Alonso 'will move to Ferrari'

Fernando Alonso will move from Renault to Ferrari next year and spark a cascade of other driver changes, according to McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.
The double world champion's expected switch is an open secret in Formula 1, but Whitmarsh is the first senior figure publicly to acknowledge it.
"I think we all know that the Fernando-Ferrari move has a knock-on effect that ripples through the other teams," he said.
Ferrari said Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were already contracted for 2010.
"He (Whitmarsh) can say what he wants, there is no 'Fernando-Ferrari move'," said a spokesman for the Italian team.
"Things can happen and not happen. But you cannot talk about any Fernando-Ferrari move. We have two drivers with a contract until the end of 2010. We are not under pressure to change anything."
Alonso, who denied last month that he had signed a contract with Ferrari, has ducked questions about his future since arriving in Valencia for this weekend's European Grand Prix.
Whitmarsh's remarks were made in an interview with BBC Sport in which he addressed rumours that McLaren will replace Heikki Kovalainen with Nico Rosberg as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate next year.
"At the moment we have not had, nor are we in, conversations with any other drivers and we will see in the future. In reality, there are some changes probably with Fernando and Ferrari and that frees up the driver market," he said.
"Every year there are a number of pivotal points during the season which determine what is going to happen in the drivers' market.
"This year I think we all know that the Fernando-Ferrari move has a knock on and that ripples through the other teams.
"Clearly the BMW withdrawal will also have an impact.
"So I don't think we see a need at the moment to rush into it. I think we are concentrating on developing the car and making sure we are more competitive, which I think we will be this weekend.
"Heikki is pushing hard. He is a driver who can drive the car very quickly - if you look at his fuel corrected qualifying times, he has been massively competitive.
"But he hasn't performed quite as well as he - and we - would like him to in the races."
Ferrari are reported to be planning to partner Alonso with Massa and are said to be in negotiations with Raikkonen's management to pay off a proportion of the Finn's 2010 contract before moving him on to another team.
Brawn, Renault and Toyota have all been linked with the 29-year-old, who won the world championship in his first year with Ferrari in 2007.
But the injury suffered by Massa at the Hungarian Grand Prix last month has complicated matters.
He is recovering from the fractured skull and damaged eye he sustained after he was hit on the helmet by a spring that had become detached from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn, so there is some doubt about when and whether he will be able to make a full return to F1.
In that context, Ferrari may wish to keep open the possibility of Raikkonen driving for the team in 2010 in the event that Massa fails to make a full recovery.
Massa, who is recuperating at home in Brazil, has targeted a return at his home Grand Prix on 18 October, and was visited last week by Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.
But the Ferrari spokesman said it was too early to predict any comeback by Massa.
"We are all happy Felipe is getting better and better every day. But we are all - including Felipe - aware that we have to be patient.
"He is having another CT (brain) scan at the end of this month or the beginning of September and we will have a better picture after that.
"From the human point of view, he is already close to 100%. Then he has to complete a physical recovery process. After that he will have to start again his physical preparation, because at the moment he cannot do anything (about improving his fitness).
"At the moment we are all happy he is recovering so quickly. We are pretty confident. For him and everyone it would be a dream if he could race in Brazil.
"But we know we have to face the reality and the reality is to take it step by step."
The driver market is wide open as F1 heads into its traditional 'silly season'.
BMW's decision to withdraw from F1 at the end of the season has put their two drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld on the market.
Kubica, the more highly rated of the two, has been linked to a move to Williams in place of Rosberg on a one-year deal, but could also interest Brawn and Renault, who would need a top-liner to replace Alonso, assuming his move to Ferrari goes ahead.



By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Schumacher abandons F1 comeback

Seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher has abandoned his comeback with Ferrari because of a neck injury.
The 40-year-old, who retired at the end of 2006, was set to deputise for the injured Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 23 August.
"Unfortunately we did not manage to get a grip on the pain in the neck which occurred after the private F1-day in Mugello," Schumacher told his website.
Schumacher suffered the neck injury in a bike accident in February.
"The consequences of the injuries caused by the bike accident in February, fractures in the area of head and neck, unfortunately have turned out to be still too severe," he added.
"That is why my neck cannot stand the extreme stresses caused by F1 yet. These are the clear results of the examinations we did on the course of the past two weeks and the final examination on Monday afternoon.
"As there were no improvements after the day in Mugello, I decided at short notice on Sunday to do that thorough examination on Monday."
Schumacher won five championships with Ferrari and had been working as a consultant for the Italian team before his decision to come out of retirement to stand in for Massa.
The German, who claimed his other two drivers' crowns with Benetton, has entered 250 grands prix, winning a record 91 of them.
His return was eagerly anticipated but, despite trying everything 'medically or therapeutically' possible, he has had to admit defeat.
"I am disappointed to the core," he said. "I am awfully sorry for the guys of Ferrari and for all the fans which crossed fingers for me.
"I can only repeat that I tried everything that was within my power. All I can do now is to keep my fingers crossed for the whole team for the coming races."
Brazilian Massa is recovering from the serious head injuries suffered during qualifying for the Hungarian GP.
And, while the rest of the F1 drivers were enjoying their mid-season break, Schumacher had embarked on a rigorous training regime, resulting in him losing more than six pounds in weight before calling off his return.
"It's hugely disappointing," said David Croft, Radio 5 live's F1 commentator. "The F1 world was very much looking forward to seeing Michael Schumacher locking horns with Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.
"But it's hardly surprising. The g-forces that your neck muscles particularly are exposed to in a modern-day F1 car can take their toll and give you severe punishment during the course of a race.
"If you are not 100% fit, there's no way you can think about driving one of these cars."


