F1 2008

[Pete McCluskey.]

From F1.com


Coulthard takes Red Bull bosses on McLaren factory tour

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=featureStoryCell><!-- ArticleBodyStart -->Red Bull driver David Coulthard stepped back in time on Wednesday as he took a tour of the UK headquarters of his former team McLaren. Coulthard, who raced for the British squad from 1996 to 2004, won the exclusive visit to McLaren’s Technology Centre after outbidding rivals at a recent charity auction.

The generous Scot also invited along Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner, their executive director of engineering Adrian Newey, who worked as McLaren’s technical director until 2005, and his manager (and fellow former McLaren driver) Martin Brundle.

Following the quartet’s visit, McLaren’s Formula One CEO Martin Whitmarsh, who acted as official tour guide for the day, said: “David has always been a popular driver at McLaren and we've known him for a long time. In fact, he's driven more Grands Prix for McLaren than any other driver in Formula One history.

“It's fantastic that he has put his hand in his own pocket to support this charity auction and it's great to see him back at Woking. This afternoon showed that we still remain friends with many of our former drivers - because Martin, of course, is an ex-McLaren driver too.”

During his nine seasons with McLaren, Coulthard won 12 Grands Prix for the team. Brundle, meanwhile, raced for them for just one year in 1994 and took his best result, a second place, at that season’s Monaco round.

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[Malcolm]

I wonder if they allowed cameras in? Hmmm, perhaps not....

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">Press release from Red Bull Racing


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</TD></TR><TR><TD id=fet>COULTHARD TO RETIRE AT THE END OF THIS YEAR
<SMALL>4 July 2008 | 12:41am</SMALL>


Following David Coulthard's announcement that he plans to retire from race driving in Formula 1 after the end of the 2008 season, Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner commented:
"Working with David has been an absolute pleasure and his contribution to the team over the past four seasons has been significant. He is a consummate professional and I think that one of the key elements to the length of his career is the dedication he has applied and the commitment he has shown to the team. He has demonstrated that he is a real team player, a fact reinforced by the statistic that he has only driven for two other F1 teams in his career. To date, he has won thirteen grands prix and there could have been many more if you count the near misses and the ones he gifted to other drivers! He scored our first point, our first podium and was the first of our drivers to lead a grand prix. Above all, he is a gentleman and I regard him as a good friend. Within the team there's a huge amount of respect for David. His retirement brings to a close not just his career as a grand prix racing driver but also a chapter in the history of Formula 1, if one considers the changes the sport has been through while he has been involved with it.
"Now he heads off to face a new challenge. Red Bull Racing will still be utilising his services and he will on occasion drive the car in test sessions for us so that we can draw upon his vast experience and knowledge. He will be involved as a consultant to the team and to the technical group as we look to extract the maximum from his considerable experience of Formula 1. I don't think he will be struggling to fill his time!"
DAVID COULTHARD
Nationality: British
Date of Birth: 27 / 03 / 1971
Lives: Monaco
STATISTICS (up to and including the French GP 2008)
- David has won 13 F1 races
- David has had 12 pole positions
- David has led 60 grands prix
- David has had 62 podium finishes (his most recent was in Canada 2008 for Red Bull Racing, when he finished third)
- David has set 18 fastest race laps
- David has scored 533 points up to and including the French Grand Prix 2008. Based on points, he's the most successful British GP driver in the history of the sport.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2008 Red Bull Racing Formula One driver
Third place podium finish (Canada)
2007 Red Bull Racing Formula One driver
Scored 14 points
10h in Drivers' Championship
2006 Red Bull Racing Formula One driver
Third place podium finish (Monaco)
Scored 14 points
13h in Drivers' Championship
2005 Red Bull Racing Formula One driver
Two fourth place finishes (Australia and Nürburgring)
Scored 24 points
12th in Drivers' Championship
2004 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Fourth place (Germany)
Scored 24 points
Ninth in Drivers' Championship
2003 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Wins Australian Grand Prix
Scored 51 points
Seventh in Drivers' Championship
2002 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Wins Monaco Grand Prix
Scored 41 points
Fifth in Drivers' Championship
2001 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Wins Brazilian Grand Prix and Austrian Grand Prix
Scored 65 points
Second in Drivers' Championship
2000 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Wins in Great Britain, Monaco and France
Scored 73 points
Third in Drivers' Championship
1999 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Wins British Grand Prix and Belgian Grand Prix
Scored 48 points
Fourth in Drivers' Championship
1998 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Wins San Marino Grand Prix
Scored 56 points
Third in Drivers' Championship
1997 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Wins Australian Grand Prix and Italian Grand Prix
Scored 36 points
Third in Drivers' Championship
1996 McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver
Second in the Monaco Grand Prix
Scored 18 points
Seventh in Drivers' Championship
1995 Williams Renault Formula One driver
Wins Portuguese Grand Prix
Scored 49 points
Third in Drivers' Championship
1994 Williams Renault Formula One driver
Promoted from Test Driver to Race Driver

