Latest F1 news in brief
- Kubica to doctors – 'can I race?'
- Toyota not worried about suspension problems for Indy
- World's press on Hamilton, Ferrari, Kubica
- Dennis, Massa, slam safety car rule
Kubica to doctors – 'can I race?'
(GMM) Robert Kubica's first question to doctors in the Sacre-Coeur hospital on Sunday was: "Can I race in Indianapolis next Sunday?"
Ronald Denis, head of trauma at the downtown hospital and also the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, confirmed to the Canwest News Service that the Polish driver stayed overnight with minor concussion and a sprained right ankle.
He will have some neurological tests on Monday.
"When I saw the crash on the screen I was very worried; I thought he was dead," Denis admitted. "But when we got there, I was very happy to see he was talking.
"Under the circumstances he is doing very, very well."
BMW-Sauber said on Monday that a decision about whether 22-year-old Kubica will be fit to race in America will be taken at the Indianapolis circuit on Thursday.
Toyota not worried about suspension problems for Indy
(GMM) Toyota is not worried that its suspension problems at the Canadian grand prix might recur on the high speed Indianapolis circuit this weekend.
F1 is now making the short dash south from Montreal to the United States of America, and the cars will be back in action mere days after Jarno Trulli suffered two front upright failures across the Canadian curbs.
The Indy circuit features notorious banking, and was the scene of Ralf Schumacher's dramatic crashes in recent years.
But Toyota's chassis boss Pascal Vasselon said on Monday: "We are not concerned that the issue we faced with the front suspension during practice for the Canadian grand prix will reappear.
"Turn 8 at Montreal is unique and we will now have enough time to rectify the issue."
World's press on Hamilton, Ferrari, Kubica
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton on Sunday crossed the checkered flag (US) $200,000 heavier for his first formula one victory.
The British newspaper Daily Mail claims that McLaren's 22-year-old rookie is on a $1m retainer with a $20,000 bonus per point scored in 2007.
With a championship leading total of 48 points, then, Hamilton has nearly doubled his salary after just six races at the pinnacle of motor sport.
"Hamilton could become one of the top 10 earning sportsmen within a few years," said PR expert Johnno Spence.
The British press reacted with predictable delight to Lewis' Canadian breakthrough from pole; Scotland's Aberdeen Journal calling it his 'day of destiny'.
But even the rest of the world joined the chorus, France's Le Figaro describing Hamilton as the "best rookie in grand prix history".
Italy, though, turned its attention to Ferrari's now two-race slump. "The team from Maranello must work harder," Corriere dello Sport demanded.
Tuttosport went one step further, uttering the inevitable 'c' word — crisis.
"Massa must admit the disaster," the publication wrote, "because Ferrari was not competitive in any sense. Nobody would have counted on this result — it is now obvious that Ferrari is running into serious problems."
'La Repubblica' pointed a finger at Kimi Raikkonen's low profile run to fifth place.
"A disappointing achievement that corresponds neither to his fame or his income."
Austria's Salzburger Nachrichten said that Robert Kubica had been lucky to survive his horror 280kph crash.
"For the first time since the horrible weekend of Imola 1994, the smell of death was in the air at a formula one race. It is a miracle that he is unhurt."
Poland's Przeglad Sportowy agreed: "Kubica cheated death".
Dennis, Massa, slam safety car rule
Jun.11 (GMM) Ron Dennis and Felipe Massa have called for the scrapping of F1's new safety car rules.
The chaotic Canadian grand prix had to be neutralized no fewer than four times on Sunday, and McLaren boss Dennis hit out at the rule that now means the pit lane is closed for a lap after the safety car is deployed.
"It is one of those changes that was made for good reasons but has had too much of a repercussion on this race and will have on other races," he said.
The rule was introduced so that drivers do not speed up after the safety car deployment to make a quick pit stop.
Race winner Lewis Hamilton's McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso was one of the drivers seriously disadvantaged by the rule on Sunday, as he was forced to enter the 'closed' pit lane when our of fuel.
He then had to serve a stop-go penalty.
Dennis said: "I hope the FIA and the other teams will learn from today and that we can do a mid-season regulatory change to avoid penalizing other drivers in the future because it could be anybody caught out by it.
"It just doesn't work for formula one."
Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella, meanwhile, were black flagged for exiting the pits under a red light.
"What was I supposed to do?" Ferrari's Massa said.
"What sense does it make? Was I supposed to stay stopped while the race went on?"