeneuve set a time variously reported to be either 9 or 11 seconds faster than any other driver. His team-mate Jody Scheckter, who was second fastest, recalled that "I scared myself rigid that day. I thought I had to be quickest. Then I saw Gilles's time and — I still don't really understand how it was possible. Eleven seconds!" Jacques Laffite merely laughed and quipped "Why do we bother? Gilles is different from the rest of us. He is on a separate level."

Jarama 1981: Perhaps Villeneuve's greatest achievements came in 1981 at Jarama, where he wrestled an unwieldy turbo Ferrari 126C to victory in a classic display of defensive driving at the 1981 Spanish Grand Prix, keeping 5 quicker cars behind him using his tactical acumen and the superior straightline speed of his car. After an hour and 46 minutes of racing, Villeneuve led second-placed Jacques Laffite by only 0.22 seconds. Fifth-placed Elio de Angelis was only just over a second further back.^[23] Harvey Postlethwaite, designer of the 126C, later commented, "That car...had literally one quarter of the downforce that, say Williams or Brabham had. It had a power advantage over the Cosworths for sure, but it also had massive throttle lag at that time. In terms of sheer ability I think Gilles was on a different plane to the other drivers. To win those races, the 1981 GPs at Monaco and Jarama — on tight circuits — was quite out of this world. I know how bad that car was."

Montreal 1981: Another example of Villeneuve's battling spirit was this drive in torrential rain. After severely damaging the front wing of his Ferrari, Villeneuve drove for most of the race with the wing obscuring his view ahead. There was a risk of being black flagged, but eventually the wing became detached and Villeneuve drove on to finish third with the nose section of his car missing.

Argument with Pironi

Villeneuve went into 1982 a clear favourite for the crown, Ferrari's new designer Harvey Postlethwaite having created a competitive car. After glimpses of promise in the opening races, the Ferraris were handed an unexpected advantage at the San Marino Grand Prix as an escalation of the FISA-FOCA war saw the FOCA teams boycott the race, effectively leaving Renault as Ferrari's only serious opposition. With Prost retiring from 4th place on lap 7, followed by Arnoux on the 44th lap, Ferrari seemed to have the win in the bag. In order to preserve fuel and ensure the cars made the finish, the Ferrari team ordered both drivers to slow down. Villeneuve believed that the order also meant that the drivers were to maintain position, but Pironi didn't come to the same conclusion and passed Villeneuve. A few laps later Villeneuve re-passed Pironi and slowed down again, believing that Pironi was simply trying to entertain the Italian crowd. However, on the last lap Pironi passed and aggressively chopped Villeneuve and took the win. Villeneuve was irate, as he believed that Pironi had disobeyed the order to hold position. Meanwhile, Pironi claimed that he had done nothing wrong, as the team had only ordered the cars to slow down, not maintain position. Feeling betrayed and angry, Villeneuve vowed never to speak to Pironi again.

In 2007 former Marlboro marketer John Hogan disputed the claim that Pironi had gone back on a prior arrangement with Villeneuve. He said: "Neither of them would ever have agreed to what effectively was throwing a race. I think Gilles was stunned somebody had out-driven him and that it just caught him so much by surprise." Hogan's company sponsored Pironi while he was at Ferrari. A comparison of the lap times of the two drivers showed that Villeneuve lapped far slower when he was in the lead, suggesting that he had indeed been trying to save fuel.

Gilles stated after the San Marino Grand Prix, "I think it is well known that if I want someone to stay behind me and I am faster, then he stays behind me." In 1979, Gilles could have won the World Championship by beating Scheckter, but chose to follow team orders and finish behind him at the 1979 Italian Grand Prix.

Death

On May 8, 1982, after failing to beat Pironi's time on his first qualifying lap for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder by only 0.1s, Villeneuve decided to try one final time to take pole position. Using a set of scrubbed qualifying tyres, by now past their best, Villeneuve was well into his flying lap when he came up behind Jochen Mass's March 821, who was driving sedately towards the pits having completed his own qualifying attempt. Mass began to cede the racing line to Villeneuve, moving to the right, but Gilles had already committed to passing the March on that side, possibly due to steering problems which had afflicted his car during practice. The front left wheel of Villeneuve's car came into contact with the right rear wheel of Mass' car, launching the Ferrari into the air. The car partially flipped, before nose-diving into the soft earthen embankment just outside the armco and then somersaulting along the side of the track. The violence of the accident reduced the car to its cockpit, and ripped Villeneuve's seat from the back of the monocoque. Villeneuve, without his helmet, was thrown across the track and into the catch fencing just outside the corner.

Derek Warwick, the first driver to pass the destroyed Ferrari, pulled up a short way along the track and hurried back to assist Villeneuve. Aided by fellow driver John Watson, the pair extricated Villeneuve's body from the fencing and laid him on the ground. By the time the medical team arrived Villeneuve was not breathing. Villeneuve was resuscitated at the scene, but his injuries were fatal. He died in a local hospital that evening, his fatal injuries were likely caused by the force of his car landing for the first time after the initial impact. If his death was not greeted with great shock and surprise (everyone knew his style), that was more than offset by the profound sadness it produced. Even René Arnoux, his adversary in the Dijon epic, confessed that he cried after discovering that Gilles had died.

Fans often blamed teammate Pironi for the fatal accident, suggesting that the incident at San Marino had contributed to Villeneuve's furious state of mind which would lead to his crash.

Legacy

Villeneuve had already become an iconic figure before his death. His determination to win was obvious from outside the cockpit in the frequent oversteer and wheel-banging with his competitors. This endeared him to the crowd, and combined with his unusually open and honest approach, to many of the press as well. After the tragic death of Ronnie Peterson, Villeneuve was seen as his natural successor as the fastest natural driver on the grid.

At the funeral in Berthierville, former team-mate, Jody Scheckter, delivered a simple eulogy: “I will miss Gilles for two reasons. First, he was the fastest driver in the history of motor racing. Second, he was the most genuine man I have ever known. But he has not gone. The memory of what he has done, what he achieved, will always be there.”

Villeneuve's spectacular driving is still considered an art form among Formula One fans. He is still remembered at Grand Prix races, especially those in Italy. There is a bronze bust of him at the entrance to the Ferrari test track. A challenging corner (now chicane) at the Imola track, site of the San Marino Grand Prix, is named Curva Gilles Villeneuve after he had a spectacular crash there. A Canadian flag is painted on the spot where he started his last race. At Zolder, the corner where Gilles died has been turned into a chicane and named after him.

The racetrack on Île Notre-Dame, Montreal, used for the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix and Champ Car Grand Prix of Montreal, was renamed in his honour at the Canadian Grand Prix of 1982 after his death. His homeland has continued to honor him. In Berthierville, a museum was opened in 1992 and a lifelike statue stands in a nearby park named in his honour. Villeneuve was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame at their inaugural induction ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, August 19, 1993. In June 1997, Canada issued a postage stamp in honor of its favorite racing son.

There is still a huge demand for Villeneuve memorabilia at the race-track shops, and several books have been written about him. The number 27, the number of his Ferrari for several years, is still closely associated with him by fans. Jean Alesi, whose aggression and speed in the wet were compared to Villeneuve's, also used the number at Ferrari and Gilles' son, Jacques, drove the #27 during his 1995 Champ Car and Indianapolis 500 winning season with Barry Green, and Bill Davis Racing will field his Craftsman Truck with the aforementioned number in that series. A film based on the biography by Gerald Donaldson was announced in 2005, intended for release in 2007.

As well as this, in episode 21 of the anime Capeta, the creator paid tribute to Villeneuve by showing his Ferrari 126C2 with his number and explaining why ground effect was outlawed with a picture reference similar to his fatal accident. The Japanese scale model company Studio 27 is named in honor of him.

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James Simon Wallis Hunt

2008-02-23T08:37:00.000-08:00

James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993), was a British racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. Subsequently, after retiring from driving, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman.

After beginning his racing career in lesser formulae Hunt entered Formula One in 1973, driving a March 731 entered by the Hesketh Racing team. Hunt went on to win for Hesketh, driving their own Hesketh 308 car, in both World Championship and non-Championship races, before joining the McLaren team at the end of 1975. In his first year with McLaren Hunt won the World Drivers' Championship, narrowly beating Niki Lauda who suffered a fiery crash during the 1976 German Grand Prix, mid-way through the season. Following his World Championship-winning season Hunt remained with McLaren for a further two years, although with less success, before moving to the Wolf team in early 1979. However, following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving half way through the 1979 season.

Never one to take himself too seriously, Hunt endeared himself to the British public with his charisma and charm and brought a whole new audience to Formula One in the mid 1970's. Despite his Formula One career only lasting six seasons Hunt remains one of the few drivers of the era to be widely remembered amongst the general public, in part due to his commentary career for the BBC, which he took up following his retirement and maintained until his death in 1993.

Early career

The son of a successful stockbroker, James Hunt was born in Belmont, Sutton and educated firstly at Westerleigh School in Hastings, East Sussex and later Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, and originally studied to be a doctor. But just before his 18th birthday he was taken by a friend to see a motor race and Hunt was instantly hooked.

Hunt's own racing career started off when he built his own fast but rather ramshackle racing Mini, before graduating to Formula Ford and Formula Three. Hunt was noticed as a fast driver with an aggressive, tail-happy driving style, but one prone to having lots of spectacular accidents, hence his well-earned nickname of Hunt The Shunt. Hunt was involved in a controversial incident with Dave Morgan in the Formula Three Daily Express Trophy race at Crystal Palace on 3 October 1970. Having banged wheels earlier in a very closely fought race, Morgan attempted to pass Hunt on the outside of South Tower Corner on the final lap, but instead the cars collided and crashed out of the race. Hunt's car came to rest in the middle of the track, minus two wheels. Hunt got out, ran over to Morgan and furiously pushed him to the ground, which earned him severe official disapproval.

Hunt's career continued in the works March team, but that disintegrated and he soon fell in with the Hesketh team, where he was seen as a kindred spirit. The team initially entered Hunt in Formula Two with little success but Lord Hesketh decided that they might as well fail in F1 as in F2, as it wasn't significantly more expensive (and it allowed Lord Hesketh to parade his yacht, helicopter, Porsche, and Rolls Royce in front of a more appreciative audience).

Formula One career

Beginnings with Hesketh

Hesketh purchased a March 731 chassis, and it was developed by Harvey Postlethwaite. The team wasn't taken seriously by rivals, who saw the Hesketh outfit as a group of party animals lapping up the F1 lifestyle. But the car was much more competitive than the works efforts, and their best result was second place at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. For the 1974 season Hesketh Racing built a car, inspired by the March, called the Hesketh 308, but an accompanying V12 engine never materialised. The Hesketh team captured the public imagination – the car without any sponsor markings, a teddy-bear badge and the atmosphere of devil-may-care fun hid the fact that they were an extremely competent outfit and Hunt started to thrive. The season highlight was a victory by Hunt at the BRDC International Trophy non-Championship race at Silverstone, against a field that included the majority of the contemporary F1 glitterati.

His first World Championship win came in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. He finished fourth in the Championship that year, but Lord Hesketh had run out of funds and could not find a sponsor for his maverick team. With little time left before the 1976 season, Hunt was desperately looking for a drive until Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren and joined his brother's Copersucar-Fittipaldi outfit. With no other top drivers available, the team management signed Hunt to McLaren for the next season – he was one of the cheapest World Champions ever (Keke Rosberg in 1982 similarly found a drive at the last minute). Hunt immediately caused a stir by refusing to sign a clause in his contract which stipulated he wore suits to sponsor functions. Throughout his tenure, Hunt attended functions with world leaders, chairmen of businesses and media moguls in t-shirt and jeans and usually barefoot.

World Championship year

1976 was Hunt's best year. He used the McLaren M23 to win six Grands Prix in a turbulent season. After a slow start, he was disqualified and later reinstated as the winner of the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix for driving a McLaren that was supposedly 1.8 cm too wide. A seventh win at the British Grand Prix was disallowed after a row over an accident at the first corner that Hunt had got involved in. At the Italian Grand Prix, the Texaco fuel that McLaren used was tested and although apparently legal, the Penske cars, running the same fuel, had a much higher octane level than allowed and subsequently both teams were forced to start from the rear of the grid.

Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident in Germany and disqualification in Canada allowed Hunt to close the gap to the Austrian. As they went to the final round in Japan Hunt was just three points behind. The Japanese Grand Prix was torrentially wet, and Lauda refused to race, saying the conditions were too dangerous. After leading most of the race Hunt suffered a puncture, then had a delayed pitstop and finally received mixed pit signals from his team. But he managed to splash back to third place, scoring four points, enough for him to win the World Championship by just one point.

Decline and retirement

The 1977 Formula One season started unluckily for Hunt; although he won three races, took several podium finishes and eventually placed well in the Championship. The McLaren M26 was problematic in the early part of the season, and Hunt's apathy towards car testing made for a difficult period of races, during which Niki Lauda and Mario Andretti managed to build up a considerable points tally that Hunt could not overcome. Eventually he knuckled down to sort the car's problems, but unreliability during 1977 cost him a far better result.

The 1978 season marked a sharp decline for Hunt and he scored hardly any points. Lotus had developed effective ground effect aerodynamics with their Lotus 79 car, and McLaren were slow to respond. The M26 was revised as a ground effect car midway through the season but it did not work, and without a test driver to sort the car, Hunt's motivation plummeted. He was even being outperformed on occasion by his inexperienced new team-mate Patrick Tambay.

Any motivation James had left was snuffed out by the crash he and his friend Ronnie Peterson were involved in at the start of the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. The start of the race was chaotic, with half the field still completing the warm-up lap. There was a huge accident going into the first corner and Peterson's Lotus was shunted into the barriers and burst into flames. Hunt was the man who rescued him from the car, but the Swede died one day later because of an embolism. Hunt took his friend's death particularly hard and for years afterwards blamed Riccardo Patrese for the accident. Video evidence of the crash has since shown that Patrese did not touch Hunt or Peterson's cars, nor did he cause any other car to do so. Hunt believed, however, that it was Patrese's muscling past that caused the McLaren and Lotus to touch, but Patrese argues that he was already well ahead of the pair before the accident took place.

For 1979 Hunt moved to the initially very successful Walter Wolf Racing team for what would be his last Formula One season. However, Hunt's 1979 season with Wolf would turn out to be brief. The team's ground effect car was uncompetitive and Hunt had lost any enthusiasm for racing. His private life was also becoming increasingly turbulent. After failing to finish the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix, the race where six years previously he had made his debut, Hunt made a statement to the press announcing his immediate retirement and walked away from F1 competition forever.

Pesonal life and later career

Hunt was notorious for his unconventional behaviour on and off the track. Having been part of Formula One when the series was consolidating, and when it was conquering the attention of the motor sport press, Hunt became the epitome of unruly, playboy drivers and was celebrated for his English eccentricity (which included dining with his Alsatian, Oscar, at expensive Mayfair restaurants). Many latter-day drivers will be compared with Hunt for their antics, among them Eddie Irvine, and even more recently, Kimi Räikkönen.

Early in their careers Hunt and Lauda had shared a one bedroom flat in London together, and were close friends off the track. Lauda, in his autobiography To Hell and Back, described Hunt as an "open, honest to God pal." Whilst living in Spain as a tax exile, Hunt was neighbours with Jody Scheckter, and they also came to be very good friends, with Hunt giving Scheckter the nickname Fletcher after the crash prone bird in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Another close friend was Ronnie Peterson. Peterson was a quiet and shy man, whilst Hunt was exactly the opposite, but their contrasting personalities made them very close off the track. It was Hunt who discovered the brilliant Gilles Villeneuve, whom he met after being soundly beaten by him in a Formula Atlantic race in 1976. Hunt then arranged for the young Canadian to make his Grand Prix debut with McLaren in 1977. Villeneuve came to rely on Hunt for advice and support during his career and Hunt was particularly upset after Villeneuve's death in 1982.

Hunt's lifestyle was as controversial as some of the events on track: he was associated with a succession of beautiful women; he preferred to turn up to formal functions in bare feet and jeans; he was a casual user of marijuana; and he lived an informal life near the beach in Marbella. He was regularly seen attending nightclubs and discos, and was generally the life and soul of the party. Hunt was an expert ball game player, and regularly played squash and tennis. He also played on the F1 drivers' cricket and football teams and appeared on the BBC's Sporting Superstars more than once. He was also musically inclined, being able to play the trumpet and piano well. It was often assumed that he did not take racing seriously enough, yet through 1976 and 1977 the results continued to come. He famously wore a badge on his racing overalls that read Sex - Breakfast of Champions.

He was married twice: first, to model Suzy Millar, who left him for the actor Richard Burton. His second marriage, to Sarah, resulted in two children.

Soon after retirement, Hunt became an outspoken and entertaining television commentator for the BBC, alongside Murray Walker. Viewers were regularly exposed to his knowledge, insights and dry sense of humour during broadcasts, bringing him a whole new fanbase. He was famous for 'rubbishing' drivers he didn't think were trying hard enough, and although harsh-sounding, his comments were usually in good humour – he once described René Arnoux's comments that non-turbo cars didn't suit the Frenchman's driving skills as "bullshit", while live on the BBC.He was also skilled at reading a race and predicting outcomes to situations on-track. He briefly considered making a comeback to F1 in the mid-80's, and even tested privately for Williams setting competitive lap times, but eventually changed his mind.

Hunt fought depression and alcoholism and despite severe financial setbacks in his business life, approaching his mid-40s it seemed that he had overcome many of his demons (particularly alcohol and tobacco) and had finally achieved happiness. Happiness to Hunt included his new partner Helen, his clean health, his bicycle, his casual approach to dress, his two sons and his Austin A35 van. In an unlikely twist Hunt became a champion breeder of budgerigars and parrots. One of his parrots, Humbert was slated to appear as Captain Hook's bird in a West End production of Peter Pan, but was returned to Hunt because of the bird's intolerance to the actor playing Captain Hook.

Hunt made a brief appearance in the 1979 British silent slapstick comedy "The Plank." He also made an appearance on ITV's Police, Camera, Action! special Crash Test Racers in 2000; this was one of many interviews to be aired posthumously.

This was however not to last long - Hunt died in 1993 at the age of 45, of a heart attack at his home in Wimbledon, only hours after proposing marriage to Helen.

Hunt's son Freddie Hunt competed in his first car race on 29 October 2006, and finished fourth overall. It is said he used the race to evaluate if he wished to become a racing driver professionally.

In early 2007, Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen entered and won a snowmobile race in his native Finland under the name James Hunt. Räikkönen has openly admired the lifestyles of 1970s race car drivers such as Hunt.

Pictures, wallpapers

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Source for pic: click here

Ayrton Senna da Silva

2008-02-03T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ayrton Senna da Silva (pronounced [aˈiɾtõ ˈsenɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ], March 21, 1960 – May 1, 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver and triple Formula One world champion. His death whilst leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix marked the beginning of a new era in Formula One racing oriented to driver safety. He remains the last Grand Prix driver killed while driving a Formula One car.

