McLaren excluded from constructors' championship

And here the verdict

The World Motor Sport Council has decided McLaren Formula One Team will be excluded from the 2007 constructors' championship. The team's drivers will be able to continue their battle for the drivers' championship though. The team was furthermore fined for 100 million US dollar.

Earlier reports from the hearing in Paris said that the team might even be excluded from the 2007 championship, but the final decision made by the World Motor Sport Council said the team will no longer receiver any points for the constructors' championship. The team will furthermore receive an extraordinary of 100 million US dollar.

McLaren could be excluded from 2007 F1 championship

The McLaren Formula One team could face expulsion from the 2007 Formula One world championship. The Woking based team now awaits the outcome of the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris.

In Paris the World Motor Sport Council started its hearing at 10.00am at the FIA headquarters. It was expected the hearing would end around 15.00 but already around lunchtime it became clear the hearing would take longer.

When the WMSC believes McLaren is found guilty in the spy saga the team will most likely be excluded from the 2007 Formula 1 season.

Massa leads Ferrari one-two

Felipe Massa took a dominant fifth career win in the Turkish Grand Prix as he led home a Ferrari one-two with Kimi Raikkonen second. Fernando Alonso recovered from a poor start to take third place while a puncture relegated championship leader Lewis Hamilton to fifth.

The heat was definitely on at Istanbul Park as the four title contenders lined up in the first four places on the grid. Ferrari had the better start from the clean start of the grid, Massa keeping the lead as Raikkonen passed Hamilton on the run down to the first corner. McLaren's starting woe was compounded when both BMWs beat Alonso into the first corner.

While qualifying promised so much, the first ten laps were anticlimactic as Massa and Raikkonen led and built a three-second lead over Hamilton. Kubica and Heidfeld ran their BMWs steadily fourth and fifth frustrating Fernando Alonso in sixth and costing him a second a lap on the Ferraris.

Alonso's frustration eased slightly on lap 12 when Kubica pitted from fourth but at the front Massa and Raikkonen were exchanging fastest laps as they squeezed the gap to Hamilton up to four seconds. Alonso had to wait until lap 17 for Heidfeld to pit and release him. The Spaniard was due in on the next lap and put in personal best times in the first two sectors of his in-lap, making enough time to rejoin ahead of the BMW.

In the meantime both Ferraris pitted, Raikkonen, then Massa - the Brazilian getting baulked by Kovalainen - the temporary race leader - as he rejoined the race. Of all the front runners Hamilton was the last man to pit, staying out until lap 20.

After the first round of pit stops Massa retained the lead from Raikkonen, Hamilton, Alonso, Heidfeld, Kovalainen and Kubica. And that's the way it stayed until the second round of pit stops when Kimi Raikonen had closed to within half-a-second of Felipe Massa's rear wing.

Raikkonen was the first to blink, pitting from second place on lap 41, Massa from the lead on lap 42 and the Ferrari pair resumed the status quo - the Brazilian leading the Finn.

The race that promised so much drama, delivered a shocking moment on lap 43 when Lewis Hamilton's front-right tyre punctured in the mid-sector. The championship leader coaxed his car back to the pit lane but in that time, was passed by Alonso who pitted ahead of him. McLaren frantically replaced the tyres and refuelled Hamilton's car and sent him back on his way, rejoining the race in fifth, behind Alonso and Heidfeld.

Felipe Massa cruised home to take his fifth career victory ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso third. Nick Heidfeld held onto fourth and Lewis Hamilton found just enough to save fifth place from Heikki Kovalainen by one second.

Nico Rosberg drove another strong afternoon to claim two more points for Williams and Robert Kubica salvaging one final point for BMW after his early first pit stop.

Massa edges Hamilton to take pole

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start on pole in Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

The Brazilian edged a tight qualifying session ahead of Briton Hamilton, with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in third and McLaren's Fernando Alonso in fourth.

Massa had appeared out of the running but set a lap of one minute, 27.329 seconds in the dying moments for the eighth pole position of his career.

The time denied Hamilton, who had just set a lap of 1:27.373.

The Turkish Grand Prix is the first race since Hungary, which saw Hamilton and Alonso publicly fall out after a controversial qualifying session.

The two drivers claim to have patched up their differences during the three-week break and they had their own pits boxes and crews in Istanbul to avoid any conflict.

