THE WORST F1 CARS EVER: Number 2

FORTI FORD FG-01
YEARS USED - 1995,1996
DRIVERS - Pedro Diniz (BRA), Roberto Moreno (BRA), Luca Badoer (ITA), Andrea Montermini (ITA)
RACES ENTERED - 22 (43 entries)
BEST QUALIFYING - 19th (Brazil 1996)
BEST RACE FINISH - 7th (Australia 1995)
DNQ's - 5
DNPQ's - 0

If you want to know the reason why Bernie Ecclestone brought in the 107% qualifying rule in the mid 1990's this was it, this monstrosity built by Italian upstarts Forti Corse

Unlike many new teams, Forti had plenty of backing and a solid budget thanks to the team's relationship with young Brazilian driver Pedro Diniz, whose father owned a huge distribution company and Brazil's largest supermarket chain, bringing in with him also connections to a whole host of sponsorship from all over South America. From this, Forti were able to hire the experienced Roberto Moreno to fill the 2nd seat and some solid design talent including Sergio Rinland one of the men behind the immensly successfil Williams FW11 from 1987. But his last design job was with Fondmetal 3 years perviously.

Due to the team's late announcement to participate in F1 in 1995, Rinland decided to cut a corner and make what would become known as the FG-O1, an updated version of the Fondmetal GR02 from 1992, an idea which would have worked a couple of decades ago but development pace had increased to such an extent, that unknown to Rinland, his design would already be out of date by a long time, the result was a bulky car, too overweight, aerodynamically incorrect and (to prove the car was past its sell by date) featured the only manual H-pattern gearbox on the grid, everyone else had adopted the semi-automatic gearbox with steering wheel mounted paddle shifts which were first used by Ferrari back in 1989.

This meant one thing, the car was certainly not going to be a world beater, but team owner Guido Forti said that he would be happy to see the cars finishing races which they did. But pacewise, they were awfulyl slow, the car's weight and aerodynamic inefficiency became painfully apparent when put against the competition for the first race of the season in Brazil. Only Simtek's struggles prevented the Forti's from filling the back row (both were more than 7 seconds off the polesitters pace) and Diniz managed to finish the race too, albeit SEVEN laps down. Things did not get any better in Argentina when Moreno was the best qualifier in 24th, but he was ELEVEN seconds slower than the fastest time set by David Coulthard. Both Forti's went on to finish the race 9 laps down, not even going far enough to be classified.

By now front running drivers were beginning to complain about the FG-01's woeful lack of pace and becoming common "mobile-chicanes" promised car improvements too were awfully slow in coming and although the team were meeting Guido Forti's aim to finish races, even he was becoming worried by the car's uncompetitiveness. Rinland's decision to use the H-pattern Gearbox brought a lot of criticism due to this the designer Rinland was fired mid season.

As the season drew on though, the sizeable budget of the team began to come to fruition with car improvements coming one after the other resulting in dramatic performance improvements meaning by the end of the season, the cars frm being 11 seconds off the pace were now regualarly 5 or 6 seconds slower and now on par with the underfunded Pacific team and the Arrow's pay driver Taki Inoue and in the final race in Australia, the hard work so nearly paid off. Crucially Roberto Moreno had managed to qualify within the 107% time for the first time, important as this rule would be brought in for 1996 to weed out the rubbish. And Diniz's reliability and careful driving got him to a point where it could have been concieveable to score a world championship point, had the race gone on for a couple of laps longer and Olivier Panis's engine had gone, that may have happened, in the end he finished 7th, the car's, it would turn out to be the car's (and indeed the team's) best finish in F1.

Improvements were planned and an all new car (the FG-03) was planned for 1996 with a new design team of Chris Raddage and Riccardo di Marco but developent of that was slowed by the gut-wrenching decision by the Diniz family to take Pedro to the rival Ligier team AND a huge chunk of the sponsorship that came with it, so the team were forced to start the year with the unwanted FG-01 and ended up signing a pair of italian refugees, Andrea Montermini (from Pacific) and Luca Badoer (from Minardi.)

Amazigly though in the 5 races the team entered with the old car in 1996, they only managed to fail to qualify on 2 occasions, That was more down to the driving talent they had on their books rather than car improvements as the only modifications made were so the car could comply with the new safety regulations being brought in for the new season. When the FG-03 was finally ready to race, it was a breath of fresh air for the team, the drivers noted significant improvements in aerodynamic efficiency, a better engine (after switching from the outdated Ford ED's to the more useful Ford Zetec V8's) and best of all, the H-pattern gearbox was ditched in favour of a new semi-automatic version the team had developed. As a result, the drivers still rarely got off the back of the grid but were able to qualify the cars very comfortably and were able to be at least competitive with the other backmarkers (Minardi, Tyrrell and Arrows.)

But the team did not get the chance to maximise the potential as the money simply dried up after Guido Forti sold the team to the Shannon Group (which turned out to be phoney) and were forced to close down in mid season.

FORMULA 3: Mortara Conquers All

The annual Macau Grand Prix is traditionally the biggest showcase of young driving talent in the world, bringing together mostly what is know as the 3 biggest Formula 3 series in the world (F3 Euroseries, Britain & Japan) to discover which drivers are up for being the next big thing in single seater racing, it's an event dominated in recent years by the Japanese TOM'S squad, the reigning champions after last years win by the little known Japanese driver Keisuke Kunimoto, and they were favourites again this year to win it as they possessed in their ranks a hot new property in Swedish youngster Marcus Ericsson, the reigning Japanese F3 champion and race winner in selected outings in British F3, and seeing as he's only 19, he is set for a bright future. Other favourites for victory included the ART squad who fielded cars for the new European champion, Jules Bianchi of France and Valeri Bottas of Finland, Carlin brought the British champion, Australia's Daniel Ricciardo and Kiwi driver Brendon Hartley. There was a strong British challenge too including the likes of Sam Bird, Max Chilton, Wayne Boyd and McLaren Autosport award winner Alexander Sims.

But rising above everyone to take toe top prize was 22 year old Edoardo Mortara from Italy after a superb drive to hold off his teammate Jean Karl Vernay

QUALIFYING RACE

In a unique format, there are 2 qualifying sessions and a short qualifying race to set the final grid, the winner getting the opportunity to start the main race from Pole position, the short sprint was won by Vernay ahead of Ericsson, Mortara, Bottas and the Belgian driver Laurens Vanthoor, Sam Bird was the best of the Brits in 7th. The big suprise though was Bianchi who struggled in the race after starting 7th and ended up being down in 21st on the grid. Only one driver (Kevin Chen from Taiwan) failed to qualify for the final after being disqualifyed for being potentially a danger to others after crashing in every session.

FINAL GRID
ROW 1: 1st Jean-Karl Vernay (Signature Volkswagen), 2n. Marcus Ericsson (TOM'S Toyota)
ROW 2: 3rd Edoardo Mortara (Signature Volkswagen), 4th Valtteri Bottas (ART Mercedes)
ROW 3: 5th Laurens Vanthoor (Signature Volkswagen), 6t. Daniel Ricciardo (Carlin Volkswagen)
ROW 4: 7th Sam Bird (ART Mercedes), 8th Takuto Iguchi (TOM'S Toyota)
ROW 5: 9th Roberto Merhi (Manor Mercedes), 10th Mika Maki (Hitech Volkswagen)
ROW 6: 11th Renger Van Der Zande (Raikkonen/Robertson Mercedes), 12th Yuji Kunimoto (NOW Motorsports Toyota)
ROW 7: 13th Alexander Sims (Raikkonen/Robertson Mercedes), 14th Victor Garcia (Fortec Mercedes)
ROW 8: 15th Max Chilton (Carlin Volkswagen), 16th Kei Cozzolino (Toda Honda)
ROW 9: 17th Stef Dusseldorp (Kolles & Heinz Volkswagen), 18th Koki Saga (Le Beausset Toyota)
ROW 10: 19th Carlos Huertas (Manor Mercedes), 20th Daniel Zampieri (Prema Powerteam Mercedes)
ROW 11: 21st Jules Bianchi (ART Mercedes), 22nd Stefano Coletti (Prema Powerteam Mercedes)
ROW 12: 23rd Alexandre Imperatori (Kolles & Heinz Volkswagen), 24th Brendon Hartley (Carlin Volkswagen)
ROW 13: 25th Daniel McKenzie (Fortec Mercedes), 26th Michael Ho (CHAMP Mercedes)
ROW 14: 27th Wayne Boyd (Hitech Volkswagen), 28th Henry Arundel (Carlin Volkswagen)
ROW 15: 29th Jake Rosenzweig (Fortec Mercedes)
DID NOT QUALIFY: Kevin Chen (CHAMP Mercedes)

GRAND PRIX RACE

From the start, Vernay raced clear ahead of Ericsson and Mortara, unfortunately for him though, the race was red flagged for a multi car pileup behind caused by Daniel Ricciardo, this eliminated no less than 9 cars including nearly all of the Carlin team (only Arundel reamined).