A kart racer from an early age, he won the British Formula 3 championship in 1983 and made his Formula One debut with Toleman the next year. He moved to Team Lotus in 1985 and won six races there over the course of three seasons. He joined Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren-Honda in 1988 and won the Formula One World Championship. He developed a heated rivalry with Prost, one of the most bitter in F1 history. Senna won the championship twice more, in 1990 and 1991, the former decided in a controversial manner by a collision in one of the final races with Prost who was then a Ferrari driver. In the next two years with McLaren, despite driving an inferior car, Senna won eight races and finished runner-up for the world title in 1993. He switched to the then-dominant Williams Renault team for the 1994 Formula One season, taking three poles but never finishing a race; millions of fans witnessed his death live in global TV coverage during that year's San Marino GP at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

His near victory during the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix despite an inferior car, his dominant first victory in the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix and his acclaimed 1993 European Grand Prix victory, all of them in extremely rain-affected conditions, showed his talent in wet weather driving. He was the fastest driver of his era over one lap, as shown by his 65 pole positions in 162 races. His record six victories in the Monaco Grand Prix, and his 1988 Japanese Grand Prix win that earned him his first Drivers' title are several examples of his finest performances. His racing skills and personality earned him a place in motorsport history, and comparisons to Grand Prix legend Juan Manuel Fangio.

Known for his ruthless will to win, some believe he occasionally crossed the fairness line, most infamously during the penultimate 1990 Japanese Grand Prix. Senna was narrowly leading in the drivers' standings, and deliberately crashed his McLaren into Alain Prost's Ferrari. Both were eliminated from the race, which prevented Prost from earning the points needed to sustain the title fight, allowing Senna to clinch the championship. Williams teammate Damon Hill has suggested that Senna "would often prefer to crash into his opponent rather than be defeated". Senna's aggression had inspired Michael Schumacher, an F1 great who idolized Senna and had who also had a similar streak of controversy through his caree.

Competitive and unwilling to settle for second, his style consisted of pushing the car to its limits and going flat out, a stark contrast to the relaxed intellectual style of his nemesis Prost. Having won drivers' titles with McLaren in 1988 and 1990-91, their unreliable car which led to dismal 1992 season had Senna almost exiting the team. Without a vacant seat in another frontrunning team, as signing with the reigning champion Williams was blocked by arch-rival Prost, Senna almost considered leaving F1 for CART, before McLaren convinced the Brazilian to stay for 1993. Having been passed by Michael Schumacher whilst in the pits during the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix, Senna pushed too hard attempting to regain the lead and stalled, causing him to retire. A poor start to the 1994 season led Senna to placing utmost importance on a victory in San Marino in order to sustain the title fight, which was perhaps a factor in his fatal accident there.

Also notable was the unique duality of his character. Senna's intense and unyielding will to win on the track, was in stark contrast to his humane and compassionate exploits off it. A deeply religious man, he reportedly donated the bulk of his fortune to create the "Ayrton Senna Foundation", with the aim of helping poor and needy young people in Brazil and around the world. Eventually becoming concerned with the potential dangers of his sport, he helped to push for the organization of a driver safety group shortly before his final race.

Early life

Senna was born in São Paulo. At school he excelled in gymnastics, art and chemistry but found mathematics, physics and English difficult. The son of a wealthy Brazilian landowner, he developed an interest in motor racing at an early age..

Racing career

Early career

Senna entered karting competition at the age of 13. In 1977, he won the South American Kart Championship. He later finished runner up in the World Championship on several occasions - but never won. In 1981 he began competing in Europe, winning the British Formula Ford 1600 championship. He was champion in British and European Formula Ford 2000 the following year. He also adopted his mother's maiden name, Senna, as da Silva is a very common name in Brazil.

In 1983, Senna won the British F3 championship after a closely fought and at times controversial battle with Martin Brundle. He also triumphed in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix with Teddy Yip's Theodore Racing Team which was closely related to the West Surrey Racing team he drove for in British F3.

Formula One

Senna attracted the attention of F1 teams Williams, McLaren, Brabham and Toleman, all of whom he tested for. Fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet opposed him joining Brabham, and of the remaining three only Toleman offered him a race seat for 1984, so he joined the fledgling team.

1984: Toleman

Senna scored his first World Championship point in his second Grand Prix at Kyalami in South Africa. He repeated the result two weeks later at the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. His performance in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix brought him a lot of attention. He qualified 13th on the grid and made rapid progress through the soaking streets of Monte Carlo. By lap 19, he passed second-place man Niki Lauda and began to cut the gap to race leader Alain Prost. Before he could pass Prost the race was stopped on lap 31 for safety reasons as the rain grew even heavier.

Senna took two more podium finishes that year - third at the British and Portuguese Grands Prix. That left him tied with Nigel Mansell on 13 points, despite having missed the Italian Grand Prix when he was suspended by Toleman after breaking his contract by signing for Lotus for 1985.

Also in 1984 Senna took part in the 1000 km Nürburgring where, alongside Henri Pescarolo and Stefan Johansson, he co-drove a Porsche 956 to 8th.^[13]^[14] He also entered an exhibition race to celebrate the opening of the new Nürburgring. Several top F1 drivers took part in the event, driving identical Mercedes 190E 2.3-16. Senna won from Lauda and Carlos Reutemann.

1985-7: Lotus

At Lotus in 1985 Senna was partnered by Italian driver Elio de Angelis. Senna set his first pole position at the season opener in Brazil at the Jacarepaguá Circuit in Rio de Janeiro, but retired with an electrical problem. At the second round, held at the Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal on April 21, 1985, he scored his first Grand Prix victory, winning from pole position in heavy rain which saw second-place man Prost spin off into the wall. Senna took the pole position during the qualifying for the 1985 Monaco Grand Prix, but was accused of deliberately baulking other drivers during the final qualifying session by running more laps than necessary. Niki Lauda and Michele Alboreto were most upset by events; Alboreto going so far as to force Senna up an escape road during the session. Senna pointed out that even on the 13th of his 16 qualifying laps he nearly equalled his pole position time. Thus still running competitively and not holding anyone up. Senna added a second victory, also in the wet, in the Belgian GP at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He ended 1985 fourth in the World Championship with 38 points and six podiums (two wins, two seconds and two thirds), and seven pole positions.

For 1986, Ayrton was partnered by Scot Johnny Dumfries after Senna vetoed England's Derek Warwick from joining the team, saying that Lotus were not able to run competitive cars for two top drivers at the same time. The new Lotus 98T proved more reliable in 1986 and the season started on a high for Senna, finishing second to his fellow countryman Piquet at their home event in Brazil at Jacarepaguá. He took the World Championship lead for the first time in his career after winning the Spanish GP at Jerez in which he beat Mansell's Williams-Honda by 0.014 s - one of the closest finishes in Formula One history.

His championship lead did not last long after he suffered several retirements due to mechanical failures. The chase for the title became a fight between Prost's McLaren-TAG and the Williams-Honda duo of Piquet and Mansell. Senna took his second victory of the year at the United States GP at Detroit, and finished the season in fourth place again, with 55 points, eight pole positions and six podium finishes.

1987 promised better things. Lotus now had the same powerful Honda engines as Williams after Renault decided to step out of the sport. After a slow start, Senna won two races in a row: the prestigious Monaco GP (the first of a record breaking six victories at the Principality) and the United States GP at Detroit for the second year in a row, once again taking the World Championship lead. This time, the Lotus-Honda 99T seemed to be more or less on par with the all-conquering Williams-Honda cars once again driven by Piquet and Mansell. But despite the improved performance of the 99T, which used a highly innovative and technical active suspension system, the Williams FW11Bs of Piquet and Mansell were still the cars to beat. The gap between the two teams was never more evident than at the 1987 British Grand Prix at Silverstone where both Mansell and Piquet lapped the identically-engined Lotuses of Senna and team-mate Satoru Nakajima. After a spin due to a faulty clutch in the third to last round in Mexico, Senna was out of the championship hunt, leaving Piquet and Mansell to fight it out for the last two races.

Mansell badly injured his back in a heavy accident while practicing for the 1987 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, effectively handing the 1987 World Championship to Piquet since he would miss the season-ending race at Australia in Adelaide. This meant that Senna still had a chance to finish as runner-up in the standings if he finished at least third in both remaining races. He finished second in both Japan and Australia. At the Australian Grand Prix, post-race scrutineering found the brake ducts of his Lotus-Honda to be wider than permitted by the rules and he was disqualified, bringing his last and most successful season with Lotus to a sour end. After the disqualification, he was classified third in the final standings, with 57 points, one pole position, and six podium finishes (four seconds and two thirds). This season marked a turning point in Senna's career as, throughout the year, he built a deep relationship with Honda, a relationship which would pay big dividends, for Ayrton was heading for McLaren who had secured Williams' supply of Honda's V6 turbo engines for 1988.

1988-93: McLaren

In 1988, thanks to the relationship he had built up with Honda throughout the 1987 season with Lotus, and with the approval of McLaren's number one driver and then-double world champion, Alain Prost, Senna joined the McLaren team. The foundation for a fierce competition between Senna and Prost was laid, culminating in a number of dramatic race incidents between the two. The pair won 15 of 16 races in the dominant McLaren MP4/4 in 1988 with Senna coming out on top, winning his first Formula One world championship title. At the 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix Prost discovered that winning meant everything to Senna when he was almost forced into the pit wall at Estoril at more than 180 mph. Prost got away slightly faster than Senna at the start but the Brazilian dived into the first corner ahead. Prost responded and went to pass Senna at the end of the first lap. Senna swerved to block Prost, forcing the Frenchman nearly to run into the pitwall. Prost kept his foot down and soon edged Senna into the first corner and started pulling away fast. Though Prost was angered by Senna's manoeuvre, the Brazilian got away with a warning from the FIA.

The following year the rivalry between Senna and Prost intensified into battles on the track and a psychological war off it. Prost took the 1989 world title after a collision with Senna at the Suzuka track, the second to last race in the season, which Senna needed to win if he wanted to remain in contention for the title. Senna had attempted an inside pass when Prost turned into the corner and cut him off, with the two McLarens finishing up with their wheels interlocked in the Suzuka chicane escape road. Senna then got a push-start from marshals, stopped at the McLaren pit to replace the damaged nose cone of his car, and rejoined the race. He took the lead from the Benetton of Alessandro Nannini and went on to finish first, only to be later disqualified by the FIA for cutting the chicane after the collision, and for crossing into the pit lane entry (not part of the track). A large fine and temporary suspension of his Super Licence followed in the winter of 1989 and Senna engaged in a bitter war of words with the FIA and its then President Jean-Marie Balestre.

In 1990, at the same circuit and with both drivers again in contention for the title, Senna took pole ahead of Prost. The pole position in Suzuka was on the right-hand, dirty side of the track. Prost's Ferrari made a better start and pulled ahead of Senna's McLaren. At the first turn Senna aggressively kept his line while Prost turned in and the McLaren ploughed into the rear wheel of Prost's Ferrari at about 270 km/h (170 mph), putting both cars off the track, this time making Senna the Formula 1 world champion. A year later, after taking his third world championship, Senna explained to the press his actions of the previous year in Suzuka. He maintained that prior to qualifying fastest, he had sought and received assurances from race officials that pole position would be changed to the left-hand, clean side of the track, only to find this decision reversed by Jean-Marie Balestre after he had taken pole. Explaining the collision with Prost, Senna said that what he had wanted was to make clear he was not going to accept what he perceived as unfair decisions by Balestre including his disqualification in 1989 and the pole position in 1990:

"I think what happened in 1989 was unforgivable, and I will never forget it. I still struggle to cope with it even now. You know what took place here: Prost and I crashed at the chicane, when he turned into me. Afterwards, I rejoined the race, and I won it, but they decided against me, and that was not justice. What happened afterwards was... a theatre, but I could not say what I thought. If you do that, you get penalties, you get fined, you lose your licence maybe. Is that a fair way of working? It is not...At Suzuka last year I asked the officials to change pole position from the right side of the track to the left. It was unfair, as it was, because the right side is always dirty, and there is less grip — you sweat to get pole position, and then you are penalised for it. And they said, "Yes, no problem". Then, what happened? Balestre gave an order that it wasn't to be changed. I know how the system works, and I thought this was really s***. So I said to myself, "OK, whatever happens, I'm going to get into the first corner first — I'm not prepared to let the guy (Alain Prost) turn into that corner before me. If I'm near enough to him, he can't turn in front of me — he just has to let me through." I didn't care if we crashed; I went for it. And he took a chance, turned in, and we crashed. It was building up, it was inevitable. It had to happen." So you did cause it then, someone said. "Why did I cause it?" Senna responded. "If you get f***** every time you try to do your job cleanly, within the system, what do you do? Stand back, and say thank you? No way. You should fight for what you think is right. If pole had been on the left, I'd have made it to the first corner in the lead, no problem. That was a bad decision to keep pole on the right, and it was influenced by Balestre. And the result was what happened in the first corner. I contributed to it, but it was not my responsibility".

Senna captured his third title in 1991, taking seven wins and staying largely clear of controversy. Prost, due to the downturn in Ferrari, was no longer a serious competitor. By mid-season, Nigel Mansell in the more advanced Williams was able to put up a challenge. Though Senna's consistency and the William's unreliability at the season start gave him an early advantage, Senna insisted that Honda step up their engine development programme and demanded further improvements to the car before it was too late. These modifications enabled him to make a late season push by winning three races to secure the championship. There were some memorable moments, such as at the Spanish Grand Prix when Senna and Mansell went wheel to wheel with only centimetres to spare, at over 320 km/h (200mph) down the main straight, a race that the Brit eventually won. Quite a different spectacle was offered following Mansell's victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Senna's car had come to a halt on the final lap but he was not left stranded out on the circuit, as Mansell pulled over on his parade lap and allowed the Brazilian to ride on the Williams side-pod back to the pits.

In 1992, Senna's absolute determination to win manifested itself in dismay at McLaren's inability to challenge Williams all-conquering FW14B car. McLaren's new car for the season had several shortcomings. There was delay in getting the new model running (it debuted in the fourth race of the season) and in addition to lacking active suspension the new car suffered from reliability issues, was unpredictable in fast corners, while its Honda V12 engine was no longer the most powerful in the circuit. Senna scored wins in Monaco, Hungary, and Italy that year, but finished a disappointing fourth overall in the championship, behind the Williams duo of Mansell and Patrese, and Benetton's Michael Schumacher.

Questions about Senna's intentions for 1993 lingered as he did not have a contract with any team by the end of the year. He felt the McLaren cars were not as competitive (especially after Honda bowed out of Formula 1 at the end of the 1992 season). Joining Williams alongside Prost became impossible since Prost had a clause on his contract forbidding Senna as a team-mate, even though the Brazilian offered to drive for free. An infuriated Senna called Prost a coward in a press conference in Estoril. In December, Senna went to Phoenix, Arizona and tested Emerson Fittipaldi's Penske IndyCar.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis meanwhile was trying to secure a supply of the dominant Renault V10 engine for 1993. When this deal fell through, McLaren was forced to take a customer supply of Ford V8 engine. As a customer team, McLaren got an engine that was a version behind that of Ford's factory team, Benetton, but hoped to make up for the inferior horsepower with mechanical sophistication, including an effective active suspension system. Dennis then finally persuaded Senna to return to McLaren. But the Brazilian agreed only to sign up for the first race in South Africa, where he would assess whether McLaren’s equipment was competitive enough for him to put in a good season.

After driving McLaren's 1993 car, Senna concluded that the new car had a surprising potential albeit the engine was still down on power and would be no match for Prost’s Williams Renault. Senna declined to sign a one-year contract but agreed to drive on a race-by-race basis, eventually staying for the year, although some sources claim this was a marketing ploy between Dennis and Senna. After finishing second in the opening race in South Africa, Senna won in constantly changing conditions at home in Brazil and in the rain at Donington. The latter has often been regarded as one of Senna's greatest victories. He started the race fourth and dropped to fifth on the run down to the first corner, but was leading before the first lap was completed. He went on to lap the entire field in a race where up to seven pit stops were required by some drivers for rain/slick tyres depending on the conditions. Senna then scored a second place finish in Spain and a record breaking sixth win at Monaco. After Monaco, the sixth race of the season, Senna led the championship ahead of Prost in the Williams-Renault and Benetton's Michael Schumacher despite McLaren’s inferior engine. As the season progressed, Prost and Damon Hill asserted the superiority of the Williams-Renault car, with Prost securing the drivers' championship while Hill moved up to second in the standings. Senna concluded the season and his McLaren career with two wins in Japan and Australia, finishing 2nd overall in the championship. The penultimate race was noted for an incident where Jordan's rookie Eddie Irvine unlapped himself against Senna. The incensed Brazillian later appeared at Jordan's garage and punched the Ulsterman.

1994: Williams

Senna had tried to join Williams in 1993 but was balked by Prost, who vetoed the move. Senna had even offered to drive for nothing such was the desire to be in the team of the early nineties, but a clause in Prost's contract meant that 1993 was out of the question. The clause did not extend to 1994, however, and Prost retired with one year left on his contract, rather than face the prospect of being a teammate of his greatest rival. For 1994, Senna finally signed with the Williams-Renault team.

Williams had won the previous two World Championships with vastly superior cars, and Senna was a natural and presumptive pre-season title favorite, with second-year driver Damon Hill intended to play the supporting role. Between them, Prost, Senna, and Hill had won all but one race in 1993. Benetton's Michael Schumacher had won the remaining event.

Pre-season testing showed that the Williams car had speed, but it was difficult to drive. The FIA had banned electronic driver aids, such as active suspension, traction control and ABS, to make the sport more "human". The Williams was not a well-handling car at the start of 1994, as observed by other F1 drivers, having been seen to be very loose at the rear. Senna himself had made numerous (politically careful) comments that the Williams FW16 had some quirks which needed to be ironed out. It was obvious that the FW16, after the regulation changes banning active suspension and traction control, exhibited none of the superiority of the FW15C and FW14B cars that had preceded it. The surprise of testing was Benetton which was more nimble than the Williams, though less powerful.

The first race of the season was in Brazil, where Senna took Pole. In the race Senna took an early lead but Schumacher's Benetton was never far behind. Schumacher took the race lead for good after passing Senna in the pits. Senna refused to settle for second. Opting for a win, he pushed too hard and spun the car, stalling it and retiring from the race.

The second race was the Pacific Grand Prix at Aida where Senna again placed the car on Pole. However, he was hit from behind in the first corner by Mika Häkkinen and his race came to a definitive end when a Ferrari driven by Nicola Larini also crashed into his Williams. Hill finished second while Schumacher took victory again.

It was Senna's worst start to an F1 season, failing to finish or score points in the first two races, despite taking pole both times. Schumacher was leading Senna in the drivers' championship by twenty points.

Luca Di Montezemolo is quoted saying that Senna came to him the Tuesday before the Imola race and praised Ferrari for the battle against electronics in F1. Senna also told Montezemolo that he would like to end his career with Ferrari.

