Monday, June 29, 2009
PaddockSpy Headline
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Italian thanks teams and family after riding ‘perfect race’ in Assen.
Valentino Rossi appears to reach a Grand Prix milestone with every victory added to his legacy, and the Italian reached a century of World Championship wins with his latest triumph on Saturday in Assen. The Fiat Yamaha rider had less of a battle on his hands than two weeks prior in Barcelona, and was in better condition to give an animated celebration –this time an unraveling of a celebratory banner and a photo with an ‘old school’ camera.
“It’s a fantastic achievement. 100 victories is a great number. Thanks to all the guys who have helped me to reach this number –my teams over the past ten years, Jeremy Burgess and especially all my close friends and family for giving me motivation. We hope to win some other races though!” said Rossi after stepping onto the podium with a custom made ‘100’ flag.
On the race itself, which he led for almost the entirety after starting from pole, the reigning World Champion commented that: “I had a good feeling and knew that I was very fast on two or three points in the track, so I tried to get out to the front as soon as possible and impose my rhythm. It was a perfect race because any mistakes would have a high cost. I knew that Lorenzo was very strong, so I tried to take an advantage.
“It’s been two races that the bike has had a good setting. This year the bike is fantastic, and we hope to continue in this way.”
Rossi will have little time to savour the win, as the MotoGP World Championship takes a swift transatlantic flight to Laguna Seca, California for next weekend’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. The 30-year old was a winner there in 2008, but knows that things won’t be easy stateside.
“Last year was great, but it will be hard with just 3-4 days of rest. We are in a good moment, and I hope to have a good race like last year.”
source: www.motogp.com
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MotoGP
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
What seemed to be a foregone conclusion after qualifying became one almost the moment Sebastian Vettel launched his Red Bull RB5 into the lead of the British Grand Prix. In a crushingly dominant drive, which underlined the major step forward that the Milton Keynes team have made on high-speed circuits, Vettel pulled away from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn by as much as a second a lap in a series of quick tours, and never looked remotely challenged.
Team mate Mark Webber finally got ahead of Barrichello during the first round of stops and likewise had no trouble staying ahead thereafter. But Vettel was still 15.1s ahead when the chequered flag fell.
The Brazilian held on to take third place, 25.9s adrift, while the race was enlivened in the closing laps as Jenson Button's Brawn began to develop decent tyre temperatures. The world championship leader had run between seventh and ninth places for much of the race but vaulted ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Toyota's Jarno Trulli during the two pit stops, and launched a blistering attack from sixth place on Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari and Williams' Nico Rosberg, who were running fourth and fifth respectively. By the last lap 0.8s separated the Ferrari from the Williams and 0.3s the Williams and the Brawn.
On a day when damage limitation mattered the most, Button lost only three of his 26-point advantage over Barrichello. He now has 64 to the Brazilian's 41, Vettel's 39 and Webber's 35.5s.
Trulli hung on for seventh for Toyota, while Raikkonen fended off the Italian's team mate Timo Glock, but only just. Behind them, Giancarlo Fisichella took a fighting 10th place for Force India ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams.
Lewis Hamilton had a terrible race. It was compromised early on as Renault's Fernando Alonso slid off the track ahead of him but obliged him in turn to go off in avoidance as he jerked back on to the tarmac. That left him embroiled in a fight with the Renaults and the BMW Saubers, which saw all of them lapped.
In the end, Nelson Piquet emerged in 12th place, just ahead of BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica and Alonso. Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW Sauber was 15th, some way ahead of Hamilton after he spun his McLaren at Vale on the 43rd lap.
Adrian Sutil and Sebastien Buemi completed the finishers after Sebastien Bourdais misjudged an overtaking move at Abbey on the 34th lap on McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, and both subsequently retired because of the damaged caused.
source:www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA
1st Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 1h22m49.328s; 2nd Mark Webber (Red Bull), 1h23m04.516s; 3rd Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP), 1h23m30.503s.
Q: Sebastian, your first dry grand prix victory. Fantastic start. In the first stint you are pulling away at a second a lap from everyone else. You were told to calm down by your team in the middle stint but was it really as easy as it looked today?
Sebastian Vettel: You know, it is never easy. It is a long, long race and I think particularly at this fantastic circuit everyone of us is enjoying it a lot. Fast corners. it is a dream, really, so you have to stay focused and keep your eyes open all the time. It is not easy. But as you say the start was very important, then in the first stint I tried to push as hard as I could to pull away and make a gap which I knew would be crucial as then I would benefit basically the whole race from it which worked perfectly well. I had a fantastic car. I mean it was unbelievable. I was able to push, push, push more and more and more and the tyres were very consistent, so very good tyres as well. I am very pleased. The second stint wasn't easy at all when the team said to me 'be careful'. I had a lot of traffic and a lot of lapped cars at that stage and they were battling each other, so it was quite tricky you know when you come from behind and you can’t really get close. They are fighting between themselves. It was anything else but easy. You had to stay patient and it was difficult as I knew I had a big gap but I couldn’t see, so I was always asking and checking ‘how much is the gap, how is the pace, how are we doing.’ It was great and in the last pit stop I was in clean air. From then I think the last 10 laps I was counting every single lap down and I had quite a big gap to Mark, so I was controlling the race from that point onwards. You could say the last 10 laps were quite easy but before that obviously it wasn’t. I was pushing very hard and in the second stint it was more like a slalom. I had to pass a lot of lapped cars but after that obviously it was fantastic. I am very, very pleased with the result. I mean fantastic. It shows that we are on the right way. Every single one has been working hard and it doesn’t matter whether here at the track or back at the factory. Bringing the car to where it is just now is fantastic. It was all kind of last minute but we did it and we proved both of us that it is a step in the right direction, so I am very pleased. Also I want to thank Silverstone. It is only my second time here but I enjoyed it so much and when I looked left and right in the last two laps the people were already standing up and clapping and cheering. It was fantastic. The emotions then especially as I crossed the chequered flag. Every single person in the grandstands I have to thank. It was fantastic. The atmosphere was great. This is what I was dreaming of when I saw the first grands prix here in Silverstone in the era of Mansell and so on, so it is kind of unreal now to think I am here and I have made it. I have won this grand prix, so I am very, very happy.
Q: Mark, where was your chance of victory lost? Do you think it was yesterday in qualifying or today in the first stint behind Rubens?