From the restart, the vastly reduced grid of 20 cars got away without incicent, Mortara blasted clear of Ericsson but could'nt beat Vernay to the first corner. Then as both the Signature teammates broke clear of Ericsson (who had also fallen behind Bottas), the scene was set for a titanic battle for the lead between both men, Mortara just could not get close enough due to Vernay giving a wonderful display of late braking and cornering allowing him to pull out enough of a gap going into the main straight therefore preventing his teammate a slipstream into the 1st corner...

...until that is on lap 11 out of 15 when Vernayran wide in the hairpin at the end of the lap, this was the bit of luck Mortara needed as his constant harrying of Vernay finally paid off as he got his slipstream and made his move to take the lead on lap 12. A lead Mortara would never relinquish as the GP2 race winner (he won the GP2 season opener) went on to take an emotional win.

Behind him though, the man of the race was Britain's Sam Bird, who battled from 7th on the grid to catch and then pass pre-race favourite Ericsson and also Bottas (who got into mechanical trouble late on) to claim the final step on the podium, albeit 14 seconds behind the top 2, showing how the 2 Signature team-mates dominated.

RACE RESULT - TOP 10

1. EDOARDO MORTARA (Signature Volkswagen) ................ 15 Laps in 53m 07.769
2. JEAN KARL VERNAY (Signature Volkswagen) ................ + 1.146
3. SAM BIRD (ART Mercedes) ................ + 10.892
4. MARCUS ERICSSON (TOM'S Toyota) ................ + 14.988
5. VALERI BOTTAS (ART Mercedes) ................ + 19.188
6. TAKUTO IGUCHI (TOM'S Toyota) ................ + 21.406
7. RENGER VAN DER ZANDE (Raikkonen/Robertson Mercedes) ................ + 22.059
8. MIKA MAKI (Hitech Volkswagen) ................ + 29.005
9. YUJI KUNIMOTO (NOW Motorsports Toyota) ................ + 33.348
10. JULES BIANCHI (ART Mercedes) ................ + 35.761

FORMULA 1: Brawn GP are no more after Mercedes buy-out

9 months ago, this was a team on their knees after the withdrawal of Honda, that was until Ross Brawn led a management buyout and transformed the team into world champions overnight, and now to complete the fairytale, they have now been bought out by one of the greatest names in the sport, Mercedes, who after this buyout will make a return as an F1 constructor for the first time in 55 years. In addition, they have all but confirmed Nico Rosberg as one of their drivers for 2010 with Nick Heidfeld favourite to land the 2nd seat if a deal with Jenson Button cannot be agreed.

Despite their long absence as a constructor, they have a tremendous racing pedigree. In the 1930, they famously battld with German rivals Auto Union (Audi) for Grand Prix supremacy under the eyes of a proud Adolf Hitler who used the success of both manufacturers to portray Nazi Germany as a world superpower. But then the war came, and it was'nt until 1954 that Mercedes returned as a constructor and won the world championship 2 years on the trot in 1954 and 55, both thanks to the legenday Juan Manuel Fangio. But the tragic accident at Le Mans in 1955 that killed driver Pierre Levegh and over 80 spectators caused Alfred Neubauer (the Mercedes team boss) to pull out. After flirting with Le Mans in the late 1980's with Peter Sauber's sportscar operation, they decided to return in 1993 as an engine supplier supporting Sauber's foray into F1, after which they switched allegiance to McLaren in 1995 and never looked back, the partnership with the Woking team delivering 60 Grand Prix wins, 3 drivers world championships (1998,1999, 2008) and 1 constructors title (1998).

But why now, why jump ship and become an entrant rather than a supplier? Well it has been an ambition of theirs for a long time, ever since they powered McLaren to both championships in 1998, they held a 40% shareholding in the McLaren Group and long wanted to increase that shareholding to a majority and therefore attempt a full takeover. McLaren though had long resisted Mercedes's desires and with plans of their own to enter the commerical sportscar market in 2011, it made sense for McLaren and Mercedes to go their separate ways, especially with Brawn GP trouncing them with customer Merc engines in 2009 and their availability was too much of a temptation for Mercedes to reisist, in return, Mercedes will sell back their 40% stake to the McLaren Group and Ron Dennis and give them a contract of a free engine supply for the next 6 years.

The biggest winner out of all of this though has to be Ross Brawn, in 9 months, he has earned a huge return on his investment 9 months ago, a gamble that has paid off hugely, plus the very fabric of Brawn GP will remain, the only difference being the cars pained silver and Norbert Haug taking a place alongside Ross Brawn and Nick Fry on the pit wall.

But what about Jenson Button, suddenly it looks like the new world champion has been left out in the wilderness without a drive if Mercedes continue their drive for an all German lineup. Apparently he is still in negotiations with Mercedes but Haug is seemingly unwilling to give in to Button's financial demands. Something a certain team down the road from the old Brawn factory in Brackley can comfortably offer him, that being of couse McLaren. And with rumours of Button visiting the McLaren factory over the weekend, put 2 and 2 together and you get the mouth-watering prospect of an all British dream team of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

FORMULA 1: The 2010 merry-go round

Sorry its been a while since my last update, i'll try and upload more articles in the future including completion of both my Top 20 British drivers list and top 5 worst cars list

2009 is now over and done with and Jenson Button has walked off with a championship win youi would never have expected 12 months ago, now though thoughts turn to the 2010 season, the dawn of a new decade and it promises to be one of the most exciting seasons in years added to that the intrigue of seeing at least four new teams coming in and a grid of 26 cars, something that has not been seen since the Monaco Grand Prix of 1995/ The photo is that of the windtunnel mock-up of the new Lotus F1 car which is currently now in the building phase, all 4 new teams hope to begin testing their new cars in the new year, in the meantime though, each team has their driver pairings to think about, below i have taken each team and put in what i think will be their drivers in each seat, drivers that have been confirmed are designated in Red, so here we go

BRAWN GP
1. Jenson Button
2. Nico Rosberg
Supposedly only slow negotiations in his contract are preventing Jenson Button from signing on in 2010 with the Brawn team, he is expected though to eventually tie up a new deal and be partnered by Nico Rosberg who left Williams after the final race of 2009 after a 4 year stay. One factor that could speed up the negotiations is an imminent deal with Mercedes in terms of a partial buy-out of the team, this could affect the German marque's relationship with McLaren though

RED BULL
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Mark Webber
Red Bull announced their pairing months in advance, opting for continuity in 2010, Vettel and Webber, both race winners in 2010 will continue an already strong alliance.

McLAREN MERCEDES
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Kimi Raikkonen
A poor season overall by McLaren's standards but they will go into the winter very optuimistic after a strong 2nd half of the season in which they won 2 races and snatched 3rd place in the constructors championship at the death. Lewis Hamilton stays as he is in the middle of a lucrative 5 year contract and he is expected to partnered by Kimi Raikkonen, who could return to the team after being sacked by Ferrari to make way for Fernando Alonso.

FERRARI
7. Fernanro Alonso
8. Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa stays with the Maranello squad after what was their worst season in F1 for 16 years, he will be joined by Fernando Alonso, providing the team can produce a car that matches the ambitions of both drivers unlike in 2009, then they should be the clear favourites for the major honours.

QADBAK / SAUBER
11. Nick Heidfeld
12. Heikki Kovalainen
BMW announced in the summer that they were pulling out after they had failed to sign the concorde agreement, they then managed to sell the team to Qadbak, an arab investment company but this was after the bidding for their spot on the grid was completed (a bidding campaign which was won by Lotus) but the FIA gave them what was called the "14th spot" meaning that they would get priority choosing to be let back in if any team pulled out, and after Toyota withdrew from the sport shortly after the end of the season, (pending an announcement from the FIA) Qadbak are back on the grid. If they are let back in, i expect them go go with an experieced lineup of Nick Heidfeld and McLaren refugee Heikki Kovalainen.

