indonesia street circuit!!!!!

kepada peminat sukan bermotor malaysia(sesku pon sama lah)....Litar sepang dalam bahaya....dah banyak saingan kepada litar kebanggaan kita nih...setelah singapura buat street circuit...sekarang tiba turn indon lak untuk buat street circuit....nampaknya litar sepang semakin ade banyak saingan...harap harap jangan la litar sepang di dropkan drpd f1.....ok....street circuit indon nih dibuat di Lippo Village...dekat dekat ngan Jakarta....khas untuk perlumbaan A1gp....tapi mungkin jugak bakal digunakan untuk F1....kan trend sekarang negara berebut rebut nak anjur f1....kalo ade duit sume jadi.........cam Singapura......litar ini direka oleh herman tilke....mamat nih faymes dengan design track racing ntuk f1...litar sepang pon die design tau...ok....baca artikel dibawah ntuk tau lebih lanjut tentang Lippo village street circuit.....





Organisers of A1GP Lippo Village, Indonesia have unveiled the circuit design that will be used for the sixth round of this season next February. The 3.2km street course runs clockwise around the streets of Lippo Village, near the capital city Jakarta. It comprises of 12 turns and was designed by famous track designer Herman Tilke, from the renowned Tilke Gmbh. The circuit is designed to meet all of the stringent FIA safety regulations, while still providing a challenging and exciting track with an estimated average speed of 176km/h, and the top speed reaching over 300km/h. The temporary street circuit is being built within a community setting but has been designed to minimise disruption to the community while showcasing Lippo Village, the surrounding businesses, and areas. Planned additions to the buildings in the famous Pelita Harapan University (UPH) will double up as the pit lane complex during the A1GP event, which outside each year’s race week be utilised as part of the University’s infrastructure. New roads around the township are also to be constructed with the long-term growth of Lippo Village in mind. “We’ve of course been privy to the plans and are totally committed towards having the race here in Lippo Village for at least the next five years,” said A1GP Asia-Pacific CEO, David Clare. “There is strong commitment from those involved and A1GP will play our part in ensuring this race at Lippo Village is a success.” Tickets to A1GP Lippo Village, Indonesia will go on sale in December 2008 on A1GP.com.

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Heidfeld blames poor performance on traffic

Nick Heidfeld was not amused with his fellow competitors on track. The German qualified himself in sixteenth position but according to the BMW Sauber driver he was hindered by his fellow racers on track in his final flying lap. 

Speaking about his qualifying session Heidfeld commented: "I'm totally disappointed. It looked quite good at the end of yesterday's practice and also this morning. But on my last lap in Q1 I had four cars in my way. Most of them at least tried to give me room, but it still cost me time. Towards the end of the lap I had one car in front which was on an out lap. He saw me and accelerated. He then overtook Sebastien Bourdais before the last corner, and then Sebastien was right in my way. I was hoping it was so obvious he would be penalised right away and I could still get into Q2."

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Hamilton scores pole again!

Lewis Hamilton continued his strong performance from the last two races in Hungary as the McLaren driver will start Sunday's Grand Prix from pole position. He will be joined on the front row by his team mate Heikki Kovalainen. Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica will line up behind them in third and fourth. 

Saturday afternoon's qualifying session got under way with high hopes at McLaren. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest man on Friday and in this morning's free practice session and was clearly the man to beat for the pole position. 

In the first 20-minute qualifying session Lewis Hamilton ended, just ahead of Massa, in first. Nick Heidfeld will be disappointed with his qualifying run as the German failed to make it into the second qualifying session. Coming on to the straight the BMW Sauber driver got caught up behind Sebastien Bourdais and waved angry to point out the Frenchman should move. Heidfeld failed to make it into Q2 and was not amused after the session. 

In the second qualifying session Nico Rosberg did not come out of his pitbox. At the time of writing it is uncertain what the exact reason is why the German did not take his Williams out on track but he will most likely have a technical problem the team prefers to get solved before Sunday's race. 

