The Williams-racing start in Qatar an initiative to make the roads safer – it is the first of its kind in the region
The Williams team is expanding its efforts to make the road safer. Together with the Qatar National Bank (QNB), the largest private bank in Qatar and the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) will start the team some safety campaigns to alert the population in Qatar on the dangers in traffic. One wants to move 25,000 residents to more cautious and forward-looking driving style.

Some team members of the racing team will hold lectures in schools and universities. QSTP will promote road safety through simulators, developed in the Williams factory and used for driving instruction, training and education are. The initiative in Qatar as well as other programs will run from Williams, including the partnership with DEKRA in Germany: The Williams program focuses on energy efficiency, education and road safety.

The campaign is the first of its kind in the region. It is intended to encompass all stages of life, not just the current driver, but also the future. As an incentive, a Williams-powered car in different places will be issued.
TMS

FIA president Jean Todt has visited Bolivia.

The Prensa Latina news agency said the Frenchman met with Evo Morales, the president of the landlocked country in central South America.

Reuters said they had met at the presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia’s administrative capital.

The Bolivian news agency ABI reported that they discussed international road safety, formula one and other motor sport categories and a possible visit for Morales to a forthcoming FIA-sanctioned event.

Todt was quoted as acknowledging Morales’ vowing to “work together” with the FIA.

The state newspaper Cambio said the former Ferrari boss pointed out the benefits of the 2011 Dakar Rally passing through the city of Potosi.

Other reports said Todt recently visited Equador, and will also be travelling to Peru, Chile and Paraguay.

Lewis Hamilton has hit out at the FIA’s plans to penalise formula one drivers for road traffic infractions.

It is almost certainly the McLaren driver’s so-called ‘hoon driving’ in Melbourne earlier this year that has moved the governing body to act in this area.

In Paris earlier this week, the FIA agreed that F1 drivers risk losing their jobs if they lose their normal road driving license.

And if a driver commits a “serious road traffic offence”, the FIA “may issue a warning or refer the matter” to the World Motor Sport Council.

At Monza on Friday, 25-year-old Hamilton said he regularly supports road safety programmes, but that “What we do in our private life is our private life”.

“I’m sure Jean Todt has had a speeding ticket,” said the Briton.

“We’re all making mistakes and learning. I don’t feel that everything I’ve worked for should be taken away from me for something that could be small, could be big,” added Hamilton.

But his teammate Jenson Button does not agree.

“I think a serious offence is correct for it to cause an issue for your racing career,” said the reigning world champion.

F1 drivers must follow even the rules of the road, the FIA declared on Wednesday.

In the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s arrest and summons for dangerous driving in his hire car whilst in Melbourne earlier this year, Jean Todt suggested drivers might in future be penalised by the governing body for such offenses.

“We are … trying to see whether to do something, and how,” the FIA president recently told a French newspaper.

After a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Geneva, the first step in Todt’s new plan was unveiled.

“Competitors … must act as ambassadors for the sport, be aware their conduct on the road must be exemplary and respect road safety rules,” a media statement read.

The FIA also said changes to the international sporting code are possible to ensure the Paris body’s “overall objectives and, in particular, its commitment to road safety, are upheld”.

(GMM)

Jun.11 (GMM)  Jacques Villeneuve says he will make one final effort and then give up trying to return to formula one.

The 1997 world champion was reportedly high on the list for a Stefan GP seat this season, but the Serbian outfit was not granted an official entry to race the 2010-specification Toyota car.

French Canadian Villeneuve, who last raced in F1 with BMW in 2006, turns 40 early next season, and he told reporters on Thursday that 2011 will be his last-ditch effort to come back.

“I’m quite happy right now being busy raising kids,” he said at a road safety event near Montreal alongside his former title nemesis Michael Schumacher.

“I would obviously be happier behind a wheel.  Once you’ve been a racer, I think you’re a racer all your life.

“I worked hard on (trying to return to F1 for) 2010.  I’m giving myself until 2011.  There’s still a few months,” added Villeneuve.

The assembled reporters laughed after asking Schumacher, who retired in 2006 but returned to F1 full-time with Mercedes this year, if he thinks it is a good idea if Villeneuve also comes back.

“I don’t know what is funny about that,” said the German.

“The point is, as Jacques was saying, we are racers, and we have that in our blood.  So, what you have there, you always keep.”

Villeneuve admits it is a difficult task trying to convince F1 bosses to give him another chance.

“The teams don’t want to take a risk.  There comes a point where you’ve been out for too long and the teams just won’t give you a chance,” he said.

May 5 (GMM)  Mark Webber has shifted into reverse gear after slamming F1 host state Victoria as a “bloody nanny state”.

The Australian, irritated at local overregulation such as the prevalence of speeding and parking fines, made the comment in the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s famous run-in with Melbourne police in March.

Then, when the formula one circus had moved on to Malaysia, Webber’s father Alan and manager/partner Ann Neal posed with a group of fans wearing T-shirts bearing the words ‘Victoria The Nanny State!’

One newspaper reader wrote at the time: “So this is the message from Mark Webber to the families who have lost loved ones on the roads this Easter.  What a bloody disgrace.”

Another added: “Don’t come back Webbers.  You are not welcome in my state.”

The local Herald Sun newspaper said 33-year-old Webber’s management has now written a letter to the government offering to have the Red Bull driver front a road safety campaign.

“It’s something Mark is passionate about,” Neal said.  “It’s not a knee-jerk reaction to the press he’s had, it’s something he has always done.”

A government spokesman said Webber’s offer was being considered.