WILLIAMS
14. Rubens Barrichello
15. Niko Hulkenberg
It'll be all new at Williams in 2010, a return to the Cosworth engines they last used in 2006 and what powered them to their first world championship in 1980 and an all new driver line-up containing the perfect mix of experience and youth. Rubens Barrichello comes in from Brawn as the experienced head, his technical expertise and set-up knowledge will be invaluable for his teammate, the rookie Niko Hulkenberg from Germany, who is quite possibly, the strongest rookie to come into F1 in many years having already won a multitude of championships including the A1 Grand Prix title with Germany in 2006-07.

RENAULT
16. Robert Kubica
17. Timo Glock
No Briatore, No Symonds and quite possibly, no team at all in 2010 if Renault's recent emergency board meeting recently was anything to go by. Such speculation comes with merit after what has been an appalling season for the Renault team, an unusual and blocky car design coupled with an unreliable package and unrest within the team played their parts in a run to just 8th place in the constructors championship, simply not good enough for a manufacturer with a championship pedigree as Renault possesses. Should they be on the grid in 2010, then Robert Kubica will be their lead driver, defecting from the now defunct BMW squad, he would be expected to be partnered by Timo Glock, defecting from the now defunct Toyota squad.

FORCE INDIA
18. Adrian Sutil
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi
Finally, Vijay Mallya's team scored their first points and pipped Toro Rosso to 9th in the constructors ensuring they did not get the wooden spoon, the car was a great package especially on circuits requiring low-downforce setup, that helped enable Giancarlo Fisichella to claim the team's first podium in its current guise with 2nd place in Belgium and its first overall since Tiago Monteiro finished 3rd in that controversial US Grand Prix in 2005. Force India as a result are likely to go into next season with last years driver lineup, the erratic but quick Adrian Sutil as lead driver alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi who displayed good pace in his short end of season stint.

TORO ROSSO
20. Sebastien Buemi
21. Jaime Alguersuari or Brendon Hartley
Overall it was a quiet season for the Red Bull sister team, but that was expected since Vettel left to join the main squad. Despite that though, Sebastien Buemi scored 6 of the team's 8 points, not bad for your first season and enough to make him the rookie of the year. Who will partner him though is up for debate. Jaime Alguersuari tis the favourite to pick up the drive.

CAMPOS META
22. Bruno Senna
23. Pedro de la Rosa or Vitaly Petrov
Of the 4 new teams, Campos were the first to formally announce a driver, that will be Bruno Senna, the nephew of the legendary 3 time world champion Ayrton, also the team were to announce that they were the first to successfully complete the mandatory FIA crash tests, crucial in the cosntruction of their race car. The question with this team now though is who will partner Senna in his rookie season. Pedro de la Rosa is the favourite as Campos would prefer a Spanish driver in their lineup and he would also bring vast experience as a former driver with Arrows and Jaguar as well as a McLaren Tester. Vitaly Petrov is the other driver int he frame due to the Russian's links with the team in lower formulae and his sponsorship potential from the oil rich former Soviet country.

VIRGIN F1 / MANOR
24. Anthony Davidson
25. Adam Carroll
Manor,(another of the new teams) seem to be the least prepared to enter, then again, they are the only new team that have not said much in their press releases apart from former Simtek and Benetton designer Nick Wirth coming in as technical director and announcing a first that the car will be the first ever to be designed using CFD computer software, the same system that propelled Acura to dominance in this year's American Le Mans Series. Also it si expected that they will be announcing a major sponsorship deal with Virgin that could include renaming the team. As for drivers, dont be suprised to see them be all patriotic and go for an all British/Irish lineup. Anthony Davidson is the favurite to be the lead driver despte little racing experience in F1 but despite that, there have been plenty of people saying that he deserves a proper chance in the sport and Manor could provide that for him. The favourite to partner him could be Irishman Adam Carroll, the reigning A1 Grand Prix champion and who could be the first driver from the Irish republic in F1 since Derek Daly drove for Williams in 1982.

USF1
26. Alexander Wurz or Takuma Sato or Jacques Villeneuve
27. JR Hildebrand or Jonathan Summerton
The new USF1 squad have talked a lot about their high ambitions including setting up a european base at Motorland Aragon near the town of Alcaniz in North-east Spain as well as their american base near Charlotte, North Carolina. Team owner Peter Windsor set up the team to try and increase intrest and the profile of F1 in North America so it will be natural for him to want at least 1 American driver in his team, the early favourites to be that driver being Jonathan Summerton and JR Hildebrabd, both successful in lower formulae in the states. The lead seat though is different, an experienced head may be useful in their plans with both Alexander Wurz and former world champion Jacques Villeneuve being names that heve been mentioned, also dont rule out a return for Takuma Sato.

LOTUS
28. Jarno Trulli
29. Fairuz Fauzy
Tony Fernandes's fortune and his links with Proton paved the way for them to win the bidding for the 13th spot on the grid in 2010 and also marking the return of one of the sport's most iconic marques, Lotus. who were 6 times world drivers champions under the legendary stewardship of the late Colin Chapman. Now with the fortune of the Malaysian airline owner and Proton (who own Lotus) they are set to make a return into the field and are already constructing their new car. Fairuz Fauzy is favourite to land one of the seats seeing that they will probably want a Malaysian driver in there with the experienced Jarno Trulli (now available after the withdrawal of Toyota) favourite to take the lead seat.

F1: Schumacher Not To Return After All

After the excitement amongst fans of Michael Schumacher's impending return as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa, today's news totally changed that optimism. After consulting with doctors treating his recovery from a neck injury suffered in a motorcycle crash, the 7 time world champion has cancelled his impending return. The neck and shoulder injuries he suffered came from a motorbike crash in preparation to achieve his next goal of racing superbikes in February, but ever since his retirement, he has never left the clutches of the Ferrari team after acting as team consultant for the past 2 seasons and has acted as an official tester of various Ferrari road cars. Also recently you may have noticed a little stunt on Top Gear where Schumacher "revealed" himself as the man behind the helmet of "The Stig" this was quickly rebuffed by Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson who called him an imposter the very next week.

Ferrari though have taken the unusual step by immediately naming his replacement in the form of their long time F1 test driver Luca Badoer from Italy, who has not raced competitively in the sport since a season with Minardi in 1999, he also holds the record of being the longest serving F1 driver never to have scored a world championship point (48 races) with his best result being a 7th place finish at the San Marino GP in 1993 driving a Lola. Badoer though is most famous for his stunning drive in the 1999 European GP where in a Minardi he drove out of his skin on merit from 19th to 4th before his gearbox packed up and he lay next to his car crying his eyes out. That does not mean he is unworthy of the drive though, Badoer has been Ferrari's official tester for 12 years and in a way, this is a way for the team to repay his loyalty to them by allowing him to drive the remaining 7 races as teammate to Kimi Raikkonen.

I think this comes as a massive suprise, Schumacher suffered his crash injuries back in February, a full 6 months ago. This decision probably confirms that the injuries he suffered were more severe than first thought despite him setting a blistering pace in a 2 year old car round the Mugello circuit. But on the whole, i think they've gone for the right man in Luca Badoer over Marc Gene, simply because with 12 years as a test driver under his belt for the team, if there is one man in the world that is more than qualified to race a Ferrari other than Michael Schumacher, its Luca Badoer.

THE WORST F1 CARS EVER: Number 3

MASTERCARD LOLA FORD T97/30
YEARS USED - 1997
DRIVERS - Ricardo Rosset (BRA), Vincenzo Sospiri (ITA)
RACES ENTERED - 1 (2 entries)
BEST QUALIFYING - 23rd (Australia 1997)
BEST RACE FINISH - n/a
DNQ's - 2
DNPQ's - 0

What a mess!

Quite possibly the most farcical, most shambolic F1 entry in revent years (well not really, that comes later in this series) but Eric Broadley's Lola operation, making a return to F1 after a 4 year absence and fir the first time as a constructor in its own right, but it would'nt have been this laughable had it not been for the impatient actions of their big money title sponsor.

