05 Nov 2008. Renault announced on Wednesday it will keep the same drivers for the 2009 season. For the second season in succession, the French squad will therefore field former double world champion Fernando Alonso alongside the Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet. Alonso's deal is for a further two years, while 23-year-old Piquet has been confirmed only "for a further season", according to a media statement.

"Source: NewsOnF1.net"

02 Nov 2008. Timo Glock and Sebastian Vettel played a vital role in the outcome of the 2008 world championship, played out over a dramatic Brazilian grand prix where emotions ran high. In the drizzly confusion on the last lap, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton lost his necessary fifth place to Toro Rosso's Vettel, only to win it back again at the final corner of the 71-lap race when Glock, who drives for Toyota, could not hold the Briton at bay on his unsuitable dry tyres.

The Felipe Massa camp in the Ferrari garage, having watched the Brazilian driver race to a dominant victory from pole position, initially celebrated winning the world championship against the odds -- before a sober team mechanic turned scenes of delight into despair by shouting the words "No, No!". Massa, having also initially believed he had won the title, was in tears when he pulled into parc ferme, but ultimately congratulated Hamilton, declaring he knows "how to win, and how to lose, but for sure I am very emotional". "That is racing. The race finishes at the chequered flag," said the devastated 27-year-old, who finishes the season one point shy of the title. "We need to congratulate Lewis as he did a great championship, he scored more points than us so he deserves to be champion," said Massa.

Emotions were also running high when a reporter for the British broadcaster asked Hamilton for his thoughts in pitlane, before father and manager Anthony intervened, insisting his 23-year-old charge - now the youngest winner of the drivers' title in F1 history - return to the McLaren garage for a drink. Hamilton Snr had already expressed his displeasure with the booing ranks of Brazilians, claiming the Massa supporters "should be sportspeople". After regaining his composure, and a long and tearful embrace with his father, Lewis Hamilton recalled the sheer drama of the decisive final lap of the 2008 season. "He (Vettel) got past me and I was told I had to get in front of him, and I couldn't believe it. "I was trying my hardest to get to Vettel but he was just as quick as me, if not a little bit quicker. "Then at the last corner I managed to get past Glock and I'm telling you it was just amazing. It was one of the toughest races of my life, if not the toughest," said the new world champion.

As if the protagonists' emotion was not enough, a physical scuffle broke out among the clamouring ranks of press and camera men, as they elbowed for position at the back of the McLaren garage.

"Source: NewsOnF1.net"

13 Oct 2008. While the two championship protagonists made a mess of the 67-lap Japanese Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso steered clear of trouble to take his 21st career win from Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen. While it was a tremendous drive from Alonso once again, the race will be remembered for the lap one antics of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.

Hamilton made a poor start from the pole position and vigorously chopped across team-mate Heikki Kovalainen on the long run to the first turn with Kimi Raikkonen on the outside. Hamilton missed his braking point as he looked to regain lost ground to Raikkonen and ran wide forcing Finn to the outside of the circuit. This allowed Kubica and Alonso through to take the lead.

Having dropped down the order Hamilton battled hard with Massa for fifth position, taking the position into turn ten. The Brazilian ran wide at the tight turn 11 and launched his F2008 across the chicane before making contact with the McLaren. Massa continued but Hamilton had been tipped into a spin and dropped to the rear of the field.

Massa would get a drive through penalty for the incident while the championship leader would also get a penalty for running wide and compromising Raikkonen (who had seized the lead off the line) at the start of the race. Both Hamilton and Massa did not have their finest of days.

"Source: en.f1-live.com"

28 Ago 2008. Ferrari′s Felipe Massa celebrated his 100th Grand Prix and made up for his late-race disappointment in Hungary by dominating Sunday′s European Grand Prix at Valencia from start to finish.

However, his victory was only confirmed once stewards had investigated his second pit stop on lap 37, in which he was deemed to have been released unsafely into the path of Force India′s Adrian Sutil. It resulted in a reprimand for the Brazilian and a hefty 10,000 euros fine.

