Video: 458 Spider unveiled by F1 drivers Alonso and Massa at the Japan Premiere

Over 350 passionate clients, Ferrari tifosi and collectors participated in yesterday's charity auction held at Zojoji, the main temple of the Jodo-Buddhists, which makes for a spectacular sight at the foot of the Tokyo Tower



Source: ferrariworld

Vettel sleeps after second world title win

A good night’s sleep was among one of Sebastian Vettel’s priorities after becoming the youngest ever double world champion.

Following a paddock party and then another involving karaoke until 5am on Monday morning, the Red Bull driver headed straight to Yokohama for a sponsor and media engagement.

It was there that, according to Abendblatt newspaper, the 24-year-old said: “My voice is a bit ruined now!

“After a long night I want to let the whole thing sink in a bit, get some sleep and then be ready for Korea.”

Indeed, any plans for more than a single night of partying has had to wait for now, with Vettel scheduled to practice in Korea in less than three days.

“We have celebrated a little,” he is quoted by rds.ca, “but not too much because this week we are in Korea.”

Vettel denied Bild newspaper’s claim that he seemed “almost sad” as he came to realise his achievements in the Suzuka paddock late on Sunday.

“I was not sad,” he insists. “I can be just as satisfied with a second or a fourth place but it’s clear that we did not have a perfect race. That’s what we strive for.

“It is also difficult for me to switch from the extreme tension of a race to realise straight away that you are world champion.

“Now it’s time for some rest, particularly some sleep, and then to understand it all. Sounds spectacular, I know.”

And the next goal will be to repeat it all in 2012.

“We want to keep going. It’s addictive. Nothing else in my life gives me as much satisfaction,” said Vettel.

Source: YallaF1

The Prancing Horse steps up its solidarity with Japan

Tokyo, 10 October – Around the Japanese Grand Prix weekend there were many initiatives which involved the Prancing Horse, showing support for the victims of the earthquake that hit Japan back in March. On Saturday in Suzuka the team hosted a family that had lost everything because of the quake and tomorrow, Ferrari Japan, at the Japanese launch of the 458 Spider, will put up for auction the nose of a 150° Italia used in the Australian Grand Prix, which bore the Japanese flag and the message “Forza Giappone.”

The event takes place in Tokyo’s Zojoji temple, the most important Buddhist sanctuary in the country and in attendance will be Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso: the two Scuderia drivers are spending a few days in the Japanese capital, before heading off for Yeongam and the next round which gets underway this coming Friday.

Stefano Domenicali, on the other hand, has already left Japan and is returning to Italy. However, the Ferrari Team Principal managed to find the time to launch a photo exhibition called “Rossoxrosso” at Tokyo’s Uraku hotel, which was organised by Japanese journalist Masami Yamaguchi, with the backing of the Department of Asian and Mediterranean African Studies of the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, with contributions from Ercole Colombo. The photos are up for auction with the proceeds going to the victims of the earthquake and can be seen at www.rossoxrosso.com.

Domenicali arrives tonight in Maranello, where he will meet up with Technical Director Pat Fry, as they both tackle a couple of days work on the design of the 2012 car before jumping on a plane once more, this time heading for Korea.

Source: Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel praised his trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski. The Finn was touched by the praising words

- It's Sebastian who is there behind the steering wheel and drives on the track, not me. Of course his comments feel good because we have been working together, Pärmäkoski told Iltalehti.

According to Pärmäkoski Vettel and the team will not have any big party in Japan.

- I'm sure that we will celebrate it a little but the bigger party is later on. I guess that karaoke will be on the list in honor of the championship because Japan is the home of karaoke. I'm quite sure that the song "Bensaa suonissa" (gas in the veins) will be sung if we only can find it.