Since leaving F1 after a disastrous season in 1993, Lola founder Eric Broadley had always wanted to enter the sport in his own right after previous forays had been as a customer chassis supplier for a few independent operations which began with Reg Parnell's Bowmaker Racing operation in 1962, an association that lasted 2 years. Lola did not make a return until former world champion Graham Hill set up his own team and required assistance to build his own new car, the GH1, Lola gave him ample assistance until he had the capabilities to build his cars in house, tragically though for Hill, his ambitions would never get off the ground as his entire team (including himself) were killed in a plane crash testing the GH2 for a full crack at the 1976 season. A single year partnership with American motorsport legend Carl Haas produced little in terms of results before a 5 year association began with Larrousse, this proved moderately successful the highlight being a memorable 3rd place finish for Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki at his home GP in 1990. Then a one year stint with BMS produced nothing in 1993.

But Broadley pressed on with his dream of entering his own team and as early as 1995, Lola had built a prototype chassis and tested it. Broadley wanted to take as much time as possible to get his team properly ready for Formula 1 and things got even better in 1996 when Broadley signed a huge title sponsorship deal with Mastercard and a deal had been agreed to run 4 year olf Ford Zetec engines, the same as what Minardi would be using in 1997, not powerful but good enough to start with provided the car was well built. To make sure of that Broadley lodged an entry for 1998, but then things began to go very pear shaped.

Wether they wanted an excuse to pull out of the deal or not, Mastercard made the ultimate bone headed demand that either the team brought forward their plans by a year to race in 1997 or the big money teal would be torn up, pressured into this situation, Lola agreed, only one problem, this was November 1996, that would mean Lola would have to design, build and test their new car in just under FOUR MONTHS. But manage it they did and thus the T97/30 was born on February 20th, less than 3 weeks before the season opener in Melbourne Australia, this meant there was absolutely no time to run a proper testing program so the new car was practically shipped over to Australia the minute it left the stage showcasing it. A late deal to use Bridgestone tyres was agreed as well as Ricardo Rosset (who made his debut with Arrows the previous year) and Italian rookie Vincenzo Sospiri to drive the car.

And from free practice onwards, the rush job took its toll, the car was substantially underdeveloped, underpowered and overweight, slow in a straight line and near impossible to drive in the corners due to flawed aerodynamics (which would have been corrected in a full testing program), the car was a disaster and an embarassment to Lola and F1 in general, the sponsors Mastercard were widely criticised in the media as a result. The car was nearly 20 seconds off the pace of the leaders in practice. Although improvements were seen in qualifying, they were still over 10 seconds off the pace and with the 107% rule in place, both Sospiri and Rosset as expected both earned a DNQ. But the team and the drivers had every reason to be optimistic that the new car would improve with track time and the prospect of a V10 engine in the pipeline.

But the trip to Brazil would never happen, Lola had run up a debt of £6million, an embarassed Mastercard chucked in the towel, lawsuits began flying in from all directions and the team was no more. And the potential of the T97/30 would never be materialised, it just goes to show that when a sponsor tries to take control of the whole operation, it doesnt always work like it did with Benetton in the mid 1980s and more recently Red Bull. But it was this laughable effort that prompted Bernie Ecclestone to hike up the Formula 1 teams entry fee from £500'000 to £48million.

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX - Lews Laughing Now?

A little over a month ago, you would have laughed at the prospect of Lewis Hamilton nicking a win at any stage this season, but fast forward 4 weeks and a raft of aerodynamic upgrades later, and the McLaren MP4-24 is a totally new beast, a race winning beast infact as Lewis Hamilton scored a dominant win after initially profiting from the mishaps of others, and that is why yours truly is now nearly £25 better off.

The first of which being polesitter Fernando Alonso who got a blistering start but retired after a bungled pitstop caused a wheel to come off, an incident that has banned his Renault team from his home Grand Prix in Valencia, and with safety being at the forefront of everyone's minds after Henry Surtees's tragic death last week and also Felipe Massa's frightening shunt in qualifying (an accident that forced him to miss the start of the race and maybe the rest of the season too) it is no suprise that the FIA decided to take stern action against Renault.

Back to the race though, Hamilton (who started 4th) scorched past Webber early on in the race to take 2nd place, which after Alonso's troubles, became the race lead. His position was further strengthened after Webber's Red Bull pit crew made a mess of his pit stop meaning he would come out behind Kimi Raikkonen, also championship contender Sebastian Vettel suffered an equally bad stop and would later retire with suspension damage after contact early on with Raikkonen. This benefitted a struggling Jenson Button who would go on to finish in 7th spot.

Hamilton's lead was strengthened again when Kimi Raikkonen stalled his car briefly after his 2nd stop giving Hamilton a comfortable enough lead to ease the car home to the finish. ahead of Raikkonen, Webber and the still improving Nico Rosberg. Kovalainen, Glock, Button and Trulli completed the scorers while debutant Jaime Alguersuari (replacing the sacked Sebastien Bourdais at Toro Rosso) had a fine debut beating his teammate Sebastien Buemi to finish a lap down in 15th place.

Also on the good news front, Felipe Massa's condition after his horror Qualifying crash is now not critical but there are now fears his sight in his left eye could have been affected in the crash, if so, this could mean a premature end to his racing career, here's hoping this is not the case and that he makes a speedy recovery and we see him back racing as soon as possible.

RACE RATING - 6/10: An action packed beginning followed by a precessional finish, but a great result

RACE TESULT - TOP 10
1st Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ 70 laps in 1h 38m 23.876
2nd Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari ................ + 11.529
3rd Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ + 16.886
4th Nico Rosberg - Williams ................ + 26.967
5th Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren ................ + 34.392
6th Timo Glock - Toyota ................ + 35.237
7th Jenson Button - Brawn ................ + 55.088
8th Jarno Trulli - Toyota ................ + 1m 08.172
9th Kazuki Nakajima - Williams ................ + 1m 08.774
10th Rubens Barrichello - Brawn ................ + 1m 09.256


CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 10 OF 17
DRIVERS TOP 10
1st Jenson Button 70pts, 2nd Mark Webber 51.5pts, 3rd Sebastian Vettel 47pts, 4th Rubens Barrichello 44pts, 5th Nico Rosberg 25.5pts, 6th Jarno Trulli 22.5pts, 7th Felipe Massa 22pts, 8th Lewis Hamilton 19pts, 9th Kimi Raikkonen 18pts, 10th Timo Glock 16pts

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st Brawn 114pts, 2nd Red Bull 98.5pts, 3rd Ferrari 40pts, 4th Toyota 38.5pts, 5th McLaren 28pts, 6th Williams 25.5pts, 7th Renault 13pts, 8th BMW Sauber 8pts, 9th Toro Rosso 5pts, 10th Force India 0pts

THE WORST F1 CARS EVER: Number 4

AGS FORD JH22
YEARS USED - 1987
DRIVERS - Pascal Fabre (FRA), Roberto Moreno (BRA)
RACES ENTERED - 16 (16 entries)
BEST QUALIFYING - 22nd (Brazil 1987)
BEST RACE FINISH - 6th (Australia 1987)
DNQ's - 3
DNPQ's - 0

AGS were a small French team that competed between 1986 and 1991 although 1987 was the first season in which they competed in all events, and it was with this car, arguably one of the ugliest ever designed, the JH22. It featured an Airbox at the rear (something not seen since the mid 1970's) and was unique in having no sidepods, instead the radiators were designed to look like a set of blinds that ran down the side of the car. It was innovative but pig ugly, add to that a horrendous red and white striped colour scheme and you have a car that was no doubt easy to spot but hard to look at without wincing.

The unlucky soul the team hired to drive the car was Pascal Fabre, a Frenchman who had an unspectacular but solid season in F3000 the previous year where he finished 7th in the championship scoring 1 win at Silverstone. It took a while though as he waited until the last possible moment as he was one of the drivers in the frame for a seat at Ligier to replace the injured and retired veteran Jacques Laffite, when they plumped for Italian veteran Piercarlo Ghinzani, Fabre signed a single season deal with AGS a month before the first race.

