Few things get us more excited than amateur footage of rumoured supercars. Audi’s gorgeous R8, as driven by a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, currently boasts a V8 engine, but it’s a poorly kept secret that a more powerful, V10 model is on the way.
This clip appears to show one of the V10 prototypes being backed out of a suburban drive in Germany, and then roaring into the distance with a suitably deep growl from the engine - its one of the few cars that looks really good in white. We expect that the V10 R8 will be officially unveiled later this year; it should be available to buy in the UK in the second quarter of 2009.
Ex-Super Aguri driver needs new home. Can Renault help?
After the collapse of Super Aguri, Takuma Sato is without a team for the remainder of the season. That’s a shame, because Sato is one of the most exciting and enigmatic drivers in F1. Yes, he’s inconsistent, but he can be as fast as anyone, given the right machinery.
Rumours doing the rounds at Istanbul last weekend suggested that Taku might replace Rubens Barrichello at Honda in 2009. It’s a credible rumour, given that Super Aguri were powered by Honda, and also that Sato is, like Honda, Japanese.
Prince Albert and Max Mosley in the same story - it’s our lucky day!
(We mean Prince Albert of Monaco, not the cock ring. Just to clarify.)
Anyway, according to the Daily Mail, Herr Max von Mosley will be present at the race but Monaco’s royal family, the Grimaldis, have made it clear that he is not welcome and that they are “unwilling even to shake hands with him”.
The FIA have reacted to this by giving the role of the FIA’s official representative to deputy president Marco Piccinini, who will even attend the fancy Monaco gala dinner in Mosley’s place. Max, if we were you, we’d stay at home and watch the race on TV.
Frenchman’s 1996 win was one of F1’s biggest shocks
Olivier who? Olivier Panis, that’s who. You might remember him because of his surname, which sounded enough like “penis” to make childish jokes about it.
Starting from 14th on a damp track, Panis - always one of the better drivers of his era in the wet - passed the likes of Martin Brundle, Mika Hakkinen and Johnny Herbert before changing onto slicks at the right time. He overtook Eddie Irvine at the famous Lowes hairpin and was running in third behind Damon Hill’s Williams and Jean Alesi’s Benetton, before both cars were forced to retire.
Panis’ Ligier was one of only four cars to finish the incident-packed race; David Coulthard (second), Johnny Herbert (third), and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (fourth) were the other three (good pub quiz knowledge, that). It was the first French victory in a French car at Monaco in 66 years. Panis did nothing again that season (fifth at Hungary was his second-best finish in 1996) and he remains one of F1’s most famous one-win wonders.
Former world champion tells Renault to use McLaren’s ideas, according to Spanish media
If you believe Spanish paper Marca then Fernando Alonso has been telling Renault about some of the technical “ideas” he picked up in his one season at McLaren. Bear in mind that Marca does like to run all sorts of nonsense about Fernando Alonso, purely because he sells copies, but still, this is a credible story.
It’s important to state that there is nothing illegal in Alonso passing on gained knowledge that he has in his head, but it might help explain the dramatic recent improvement in Renault’s R28 car.
McLaren ace to wear diamond-studded helmet in Monte Carlo
Ah, you have to love the vulgar excesses of F1, especially when it comes to Monaco, the most vulgar and excessive weekend on the calendar.
As usual, McLaren’s two drivers will wear diamond-encrusted helmets at the Monaco Grand Prix, which takes place next Sunday. Here’s Little Lewis Hamilton receiving his special helmet from model Gabriela Assis (she puts the “ass” into Assis). Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen’s autographs are spelt out on the top of their crash lids with hundreds of Steinmetz gems. Classy? Not really. More QVC, in our opinion.
Kimi Raikkonen was quickest on the second day of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet, France. The reigning world champion’s best lap - he completed 102 - was less than a tenth of a second faster than that of second-place man, Heikki Kovalainen. The BMW Sauber of Bobby Kubica was third-fastest. Full timesheet from the day coming up next…
Sir Paul McCartney’s brand-new Lexus LS600hL was flown to the UK from Korea (!), by Lexus, in a move that enlarged Macca’s carbon footprint by about 1000%. The hybrid car, which was gifted by Lexus to the most annoying member of The Beatles, made the 7,000-mile trip via Korean Air. This resulted in a carbon footprint of 38,050kg, as opposed to just 397kg if transported by boat. According to Jalopnik, “The director of CO2Balance.com claimed the trip was the equivalent of the car driving around the earth six times.”