Seb said in Finnish to MTV3:

- Terveiset perhe Pärmäkoski. Kiitos paljon, Vettel said in Finnish. (greetings to family Pärmäkoski. Thank you very much)

Source: MTV3 - Iltalehti
Courtesy: Nicole

Alonso's Blog: A wet welcome to Suzuka

I arrived in Japan this morning and I found rain waiting to greet me this afternoon when I got to the track at Suzuka. My first thought was, “better today than Saturday or Sunday,” because this year, a wet track has not really brought us much luck. I’m thinking particularly of Canada, where we really looked to have everything required to take the win but in the end, it turned out to be our only no-score of the season so far. The forecast for the week is reasonably good, at least for the first few days, while on Sunday, the threat of rain is slightly higher. In fact, you can never be too sure what to expect here: for example last year, we had to run qualifying on Sunday morning as there had been a storm the previous day which meant the track was unusable.

I went back home after the Singapore Grand Prix. Now we have these two back-to-back races in the Far East, followed by Formula 1’s debut in India, so with that in mind, I felt it was best to relax a bit with the family before the final rush of the season. Even if it’s true we are no longer even mathematically in the hunt for the Drivers’ title, there are still plenty of reasons to retain our motivation to tackle these last five races with the right attitude. First of all there’s second place in the Drivers’ table. Given how the season has gone so far, with Vettel totally dominant, failing to get on the podium only once, being runner-up would really be a great result for me and for the team. There are four of us in the running, as I am up against Webber and the two McLaren guys and I reckon we will have to wait until Interlagos to find out who it will go to.

Clearly, if one looks at the way recent races have gone, it will definitely not be easy, as my closest rivals seem to have that little bit extra in terms of car performance, but that does not mean it’s a lost cause. We know we have to do everything perfectly if we want to reach our goal and we will be trying right to the very end. Then, there’s still second place in the Constructors’ championship, but this is a much harder target, because there’s a significant gap to McLaren, but it’s not impossible. In the end, myself and all the team just want to end a season that did not go the way we wanted in the best way possible. Taking at least one win would be the maximum, while the important thing is to always be in the fight for the podium places.

I’ve won the Japanese Grand Prix twice; once at Fuji and once here at Suzuka, the latter being the best of the two, but I’m sure no one in my current team would agree with that. I can understand that, because I can appreciate how disappointed they must have been when Michael had to retire while leading ahead of me. It’s always bad to see a car stop with a failure. In fact, the same thing happened to me a few weeks earlier in Monza: Formula 1 can be a cruel sport at times.

After Sunday’s race I will go to Tokyo, a city I like a lot. Along with Felipe, I will take part in an event organised by Ferrari Japan for the launch of the 458 Spider. We will also be auctioning a nose section off a 150º Italia used in the Australian Grand Prix, the one that carried a message of support for victims of the earthquake that hit this country a few weeks before that race. I know Ferrari Japan is involved in various initiatives aimed at gathering funds to build a school at Ishinomaki, one of the areas most badly affected. On Saturday at the circuit, we will meet some kids from that city, so it will be nice to be able to do something significant for them.

Source: Ferrari.com

Massa's Blog: What passion in Japan!

Like I said last week, the Singapore Grand Prix is already yesterday’s news and there are no more reasons to talk about a weekend that was far from positive for me. It’s better to concentrate on the next race weekend, Japan, hoping that it starts well and ends without any unpleasant surprises.

Just one more thing before I finally turn the page: I’ve been told that there was a bit of a storm over a phrase that my race engineer said during the race. Apart from the fact that I don’t recall what Rob said, I don’t think there’s any value in stirring up trouble now and trying to link this with the subsequent contact with

Hamilton: they are two separate moments and they have nothing to do with each other. I’m sure that Lewis and I will find a way to clear this up and put a lid on this story, as is only correct between two drivers. What happens on the track should remain on the track.