As expected though, the "innovations" on the JH22 did not work at all and in Fabre's hands, it was consistently the slowest of the qualifiers with only the hopelessly slow Osella's keeping Fabre's AGS off the very back of the grid and/or even DNQing. But that did not concern the little AGS squad one jot, they only wanted to build a car that was reliable and could finish races, a feat they certainly achieved, in the reliability stakes throughout the 1987 season, AGS could not be equalled, only that the car nearly always finished 6 or 7 laps down, the closest the car got to the leaders in Fabre's hands was in Belgium where they finished 5 laps down, a performance good enough for 10th place.

Unfortunately though for AGS, Osella began to get their act together and qualify better, plus Coloni had entered for the first time meaning that there was the possibility of cars failing to qualify, and now AGS looked vulnerable. Predictably Fabre suffered his first DNQ in the 11th round in Italy, 2 more DNQ's followed in Portugal and Mexico after which the team lost patience and fired Fabre, in his place came a promising young talent in the form of Roberto Moreno to complete the final 2 races of the season.

With Moreno driving, the JH22 (now very much a second rate piece of machinery) suddenly looked competitive which led many to believe that Fabre was out of his depth in F1, and this resulted with by far one of the best drives by an also-ran at the season finale in Adelaide Australia, and this waqs the race that finally, the AGS's impeccable reliability would bear fruit, after Ayrton Senna's late disqualification, Moreno was promoted up to 6th to give AGS their first ever world championship point.

Unsuprisingly, the team ditched the JH22 for 1988 with their next car, the JH23 following a simpler and more conventional design, they didnt score any points with the car, but at least it was more competitive, qualifying regularly in the midfield in the hands of Philippe Streiff.

Innovative ideas are always welcomed in the world of Formula 1, but the JH22 was a clear sign that not all new ideas work and in the hands of a small and poorly funded operation like AGS, the resources with which to recify these flaws are non existent without having to build a completely new car.

THE WORST F1 CARS EVER: Number 5

RIAL FORD ARC2

YEARS USED - 1989
DRIVERS - Christian Danner (GER), Volker Weidler (GER), Pierre-Henri Raphanel (FRA), Bertrand Gachot (FRA), Gregor Foitek (SUI)
RACES ENTERED - 16 (32 entries)
BEST QUALIFYING - 17th (Brazil 1989)
BEST RACE FINISH - 4th (Phoenix 1989)
DNQ's - 18
DNPQ's - 8

This is a new series of mine where i will look into what i think are the worst of the worst in terms of Grand Prix machinery, of which I have selected 5 to talk about, why they failed so miserably could burn down to a number of factors like lack of development, poor engine, poor design and reliability and even management failures. The first car i will talk about which falls in at 5th place on the list certainly falls under the "lack of development" title.

RIAL first entered Formula 1 the previous season in 1988 with a single car for Italian veteran Andrea De Cesaris, they were run by quite possibly the hardest nosed team principal F1 has ever seen, the volatile German alloy wheel magnate Gunter Schmid who had a moderately successful 7 year stint with ATS in Formula 1, the best year of which was 1982 where with Manfred Winklehock and Eliseo Salazar, ATS managed to pick up 4 points and finish 12th in the constructors championship, Schmid also gave future race winner Gerhard Berger his F1 debut too before pulling out at the end of 1984 after his engine supplier (BMW) refused to prelong their contract.

But back to RIAL and their 1989 car, the ARC2, this car was basically an improved version of the 1988 car, the ARC1 designed by Gustav Brunner. It was a simple, neat and quick package which never once failed to qualify in De Cesaris's hands, only once did he fail to qualify outside the top 20 and even managed a 4th place in Detroit, giving RIAL 3 points and a finish of 9th spot in the constructors championship, this did not come however without problems and many run in's with the FIA and the stewards and also Schmid's temprament too which was a factor in Brunner taking his design talents to the rival German squad Zakspeed.

The ARC2 however did have Brunner's input though, this was because it was a revamped ARC1 to meet the new aerodynamic and engine regulations (e.g an airbox.) De Cesaris by now had left the team as it expanded to 2 cars for 2 German drivers, Christian Danner and sportscar star Volker Weidler. Because of the expansion to 2 cars, only Danner's was entered for full qualifying forcing Weidler into the pre-qualifying lottery.) Weidler though was clearly out of his depth in F1, clearly missing his roots in sportscars and failed to pre-qualify on every occasion. Danner did not fare much better even though he did qualify the car on 4 occasions, the best of which being 17th spot on the grid in Brazil and a points finish in Phoenix, another 4th place.

But the car suffered hugely from appaling reliability when in qualifying trim and a lack of development from mid-season onwards, it passed the best before date practically after the 1st race of the season. Danner's 4th spot in Phoenix though at least saved the car from pre-qualifying allowing Weidler to progress into the final 30 qualifying sessions for the rest of the season. That was when though Schmid's temper reached boiling point, it was clear that for RIAL to maintain a level of competitive respectability, they needed a huge revamp of the current car or a new one altogether but Schmid simply refused to accept this fact and insisted that the team soldier on with the hopelessly uncompetitive ARC2, he even began to have a say in car setups for each race and then blamed his drivers for not qualifying the cars using his setup suggestions, the whole team was now bordering on farcical, never mind the cars.

After the Hungarian GP, it all got too much for chief designer Stefan Fober who left after Schmid demanded he paid an FIA fine out of his own pocket, Weidler was also sacked after one DNQ too many and was replaced by wealthy journeyman Pierre-Henri Raphanel, this did not help matters as he also failed to qualify the car on every outing he had, even the hiring of a new designer (Christian Van Der Pleyn) was a waste of time because the car had fallen so far behind in the development stakes in the first place. After yet another DNQ in Italy, Danner walked out on the team too to be replaced by Gregor Foitek. He lasted only 1 practice session after a massive shunt left the FIA wondering how on earth the ARC2 had managed to pass the crash tests.

Overall the ARC2 proved to be RIAL's downfall as they unsuprisingly shutdown after the 1989 season, their year proved one thing, Conservatism in Formula 1 is a deathwish, keep with the development pace or you will become the laughing stock of the grid.

FORMULA 1: Bourdais fired after consistent poor showings

Ever since Turkey, its been the worst kept secret in Formula 1, but today Toro Rosso confirmed the inevitable that the French driver and multiple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais got his marching orders from team principal Franz Tost.

And to be honest, in my view, this had been coming for a long time, ever since he was hired to drive for the team for the 2008 season, Bourdais was immediately shunted into the shadows by his more illustrious teammate Sebastian Vettel, thats despite a stunning drive in his very first race in Australia where he was running 4th until problems late on. From then on, apart from just missing out on a podium finish in Belgium, Bourdais was consistently outclassed by both Vettel, then Buemi and even the Force India's and just didnt look at ease or in his proper place in Formula 1. Infact, in qualifying for the German GP, he was nearly 1 and a half seconds adrift at the back of the field behind the next best driver, that really was the final nail in his coffin. Had he come in as expected a few years down the line when he excelled in the old feeder category Formula 3000 instead of trying his luck in America, his prospects may have been more fruitful.

But instead Bourdais goes down in my opinion as one of a select few of F1 failures that had failed to live up to the hype and just goes to show that consistent success in lower and/or equivilent Formulae does not guarantee success at the highest level of them all, Formula 1.

So then where does this leave Toro Rosso's number 11 seat to partner the promising Sebastien Buemi? Well if reports are to be believed, then there is one all but confirmed, the Spanish youngster Jaime Alguersuari, the current British Formula 3 champion who if he gets the drive will beat New Zealander Mike Thackwell's 28 year long record of the youngest ever F1 participant, the former F2 ace was just 19 years and 5 months old when he took to the grid for Tyrrell in Canada 1980. But its not just the young spaniard that has been reported to take the seat.

One of which would cause shock both in F1 and the World Rally Championship, the reigning 5 time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb. A move as such as this would be a world first but he does have circuit experience, he has competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours for a start and has had many F1 tests for the likes of Renault and Red Bull. Another is the Japanese driver Takuma Sato, who has been in the F1 wilderness after the financial demise of the Super Aguri team last year and had tests for Toro Rosso over the winter. The other driver in the frame is Bruno Senna, who was all set to bag a drive with Honda before they made their shock announcement that they would quit the sport.