At Honda Jenson Button will be happy with his qualifying performance. The Briton will start the race from P12 alongside Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel who qualified himself in eleventh. 

Timo Glock did extremely well. The German will start Sunday's race from fifth position with Kimi Raikkonen next to him on the third row on the grid. Fernando Alonso will line up behind them in 7th with Mark Webber next to him in eighth. Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Renault's Nelson Piquet jr. complete the top ten as they will start from P9 and P10.

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Piquet comes good for Renault

Renault came away with its best finish of the season today as a brilliant tactical drive saw Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet take second place in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Teammate Fernando Alonso endured an eventful race coming home in 11th place. 

"I am obviously very happy!" exclaimed Piquet. "After qualifying yesterday I was thinking that my weekend was over, but we opted for an aggressive strategy in the race and the team made some great decisions when the safety car came out. Then I had to concentrate to keep my pace up and look after my tyres as much as possible towards the end of the race. I knew that Lewis was much faster than me, so I did not want to take any pointless risks. This second place today is a great reward for the whole team." 

Alonso commented, "That was a difficult race for me. I had a bad start and lost several positions. Then I was on the pace but it was difficult to recover. I think that we were simply out of luck today, but we must now look forward and concentrate on the next Grand Prix." 

Team boss Flavio Briatore added, "Nelson had an amazing race. He proved to be very fast towards the end of the race and was able to remain strong under enormous pressure. He was not able to hold off Hamilton who was much faster, but he was able to defend his second place strongly. I am delighted for him and for the team who really deserve this result."

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Victorious Hamilton would have preferred easy ride

Lewis Hamilton was delighted to have won the German Grand Prix and taken a clear four point lead in the drivers' championship, but the McLaren driver said he would have liked it easier than it came when his team didn't pit him during the safety car period. 

"First of all I didn't plan on it and I would have much preferred an easy, comfortable afternoon out front," Hamilton said. "It started off well, we had two very comfortable stints and the team opted for me to stay out thinking I could make the gap, but I needed 23 seconds and had seven laps so I don't know how that would have worked out." 

On the decision not to bring him in during the safety car period Hamilton said, "There wasn't much discussion, they said the decision and I said, 'are you sure?' and they said 'yes' so that was it. We all have our decisions on thngs and I'm sure we'll learn from this and move on. We had the best car this weekend and we came out on top." 

"I was pushing hard to build the gap and came out behind Heikki, a great team mate, and I have to say thank you to him who saw I was quicker and didn't put up a big fight," Hamilton added. "I knew I was a second a lap faster than Felipe and had a few laps to get past before my tyres started graining and I just had to get him on the brakes and he gave me room so it was good fun. Then I thought my work was done and they said I had to get past Nelson who put up a battle but it was fair."

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Hamilton storms to victory

Lewis Hamilton stormed to victory in the German Grand Prix and made up for a dubious strategy call under the safety car, to retake the lead and take the win in the closing stages of the race. Nelson Piquet Jr made the most of a one-stop strategy and safety car period to finish second ahead of Felipe Massa.

Hamilton had a strong start, cutting across Massa into turn one causing the Ferrari to come under pressure from Kovalainen into turn two. The Brazilian resisted and the trio fell into their starting order at the end of lap one. Meanwhile Kubica made a strong start to climb to fourth by the end of lap one ahead of Trulli, Alonso and Raikkonen down to seventh. 

On lap three Fernando Alonso tried a move down the inside of Trulli who wasn't having any of it, closing the door firmly. Alonso, forced to go defensive lost sixth to Raikkonen in turn two. 

By lap six Hamilton had built a lead of 4.6s over Massa while Trulli, Raikkonen and Alonso continued to squabble over fifth, sixth and seventh. By lap 10 his lead had grown to seven seconds and the McLaren driver looked untouchable. 