BBC
By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Brawn look to rescue their season

When the brains at Brawn Grand Prix return to their offices on Monday after a two-week mid-season break, top of their agenda will be how to stop the wheels falling off Jenson Button's championship charge.
The Englishman stormed into a seemingly unassailable lead in the title race following six wins in the first seven races of the season but since then the team have lost their way.
Button, who has not finished on the podium in the last three races, has seen his lead cut to 18.5 points by Red Bull's Mark Webber.
With seven races still to come, the prospect of finishing the 2009 season empty-handed is now a very real threat - as Button has said, if Webber keeps cutting into his advantage at this rate, he will have overtaken after another four races.
Brawn and Button have only 11 days to turn things around before first practice at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on 21 August sets in motion the final frantic push for the titles.
The Brawn car's incompatibility with race conditions in the last three races in Britain, Germany and Hungary has been at the heart of the team's fading fortunes.
In cooler weather, Brawn have struggled to heat up their tyres to the optimum working temperatures and even in Budapest, where the sun shone, the team say the tyres were still 20C lower than they needed them to be.
"We know the car is still quick," insisted Button's race engineer Andrew Shovlin. "We just need to work out why it has become so sensitive to conditions.
"At the moment there is such a small window where it is working really well and we can't cope with that. We need to fix it so it's quick on any track and in any temperature."
In Valencia, in theory, heat should not be an issue - although they said the same about Hungary before that race, too.
Even if the weather is hot in Spain, Brawn still need to understand how to eke out extra performance from the tyres.
But it is not only tyre performance that Brawn want to bring up to scratch, the car needs honing, too.
The team arrived in Hungary with a major upgrade, adding a new diffuser, rear wing and bodywork, but the expected step forward in performance failed to materialise, despite encouraging running during Friday practice.
Team principal Ross Brawn conceded after the race that the team needed to "unravel" the recent updates.
"But it's not as simple as going back to an old car specification," added Shovlin. "That's not the answer; it is something much more subtle than that.
"We may have done something to the car to make it more sensitive."
Now that the workforce has returned from the two-week factory shutdown agreed by all the teams, the process of sieving through just what has gone wrong can begin.
Even if an answer is found, putting the solution into practice is another matter.
"The problem this year is the budget," revealed Shovlin, hinting at an issue that has remained largely under wraps this season.
Despite leading the constructors' standings all season, Brawn have failed to attract a title sponsor.
The team's dalliance with Virgin boss Richard Branson has run its course, while other offers are understood to have been deemed unsuitable by the independent team.
Brawn emerged at the 11th hour last winter out of the ashes of the former Honda team, after the Japanese car giant quit F1 in December.
And while Brawn are understood to be fully funded to the end of this season, they have so far failed to secure a budget for 2010.
So they are having to use their available resources more judiciously than might be the case for big players such as McLaren or Ferrari, both of whom have made noticeable steps forward in performance in recent races.
The ban on in-season testing is also standing in the way of a quick fix to Brawn's problems. Just like everyone else, Brawn must cram up on the latest feedback on tyre performance and technical tweaks during race weekends.
All of this would not matter quite so much, of course, if Brawn still held their substantial early-season performance advantage over the rest of the grid.
As it is, their rivals have passed them on the track and are now eating into their championship lead.
Red Bull have captured three victories, with Webber emerging narrowly ahead of German rising star Sebastian Vettel as Button's closest challenger for the drivers' crown, and their car is expected to dominate at the Belgium GP at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of the month.
McLaren and world champion Lewis Hamilton returned to winning ways in Hungary and the team predict they will be on top form again around Valencia's street circuit.
Ferrari will also bring a potent threat to Spain in the shape of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who is standing in for the injured Felipe Massa.
In one way, this could play into Button's hands - with a multitude of potential winners, it becomes harder for either Red Bull driver to amass the points they need to catch and pass him.
On the other hand, lots of fast cars means Button could be resigned to finishing at the bottom of the points positions - so if a Red Bull driver does score big, they could take a significant chunk out of his lead in one go.
Button knows that, in this case, attack is the best form of defence.
The 29-year-old has squeezed every drop of performance out of his car at virtually every race this season - despite his lowly finishes in the last three races.
He is now relying on the focused driving - no mistakes, no crashes, no settling for a finish - that propelled him into the lead in the first place to fend off those fighting to deny him a first world title.
"This opportunity is the best I have had in Formula 1 by far and I have to take it," he told BBC Sport.
"We have got to stay relaxed and make sure we get back to the front, which we will in Valencia.
"We can't just sit around and collect points; it is not enough.
"But we've been through more difficult times so we can solve these problems I'm sure."

By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Beyonce to headline first F1 rocks gig

Beyonce and the Black Eyed Peas have been lined up to headline a gig in Singapore, which will coincide with the Grand Prix there next month.
The first F1 Rocks event, which also includes Simple Minds, ZZ Top and NERD, will span three days from 24 September.
Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone said: "It's exciting. It's something we've been talking about doing for an awful long time."
Tickets for the show at Fort Canning Park go on sale on Wednesday.
Mr Ecclestone said Singapore "couldn't be a better place" to launch the event.
"They're well, well ahead of anyone else in the world in my opinion."
Talks are already taking place between gig organisers and global broadcasters as it is hoped the show will be transmitted in up to 188 countries.
The website said F1 Rocks will "fuse the world's most popular annual sporting series with the most iconic music stars to create an unrivalled experience for F1 and music fans alike".
The music acts are being booked by John Giddings, who resurrected the Isle Of Wight festival and now promotes the likes of Madonna and U2 for Live Nation.
Universal Music, Singapore Tourism Board and LG Electronics are also involved in the venture.



By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
-- Post From My iPod Touch

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