Suzuka is a track I really like and it is up there with Spa in terms of enjoyment, mainly because there are a lot of high speed corners which are very challenging and enjoyable when you get it right. There’s a real mix, as there are also some slow corners in the middle section and the Esses after the first corner, where you need a car to change direction very quickly and where you can make up or lose a lot of time. In the second sector you have the slow hairpin and then Spoon which is very interesting. Everyone talks about the 130R, but to be honest since they altered it on safety grounds it has become a bit like Eau Rouge at Spa, because in a Formula 1 car it is now almost a straight. 2006 was a very good year for me at Suzuka, where I qualified on pole position and finished second: doing that again this coming weekend would be nice, but we have to be realistic about the fact we will be facing the usual tough opponents. As to Ferrari’s chances, we must wait and see until we actually go out on track, because this season we have sometimes been strong on tracks where we had not expected to be competitive and sometimes it was the opposite. By the end of Friday free practice, we should begin to get an idea of our Japanese form. I hope we can be able to fight for the top places, even if, at this point of the season, there is not much more to come in the way of updates in terms of aerodynamics and other developments. While all the drivers like Suzuka, it has often been frustrating to race there, as overtaking is very difficult, but this year with the DRS, KERS and the influence of the Pirelli tyres, I expect that situation to change. I believe the plan is to have two DRS zones which will be a big help.

I am happy to be going to Japan: I have heard that some of the MotoGP riders wanted to boycott their Japanese GP, which takes place at a circuit which is nearer to the Fukushima nuclear plant, but we need to consider that Suzuka is in a completely different part of the country. I have no concerns about going and I think it is good that Formula 1 is going to put on a show in a country that really appreciates our sport. I always love being in Japan and at the track, I will be there to do my job, but I am also hoping to see the people smiling and enjoying themselves. The Japanese fans are among the best in the world: on a Thursday when there is no on-track action, even if it is raining, they will sit in the grandstands to see what is going on in pit lane. You can feel the love they have for the sport and I am looking forward to being there together with them.

At this time of year, I begin to think of the karting event we organise in Florianapolis, Brazil in December and it’s great that many F1 drivers have signed up to take part this year. Most of the organisation is done by my father and brother and another colleague, but I also get involved, inviting people along. It started out as fun and has become a very big event, growing every year. Why do Formula 1 drivers want to spend the first weekend after the season driving a kart? Given that you drive on a small track, the speed is relatively very high, therefore it has a lot in common with F1. It is also an opportunity to race with completely equal equipment, as every driver gets the same brand new chassis and engine and you draw lots for which engine you get for the first race and then even in between the races.

After attending an event for our primary sponsor Philip Morris on Friday in Belgrade, I left for Japan on Monday, spending a few days in Tokyo, which is always a great place to visit and then on to Suzuka very early on Thursday morning, for the first of five remaining chances to end the year with some good results.

Source: Ferrari.com

Video: F1 drivers a message of support to Japan

They say:

Everybody, let's join hands
Everybody, have courage
Everybody, get hopes

Source: YouTube
Courtesy: Yukari

Button: Japan crisis puts F1 into perspective

Jenson Button endured an agonising day in and out of the car on Friday as he anxiously waited to hear from his model girlfriend in Tokyo

The worst earthquake to hit Japan for 140 years, with a magnitude of 8.9 and sparking a massive tsunami, is expected to see a death toll of over 1,000 according to the Kyodo news agency.

It meant Button's final day of testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya ahead of the new Formula One season effectively paled into insignificance for the 2009 World Champion.

As news of the devastation broke, Button found himself unable to contact girlfriend Jessica Michibata, who was doing a photoshoot in Japan's capital city when it was severely rocked by the quake.

It was only much later on in the day that Button finally learned the 26-year-old Japanese/Argentine was safe.

Asked if he had received news from Michibata before he got into the car, Button replied: "No, no. I couldn't speak to the missus, to Jessie, because the phone lines weren't working in Japan.

"So halfway through the day, the only way I could get in touch with her really was through Twitter. I found out that she was okay.

"She then sent me a text saying 'How's testing going?' It was like 'Honey, that's not really the most important thing at the moment. How are you? How are you feeling?'

"She's fine, very shaken. She was in Tokyo doing a photoshoot in a studio underground so it was pretty horrific. I think the whole of Tokyo was pretty shaken.

"Hopefully she's fast asleep now. I'll see her on Sunday evening or Monday in Australia."

Expressing his sympathies to the Japanese people caught up in the tragedy, Button added: "It (the earthquake) is something they are used to, but still it's the biggest they have ever had.