The fatal accident at Imola in 1994

At the third race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Senna declared that this was where his season would start, with fourteen races, as opposed to sixteen, in which to win the title. Senna again placed the car on Pole, but he was particularly upset by two events. On Friday, during the afternoon qualifying session, Senna's protégé, the then F1 newcomer Rubens Barrichello, was involved in a serious accident that prevented him from competing in the race. The next day, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed in a practice accident.

He spent his final morning meeting fellow drivers, determined after Ratzenberger's accident to take on a new responsibility to re-create a Drivers' Safety group to increase safety in Formula One. As the most senior driver, he offered to take the role of leader in this effort.

Senna and the other drivers all opted to start the Grand Prix, but the race was interrupted by a huge accident at the start line. A safety car was deployed and the drivers followed it for several laps. On the restart Senna immediately set a quick pace with the third quickest lap of the race, followed by Schumacher. As Senna entered the high-speed Tamburello corner on the next lap, the car left the track at high speed, hitting the concrete retaining wall at around 135 mph. Senna was removed from the car by Sid Watkins and his medical team and treated by the side of the car before being airlifted to Bologna hospital where Senna was later declared dead. The suspension of the detached front right wheel had pierced his helmet, causing a fatal injury. As track officials examined the wreckage of his racing car they found a furled Austrian flag -- a victory flag that he was going to raise in honour of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger, who had died on that track the day before.

To this day, the cause of the accident has still not been fully determined after many court cases, including Williams being investigated for manslaughter though the charges were later dropped.

Funeral

Senna's death was considered by many of his Brazilian fans to be a national tragedy, and the Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning. An estimated million people lined the streets to give him their salute. Most of Formula One attended Senna's state funeral. However, FIA President Max Mosley did not, as he attended the funeral of Ratzenberger instead which took place on May 7, 1994 in Salzburg, Austria. Mosley said in a press conference ten years later, "I went to his funeral because everyone went to Senna's. I thought it was important that somebody went to his."

For the next race at Monaco, the FIA decided to leave empty the first two grid positions and painted them with the colors of the Brazilian and the Austrian flag, to honour Senna and Ratzenberger.

Qualifying

Senna was renowned for his qualifying skill, a discipline which produced a record 65 pole positions from 161 races. This record stood for 12 years after his death, before it was surpassed by Michael Schumacher after taking pole position for the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix, his 236th race.

"Magic" Senna, as he was known to his fans, also won the Monaco Grand Prix six times, a record which stands today and a tribute to his skills which earned him the title "Master of Monaco".

Senna described in detail his mental experience in qualifying for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix:

“

...the last qualifying session. I was already on pole, then by half a second and then one second and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel. Not only the tunnel under the hotel but the whole circuit was a tunnel. I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more.

Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down. I drove slowly back to the pits and I didn't want to go out any more that day. It frightened me because I was well beyond my conscious understanding. It happens rarely but I keep these experiences very much alive inside me because it is something that is important for self-preservation.

”

In that session, lap after lap he broke his own pole position time.

During the 2004 San Marino Grand Prix ten year anniversary remembrance of Ayrton Senna in a series of interviews, Gerhard Berger, Senna's team mate at McLaren from 1990-1992 and a very close friend, expressed a memory of what it was like qualifying with Senna:

“

I remember one weekend in Imola where I went out, I set the time. He went out, he was a bit quicker. I went out, I was quicker than him. He went out, he was quicker than me, and then it goes forwards, backwards -- ping pong -- until close to the end of the qualifying and it was the last set of tyres, and he was sitting in the racing car, me in my one, and he got out of the racing car, walked over to my one and said, 'Listen, it's gonna get very dangerous now,' and I say 'So what? Let's go!'

”

This competition could perhaps be attributed to not only Senna's determination and desire to be first (including qualifying), but Senna and Berger's close friendship and horseplay.

Wet weather driving

In F1, wet weather racing is considered to be a great equaliser of cars; that is, the driver makes more of a difference. Speeds must be reduced and car superiority in power or grip is greatly reduced. The rain demands great driver car control, ability and driving finesse. Senna had some of his best performances in such conditions.

One of Senna's tactics was not to change into the rain tyres at the start of the rain but to keep racing using slick tyres. Although it made racing much more difficult Senna often gained several seconds of time ahead of his competitors because most of them were driving into pitstop to change into rain tyres.

The 1984 season was Senna's first in F1. He came into a field of competitors from whose ranks 16 world championships would be reaped. Participating as a rookie in a relatively uncompetitive car, the Toleman TG184, Senna had racked up three race retirements, a 6th and a 7th place from his first 5 races.

He started the first wet race of the season, the Monaco Grand Prix in 13th place. The race was stopped for safety reasons after only 31 laps due to monsoon conditions which were deemed undriveable. At the time the race was stopped, Senna was in 2nd place, and catching race leader Alain Prost, at 4 seconds per lap.

In 1993, at the European GP at Donington Park, Senna drove for the McLaren team. The MP4/8, although one of the front running cars, was considered inferior to the leading Williams FW15C of Prost and Hill, and the Benetton B193 - which used a factory-supplied Ford engine - driven by Michael Schumacher and Riccardo Patrese.

Senna started the wet weather GP in fourth place on the grid. At the very start, Hill cut across Schumacher's line, causing Schumacher to cut further to the outside across Senna's own line. Karl Wendlinger's Sauber then passed both Schumacher and Senna on the inside, leaving Senna in fifth and Schumacher in fourth. Senna cut to the inside, having no room to move to the outside as Schumacher came across. Despite being in fifth place at the first corner, at the end of the first lap he was in first place, having overtaken Schumacher, Wendlinger, Hill and Prost (Schumacher and Wendlinger did not have traction control). Examples of wet weather car control such as this gained Senna the title "The Rain Man" in numerous F1 publications in the early 90s.^{[citation needed]} The opening lap is frequently cited as a one of the sport's great moments. Senna is regarded by many as the fastest driver that has ever been involved in Formula One Motor Racing and was also rated by a 2006 F1 magazine poll to be the greatest Formula One driver of all time.

Character

Beyond his exceptional driving skills Senna was one of the sport's most compelling personalities. Intensely introspective and extremely passionate, he used driving as a means for self-discovery, and racing as a metaphor for life: “The harder I push, the more I find within myself. I am always looking for the next step, a different world to go into, areas where I have not been before. It’s lonely driving a Grand Prix car, but very absorbing. I have experienced new sensations and I want more. That is my excitement, my motivation.” Starkly contrasting to Senna's intense and unyielding will to win on the track, his exploits off it were humane and compassionate. He was renowned for his close relationship with Gerhard Berger, and the two were always playing practical jokes on each other.

Berger is quoted as saying "He taught me a lot about our sport, I taught him to laugh".

In the documentary film "The Right to Win" made in 2004 as a tribute to Senna, Frank Williams notably recalls that as good a driver as Senna was, ultimately "he was an even greater man outside of the car than he was in it."

Legacy

In 2004 (when, ten years after his death, the Brazilian media revisited the life of Senna), a book called "Ayrton: The Hero Revealed" (original title: "Ayrton: O Herói Revelado") was published in Brazil. The book recalls several passages of Senna's career, and adds previously unknown information about his personal life.

In addition, to mark the 10th anniversary of Senna's passing, on April 21, 2004, over 10,000 people attended a charity match in a football stadium near Imola. The game was organized by several devoted Italian and Canadian fans of Ayrton, bringing the 1994 FIFA World Cup winning team of Brazil (who dedicated their 1994 FIFA World Cup win to Ayrton Senna) to face the "Nazionale Piloti", an exhibition team comprised exclusively of top race car drivers. Senna had been a part of the latter in 1985. Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso and many others faced the likes of Dunga, Careca, Taffarel and many of the team that won the World Cup in the USA ten years earlier.

That same weekend, Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he still believed Ayrton Senna was and remained the best F1 driver he'd ever seen.

In 2005, Italian singer Cesare Cremonini released a song entitled, "Marmellata #25", and in the chorus he has part of a line that reads in Italian "Ahh! Da quando Senna non corre più... non è più domenica!", which translates to: "Oh! Since Senna doesn't race anymore...it's not Sunday anymore!"

Many safety improvements were made in the sport following Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths. Although many other drivers had died before him, no other driver of the same fame and adoration had been killed in an F1 race. Improved crash barriers, redesigned tracks and tyre barriers, higher crash safety standards, and higher sills on the driver cockpit are changes due to Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths.

After Senna's death it was discovered that he had donated millions of dollars of his personal fortune (estimated at $400 million at the time of his death) to children's charities, a fact that during his life he had kept secret. His foundation in Brazil, Instituto Ayrton Senna, has invested nearly US$ 80 million over the last twelve years in social programs and actions in partnership with schools, government, NGOs, and the private sector aimed at offering children and teenagers from low-income backgrounds the skills and opportunities they need to develop to their full potential as persons, citizens and future professionals.

Senna and the NSX

To take advantage of the close relationship Honda had with the Brazilian prodigy during his tenure as #1 driver for the McLaren/Honda F1 Team, Ayrton Senna was called in to fine-tune the Honda NSX's suspension setting during its final development stages. The tests were conducted at Suzuka Circuit with chief NSX engineer Shigeru Uehara and his engineering team present to gather Senna's direct input. As a result of his suspension tuning, Senna subsequently found the prototype NSX initially lacked chassis stiffness to the level he was accustomed to, so the final production version was further reinforced to his satisfaction. Dubbed the 1992 NSX Type-R it is a limited version of the car, sold mainly within Japan.

Notable quotations

"Winning is like a drug, I cannot justify in any circumstances coming second or third."
"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit'. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high."
"One particular thing that Formula-1 can provide you, is that you know you're always exposed to danger. Danger of getting hurt, danger of dying. This is part of your life, and you either face it in a professional, in a cool manner, or you just drop it, just leave it and don't do it anymore really. And I happen to like too much what I do to just drop it, I can't drop it."
"Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else."
"There are no small accidents on this circuit." - talking about the Imola circuit before the fatal 1994 race.
"It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen." - pre-season 1994.
"I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It's a way of life for me."
"Of course there are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning."
"If you have a target in your life, a real target, doesn't matter if you are very poor or rich people, if you work hard and believe in God, you can get the success, success in the life."
"I know that it is impossible to win always. I just hope that defeat doesn't come this weekend."
"I don't know driving in another way which isn't risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other's."
"If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs me my life, I hope it is in one go. I would not like to be in a wheelchair. I would not like to be in a hospital suffering from whatever injury it was. If I'm going to live, I want to live fully. Very intensely, because I am an intense person. It would ruin my life if I had to live partially." (January 1994, 4 months prior to his death)

Some pictures of Ayrton Senna:

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My main sorce for pictures was http://www.ayrtondasilva.net/ , I salute you!

Alain Marie Pascal Prost

2008-02-03T12:07:00.001-08:00

Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE (born 24 February 1955) is a French racing driver. A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion, only Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher have won more titles than Prost. From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix victories. Schumacher surpassed Prost's total of 51 victories at the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix.

Prost discovered karting at the age of 14 during a family holiday. He progressed through motor sport's junior ranks, winning the French and European Formula Three championships, before joining the McLaren Formula One team in 1980 at the age of 25. He finished in the points on his Formula One debut and took his first race victory at his home Grand Prix in France a year later, while he was driving for Renault's factory team.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Prost formed a fierce rivalry with Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell. In 1986, at the last race of the season, he managed to pip Mansell and Nelson Piquet of Williams to the title. Senna joined Prost at McLaren in 1988 and the two had a series of controversial clashes, including a collision at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix that gave Prost his third Drivers' Championship. A year later at the same venue they collided again, but this time Prost, driving for Ferrari, lost out. Prost's time at Ferrari had further controversy, as his antics caused Mansell to become disgruntled and quit, and Prost was fired after a dismal 1991 season when he publicly criticized the team. After a sabbatical in 1992, Prost joined the Williams team, prompting reigning drivers' champion Mansell to leave for CART. With a competitive car, Prost won the 1993 championship. the prospect of Senna joining Williams for the next season, Prost retired at the end of the year.

In 1997, Prost took over the French Ligier team, running it as Prost Grand Prix until it went bankrupt in 2001. In 2006, Prost started his fourth year in the Andros Trophy, which is an ice racing competition.

Prost employed a smooth, relaxed style behind the wheel, deliberately modeling himself on personal heroes like Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark. He was nicknamed 'The Professor' for his intellectual approach to competition. Skilled at setting up his car for race conditions, Prost would often conserve his brakes and tyres early on in a race, leaving them fresher for a challenge at the end of the race. Motor sport journalist Denis Jenkinson described Prost as "a very warm and uncomplicated man who doesn't rely on passion or inspiration. Nor does he indulge in showmanship or bullshit. He is capable of a level of mental discipline beyond the comprehension of most people."

Personal and early life

Alain Prost was born near Saint-Chamond, in the département of Loire in France to André and Marie-Rose Prost, who was of Armenian descent. Prost had one younger brother called Daniel, who died of cancer in September 1986. Although short, Prost was an active, athletic child, who enthusiastically took part in diverse sports, including wrestling, roller skating and football. In doing so he broke his nose several times. He considered careers as a gym instructor or a professional footballer before he discovered kart racing at the age of 14 while on a family holiday. This new sport quickly became his career of choice.

Prost is married to Anne-Marie (born 14 February 1955). They have two sons, Nicolas (born 18 October 1981) and Sacha Prost (born 30 May 1990). Prost also has a daughter, Victoria. As of 2007, Nicolas races in the Spanish Formula 3 championship for the Campos Racing team. Prost lived in his hometown, Saint-Chamond, until he and his Renault team fell out in the early 1980s. In April 1983 the Prost family moved to La Muraz, Switzerland and lived there until November 1999, when they moved to Nyon in the same country.

Driving career

Pre-Formula One

Prost won several karting championships in his teens. In 1974 he left school to become a full-time racer, supporting himself by tuning engines and becoming a kart distributor. His prize for winning the 1975 French senior karting championship was a season in French Formula Renault, a category in which he won the title and all but one race in 1976.

Prost went on to win the 1977 Formula Renault European championship before moving up to Formula Three (F3) in 1978. In 1979 he won both the French and European F3 championships, by which time he was on the shopping lists of several Formula One teams. After carefully considering his options, he chose to sign with McLaren for 1980. He surprised the British team by declining their offer of a race drive in a third car at the final race of the 1979 season — reasoning that the token effort would benefit neither him or the team.

Formula One

1980: McLaren

Alain Prost began his career with McLaren in 1980 alongside Ulsterman John Watson. On his debut in Argentina he finished in sixth place earning one point, something achieved by only a handful of drivers. Prost added four more points to his tally during the season, scoring points in Brazil, Britain and the Netherlands. Prost finished the year 15th in the drivers' championship, equalling points with former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Despite the encouraging debut season, Prost had several accidents, breaking his wrist in one of them and suffering a concussion in another. At the end of the season, despite having two years remaining on his contract, he left McLaren and signed with Renault. Prost has said that he left because of the large number of breakages on the car and because he felt the team blamed him for some of the accidents.

1981–1983: Renault

1981

Prost was partnered with fellow Frenchman René Arnoux for 1981. Motor sports author Nigel Roebuck reports that there were problems between Prost and Arnoux from the start of the season, Prost being immediately quicker than his more experienced teammate. He did not finish the first two Grands Prix, due to collisions with Andrea de Cesaris in Long Beach and Siegfried Stohr in Jacarepaguá, but scored his first podium finish in Argentina. He retired in the next four races before winning his first Formula One race at his home Grand Prix in France, finishing two seconds ahead of his old teammate John Watson. For Prost, his debut victory was memorable mostly for the change it made in his mindset. "Before, you thought you could do it," he said. "Now you know you can." Prost won two more races during the season, as well as his first pole position in the Netherlands and finished fifth in the drivers' championship, seven points behind champion Nelson Piquet.

1982

Prost won the first two Grands Prix of the 1982 season in South Africa and Brazil. He finished in the points on four other occasions, but did not win again. Despite retiring from seven races, Prost improved on his drivers' championship position, finishing in fourth, but with nine fewer points than the previous year. His relationship with Arnoux deteriorated further after the French Grand Prix. Prost believes that Arnoux, who won the race, went back on a pre-race agreement to support Prost during the race. His relationship with the French media was also poor. He has since commented that "When I went to Renault the journalists wrote good things about me, but by 1982 I had become the bad guy. I think, to be honest, I had made the mistake of winning! The French don't really like winners."

1983

Arnoux left Renault in 1983, and American Eddie Cheever replaced him as Prost's partner. Prost earned a further four victories for Renault during the season and finished second in the drivers' championship, two points behind Nelson Piquet. Piquet and the Brabham team overhauled Prost and Renault in the last few races of the season. Prost, who felt the team had been too conservative in developing the car, found himself increasingly at odds with Renault's management, who made him the scapegoat for failing to win a championship. In addition to that, the French fans recalled the bitter fight that had caused their favourite, Arnoux, to leave the team. Renault dropped Prost only two days after the last race of the season. He re-signed for McLaren for the 1984 season within days and moved his family home to Switzerland.

1984–1989: McLaren

1984

The Frenchman joined double world champion Niki Lauda at McLaren in 1984, driving the McLaren MP4/2 using TAG-Porsche engines. He lost the world championship to Lauda in the final race by half a point, despite winning seven races to Lauda's five. The half point came from the Monaco Grand Prix, where Prost had been leading, albeit with Ayrton Senna and Stefan Bellof closing on him rapidly, when officials stopped the race at half distance due to heavy rain. Under Formula One regulations, Prost received only half of the nine points normally awarded for a victory.

1985

In 1985 Prost became the first French Formula One World Champion. He won five of the sixteen Grand Prix during the season. He also won on the road at the San Marino Grand Prix, but was disqualified after his car was found to be underweight in post-race scrutineering. Prost finished 23 points ahead of his closest rival, Michele Alboreto. Prost's performance in 1985 earned him the Légion d'honneur distinction in France.

1986

Niki Lauda retired in 1986, and was replaced at McLaren by 1982 Champion Keke Rosberg. Prost successfully defended his title, despite his car struggling against the Honda-powered Williams of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell.^[18] Until the latter stages of the final race of the 1986 season, in Australia, Prost appeared set to finish second in the Championship, behind Nigel Mansell. Prost had the same amount of wins as Piquet, but he had four second places to Piquet's three, thus placing him second before the final race. While leading, Mansell suffered a tyre failure at high speed, and crashed out. The Williams team called his teammate Piquet in to change tyres as a safety precaution, handing the race victory — and Championship — to Prost, who had already pitted. Another memorable race that year for Prost was at the San Marino Grand Prix. He was cruising to victory when his car began to run out of fuel three corners from the chequered flag. Frantically weaving the car back and forth to slosh the last drops of fuel into the pickup, he managed to keep it running just long enough to creep over the line and win the race. It happened again at the German Grand Prix: while running in fourth position, Prost's car ran out of fuel on the finishing straight of the last lap. Instead of retiring, Prost got out of his car and tried to push it to the finish, to great applause from the crowd. The finish line was too far, though, and he never reached it. He was classified sixth in the race, as the seventh-placed car was a lap behind.

