Video: BBC - Brazilian GP - Hamilton explains special Senna tribute helmet in Brazil

Lewis Hamilton explains why he is wearing a specially-designed helmet as a tribute to his hero, the late Ayrton Senna, during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

The helmet will be auctioned after the race in aid of the Ayrton Senna foundation, with Hamilton revealing he will "wear it proudly" in honour of the three-time world champion who Hamilton says was "one of the most significant people in my life growing up".



Source: SixtyBuckss

McLaren's tech guru talks on Räikkönen's communication skills!

Indy Lall, the man who joined McLaren already back in the 1980s, is currently in the Moscow City Racing event with the team in Moscow, Russia. Lall, who worked among other things as Alain Prost's chief mechanic, and currently is the head of McLaren's technical team has worked with several top drivers including Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

The media pressed Lall as to who he feels is the best of the former and present drivers in terms of working with the engineers -- in other words, who has managed analyse the behaviour of the car best to help the engineers improve it.

- Good question! In my opinion Fernando Alonso worked really well -- same goes for Lewis. But I think the best of all has been Jenson, he is very good. As for former drivers, Ayrton Senna was exceptional, as was Alain Prost. So the best of the previous generation were Ayrton and Alain while Jenson is best of the present ones.

Räikkönen on the other had a slightly "different" assessment from Lall.

- Kimi had a good sense of the car. But he is a shy person, and some times had problems explaining. He could express his thoughts, but wasn't very detailed, Lall spoke on Räikkönen on championat.ru website.

Source: RacingNewsFlash

Lewis Hamilton sees fight with Fernando Alonso as new 'Senna v Prost'

Sebastian Vettel may be the man most likely to thwart Lewis Hamilton's hopes of a second world championship this season, but as the McLaren driver arrived in the tropical metropolis of Kuala Lumpur it was not the German on his mind but the man he describes as his "nemesis", Fernando Alonso.

"I will always think that my nemesis and my closest rival will always be Fernando," said an unusually reflective Hamilton. "Just because of my history, when I started out. I see him as my Prost, if we were [Alain] Prost and [Aryton] Senna. If you were to say 'choose a driver' [that I would like to be] I would clearly choose Ayrton. And maybe I would put him as Prost.

" The rivalry between Senna and Prost, which is brilliantly captured in the new film, Senna, was one of the most bitter in all sport. The difficult relationship between Hamilton and Alonso in 2007, when the Spaniard was unsettled and ultimately driven from McLaren by Hamilton's rookie brilliance, had its moments, too. Hamilton, probably, has never received proper credit for his performances that season, when he missed the championship by a single point.

But is not Vettel his true nemesis now? "I don't think so. If he continues to have a car like he does now then, maybe, but I think when we get equal pace then we will see some serious racing. Maybe he [Vettel] is the new Mansell? Not that I would rate him like I do Mansell." Ouch.

But with the next race, in Malaysia, almost two weeks away Hamilton is less concerned with racing rivals than his relationship with his family. He is close, once more, with his father and former manager Anthony. And this week he will return to England to see his brother Nicolas, who has cerebral palsy, race for the first time.

"I can't miss my brother's first race [at Brands Hatch next weekend]. It's OK. I can sleep on the flight. I can still stay in this time zone. I'll just head back to see his qualifying and race and then pop back out. It's cool. I'll get to watch lots of movies on the plane.

"Me and my brother are close. I mean, everyone has their situations in life, but it has been tough for him. I can understand what he has been through because I am the closest person to him, but even I cannot comprehend what it must have been like to have the difficulties he has had. And now he gets to have the opportunity to live the dream himself. Me and my dad will be there.

" The relationship between Hamilton and his father has been strained for the past year, since Hamilton decided that he no longer wanted Anthony to manage his affairs. But they have been closer in recent months and were seen together at the Australian Grand Prix. Anthony now manages the latest British FI hope, Paul di Resta.

"This weekend has been great. I don't know whether you saw me and my dad spent a lot of time together. I asked him if he would like to be on the grid with me and he said 'I would love to do that'. It just felt fantastic this weekend.

"I felt the support that my dad gave me – it was the same as he has always given me but without the stress. I said to him 'I know you have to go down the other end of the grid' and he said 'No. Paul understands that I want to be up this end as well.'

"My dad was just there as my dad. He has always given me immense support, but I think it was support mixed with some stress. But this time it was just 'I'm so proud to see you out there' and it was just fantastic. Really, really great. Things are pretty good. Great times and they can only get better.

" Then, suddenly, it was back to racing. "Finally I've got something I can fight with, something I can take the fight to the Bulls with," he said, following McLaren's revival in Melbourne and his second place.

"Malaysia is a massive downforce track so you're going to see Red Bull as quick if not quicker. But I have no doubts our car can be competitive as well.

" Meanwhile, the McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said: "We leave here [Melbourne] knowing we had a car capable of taking two places on the podium. It was genuine pace. Both drivers and the team had a difficult winter and it is fantastic to come out of it that strong. We have to dig deep, it's a long championship and we have to improve race by race."

Source: The Guardian

Mark Webber unhappy with Ecclestone's 'fake rain' idea

Mark Webber has dismissed Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's idea to liven up grands prix with sprinklers to make tracks artificially wet

"No and no," Red Bull driver Webber told the BBC when asked whether the sport needed such measures and whether he was in favour of them.

"It wouldn't be the most sophisticated way to make the show more entertaining," added the Australian.

Mercedes GP boss Nick Fry was also unconvinced with the idea.

"I think Bernie's putting forward some entertaining ideas but Formula 1 is about contending with the conditions that prevail at the time," said Fry.

"I think that fiddling with those conditions artificially is not the nature of Formula 1.

