Teams block Schumacher testing

Red Bull and Toro Rosso have joined Williams in blocking Michael Schumacher's bid to test Ferrari's 2009 car ahead of his Formula 1 return.
Ferrari had written to the other nine teams and the sport's governing body, the FIA, asking for the German to be granted a day at the wheel of the F60.
But three teams insisted in-season circuit testing must remain strictly prohibited, as FIA rules dictate.
Schumacher will replace Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix on 23 August.
The 40-year-old Schumacher, who is standing in after Massa was seriously injured at the Hungarian Grand Prix, began his preparations by driving a 2007 Ferrari at the team's Mugello test track on Friday.
But in-season testing with this season's cars is banned under current regulations.
Five members of the Formula One Teams' Association (Fota) - McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP - were, given the circumstances, prepared to overlook that and give Schumacher and his Italian team the green light.
Ferrari have said the German, who won a record 91 grands prix in a 15-year career, will stand in for Massa until the Brazilian is fit enough to make a return after suffering a fractured skull in an accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Williams say seven-time world champion Schumacher should not be given special dispensation, citing the recent arrival of 19-year-old rookie Jaime Alguersuari into F1 when he replaced Sebastien Bourdais for Toro Rosso.
"While we welcome Michael Schumacher back to F1, the fact is any form of in-season circuit testing is strictly prohibited, a regulation clearly laid out by the FIA and adhered to by all of the teams," said Williams in a statement.
"It was for this reason Alguersuari, who drove an F1 car for the first time in Hungary, did not have the opportunity to familiarise himself with the Toro Rosso before he made his race debut.
"Williams sees no distinction between Alguersuari's situation and Schumacher's and feels any deviation from the rule would create a precedent for the future."
Williams also pointed out that Ferrari chose Schumacher over current test drivers Luca Badoer and Marc Gene, who have both tested the team's 2009 model.
"In a similar situation, Williams would unhesitatingly use its current test driver," added Williams.
"For the sake of consistency and fairness, therefore, we oppose Ferrari's proposal to test ahead of the European Grand Prix."
But Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug told autosport.com that his company would be happy to allow Michael Schumacher to test the 2009 Ferrari before his comeback, and that he hoped rival teams take the same stance.
"Whatever we can do to support him we will do," he said.
"I just think it is fair. This is an exception. If Michael had said he would come back under the condition that he could test, everybody would have said yes.
"His team-mate has thousands of kilometres in this car, and he has nothing. As we are fair players, why should he not get some testing? I would be very open to that."
Schumacher, who retired at the end of the 2006 season, had not driven an F1 car since April 2008 before he tested at Mugello on Friday.
"A great feeling to be back in an F1 car," he said afterwards. "After a few laps, I was able to drive constant times and I am quite happy with the time I did.
"Now, we will have to see how my body and my muscles will react to that day in the next (few) days."
On Thursday he spent a day at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy, familiarising himself with the controls on the 2009 car's steering wheel in the team's simulator.
The car was fitted with slick tyres, which were reintroduced for this season and which Schumacher has not raced on since 1997.
Just before Massa flew home to Sao Paulo on Monday, after leaving the hospital that had treated him for the fractured skull he suffered on 25 July, the Brazilian said he hopes to recover quickly so he can return to racing.
Massa was hit on the head by a spring that had come off Rubens Barrichello's Brawn while he was travelling at more than 160mph during qualifying at the Hungaroring.
F1's governing body, the FIA, has launched an investigation into the accident.

BBC

By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Renault lodge appeal against Euro GP ban

Renault have lodged an appeal against the team's suspension from the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
The French team were punished after Fernando Alonso's right front wheel came off and bounced across the track at the Hungaroring on Sunday.
Race stewards ruled that the team's pit crew knew the wheel was not properly secured and failed to tell the driver.
The International Court of Appeal will hear the case on 17 August with a decision expected the following day.
Should the original decision stand, the ban would apply to the whole team and would deny Spaniard Alonso the chance to race in front of his home fans at the European Grand Prix on 23 August.
Having started on pole, the Spanish double world champion was leading the Hungarian Grand Prix when he came in for his first stop on lap 11.
However, he was released before the right front wheel had been fully attached and it worked its way loose on turn nine, bouncing alarmingly across the track.
The stewards said Renault's pit crew "knowingly released car number seven from the pit stop position without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured."
They also determined that "being aware of this, Renault failed to take any action to prevent the car from leaving the pit lane... and failed to inform the driver of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture."
The incident came amid heightened concern about safety in motorsport.
A week ago, 18-year-old Formula 2 driver Henry Surtees - the son of former F1 champion John Surtees - was killed when he was struck by a loose wheel during a race.
On Saturday, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa suffered a fractured skull when he was hit by a part which came off the Brawn GP car of Rubens Barrichello during qualifying at the Hungaroring.