"It was easier to have two pit crews, and I think it worked quite well," said Hamilton.

The 22-year-old leads the championship by seven points from Alonso and was happy was his performance, saying: "I'm quite pleased with that.

"I kept on pushing, losing a bit of time in the last corner, which is a tricky corner. But it's good for us and good for the team.

"The car is good. The team have been pushing to gain another step. We've a good package, which stands us in good stead to have a fight with the Ferraris.

"Felipe got me there in the end, but I gave it everything. It was a big push and I really had to hang it out. It just wasn't quite enough, but it was a good session for me."

It was a much-improved display from Massa, who could only qualify 14th in Hungary after a series of problems.

"It was very tough, very tight," said the 26-year-old Brazilian, who won in Turkey last year. "It was a big fight between all four drivers.

"But I put in a great lap and I am very proud, especially after such a bad result in Hungary. We deserved it."

Spaniard Alonso switched to hard tyres for his final attempt during the top-10 shoot out but he struggled for pace and had to settle for fourth.

BMW Sauber drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were fifth and sixth respectively.

Briton Anthony Davidson qualified in 11th after narrowly missing out on a top-10 spot for the first time this season.

The Super Aguri driver will start from 11th, equalling his best position since the season-opening race in Australia.

David Coulthard was 13th, Jenson Button 15th, while Ralf Schumacher's miserable season continued as he failed to make it out of the first session.

The German Toyota driver will start Sunday's race in 18th position.

Final qualifying result:
1. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1 min 27.329 secs
2. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:27.373
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:27.546
4. Fernando Alonso (Sp) McLaren 1:27.574
5. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:27.722
6. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:28.037
7. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:28.491
8. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams - Toyota 1:28.501
9. Jarno Trulli (It) Toyota 1:28.740
10. Giancarlo Fisichella (It) Renault 1:29.322
11. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri - Honda 1:28.002
12. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull - Renault 1:28.013
13. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull - Renault 1:28.100
14. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:28.188
15. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:28.220
16. Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams - Toyota 1:28.390
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (It) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:28.798
18. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:28.809
19. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri - Honda 1:28.953
20. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:29.408
21. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker - Ferrari 1:29.861
22. Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker - Ferrari 1:31.479

F1: Hamilton wins in Hungary

Lewis Hamilton brings it home for a flag-to-podium victory ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, taking the acclaim of the crowd with unbridled joy. Raikkonen clocked the fastest lap of the race on lap 70 but to no avail. Fernando Alonso's bid for a podium finish falls just short, with Nick Heidfeld's three-stop strategy baring fruit with third place.

1 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

2 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

3 Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)

4 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)

5 Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)

6 Ralf Schumacher (Toyota)

7 Nico Rosberg (Williams)

Alonso loses five places, McLaren any points

So much for pole. He doesn't look so happy in this picture.

Fernando Alonso has been penalised by the FIA for holding up team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the pits during qualifying and will have to start from sixth in tomorrow's race. Moreover the sport's governing body felt that the team played a substantial part too in sabotaging its own driver's last run and will not be allowed to take any points away from the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The FIA ruled that the Spaniard and McLaren's constructors' points potential deserved to be punished for the pit-stop fracas after listening to the radio transmissions and video evidence from McLaren during the incident.

The FIA spent a good few hours evaluating all the evidence and now Lewis Hamilton will be promoted to pole position, for which the 22-year-old was unable to challenge when the hold up prevented him from doing a last final lap. Alonso will now have to start on the third row of the grid alongside Robert Kubica, who starts from seventh. Ralf Schumacher moves up to fifth, Nico Rosberg to fourth, Kimi Raikkonen to third and Nick Heidfeld to second.

F1: Alonso gets pole before Hamilton

Fernando Alonso stole a contraversial pole position from Lewis Hamilton at the Hungaroring this afternoon after he appeared to block his team mate from completing a final flying lap. This allowed the Spaniard to take pole ahead of his team mate and Nick Heidfeld in third.

Under sunny skies and hot conditions the first qualifying session got underway. Lewis Hamilton set the early pace with a 1m19.570s to finish clear of the rest of the field while Button, Barrichello, Sato, Vettel, Sutil and Yamamoto all dropped out.