1987

With Rosberg retiring from Formula One for the 1987 season, Stefan Johansson filled the seat thanks to his Marlboro connections. Even though Prost was driving a by now outclassed McLaren, he challenged Piquet and Mansell almost until the end, winning three races and breaking Jackie Stewart's record for race victories by winning for the 28th time. Prost considers the Brazilian Grand Prix as his best and most rewarding race ever. The Williams-Hondas had been dominant during qualifying, and Prost started fifth on the grid. He had worked on his race set-up, and with everyone else going for a high-downforce set-up, the Frenchman went the other way. The set-up meant less tyre wear, thanks to slower speeds in the corners while going fast down the straights. Only one stop was necessary, and Prost won the race by 40 seconds.

“	When you win a race like this the feeling is very, very good. There have been times when I have been flat-out to finish sixth, but you can't see that from the outside. In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place. I pushed like mad, yet everyone was gathered around the winner and they were thinking that I was just trundling around. But that's motor racing. So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport is the long term. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race.	”
—Alain Prost some-time after the race - transcript of recording from Forix.com, paragraphs 19 & 20.

Prost finished the 1987 season in fourth, 30 points behind champion Nelson Piquet.

1988

Despite Nelson Piquet winning the Drivers' Championship and Williams winning the Constructors' Championship, Honda decided not to supply Williams with their engines and instead supplied the McLaren team for 1988. McLaren Honda dominated the season, winning 15 out of 16 races. Prost won seven and outscored his new teammate Ayrton Senna by 11 points, despite Senna winning one more race than Prost. However, only the 11 best results from the season counted toward the championship total, and this gave Senna the title by three points. This began the rivalry that pushed two of the sport's greatest drivers to unprecedented heights of success and controversy.

1989

McLaren's domination continued throughout 1989, and the Prost-Senna struggle for supremacy put them on a collision course. Mutual admiration turned to all-out hatred, with the Frenchman accusing his Brazilian teammate of "dangerous driving" and of receiving more than a fair share of attention from both McLaren and Honda. Their embittered season ended as many pundits had feared. In the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of lap 46, Senna made his move at the chicane. Prost turned into his teammate's path. The two interlocked McLarens slid up the chicane escape road. Prost, thinking the World Championship was over, climbed out of his car. To separate the cars, the marshals pushed Senna's McLaren backwards on to the track. This left it in a dangerous position, so they pushed it forwards again. As they did so, Senna bump-started the engine. He drove through the chicane and rejoined. The nose of his car was damaged and he had to pit, but he rejoined only five seconds behind Alessandro Nannini. On lap 50, Ayrton sliced past Nannini at the chicane to take the lead and won the race. But it was Nannini who appeared on the podium. Race officials had excluded Senna for missing the chicane. McLaren appealed the decision, but the FIA Court of Appeal not only upheld the decision but fined Senna US$100,000 and gave him a suspended six-month ban. So Prost had clinched his third driving title in controversial circumstances, and the Frenchman quickly moved from McLaren to join his new employers: Ferrari.

1990–1991: Ferrari

1990

The Frenchman replaced Gerhard Berger at Ferrari and was partnered with Britain's Nigel Mansell for 1990. As reigning world champion, Prost took over as the team's lead driver and was said to have played on Mansell's inferiority complex. Mansell recalls one incident where at the 1990 British Grand Prix, the car he drove didn't handle the same as in the previous race where had taken pole position, and later found out from team mechanics that Prost saw Mansell as having a superior car and had them swapped without Mansell knowing. Prost won five races for Ferrari that year, in Brazil, Mexico, France, Britain and Spain. Notable among these was the Mexican Grand Prix, where he won after starting in 13th position. In both the Mexican and Spanish races, he led Mansell to Ferrari 1-2 finishes. The championship once again came to the penultimate round of the season in Japan with Prost trailing his McLaren adversary, Ayrton Senna, by nine points. As in 1989, a controversial collision between the two settled the race. At the first corner Senna, as he later admitted, intentionally drove his race car into Prost's, taking them both out of the race and sealing the title in his favour. "What he did was disgusting," Prost said. "He is a man without value." Prost finished the season seven points behind Senna, and his Ferrari team were runners-up to McLaren.

1991

In 1991, Mansell left the Scuderia, due to his unstable relationship with Prost, to join his previous employers, Williams. Mansell's replacement was Frenchman Jean Alesi, who had been impressive during the previous two years at Tyrrell. Ferrari had entered a downturn, partially as their famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of their competitors. The Ferrari chassis, despite a major revision by the French Grand Prix (f-643) was also not up to the level of the Mclaren and the Williams models.Prost won no races, only getting onto the podium five times. He took it out on the Italian team, publicly criticising them (he famously described his car as "a truck"), and was fired prior to the end of the season, right before the Australian Grand Prix.^[25] Prost was replaced by Italian Gianni Morbidelli.

1993: Williams

Prost went onto a sabbatical year in 1992, which was dominated by Nigel Mansell in a Williams-Renault. After hearing that Prost would be his teammate again in 1993, Mansell left Williams to race in the CART series. The Frenchman had a clause in his contract which prevented rival Ayrton Senna from joining the team that year. Prost was part of a new-look driver line-up at Williams, with test driver Damon Hill coming in to replace Riccardo Patrese, who had left to join Benetton.

Prost won his fourth, and final, title, but in a year where he was regularly challenged by teammate Hill, and Ayrton Senna driving an inferior McLaren. Shortly before the Portuguese Grand Prix in October 1993, Alain Prost announced he would not defend his world title, as the clause in the Frenchman's contract did not extend to 1994 and Senna would be able to join Williams for the upcoming season, and instead opted to retire as the most successful driver in the sport's history — a record which stood for almost a decade. On the podium in Adelaide in 1993, Prost's last race, he and Senna embraced, and it was as if — now that Prost was no longer a rival — Senna saw no reason for any more hostility. Prost was surprised by the gesture. Prost's performances earned him an OBE.

German Michael Schumacher broke Prost's record of 51 Grand Prix wins during the 2001 season. However, the Frenchman still holds the records for the most Grand Prix starts in turbo powered cars (126), and most wins at home Grand Prix (six at the French Grand Prix).

Rivalry with Ayrton Senna

Alain Prost's battles with Ayrton Senna were particularly notable. The rivalry originated in 1988, when Senna joined Prost at the McLaren team. The most notable event during the season between the two occurred during the Portuguese Grand Prix, where Senna tried to block Prost from taking the lead by forcing the Frenchman to run close to the pitwall; Prost managed to edge Senna outwards, taking the lead as they went into the first corner. Prost was not happy with Senna's manœuvre. The rivalry intensified after the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix, where the two drivers had an agreement that neither would get in each other's way to the first corner (cf. 1982 San Marino Grand Prix). At the start, Senna got away in the lead and Prost followed him through the first corner without getting in Senna's way. Gerhard Berger's crash on lap four stopped the race. At the restart, it was Prost this time that got away the better of the two; but Senna forced his way past Prost in the first corner, breaking the pair's agreement at the start of the race, leaving the Frenchman furious with Senna. The rivalry then reached its peak at the end of 1989, when the title was to be decided between Senna and Prost at Suzuka. The two McLarens collided at a chicane when Prost blocked an attempted pass by Senna. Prost walked away and Senna returned to the track by illegally cutting the chicane — a manœuvre that resulted in a disqualification after the race had finished. Prost admitted years later that he had knowingly not let Senna through despite Senna having the inside line at the chicane.

1990 saw the two drivers collide again. Senna led Prost, now in a Ferrari, in the world drivers' championship. Prost had qualified second for the penultimate race of the season in Suzuka, Japan, and Senna was on pole. Prior to the race Senna had complained that his side of the grid was dirty, meaning he would get less grip and therefore a slower start compared to Prost who was on the clean side of the grid. The Brazilian's appeal was rejected. At the start of the race, Prost got the better start of the two; but whilst braking for the first corner, Senna and Prost collided, forcing them both to retire and leaving Senna as champion. A year later, Senna admitted that the move was premeditated, in retaliation for Prost taking the two out of the race at the chicane on the same course the previous year when in a similar position.

When Prost signed with Williams after his sabbatical, Senna had wanted to sign there too, even offering to drive for free as they were clearly the top team. However, Prost had a clause in his contract forbidding the Brazilian as a teammate, and an infuriated Senna called the Frenchman a coward during a press conference at Estoril. During the 1993 season, Prost and Senna continued their rivalry. Prost was escorted by police to the Interlagos circuit for the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix due to the hostility of Brazilians towards him. The two continued their on-track battles at Silverstone where Senna aggressively defended his position against the Williams of Prost. As the clause in Prost's contract with Williams did not cover the upcoming 1994 season, which would allow Senna to join, the Frenchman retired with one year left on his contract rather than again partner his great rival.

On 1 May 1994, Ayrton Senna was killed at the San Marino Grand Prix. Prost was a pallbearer at the Brazilian's funeral. Speaking four years after the Brazilian's death, Prost told Nigel Roebuck that he had "always refused to speak about him." When Senna died, Prost stated that "a part of himself had died also", because their careers had been so bound together.

Senna had also felt the same when Prost had retired at the end of 1993, when he admitted to a close friend that he had realised how much of his motivation had come from fighting with Alain Prost. At Prost's last Grand Prix, the 1993 Australian Grand Prix, Senna pulled Prost up onto the top step of the podium for an embrace. Only a couple of days before his death, when filming an in-car lap of Imola for French television channel TF1, he greeted Prost, by then a pundit on the channel: "I'd like to welcome back my friend Alain — we all miss you…' Prost said that he was touched by that.

Helmet

Alain Prost uses a helmet design based on the three colours of the French flag, those being blue, white and red, along with his name along the side. During his early career however, Prost used a basic design of white all over with some blue detail around the visor. During Prost's time at Renault, he used more blue details, most notably around the rear of his helmet. Prost kept the similar design for his second spell at McLaren, the only variant being the change in sponsor logos. Prost's helmet changed when he moved to Ferrari, as his helmet now had the blue detail around the front, surrounding the visor. The helmet design did not change when Prost moved to Williams; like his move from Renault to McLaren in 1984, the only change to his helmet was the change in sponsor logos.

The sponsors on Alain's helmet have been Boss, Canon, Elf, Ferrari, Honda (Acura at American Grands Prix), KicKers, Marlboro, Michelin, Moët, Sega, Segafredo Zanetti and Renault.

Later life

During 1994 and 1995, Prost worked as TV pundit for the French TV channel TF1. He also worked for Renault as a PR man.^[45] Prost went back to his old team McLaren, working as a technical advisor; he also competed in the L'Etape du Tour, which is a bicycle race held in France. More than 5000 other riders took part; Prost himself finished 12th in his category, 42nd overall.

Prost Grand Prix

During 1989 Prost began to contemplate starting his own team, as his relationship with his McLaren teammate, Ayrton Senna, had turned sour. Prost and John Barnard, formerly chief designer at McLaren, came close to founding a team in 1990; but a lack of sponsorship meant that this was not possible, so Prost moved to Ferrari. After falling out with the Italian team at the end of 1991, Prost found himself without a drive for 1992; after the failure of extensive negotiations with Guy Ligier about buying his Ligier team, Prost decided to join Williams for 1993. In 1995, when Prost was working for Renault, people began to assume that a Prost-Renault team would be formed in the near future. Renault refused Prost's request to supply engines for his team, ending the speculation.

On 13 February 1997, Alain Prost bought the Ligier team from Flavio Briatore and renamed it "Prost Grand Prix". The day after he bought the team, Prost signed a three-year deal with French car manufacturer Peugeot, who would supply the team with engines for the 1998 season through the 2000 season. For the team's first season, Prost kept one of Ligier's 1996 drivers, Olivier Panis, who had won the Monaco Grand Prix the previous year; Japanese driver Shinji Nakano was signed to partner Panis. The team raced with the Mugen-Honda engines used by Ligier the previous season. Things looked promising at the start of the season, as the team picked up two points on its Grand Prix debut in Australia when Olivier Panis finished fifth. The team scored a further 13 points before Panis broke his leg in an accident during the Canadian Grand Prix. He was replaced by Minardi's Jarno Trulli. From there, things started to go downhill slightly, the team scored only five points during Panis' recovery. The Frenchman came back at the end of the season to race the final three Grand Prix. Prost GP finished sixth in the constructors' championship in its first season, with 21 points.

Prost became the president of Prost Grand Prix at the start of 1998. With Peugeot supplying the engines for Prost GP, Mugen-Honda decided to supply the Jordan team. Prost GP scored a single point during the season, Jarno Trulli finishing sixth in Belgium.

1999 was a crucial year for Prost GP. Prost hired John Barnard as a technical consultant, Barnard's B3 Technologies company helping Loic Bigois and the design of the AP02. Panis and Trulli agreed to stay on with the team for the season. While the car did not prove to be a major concern, the Peugeot engine proved to be heavy and unreliable.

Peugeot's final year as Prost's engine supplier in 2000 saw some optimism, Prost hiring his 1991 Ferrari team mate Jean Alesi to drive the lead car and German Nick Heidfeld, who had won the 1999 Formula 3000 championship, to partner him. The season proved to be yet another disastrous one, with newly hired technical director Alan Jenkins fired midway through the year. Prost restructured the team, hiring Joan Villadelprat as the managing director and replacing Jenkins with Henri Durand as the team's new technical director.

2001 saw some much needed optimism for the team as Ferrari agreed to be the team's engine supplier for the season, the team now moving in the right direction. But the money ran out at the start of the 2002 season and Prost was out of business, leaving debts of around $30 million.

Some pictures/wallpapers of Alain Prost:

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Felipe Massa

2008-02-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

Felipe Massa (born April 25, 1981) is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver, currently employed by the Ferrari team. He is under contract to race for Ferrari until the end of the 2010 season.

Early career

Massa, a Brazilian whose grandfather came to Brazil from the city of Cerignola, Italy, was born in Botucatu, a city of São Paulo State. Massa began karting when he was 8 years old, finishing fourth in his first season. He continued in national and international championships for 7 years, and in 1998 he moved into Formula Chevrolet, finishing the Brazilian championship in fifth. In the next season, he won 3 of the 10 races and took the championship. In 2000, he moved to Europe to compete in the Italian Formula Renault series, winning both it and the European Formula Renault championship in the same year. Whilst having the opportunity to move into Formula 3, he opted instead for the Formula 3000 Euro-Series, and was dominant, winning 6 of the 8 races to take the championship. He was offered an F1 test with the Sauber team, who promptly signed him for 2002. In the meantime he drove for Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship as a guest driver.

Formula One career

Sauber (2002, 2004-2005)

In his rookie year in Formula 1, Massa was paired with 1999 F3000 champion Nick Heidfeld at the Sauber team. Massa showed he was a competitive driver, but made several mistakes during his rookie season, including spinning off the track on several occasions. Massa scored 4 championship points in his first season, with a best result of 5th place at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya. Massa suffered a one race suspension late in the season, forcing him to miss the United States Grand Prix. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Sauber's former driver drove for Massa in that race. Although Massa returned to the driver's seat for the Japanese Grand Prix, Sauber confirmed that Frentzen would partner Heidfeld in 2003, and therefore, Massa was without a race seat at Sauber. But it was confirmed by Felipe Massa himself that a deal was brokered with Scuderia Ferrari that he would spend his early F1 career gaining experience in the Sauber Team to move on to Ferrari in the future. After gaining more experience showing signs that his mistake rate had declined, Ferrari dealt with Sauber to re-sign Massa for the 2004 season. In 2004, Massa scored 12 of Sauber's 34 points, with his best result being a fourth place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix. His teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, scored the team's other 22 points. In 2005, Massa remained with Sauber. Although he only scored 11 points, Massa outpaced his teammate Jacques Villeneuve through most of the season, and beat him in the drivers' championship. In 2006, Massa joined Ferrari as a race-driver, alongside Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari (2006-Present)

2006

Felipe Massa got a good start at Ferrari, qualifying second at the opening race in Bahrain, and came from 21st position to 5th in Malaysia, beating teammate Michael Schumacher, who'd started from 14th. However, in Bahrain, in both Saturday practice and the race, he seemed to resume his tendency to spin, narrowly missing eventual winner Fernando Alonso in the race. He kept up his reputation as being a bit on the wild side at the Australian GP when he crashed his Ferrari in qualifying, and then collided with Christian Klien and Nico Rosberg at the first corner of the race. However, Massa scored his first career podium at the Nürburgring, finishing third, behind Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. He also set the fastest lap at Barcelona in 2006. Massa achieved four more podium finishes in 2006, in the USA, France and Germany and took his first F1 pole position and his first F1 win at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, at the Istanbul Park circuit. His future position at Ferrari was secured when Michael Schumacher announced on 10 September 2006, that he would retire from F1 at the end of the 2006 season. On October 22, Felipe Massa won his home grand prix at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, marking the first time a Brazilian driver won at Interlagos since Ayrton Senna in 1993. The Brazilian eventually finished the season third with 80 points, behind world champion Fernando Alonso and Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher.

2007

Massa topped the times five times and set the fastest lap for four circuits during the 2007 pre-season testing. However, his 2007 season began with problems. At the season opening Australian Grand Prix, he suffered a gearbox problem during qualifying and required an engine change. Massa was required to start the race from the pit lane due to theses problems, and a 10-grid-slot penalty for the engine change. He employed a one pitstop strategy for the race and finished in sixth place. Massa's problems continued in Malaysia, where despite qualifying on pole position, the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton passed him by the first corner. Massa ran off the track while attempting to overtake Hamilton, and lost two more places, dropping down to fifth place, where he finished the race. However, his season subsequently improved, as he won the Grands Prix of Bahrain and Spain, both from pole position, and finished third in Monaco.

The race stewards at the Canadian Grand Prix disqualified Massa from that grand prix for leaving the pit lane while the red light was showing. After this disqualification, he won one more race at the 2007 Turkish Grand Prix, and finished on the podium at six more races, including a second place finish at his home grand prix at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Massa led much of the Brazilian Grand Prix, until yielding the lead to teammate Kimi Räikkönen, thus securing Räikkönen's world championship title. Massa finished the 2007 season ranked fourth in the drivers' standing with 94 points.

In October 2007, Massa extended his contract with Ferrari through 2010.

Some pictures of Felipe Massa:

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Kimi Matias Räikkönen

2008-02-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

Kimi Matias Räikkönen (pronounced /ˈki.mi ˈmɑ.ti.ɑs ˈræik.kø.nen/) (born October 17, 1979 in Espoo, Finland) is a race car driver, currently driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He is the reigning Formula One World Drivers' Champion.

Räikkönen entered Formula One as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in 2001. Having previously only raced in very junior open-wheel categories, he was given his Super Licence from FIA after a performance delivery promise from his team boss. Heading to McLaren Mercedes in 2002, he became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 championships to Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, respectively.

Switching to Ferrari in 2007, he became the highest paid driver in the sport, securing his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by a point.