"The beauty of Formula 1 is that there is now huge variety. We have races in the evening and during the day and halfway between the two and I don't think anyone could say that last year was boring.

"It was tremendous and I'm sure that this year will be better still."

Webber added: "It can be more exciting when we have some different weather conditions, that does happen. But you just try and think of Jimmy Clark, and Jackie Stewart and (Ayrton) Senna and those guys, masters in the wet.

"Jackie's still here but the other two would be turning in their graves if they thought we'd have sprinklers and hoses lined up around the track."

Ecclestone suggested the sprinklers could be switched on with no more than a two-minute warning to ensure suspense.

"I'm happy to make it happen," the 80-year-old told the BBC on Thursday.

"My idea is that we should make a programme that nobody knows exactly which programme is going to be used and it would start at some time during the race. It would be raining effectively.

"It would maybe stop and maybe rain again later. Or maybe not. So nobody would know."

Ecclestone did find some support from Paul Hembery, motorsport director of Formula 1's new tyre supplier Pirelli.

"I thought Bernie Ecclestone's comments were quite interesting," he told autosport.com.

"Straight after our recent successful (wet-weather) Abu Dhabi test I saw him and said, 'Why don't we do an artificial wet race?' The technology is such that you can wet a circuit with a sprinkler system, so the idea is not as daft as it sounds."

Source: BBC Sport

Renault’s message to Kubica from Barcelona

The Renault F1 team gathered for a team photo with a pit board wishing Robert Kubica to get well soon.

Prior to start of the second day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Barcelona, the team including drivers Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna posed for a picture in the Circuit de Catalunya pitlane.

Kubica, who was injured in a freak rally accident earlier this month, was yesterday transferred from intensive care unit to the rehabilitation department to continue his recovery.

The Renault F1 team have appointed Nick Heidfeld to replace Kubica.

Source: YallaF1

Senna film wins prestigious US award

The documentary film of the life of Ayrton Senna has won the World Cinema Audience Award for Documentary Film at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

The film, which was released in Japan and Brazil last year, will be released across the rest of the world in 2011. In the UK the release is being timed to coincide with the British Grand Prix in July.

The reaction in the USA has been favourable. "Technical and musical aspects are first-rate," said the Hollywood Reporter. "A fine documentary about one of auto racing's greats will please fans and make some new ones."

The LA Times was even more enthusiastic. "Sometimes a documentary will unexpectedly reach out and grab you by the throat, not giving you a second to breathe. That's that way it was with Senna."



Source: ESPNF1

Alonso in same league as Senna, Schumacher - Berger

Fernando Alonso is in the same league as two of F1's greatest recent champions, according to Gerhard Berger.

"There are sometimes those special drivers: Ayrton Senna was one, Michael Schumacher was one, and Alonso is one," said the Austrian and former Grand Prix winner.

Berger is uniquely placed to compare Ferrari's Spanish driver with those greats -- he was one of Senna's closest friends, having raced alongside the late Brazilian at McLaren in the 90s.

And he was a contemporary of Schumacher's during the seven time world champion's first F1 career, moving away from Ferrari to make room for the German, and then replacing him for the 1996 season at Benetton.

"They are drivers who can win world championships without having the absolute best car," Berger told Austrian television Servus TV.

Source: Motorsport.com

Our heroes, past and present - Button, Hamilton and Senna's MP4-4

Our two world champions make a surprise visit to the world's greatest garage. Amongst the hundreds of historic cars, they are stopped in their tracks by Senna's legendary '88 car.

Source: OfficialMcLarenVids

IN THE DEPTHS OF THE HARBOR

Monaco GP-column 13.5.

Although Kimi Räikkönen is ashore in Monaco he will not be seen on the GP-paddock with 100% certainity. Kimi didn't like it when he was driving in F1 so he feels even less attracted to go and say hello to his busy friends when he is on a well deserved vacation.

Nine reporters out of ten asks on a regular basis what Räikkönen might be doing next year.

"If I only knew", many team managers probably sigh.

They whisper more and more that Mark Webber would end his career after this season. When the whispers get louder all available drivers are alert. Nicolas Todt is Felipe Massa's manager and he is known to have made some inquiries about Red Bull's possible interest in Massa.

Red Bull will surely still be competitive next year with the joint KERS-system and Michelin-tyres because the F-Duct -system has been forbidden.

I doubt Vettel's team mate will come from Red Bull's own junior team. A possible seat is therefore offered to a complete winner.

If Massa would go to Red Bull it would create some interpretation problems for the Brasilian viewer. They refuse to use the energy drink's name in their airings, they always talk about RBR.

Why? They claim that the reason for it is because Red Bull's and Brazil's tv's negotiations didn't lead anywhere.

But that's how the world changes even in Brazil. Whereas Ayrton Senna was the real king of Monaco's streets his nephew Bruno starts with Hispania in the other end.

For the first time the name Senna was the last name.

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole

Senna to race fresh Cosworth engine in China

Bruno Senna will have a fresh Cosworth engine fitted to his HRT car for qualifying and the race in China this weekend.

Brazil's Globo reports that the change will be made as a precaution, after the 26-year-old rookie finished the recent Malaysian Grand Prix with very little fuel left in the tank.

"That is not good for the engine," said the Brazilian, "so we will use it (the Sepang engine) only in free practice in Friday."

Another new feature of his F110 single seater in Shanghai is a new fuel tank with different compartments, after the development was run only on Karun Chandhok's sister car two weeks ago.

But Senna is not expecting a major step forward in China, because the car will run with an unchanged aerodynamic configuration.

"We will have no developments, or anything that can substantially improve our pace," he admitted.

"For now, we can only tinker with some things, such as the weight distribution," said Senna.
He arrived in Shanghai on Monday and is at the circuit on Wednesday.

Source: Motorsport