In the second session Massa suffered a technical problem as he tried to leave the pits and his Ferrari just ground to a halt. Mechanics sprinted down to the stricken car and quickly hauled it back to the garage. The team got the Brazilian back out on track with just three minutes remaining, but something still wasn't right and he couldn't manage better than fourteenth, dropping out with Coulthard, Lovalainen, Wurz, Davidson and Liuzzi.

Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the final pole shoot-out on a 1m19.781s lap but there was quite some drama to come. In the final tyre changes Alonso came in ahead of Hamilton, the British driver waiting behind him. The mechanics lifted Alonso's lollipop, but the reigning champion did not respond. He stood his ground in the pits, holding Hamilton up for several seconds while the McLaren pit wall waved furiously at him.

The net effect was Hamilton could not get out in time to complete another flying lap while Alonso went through to take pole by just over 0.1s. McLaren boss Ron Dennis was furious at the end of the session, collaring Alonso's personal trainer and marching him back to the team's motorhome.

With the fallout to await, Alonso took pole ahead of Hamilton and Heidfeld in third. Kimi Raikkonen couldn't manage better than fourth for Ferrari while Nico Rosberg was a strong fifth for Williams. Ralf Schumacher took sixth ahead of Kubica, Fisichella, Trulli and Webber.

FIA reveals 2008 Formula 1 calendar

The Australian Grand Prix will kick off the 2008 season, contrary to reports in recent weeks that Bahrain would get the nod for the curtain-raiser.

The FIA today unveiled the provisional schedule for next year with new events at Valencia and Singapore included on the calendar as expected, while the US no longer has an event following the failure of a new agreement between Formula One and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Magny Cours remains on the schedule despite expectations earlier in the year that there would be no French event next year, before a return in 2009 at a possible new venue.

Suzuka officials had hoped that it would host the Japanese event next year after losing the race to Fuji this year, but Fuji again is included on the calendar.

2008 Formula One calendar

Mar 16 Australia (Melbourne)
Mar 23 Malaysia (Sepang)
Apr 6 Bahrain (Sakhir)
Apr 27 Spain (Barcelona)
May 11 Turkey (Istanbul)
May 25 Monaco (Monte Carlo)
Jun 8 Canada* (Montreal)
Jun 22 France (Magny Cours)
Jul 6 Britain (Silverstone)
Jul 20 Germany (Hockenheim)
Aug 3 Hungary (Hungaroring)
Aug 24 Europe (Valencia)**
Sep 7 Italy (Monza)
Sep 14 Belgium (Spa Francorchamps)
Sep 28 Singapore**
Oct 12 China (Shanghai)
Oct 19 Japan (Fuji)
Nov 2 Brazil (Interlagos)

* Provisional
** subject to circuit approval

Alonso wins before Massa

Fernando Alonso overtook Felipe Massa in the last four laps to clinch victory in today's chaotic Grand Prix at Nurburgring. Rain played a big part in the fate of today's race with the McLaren driver banging wheels with the Ferrari driver in an exciting finale to the European Grand Prix. Mark Webber claimed third place for Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton Nurburgring crash video

Here is the onboard video from qualifying which stopped the session for 30 minutes. McLaren declared Lewis is fine and waits for FIA clearance to race on Sunday.

Raikkonen takes pole

Kimi Raikkonen managed to take pole position for tomorrow's race at the Nurburgring after this afteroon's qualifying session was stopped following Lewis Hamilton's crash. Fernando Alonso was second, three tenths behind but just ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari

Nürburgring virtual lap

The GP of Europe for F1 will be held on the Nürburgring this weekend. Here is a virtual lap which gives a nice overview of the track. Have your speakers on for the sound as well!

Raikkonen spoils British party

Just in!

Kimi Raikkonen has won the British Grand Prix. Many would have hoped to see Lewis Hamilton win his home Grand Prix but it as the Ferrari driver who dominated Sunday's race. He finished well ahead of McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

The pole of Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton took an emotional pole position for the Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone on Saturday 07.07.07 . He managed to just pip Kimi Raikkonen who lost pole because of a mistake at the last corner. Alonso was third after leading for most part of the session, while Massa was 4th. Kubica surprised again by taking 5th spot. The start and the strategies will be decisive.