Mark Webber: Probably yesterday. I mean we needed to get on the front row at least and I think then the first stint today we knew the way that Sebastian was pulling away and Rubens was doing his best, his car did not look that easy, and I was just sitting in behind. It is so difficult to get close here, so the race was virtually lost in that first stint. From then on Sebastian had such a gap after the first 20 laps of the race that it was absolutely no chance for me to bridge that gap. It was way too big. As he said we had a lot of traffic in the second stint. Then in the last stint it was just a question of getting the car home. The guys reported that I had some damage at the back of the car, so from the second stop we had to use a different gear pattern for the last stint but in general I want to echo Sebastian’s words. This team, the guys have absolutely buried themselves, at the factory. The night shifts, the attention to detail now they go into, is an absolute credit to them. They have been led very well and they are responding to that. And results help. It is an incredible injection for them to get these top results, a one-two on the home turf. The factory down the road is the ultimate result for them. It is the best I could have done today. I don’t think I could have got much more from that result, so congratulations to Sebastian, he did a good first stint and that is what laid the foundations. That was really my race. I enjoyed it and again Silverstone what an amazing track. We love driving these Formula One cars here. It is just incredible to go through that first sector lap after lap after lap. It is a brilliant place for a Formula One car and certainly destroys a lot of the other venues we have been picked in the last few years of our careers if you like. And the British fans are always fantastic, so it was great.
Q: Rubens, a lot of pressure on Brawn GP this weekend. It has been a difficult weekend for the team. What do you take away from this and how much pride do you personally take from your performance today?
Rubens Barrichello: A lot of pride because at the end of the day it was very difficult. I mean yesterday as I said we were thinking that third was the best we could have and we knew that if the track didn't change a little bit it was going to be difficult to beat them. They were the class of field this weekend. I am proud of the achievement I had. The second stint was very, very difficult on the harder tyres. It was difficult to hold on to people and with the winds crossing the track which sometimes would throw you onto the marbles. In turn one I had a couple where I was running off the track and it was very, very difficult to know if the wind would hit you or not at that time, so it was difficult to follow the lines. Unfortunately they were really, really fast but I did what I had to do. My target to the end of the year is really to close the gap on Jenson and I think we all did today. Also I want to thank all the doctors that helped me this weekend because I was in terrible back pain and Doctor Cecarelli and the doctors at Toro Rosso and my friends there that helped me and my physio as my back really hurt the whole weekend and they helped me big time, so I could finish the race in good feeling.”
Q: Sebastian, was this dominance this weekend all about the track and the conditions or are you and Red Bull really on a roll now which is going to say something about the second half of the season?
SV: I wouldn't mind if we could continue like that but I think it is a bit of everything. This circuit is fantastic and suits our car. A lot of high speed corners. Mark was saying the first sector is just great every single lap and I have seen our car is behaving fantastically well in all these sorts of corners, medium speed, high speed, so the rhythm is really nice here, so I think that is one reason. On the other hand I think we have made a nice step forward. I think it helps us of course in medium speed and high speed corners but also in low speed, so I think we have improved the car a bit everywhere. Therefore I think it all came together and we did a good job, the whole team was working perfectly fine and therefore I think if you want to say it in that way we were quite dominant today.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Sebastian, give us an idea about how different the tyres were. Did you have any problems with the different types?
SV: No, I mean looking at the result I wouldn’t say problems. I am very, very pleased obviously. To sum up the race the most crucial stint was the first one. I knew I had to have a good start and then defend first position and then I tried every single lap to push as hard as I could to build up a gap. I knew that it would only help me for whatever comes in the second and third stint. It worked perfectly well. I could see on the board every single lap nearly a second more, a second more, a second more, so it was fantastic to see. The tyres were, I have to say, very consistent, both compounds, the soft ones and the hard ones. We were not 100 per cent sure before the race which was the preferred one. You never know on Sunday. The conditions can change and so on, so it wasn’t that easy but I think in the end we did the right thing. Then obviously towards the end you feel a little bit the tyres starting to go off, so it becomes a bit more difficult out of the low speed to control the traction but I think the car was fantastic today. As I said in the first stint I was able to open up a very big gap. The second stint was quite difficult because there was a lot of traffic, a lot of lapped cars, and it was sometimes quite tricky and also my engineer came on the radio and reported to me to be patient enough as obviously they were fighting between themselves and I was catching up. The only thing you want is to pass, so you want them to let you by. On the other hand they are fighting themselves. I have been in the other position and saw the leader behind me, me in the middle of nowhere and fighting against the others. Then the last thing you want to do is pull over and let the car behind you by to lose time. But I have to say very good behaviour by all the drivers. Of course you are losing time. But still I think it was a very, very good for every single one. Then in the third stint obviously I could see on the board again and I was all the time in radio contact with the team asking for pace and how we were doing and so on. In the end we were just about saving the car and bringing the result home. Fantastic here; one and two. The factory is down the road, so as I said yesterday I can only make huge compliments. Every single one, it doesn’t matter here in the factory or at the track, has been working very hard and it has been tough to get this car where it is now so, especially the update we had for here was pretty much on the edge but we made it and I think it totally paid off. Results are the best way to say thank you to every single one. Also a lot of people were here at the circuit. Apart from all the spectators, I have to say the atmosphere was great. I regret a little bit I am not an Englishman as the fans are fantastic. Already in the last few laps I could see the people standing up and cheering. At the time I wanted to wave and say ‘thank you’ but then I said there have been stories in the past where it didn’t look too good with drivers doing it and that was the last thing I wanted to do. Then when I crossed the line it was unbelievable. Also the whole podium ceremony was fantastic, so thank you.
Q: At half distance you lost three seconds. Was that because of traffic?
SV: Yes, as I said the middle stint – pretty much the middle of the race around lap 30 - I caught three cars. Fernando (Alonso), Lewis (Hamilton) and Nelson (Piquet) and it was quite tricky. As my engineer said to be patient I tried to be. I knew I had quite a big gap and I wasn’t in a rush to pass. The last thing I wanted was to have a collision or anything. Also with the debris at some stage I was quite cautious but I think that was the main reason. I had no issues from the car. It was working perfectly fine from lap one to lap 60.
Q: Rubens has mentioned the winds affecting his car. Did they affect yours?