"It's pretty horrendous, devastating and it's bad for Tokyo, but really bad for Sendai. A tsunami there has wiped out most of it.

"It's horrific footage you'll probably see on TV, so my heart and thoughts go out to all of the people affected.

"Motorsport is one thing, but something like that happening is so much bigger than the problems we have here today."

As for those problems with his McLaren, Button spent a considerable amount of time looking on from the sidelines as an engine had to be changed, further underlining the reliability issues plaguing the team.

The 30-year-old eventually finished 13th of the 14 drivers on show, just over 4.3secs adrift of seven-times Champion Michael Schumacher in a beefed-up Mercedes complete with a raft of updates.

Button has yet to complete a single race distance in the new car, which he admits is far from ideal heading into the season, with the opening Australian Grand Prix a fortnight away.

Asked as to what the team could do, Button said: "The best job we possibly can. I don't know what that will be or the result out of it.

"But no, it hasn't been the best winter. A lot of it is down to mileage, so we haven't had time to really set up the car.

"I'm not going to lie. It's not the best way to go into the season, but there is no point getting negative about it and down at this point.

"We've got to pick ourselves up, be positive, sort the problems out and turn up in Melbourne, hopefully with a much more reliable car."

Convinced McLaren will crack the issues that have blighted testing, he added: "We've got to forget about where we stand at the moment compared to the others.

"We have to get our heads down and move this thing forward because this isn't where McLaren should be, or where McLaren will be for long because there's a great bunch of people here.

"We are all working as hard as we can to hopefully resolve some of the issues and turn up in Melbourne with an even stronger package."

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso: “Today, my thoughts are with the victims of the earthquake in Japan”

Montmelò, 11 March – “Confronted with a tragedy like the one that has struck Japan today, Formula 1 and all its problems to do with tyres, wings and engines is way down the list of priorities and today, my thoughts go first and foremost to the victims and their families.” Fernando Alonso was shocked at the reports of the tragedy which hit northern Japan and therefore wanted to give his personal message of support to all those hit by the cataclysm through www.ferrari.com.

Later, once the debriefing was over, it was time to add an evaluation of how the day’s testing had gone. To get a realistic idea of how competitive we are, we will have to wait until Saturday 26 March and qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, but what is now a certainty is that the Ferrari 150° Italia is a strong car. After the 614 kilometres that Felipe Massa racked up yesterday, today Fernando Alonso overtook his team-mate’s total, hitting the 656 mark, bringing the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro total for these first three days at the Catalunya circuit to 1714 kilometres.

“Once again, the car has proved to be very reliable, which is always good news,” commented Fernando at the end of the day. “The updates that the team prepared for this last test have improved the handling of the car and today we managed to do a good simulation of a Grand Prix weekend, with reasonable lap times. Where are we compared to the others? Today, we are all together here in Barcelona…But joking apart, we will only discover the truth in Melbourne. Tyres used, fuel loads, test programmes: there are too many parameters in play and they can make a big difference in terms of outright performance. Right from the start of these tests, we have always concentrated on our own work, trying to improve the car and be reliable: how clever we have been, we will see in two weeks time.”

Source: Ferrari.com

Massa's Blog: Sunday bloody Sunday

Currently, I am back in Brazil, having left Japan on Monday after the race. I know it’s a long way to go home and that I have to return to the Far East quite soon, but jet lag has never bothered me much and it suited my plans to come here, spend time with the family and get on with my training.

I had really been looking forward to returning to Suzuka for the first time since 2006, as I had always enjoyed this circuit and had missed its return to the calendar last year, while I was recovering from my Budapest accident and therefore I was very keen to tackle this race. You can imagine how very disappointing it was come the end of Sunday, when everything that could go wrong did go wrong for me in Suzuka.