The British driver was the first to pit from an 11s lead on lap 18, followed in by BMW's Kubica. Hamilton had a moment in turn two and let Trulli past him. Hamilton looked like he was urgently trying to find a way past the Toyota, but to his fortune Trulli pitted at the end of the lap, followed by Alonso. Massa pitted on lap 20, and Kovalainen the lap after. 

Hamilton resumed the lead by 8.5s over Massa. Timo Glock was a surprise, staying out very late until lap 29 before pitting and rejoining in eighth, ahead of Alonso. 

At half race distance Hamilton led Massa by 11s ahead of Kovalainen, Kubica, Raikkonen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock, Alonso and Webber. 

On lap 35, just as everyone was beginning to doze off, Timo Glock suffered a right rear suspension failure on his Toyota on the exit of the final corner, pitching round and backwards into the pit wall at 140mph. The safety car was deployed as marshals removed scattered debris from the pit straight. 

Lap 38, as the pit lane was open, Felipe Massa led a stream of almost everyone else in for their second stops, while Hamilton remained in the lead. After the stops on lap 40 Hamilton officially led Heidfeld and Piquet who also did not pit. Massa was in fourth, just four seconds down the road. 

The race resumed on lap 41 with 26 laps to go and a lap later Kovalainen pulled a great move out to go round the outside of Kubica and take fifth. 

Lewis Hamilton began to build his lead again, but had to pit eventually on lap 50, rejoining in fifth, just behind Heikki Kovalainen. A quick radio call from the McLaren pit wall and Hamilton eased past Kovalainen with 16 laps to go as he tried to repair the damage of not pitting behind the safety car.

Heidfeld pitted on lap 53, rejoining behind Hamilton and ahead of Kovalainen. Hamilton meanwhile closed up to within two seconds of Felipe Massa as Nelson Piquet Jr inherited the lead, and was keeping a steady two-second gap over the Ferrari. 

Lap 56 and Hamilton put the pressure on Massa and passed him down the inside of the hairpin for second place. Meanwhile Piquet continued in the lead, but Hamilton was closing and on lap 59 pulled a repeat move on the Renault to retake the lead. 

Hamilton cruised home to the chequered flag and victory ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr and Felipe Massa. Hamilton's win takes him four points clear of Massa in the drivers' championship. Nick Heidfeld recovered from his poor qualifying to finish fourth ahead of Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen. Kubica and Vettel took the final points in seventh and eighth.

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Hamilton storms to Hockenheim pole

Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole position for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim ahead of Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen. 


Despite a short burst of light rain before qualifying, conditions remained dry for the hour. The first session saw Nakajima, Piquet, Barrichello, Sutil and Fisichella drop out.

In the second session Timo Glock ended up eleventh ahead of Heidfeld who made a mistake on his final flying lap and Rosberg, Button and Bourdais.

In the final pole shoot-out, Lewis Hamilton snatched pole from Felipe Masa in the final moments of the session while the morning pace setter Heikki Kovalainen ended up third. Jarno Trulli enjoyed another competitive run in the Toyota to end up fourth ahead of a strong lap from Fernando Alonso in fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen ended up sixth on the grid as he struggled for grip in his Ferrari ahead of Robert Kubica, Mark Webber and his new team mate for 2009, Sebastian Vettel. David Coulthard rounded off a good day for Red Bull in tenth.

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A Dull Formula 1 Championship

Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 British Grand Prix and with the added incentive of him winning the British grandprix, the press has gone into overdrive labeling with superlatives probably Schumacher could only dream of.

We're fed with British Oriented Media through Sky's sister network Star. I couldn't help wondering, if Kimi had won in similar fashion would there be a single piece of news on Kimi, except that he lead the race and won. But he didn't. Neither did Massa.

So here comes what I've felt for a while this season. Despite all the hype, Hamilton pales in comparison with a Schumacher or a Senna or a Prost or any other great legends as the British press would make you believe. Neither is Kimi or even Alonso. They're all great drivers in their rights, but you don't sense that you're watching something unbelievably spectacular on a consistent basis. Schumacher and Senna provided, Kimi and Alonso would do it once in a while.