SV: Yes, it did. He is totally right. I think the best example was turn one. I think from the beginning of the race to the end of the race the wind turned roughly 180 degrees. You could feel on the speed you were simple able to have going into Maggots and then Becketts. It was quite tricky. You arrive there and you are always on the edge and sometimes the wind is just taking you and then you end up in the marbles. You try not to lose too much time but I have to say the car was very, very good today especially in sector one, so I was very pleased, so we were able to cope very well I think even with the windy conditions.
Q: And Nürburgring next.
SV: Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. It’s my home race, we have had this home race for the team, kind of, strictly speaking not! I think as everyone noticed the anthem this time, the national anthem for the team was the right one (Austrian) but the factory is down the road, so it’s a fantastic result here at home. And the next one is for me at home, which is great. I hope to continue and try to repeat what we did here, which won’t be easy but for sure, that’s what we’re aiming for.
Q: Mark, when you were behind Rubens, how much were you bottled up, how close could you get, was it just a matter of waiting for him to make a mistake?
MW: No I wasn’t worried about… I think it’s Rubens’s second or third Grand Prix, so he’s quite experienced and I knew that he was doing the best he could and that was the case. It’s very hard to get close at Silverstone, it was a question of me saving fuel. I was just saving fuel and more fuel and then just making sure I jumped him at the first stop. Obviously it was disappointing to see Sebastian disappearing because I knew how important that situation in qualifying was which happened to me. But anyway, I don’t think I could have got much more out of today. I said before the race, the first race is with Rubens and if that happens quite quickly then maybe I can have a race with Sebastian. If my first stint was behind Rubens then Sebastian was going to have a boring race; that’s what I said before the race and that turned out to be the case. He had quite a straightforward afternoon and so did I, actually, in the end. As Sebastian said there was a lot of traffic in the second stint and in the end it was just controlling throughout the stint. There was no way, ever, given how close we are, that I was ever going to close twenty seconds in two stints, it was never going to happen. We’re pushing the car together, the development is in the same direction, so all this stuff is good for us. The guys have buried themselves at the factory, including Renault with the engines. Obviously Dietrich (Mateschitz), the big boss back in Austria, is very proud of us today, getting a first and second again this year and I’m looking forward to my day when I can jump into the seat next to me. But today I’m actually happy with what I got out of it. Sebastian deserves to win today, so we’ll take it to another day.
Q: You mentioned a gear problem just now, you didn’t seem to lose too much time with it; could you just explain what happened?
MW: The guys said I had some damage to my bodywork. I don’t know if it was from the Bourdais/Kovalainen shunt at turn eight because I was quite close to that and it just happened in front of me. I don’t know where the damage was to the car but the guys asked me to… actually it wasn’t a gearbox problem. I had to use a different rev profile for the lap, so we needed to use different gears in different corners, so that was always a new challenge for the driver to work out exactly what the engineers want you to do. Then they said ‘don’t do that too long because now the engine’s getting another problem,’ so we had a few little things bubbling away but it didn’t really affect… I’m sure I’ll find out a bit more about it later but it was a case of me getting the car home.
Q: Rubens, when you were ahead of Mark, did you know you were probably in trouble?
RB: Yeah, we knew from yesterday the car that they had, so it was going to be a difficult one. It was close actually. When I came around the first corner and he was exiting the pits I needed not a little bit to stay in front but all in all, you saw him, when he was in front he disappeared and there was nothing I could do. And to make things worse, I think it was probably a tough choice to go on the harder tyres right in the middle. There was very little between the tyres all through the weekend but in the race I think the softer tyres performed better, so to have a long stint on the harder tyre was a tough call. Then I saw Rosberg and Massa coming along, so it was a tough race for me. The car is balanced but we lack grip. We were hoping that the weather could get a little hotter but it never did, so it was a struggle but having said that, I’m happy because all in all I took some points out of Jenson, so for me that’s the target that I have achieved.
Q: You’ve had a bit of a worry about the tyre temperatures at this circuit. Do you think that may be the same situation at the Nürburgring? We don’t know what the weather’s going to be, obviously.
RB: Nürburgring can be snowing or it can be deadly hot, so it’s a very difficult place to see what’s going to happen. It’s three weeks away, we have a chance there that it could be hotter or anything but we need to work on that (tyre temperature). We had that situation before in Shanghai and the Red Bulls were quite strong and I believe that that’s the situation right now. We haven’t all of a sudden lost performance, we just think it’s to do with a little bit of the weather.
Q: You mentioned your back; when did that make itself apparent?
RB: On the trip, on the way to England (from Brazil) I started to feel my back, especially my lower back, hurting. After I ran on Friday morning, when I got out of the car, it was really, really stiff. The massage wasn’t doing anything and obviously nowadays you cannot take any medicine, so I had to check the doctors and check everyone and they helped me big time. So I’m feeling good. Luckily the position that I’m sitting in the car is comfortable for the lower back. From now on it’s going to be a problem but it’s fine as long as it’s not a problem with the car, it’s fine.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) This is question for Rubens and Sebastian: do you think you are putting back interest into the championship after the six wins out of seven races for Jenson Button, and how difficult do you think it will be to catch him?
RB: Jenson has been quite strong in every race this year. Let’s say he birdied the first holes, I hope he bogeys the next ones and I can birdy. It’s pretty much like that. I hope that this is a turnaround here.
SV: As Rubens said, I think Jenson was very strong in all eight races we’ve had so far and he totally deserves to be in this position. Looking at the championship, he obviously has quite a comfortable lead still but we’re trying to do our best and I think the only thing that makes sense is to use every single opportunity we have. As I said before, we’re working very, very hard, the team is very determined and we know where we want to be, we want to win. I think that’s the only way to turn it around. For sure it won’t be easy but we are totally up for the fight. The season is still very long, anything can happen still. You never know what is going to happen.
Q: (Bob Bull – BBC Three Counties Radio) Question for Rubens: Felipe Massa was right on your tail having started from eleventh. Are the Ferraris getting closer to the Brawns as well? You didn’t beat him by a great amount.
RB: Well, I think Ferrari is strong everywhere in any case. The fact is that with their car, and whatever the behaviour is, they are stronger in some races and not in some others. Here, they didn’t seem to be very competitive in qualifying, especially with Felipe, but then he had a good strategy and he made up the gap. But the cars are very similar. If you take Istanbul, in qualifying, for example, there was 1.4s between the whole grid. If you have the car adjusted to one particular track you’re going to have something happening quite quickly. Plus, I think Formula One is now developing so fast and we have new parts for the car at every race and everyone is doing that. You’re going to see teams coming from the back, for sure.