It was clear, right from the start that the Red Bulls were going to be practically unbeatable at this circuit, but even so being so many rows behind them was very frustrating for me. The story of qualifying was all about traffic: when I fitted the soft tyres in Q2 I had traffic in the first sector with Jenson coming out of the pits and then I got a lot more of it in the second sector at Spoon corner, where I found myself behind Kubica and all that cost me enough tenths to miss out on getting through to Q3. Of course, when you start from the sixth row of the grid, there is always a chance you are going to get mixed up in some trouble and that is exactly what happened, when I ended up crashing out of the race at the first corner. A very bad Sunday for me.

Even though I am going through a particularly difficult time right now with a lack of results in the last couple of races, I know I can count on the support of the team, who have always been behind me one hundred percent, especially in the difficult times. I was very pleased to read what our president Montezemolo said after the Japanese Grand Prix. Knowing he has faith in me is something I truly appreciate: he has an excellent understanding of the sport and he knows that you can sometimes go through tough times. The fact his support is always there is very important.

My desire to do as well as possible for me and for the team is the same as ever and that has been my approach to the sport ever since I started in Formula 1. You have to maintain a positive approach, especially as the team is locked into a very tough fight with two goals in mind, even if the situation in the Constructors’ championship has become very difficult. Everyone must put in 110% effort in order to succeed and that is definitely what I’ll be doing for the remaining weeks of the season.

Source: Massa's Blog - Ferrari.com

Fernando Alonso accepts 'favourite' tag as F1 title race accelerates

Fernando Alonso has won the past two grands prix and believes Ferrari have got their timing just right in the F1 title race

When Fernando Alonso clambered from his Ferrari at the conclusion of the British grand prix in July, it would have been safe to assume that the Spaniard's mood was not the brightest. Fourteenth-place finishes are not where world championships are won from and that result had left him fifth in the standings, 47 points off the pace. Yet Alonso felt a sense of optimism, and not simply because Spain were playing in the World Cup final that evening.

"After Silverstone," Alonso said here after being asked when he felt he could fight for the title. "We had made some improvements to the car and it felt good. Before that we had some up and downs, but the car was feeling OK, although not at the level of Red Bull Racing. After Silverstone, knowing it was a difficult weekend for us with the characteristics of the circuit being very good for Red Bull, we were still quite competitive there. With that car I had much more confidence in fighting for the title than before. So after Silverstone I was more optimistic."

A fortnight later in Germany Alonso won for the first time since the season's opening race in Bahrain. The victory at Hockenheim was not without controversy as it was gifted to Alonso after Felipe Massa was clumsily ordered to cede the lead to his team-mate in a blatant breach of the rule banning team orders. The result, however, put the Spaniard right back in the championship reckoning with enough races left to fight for the title. Having also won the last two grands prix, in Italy and Singapore, Alonso lies second, 11 points behind Mark Webber, in the five-way scrap to be crowned the 2010 world champion, with four races to come. To many in the gated community of the Formula One paddock the 29-year-old Spaniard is now favourite to add a third world title to his collection. Does he agree?

"I think if you see the last two races, yes, because you arrive in a good moment," he said. "It seems that you need to keep the momentum now for more races, but we saw this year that people that win two races, or have two or three podiums in a row, then they have some bad results and then they come back good. No one had consistently six or seven races in a good level for different reasons, so we expect there will be difficult moments for us.

"What we need to do is be prepared for those moments, not panicking, and score as many points as possible at every race. We know sometimes it will be a podium, sometimes maybe a fifth position – it is in those moments when we need to be united and not panic."

Of the protagonists Alonso is the only one with the full weight of his team behind him. Despite some mid-season signs to the contrary, most notably at Silverstone, Red Bull are splitting their effort evenly between Webber and Sebastian Vettel, as are McLaren with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. On the other side of the Ferrari garage from Alonso sits the slighted Massa and the pressure is now on the Brazilian to produce the goods in support of his team‑mate.

"I have waited for Felipe with great perseverance in the last four races," said Ferrari's president, Luca di Montezemolo, this week. "I want a strong Massa who will shave points off the rivals. In Singapore he had some bad luck, but he is in good condition to win. Those who race for Ferrari don't race for themselves, but for the Ferrari team colours. One who wants to race for himself will have to face his team."