If you look back, Schumi arrived in F1 with a bang and with midfield machinery he excelled right from the word go. Some of his driving was labeled unbelievable even by the British press. But of course he started winning, then those comments dried up. In 1996, when Hill and Villeneuve were dueling it out, you always knew that great driver and the class of the field lied in the tractor Ferrari.

I remember a few years ago Alonso describing beating Schumacher as an incredible task where you need get every single aspect correct and be on the limit at all times. Sadly you don't feel the same when you see any of the top runners today.

So while, the Championship is at an interesting juncture with 3 drivers tied, you don't feel half the excitement a Mika-Schumi battles had or the 2005 Alonso-Kimi battle had. It's been a championship filled with "Who will falter next". I feel a Schumacher in his prime would never had made so many mistakes and had so many slip ups.

So while everyone was rubbishing Schumacher, Senna in their primes, the truth of the matter is that F1 fans would love watching drives from mesmeric and genius drivers rather than watch a bunch of faltering drivers fight it out in a close championship. It's always been the case with sports, basketball had it's Michael Jordan, football had Zidane. When you watched these greats you always knew that you were part of something special and probably that comes very rarely.

So as the British press and all hail as Lewis as the next big thing, I feel the real champ lies else where, maybe a Kubica or maybe even Alonso. They seem to be doing more to deserve the merit they receive than any of the championship leaders.

So we might have to wait a few more years till a driver of calibre and tenacity that was synonymous to a Schumacher or Senna or Lauda comes along and truly set alights the championship ring year after year and finally F1 can again claim to have a true Great.

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Hamilton dominates home Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix became a dream scenario for the British fans as they saw their hero Lewis Hamilton win his home Grand Prix. Hamilton started his race from fourth position but going into turn 1 he was right on Kovalainen's tail. After following his team mate for a number of laps Hamilton managed to overtake the Finn and took the lead. For the rest of the race Hamilton was unchallenged even though the changing weather conditions could have spoiled his race. 


The race started at a damp track on Sunday afternoon but soon more rain would fall to make it an interesting race. Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa struggled in the wet. Massa spun several times and was the last driver to take the chequered flag. Kimi Raikkonen was way off the pace and had to settle for fourth in the end. 

At Honda F1 the team gambled when heavy rain fell from the skies. The team fitted extreme wets under both Barrichello and Button's car. It paid off as Barrichello even moved up to second position. As the track dried up Honda took Barrichello in for intermediates so the Brazilian could easily finish in third position and take a well deserved champagne shower on the podium. 

Nick Heidfeld made no mistakes. The German moved up the field as others spun around on track.

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Maiden pole position for Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen will start Sunday's British Grand Prix from pole position. The Finn was clearly the fastest man in the final qualifying session. He will be joined on the front row by Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber. Behind the duo we'll see Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton line up in the second row at the grid. 


The British fans were counting on Lewis Hamilton. The Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone is completely sold out, but instead of the young Briton the fans will see his team mate Heikki Kovalainen start Sunday's British Grand Prix from pole position. 

In the first qualifying session Heikki Kovalainen was the only one to complete a lap under 1m20s. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were also well on the pace and ended second and third. It was an exciting first qualifying session as with 5 minutes left rain came down making the track a bit slippery. There were only a few drivers that went out to give it a shot. Sebastian Bourdais managed to improve his fastest lap and ended in the top ten. Giancarlo Fisichella was also on a good run but flew off in the third sector. 

In the second qualifying session McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton ended first with his team mate in second. Mark Webber did extremely well as he ended third. At Toro Rosso SebastianVettel surprised a few by making it into the final qualifying session. 