Q: (Mohammed Khan – The National, Abu Dhabi) Sebastian, what will it take to overhaul Jenson? You talk about perfection, is it going to take perfection for the rest of the season for Red Bull to catch them?
SV: I think the only thing it takes is towards the end of the season to collect more points and then at the end you sum it up and whoever has scored more becomes champion. That’s all it takes. Of course there’s hard work behind it, as Rubens says. Every single team is pushing hard. I think the fact that we’re very competitive this weekend is down to a lot of factors. First of all, I think we have made a step forward. The car was brilliant here and this circuit suits us. On top of that I think the conditions were right for us, we had no issues with the tyres, so everything was working and it was very close to being perfect which is very, very difficult to achieve but it should always be the target. In the end, you can’t really foresee what’s going to happen but I can assure you we will try very, very hard to improve, even from where we are now and try to collect more points than all our competitors.
Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawke’s Bay Today, New Zealand) This was billed as Jenson Button’s race to lose, if you like. Do you think you’ve not only gained on the track from the result today but also psychologically, and perhaps Rubens that might even apply to you?
RB: Like I said, he was on a roll. It’s almost as if everything was opening right up in front of him and he used that for him very well. There’s nothing to say against that. We are sportsmen and if you can make that into a turnaround and work for yourself with the energy and try to get everything for you, you’re doing very well. But I think Jenson is quite mature already, so he’s going to be strong. It’s not that I think that with one sixth place he can flick it up, I think everything that we’re going to conquer towards the end of the season we’re going to conquer, he’s not going to give us any opportunity but that’s why it’s nice and I think it’s a good challenge.
SV: In the end I can only confirm what Rubens says, you know. When it comes to me, I’m not really a fan of all these psychological tricks and mindset and so on. All I try to do is to squeeze the car out every single time, every single lap and to do the best I can. Of course, sometimes you might have to attack more than is probably good for you and you might risk a lot and sometimes lose it. Yes, it happens, I think that happens in sports, that happens in motor racing and I think that’s human. As I said, in the end you have to use every single day you have and the one who is most consistent and has done the best job fully deserves to win in the end. It might be a one point advantage or a fifty points’ advantage to the guy behind.
Q: (Sean McGreevy – CSMA Magazine) There have been a lot of politics this weekend. In your opinion, what does F1 need to do to secure its future?
SV: Ha, that’s a good one. I knew that something would come up. I think we have to see everything clearly. We’re all in the same boat, all the drivers. Everything we want, and in the end the only thing we want, is to race against each other. We want to compete with the best cars in the world against the best drivers. I think that has been the attraction of Formula One and that’s why Formula One is the peak of motor sport. We are all here to race. When it comes to all these politics, I know there’s a lot going on. Maybe you can say I should be more concerned but all I’m worried about now is what happens to me in the sport. I think that as a professional sportsman you should always have your focus on what really matters, and if you ask me what matters, the only thing that matters right now is what we do with the car at the track, so I think that is the most important thing. On top of that, I think it’s quite complex and to really have an opinion you have to have enough knowledge and to have enough knowledge you have to be one of the people who are able to know what is really going on and I have to admit that I don’t really care that much what’s happening. All I care about is what happens to my car and what is happening to me at the track. I think we are all of the same opinion in a way. The last thing we want is to have too much holiday. We all like and we all love racing, I think that’s the reason why we are here, and we want to continue fighting against each other and find out every single weekend and every single year who is the best one.
Q: (Adam Scriven – Racing Post) Mark, the earlier questions about the championship situation weren’t addressed to you but you’re still very much in the title race. How do you rate your chances at the moment?
MW: Well, I’m getting some pretty good results. I’ve had very consistent Sunday afternoons. Saturday is crucial, we know that, in terms of how tight it is between the four of us, and especially in the last few events. I’m still very confident that I can haul some good points in the future. Whether it’s enough to be consistently ahead of these guys remains to be seen but thanks for flagging that up. I’m out there and yeah, I’m very happy with my performances so far this year. It doesn’t take much to turn things round, so I’m looking forward to Nürburgring. It could be mixed conditions and then we’ve got Budapest. Yeah, there are some good races coming up which will test us again and yeah, I’m looking forward to it.
source:www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were both aware that they had enjoyed a special duel at the Circuit de Catalunya.
With the 90,000 fans at Montmeló treated to an amazing MotoGP race on Sunday the two main protagonists were buzzing at the end of the 25 lap contest with World Champion Valentino Rossi breathless following his last corner triumph.
Having crossed the finishing line less than one tenth of a second in front of his Fiat Yamaha team-mate, Rossi exclaimed, “In Italian you would just say about that race, ‘Mama Mia!’. This battle with Lorenzo was very, very close. Our two bikes are set-up very well and we had the same pace so I knew we would get to the end of the race like that so it was fantastic.”
The Italian star continued, “It was a great race and we know that Lorenzo is very strong, so to try and beat him in the future we have to be at 100%. I’m so happy about today and my 99th GP win. It was so important to take this victory here in Barcelona, more than just the 25 points, because for me, for my team and for the crowd it is just fantastic, so I think the show was unbelievable.”
Lorenzo was humble and sporting in defeat, responding, “It’s not the same as a victory but second place is a fantastic result for us because it means we are maintaining consistent form, which we didn’t have last year. Being honest Valentino was braver than me and he overtook me in the last corner because I didn’t close the line enough and he won.”
The young Spaniard added, “I congratulate him for this win. I tried to be brave and where I saw gaps I went for it. Although we lost we know there are a lot of races until the end of the season.”
With the Yamaha colleagues tied in first position in a three-way fight with Casey Stoner, thoughts were already turning to the next installment of this intriguing 2009 title contest at the Dutch TT.
Rossi admitted he will need some rest before the next race, commenting, “We have to test on Monday, to work hard on the bike and then after I just need to relax. I have a bit of a problem with my neck so I need to stay at home, in my own bed, relaxing and waiting, so I can be ready with the batteries recharged for Assen.”
