Team bosses want Canada back on the Formula One calendar
Formula One team bosses are set to discuss ways of getting the Canadian Grand Prix reinstated for next season. The race had been scheduled on the original 2009 calendar, but was controversially scrapped earlier this week. It seems likely that Bernie Ecclestone has made the decision on economic grounds, but the F1 teams seem just as disgruntled with the decision as the Candian Grand Prix’s many fans.
“I don’t think it is a short-term problem, but it is a problem that does need to be addressed,” Honda CEO Nick Fry told Autosport. “We are a global series and not to be performing in one of the major continents is a serious problem - even more so because it is a continent that is very important for the motor manufacturers who are involved in F1.
Martin Brundle has escaped penalty for asked Wee Bernie Ecclestone at the Canadian GP what he thought about the “pikeys putting tarmac down at turn 10″.
The watchdog Equality and Human Rights Commission condemned Brundle’s use of the word, and a spokesman for the British F1 broadcaster apologised for the slip. Despite 36 complaints to ITV and Ofcom, the TV watchdog accepted the explanation that Brundle did not intend the use of the word to cause offence. Quite right too. We weren’t offended, but then we love pikeys.
After missing the recent Hungarian GP while on his traditional mid-season break, Brundle will be back in the F1 paddock at Valencia for the European GP in a fortnight’s time.
Heidfeld strikes us as the quiet man of F1, but he revealed a darker, more angry side in a recent interview on the eve of the Canadian GP with ITV’s walking bangle shop, Louise Goodman. When asked what makes him swear, he replied:
“I do it every morning when I come into the track here in Montreal. There is a bit where you are made to stop because they let all the pedestrians pass. There are thousands of them and it takes ages. Each year it’s the same and each year I think ‘why don’t they just build a f***ing bridge?’ I swear about it each day, each year that I come here.”
Perhaps Quick Nick channeled his rage and used it to help him drive faster in Canada (he finished second)?
Kimi Raikkonen has questioned Lewis Hamilton’s view of their accident in Canada.
The Finn said: “I can’t believe somebody can hit you when you are standing in front of a red light and side by side with another car.
“I can’t believe he did not see the red light, and more than that, the two stationary cars. He knows there was a red light. Accidents happen, but not with two cars that have stopped.
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (DNF)
Could do nothing about the incident that led to his retirement, so we won’t mark him down. Until the safety car, Kimi was setting fastest laps and looking like he could threaten Lewis Hamilton. 7/10
Felipe Massa, Ferrari (5th)
An up-and-down weekend for the Brazilian, but he’ll be happy to make a small gain on Hamilton and his team-mate. Qualified poorly, but not to blame when Ferrari forced him to pit twice within two laps. Put a stunning overtaking move on Rubens Barrichello and Heikki Kovalainen. 6
1. Robert Kubica His maiden F1 win had been coming all season, although we doubt he’d have beaten either Raikkonen or Hamilton in a straight fight. But the handful of “on-it” laps when he increased his lead over team-mate Nick Heidfeld to more than 20 seconds - a gap that enabled the Pole to make his second pit-stop without losing the lead - were blistering. He now leads the championship, and if all around him continue to lose their heads, he could even win it.
2. Nick Heidfeld As Martin Brundle pointed out during ITV’s coverage, Heidfeld appeared to be pissed off with second place, because BMW had been threatening to win for ages; when they did, it was Kubica who reaped the reward, not him. Still, second place was a welcome return to form for the under-pressure German.
