1. In fifteen of the last nineteen seasons - including each of the last three - the winner of the opening race of the season has gone on to win the Drivers Championship. Jenson Button is now the favourite and the best price available on him is 3/1 with Boylesports.
2. The winning team at the first Grand Prix of the season have won the Constructors Championship in seven of the last nine years. Brawn GP are still available at 11/5 with Boylesports but Ferrari, who broke this trend last season to triumph, are still favourites. The best price available on the Scuderia is 11/8 with Ladbrokes.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali believes drivers should not be immune from F1’s cost cuts.
In an interview with Autosprint, Domenicali said: “I think in the following months there will be a major revolution, also with the drivers, as far as retainers are concerned.
“Let’s be clear: at a moment when the teams, whether big or small, must reduce costs in a significant way, one could feel like saying you need an ace (driver) to make the difference.
“However, I feel in the current climate the big teams won’t have the ability any more to think of offering certain amounts of money that some drivers get. So discussions can be held on this issue.”
The FIA carried out random anti-doping tests during testing at Jerez last week (In 2005, F1 improved its drugs testing programme to meet World Anti-Doping Agency standards).
On Thursday at the Spanish circuit, Ferrari’s two race drivers, McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Toro Rosso new boy Sebastien Buemi had to report to the FIA transporter to supply urine samples, the Swiss newspaper Blick reported.
Buemi revealed that he was also tested at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, when he was a test driver for Red Bull.
“Some weeks later two physicians arrived at my parents’ house in Augle (Switzerland) at six in the morning and asked me for another sample.”
As far as we know, no F1 driver has ever failed a doping test. In 2002, F3000 driver Tomas Enge tested postitive for cannabis (yeah, that helps you drive faster); the points he was stripped of cost him the F3000 title that year.
Spanish fans desperate for Alonso to leave Renault
In a poll conducted by Spain’s Sport newspaper, an overwhelming 74% of F1 fans voted in favour of Fernando Alonso moving to Ferrari.
We have no doubt that Alonso will end up wearing the red overalls of the Scuderia, but not for another couple of seasons. If you want to make money out of Alonso, bet on him moving to Ferrari in 2011, by which time Kimi Raikkonen or Felipe Massa (possibly both) will no longer have a seat.
In other Renault-related news, Flavio Briatore has announced that he will quit F1 in two years, presumably so he can dedicate more time to his charming WAG. [Guardian]
The Royal Mail is planning to honour Lewis Hamilton’s world title with… you’ve guessed it… a commemorative set of stamps. The stamps will be issued in the new year.
Hamilton wouldn’t be the first F1 star to get his own stamps. Gilles Villeneuve, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher and, most recently, Kimi Raikkonen have all been recognised in a lickable format.
Call us mean-spirited, but isn’t it rather premature to honour Lewis in this way? Wait until he’s won a couple more titles, at least - then he’d deserve such a tribute. There are more deserving subjects. For example, as the Mirror points out, Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen “has been pressurising Royal Mail to issue a set of stamps commemorating British servicemen who died in Iraq”, but to no avail.
Do you think Lewis deserves his own stamps? Leave us a comment or vote below:
Ex-world champion Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that he lacked motivation at times during the 2008 season. We knew it!
After winning two of the first four races, Kimi faded away. He never got to grips with his Ferrari and often gave off the air of a man who had fallen out of love with F1.
In an interview with Finnish broadcaster MTV3, Kimi admitted:
“That is the way it is; if you know you are fighting only for third place then you maybe don’t have the same speed for the whole race as normal.
“If you have no chance to overtake or improve your position, it is definitely not very interesting. When you are driving for the title, naturally things are completely different.”
Is Kimi entitled to take such a negative view, or is he merely being realistic? Given that Ferrari pay him several million pounds every year to drive their car, you might think they were entitled to expect Raikkonen to drive as fast as possible, all of the time.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
“I love this circuit: it’s in this incredible natural arena that is just amazing to race on. And it’s anti-clockwise too - so it presents an additional challenge to the drivers… Everybody’s always happy to finish the season in Brazil - there’s a real party atmosphere in Sao Paulo on the Sunday night and it’s a perfect place to end such a great season.”
Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
“I really like to race at home and I think I race better at home. Do I need to say I’m very motivated? I love this track, I grew up here and I know all its little tricks and secrets.”