Perhaps ominously for the rest of the field, Lorenzo stated, “Assen is my favourite track so I look forward to going there, to hopefully putting in a good lap time in practice and then to race like this again.”
source: www.motogp.com
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MotoGP
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Jenson Button made it six from seven as he ran away and hid from the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in Turkey on Sunday afternoon. It was a perfect riposte for Brawn after their defeat in China at the hands of the Australian/German duo.
Vettel led from pole but as team mate Rubens Barrichello made a terrible start from the clean side of the grid, Button held on to second place. When Vettel ran wide exiting Turn 10 the championship leader pounced mercilessly and thereafter did not relent in his punishment.
Vettel was on a three-stop strategy, and that error was the last thing he wanted. In the end his strategy failed to work for him, and he had to settle for third place behind Webber, who ran a very strong race on a two-stop plan but was almost 20s behind Button until the latter eased off in the closing stages. The Brawn driver eventually finished 6.7s ahead, as Vettel hitched on to Webber’s bumper to finish 0.7s adrift.
The race was all about the three of them.
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Williams’ Nico Rosberg had a race long battle for fourth which went the Italian’s way, while Felipe Massa’s hopes of a fourth straight victory here in the Ferrari were clearly unrealistic and he had to be satisfied with a distant sixth place ahead of the battling BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica and Toyota’s Timo Glock.
Kimi Raikkonen was one of many stars to have an unrewarding afternoon. He brought his Ferrari home ninth ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Renault, the Spaniard separated from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima. Hamilton avoided being lapped only because Button backed off.
In a poor day for McLaren Heikki Kovalainen was 14th, a lap down, and led home Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi, Renault’s Nelson Piquet, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Sebastien Bourdais in the second Toro Rosso.
Barrichello had a miserable afternoon which included a spin after a brush with Kovalainen and nose damage after a collision with Sutil, and retired after 47 laps. Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella went out earlier than that with mechanical gremlins, after four laps.
Button now has 61 points over Barrichello on 35, Vettel on 29 and Webber on 27.5. Brawn have 96 points to Red Bull’s 56.5.
source:www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA
1st Jenson Button (Brawn GP), 1h26m24.848s; 2nd Mark Webber (Red Bull), 1h26m31.562s; 3rd Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 1h26m32.309s.
Q: Jenson, on your slow down lap you used the word ‘outrageous’ to describe this car. That was an outrageous win for you today.
Jenson Button: Thank you. I mean today the car was the best it’s felt all year. We have been quick on other occasions and the car has been a bit loose and hasn’t really suited my style but today the car was immense. It really was. I have got to say a massive thank you to everyone. It just keeps getting better. I don’t know if this circuit suits our car more than others. I think some of it was due to the rubber on the circuit: That really helped our car. But, yeah, the car was fantastic today. I wish I could have all the boys on the podium. I had one of my engineers but they all deserved to be up there as they did a great job.
Q: Mark, a great result for you. More fuel on board at the start of the race and a two stop strategy compared with your team-mate’s three stop strategy. Talk us through that.
Mark Webber: Well, it was a very good afternoon for me. The first stint I knew I had to try and hang in there as long as I could and that worked out pretty well. I managed also to go a lap longer and save a bit of fuel as well. That really opened up me going away from the rest of field. I knew Sebastian’s strategy as well, so I knew I would have a chance to have a sniff at him as well to get another position. I knew the podium was pretty much taken, it was just a question of whom out of Sebastian and myself would get the second place behind this guy who was on another planet. I knew the second stint was crucial for me and I had to push really, really hard as usual as all the drivers are doing in the race but when someone is on a different strategy it is invisible to see them obviously and it turned out well for us. My engineer kept me in the loop with what was happening and I did enough damage in the middle stint to be able to jump Sebastian and at the end it was okay, we just turned the engine down and brought the car home.
Q: Sebastian, P3 for you. Another great result but from the pole this time sadly no win. But you were leading for a little bit on the first lap.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, up to turn nine and ten. It worked out okay at the start. I stayed ahead. Then I nearly lost the car at nine and ten. It was my mistake. I think all race it was difficult there. It was a bit of tail wind and it was extremely difficult, so even on the second lap I nearly lost the car again, so it was quite tricky. But still I think it would not have made a big difference as Jenson was just too quick today, so I think I wouldn’t have been able to hold him anyway. After that I knew my strategy. But we have seen that Jenson was not behind us and we were not opening a gap to him. It was the opposite, so I thought we were switching to two stop. We did not and then obviously in my second stint I was in traffic to Jenson and he was on a heavier fuel load than me. I nearly passed him. There was one chance but it was quite tricky and after that I lost a little bit of time there and it turned out that the three stop possibly was not as quick as two stop today. Nevertheless a good result for the team. I am not happy but I think we can be very satisfied to take second and third and it is getting closer, so that is a good thing.
Q: Jenson, it must have been a nice moment for you on the opening lap when you are following Sebastian. We get towards turn nine and ten, a little bit of wind there, and he leaves the road.
JB: Yeah, at the start I was very happy that I got away in second position. My start was good actually on the dirty side of the grid. Sebastian covered the inside which I was surprised about as going onto the dirty side I didn’t think was the best idea. We sat behind him for the first half of the lap and then Sebastian ran wide on the exit of ten and that was my opportunity. It is difficult to overtake here and as you might have seen we were sat on the limiter for a lot of the straight, so I would not have had the opportunity to pass at the end of the straights.
Q: You were under pressure from Sebastian on the second stint when he had a lighter fuel load. What was the situation like for you there?
JB: It was okay. I knew that he was going short. We sort of knew what lap he was going to stop on. But it is still never a nice feeling, even when you know you have got more fuel in the car, to see a car catching you eight or nine tenths a lap. I just had to be as consistent as I could. I knew that if Sebastian was behind me it was going to be difficult to overtake, so I backed off in the corners I could to help the exits and as soon as Sebastian pitted I pushed a bit harder and got the lap times down a bit. It was still an exciting race but I must say I personally think the races before this, especially Bahrain and Barcelona, I think the Red Bulls were on our pace. I really do but today we were a step ahead, so it is a nice feeling.
Q: Mark for you the start was opened up a little bit with Rubens Barrichello making a slow start. Give us your thoughts off the line and then behind Jarno Trulli on the opening lap.