It became clear almost immediately that McLaren and Lewis Hamilton would not be able to challenge the Ferrari this time, but he boosted his world championship points lead to 70 with a solid second-place finish, 5.6 seconds in arrears. Robert Kubica failed to get by Hamilton′s McLaren at the start, but brought his BMW Sauber home third ahead of Heikki Kovalainen′s McLaren, Jarno Trulli′s Toyota and Sebastian Vettel, who continued Toro Rosso′s strong practice form with a good sixth place.

In a race remarkable for the dearth of serious overtaking, two incidents stood out: the first came on the 43rd lap when Kimi Raikkonen was released from his pit stop before the refuelling hose had been detached from his F2008. A mechanic was struck by the red car′s rear wing in the melee, and as he was being stretchered to the medical centre, the second incident occurred when Raikkonen′s engine apparently exploded as he went into his 46th lap.

That leaves Massa back in second place in the title chase with 64 points, while Kubica is back in the hunt, on Raikkonen′s tail, with 55 points to the Finn′s 57.

The final points went to Toyota′s Timo Glock and Williams′ Nico Rosberg, who led home BMW Sauber′s Nick Heidfeld, Toro Rosso′s Sebastien Bourdais and Renault′s Nelson Piquet, with Red Bull′s Mark Webber, Honda′s Jenson Button, Force India′s Giancarlo Fisichella, William′s Kazuki Nakajima, Honda′s Rubens Barrichello and Red Bull′s David Coulthard a lap down.

Nakajima was not popular with the Spanish fans after colliding with local hero Fernando Alonso′s Renault on the opening lap and wiping off its rear wing. To the intense chagrin of the crowd, the Spaniard′s car was too badly damaged to continue.

Besides Raikkonen, the only other non-finisher was Sutil, who crashed on lap 42.

"Source: formula1.com"

21 Jul 2008. McLaren boss Ron Dennis rejected any suggestion Heikki Kovalainen was the victim of team orders during Sunday's German grand prix.

As Hockenheim winner and championship leader Lewis Hamilton made his way back to the front following the mid-race safety car, his Finnish teammate Kovalainen - now a full 30 points behind in the drivers' standings - seemed to pull aside and let his British colleague past. Hamilton, 23, and Dennis thanked the 26-year-old for his cooperation, but some sections of the German crowd registered their displeasure by whistling, resurrecting memories of Austria in 2002, when Ferrari's Jean Todt famously required Rubens Barrichello to "let Michael (Schumacher) pass for the championship".

Dennis denied Kovalainen was ordered to cede, which would be a breach of the post-2002 rules. "The only thing we do is advise our drivers of the respective pace of the other driver," he said. "They ultimately call it. "Lewis was nearly one second quicker and when he was told Lewis was quicker he just let him past. It was a tremendous sporting gesture," Dennis added. Referring to Kovalainen, he continued: "He knew that was the only way because the longer he would have held up Lewis the more difficult it would have been for him to have regained the lead. It's what being in a racing team is about. "True teammates do these things because that's the way they are," said Ron Dennis.

"Source: en.f1-live.com"

07 Jul 2008. Lewis Hamilton has hailed his phenomenal victory in Sunday's British GP as "by far the best" he's ever had.

While some of his rivals faltered and came up short in the wet after opting not to change their tyres, McLaren and their star driver held their collective nerve.

To a standing ovation from a sold-out Silverstone crowd, Hamilton took the chequered flag a full minute ahead of second placed Nick Heidfeld, and in doing so moved into joint first in the Drivers' Standings.

"It is by far the best victory I've ever had," said the 23-year-old. "The conditions were bad and as I was driving I thought, 'If I win this, it will be the best race I've ever done'. "On my last lap, I could see the crowd starting to rise to their feet, and I was just praying, praying, praying I could get the car round." The Brit paid tribute to his team and his family. "The team did a fantastic job but I would like to dedicate this win to my family," he said. "We've had some struggles over the past few weeks, it's been tough. But my family is always there for me." Hamilton, who becomes the first Englishman to win the British Grand Prix since Johnny Herbert in 1995, added: "This morning, I wasn't feeling great. "It wasn't until I got to the track and I saw family, friends and fans, and I started to get energy, so I have to say thanks to all of them."