1993 Formula 3000 Championship
Third in Championship
Winner of GT Class at Le Mans 24 Hours
Official F1 Test Driver for Williams Renault
1992 Formula 3000 Championship
Ninth in Championship
Eighth in Euro-Macau-Fuji Formula 3
1991 British Formula 3 Championship
Second in Championship
Wins Formula 3 Macau GP
Wins Marlboro Masters of Formula 3
1990 Formula Vauxhall-Lotus Championship / GM Lotus Euroseries
Championship
1989 Dunlop / Autosport FF1600 Champion
Wins P&O Ferries Junior FF1600 Series
Third Formula Ford Festival, Brands Hatch
Wins McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award
1988 Scottish Open Kart Champion
1986-1987 Scottish Open Kart Champion & British Super Kart 1 Champion 1983-1985 Scottish junior Kart Champion Ends//


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[Keith]

I second all of that.. He always was a special talent who never quite fulfilled his obvious potential, plus, he has been strangled by Schumacher. Not many Grand Prix drivers (or people come to that) can boast of such a privilege, resulting as it was, from a rather aggressive coming together up the rear.... :drunk:

Cheers for the Years David......:thumbsup:

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Mark Webber a terrific result in qualifying :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Mike Trusty]

Mark and Heikki were both trying to figure out what just happened. Neither could figure out what to blame and couldn't seem to accept that they both just did good.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

A Great race. All Bernie has to do is throw away the Aero/ reduce the down-force and we have a spectacle worth watching, It's Midnight here so goodnight.

 

[Bill Hara]

I agree Pete

Watched the race and when I saw it was going to be wet I thought - GAME ON!

It is the unpredictability that wet weather throws up that I love. Seeing good strategies and bad strategies as well as good and bad driving plus plenty of overtaking made for an exciting race! Also interesting was seeing how different cars performed well during the various changing conditions. During the second rain spell, Ferrari and Red Bull went backwards, Maclaren and BMW were pulling away, Honda on the full wets was 4 - 10 sec a lap faster than everyone for about 15 laps! Pity Barrichello had to pit. Great race!

The UK boys will be happy!

Cheers

Bill

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

After reading this I almost feel a little sorry for Max. Imagine the conversation at breakfast when wifey opened News of the World.







Motor racing chief Max Mosley denies involvement in a "sick Nazi orgy" and insists his interest in sado-masochistic sex is "perfectly harmless".
Mosley, president of Formula One's governing body the International Automobile Federation (FIA), defended his behaviour while launching a landmark legal action against a British tabloid newspaper.
He is suing the News of the World Sunday newspaper for breach of privacy over a story which claimed he had taken part in a Nazi-themed encounter with prostitutes.
But the 68-year-old son of Britain's 1930s Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley stood by his interest in sado-masochism and told a London court judge that role-play added to the atmosphere.
"It's just more — fun is probably the wrong word — but it's much better if accompanied by something which seems to justify what is going on," he told London's High Court.
At one point during the hearing the London court heard the recorded sounds of slapping and thwacking from an audio tape featuring a woman speaking German, the Daily Mail reports.
"I fundamentally disagree with the suggestion that any of this is depraved," he said.
"I think it is a perfectly harmless activity provided it is between consenting adults who want to do it, are of sound mind, and it is in private."
Lawyers for Mosley told the court that News of the World was guilty of "a gross and indefensible intrusion of his private life".
The FIA chief had been interested in sado-masochism from an early age, his lawyer James Price said, but there were no Nazi connotations to the events covered by the newspaper, which involved five women whom Mosley admitted he had paid $5,200.
Mosley said he could think of few more "unerotic" things than Nazi role-play.
"There was not even a hint of that — certainly not in my mind and, I'm convinced, not in the minds of any of the other participants. It simply didn't arise," he told the court.
Mosley faced pressure to quit his job after the story was published in March along with a series of lurid photographs and video footage on the newspaper's website. However, he won a vote of confidence at an FIA extraordinary general assembly last month.
The News of the World said it was justified in publishing the story because of Mosley's public role. However Price said the paper had been acting like a "peeping Tom".
"If the newspaper was hoping to get pictures of Mr Mosley doing a Nazi salute and saying 'Sieg Heil' or doing anything else connected to a death camp, they were to be completely disappointed," Price said.
The pictures were made worse by the "false suggestion that the events depicted involved him in playing a concentration camp commandant, mocking the humiliating way Jews were treated by SS death camp guards in World War Two", the lawyer said.
Price said the story had been driven entirely by Mosley's family name and the paper's pursuit of "sexual titillation".
"Bottom-spanking, whip fantasy and role play scenarios are an interest Mr Mosley accepts he has had since quite a young age," Price told the court.
He also revealed that neither his wife of 48 years nor sons knew about his interest in sado-masochism until the News of the World article.
"She never knew of this aspect of my life, so that headline in the newspaper was completely, totally devastating for her," he said, adding he could think of "nothing more undignified or humiliating" for his sons.
News Group Newspapers is strongly contesting the action, which includes an unprecedented claim in a privacy case for exemplary or punitive damages as well as compensatory damages.