MW: I didn’t get a bad start compared to Rubens. He had a very poor one and Jarno had a very good start and then I was behind Jarno for the first sector and there were quite a few opportunities to have a stab at him. He made quite a few mistakes on the first lap. I was on the outside of turn eight but I was also mindful of the fact that I had Ferrari and a KERS car behind and I didn’t want to lose another position to him. It turned out when Jarno ran wide, doing the same mistake as Sebastian, that was very fortunate for me and I just got my head down. Of course the track was different today, so it did play a role in the first lap.
Q: Sebastian, I hate to ask you again but can you talk us through that moment on the first lap, as you are putting Jenson under pressure in the middle phase of the race.
SV: Well, I mean as I said it was very, very windy there. A tail wind compared to other days when I think we had a head wind. Therefore it was extremely difficult. There is a kind of a dip there that you go through and I lost the rear and went wide at turn ten over the Astroturf and nearly lost the car and a lot of speed also for the straight, so it was no problem for Jenson to pass me. Then later on in my second stint I knew then I was quite a bit lighter than he was. I was catching up massively and I think there was one chance in the last corner. I tried to pass him. He covered the inside and he ran slightly wide but I didn’t have the best exit anyway as I approached the last corner also from the inside, so it was also not enough to pass him down to turn one. It would have been too risky. After that it’s the same game. You kind of feel your tyres going off and then there is not much you can do. Obviously in the tow I was on the limiter for part of the straight and it was not possible to catch up anymore and there basically I lost the race.
Q: You were asked late in the race by your team not to pass Mark. Your thoughts on that?
SV: They did not tell me not to pass Mark. They just said ‘Mark is faster.’ Similar to what he did we just turned the engine down and just drove the car home. I mean if you start from pole you want to win. If you lose the lead already in the first lap it is not so good and you just see that someone has much quicker pace. It is not that nice to see and obviously then we lost because of the strategy the position to Mark, so in the end I was third. Of course I wasn’t that happy with that and just kept pushing to the end. Obviously both of us turned the engines down but still I would rather go fast the last couple of laps and enjoy rather than just going around without any sense.
Q: Jenson, what a set up for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
JB: Yeah, I said on the radio to my engineer. The British Grand Prix is always special even when times have been tough, so going there leading the championship by 26 points is quite a nice feeling. I am looking forward to it very much, so we will see what happens.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Jenson, up until seven or eight laps from the end it was a margin of 20 seconds which is pretty remarkable.
JB: Yeah, and this is the first race really where the car has just been absolutely perfect for me. We have had very good pace in other races but I have still found it difficult to drive. But here the car has been fantastic. Coming from where we were on Friday we have made some good changes over the weekend. I think when the circuit grips up it really helps out car. I wanted the whole team on the podium with me as this was definitely a victory for all of us. To beat these guys fair and square is a great victory for us I think.
Q: What were the tyres like at the end of the race as the margin in the end was 6.7 seconds from 20 seconds?
JB: I don’t really know how the tyres were in the last stint as I backed off quite a bit, saving the engine. As we have only got eight engines a season you have got to be careful with what you use and when, so I wanted to conserve the engine a little bit which I did. The tyres were okay. They started graining a bit but not anything that would have cost us any time. I also knew these guys were turning down as I could see their lap times dropping off, so the last 10 laps I am sure were not the most exciting in the race but that was the best option for me.
Q: Was Sebastian's three stop strategy a surprise to you?
JB: It was. It really was. Especially when he was behind me on the first stint by five or six seconds. I was very surprised that they went for a three, maybe they thought that we were going to do the same. I don’t know. We filled the car up after we saw what they had done and it worked very well. But when you are leading with a five second gap and you see it closing down, whatever the guy’s fuel load is behind you, it is still a strange feeling when he is picking you off a second a lap. When he caught me up I just had to cover the lines a little bit. We geared slightly wrong for this circuit as the wind changes quite a bit. I was on the limiter for five seconds on the back straight, so I was very worried about that and Sebastian slipping up the inside. But it was fine, so I was able to hold him off and I knew if he stayed behind me before he pitted on lap 32 or 31, that from then on it was an easier race for sure. The car was great to drive and I enjoyed every single lap. I didn’t have any big moments or anything, so yeah, a great day for us.
Q: Mark, similarly how were the tyres at the end as you were being gained on by Sebastian?
MW: We knew that there was no point of us two smashing into each other with five laps to go, so we just brought the cars home really. Jenson was down the road, so it was a stalemate. We had everyone else covered, so it was a great day for the team to get second and third. We expected to be closer to the Brawns but we got caned fair and square today, so this is a deserving result. I also enjoyed the race today. The track was quite good to drive as Jenson said it rubbered up and it was pretty enjoyable to drive. It would have been nice if there was one less car in the race but he was there. In the end I was happy with how I drove.
Q: And it was your second second place this year.
MW: It shows how good the car is. We are in position to challenge at most grands prix now and that is very rewarding for the whole team including Renault. Everyone is working incredibly hard. Obviously Brawn have had the jump from the off. There have been a few other venues where we have been a little bit closer here and there. We expected to be closer here but we weren’t and we need to work a lot harder now for Silverstone to try and make a little bit more pressure on them. Obviously Rubens has had a tough day but the guy leading the championship keeps going away. It’s not bad for the constructors for us today but for the drivers Jenson has gone away a bit more.
Q: Silverstone is almost a home race for you anyway in terms of where you live. What are your feelings about that race and how do you think the car will react there?
MW: I am looking forward to Silverstone for many reasons because I think it will be a great atmosphere unlike here. There was no-one here and Silverstone is going to be fantastic for Jenson and all the drivers. We like to perform in front of a lot of people. It is one of the best grands prix of the year. The English people love their motor sport. I love the track. It is a brilliant circuit and it is a home race for the team as well, so there are many reasons to look forward to it.
Q: Do you think the car will be good there?
MW: Yes. We will see how good.
Q: Sebastian, it was interesting that you said you lost the race at the start. But also do you think the three stop strategy was the wrong one?