F1: Hamilton on pole

It was a scenario many British Formula 1 fans dreamt about last night. Lewis Hamilton took pole position in front of his home crowd and will start Sunday's British Grand Prix from pole position. Hamilton will be joint on the front row by Kimi Raikkonen with right behind them Alonso and Massa.

Raikkonen on a hot lap (Friday)

Ferrari had a very productive day on Friday at Silverstone. Kimi Raikkonen finished half a second clear of his teammate Felipe Massa. Ralf Schumacher showed impressive pace, coming hoe in third. However, Toyota fans should be cautious as Toro Rosso did the same on Friday in France, only to end up towards the end of the grid in qualifying. Hamilton managed fourth fastest time.

Raikkonen and Ferrari top Friday practice

Ferrari may have been beaten to the head of the timesheets this morning, but this afternoon at a blustery Silverstone circuit Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa dominated the second 90-minute practice session.

Raikkonen led the way with a best lap of 1:20.639s, just under half a second clear of Massa. Both drivers had small issues, with Raikkonen in particular understeering off at Copse twice as he put in long runs on worn tyres. Massa also had a grassy moment as he took too much kerbing at Becketts and this put him offline into Chapel. Like Raikkonen, it was fairly insignificant and between them they put in a good number of laps and enjoy a big advantage over their main rival.

Ralf Schumacher was an impressive third fastest in his Toyota with an identical lap time to Lewis Hamilton in the leading McLaren Mercedes. Schumacher was on the pace at the very start of the session and seemed to hit problems with his TF107 after half an hour. After some time out of the car, the German was able to resume and finish his programme.

Hamilton, fastest this morning, will have to be content with fourth overall in his MP4-22, with team-mate Fernando Alonso close behind in sixth position - behind the second Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz recorded the seventh and eighth fastest times respectively for the Williams Toyota team ahead of Mark Webber in his newly liveried Red Bull Renault.
David Coulthard, new contract in pocket, was 14th fastest in the sister RB3.

Anthony Davidson traditionally runs well in Friday practice and today was no exception as he set the tenth best time in his Super Aguri Honda ahead of Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella.

BMW Sauber did not show much pace today but not a great deal should be read into that with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld 13th and 15th. Takuma Sato set the 16th best time in the second Super Aguri ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the Honda. Christian Klien was a surprise call up today as Jenson Button opted to sit out the session due to some back pain. The Honda test driver did a solid job lapping close to the pace of Barrichello as he claimed the 18th best time.

Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi proved closely matched at Toro Rosso as they lapped just a fraction ahead of Christijan Albers in the leading Spyker. Adrian Sutil brought up the bottom of the timesheets as his eventful session ended in the wall at Copse following a high speed spin.

Raikkonen steals French win from Massa

Just in!

Kimi Raikkonen stole victory from Felipe Massa in the French Grand Prix to lead home a dominant Ferrari one-two ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen's second win of the season brings him back into championship contention. Fernando Alonso meanwhile finished seventh, despite pulling off a sequence of thrilling overtaking moves.

Ferrari dominated the start with Massa getting away cleanly in the lead and Raikkonen stealing second place from Lewis Hamilton. Robert Kubica kept fourth ahead of the two Renaults of Fisichella. At the back of the field Davidson clipped Liuzzi sending the pair spinning out of the race at the first corner.

There was action down at the Adelaide hairpin where Trulli drove into the back of Heikki Kovalainen, ending the Toyota driver's race. Kovalainen pitted and resumed at the back of the field. Alonso meanwhile was on a charge and up to eighth - a lap later he muscled past Rosberg for seventh.

Meanwhile at the front Massa was stretching his lead over Raikkonen - on lap seven the difference was three seconds, with Hamilton a further 1.5s adrift. The Ferraris maintained their lead and Alonso remained stuck behind Heidfeld until lap 16 when McLaren pitted both its drivers. Race leader Massa went three laps further before refuelling.

Kimi Raikkonen went three laps further before making his first stop and rejoined just behind his team mate. Alonso meanwhile made light work of former team mate Giancarlo Fisichella, passing him for seventh down the inside of the Adelaide hairpin.

As the Ferrari's extended their lead over Hamilton to ten seconds, Alonso was back to chasing the tail of Heidfeld's BMW. It took him some time, but on lap 33 Alonso decided enough was enough and charged through at the blind, high-speed final chicane to take fifth place.