"Source: Planetf1.com"

03 Jun 2008. The Renault F1 driver, who continues to face speculation about his job security, overcame early overcast conditions to shine along with the sun during the afternoon session in Barcelona.

"Once again, we completed the work that we had planned without any problems, and we learnt a lot of things," Piquet said. "We continued with the programme we started yesterday by putting some new things on the car that the team hope to run in the coming races. "I also had the chance to do some qualifying simulations in the afternoon, which went well. It's nice to be top of the times but, as this is only testing, we have to treat these times with caution." Piquet remained in the R28 for a second day of running as he completed the team's final preparations for its 'home' event, the French Grand Prix, at Magny-Cours next weekend. With good reliability, Renault was able to continue with its aero evaluations and suspension set-up work, and also took the opportunity to complete some qualifying simulation in the afternoon.

Pedro de la Rosa was second quickest on the day, as McLaren wrapped up its Barcelona preparations by signing off new technical and aerodynamic components. As with Renault, there were no major issues.

Ferrari was third, keeping tabs on its great rival with Luca Badoer at the wheel, but Canadian GP winner BMW Sauber could only manage sixth best, with Nick Heidfeld lining up behind both Mark Webber and a more confident Timo Glock.

Heidfeld was testing solutions designed to make the F1.08 more suitable to his personal driving style after being out-gunned by Montreal winner Robert Kubica in recent races, but also evaluated different set-up options.

The team reported that it had made 'considerable progress', and revealed that that had allowed it to get Heidfeld to reconfirm Kubica's earlier testing results regarding the general set-up. Webber, meanwhile, took over in the cockpit of the lone RB4 for the last day of testing, working through a programme that continued the aero and mechanical evaluations initiated by official test driver Sebastien Buemi and David Coulthard.

Toyota concluded its three-day test with Glock continuing his schedule, which began on Friday, testing both aerodynamic and mechanical developments on the TF108. The German reported that he was satisfied with an uninterrupted day's running, despite rain threatening much but delivering little. "Following on from our strong result in Montreal, it has been a good two days of testing," Glock said. "We have been able to evaluate some braking and aerodynamic work, as well as some mechanical changes, in preparation for Magny-Cours. The changes we made to the car were positive and I was able to gather more data today in addition to what we learned yesterday." It was not all good news for Toyota, however, as, with the end in sight, Glock suffered an engine issue on the engine.

Rubens Barrichello took the seventh spot for Honda, completing his second day behind the wheel of the RA108 after taking over from surprise returnee Anthony Davidson. The Brazilian' schedule for the morning session saw him continue the car's chassis set-up programme, which he maintained into the afternoon, along with a suspension evaluation. "We had a good two days in Barcelona this week and were able to cover a lot of mileage," Barrichello said. "Without any major new test items, we focused on set-up work and I'm happy with the progress that we made. We were able to improve the car mechanically, which gives me a good feeling going into the French Grand Prix next weekend."

Nico Hulkenberg took the opportunity to get some rare running with the Williams team, edging fellow German Sebastian Vettel into the final spot on the timesheets. Vettel replaced regular team-mate Sebastien Bourdais in the cockpit of the STR3, but followed the same programme as the Frenchman on the last day of what was a two-day test. The main item on the agenda was a completely new aero package and, like yesterday, the team worked through a series of evaluations designed to increase its understanding of how it works and the effect it has on the car's handling.

Force India was not present at the test, but will renew its battle with the nine teams that were at Magny-Cours from Friday. All ten teams are expected run at the next test, scheduled for Silverstone in the run-up to the British GP.

"Source: Crash.net / Eurosport "