GERMAN GRAND PRIX: Strewth!!, An Aussie wins

Well it only took 130 races over 8 years stuck in the midfield but finally Mark Webber is a Grand Prix winner. He didnt just win, he destroyed the opposition to win despite suffering a drive-through penalty for dangerous driving at the start. Rubens Barrichello was the big loser as Brawn's 3-stop gamble failed to pay off despite a blistering start from the veteran Brazilian. All this means is that Webber becomes only the 3rd Australian driver to win a Grand Prix, and also the first to do so since Alan Jones won for Williams at Las Vegas in 1981.

An even better starter was Lewis Hamilton who benefitted from a much improved McLaren aerodynamic package to jump up from 5th on the grid to lead into the 1st corner, only for to suffer a puncture which in the end caused him to finish a lap down in 18th and last place, but this weekend at least did signal a return to competitiveness for McLaren. Ferrari also showed their improvement too after a bold fuel strategy from Felipe Massa enabled him to grab 3rd place.

Nico Rosberg though was one of the unsung heroes of the race, starting from way down in 15th place, he nailed his start and thanks to his long first stint on the fuel strategy, he found himself up in 4th place, a position he held until the finish. The young German son of former world champion Keke has now surpassed his best eer season total with 8 races still to run thus showing Williams's continued improvement.

But if anyone needed a good pick me up, it was Adrian Sutil, starting from a career best 7th place, he ran competitively in his Force India and had managed to get himelf up into a net 2nd place before yet another heartbreaking collision with Kimi Raikkonen, the same man that destroyed his points finish dream in Monaco last year.

But the day belonged to Mark Webber who produced a drive of sheer brilliance to score victory despite being penalised for dangerous driving early on, early pacesetter Barrichello though was left to look upon an opportunity missed and went public in his disappointment at his team's strategy afterwards claiming "my team showed the right way to lose a race."

Despite this though, Jenson Button still hols a 21 point lead in the championship.

RACE RATING - 7/10: A breath of fresh air to see an eventful race this season, and also to see one of the most popular winners in living memory.

RACE RESULT - TOP 10

1. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ 1h 36m 43.310
2. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ + 9.252
3. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ + 15.906
4. Nico Rosberg - Williams ................ + 21.099
5. Jenson Button - Brawn ................ + 23.609
6. Rubens Barrichello - Brawn ................ + 24.468
7. Fernando Alonso - Renault ................ + 24.888
8. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren ............... + 58.692
9. Timo Glock - Toyota ................ + 1m 01.457
10. Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber ................ + 1m 01.925

CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS AFTER ROUND 9
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP - TOP 10
1st Jenson Button 68pts, 2nd Sebastian Vettel 47pts, 3rd Mark Webber 45.5pts, 4th Rubens Barrichello 44pts, 5th Felipe Massa 22pts, 6th Jarno Trulli 21.5pts, 7th Nico Rosberg 20.5pts, =8th Timo Glock 13pts, =8th Fernando Alonso 13pts, 10th Kimi Raikkonen 10pts

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st Brawn Mercedes 112pts, 2nd Red Bull Renault 92.5pts, 3rd Toyota 34.5pts, 4th Ferrari 32pts, 5th Williams Toyota 20.5pts, 6th McLaren Mercedes 14pts, 7th Renault 13pts, 8th BMW Sauber 8pts, 9th Toro Rosso Ferrari 5pts, 10th Force India Mercedes 0pts

RETROSPECTIVE - 1975 Spanish Grand Prix

Formula 1 has had its fair share of controversies and political infighting, especially in recent years with the FOTA threat of a breakaway championship (which thankfully did not materialise) and the infamous FISA/FOCA all out war which culminated in the mass boycott of the San Marino Grand Prix in 1982. But only rarely (especially in todays world) does a race come under threat in the interests of the safety of the drivers. This could not have been more true than in the week leading up to and including the race weekend of the Spanish Grand Prix of 1975. It was a shame that the bitter row that ensued that weekend helped put an end to arguably one of the finest tracks ever to grace a Grand Prix, the street/mountain Montjuich Park circuit near Barcelona. With its sweeping fast turns and terrifying crests negotiated at top speeds putting enourmous stress on car aerodynamics, it was a dangerous track, yet one which provided a challenge drivers relished.

But the focus of the weekend was the pathetic organisation of the whole event, after posts were not embedded properly into the ground and only loosely bolted armco barriers, the circuit was a potential deathtrap, the drivers took this up with the race organisers after conducting a thorough inspection during their traditional walk around the circuit and afterwards called a strike of all the drivers union members which made up over 3 quarters of the 26 car grid. Forced into action, the organisers sent the track marshals to work on the track overnight to fix the problems, to help out, the teams even sent over groups of their mechanics to lend a hand. Unfortunately though the circuit's safety precautions were still not fully completed and the standard of marshalling was also called into question by the drivers too. The drivers union insisted that unless the problems were fully rectified and better trained marshals were brought in from neighbouring circuits, they would refuse to race.

Unfortunately though, instead of heeding to the drivers requests, the organisers decided that the drivers action was a breach of the circuit's contract with the sport's governing body and threatened legal action against all the drivers and teams if no race took place, there were even rumours that General Franco's military police force (the Guardia Civil) would threaten to impound the cars in their makeshift paddock for the same reasons.

Thus blackmailed into racing, the drivers reluctantly agreed to race although 3 drivers recorded ridiculously slow laps in qualifying and withdrew after one lap of the race itself in protest against the race organisers, one of these included Emerson Fittipaldi, the reigning world champion at the time.

STARTING GRID
ROW 1: 1. Niki Lauda (Ferrari), 2. Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari)
ROW 2: 3. James Hunt (Hesketh), 4. Mario Andretti (Parnelli)
ROW 3: 5. Vittorio Brambilla (March), 6. John Watson (Surtees)
ROW 4: 7. Patrick Depailler (Tyrrell), 8. Tom Pryce (Shadow)
ROW 5: 9. Rolf Stommelen (Hill), 10. Jean-Pierre Jarier (Shadow)
ROW 6: 11. Jochen Mass (McLaren), 12. Ronnie Peterson (Lotus)
ROW 7: 13. Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell), 14. Carlos Pace (Brabham)
ROW 8: 15. Carlos Reutemann (Brabham), 16. Jacky Ickx (Lotus)
ROW 9: 17. Mark Donohue (Penske), 18. Tony Brise (Williams)
ROW 10: 19. Roelof Wunderink (Ensign), 20. Alan Jones (Hesketh)
ROW 11: 21. Francois Migault (Hill), 22. Bob Evans (BRM)
ROW 12: 23. Lella Lombardi (March)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WITHDREW: Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren), Wilson Fittipaldi (Fittipaldi), Arturo Merzario (Williams)

The race began and the further it went on, it descended into a complete farce, like i said 3 drivers withdrew afer just 1 lap in protest leaving 23 cars to battle it out. Polesitter Niki Lauda crashed out at the first corner with Mario Andretti, Regazzoni was also involved in the melee but managed to continue thus handing the lead to James Hunt ahead of Andretti who had managed to keep his car running, Watson, Stommelen, Brambilla and Pace made up the top 6.

Then on lap 4, Jody Schecker suffered a massive engine blowout in his Tyrrell which dumped oil onto an already treacharous circiut, failing to see the marshal's warnings, both Jones and Donohue crashed out on the oil and 2 laps later, the same fate had befallen leader Hunt therefore handing Andretti a shock lead despite his damaged car. John Watson's Surtees dropped down the order after spotting a vibration in one of his tyres and then on lap 16, Andretti crashed out with a broken rear suspension handing Rolf Stommelen the lead who then shared the honours with Carlos Pace producing a decent scrap for 1st place. After lap 18 all the crashes were taking their toll on the field, only 13 cars were running within a respectable race distance of the leaders. The top 6 read Stommelen, Pace, Peterson, Mass, Ickx and Reutemann, Peterson would crash out while trying to lap a backmarker on lap 23 promoting Jarier to 6th place

And then at the beginning of lap 26, disaster struck. As Stommelen went over the crest on the start finish kink, his carbon fibre rear wing strut gave way and the rear wing flew off, after hitting the barrier on the left, he careered over to the right, Pace crashed while trying to avoid Stommelen, then the Germans car leapt over the barrier and into the crowd killing 4 people while Stommelen got out alive with a broken leg, cracked ribs and a broken wrist.