Räikkönen is very calm, cool, and calculating in his race strategy - prompting the nickname "Iceman", which is subtly written on the side of his current helmet design. His other nicknames include Kimppa, Räikkä and Kimster (used by his mechanics).

Career

Early career (until 2000)

Räikkönen had a long line of success in karting from the age of ten. His first race outside his home country was in Monaco when he was 15 years old. His steering wheel broke during the race and he informed his mechanic about the problem by waving the steering wheel in the air on the home straight. Räikkönen's next Monaco race was also memorable as he was thrown on the wrong side of the safety fence in a first lap collision, but continued driving there until running out of road and lifting his kart back on the race track. His mechanic thought Räikkönen had retired, but he eventually caught up with the other competitors and finished third. In 1999, Räikkönen placed second in the European Formula Super A championship. He also competed that year in the Formula Ford Euro Cup, and by the age of twenty, he had won the British Formula Renault Winter series, winning the first four races of the year. In 2000, he won seven of ten events in the Formula Renault UK Championship. After racing in the Formula Renault series later in 2000, Räikkönen had won 13 of 23 events — a 56% win rate.

Sauber – entry into Formula One (2001)

On the basis of these results, Peter Sauber gave the Finn a test with the Sauber Formula One team in September of 2000. After further tests in Jerez and Barcelona, Sauber signed Räikkönen for the 2001 season. However, some critics (including FIA president Max Mosley) voiced concerns over granting an F1 Super Licence to such an inexperienced driver, having only 23 car races to his credit. He was nevertheless granted one and scored a championship point in the 2001 Australian Grand Prix, his maiden Grand Prix. Räikkönen was asleep 20 minutes before his first F1 GP. (It is said that he loves to sleep - so much so that he needs to be woken up before qualifying and races.)

He had a solid debut year, achieving four points-scoring finishes and eight finishes in the top eight. Completing the year with 9 points, Räikkönen, along with teammate Nick Heidfeld, helped Team Sauber to its best ever result of fourth place in the constructors championship.

McLaren (2002–2006)

Räikkönen, long linked to Sauber's engine supplier Ferrari, instead sufficiently impressed McLaren, earning a race seat in Ron Dennis's team for 2002, taking the seat left vacant by double-world champion (and fellow Finn) Mika Häkkinen's sabbatical which became retirement.

2002

Räikkönen scored a third-place podium finish in his first race with McLaren, the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. Although McLaren suffered many Mercedes engine failures in 2002, he scored 24 points and four podiums, and held his own against teammate David Coulthard. Räikkönen came close to winning his first Grand Prix in Magny-Cours, France, but went off track due to oil from the blown engine of Allan McNish's Toyota on the circuit with a handful of laps to go. He finished the race second. He finished the season in sixth place, one place behind his team mate; Together they achieved a solid third place for McLaren in the constructors' championship.

2003

At the opening Australian Grand Prix Räikkönen qualified 15th in the spare car. In the race he took the lead before being caught speeding in the pitlane, after a software glitch in the car's electronic system. Räikkönen held off Michael Schumacher to finish 3rd. It was in Malaysia, where Räikkönen won his first race after starting from 7th on the grid. During the next round in Brazil, Räikkönen was declared the winner after the race was stopped on lap 55. According to rules the winner is decided by the race order as of two laps before the race stopped, i.e. lap 53. However a week later, evidence emerged that Giancarlo Fisichella was on lap 56 when the race stopped, therefore the winner was decided by the order at lap 54. This granted the win to Fisichella, with Räikkönen 2nd.

As other teams improved their cars, McLaren, who were still using the 2002 chassis, began to falter in terms of race speed. However, Räikkönen finished 2nd at Imola. At the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, Räikkönen made a mistake in qualifying and had to start from the back of the grid, and at the start, he collided with Antônio Pizzonia, who was stuck on his grid position due to a launch control problem, causing Räikkönen to retire from the race.

The next few races came down more to strategy rather than speed. Whilst having understeering problems Räikkönen defended his 2nd position from Rubens Barrichello in Austria. He came extremely close to winning at the Monaco, but lost by less than a second to Juan Pablo Montoya. Starting from the pitlane in Canada after he went off track during qualifying with understeer, Räikkönen finished 6th, more than a minute adrift of race winner Michael Schumacher.

At the European Grand Prix, Räikkönen took pole, and controlled the race from the start until his engine failed on lap 25. Title rival Michael Schumacher finished 5th taking 4 points advantage from Räikkönen. Räikkönen finished 4th in France behind Schumacher but finished one point ahead of him with a 3rd place finish at the British Grand Prix. Räikkönen failed to finish the German Grand Prix after being involved in an accident at the first corner with Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Räikkönen finished 2nd at the next race, the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Prior to the Italian GP the FIA were tipped-off by rivals Ferrari about a tyre-illegality in the Michelin tread width. Michelin were forced to bring in narrower tyres and it seemed as if they had lost the advantage they had been enjoying over Bridgestone all season. McLaren also announced that they would see out the season with old MP4-17D chassis and would not bring out the MP4-18 as had been announced earlier. Räikkönen eventually finished 4th in the race, losing five championship points to race winner Michael Schumacher.

Räikkönen took pole at the US GP, but Michael Schumacher won the race with Räikkönen finishing 2nd. With one race to go, Schumacher only needed one point to win the championship. Räikkönen would need to win the next race with Schumacher not scoring any points. After qualifying 8th in Japan, Räikkönen finished 2nd while Michael Schumacher just slipped into the points to win his 6th World Championship. Montoya's retirement during the race also meant that Räikkönen finished 2nd in the championship, just two points behind Schumacher. The team also narrowly lost second place in the constructors' championship, finishing third, two points behind runners-up Williams, and 12 points behind Ferrari. Mathematically, Williams or McLaren could have won the championship at the very last race. Season 2003 was one of the closest in recent years.

2004

The 2004 season began with Räikkönen only claiming a single point in the first seven races. His McLaren, especially the Mercedes engine, suffered repeated breakdowns, allowing him to complete just two of the first seven events. After seven rounds Räikkönen had only one point to Michael Schumacher's 60. In Canada, Räikkönen made 5 pit-stops but was classified 5th since the Williams-BMWs and the two Toyotas were disqualified. At the US GP Räikkönen finished 6th.

At the French GP, McLaren rolled out the new MP4-19B. Räikkönen finished 7th behind his team-mate David Coulthard. At Silverstone Räikkönen took pole and went on to finish second to Michael Schumacher. Following on from this encouraging display, the McLarens locked the 2nd row of the grid at Hockenheim, Germany. Both cars got off to a good start, however Räikkönen lost his rear wing on lap 13 of the race while following race leader Michael Schumacher. He would retire again from the Hungarian GP after starting from 10th place on the grid, again on lap 13. At the Belgian Grand Prix Räikkönen qualified 10th, but took the lead on lap 11 and held on to it to take McLaren's first and only win of the season. The next weekend at Monza Räikkönen again retired on lap 13, this time due to electrical problems. At the next race in China he finished 3rd, only 1.4 seconds behind race winner Rubens Barrichello.

At Japan, Räikkönen was shunted by Felipe Massa on the first lap of the race, which caused him handling problems. He later managed to make up some ground: finishing 6th, 2.5 seconds behind Alonso. At Brazil, he overtook pole sitter Barrichello, even before they had reached Curva De Sol. Räikkönen later battled Montoya for the lead and finished 1 second behind him in 2nd. Räikkönen ended the year seventh, with 45 points, only one behind sixth placed Jarno Trulli, and four podiums.

Despite the disappointment of the 2004 season, Räikkönen was still seen as one of the rising stars of the sport, along with Renault's Alonso and 2005 McLaren teammate Montoya. Many pundits predicted 2005 to be filled with great on-track battles from a resurgent team. He was also referred to by Ross Brawn and Jean Todt as a driver whom Ferrari might consider in the future. In early November 2004, Räikkönen announced his intention to create a racing team with his manager Steve Robertson, to be entitled Räikkönen Robertson Racing (otherwise known as "Double R"), which would compete in Formula 3 in 2005.

2005

Räikkönen's start to the 2005 season season was less than perfect. The car was reported to be too soft on its Michelin tyres, with the result that it wasn't generating enough heat to post competitive qualifying times. The best qualifying position that a McLaren driver could manage in the first 3 races was 6th. Räikkönen compounded this by stalling on the grid of the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, and ending the race with just a point. He looked set for a podium in Malaysia until a faulty tyre valve failed and dropped him out of the points. Bahrain saw him get his first podium of the season.

Räikkönen then achieved three consecutive poles at San Marino, Barcelona and Monte Carlo. An almost certain win was denied at Imola after a driveshaft failure, but he won the other two races, putting him within 22 points of leader Alonso. At the European Grand Prix, Räikkönen flat-spotted his right front tyre while lapping Jacques Villeneuve (some commentators put a share of the blame on Villeneuve, as he did not give Räikkönen the racing line). The resultant vibrations caused his suspension to fail while he led on the final lap, and sending him into the tyre wall and handing a further ten points to his rival Alonso. Changing a tyre would have given him a relatively safe third place. However, tyre changes were only allowed in 2005 in cases where a "punctured or damaged tyre" could be changed for "clear and genuine safety reasons" and there was no precedent for whether the stewards would consider a flat-spotted tyre dangerous enough. This incident, in part, resulted in a rules clarification allowing teams to change a flat-spotted tyre without punishment.

Alonso's first major mistake of the 2005 season handed the Canadian Grand Prix to Räikkönen. The following weekend saw all the Michelin teams, including McLaren, withdraw from the United States Grand Prix due to safety concerns. At the French Grand Prix Räikkönen suffered a ten-place grid-penalty following the replacement of his new specification Mercedes Benz engine which failed in Friday practice. Räikkönen, putting in what Ron Dennis would call his best ever qualifying lap, qualified 3rd (demoted to 13th) with a significant fuel load. He finished 2nd behind Fernando Alonso. A week later at the British Grand Prix Räikkönen suffered another Mercedes engine failure due to an oil leak; his 2nd place qualifying place became 12th. He claimed 3rd place in the race.

In the German Grand Prix Räikkönen was comfortably in the lead having dominated all weekend, but suffered a hydraulics failure, handing victory and a further 10 points to Alonso. It was his third retirement while leading a race during the season. On all 3 occasions, it was championship rival Alonso who took advantage to win. Significantly, at the opening of the Hungarian Grand Prix, though saying he was very comfortable at McLaren, Räikkönen raised the possibility that he may leave McLaren when his contract expired in 2006 if reliability issues were not solved. He told a news conference, "We need to work in a better way just to make sure that the car is very reliable." However he went on to take the chequered flag with a convincing victory over Michael Schumacher.

Räikkönen also achieved an impressive statistic at the Hungarian Grand Prix by managing to win the race from the most handicapped qualifying position, having had to do his qualifying run first on the notoriously dusty and dirty track due to his early retirement a week earlier at Hockenheim. No other driver had previously managed this feat under the controversial grid qualification system which significantly penalised those who retire from a race. Räikkönen then became the first ever winner of the Turkish Grand Prix. Two weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix, Räikkönen's pole position was taken from him as he received another 10-position grid penalty for an engine change. It would emerge that he had 5 laps of fuel more than teammate Montoya and 6 more than Alonso during qualifying - and still managed to outpace them. Just when it looked like McLaren had pulled off a strategic coup with Räikkönen on a one-stop strategy, his left-rear tyre delaminated, and was forced to take an extra stop to change the tyre. He dropped down to 12th. He recovered, but spun his car after pushing too hard chasing the 3rd placed driver. He eventually finished fourth.

He went on to win, for the second year in a row, at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The following race (the Brazilian Grand Prix) saw Alonso clinch the Drivers' Championship, after finishing third behind Montoya and Räikkönen. In the penultimate race of the year, at the Suzuka circuit in Japan, Räikkönen produced arguably the best drive of his career, taking his 7th victory of the season after starting 17th on the grid (as rain, and an engine failure for Räikkönen, had mixed up the qualifying grid). The win was secured when he overtook Renault driver Fisichella (who had started third on the grid, and had led most of the race) on the final lap - which Formula One journalist Peter Windsor thought the most impressive move of the race.

Räikkönen received the F1 Racing "Driver of the Year" accolade, and the Autosport "International Racing Driver of the Year" award.

2006

In Bahrain, Räikkönen suffered electronic problems during Friday practice and a rear suspension break during the first qualifying session, which forced him back to 22nd place on the grid. Nevertheless he drove through the field, ending third behind Alonso and Michael Schumacher. In Malaysia, Räikkönen was hit from behind by Red Bull Racing's Christian Klien on the very first lap. The impact caused a left rear suspension failure resulting in Räikkönen retiring from the race.

Having started the year clearly behind Renault, McLaren improved in Australia, where Räikkönen finished second after flat spotting a tyre and losing a wing end-plate, causing him to fall off the pace somewhat around the midpoint of the race. Chasing down Alonso during the final stages of the race, he did however achieve the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, finishing only 1.8 seconds behind the Spaniard. At the San Marino Grand Prix a bad choice of strategy and a mistake from Räikkönen in qualifying (8th) saw the McLarens get caught in traffic in the early part of the race allowing Michael Schumacher and Alonso to get away at the front. Räikkönen eventually finished 5th, with team mate Montoya ahead in 3rd place. McLaren team boss Ron Dennis blamed Kimi Räikkönen's poor performance for the team's failure to finish in the top two in the race.

At the Spanish Grand Prix Räikkönen qualified 9th. However at the start Räikkönen managed to get up to 5th place on the first lap. He retained this position for most of the race, finishing 5th place. A few days after the Spanish Grand Prix, he admitted that he had no chance of winning the 2006 Championship. In Monte Carlo, Räikkönen qualified third. During the race he would get up to 2nd and keep pace with Alonso, however he retired during a safety car period after a failed heat shield led to heat from the exhaust causing a wiring loom inside the car to catch fire.

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone saw Räikkönen qualify second behind Alonso and in front of Michael Schumacher. The running order was Alonso, Räikkönen, Schumacher until the second set of pitstops where Räikkönen was demoted to third by Schumacher, a position he held until the end of the race. At Canada, Räikkönen achieved another podium. In the United States Grand Prix, his teammate punted him out in an expensive seven car accident. The 2006 French Grand Prix saw Räikkönen qualify his car in sixth. His teammate was now former test driver Pedro de la Rosa in place of Montoya. Räikkönen ended the race in fifth. In Germany Räikkönen qualified on pole. After a battle with Button, he finished the race for the first time in his career, ending in third place. Another pole came in Hungary but he collided with Vitantonio Liuzzi after 25 laps, causing his fourth retirement of the season.

A first turn incident with Scott Speed at the Turkish Grand Prix led to an exploded tyre and suspension damage. After a tyre change, Räikkönen's race ended half way into the next lap when he ran into the barricade at turn 4. Räikkönen qualified on pole for the Italian Grand Prix, snatching pole from Michael Schumacher by 2 thousandths of a second right at the end of qualifying. He led the early part of the race until the first pitstops where he was passed by Schumacher. He stayed in second place for the rest of the race. After the race Schumacher announced that he was retiring. Later Ferrari announced that he would be replaced in the 2007 season by Räikkönen.

The Chinese Grand Prix saw another retirement for Räikkönen due to engine problems. His last two Grands Prix, those of Japan and Brazil, did lead to 2 finishes, but twice missed the podium. After Brazilian Grand Prix he ended his McLaren-Mercedes era with a fifth place in the World Drivers' Championship, with McLaren placing third in the World Constructors' Championship at the end of a winless year.

Räikkönen's British Formula Three Championship team Räikkönen Robertson Racing claimed their first major success, with British driver Mike Conway winning the 2006 British F3 International Series title and the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.

Ferrari (2007—present)

After the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari announced that Räikkönen had signed a three-year contract with Scuderia Ferrari for the 2007-2009 seasons. Räikkönen said after the move that he was very happy with this change of events but wished McLaren the best of luck in the future. He became the team mate to Brazilian Felipe Massa, who had been driving for Ferrari since 2006. Following the retirement of Michael Schumacher and his new deal with Ferrari, Räikkönen is estimated to be the highest paid driver in F1, with a base salary reportedly worth US $51M annually.

2007

Räikkönen started the season in Australia by taking pole position, setting the fastest lap and becoming the first driver since Nigel Mansell in 1989 to win his first Grand Prix with Ferrari. This was the first time in his career that he had managed the hat-trick of pole position, fastest lap and race victory. At the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix Räikkönen was passed by Lewis Hamilton at the start and remained behind him for the rest of the race, finishing third. In the Bahrain Grand Prix, Räikkönen started from third but was passed by McLaren driver Fernando Alonso. He eventually regained 3rd position from Alonso and finished the race 3rd. At the Spanish Grand Prix Räikkönen retired after only 10 laps with an electrical problem. This took him down to fourth position in the Championship, behind team-mate Felipe Massa. In qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix Räikkönen struck a barrier and broke his right front suspension. He started 16th and finished 8th.

In Canada Räikkönen qualified fourth and finished fifth, Räikkönen's team-mate Massa was disqualified. At the United States Grand Prix, Räikkönen qualified fourth, finished fourth and he recorded fastest lap of the race. After this race Räikkönen was 26 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship.

In France Räikkönen qualified third, but overtook Hamilton at the first corner of the race. He subsequently ran second, behind team-mate Massa, for much of the Grand Prix, but overtook the Brazilian during pit-stops and took his second victory of the season. This was the 11th victory of his Formula One career, as well as Ferrari's first 1-2 win of the 2007 season.

At the British Grand Prix Räikkönen qualified in second place, just missing the pole due to running wide in the last corner. In the race, Räikkönen again took the lead through pit stops, first overtaking Lewis Hamilton midway through the race and then putting in fast laps as Fernando Alonso pitted for the second time in the closing stages, thus overtaking Alonso and maintaining lead of the race until the end. He also set the fastest lap of the race.

At the European Grand Prix he captured his second pole position of the season. The race day was eventful caused by heavy rain that started in the first lap of race. Kimi missed the entrance of pitlane by slipping, and lost his position. During the race he managed to get up to third, but retired on lap 35 because of a problem with the hydraulics of the car.

Räikkönen was in fourth place in the championship behind Hamilton, Alonso, and Ferrari teammate Massa entering the Hungarian Grand Prix, being 18 points behind Hamilton. He qualified his car in fourth place, but started from third after Alonso was penalized. In the race Räikkönen overtook Nick Heidfeld at the start and pressured Lewis Hamilton until the end, but had to settle for second. Also, he set the fastest lap time on the last lap of the race. He said to the press after the race, "I was so bored behind Hamilton, I wanted to see how quick I could have been." This wasn't the first time that he has done this.

In Turkey he qualified his car in third place after being the fastest man at the track in the practice sessions. He missed pole position after making a mistake in the final sector of his fast lap. On race day he overtook Hamilton in the first corner and took second place, he kept this place to the end of the race. He also set the fastest lap, at 1.27.295, because he was getting "a bit bored", while his teammate Felipe Massa was seven tenths of a second slower but took the victory. This was Ferrari's 2nd 1-2 finish of the season.