Hamilton made his second pit stop on lap 37, rejoining alongside Robert Kubica through the high-speed Estoril corner. The Pole kept his nose ahead but Hamilton barged past in the Adelaide hairpin to retake third place. During all the action, Alonso made his second pit stop, amid speculation McLaren may have switched him from a three-stop to a two-stop strategy.

Ferrari looked unbeatable as Massa made his second pit stop on lap 43 and fuelled for the rest of the race. Kimi Raikkonen stayed out two laps further and made it count as he rejoined the race comfortably ahead of his team mate to take the lead and final sprint down to the chequered flag.

Alonso found himself back in seventh, chasing the tail of Fisichella for the second time this afternoon but could do nothing to get past and settled for seventh.

Raikkonen swooped past the chequered flag to take his second win of the season, the eleventh of his F1 career and put himself back in contention for the drivers' championship. Felipe Massa claimed eight points for second place, although he really should have won the race while Hamilton scored yet another podium in third.

Robert Kubica proved he had lost none of his competitiveness after the Canadian Grand Prix crash to take fourth place ahead of the second BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld. Fisichella took sixth place for Renault ahead of Alonso and Jenson Button in eighth, scoring Honda's first point of the season.

Massa muscles to Magny Cours pole

Felipe Massa muscled his Ferrari into pole position for tomorrow's French Grand Prix, beating Lewis Hamilton by just 0.070s in a very close fought qualifying session at Magny Cours. Kimi Raikkonen qualified third ahead of Robert Kubica. Fernando Alonso's hopes were dashed by a suspected gearbox problem.

It was a warmer day at Magny Cours with air temperature at 24 degrees Centigrade and the track 43 degrees, a contrast with yesterday's very cool conditions.

Lewis Hamilton put down an early marker in the first session, but Kimi Raikkonen was less than a tenth off with Massa and Alonso third and fourth - pole position looking like a four-way fight. While the McLarens and Ferraris cruised through the first session Liuzzi, Wurz, Sato, Davidson, Albers and Sutil were knocked out.

In the second session Coulthard's Red Bull developed an electronics problem early on, putting him out of the action along with Ralf Schumacher, Button, Barrichello, Webber and Speed.

Disaster struck Fernando Alonso in the pole position shoot out as the reigning champion pulled into the pits with a gearbox problem after just one lap putting him out of the session and dashing his hopes for the weekend. On track it was a scrap between Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen for pole.

Felipe Massa snatched pole from Hamilton by just 0.070s with Raikkonen third 0.150s further adrift. Kubica made an emphatic return in the BMW Sauber to take fourth ahead of Fisichella, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Trulli and Rosberg.

Alonso was officially classified tenth.

Consistency is the key - Massa

For many, finishing third and securing a podium position is a dream result. When you are coming off back to back wins however the result is rather less satisfactory.

Felipe Massa finished the Monaco Grand Prix in that third position, just over a minute behind race winner and championship rival Fernando Alonso. While the result was not great by Massa's high standards, he was nonetheless pretty happy with the weekend as a whole.

"I am really happy with my personal performance over the weekend," Massa began. "However, we were not so happy with our car performance at this track. If you look at how McLaren started on the first day, we knew it would not be so easy to be in front of them. But we managed to limit the damage and third place is not a disaster, when you look at how close and competitive the championship battle is at the moment."

"But certainly, we cannot be a hundred percent happy with the result, given that our rivals filled the top two places. They have some elements of their package that worked better at this circuit than ours. But my personal opinion and I don't know if it is right, is that it was not just McLaren being impressive in Monaco, it was also Ferrari being weak."

"If you look at the difference between McLaren and Renault in Monaco and compare it to the gap between them in Barcelona at the Spanish Grand Prix, there was not much difference.
In Monte Carlo Renault's pace was similar to ours which shows that something in our package, something related to our team, did not work at this track. What we can be sure of is that this situation will not continue, because our car is better than that, which in itself is further motivation to do well at the next race, where our car should have a good package."

Massa is just five points behind Alonso and Lewis Hamilton and looking at the big picture ahead of the Canadian and US races, feels he is very much still in contention for the title.

"I have won two races and Fernando has done the same and the difference as I said is five points," Massa said. "So consistency is what matters over the rest of the season and that is why it is always important to be on the podium. My worst result this year is a sixth place, which is actually not that bad, but you have to make sure you are always in the top three."

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