 

[David Morton]

For those members outside the UK Mosely is having his week in court this week. There is a subtle irony in that my wife was in the High Courts on Monday and had lunch in the small restaurant ( not much bigger than the average lounge ) and Mosely along with his minders were in there as well. [no - she was not giving evidence in the Mosley action against the News of the World Newspaper] The other person my wife was with (whose day in court it was - fighting an action against BA) had never heard of Mosely and his antics. So it was all explained to her. In every detail with Mosely at the next table. The irony, to me anyway , is if Mosely had not brought this action then it would have all died a death and nobody would really be bothered about his kinky side. What was the old joke> What does a Lobster thermidor and wild sex have in common? You cant get either of them at home - Moselys wife knew nothing of the wild 'sad sado' her husband turned into.
Anyway, he and his bodyguards (all wearing black shirts [maybe thats a Mosley tradition handed down by his father]left by a side door to avoid the papparazzi.
It gets better, more salacious, and raunchier every day. He must be squirming inside.........

 

[Keith]

Not a single comment on the German GP from anyone? Another fascinating race generated by random events. I will refrain from commenting further in case others have not yet seen it... :shy:

 

[David Morton]

Hi Keith,
My comments:
1. Why so many empty seats in the tribunes? When the DTM runs
at Hockenheim the place is sold out.
2. Are we witnessing a return to the paying public staying away
because of the Hamilton effect - the same as and much as the none
German speakers did while Schumacher (the elder) was unassailable.
3. Why didn't Massa put up a spirited defence of his 2nd place in the
closing laps instead of just acquiescing to Hamiltons charge.
If it were me, I think I would have done everything possible and bugger
what Montezemolo thinks.
4. I missed the Glock accident and only got back into the action when I
heard the safety car had gone out. Yes - they send me an alarm when
things change just in case I'm having a doze. Much like I used to when
Schumacher was running.

 

[Keith]

I would have thought that with no less than 5 Germans in the field + 2 major German manufacturers - the crowd would have been up not down. The crowd did not appear so noisy and demonstrative as is usual. That's strange considering that it appears to be the reverse of what happened in Britain. Surely it is too early for a "Hamilton Effect" but I do agree, Massa's feeble defence of his second place seemed more worthy of a rookie than a title prospect (I notice that NP jr "defended" in exactly the same way and he is a, er, rookie yes?)

The Piquets are not my favourites by a long way but I should not visit the father's past sins on the son but what an amazing result for Renault. Clearly a lot of teams missed that strategy completely...

The last 2 races have certainly rekindled my interest and not just because of the winners but it did take take rain and a safety car to generate that excitement....

 

[Ian Anderson]

For those members outside the UK Mosely is having his week in court this week. There is a subtle irony in that my wife was in the High Courts on Monday and had lunch in the small restaurant ( not much bigger than the average lounge ) and Mosely along with his minders were in there as well. [no - she was not giving evidence in the Mosley action against the News of the World Newspaper] The other person my wife was with (whose day in court it was - fighting an action against BA) had never heard of Mosely and his antics. So it was all explained to her. In every detail with Mosely at the next table. The irony, to me anyway , is if Mosely had not brought this action then it would have all died a death and nobody would really be bothered about his kinky side. What was the old joke> What does a Lobster thermidor and wild sex have in common? You cant get either of them at home - Moselys wife knew nothing of the wild 'sad sado' her husband turned into.
Anyway, he and his bodyguards (all wearing black shirts [maybe thats a Mosley tradition handed down by his father]left by a side door to avoid the papparazzi.
It gets better, more salacious, and raunchier every day. He must be squirming inside.........

Actually David you're wrong
There is a difference between erotic and kinky

Erotic is when you use a feather
Kinky is when you use the whole damn chicken


Ian

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Is it just me, or has F1 reverted back to boring as watching re runs of days of our lives.?

Valencia looked like a nice circuit.

 

[Paul Brameld]

Hi Pete,

Wot, no comment on the Olympics?

;-)

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Hi Pete,

Wot, no comment on the Olympics?

;-)

Yes, Congratulations, well done.

The coverage we got of the Olympics was shiite.

That stadium, the birds nest, reminded me of a night club in Harlem. Someone fires a gun and black guys run everywhere.

 

[Pat Buckley]

Spa 2008

Wow!!!!!!

If you haven't seen it yet I won't spoil it for you, but, WOW!!!!!

 

[Pat Buckley]

Never mind.

The Stewards just decided that Ferrari should win the race.

 

[Frank Catt]

Haven't you got it yet ? Ferrari own F1, everyone else are bit players to make up the numbers.