At Monza's third practice session, Räikkönen crashed into the tyre wall before entering the Ascari chicane. He qualified in fifth place, and raced in the Ferrari reserve car. In the race he overtook Nick Heidfeld from the start, to gain fourth place. After Felipe Massa's retirement he was promoted into third place. During the race Ferrari surprised a number of commentators by opting for a one-stop strategy for Räikkönen, which is unusual for competitive teams. The strategy worked and he passed Hamilton during his second stop, but he could not defend himself against Hamilton and was passed by the Briton, the situation not helped by a neck problem he sustained from the crash. His used harder tyres were at a disadvantage in comparison to Hamilton's fresh, softer tyres. He finished third, Hamilton second and Alonso first.

At Spa-Francorchamps Räikkönen dominated Friday first- and Saturday-practice sessions. On his favourite circuit he secured his third pole position of the season and the 14th of his F1 career after he beat Massa by 0.017 seconds and Alonso by 0.097 seconds. After a clean start, he opened up a five-second gap over Massa, and almost 20 seconds over the McLarens. He went on to take his fourth victory of the season. Massa finished second, Alonso third and Hamilton fourth. This was also Räikkönen's third consecutive Spa win, which placed him among six other drivers with three or more Spa wins.

At the Fuji Speedway, the only new track of 2007 calendar, Räikkönen topped the timesheets of the Friday first practice session. He went on to qualify in third position, while Hamilton took pole and Alonso second. In an extremely wet race, which saw the first 19 laps run behind the safety car, both Räikkönen and team-mate Massa were badly affected by having to change to extreme wet tyres during the early stages, due to the FIA's tyre-rule notification arriving late at Ferrari. Towards the end of the race, Räikkönen moved through the field to third place, but could not pass his countryman Heikki Kovalainen for second.

At the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, Räikkönen dominated the whole weekend with fastest laps in the free-practice sessions. In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton took pole position with a lighter fuel load, while Räikkönen qualified second and Massa third. There was light rainfall at the beginning of the race which prompted the cars to start on intermediate tyres. After the first round of pit stops Hamilton lost grip as his tyres suffered graining, and Räikkönen overtook him. Hamilton retired after sliding into a gravel trap in the pit lane. Räikkönen took his fifth win of the season, that revived his title hopes before the last race of the season. This was also the 200th race win and 600th podium in Ferrari's Formula One history. Räikkönen moved to seven and three points behind Hamilton and Alonso in the Drivers' Championship, respectively, going into the last race in Brazil, the first three-way last race title battle since 1986.

Räikkönen took the 2007 Formula One Drivers' title with victory in the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, in an incident-packed race. Teammate Felipe Massa had taken pole, followed by Hamilton, Räikkönen, and Alonso. At the start of the race Räikkönen passed Hamilton on the outside and lined up behind Massa. Alonso shortly afterwards passed Hamilton, who fell progressively down the order. Massa, who was already eliminated from the Driver's Championship several races ago, yielded the lead to Räikkönen at the second round of pit stops. Räikkönen went on to take the checkered flag, which handed him the crown by a single point from Hamilton and Alonso. Championship leader Hamilton eventually finished the race in seventh place, while defending champion Alonso managed third.

While Räikkönen had only one point more than Alonso and Hamilton at the end of the season, he had the most victories (six compared to the four won by each McLaren driver). Räikkönen had also retired twice because of technical problems, while the McLaren duo finished all but one of their races.

Räikkönen's Drivers' championship was put into doubt when race stewards began an investigation after identifying possible fuel irregularities in the cars of Rosberg, Kubica and Heidfeld following post-race inspection. Their disqualification and a race reclassification would have seen Hamilton lifted from seventh to fourth in the race result.^[21]^[22]^[23] However the race stewards decided that no sanctions would be given, meaning the results would stand. Mclaren appealed against the decision, however the FIA Court of Appeal rejected their appeal on 16 November 2007 thus confirming Räikkönen as the champion.

Personal life

Räikkönen married Jenni Dahlman, a Finnish model and former Miss Scandinavia, on 31 July 2004. They currently live in Switzerland. His older brother, Rami Räikkönen, is a rally driver and a national junior-class champion. His dad Matti was a road builder. Rami also competes in the Finnish Formula 3 Championship.

Räikkönen's hobbies include snowboarding and ice hockey. He has also competed in several different kinds of motorsport events. In March 2007, while his Formula One rivals were in Australia preparing for the season opener, Räikkönen competed in a snowmobile race in Finland under the pseudonym "James Hunt", referring to the 1976 world champion whose "playboy" lifestyle has drawn comparisons to him. Räikkönen won the Enduro Sprint race by over 20 seconds with his Lynx MaMo. Later in the year, he and two friends entered a powerboat race in the Finnish harbor city of Hanko while wearing gorilla suits. Again, he raced under the name "James Hunt". They then won a prize for the best-dressed crew.

In January 2005, at a London Mayfair strip club called "For Your Eyes Only", Räikkönen stunned onlookers at a London club by cavorting with a lapdancer before launching into his own strip show. It proved an embarrassment to McLaren officials who were unveiling the new MP4-20 car. Chief executive Martin Whitmarsh admitted that Räikkönen may have been naive.

Räikkönen has often been contrasted to his predecessor as Ferrari lead driver, Michael Schumacher. Räikkönen has drawn comparisons with 1976 drivers' champion James Hunt, who personified the F1 playboy lifestyle. Schumacher, who is married with two children, was very protective of his private life and disliked the celebrity spotlight.

Some pictures of Kimi Räikkönen:

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Heikki Kovalainen

2008-02-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

Heikki Kovalainen (born October 19, 1981 in Suomussalmi, Finland) is a racing driver. He began his Formula One career in the 2006 championship winning Renault team in 2007. On 14 December 2007, it was announced he would be the second driver for the McLaren team for the 2008 season, as teammate to young Briton Lewis Hamilton.

Karting career

Kovalainen's career began in karting, much like that of many other F1 racers. His karting career lasted from 1991 to 2000, during which time he finished runner-up in Finnish Formula A in 1999. Then in 2000 he became Nordic champion and won the Elf Masters. He was also elected Finnish Driver of The Year.

Pre-F1 racing career

Formula Renault

Kovalainen began his car racing career in the British Formula Renault championship, which fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen had won the previous year before moving straight into Formula 1 with Sauber. Kovalainen's apprenticeship in the junior categories of motor sport was more conventional, but was remarkable in that he used Renault power at every step along the way.

He finished fourth in the championship with two wins, two pole positions and three fastest laps, and earned the Rookie of the Year award.

Formula 3

Kovalainen attracted the support of the Renault Driver Development programme and in 2002 moved up to the British F3 series with Fortec Motorsport who used Renault engines. He became one of the most competitive drivers on the grid by the second half of the season and all five of his wins came in the final nine races. With three pole positions, three fastest laps and third overall in the championship behind Robbie Kerr and James Courtney^[2] he was again Rookie of the Year.

He also demonstrated strong form in the international F3 rounds, with second place at the Macau Grand Prix and fourth place at the Zandvoort Marlboro Masters.

World Series by Nissan

Kovalainen moved into the Renault-owned World Series by Nissan in 2003 - but faced a tough team mate at the Gabord team in Franck Montagny. Montagny had already spent two seasons in the World Series by Nissan and won the title in 2001. Montagny won the title with nine wins to Kovalainen's one.

The Finn stayed in World Series by Nissan for 2004 but moved to the Pons team and won the championship ahead of Tiago Monteiro, with 192 points and six wins.

Race of Champions

Kovalainen competed in the 2004 Race of Champions at the Stade de France in Paris. He became the first non-rally driver to win the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy and earn the title "Champion of Champions", beating World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb in the finals. He also participated in the Nations' Cup alongside countryman Marcus Grönholm. Their team finished in second place after Kovalainen's Ferrari 360 Modena broke down in the finals, ironically, losing to Loeb and the French team. Kovalainen's feat included winning over Loeb in a WRC car, although he had never even sat in a rally car before, and over the Ferrari Formula One star Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari 360 Modena.

He returned to the Race of Champions in 2005, but was knocked out in the semi-finals by Tom Kristensen.

Heikki made another impact in the Race of Champions in 2006, winning the Nations Cup together with his fellow Finnish driver Marcus Grönholm; despite this, he was again eliminated in the semi-finals by Mattias Ekström by a mere 0.0002 seconds.

GP2 Series

In 2005, Kovalainen entered the GP2 Series, the new 'feeder' series for F1 and the successor to Formula 3000. Kovalainen won the first ever round of the new championship and led the championship with the Arden International team. But in the final four rounds a resurgent Nico Rosberg took over the lead of the championship and Kovalainen finished second, 15 points adrift.

Formula One

Testing

Kovalainen, Franck Montagny and José María López tested the Renault R23B F1 car at Barcelona in December 2003. Kovalainen also tested for Minardi, but Renault made him second test driver alongside Montagny.

Kovalainen was promoted in Montagny's place at the end of 2005 and spent the 2006 season in a full-time testing role, logging over 23,000 km of testing.

Renault's lead driver Fernando Alonso had signed for McLaren for the 2007 season, and Renault elected to promote Kovalainen in his place, which they confirmed on September 6, 2006. Team boss Flavio Briatore said: "With Kovalainen, I hope to find the anti-Alonso."

Renault

Kovalainen made his race debut in at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. His performance was a huge disappointment; he made several mistakes during the race and finished 10th. Flavio Briatore told the press after the race that it was a disappointing debut for the young Finn. He said that hopefully the real Heikki will show up next time.

Kovalainen scored his first World Championship point in his second Grand Prix at Sepang, Malaysia, and followed this with a disappointing race in Bahrain. He then secured seventh place in Barcelona, outperforming team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. He was well down the order in Monte Carlo and never looked like a points finish was a possibility. However, he came back strongly and finished in the points again in both North American races.

During the Canadian GP, he made mistakes throughout practise, including one at the exit of turn 7, and hit the barrier, which was reminiscent of Jacques Villeneuve. He crashed at the first chicane in qualifying, and damaged his rear wing significantly, and failed to make it through to the second session. He made progress early on, and then halted. He seemed to have a lot of luck with the strategy, and every time the safety car came out it was beneficial to him. A podium was within his grasp, but he could not find a way past Alexander Wurz of the Williams, who also started towards the rear of the pack. Kovalainen was pulling away from fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen in his Ferrari in the closing stages, which was a real confidence booster for the team.

In the United States GP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he also looked impressive. He qualified well,and a good start saw him go past Räikkönen to go into fifth place. He held Räikkönen off, and led the race at the end of his first stint because those cars ahead of him had already made their pit stops. He re-joined behind the Ferrari, but looked comfortable in sixth place until Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber broke down in front of him, and Heikki took over Heidfeld's fifth place. He stayed there until the chequered flag, and team-mate Fisichella failed to score points.

The second half of the European season failed to produce such strong results, but it did keep the points tally ticking over. During the French GP at Magny-Cours, there would be disappointment. He was with his team mate until the sharp Adelaide hairpin, where Jarno Trulli's Toyota made an optimistic lunge up the inside of Kovalainen which wrecked both drivers' races. Kovalainen had to go back to the pits for some repair work and subsequently overtook just a few backmarkers. Seventh place at the British GP was no disaster, seeing as he beat Fisichella. The Nürburgring only gave Kovalainen a point, although a better strategy may have seen him on the podium. The Hungaroring only brought him one point, although Istanbul Park netted three, with Kovalainen coming ahead of Robert Kubica. Kovalainen led the Grand Prix there for a while, when those ahead of him outright pitted earlier than him. Seventh place at Monza was a fair result. The team took a gamble at the next race in the Spa-Francorchamps, with Kovalainen on a one stop strategy when his challengers for the rear end of the points were all on two stop strategies, which included the BMW's of Heidfeld and Kubica (who was sent ten places down the grid due to an engine change), Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber. A good start from Kovalainen saw him become a mobile chicane for all of these except Webber. The gamble did not pay off, although Kovalainen held off Kubica in the closing stages to secure the final points position. Better was to come at the Japanese GP at Fuji Speedway, where, despite not making it through to the final qualifying session, Kovalainen raced well. While most of his rivals got into trouble in one way or another, Kovalainen did not and held off Kimi Räikkönen to take second place and his first podium in Formula One.

McLaren

On 14 December 2007, it was confirmed that Kovalainen would drive the second car for McLaren Mercedes for the 2008 Formula One season alongside Lewis Hamilton. Kovalainen is the fourth Finn to race for the Woking based team, following Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen, all whom have won the World Championship. Kovalainen began his first official testing session with McLaren on January 9 2008 with Pedro de la Rosa at Jerez, and continued the next day with Lewis Hamilton. Kovalainen's best laptime was 1:19.752, losing to Hamilton only by 0.061 seconds. On the third day of Valencia testing Kovalainen posted the fastest lap of the day with 1:11.000, a new lap record on the Valencia track for a V8 engine.

Some pictures of Heikki Kovalainen:

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Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton

2008-02-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire) is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team.

He finished second in the 2007 Formula One Championship, behind Kimi Räikkönen. Hamilton has set numerous F1 rookie records and is the first black mixed race driver to compete in Formula One. After winning the British Formula Renault, European Formula Three and GP2 championship he became a McLaren F1 driver for 2007. When he was ten, he approached McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and told him he would drive for McLaren one day; three years later, Hamilton was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme, and ultimately, 12 years after this initial encounter, made his Formula One debut with the McLaren team. He has stated that he wants to stay in the McLaren team for the rest of his F1 career.

Personal and early life

Hamilton's paternal grandparents immigrated to the United Kingdom from Grenada in the 1950s. His grandfather worked on the London Underground.^[3] His mother Carmen and father Anthony named him after the US Olympic gold medal winning athlete Carl Lewis. Hamilton's parents separated when he was two and, until he was ten, he lived with his mother and half-sisters Nicola and Samantha. After that he lived with his father, stepmother Linda and half-brother Nicholas who has cerebral palsy.

Hamilton's first taste of racing competition came at the controls of radio-controlled cars. Father Anthony bought him one in 1991, and Hamilton finished second in the national BRCA championship the following year. Hamilton said of the time: "I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults". That led to Hamilton sampling kart racing for the first time. Aged six, his father bought him his first go-kart as a Christmas present, and would support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school. When supporting his son became problematic Anthony Hamilton took redundancy as an IT Manager and became a contractor - sometimes doing up to three jobs at a time to support his son's career - and still found enough time to attend all his races. He would later set up his own computer company, as well as working as a manager for Hamilton on a full time basis.

Hamilton attended The John Henry Newman School in Stevenage. He took up karate at an early age when his driving attracted the attention of local bullies. By the time he was twelve, he had gained his first black belt in the sport. He extended his skills to football, playing in his school team alongside current Aston Villa and England International midfielder Ashley Young.

On October 29, 2007, Hamilton announced his intent to live in Switzerland, to get away from the media scrutiny he has experienced living in the United Kingdom. Hamilton mentioned on the television show Parkinson (broadcast on 10th November 2007), that taxation was 'partly' responsible for his decision, in addition to wanting more privacy. Other Formula One drivers, including world champions Michael Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso, also live in Switzerland.

On November 1, 2007, presented the "Most Addictive" award on the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007, due to the fact the Formula One sport is more popular in Europe.

On December 2, 2007, Hamilton appeared on BBC show Top Gear. His lap in the Suzuki Liana recorded was 1 minute and 44.7 seconds on a wet and oily track, only 0.3 seconds slower than the fastest dry track time (set by The Stig) despite the fact that a wet track is generally regarded as several seconds slower.

On December 9 2007, Lewis Hamilton came second in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

On December 18 2007, Lewis Hamilton was suspended from driving in France for a month after being caught speeding at 122mph (196 kph) on a French motorway. His Mercedes car was also impounded.

Career

Karting

Hamilton began karting in 1993 at the age of eight, at the Rye House Kart Circuit and quickly began winning races and championships. At age ten, he approached McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis for an autograph, and told him, "Hi. I'm Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars." Dennis wrote in his autograph book, "Phone me in nine years, we'll sort something out then."

From the Cadet ranks (1993-7), he progressed through the Junior Yamaha (1998) and Junior Intercontinental A (1999) divisions. In 1998 Dennis delivered on his promise and signed Hamilton to the McLaren driver development program. This contract included an option of a future F1 seat, making Hamilton the youngest ever driver to secure a contract which later resulted in an F1 drive.

Lewis Hamilton continued his progress in the Intercontinental A (1999), Formula A (2000) and Formula Super A (2001) ranks, and became European Champion in 2000 with maximum points. In Formula A and Formula Super A, racing for TeamMBM.com, his team mate was Nico Rosberg, who would later drive for the Williams team in Formula One. Following his karting successes, the British Racing Drivers' Club made him a ‘Rising Star’ Member in 2000.

In 2001 Michael Schumacher made a one-off return to karts and competed against Hamilton along with other future F1 drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton ended the final seventh, four places behind Schumacher, and although the two saw little of each other on the track Schumacher praised the young Briton (see quote box).

Formula Renault and Formula Three

Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series. Despite crashing on his third lap in the car in testing, he finished fifth overall in the winter series. and in the second he crashed out and was taken to hospital after a collision with his team-mate Tor Graves. He did show his speed at both the Macau and Korean Grands Prix. In the latter he qualified on pole position in his first visit to the track and in only his fourth F3 race.

Hamilton and Manor then made their début in the 2004 Formula Three Euroseries. They won one race and Hamilton ended the year fifth in the championship. He also won the Bahrain F3 Superprix and raced one of the Macau F3 Grand Prix. Hamilton first tested for McLaren in late 2004, at Silverstone.

He moved to reigning Euroseries champions ASM for the 2005 season and dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds after being disqualified from one win at Spa-Francorchamps on a technical infringement that caught out several other drivers.

GP2

After the season, British magazine Autosport featured him in their “Top 50 Drivers of 2005” issue, ranking Hamilton 24th. After his success in Formula Three, he moved to ASM's sister GP2 team ART Grand Prix for 2006. Just like their sister team in F3, ART were the class of the field and reigning champions having taken the 2005 GP2 crown with Nico Rosberg. Hamilton won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr.

His notable performances included a dominant win at the Nürburgring, despite serving a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. At his home race at Silverstone, supporting the British Grand Prix, Hamilton impressed by overtaking two rivals at Becketts, a series of high-speed (up to 150 mph in a GP2 car) bends where overtaking is rare. He demonstrated his overtaking prowess again in Istanbul, when he recovered from a spin that left him 18th to take second place in the final corners. He won the title in unusual circumstances, inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of fastest lap in the Monza feature race.

His 2006 GP2 championship coincided with a vacancy at McLaren following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari. After months of speculation on whether Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett or former World Champion Mika Häkkinen would be paired with defending champion Fernando Alonso in 2007, Hamilton was confirmed as the team's second driver. He was told of McLaren’s decision on September 30, but the news was not made public until November 24, for fear that it would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher’s retirement announcement.