SV: Yeah, to come back to the first lap I made a mistake at turn nine and ten. We did a good job from the line and defended first position. Then I think it was the most critical corner today as the wind direction changed and we had a tail wind there and it was always very slippery and very difficult to get the entrance right. I just lost the car and went more or less straight and was quite lucky not to lose the car but obviously lost the position straight away to Jenson. But I think today we have to accept that they were on a different planet. I was quite happy with the car. I think we both were. The car was fine. The circuit was good and to come back to the strategy, it is not a secret anymore that we had the plan to go three stop. We thought we had a fair chance today to beat Jenson and the Brawns. It turned out not to be. After the first stint it was more or less clear that I was short on fuel and therefore I was surprised that we still went on a three stop strategy as from there onwards it did not make much sense especially as I caught up Jenson in my middle stint and lost time there. I basically lost the race to Mark as well, so all in all we probably didn’t do the best job there. If you start from pole you want to win the race. We did not, so I am not that happy. But still as Mark said, it was a very good day for the team. A lot of points. It is getting closer even though maybe today was the first day that Jenson showed what they really can do, so let’s see. But I think we have reasons to be confident. It was a good race today. I had a good car. I was quite happy and there are new bits to come in Silverstone, so let’s see.
Q: You were very quick at the end there, how many more laps would it have taken?
SV: It’s difficult to say. In the end I came out behind Mark by quite a bit. I was surprised it was that much and then my engineer came on the radio and said Mark was faster. I think I just have to ask you what you would do in this kind of situation. You start from pole, you realise that your strategy doesn’t work as it was supposed to and you’re not in the position you want to be, so the last thing you do is just go round slowly and drive the car home. I think both of us turned down the engines but I enjoy driving, so I would rather continue to go quickly than start to slow down and carry the car home.
Q: Interesting line out of this final corner when you were behind Jenson, you were much tighter through there.
SV: I think one time, initially when I caught him up, I wanted to dive down the inside going to the last corner and he defended, so it was not possible and he made a mistake, running a bit wide, which gave me a better exit for turn one but it wasn’t enough. All in all, I seemed to catch up in the last couple of corners: 12, 13, 14, also compared to Mark. It’s quite a Mickey Mouse complex but I kind of like it. I like this circuit, I felt good from the first lap onwards and again, it wasn’t at all bad today. I think I had a very good car, I was quite happy, a bit of understeer/oversteer here and there. The most critical point was probably turn nine and ten but I think mainly down to the wind conditions but all in all it wasn’t bad. We’re just not quick enough yet.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Mathias Brunner – Speedweek) Sebastian, is there much of a discussion going on on the radio, whether to do two stops, three stops or is simply a decision that you are told and basically that’s it?
SV: Obviously you know what you are going to do in certain scenarios. You discuss strategy a long time before the start of the race and it was clear that in case we would be leading and we would have a certain gap to the car behind, because we were quite a bit shorter, then we would have gone for a three stop. At this point I haven’t spoken to the team but at this point I don’t yet understand why we were still on a three stop. I think a two stop would have just secured second position. We tried, it didn’t work, so we’ll know next time.
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Congratulations Jenson. Just watching you in the TV press conference, you looked a bit emotional, a bit teary-eyed. What is it about this win which has meant so much to you today?
JB: I think it was… every race that I’ve won this year has been pretty emotional. The old memories obviously come flooding back but I think it’s because we thought it would be a much tougher fight today and also when you get into a car that every single lap you drive you’ve got a smile on your face because it’s working so well; this race was that race. I could have carried on driving for another 200 laps because I was enjoying myself so much in that car. Today was a day when we’ve shown that we have made a good step forward. People will say that this is our true pace and it has been all year but that’s not a fact. I’ve given everything every race this year and I think we’ve found the best pace possible at every race we’ve gone to this year but at this race I think we have made a step forward with the balance of the car and the aero of the car, so it was a nice feeling. Even ten laps in, 15 laps in I thought it’s probably not a good idea but I really wanted to radio the team and say ‘this car is just outrageous.’ It was tempting fate a little bit, so I left it until the end of the race. But it was just a very enjoyable day. This is the day really that I think is for the whole team; I really wanted them to be on the podium with me. I suppose they are at every race but especially at this one. I think it meant a lot to the team because they could see how good the whole package was.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Jenson, the question is when are you planning to win this championship because it looks like you’re pretty much unstoppable?
JB: I would love to win every single race this year but I’ve got another 19 guys on the circuit who want to stop me doing that. I’m in a good position, for sure. This race showed that we do have the best car but I think that we have the best package. I think this car really suits me, so I’m driving it at my best and everybody within the team is in a very good position and I think that they are giving a hundred percent also. You would say that the situation at the moment is perfect but it could very easily go the wrong way. These guys (Red Bull) can suddenly bolt something on that will bring them to our pace or even quicker, so you can’t take it for granted and you’ve got to keep pushing. You can’t lift off and hope for the best or try and take it easy. You still have to keep pushing. I’ve got a 26 point lead which is just out of this world but I’m still not going to lift off. I want to do the best job I can at every race I go to and I’m still going to make every move that I possibly can to win every race. But I also know that that is not going to be easy. I will have a bad race this year and I will get beaten and it’s being ready for that situation I suppose.
Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motorsport News) Congratulations guys. Question for all of you. You were all in the FOTA meeting this morning. Having been in that meeting, having listened to what everybody had to say, how much have you learned about FOTA’s position, about their solidarity, their strength, and how much has that influenced or affected your feelings about the future of the sport and where it’s headed?
MW: Well, FOTA were very good this morning. They called in all the drivers with the FOTA teams just to give us a heads up and bring us right up to speed because obviously the circumstances out there in relation to the sport are changing pretty quickly. So for us to go there and listen to all the team principals and all the people making decisions for their own teams, to talk to the drivers who have been with them for a long time in certain situations, and our position is that we are totally in support of FOTA. All the FOTA drivers are with FOTA in the future. We want to race against the best drivers in the world, we want to drive for the best teams in the world and that’s the way we want to see it go forward. We hope there is a… not a compromise – whatever they need to do to work with the FIA to have a very, very good championship next year and that’s it really. We’re very, very confident and we’re trusting the FOTA teams and they are absolutely binding together, they are so strong together and this is what we’re very happy about because this is what it needs to bring the governance of the sport in the correct fashion that we need to go forward.
Q: (Ercan Kazaz – Hurriyet) Jenson, the next race is in the UK. Do you expect the same support that Lewis enjoyed last year from your home fans, ad would that create pressure or motivate you?