The third and final qualifying session saw Heikki Kovalainen score pole position. At BMW Sauber though it didn't go as planned. Robert Kubica faced technical problems with his car and was unable to complete a flying lap. Sebastian Vettel ended 8th while at Red Bull Mark Webber continued to show Red Bull's form with P2. At Ferrari things aren't going as well as they used to go. Kimi Raikkonen will start Sunday's race from third while Felipe Massa will start from ninth.

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Barcelona technical preview

The Grand Prix circuit near Barcelona is one that every F1 team knows well from the thousands of kilometres of testing carried out there over the winter. Few venues offer such a variety of medium and high-speed corners and it is widely acknowledged as the definitive aero circuit that provides a stern test of a Formula 1 car. With few big braking zones and so many high-speed corners, overtaking remains extremely difficult and a good qualifying performance and sensible strategy are paramount for a successful weekend.

Aerodynamics
Aerodynamic efficiency is always a key factor at Barcelona, although the introduction of the new chicane last year has replaced on of the most critical high-speed parts of the lap and means the track is not as demanding as it once was. Even so, the circuit remains the ultimate test of a car's aero package and teams will run with high downforce levels to ensure competitiveness over the whole lap.

Suspension
With the suspension we have to find the best compromise to give the drivers a well balanced and responsive car. This means we will use relatively stiff settings at the front of the car to get a good change of direction, while the rear will be slightly softer in order to get the best possible traction out of the slower corners. This will be especially important this year with the removal of traction control. Ride height is also an important parameter to consider as generally we can run the car quite low in order to gain maximum aerodynamic performance.

Engine Performance
Barcelona is not generally thought of as an 'engine circuit' as the engine is not under particular stress as any point and only 62% of the lap is spent on full throttle. There are relatively few hard acceleration zones from low revs as the engine spends most of the lap accelerating from the middle of the rev range. As such, the priority is for the power delivery to be progressive and driveable in order to maintain the best handling balance, and limit tyre wear.

Tyres
Barcelona is well known for being a demanding on tyre wear because it includes so many long, high-speed corners and has a fairly abrasive track surface. The tyres are therefore under high loadings, particularly the front left which has to work hard in the quick right-hand corners such as Turns 3 and 9. As a result Bridgestone will supply hard and medium compound tyres for the weekend, and the team will need to pay close attention to the wear and degradation during free practice to determine which compound to run the majority of the race with.

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Raikkonen ready to continue championship fight

Kimi Raikkonen will travel to Barcelona for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix as the championship leader. Even though the Fin showed he and team-mate Felipe Massa are in good shape at Ferrari Raikkonen will not sit back and relax. He realises the competition will be extremely motivated to chase the Ferrari duo.

Looking ahead of the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix Raikkonen said: "I've raced many times in Barcelona and I have to say it is always a very challenging circuit. But this time it will be special. I'll come to Spain as the leader of the classification, while usually I was the chaser. If I can manage to keep all the others behind me in the race that would mean that I keep them also behind in the Championship.

"My approach is the usual one: giving 100%, just like the whole team. The situation can change very quickly in Formula One. That's why it's very important to collect as many points as possible in every single race: There's still a long way to go until the title.

"The team is in good shape. My participation in last week's tests has been quite limited, due to the rain. But that's not a problem. I think we'll have a good performance and we can be really competitive; at least the components are all there. It's going to be very close: all the teams have introduced updates ahead of the first European race, which makes it even more interesting. We have won the last two races and that might make our competitors even hungrier to win."

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f1 is back...now at spain!!!!

the 1st leg of f1 in europe will be held at spain this weekend...after serious testing...all the team(except super aguri) claim their car is more well configurated..well...we'll found out later....my hope is high for my beloved bmw-sauber team...hoping kubica and nick to do well....since kubica grabbed the 1st pole for sauber(ironically kubica is Pole) my hope for the 1st win of sauber is extremely high...c'mon sauber...don't waste my time for not winning some race this year pleaseee...
my wish for this weekend is:
                      dear god...hope lewis hamilton died in accident...hehehehe

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