Di Montezemolo continued: "The decision to focus on Alonso has been proven to be right. He is extremely strong and very close to the team, and has been able to blend in well from day one. It has been a strange season. We won the first race, then we had some problems with the development of the car. The victories at Monza and Singapore have rekindled hope."

The decision to promote Alonso ahead of Massa at Hockenheim cost Ferrari a $100,000 (£63,000) fine and an appearance in front of the World Motor Sport Council, as well as the seeming alienation of the Brazilian a year to the day after his life-threatening accident at the 2009 Hungarian grand prix meeting. Massa has received assurances that from the start of next season he will once again be treated as Alonso's equal; until then he must act as the double world champion's wing man, however reluctantly.

All the teams in title contention are in a constant battle to improve their cars but Ferrari seem to have got the pace of their development just right and now appear to have the strongest all-around package, though on the evidence of today's running here at Suzuka they will struggle to match the pace of the Red Bulls on Sunday having been almost a second off the pace in practice and finishing in fourth and fifth.

The team principal, Stefano Domenicali, has admitted that Ferrari got distracted in focusing too much attention on their F-duct system, but they ran an improved version in Turkey and since then the upgrades have come on stream at a steady rate; the exhaust-blown diffuser appearing in Valencia and a new floor at the last race in Singapore. The team promise that there is more to come.

"The hard part is still ahead of us," Alonso said in a call to arms for his team. "Now it starts getting serious. We will have to experience some pain, and it is time for everyone to give their all without taking a single backward step." He will hope that Massa gets the message.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Interview with Mark Webber after practices at Japanese GP 2010

Source: WeekflyF1

Did Japan change Kimi's mind?

By Oskari Saari

Call me oldfashioned but I still have a few principles in my job. One of them is, unlike some of my colleagues have, not to claim having some 'inside information' when I haven't. I emphasize that the following text is more or less speculation.

After the disclaimer I must immediately ask why Kimi Räikkönen's name jumped up like a blobber again in the F1-speculations?

I disagree with Lauri Hollo who writes in his blog that every statement is twisted and turned into Kimi's possible comeback. Usually this is the case. Not this time. Now it's serious. Räikkönen's manager has admitted having discussions with Renault. Renault on the other hand has confirmed it.

Why now? Didn't Kimi just recently say as straight as one can say without saying: I've seen F1. I believe that Räikkönen didn't go to rally for only one year to begin with. All the side remarks about winning the championship in rally indicated that.

What if he has had enough of it in Japan? Räikkönen has drove off quite many times and the offs have not been under any top speed. Even though he has the talent for rally also, was it enough for Kimi? Did Räikkönen think that his pace will never be fast enough to stay up with Loeb, Latvala and Hirvonen?

Another theory: What if the co-driver has had enough?

Did the experienced co-driver Kaj Lindström get bored with getting a sore neck in almost every rally? Maybe with Kaitsu's age the job isn't that important anymore. What if he has got some remarks from his home frontier? Don't imagine even for a moment that human matters wouldn't influence in these things.

The third and most interesting theory: Did Red Bull get enough?

Helmut Marko's comments about Red Bull not getting market-wise what they wanted from Räikkönen's rally project would indicate that. What does it mean?

- If there is some sporting success then the market value is also in place. These things go hand in hand, Marko commented.

One might interpret the comment so that Red Bull doesn't want to put money in Kimi's team seat. In rally.

I predict that the next speculation will be Kimi's comeback to F1 especially to Red Bull. In F1 Kimi is a certain successor if the car is even nearly to his liking.

I see Räikkönen's comeback to F1 even more probable than a week ago. I hope Kimi returns. I still don't fully believe in it.

What about the other Finn's continuance who has also has been under Renault-speculation? I guess that Heikki Kovalainen's continuance in Lotus will be announced in Singapore. And it isn't necessarily any bad option in the long run.

At the moment there are two Finns applying for Renault's seat. That is a fact, no matter what Hollo says. On the other hand my wife is from Turku so maybe my perspective is twisted.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Nicole