Wierdly (and i hasten to add, Stupidly) despite the presence of the medical crews at the scene of the crash and marshals trying to remove the mountain of wreckage from the circuit, the organisers refused to bring out the safety car, Mass passed Jacky Ickx for the lead on lap 28 before the race was halted just one lap later as race was descending into a farcical deathtrap. Jochen Mass was declared the winner for his first (and what would be only) Grand Prix victory ahead of Jacky Ickx, Carlos Reutemann, Jean-Pierre Jarier and Vittorio Brambilla in 5th, but in 6th place, history was made as Lella Lombardi had survived the mayhem enough to sneak up into 6th place and score the first and only points finish for a female driver, but as the race was called 8 laps short of half distance, half points were awarded.

Despite his win, Jochen Mass was not pleased one bit, on the podium he came close to assaulting the race organisers as they waited to present him with his trophy. After this, Formula 1 never returned to Montjuich Park for a Grand Prix and the race was moved to the safer Jarama track near Madrid. Formula 1 would not return to Barcelona for another 16 years.

RACE RESULT - TOP 10 - AFTER 29 OF 75 LAPS

1. Jochen Mass (McLaren) ................ 42m 53.700
2. Jacky Ickx (Lotus) ................ + 1.100
3. Carlos Reutemann (Brabham) ................ + 1 Lap
4. Jean-Pierre Jarier (Shadow) ................ + 1 Lap
5. Vittorio Brambilla (March) ............... + 1 Lap
6. Lella Lombardi (March) ................ + 2 Laps
7. Tony Brise (Williams) ................ + 2 Laps
8. John Watson (Surtees) ................ + 3 Laps
9. Rolf Stommelen (Hill) ................ + 4 Laps (Crashed out)
10. Carlos Pace (Brabham) ................ + 4 Laps (Crashed out)

THE FORMULA ONE SILLY SEASON 2010

Its that time of year again when team bosses are starting to make plans for next season and with 3 new teams entering the fray, the driver merry-go round is set to be the most frantic it has been for many years.

With the top teams not expected to change much in terms of their driver lineups, there is set to be a few changes further down the order after almost no driver movement in the 2008-09 off season apart from the retirement of Red Bull's David Coulthard allowing Sebastian Vettel to switch from Toro Rosso to Red Bull. All this meant that Sebastien Buemi was the only rookie on the grid for 2009. But with 3 new teams on the grid, the rookie count could rise dramatically as the F1 entry list rises to a guaranteed 26 cars for the first time in 15 years, i'll look at each team and see what driver options they could take up, these are in order of championship position at the moment so ignore the race numbers.

BRAWN GP
1. Jenson Button
2. Rubens Barrichello or Anthony Davidson
With Button leading the way, he will be a driver in demand but after working with the same group of mechanics for nearly 7 years and the fact he took a pay cut to stay with the team formerly known as Honda, its a safe bet to suggest he will be in a Brawn once again in 2010. The 2nd seat though is dependent on the future plans of the popular Rubens Barrichello who if he decides to call it a day will leave a vacant seat with Honda/Super Aguri refugee Anthony Davidson most likely at the top of the Brawn wish list, apart from that, I really cant see any other possibles.

RED BULL
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Mark Webber
Barring a catastrophic fall out between now and next March, Red Bull's line-up will stay the same.

TOYOTA
5. Jarno Trulli
6. Timo Glock or Kazuki Nakajima or Kamui Kobayashi
The Toyota squad have enjoyed their best start to a season for 4 years and as the phrase goes, "if it aint broke dont fix it." But Toyota have longed to see a home grown Japanese driver get into one of their cars and if that were to happen, it would be Glock's seat most under threat from one of Toyota's young protoges Kazuki Nakajima (now at Williams) and Kamui Kobayashi, the reigning GP2 Asia champion.

FERRARI
7. Felipe Massa
8. Kimi Raikkonen or Fernando Alonso
Massa is not in danger of losing his drive with the Italian legends but if a change were to happen regarding Ferrari's 2nd car, then it would probably be the sensation of the winter, former double champ Fernando Alonso has been sounded out as a possible Ferrari driver ever since he left Renault at the end of 2006, couple that with reported discontent with his current Renault car and Raikkonen's increasing lack of motivation and a move to Ferrari (although being denied continuously) is certainly not a long shot

WILLIAMS
9. Nico Rosberg or Kazuki Nakajima
10. Kazuki Nakajima or Niko Hulkenberg
Williams have had a solid 1st half of 2009 finding themselves in the top 5 with a quick car and in Nico Rosberg, a man in form scoring all of Williams's 17.5 points so far making him well on target to beat his previous seasons best total of 20 points in 2007. Rosberg is nye on guaranteed a seat at Williams in 2010, if he wants it that is. Rosberg has been long yearning to drive a race winning car, he has faith that Williams can produce one, but whether that will be quick enough for his liking is another matter and if a big manufacturer team comes in, ROsberg would seriously consider. If Rosberg were to leave, then Kazuki Nakajima would naturally fill their number 1 drivers slot, Nakajima has no points so far in 2009 but most of that is down to pure bad luck both in strategy and circumstances, like in Turkey when he lost a net 4th place with a faulty wheel nut cover. Also if Rosberg goes, Williams have a ready made replacement waiting in the wings for the 2nd car in the shape of the 2007 A1GP champion and reigning European F3 champion Niko Hulkenberg.

McLAREN MERCEDES
11. Lewis Hamilton
12. Heikki Kovalainen or Nico Rosberg or Pedro de la Rosa or Paul Di Resta
McLaren by their standards have had a rotten year, their worst in 14 years, and all of that stems towards their 2009 car, arguably the worst F1 car ever to roll out of a McLaren factory. This is shadowing over reigning champion Lewis Hamilton's raw talent and shows that even the best can struggle. Hamilton's loyalty to the McLaren team however rules him out of moving on as he i feel has total faith in the team that his 2010 challenger will be a big improvement allowing him to challenge for race wins again. The 2nd seat though is debatable as the team is mulling over whether to keep Heikki Kovalainen or replace him with a more experienced pro-Hamilton incombant Rosberg or one of their line of test/young drivers.

RENAULT
14. Fernando Alonso or Romain Grosjean
15. Romain Grosjean, Nelson Piquet Jr or Lucas di Grassi
Alonso leaving Renault for a 2nd time would be a hammerblow to Flavio Briatore's team, Piquet however is grinding down Briatore's patience at an alarming rate and of all the drivers on the grid is the most likely to find himself out of a drive. So if Alonso leaves, it could be all change at Renault with 2 hard charging GP2 drivers at the top of the list to come in, Romain Grosjean and Lucas di Grassi.

BMW SAUBER
16. Nick Heidfeld
17. Robert Kubica
Despite a poor 2009 so far, the drivers are blameless with reasoning for their poor performance lieing with the teams over-development of their KERS system (which has now been scrapped) and neglecting somewhat their aerodynamic performance. Expect both Kubica and Heidfeld to stay put.

TORO ROSSO
18. Sebastien Buemi
19. Sebastien Bourdais or Jaime Alguersuari or Brendon Hartley
Expect changes here, Buemi has had a solid debut season and without any mishaps should stay on, meanwhile Bourdais has done little to suggest he has improved on his 2008 form, 2 of Red Bull's young program drivers are waiting int he wings should Bourdais be dropped. They are the reigning British F1 champion Jaime Alguersuari of Spain and Australia's Brendon Hartley

FORCE INDIA
20. Giancarlo Fisichella or Vitantonio Liuzzi
21. Adrian Sutil or Vitantonio Liuzzi or Karun Chandhok or Narain Karthikeyan
Force India's driver situation is a lot simpler than most teams, in the perfect world, the experienced Fisichella and the young Sutil have both had solid starts to the season despite scoring 0 points yet but with test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi and 2 of Vijay Mallya's favourites waiting in the wings, the situation could soo change if either or both dont score points.

CAMPOS META
22. Vitaly Petrov or Marc Gene
23. Jaime Alguersuari or Javier Villa
One of the 3 new teams, Adrian Campos has stated he would prefer to have an all Spanish lineup, but considering he has had a long association with the Russian driver Vitaly Petrov, this puts him in the frame for one of the 2 available seats especially considering he also will bring with him valuable russian sponsorship cash. As for a possible Spanish driver, 3 names come to mind, firstly Alguersuari (if he doesn't land an STR drive), then also Javier Villa, an experienced GP2 campaigner and also marc Gene, a man with 10 years of F1 experience, the current Ferrari tester and also a former driver with Campos in the junior formulae.