Formula One

2007: McLaren

On his début at the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified fourth and finished third in the race, becoming the 14th driver to finish on the podium in their first F1 race (excluding those in the first ever World Championship round).^[25] In Bahrain, Hamilton got his first front-row start, qualifying and finishing second behind Felipe Massa. Hamilton again finished second behind Massa in the Spanish Grand Prix, to take the lead in the drivers championship. With that achievement, Hamilton surpassed Bruce McLaren to become the youngest driver to ever lead the world championship.

Hamilton finished second behind Alonso at Monaco and afterwards suggested he was prevented from racing his team mate. But the FIA cleared McLaren following an investigation (see below).

Hamilton scored the first pole position and victory of his F1 career in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal. He led most of the race despite the safety car being deployed four times. The win strengthened his championship challenge. A week later, Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix also from pole position, becoming the first Briton since John Watson in 1983 to win an F1 race in the US, and only the second person, after Jacques Villeneuve, to win more than one race in his rookie F1 season since the first year of the Championship.

By finishing third at Magny-Cours behind Ferrari drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa, Hamilton extended his lead in the Driver's Championship to 14 points. This was the first time in his F1 career he finished a race in a lower position than he started, and the first time he had been passed on the racetrack in Formula One. He took pole at his home Grand Prix at Silverstone and led the first 16 laps, but slipped to third, 40 seconds behind Räikkönen and Alonso.

During qualifying for the European Grand Prix, Hamilton crashed at the Schumacher chicane after a problem with the wheel nut air gun used on his car. He was taken to the circuit's medical centre on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and drip, but was conscious throughout. His Q3 time was surpassed by all other competitors, and thus he qualified in tenth position. After a final medical check on Sunday morning, Hamilton was cleared to race. During a heavy rainstorm which caused the race to be red-flagged, Hamilton slid off into a gravel trap. However as he kept his engine running he was lifted back on to the circuit and able rejoin the race after the restart. His ninth place finish in this race was his first non-podium and non-points finish, enabling title contenders Alonso and Massa to reduce Hamilton's championship lead.

Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position following a controversy in qualifying. Alonso had set the fastest time, but was relegated to fifth on the grid for preventing Hamilton from leaving the pit lane in time to complete his final qualifying lap. Kimi Räikkönen stayed within five seconds of Hamilton for the entire race (excluding pit stop periods). McLaren were docked any constructor's points earned during the race due to the incident in qualifying.

After declaring he had restored his relationship with Alonso, Hamilton qualified second in Turkey. After dropping to third at the first corner, Hamilton looked set for a podium finish with 15 laps remaining, but a right-front tyre puncture forced him to crawl back to the pits, leaving him to finish fifth meaning his championship lead was cut once more.

Alonso beat Hamilton in the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix, leaving the Briton with a two-point lead in the title race. However he extended his lead to 12 points after winning the Japanese Grand Prix in heavy rain, after Alonso crashed. Following the race Hamilton was investigated by the race stewards over his involvement in an incident behind the safety car, which saw both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber crash out of the race while following the McLaren. The trio were cleared on the Friday of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

After securing pole position in China, Hamilton retired from the race which saw changeable weather conditions. He experienced considerable tyre wear, notably his right rear, and he ran wide into the gravel trap in the pitlane, where his car beached. This was Hamilton's first retirement of his Formula One career. It was later revealed that Bridgestone became unnerved at the glaringly worn tyres and advised McLaren to order him to make a pit stop which McLaren refused to do, believing it would be counterproductive. Hamilton himself couldn't tell the full extent of the tyre problem as raindrops were in his wing mirrors. Hamilton thus went into the final race of the season four and seven points ahead of Alonso and Räikkönen respectively.

In the Brazilian Grand Prix, he failed to finish in a championship-winning position, finishing the race in 7th overall after being in 18th place at his worst point of the race. This occurred due to two major incidents; first, he was passed by Räikkönen away from the line, before being boxed in by Massa and Räikkönen in the first corner and 'wrong-footed' by Räikkönen mid-corner. As a result, Hamilton was passed by Alonso at Turn 3. Hamilton attempted to re-pass Alonso in turn four, but ran wide, dropping four places to eighth.

On lap 9, Hamilton encountered a gearbox problem, which meant that he was stuck in neutral and could not select any gears. The gearbox became operational again after Hamilton switched settings on his steering wheel, but he lost 40 seconds while his car was coasting. For most of the race, Massa was leading the race with Räikkönen in second. If this was the case come the chequered flag and with Hamilton in 7th place, this would have meant that Hamilton would become world champion, but after their second round of pit stops, Räikkönen stayed out a couple of laps longer than Massa and took the lead. Once in front, Räikkönen made no mistakes in the remaining laps to win the race and become Formula One world champion.

Later on October 21, it was announced that the FIA were investigating BMW Sauber and Williams for fuel irregularities, the BMW drivers finished 5th and 6th, if they were to be excluded Hamilton would be promoted to 5th and would win the 2007 Drivers World Championship by one point over Räikkönen. A precedent had been set in 1995, Michael Schumacher, then of Benetton-Renault, and David Coulthard, then of Williams-Renault, were both found guilty of possessing illegal fuel in their cars. In that situation both drivers were initially docked drivers points, but for unspecified reasons it would transpire - over a week later - that constructor points would be docked. Ultimately, no penalty whatsoever was given to any team and it was said that there was "sufficient doubt as to render it inappropriate to impose a penalty", though McLaren have officially appealed this decision. Hamilton subsequently told the BBC he does not want to win an F1 title through the disqualifications of other drivers.

Hamilton has reportedly signed a multi-million pound contract with HarperCollins for his autobiography.

Ahead of the world championship finale, Hamilton answered a question about what it would mean to him to become the first black champion, saying: "It will show that not only white people can do it, but also black people, Indians, Japanese and Chinese. It will be good to mean something."

Having made few public remarks about his ethnicity since becoming an F1 driver, Hamilton added: "Outside of Formula One my heroes are foremost my father, then Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Being black is not a negative. It’s a positive, if anything, because I’m different. In the future it can open doors to different cultures and that is what motor sport is trying to do anyway."

Team tensions

Hamilton's relationship with McLaren team boss Ron Dennis dates back to 1995. The first indication that Hamilton was unhappy with his team appeared after he finished second at Monaco. After post-race comments made by Hamilton which suggested he had been forced into a supporting role, the FIA initiated an inquiry to determine whether McLaren had broken rules by enforcing team orders. McLaren denied favouring double world champion Fernando Alonso, and the FIA subsequently vindicated the team, stating that: "McLaren were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage over all other cars. They did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result."

However, rivalry with team mate Alonso led to speculation that one of the pair would leave McLaren at the end of the 2007 season. Alonso and McLaren subsequently terminated their contract by mutual consent on November 2, 2007.

The tensions within the team surfaced at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix. During final qualifying for the race, Hamilton was involved in a controversy that saw McLaren and Alonso penalised after Hamilton was delayed in the pits and thus unable to set a final lap before the end of the session. McLaren pointed out that Hamilton had disobeyed an earlier instruction to let Alonso past in qualifying. Alonso was relegated to 6th place on the grid, thus elevating Hamilton (who had originally qualified second) to first. Hamilton said he thought Alonso's penalty was "quite light if anything" and only regretted the loss of constructors' points. Hamilton was reported to have sworn at Dennis on the team radio following the incident. British motorsport journal Autosport claimed that this "[lead] Dennis to throw his headphones on the pit wall in disgust (a gesture that was misinterpreted by many to be in reaction to Alonso's pole)". However McLaren later issued a statement on behalf of Hamilton which denied the use of any profanity. As a result of these events, the relationship between Hamilton and Alonso temporarily collapsed, with the pair not on speaking terms for a short period. In the aftermath it was reported that Hamilton had been targeted by Luca di Montezemolo regarding a Ferrari drive for 2008.

Following the stewards' investigation into the incident at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, Alonso insinuated that the verdict had settled the championship in Hamilton's favour, saying: "I’m not thinking of this championship anymore, it’s been decided off the track. The drivers’ briefing has no purpose. You go there to hear what Charlie Whiting and the other officials say. Twenty one drivers have an opinion, Charlie and the officials another, and so it’s like talking to a wall."

2008 Season

On December 14, 2007, it was confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen will drive the second car for McLaren-Mercedes for the 2008 Formula One season alongside Hamilton.

In mid January 2008, he signed a new 5-year multi-million pound contract to stay with McLaren-Mercedes until at least the end of the 2012 season.

Some pictures of Lewis Hamilton:

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Giancarlo Fisichella - Fisico

2008-02-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

Giancarlo Fisichella (born January 14, 1973 in Rome, Italy), also known as Fisico or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver. He has driven in Formula One for Renault Sauber, Jordan, Benetton and Minardi. On 10 January 2008 he was confirmed as driver for the new Force India Team.

Fisichella has won three races in his career to date, the first of which was at the chaotic 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, a race abandoned for safety reasons with 15 laps remaining. After much confusion regarding rules and technicalities (which lasted for several days) Fisichella was eventually declared the winner in the following week, and collected his trophy in an unorthodox ceremony at the following race. Fisichella has endured mixed fortunes at his current team, Renault. He was brought in to the team to replace fellow Italian Jarno Trulli, and won his first race with the team in Australia in 2005. However, after that race it was his team-mate, the Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, that would win the greater share of races for Renault. Although highly rated as a driver, Fisichella was unable to keep pace with eventual champion Alonso, managing just one further race win since his debut. Outside of driving, he runs his own GP2 team, FMS International.

Fisichella is engaged to Luna and they have two children, Carlotta and Christopher.

Early career

Like most current Formula One drivers, he began kart racing as a youngster. In 1992, he competed in the Italian Formula Three series, racing for the RC Motorsport team. He finished runner up in 1993, and in 1994 he won the championship, following race victories in Monaco and Macau. He left open-wheel racing briefly in 1995, driving for Alfa Romeo in the International Touring Car Championship series.

Formula One

1996 Minardi

In 1996, he made the move to Formula One, making his debut for the Minardi team. However he did not complete the full season since Minardi required a driver who could bring funding to the team, and replaced Fisichella with Giovanni Lavaggi.

1997 Jordan

For 1997 he made the move to Eddie Jordan's eponymous team, where he drove alongside former F1 champion Michael Schumacher's brother Ralf, himself a former Formula Nippon champion. Fisichella gained his first podium finish at the 1997 Canadian Grand Prix, and went on to finish higher in the points standings than his team-mate. At Hockenheim a victory looked to be within reach for Fisichella, but a puncture and the performance of an on-form Gerhard Berger denied him the win. Fisichella was able to show his talent again at the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix in which he finished a commendable second behind Michael Schumacher. Following this race, the Benetton team signed him for 1998.

1998 - 2001 Benetton

However, the timing of this move was unfortunate. Following Renault's withdrawal from Formula One, Benetton would contest the 1998 season without "works" (factory-supplied) engines, instead using rebranded development versions of 1997 Renault engines. Despite not having the latest engines, Fisichella still managed second places at Montreal and Monaco, even being in contention for a victory in Canada until gearbox problems slowed him down. In Austria, Fisichella scored his first pole position, although an on-track clash with Jean Alesi during the race cost him any chance of a good result. He was then able to add only two more points to his total in the second half of the year as Benetton lost ground on their competition.

1999 proved to be a similarly inconsistent season for Giancarlo Fisichella. He did score some podium finishes, and again came close to a victory in the European Grand Prix, until he crashed out of the lead. This would prove to be his best chance of a victory for the next few seasons.

Fisichella's season was to follow a similar pattern in 2000. He again gained some surprise podium finishes early in the year, but Benetton's now unfortunately traditional poor second half of the season meant that he failed to score any more points. Since joining Benetton, Fisichella had comprehensively outperformed his Austrian team-mate Alexander Wurz, who would then leave the team to make way for British rookie Jenson Button in 2001. Renault had purchased the Benetton team by the start of the 2001 season, but their investment was too late to enable much progress with Benetton's uncompetitive 2001 car, and as a result, Fisichella was battling for much of the season with teams such as Minardi and Prost. However, the efforts of technical director Mike Gascoyne and his staff did result in improvements over the year, culminating in a 4-5 finish at the German Grand Prix and a third place finish for Fischella at the Belgian race. Despite Fisichella gaining the team's best results that season and consistently outperforming Button, he left the team to rejoin Jordan for 2002.

2002 - 2003 Jordan

Fisichella managed to score just seven points for 2002, although the Jordan-Honda car of that year was never truly competitive. After Honda withdrew their engine supply, Jordan switched to Ford engines for the 2003 season, but the team were still unable to compete with the top teams on the grid. Despite this lack of performance, Fisichella won his first race at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Battling with McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen amidst heavy rain and numerous crashes, Fisichella took the race lead on lap 53, soon before the race was red-flagged. However, he was demoted to second place on the podium, because (per regulations) Räikkönen was the race leader two laps prior to the red flag. Several days later, though, the FIA determined that Fisichella had already begun his 56th lap before the red flag, meaning that he, and not Räikkönen, had been leading the race two laps before its premature end, awarding the Italian his first F1 victory. For nearly two years (i.e. until his win in the 2005 Australian Grand Prix), Fisichella was the only F1 driver to have won a race without having stood atop the podium. He collected the winner's trophy at the next race at Imola. Fisichella's only other points finish of 2003 was to be a seventh place at Indianapolis.

2004 Sauber

Unhappy at the Jordan team's performance, Fisichella moved to Sauber in 2004 in the hope of greater results, and of using the team as a way of gaining access to, and a drive for, 2003 World Champions Ferrari, who supplied re-badged engines to the Sauber team. Fisichella drove well all year, comfortably outpacing team mate Felipe Massa for much of the season.

2005 - 2007 Renault

His strong performances prompted former Benetton-Renault team boss Flavio Briatore to re-sign him for the 2005 season as partner to the young Spanish driver Fernando Alonso. A win at in the season's opening race at Melbourne signalled the Formula One breakthrough that commentators had been predicting, but it proved to be something of a false dawn. A run of poor luck saw Fisichella fall behind his team mate in the championship standings, and at times the pair were achieving noticeably different lap times with the same equipment. It appeared that Fisichella simply did not have the pace to match Alonso.

The difference in pace between Fisichella and Alonso was noticeable, and while Alonso's metronomic consistency helped him win the 2005 championship, Fisichella's lack thereof was to cost him points finished. He was overtaken and lost the lead on the final lap of the Japanese Grand Prix by McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen, despite his race engineer urging him to avoid letting Räikkönen past. Nevertheless, his performances alongside Alonso throughout the season enabled Renault to win the World Constructors' Championship ahead of Ferrari, the team that had won that title for each of the previous six seasons.

2006 proved to be a similar season for Fisichella. Having won in Malaysia, putting in a strong performance to win from the pole position, he failed to maintain that pace for the upcoming races, and even failed to reach the top ten in qualifying for two races. This form, in addition to a penalty in Monaco for allegedly impeding David Coulthard, meant Fisichella was again unable to challenge his team mate Alonso for the drivers' Championship. Some strong results in the second half of the 2006 season, including finishing ahead of Alonso at the US Grand Prix, enabled Fisichella to obtain his best ever results: Fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 72 points, one win, and five podium finishes. After finishing third in the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, Fisichella dedicated the result to his best friend, Tonino Visciani, who died of a heart attack on the Thursday before the race.

In 2007 Giancarlo Fisichella became Renault's lead driver after the departure of Fernando Alonso. His team mate was the team's former test driver, the young Finn Heikki Kovalainen, who was replaced as test driver by Nelson Piquet Jr.

Renault did not demonstrate the same level of pace as in previous seasons, which had seen them win successive World Championships. It remains unclear whether the difference was due to the change of tyre supplier from Michelin to Bridgestone, the lack of Fernando Alonso as a driver, or simply being outpaced in off-season development by the other top teams. Another possibility is that the team's wind tunnel was giving inaccurate data in late 2006 which affected the development of the 2007 car. This was cited by Pat Symonds in an issue of F1 Racing Magazine. In the early races, Fisichella obtained better results than rookie team mate Kovalainen, but in Canada and the USA it was the Finn who claimed the higher finishes. Fisichella was disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix, along with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, for exiting the pit lane while the traffic light was showing red, the purpose of which is to prevent cars rejoining the race ahead of the safety car. He later stated that he had been busy avoiding other cars in the pit lane and had simply not noticed the red light. The Renault team seemed to have made significant progress in terms of pace by the Spanish Grand Prix, but a series of fuel rig problems meant that neither driver was able to capitalise on this apparent increase in performance. Fisichella crashed into the Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix which broke his rear suspension and forced him to retire.

2008 Force India

With Renault signing Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr., Fisichella was announced as the number one driver alongside Adrian Sutil for the Force India F1 team for the 2008 season on January 10 2008.

Some pictures of Giancarlo Fisichella

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David Marshall Coulthard

2008-02-01T17:03:00.001-08:00

David Marshall Coulthard, often called DC, born March 27, 1971 in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, is a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland. By virtue of a long, consistent and careful career, much of it spent in top teams, he has 13 grand prix victories and amassed a large points haul, and lies fourth on the all-time scorers list, being the top British scorer. He currently drives for Red Bull Racing.

Biography

Karting

Coulthard began karting at an early age, graduating to Formula Ford in 1989. His performance was so impressive that he won the first ever McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year award. In 1990, he suffered a broken leg at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, yet still came back the following year to win Formula 3 races at Zandvoort, Netherlands and Macau, China. In 1992, he raced in the Formula 3000 series, finishing ninth, and in 1993 he improved to third overall.

To F1

In 1993, Coulthard became test driver for the world champion Formula One team Williams-Renault and played an important role in advancing the car's technology. For 1994 he stayed with Williams as tester, but following Ayrton Senna's tragic death at Imola, was promoted to the race team alongside Damon Hill for the Spanish Grand Prix. He spent much of the season driving the second car, but had to step aside for ex-champion Nigel Mansell on four occasions. Renault were keen to have a big name in the second Williams, and Mansell, at that time reigning Indycar champion, fitted the bill. Coulthard showed flashes of speed, but errors and bad luck saw him take just one podium, a second-place finish at Estoril. For the last three races he had to sit back and watch Mansell take his place, but it was he, and not Nigel, who would race for Williams full-time in 1995.

Williams

The season saw him demonstrate his undoubted pace, and he won the 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix. There were races where he could have won, but poor luck and mistakes once more cost him. He did score five pole positions, four of them consecutively. However, some unforced errors tarnished his season: at Monza he spun off on the formation lap, whilst in Adelaide he crashed coming into the pits.

McLaren

In 1996, Coulthard contracted with McLaren to drive alongside future champion Mika Häkkinen. His first season with McLaren was unremarkable, as the Mercedes-powered team struggled to find speed. He led at Imola and lost out to an inspired Olivier Panis at Monaco. In 1997, in his second year with McLaren, he finished the drivers championship tied with Jean Alesi for third place (after the disqualification of Michael Schumacher). He had taken two wins and could have added more, but for problems. At Jerez he was on course to win after Jacques Villeneuve moved over, but McLaren ordered him to surrender the win to Häkkinen. In 1998, the McLaren was consistently the fastest car on track, but it was Häkkinen who made the most of it, winning the title. Coulthard took just one win and spent most of the year in a supporting role.

