Latest F1 news in brief
- Ferrari tester Gene hurt in Le Mans crash
- Mosley vote on Tuesday could go either way
- McLaren's Whitmarsh happy with Kovalainen
- Rossi – Ferrari wanted me for F1
- Sutil would not have scored points at Monaco
- Hamilton 'lucky' to win Monaco GP – Sauber
- Schu suffers another fall in bike race
Ferrari tester Gene hurt in Le Mans crash
(GMM) Some time Ferrari test driver Marc Gene survived with light injuries after a huge crash during testing on Sunday for the forthcoming 24 hours of Le Mans event.
The 34-year-old Spaniard, whose teammate for the famous race is 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, lost control of the Peugeot sports car, which flipped before striking a barrier backwards.
The car is a write-off, and Gene was treated at the scene and at the circuit's medical centre before he was transferred to a local hospital for a night of observation and tests.
He suffered a fractured toe and a bruised elbow, confirmed reports said, and Gene should be fit to race later in June.
Mosley vote on Tuesday could go either way
(GMM) In between Max Mosley's reported confidence, and the opposing widespread resistance to his continuing role as FIA president, the outcome of Tuesday's crucial Paris vote is truly unclear.
24 major FIA member clubs, all with hypothetical votes at the FIA senate, condemned the 68-year-old Briton in a recent letter.
But some other affiliates – some with two votes apiece – have not shown their hands.
Some that want Mosley to be removed, meanwhile – including India, Russia and Jamaica – will not be present on Tuesday because they are ineligible to vote, mainly because they were late to pay FIA fees or missed the proxy deadline.
In fact, the news agency Associated Press also said the governing body has confirmed that just 180 of the 222 FIA member clubs will attend the Paris vote.
Elsewhere, the British newspaper The Guardian conducted a poll of 100 of the eligible FIA voters that showed 37 per cent want Mosley to go.
The newspaper said 25 per cent are set to vote in the FIA president's favor, 9 per cent are undecided or ineligible, while 29 per cent declined to comment.
McLaren's Whitmarsh happy with Kovalainen
(GMM) McLaren executive Martin Whitmarsh has declared himself delighted with the British team's new driver recruit in 2008, Heikki Kovalainen.
The Finn moved from Renault after his mixed rookie season in 2007 to become Lewis Hamilton's teammate this year.
And even though Kovalainen, 26, is the lowest placed of the six McLaren, Ferrari or BMW-Sauber runners in the drivers' championship at present, Whitmarsh is still full of praise.
He said he pushed personally to put Kovalainen in the sister MP4-23, after Fernando Alonso left McLaren.
"At the beginning it was difficult, because it meant our test driver Pedro de la Rosa – who is a good friend – had lost his chance of the race seat.
"At first, it was best not to mention Heikki's name to Pedro! But now he thinks differently — he knows, as we all do, that we made a good decision with Heikki," Whitmarsh told the German publication Auto Motor und Sport.
Regarding the 23 point deficit to Hamilton, meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz competition boss Norbert Haug reckons at least 20 of those lost points were not Kovalainen's fault.
Rossi – Ferrari wanted me for F1
(GMM) Ferrari wanted Valentino Rossi to switch from MotoGP to the famous formula one team in 2006, the seven time motorcycling world champion has confirmed.
"I thought about it. Ferrari wanted me," Rossi, the flamboyant Italian who won his third successive MotoGP race on Sunday at Mugello, is quoted as revealing to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
Rossi tested the Maranello based team's single seaters several times in that period, reportedly in view to becoming Michael Schumacher's teammate.
"It is another world but I was fast," Rossi insisted.
The 29-year-old is also quoted as elaborating to Spain's El Mundo newspaper: "There was a possibility of moving to F1.
"I don't know whether I would have done well or not, but in the end I enjoy my life and still have the passion for motorcycles," Rossi added.
Sutil would not have scored points at Monaco
(GMM) Whether he was punted out of the race by Kimi Raikkonen or not, Adrian Sutil would not have banked five points at the recent Monaco grand prix.
It has emerged that, although the young German was merely reprimanded by stewards for earlier overtaking under yellow flags in the Monte Carlo race, the FIA representatives would have taken different action had the Force India driver actually reached the checkered flag.
Sutil was in tears after the Raikkonen crash, and his team bosses claimed that the reigning world champion's driving error cost Force India several million dollars for the lost points.
But according to the Swiss newspaper Blick, 25-year-old Sutil would have been demoted out of the points even if he had finished.
Steward Paul Gutjahr confirmed: "We would have had to give him a 25-second penalty, because he overtook three cars under yellow flags after the Alonso-Heidfeld collision at the hairpin."
A 25-second penalty would have dropped Sutil from fourth to at least 10th place.
Hamilton 'lucky' to win Monaco GP – Sauber
(GMM) McLaren's Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a triple-dose of good fortune to emerge the winner of the recent Monaco grand prix.
That is the assessment of formula one team founder Peter Sauber, who is still a consultant and small shareholder of today's BMW-owned outfit.
In his latest newspaper column for Blick, the 64-year-old Swiss said the McLaren driver's luck began when he made a driver error and struck the barrier on lap 6.
"The fact that the suspension remained intact was simply lucky," Sauber wrote.
"The fact that the incident happened towards the end of a lap, rather than at the beginning, was lucky again, otherwise he would have lost much more time driving slowly back to the pits," he continued.
Sauber explained: "Then he was able to adopt a better strategy than his rivals, and the safety car meant that his error was effectively negated because of the favorable timing.
"He was simply lucky three times over," Sauber said.
Schu suffers another fall in bike race
(GMM) Michael Schumacher fell from his motorcycle yet again, as he continued his new semi-professional racing hobby on two wheels at the weekend.
The record-holding seven time world champion, and winner of 91 grands prix, returned to the saddle at the IDM (Internationale Deutsche Motorradmeisterschaft) German motorbike championships at the Nurburgring.
But Schumacher, 39, who started from 25th on the grid and had fought up to seventeenth, failed to finish the race when he fell on lap 11.
He was not injured, German media reports said.
"I am completely okay," Schumacher is quoted as saying by the Financial Times Deutschland. "It was my mistake and a shame, because this race was proving a lot of fun.
"17th would have been absolutely great for me," he added.