MANOR
24. Paul Di Resta or Anthony Davidson or Rubens Barrichello
25. Gary Paffett or Adam Carroll or Roberto Merhi
Manor have rumoured to be reconsiderign their F1 entry in light of the change in the budget rules, lets hope its not true as this could be the most interesting entry of them all from a British prospective. It is likely they will follow Capos's ambitions and go for an all patriotic lineup. Paul Di Resta, Anthony Davidson, Gary Paffett or the Irish driver Adam Carroll all come to mind. They could also go foreign too in the shape of a rising stars currently on their books in the F3 Euroseries, Spain's Roberto Merhi.

USF1
26. Graham Rahal or Scott Speed
27. Scott Speed or JR Hildebrand or Jonathan Summerton or Charlie Kimball
The new USF1 squad are likely to want an all American lineup which doesnt give them moch to choose from in terms of good road course drivers. Past experience though could be key which is why Scott Speed is a possibility, the most likely of all though would be the young Graham Rahal.

FORMULA TWO - SPA: Hegewald Conquers All

After 6 rounds out of 16, the first Formula 2 season in 25 years has become as tight as championship co-ordinator Jonathan Palmer hoped it would be, but if this weekend was anything to go by, you'd have thought it was a precession as the young German starlet Tobias Hegewald scored the perfect weekend by taking pole position for both races, winning both races, leading every single lap in both races and taking fastest lap in both races, he was even quickest in both practice sessions, it was a massacre.

Which was bad news for the incoming championship leader, Italy's Mirko Bortolotti who endured a torrid weekend despite qualifying well for race 2, a pair of 9th places equalling no points, a bad weekend enough for his championship lead to be wiped out. It would be an even worse weekend though for the Indian driver Armann Ebrahim after a nasty qualifying crash with Henry Surtees knocked him out for the entire weekend meaning only 24 of the 25 cars would take the start of both races

RACE 1
STARTING GRID
ROW 1: 1. Tobias Hegewald (Germany), 2. Andy Souchek (Spain)
ROW 2: 3. Robert Wickens (Canada), 4. Julien Jousse (France)
ROW 3: 5. Kazim Vasiliauskas (Lithuania), 6. Henry Surtees (Great Britain)
ROW 4: 7. Milos Pavlovic (Serbia), 8. Alex Brundle (Great Britain)
ROW 5: 9. Jolyon Palmer (Great Britain), 10. Philipp Eng (Austria)
ROW 6: 11. Carlos Iaconelli (Brazil), 12. Jack Clarke (Great Britain)
ROW 7: 13. Henri Karjalainen (Finland), 14. German Sanchez (Spain)
ROW 8: 15. Tom Gladdis (Great Britain), 16. Jason Moore (Great Britain)
ROW 9: 17. Jens Hoing (Germany), 18. Edoardo Piscopo (Italy)
ROW 10: 19. Natacha Gachnang (Switzerland), 20. Sebastian Hohenthal (Sweden)
ROW 11: 21. Mirko Bortolotti (Italy), 22. Pietro Gandolfi (Italy)
ROW 12: 23. Nicola Di Marco (Italy), 24. Mikhail Aleshin (Russia)
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DID NOT START: Armann Ebrahim (India)

There was action right off the line as the 11 lap race began, Robert Wickens got a poor start from 3rd spot and was then rammed in the back by the unsighted Jason Moore, eliminating both cars, as the cars littered the start line, the safety car was called for which only lasted 1 lap thanks to the length of the Spa course.

As the race restarted, there was another clash behind the runaway leader Hegewald. Souchek failed in his challenge to take Hegewald into the les combes corner, he ran across the grass causing madness behind as he retook to the track, the unfortunate man in all of this was Alex Brundle who in the confusion was clattered into by Phillip Eng eliminating both drivers, a shame for both as they had made the best starts from 8th and 10th respectively to be running 5th and 6th at the time, Jolyon Palmer was also involved but he was able to continue albeit way down the field eventually coming through to finish in 16th

From then on Souchek recovered well to pass both Jousse and Pavlovic into 2nd place where he would remain until the end, but nobody could touch Hegewald who drove out of his skin, no-body was lapping within 3 tenths of a second of the German whose win leapfrogged him up from 15th to a share of 6th in the championship with Pavlovic and Eng. Souchek however would be disappointed later on as his misdemeanours in elimiating Eng and Brundle earned him a 10 second time penalty dropping him from 2nd to 4th, this promoted Pavlovic to 2nd and Jousse to 3rd, giving the latter the championship lead by 1 point ahead of Bortolotti ahead with Souchek and Wickens a further point behind

ROUND 6
STARTING GRID
ROW 1: 1. Tobias Hegewald (Germany), 2. Robert Wickens (Canada)
ROW 2: 3. Andy Souchek (Spain), 4. Alex Brundle (Great Britain)
ROW 3: 5. Julien Jousse (France), 6. Milos Pavlovic (Serbia)
ROW 4: 7. Mikhail Aleshin (Russia), 8. Mirko Bortolotti (Italy)
ROW 5: 9. Kazim Vasiliauskas (Lithuania), 10. Philipp Eng (Austria)
ROW 6: 11. Carlos Iaconelli (Brazil), 12. Jolyon Palmer (Great Britain)
ROW 7: 13. Jack Clarke (Great Britain), 14. Henri Karjalainen (Finland)
ROW 8: 15. Tom Gladdis (Great Britain), 16. Jens Hoing (Germany)
ROW 9: 17. German Sanchez (Spain), 18. Sebastian Hohenthal (Sweden)
ROW 10: 19. Jason Moore (Great Britain), 20. Natacha Gachnang (Switzerland)
ROW 11: 21. Nicola Di Marco (Italy), 22. Pietro Gandolfi (Italy)
ROW 12: 23. Henry Surtees (Great Britain), 24. Edoardo Piscopo (Italy)
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DID NOT START: Armann Ebrahim (India)

The start was much cleaner but produced the same outcome with Hegewald leading away, if anything this one was even more dominant than the first race, Hegewald would go on to win by a massive 7 seconds with a fastest lap nearly a full second quicker than anybody else, this completed the perfect weekend for him.

There was plenty of action behind him though, Palmer and Clarke clashed in the midfield eliminating both drivers, Wickens had started poorly being passed off the line by both Souchek and Brundle, although he recovered well to pass the latter at Eau Rouge. From then on the top 3 raced away while Brundle held up the chasing pack with some good defensive driving, a tactic that failed to pay off in some part as Pavlovic finally found a way past on lap 11 of the 15 lap race. Brundle did manage to hold them off long enough to earn his best finish of the season.

Souchek and Wickens though had no answer to the ever dominant Hegewald who sormed to an easy win, Souchek's 2nd place allowed the spaniard to snatch the championship lead from Jousse going into the next round at Brands Hatch, behind the top 3, Pavlovic held off Brundle to take 4th while behind them, Jousse, Vasiliauskas and Aleshin completed the point scorers. Hegewald's 2nd win of the weekend pushed him up to 4th place, just 6 points behind Souchek and 1 point ahead of the former leader Bortolotti

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6
DRIVERS TOP 12
1st Andy Souchek 28pts, 2nd Robert Wickens 26pts, 3rd Julien Jousse 25pts, 4th Tobias Hegewald 22pts, 5th Mirko Bortolotti 21pts, =6th Mikhail Aleshin 17pts, =6th Milos Pavlovic 17pts, 8th Phillip Eng 12pts, =9th Edoardo Piscopo 10pts, =9th Nicola Di Marco 10pts, =11th Carlos Iaconelli 9pts, =11th Kazim Vasiliauskas 9pts

NATIONS TOP 12
1st Italy 41pts, 2nd Spain 28pts, 3rd Canada 26pts, 4th France 25pts, 5th Germany 22pts, =6th Russia 17pts, =6th Serbia 17pts, 8th Great Britain 15pts, 9th Austria 12pts, =10th Brazil 9pts, =10th Lithuania 9pts, 12th Finland 7pts