JB: Every year I’ve been to Silverstone to race in Formula One it’s quite amazing the support you get, even when you’re not driving a competitive car and when you can’t get a result you still get a lot of support which is fantastic. The British public has always been behind their drivers. Going there this year is obviously a different situation: I’m leading the championship. In previous years, when the car has been difficult to drive and we haven’t had any results, in a way you’re a little bit embarrassed because you’ve got so much support. You’ve got so much support but you can’t give them anything back but to arrive there leading the championship, I feel that, in a way, it’s giving them something to really get a hold of and sink their teeth into and really enjoy. Yeah, so arriving at Silverstone I’m going to be very excited and looking forward to the weekend but when you get into the car you’re a hundred percent focused. In a way it’s another race while you’re actually in the car. Before and after it’s very different, for sure, but the great thing is, a lot of people that work in Formula One are British, we have a lot of fans in the United Kingdom, so hopefully we will put on a good show for them and we will have a sell-out crowd and this will help us in the future have a Grand Prix in the UK.
Q: (Mathias Brunner – Speedweek) Mark, of the upcoming tracks where do you think Red Bull Racing can most likely challenge Brawn GP?
MW: Well, it’s difficult to say. We expected to be a bit closer here, to be honest. Jenson was on another level today. There was no way anyone was going to beat him. It’s not that we’re really going to change our mentality going forward. We’re doing everything we can to make the car as fast as possible for every venue we go to and that’s starting with the next Grand Prix in the UK. You would think, looking at the past, whether it was Barcelona or a little bit Malaysia – those sorts of circuits and Shanghai – where there were some quicker sections that would suit us, so maybe Silverstone is somewhere where we can maybe get closer. Nürburgring? It’s very difficult to say at the moment. I think if we went to Nürburgring as the next race Brawn would still have an advantage. We need to keep going on the path we are but we need to bite into the back of their development if we can somehow and soon. Obviously we need to do it soon because the more races we do, there are less to come.
Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) Mark, following that one up, you’re renowned for saying it more or less as it is. Jenson, then, was trying to make the case that things could still go wrong for him, even though he’s won six out of seven races but do you, in your heart or hearts, really believe he can be stopped from being World Champion this year?
MW: Jenson’s in an incredible position. To have a 26 point lead is an amazing position to be in but the way the points-scoring system is at the moment, for him to chip away is still not that easy if his main competitors are consistent. He’s got a great benchmark to start from now. Two DNFs changes things obviously. But there’s no question about it, he’s in fantastic shape, going forward, seven races down, ten or eleven to go. Even if he’s cruising and picks up a lot of results, not on the top step, it’s going to be a long, long time for people to get that back. Finishes are crucial for him and he’s been around long enough to know that.
But just adding to my statement before, I said there was no atmosphere in Turkey. I think that there were a lot of people that tried to come in today but obviously it’s not that cheap and things like that but we should have let them in for free at the end. It would have been nice for the show to let people in. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that would want to come to the Turkish Grand Prix but can’t afford to because it’s very expensive. Jenson and I spoke about this on the parade lap that on the day maybe we should have made an announcement yesterday or even this morning to get some more people in here to let them experience our sport and that’s a shame that it didn’t happen today.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Mark, you’ve opted rather for the conservative strategy during the last three races, as it is mostly decided on the Saturday before you put fuel in for Q3. Is that what you are pushing for?
MW: No, it’s just the better way for me. I’ve had a little bit of problems with Q3. Yesterday I nailed Q3 pretty much how I wanted to, so with that in mind, it’s always better to have a little bit more fuel and have the options in the afternoon on Sunday. Obviously the KERS cars are a risky business because you can also qualify around them, so that’s a major trap for me in the first stint but going forward I’m obviously planning to qualify the best I can in Q3 and have the best strategy for the race. I know there’s no points on Saturday afternoon and I want to get the best result on Sunday.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Sebastian: you said arriving here that your car suits the track and you were confident with it. When you saw Jenson flying away what did you feel you still miss in your car, to beat the Brawn’s race pace?
SV: When I saw him flying away the first thing I thought was ‘shit’ because obviously we wanted to win today and we were not quick enough. As I said before, I was happy with the car, I felt quite comfortable all weekend. Yesterday was very good, I think. Today we were just not quick enough. I don’t see that there’s one particular place on this circuit, for instance, where we were losing time. I think it’s just a little bit here, a little bit there. Again, I think we have a very good car, especially in medium- and high–speed corners and I think that’s not where we are losing too much time. I think it’s probably more in the areas like the last sector here, in the low speed corners, but I don’t really see that we have been much weaker in general there, so I think it’s a bit everywhere, maybe. Just a little bit more in the slow speed corners.
source:www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Casey Stoner wrapped up the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice action in style with victory in another wet-dry MotoGP race.
In the second flag-to-flag race in two rounds Casey Stoner ended Valentino Rossi’s Mugello winning streak with a polished performance to give Ducati their first ever victory at the circuit.
Much of the race came down to tactics again in front of the 80,000-strong Italian crowd as the riders once more started on a wet surface and completed the 23 lap contest on slicks, with Stoner this time judging things to perfection.
The Australian retook the championship lead as he crossed the line a second in front of former leader Jorge Lorenzo, who also rode well after the scare of crashing on the sighting lap.
Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha colleague Valentino Rossi completed the podium in third place as his seven-year wining run at his beloved home track came to an end, the Italian hero crossing the line two seconds behind Stoner and less than one tenth in front of Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso.
It was a shame for Dovizioso to miss out on the rostrum on the last lap once again, having held the race lead early on, on wet tyres. Likewise, his compatriot Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) was leading at one stage – later in the race – but he fell away in the final laps to finish fifth.
James Toseland made a brave decision to come in first and change bikes when running towards the back of the field and he just missed out on equaling his best MotoGP result of sixth as he was outdone by his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Colin Edwards on the last lap, having also dueled with LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet who was eventually eighth.
Niccolò Canepa (Pramac Racing) will be delighted to have achieved his best result to date as the second highest Ducati rider in ninth at his home race, with Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) completing the top ten behind the young Italian.
Dani Pedrosa hit the deck and crashed out on lap 14 having already damaged his hip earlier in the weekend, the Spaniard stretchered away from trackside. He will face an anxious wait to see if he is fit for his own home race at Barcelona in two weeks. Honda satellite rider Yuki Takahashi also crashed out with 13 laps to go.
source: www.motogp.com
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MotoGP
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