BBC site
By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
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Massa looking for quick recovery

Felipe Massa hopes to recover quickly from the serious injuries he suffered in a qualifying crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix so he can return to racing.
The Brazilian, 28, flew home to Sao Paulo on Monday after leaving the hospital that had treated him for the fractured skull he suffered on 25 July.
"I'm very happy and in a good position to improve myself to eventually go back to the car, to drive," he said.
"We'll see how long this will take - but I hope it will be very quick."
While the Ferrari driver was expressing his determination and desire to get back to racing only nine days after the serious accident, he has also stressed that he will not return too soon.
"It is important to be fully recovered before returning to the track," he said in a statement.
The accident occurred after a spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car hit Massa's helmet.
Massa was travelling at more than 160mph when the spring hit him, but pressure on the brakes reduced his speed to about 60mph when he hit the tyre wall.
He will now continue his rehabilitation in a Sao Paulo hospital for another two days upon his arrival in his home city.
After undergoing further tests he is then likely to be allowed to go home.
"I want to get better, get in better shape and be back in the car driving. That's my life, so that's the only thing I want to get back in my life at the moment," he added.
Talking about the incident, which happened during the second Saturday qualifying session, Massa said: "I don't remember anything.
"I just remember when I spoke to Rob Smedley, my race engineeer. He asked me: 'Do you remember Rubens in qualifying two?' I said: 'No. I don't remember my Q2. I remember being behind Rubens but then I don't remember anything else anymore.
"Maybe I was there, but I was not doing anything. So it was a very strange feeling. But that's my dream now.
"It's difficult to explain what happened. Everyone knows what happened, but for me it's a little bit more difficult to explain."
Massa's personal doctor Dino Altmann said on Monday: "He is to continue his recovery and return to racing as soon as possible, that's the plan. He is in a very good mood, good shape, and he just wants to come back soon."
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has been brought out of F1 retirement by Ferrari to race in Massa's place and will have the first race of his comeback in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 23 August.
The German, a team-mate of Massa during his final F1 season in 2006, will stand in until the Brazilian is ready to take up the seat again.
"I raced with Michael previously and he gave me a lot of good advice. Michael knows everything he needs to do," said Massa.
"I'm sure he will do very good job with my car. I'm not in a position to say something to him."


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Future of F1sealed with new agreement signed

The future of Formula 1 has been secured after the sport's governing body and 12 teams put pen to paper on a new Concorde Agreement.
The agreement, which runs until the end of 2012, brings to a close months of wrangling between the FIA and the Formula 1 Teams' Association (Fota).
The FIA said the signing heralds "a renewed period of stability" for F1.
It added that the document features a "slightly revised set of stable sporting and technical regulations."
The lack of a new Concorde deal - the document that sets out how F1 is run and its revenues distributed - had been a key sticking point during disagreements between the FIA and Fota earlier this season.
However, the signing of the new agreement heralds a final resolution to the political rows that have destabilised the sport throughout 2009.
An FIA statement on Saturday read: "Following approval by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), late last night FIA President Max Mosley signed the 2009 Concorde Agreement, heralding a renewed period of stability for the FIA Formula One World Championship.
"The WMSC has also approved a slightly revised set of stable Sporting and Technical Regulations (to apply from the 2010 Championship onwards), which have been agreed by the FIA and the Teams and which will be published on the FIA's website.
"The new Concorde Agreement, which runs until 31 December 2012, provides for a continuation of the procedures in the 1998 Concorde Agreement, with decisions taken by working groups and commissions, upon which all teams have voting rights, before going to the WMSC for ratification.
The FIA statement also confirmed that a final agreement had been reached over the issue of cost-cutting along lines previously agreed.
"In addition, as agreed in Paris on 24 June 2009, the Teams have entered into a resource restriction agreement, which aims to return expenditure to the levels that prevailed in the early 1990s," read the statement.
BMW Sauber, who this week confirmed they would pull out of F1 at the end of the season, are the only current team to have not signed the document, with new grand prix teams USF1, Campos Meta and Manor GP all doing so.
It is understood BMW's bosses have until Wednesday 5 August to sign the document should they elect to stay in F1 in 2010 and beyond.
F1 was thrown into confusion in July when the eight teams in the rebel umbrella group Fota were told they were not entered in the 2010 championship.
This contradicted an announcement by the FIA's world council on 24 June which listed McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Brawn, Red Bull and Toro Rosso as confirmed entries after Max Mosley, president of F1's governing body the FIA, had reached a compromise deal with Fota chairman and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone.
As part of that agreement, the outline of next year's rules was set, the teams agreed to commit to F1 until 2012, Mosley's plan for a £40m budget cap was replaced with an agreement to reduce costs to "mid-1990s levels" by Fota's methods and the FIA president agreed not to stand again for the governing body's presidence in October's elections.


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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