In 1999, a combination of under-performance and bad luck saw him finish the season in fourth place, and McLaren lost the constructors title to Ferrari. Häkkinen became champion, whilst Coulthard won twice. In 2000, he was involved in a tight battle for the drivers championship with Schumacher and Häkkinen, but eventually fell out of contention into a disappointing third place finish. In 2001 he finished the year in second place, but with barely half the points (65) tallied by runaway winner Schumacher (123).

Coulthard's subsequent years at McLaren, from 2002 through 2004, were disappointing as well, as he was regularly out-paced by younger teammate Kimi Räikkönen. Many of Coulthard's critics argue that his decline began in 2003, when the FIA introduced the single-lap qualifying format, causing David to freeze up (i.e. develop stage-fright) during his hot lap. He openly admitted that he did not like the format and was a vocal opponent of the format. With the announcement that Juan Pablo Montoya was to join McLaren in 2005 alongside Räikkönen, 2004 was to be Coulthard's last year with the team. A poor ninth place finish in the final 2004 standings (24 points, equal with the injured Ralf Schumacher) hadn't helped Coulthard's cause for 2005 either.

Red Bull

Signed by Red Bull Racing for 2005, the team were attracted by Coulthard's experience. He was teamed with the inexperienced Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Coulthard's contract at Red Bull Racing was also extended prior to the 2005 British Grand Prix, to prolong Coulthard's Formula One career to at least the end of 2006. David's stint at Red Bull was a renewal for the Scottish driver scoring points in many races and becoming one of the more outspoken and media savvy drivers.

For 2006, he continued at Red Bull, partnered with Christian Klien. For 2006, Red Bull Racing were powered by Ferrari engines, with a contract for Renault engines agreed for 2007 during the 2006 season. Technical director Adrian Newey joined the team from McLaren to design the 2007 car. These positive developments led Coulthard to state that he wished to remain with the team after the 2006 season, and to add to his victory tally with them. On August 7, 2006, the day after the Hungarian Grand Prix where Coulthard finished 5th, it was announced the he had extended his contract with Red Bull Racing for 2007 and is teamed up with Mark Webber.

Among active F1 drivers, Coulthard has the third most wins (13), behind his former teammate Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso. Coulthard is the highest-scoring British driver ever with 527 points (as of the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix), beating Nigel Mansell's previous record of 482 points. At the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix he also became the 8th member of Formula One's "200 Club", joining Riccardo Patrese, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Gerhard Berger, Andrea de Cesaris, Nelson Piquet and Jean Alesi in the list of drivers to have competed in 200 Grands Prix. In the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, David Coulthard scored his first podium finish with Red Bull Racing, his best result with the team and also the teams first podium finish. During the trophy presentation, Coulthard wore a red cape as the team was promoting the film "Superman Returns". His impressive form in the 2006 season saw him secure a contract extension for the 2007 season, during which he was partnered by Australian Mark Webber who joined from Williams.

After a slow start to the 2007 season, Coulthard delivered two strong drives at the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix where he picked up the team's first points of the season. On July 6 2007, Red Bull Racing announced that Coulthard's contract had been extended to the end of 2008, meaning he will likely enjoy a second season as F1's 'elder statesman'.

Personal life

Coulthard has lived for some time in the tax haven principality of Monaco, and also owns homes in London and Switzerland. He owns several luxury hotels in Britain and Monaco, including the Columbus, which is located in Monaco's Fontvieille.

On 2 May 2000, while leasing the Learjet of friend David Murray, the aeroplane developed engine trouble while on route to Côte d'Azur International Airport in Nice, and crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Lyon-Satolas airport, France. Coulthard, his then girlfriend the American model Heidi Wichlinski and personal trainer/bodyguard Andy Matthews survived; whilst Murray's personal pilot David Saunders and co-pilot Dan Worley were killed.

Coulthard has a tabloid chequered history in his personal relationships: according to tabloid reports, he has been associated with a number of women. However, in a BBC interview, Coulthard vigorously denied these claims, stating that the tabloid reports were "out of date and inaccurate." He has been associated with a string of women, including supermodel Heidi Klum, Lady Victoria Hervey, and models Andrea Murray and Ruth Taylor. He has been engaged to models Heidi Wichlinski and Simone Abdelnour.

On 2 June 2006, He became engaged to Karen Minier, a Belgian Formula One correspondent for French TV channel TF1, after a whirlwind romance. The couple plan on "marrying in the near future"

The museum in his home village is currently independently run by local fan Wendy McKenzie after previously being run by his family. It continues to attract many visitors from all over the world. It is now the home of the "Twynosi" (A cross between Twynholm and Italian Ferrari fans, the Tifosi. They gather on race days to celebrate (or commiserate) David's result and motorsport in general.

On 7 August 2007, Coulthard released his autobiography, entitled "It is What It Is". In it, he admits that he suffered from bulimia as a teenager.

Coulthard's second cousin, the New Zealander Fabian Coulthard, is also a racing driver.

Pictures:

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Fernando Alonso Díaz

2008-02-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

Fernando Alonso Díaz (born July 29, 1981 in Oviedo, Spain) is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time world champion.

On September 25, 2005 he won the World Driver's Championship title at the age of 24 years and 58 days, thus breaking Emerson Fittipaldi's record of being the youngest F1 champion and is also the youngest double champion. In 2007, he became the second F1 driver, after Michael Schumacher, to score at least 100 points for three consecutive seasons. He is nicknamed El Nano.

Personal and early life

Fernando Alonso was born in Oviedo, Asturias in northern Spain. His mother worked in a department store and his father was employed as a mechanic in an explosives factory near Oviedo. Alonso has an older sister, Lorena. Alonso's father José Luis, an amateur kart racer, wanted to pass on his passion to his children. He built a kart, originally meant for eight-year-old Lorena, but unlike her three-year-old brother, she showed no interest in the sport.

Alonso is married to Raquel del Rosario, lead singer of Spanish pop band El Sueño de Morfeo. The two apparently married in November 2006.

He currently lives in Oxford, England, and owns a house near Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

Pre-Formula One

As a child, Alonso participated in karting competitions around Spain, supported by his father, who also doubled as his mechanic. His family lacked the financial resources needed to develop a career in motorsport, but his victories attracted sponsorship and the required funds. Alonso won four Spanish championships back-to-back in the junior category, between 1993 and 1996 and the Junior World Cup in 1996. He won the Spanish and Italian Inter-A titles in 1997 and in 1998 won the Spanish Inter-A title again as well as finishing second in the European Championship.

Former Minardi F1 driver Adrián Campos gave Alonso his first test in a race car in October 1998. After three days of testing at the Albacete circuit, Alonso had matched the lap times of Campos' previous driver Marc Gené.^[5] Campos signed Alonso to race for him in the 1999 Spanish Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan series. In his second race, again at Albacete, Alonso won for the first time. He took the championship by one point from championship rival Manuel Giao by winning and setting fastest lap at the last race of the season. Alonso also tested for the Minardi Formula One team, lapping 1.5 seconds faster than the other drivers at the test.

The following season Alonso moved up to Formula 3000, which was often the final step for drivers before ascending to Formula One. Alonso joined Team Astromega and was the youngest driver in the series that year by eleven months. Alonso didn't score a point until the seventh race of the year, but in the final two rounds he took a second place and a victory, enough for him to end the season fourth overall behind Bruno Junqueira, Nicolas Minassian and Mark Webber.

Formula One

Alonso was the third-youngest driver ever to start a F1 race when he made his debut with Minardi at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. The team was in its first season under the control of new owner Paul Stoddart and their new car, the PS01, was neither fast nor reliable. However Alonso's qualifying performance was good, at his first race he out-qualified team mate Tarso Marques by 2.6s. At the fourth round at Imola he outqualified both of the Benettons, a feat he repeated later in the season.

Notable performances over the 2001 season had earned him some attention from the faster teams. It was reported in September 2001 by some of the European press that Sauber were looking to replace outgoing Kimi Räikkönen with the Spaniard although he was facing competition for the seat from Felipe Massa and then Jaguar test driver Andre Lotterer. A month later it was confirmed that Massa was going to take the vacant Sauber seat for 2002.

In September, his manager Flavio Briatore had begun planning to place Alonso at Benetton. Briatore considered promoting Alonso for 2002, in place of his race driver Jenson Button, but instead chose to take Alonso on as a full-time test driver for 2002. At the final round of 2001 at Suzuka he finished eleventh — five places outside the points but ahead, on merit, of Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Prost (with a Ferrari engine), the BAR-Honda of Olivier Panis, the two Arrows and Alex Yoong (his new team mate). Four years later, his team boss from the Minardi days, Paul Stoddart, described his race as "53 laps of qualifying".

2002–2006: Renault

Alonso became test driver for Renault in 2002 (Renault having taken over the Benetton team) and did 1,642 laps of testing that year. In 2003 Briatore dropped Button and put Alonso in the second seat alongside Jarno Trulli.

The Spaniard became the youngest driver to achieve a Formula One pole position at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. Alonso had a 180mph crash at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, the result of missing the double yellow flags and Safety Car boards brought out by Mark Webber's earlier crash and colliding with the debris. The race was red-flagged. He finished second at his home grand prix two races later, and became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. He finished the year sixth in the championship, with 55 points and four podiums.

2004

Alonso remained with Renault for the 2004 season. In the early part of 2004 questions were asked of Alonso when he was generally out-qualified by teammate Jarno Trulli. However towards the end of the year Trulli's performance deteriorated and he dropped Renault boss Flavio Briatore as his manager. Trulli's relationship with the team deteriorated to the extent that he signed for Toyota from 2005 onwards. Alonso ended the year fourth in the championship standings, scoring 59 points and four podiums.

2005

For the 2005 season, Alonso was joined at Renault by highly rated Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella. At the first race in Australia Alonso started near the back due to rain in qualifying but fought his way to third. He won the next two races in Malaysia and Bahrain from pole position, and took a third win in the San Marino Grand Prix after a 13-lap battle with Michael Schumacher.

McLaren's improving form saw Räikkönen win in Spain and Monaco while Alonso finished second and fourth. Räikkönen was on course to win the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring when his car's front-right suspension failed (due to a flat spot on the tyre caused by Räikkönen repeatedly 'locking' it) on the last lap, giving victory to Alonso.

Alonso failed to score in the Canadian and United States Grands Prix. He crashed out of the former, and in the latter all the Michelin runners withdrew due to safety concerns over their tyres.

Alonso took his third pole position and fifth win at the French Grand Prix. He followed this with pole position a week later at the British Grand Prix, where he finished a second behind Montoya. McLaren's poor reliability granted another win to Alonso at the German Grand Prix when Kimi Räikkönen's car suffered hydraulic failure.

He qualified 6th in the Hungarian Grand Prix but finished 11th after a collision with the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher.

As the season entered its final stages Alonso finished second in three consecutive races, collecting vital championship points. Räikkönen won in Turkey and Belgium, but was fourth at Monza after engine trouble in qualifying, meaning Alonso's lead had been reduced by only one point.

Alonso sealed the title by finishing third in Brazil while Montoya won from Räikkönen. The Spaniard became the youngest Drivers' Champion at the age of 24 years and 59 days old, breaking Emerson Fittipaldi's record. He also ended the 5-year dominance of Michael Schumacher.

Commenting on his victory, he said: "I just want to dedicate this championship to my family, and all my close friends who have supported me through my career. Spain is not a country with an F1 culture, and we had to fight alone, every step of the way, to make this happen. A huge thank-you should also go to the team as well — they are the best in Formula One, and we have done this together. It will say that I am world champion, but we are all champions — and they deserve this." In the May 2007 issue of F1 Racing, Alonso said that the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix was his greatest race. He said, "It was a dream come true and a very emotional day. In the last few laps I leaped, thinking I could hear noises from the engine- from everywhere! But all was okay and I can remember my relief when I crossed the finish line."

The Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix saw Alonso and Renault abandon the conservative style evident in Brazil when he was still chasing the drivers' title. Starting from 16th on the grid, he eventually finished third behind Räikkönen and Fisichella. The Chinese Grand Prix saw Renault and Alonso win to claim the first Constructor’s Championship for the Renault F1 team.

In 2005, he was awarded with the Sports Prince of Asturias Award.

2006

Alonso won the first race at Bahrain, overtaking Michael Schumacher after coming out of the pit lane with 18 laps left, after starting fourth. He qualified seventh at the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a fueling error^[12]^[13] but finished second to team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. He won the Australian Grand Prix after overtaking leader Jenson Button's Honda.

After poor qualifying at San Marino, Alonso was unable to pass Michael Schumacher in an encounter that echoed their battle the previous year. Schumacher beat Alonso again in the European Grand Prix after the Spaniard started on pole. But Alonso hit back, becoming the first Spaniard to win his home race on May 14, 2006 in the Spanish Grand Prix.

He took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix after Schumacher was penalised by the stewards for "deliberately [stopping] his car on the circuit in the last few minutes of qualifying", denying his rivals, Alonso included, the opportunity of recording fastest qualifying lap. Alonso won the race.

He extended his winning streak to four races with victories in Britain and Canada. Both wins came from pole position, and the British round was his first win, pole and fastest lap treble.

Schumacher's fight back began at Indianapolis where the German won and Alonso was fifth. Schumacher won the French Grand Prix, with Alonso in second, and the Spaniard was fifth in the German Grand Prix. That cut Alonso's championship lead to 11 points.

Alonso incurred a penalty for an infraction in practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix which left him 15th on the grid. Schumacher started 11th after receiving a similar penalty. Alonso looked set for an unlikely win as he overtook most of the field, including Schumacher around the outside of turn five, as he showed prowess in the wet conditions. But he crashed out of the race when a wheel nut fell off his car following a pit stop. Schumacher scored one point after Robert Kubica was disqualified.

Alonso finished second in Turkey, holding back third-placed Schumacher to claim two vital points. But he lost a lot of ground after a controversial Italian Grand Prix. He suffered a puncture during qualifying that damaged bodywork at the back of his car. He qualified fifth but was later punished by the stewards for impeding Felipe Massa's Ferrari, and he started the race from the 10th position. In the race he rose to third place before an engine failure forced him to withdraw. Schumacher won the Grand Prix and cut Alonso's Championship lead to two points.

At the following round in China, Alonso took pole position during a wet qualifying session but finished second to Schumacher in the race. The result tied Alonso and Schumacher on points in the drivers championship.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, the Ferraris of Schumacher and Massa qualified first and second, more than half a second faster than the Renaults in fifth and sixth. But during the race Alonso rose to second and took the win after Schumacher's engine failed. It gave him a ten point advantage over Schumacher, needing only one point from the final round to retain the title.

Second place in the Brazilian Grand Prix on October 22 gave Alonso the championship. With Schumacher finishing fourth, the final difference was 13 points. Alonso thus became the youngest double champion in the sport's history. Renault also clinched the Constructors' Championship with a 5-point gap over Ferrari.

2007: McLaren

On December 19, 2005, Fernando Alonso announced that he would be moving to McLaren for 2007. His contract with Renault was set to expire on December 31, 2006 However, on December 15, 2006, Alonso was allowed by Flavio Briatore and the Renault F1 Team to test for one day for McLaren in the Jerez circuit, as a result of his successes with Renault. Driving an unbranded MP4-21 and wearing a plain white helmet and overalls, Alonso completed 95 laps but, due to the car lacking a timer transponder, his lap times could not be fully determined. This test session did not mean that his contract had expired. Lewis Hamilton was chosen as his partner for the season. McLaren are reported to be paying Alonso £ 20 million (approx $ 39 million c. 2007) in 2007. Alonso debuted with the new McLaren car on January 15, 2007, in the streets of Valencia. Alonso has recently taken delivery of his company car, the 150 car limited edition Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722. Alonso described the SLR 722 as the "prettiest car in the world".

On 8 April 2007 in his second race for the team, Fernando secured his first win for McLaren, and the team's first since 2005 with a commanding drive at Sepang. A difficult drive at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit on 15 April, saw him finishing 5th behind his rookie team mate who took a podium finish. In the fourth race of the year in Spain his home grand prix he qualified second. He had a first lap crash with Massa which caused some damage to his car and dropped him to fourth. He finished the race third. On May 27 Fernando secured his second victory for McLaren with a dominating performance at Monaco, scoring pole position, fastest lap and the race win and in the process lapping the entire field up to 3rd position. At the Nürburgring he took his third win of the year in a dramatic race affected by intermittent rain showers, overtaking Ferrari's Felipe Massa for the lead with just four laps remaining. After the controversy at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix (see below), however, relations between Alonso and his team have declined. It has been reported in the media that he is no longer on speaking terms with Hamilton, and it is speculated that he may leave McLaren at the end of the season. On 7 August 2007 The Times reported that McLaren will let Alonso leave the team at the end of the season if he wishes, two years earlier than his contract allows.

As part of the ongoing espionage controversy between McLaren and Ferrari, the former were found guilty of breaching the Article 151c of the FIA's sporting regulations but went unpunished due to a lack of evidence. However, following the acquisition of new evidence by the FIA, a new hearing was held on September 13. The new evidence consisted largely of email traffic between Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa. The FIA's World Motor Sport Council report following the hearing stated that Alonso and de la Rosa had obtained and used confidential Ferrari technical data and sporting strategy information from senior McLaren engineer Mike Coughlan via Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney, including during test sessions. Both drivers were spared sanctions in exchange for providing evidence. The relationship between Alonso and the Mclaren team has been said to have deteriorated to neither of them on speaking terms, rumours strengthen that Alonso could jump ship to Ferrari replacing Massa, whose manager was seen talking to the Toyota team on a regular basis. Alonso is now reportedly set to return to Renault after signing a letter of intent to rejoin the team in 2008, even though he still has a contract with McLaren until 2009. This would mean that Fernando Alonso could be in breach of his contract with McLaren-Mercedes and may have to pay the Woking organization the last 2 years of his contract. Before the final (and deciding) race of the 2007 season, Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore indicated his teams willingness to have Alonso rejoin the team. On 2 November 2007, after a turbulent year with McLaren, it was announced that McLaren and Alonso had mutually agreed to terminate his contract and that he would be free to join any team for 2008 without paying McLaren any compensation.

2008: Return to Renault

Alonso was linked with several teams for the 2008 season after his split with McLaren. Renault, Red Bull, Toyota and Honda were all suggested in the media. Renault's Flavio Briatore stated that he would welcome Alonso's return to the French team. On 10 December 2007, the Telegraph online news service reported that, according to "a newspaper report in Spain" Fernando Alonso had signed with Renault F1 for around £25 million. This contract has a length of two seasons and the Brazilian driver Nelson Angelo Piquet will be his new team mate. Fernando Alonso will drive the R28 with the number 5, the same number he raced under when he first became World Champion.

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