As if right on cue for the beginning of the often weather-affected event, drizzle and cold air has greeted the formula one world at Silverstone early on Thursday morning.

Before the press meets the drivers, the skies above the British grand prix venue are dim and cloudy, even though a day of rain is not forecast.

Indeed, the outlook for the three days of track action beginning on Friday looks better, with temperatures expected to be in the mid 20s.

“Sunshine or rain; either is good for me,” smiled Rubens Barrichello, who on Wednesday took part in BBC motoring show Top Gear’s popular ‘Star in A Reasonably Priced Car’ segment.

The programme will air on Sunday evening.

As F1′s top men battled for pole position at Valencia, the spotlight was once again on an underperforming Michael Schumacher.

His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg was also sitting out the decisive Q3 qualifying segment, but Schumacher was six tenths off the young German’s pace and a dismal 15th on the grid.

Criticism of the 41-year-old’s F1 return has already been intensifying, amid new rumours Mercedes might want to replace him for 2011 with Robert Kubica.

“If it was any other driver, other than the great Michael Schumacher, we’d be looking for his head, or most of the press would be looking for his head, because clearly this performance in the past couple of races has been very poor,” said BBC pundit Eddie Jordan on Saturday.

David Coulthard thinks his old rival is cutting corners on the kind of detail that, in his first career, made him the most successful driver ever.

“He’s running the (rev) limiter in some places — that’s just sloppy,” the Scot said in Valencia.

“In his first career, even when his car wasn’t performing he would deliver a lap time … even on a bad day.”

For the first time, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn has admitted some disappointment with Schumacher’s situation.

“We’re a bit disappointed at the moment.  Michael would admit he’s not where he wants to be.

“We’re seeing signs of progress in some races but not in others, but we’ve not had a great car this year, which has not helped him,” added the Briton.

At the sharp end of the grid, Red Bull defied its own predictions by qualifying one-two at Valencia — with the F-duct now fully up and running.

“Valencia should not be our strongest circuit,” said delighted pole sitter Sebastian Vettel, ahead of his teammate Mark Webber and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

The two Ferraris are fourth and fifth, followed by the consistent Robert Kubica.

A clear rule is likely to be written into the regulations as a response to the incident at the end of qualifying in Canada.

Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton was fined and reprimanded by stewards for driving too slowly on his Q3 in-lap and then stopping on the circuit, so that enough fuel was left in the tank for a test sample.

“We must not come to a situation where cars run out of fuel after their last lap because they want to be qualifying as light as possible,” FOTA technical chairman Ross Brawn said in Montreal.

The situation was reportedly discussed in a meeting on the Sunday of the race, with the FIA’s Charlie Whiting clarifying that drivers who run out of fuel during subsequent qualifying sessions will be summoned to the stewards.

And according to reports in Finland’s Turun Sanomat and Autosprint in Italy, the issue was further discussed on Monday at the F1 Commission, ahead of the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Geneva on Wednesday.

It is believed a new rule will require a certain amount of fuel to be in the tank after the final qualifying segment.

(GMM)

Jun.12 (GMM)  Lewis Hamilton cracked Red Bull’s run of qualifying dominance on Saturday by securing pole position for the Canadian grand prix.

But the McLaren driver was using a different tyre in the decisive Q3 segment — the fragile ‘option’ or softer compound, as opposed to the harder ‘prime’ fitted to the next-best Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

The three prior practice sessions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve proved that Bridgestone’s products are struggling this weekend; particularly the option.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said earlier in Montreal that it had fallen apart “like cheese” in Canada, moving some to surmise that by qualifying with it on Saturday, McLaren is gambling on an early safety car.

9 of the previous 12 Canadian grands prix have seen the safety car appear.

“We would hope for an early-ish safety car, but I think the quickest way to run the race anyway is to start on the soft tyre, run a short (first) stint, and run on the prime for most of the race.

“If there’s a safety car it’s a very strong strategy,” team boss Martin Whitmarsh told the BBC after qualifying.

However, Vettel told reporters that he thinks Red Bull is beginning the race on the “right tyre”, because the softer one lasts only “a couple of laps”.

Hamilton acknowledged that the option “goes off quite quickly” but raised the high “possibility of a safety car”.

The 25-year-old Briton had to be delivered to parc ferme in an FIA car, after his engineer told him to stop on the circuit on the in-lap so there is enough fuel left in the tank for a mandatory fuel sample.

“The FIA don’t take kindly to you not having enough fuel to get into the pits at the end of the lap — they’ll be taking a look at that,” predicted BBC commentator Martin Brundle.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is fourth ahead of the second McLaren of Jenson Button, while Vitantonio Liuzzi qualified sixth in what Brundle describes as a “career saving performance”.

Jun.8 (GMM)  Hankook is no longer in the running to supply tyres to F1 teams in 2011, but the Korean company is not ruling out another bid within the next “two or three years”.

Michelin, Kumho and Avon were also interested in replacing the sport’s departing official supplier Bridgestone, but it is believed Pirelli is now in pole position for the deal.

But executive vice president Hyan Bum Cho told the Sydney Morning Herald that Seoul-based Hankook might be interested in succeeding the Italian marque.

“Currently we do have a little Le Mans team, and some rally teams here and there, and we try to sell some motor sports tyres,” he is quoted by the Australian newspaper.

“In the future we want to have some hefty market share in that segment.  It’s quite profitable, but in order to really leverage from motor sports in terms of brands, you need to participate in either world rally championship or a very high segment in Le Mans, or formula one,” added Cho.

“So in the future that’s the target that we have, to participate in those segments.  And that’s going to cost a lot of money, a lot of development cost, a lot of investment, and also how to run these operations with experience.”

Hankook’s Cho confirmed that becoming the new formula one supplier next year was discussed.

“Probably you know that Mr Ecclestone has some trouble with tyres this year.  I talked to him personally (but) we decided not to go on with the programme.

“He needed a tyre very, very quick, and we could not prepare it,” Cho admitted.

“But we had a very good talk and maybe we’ll have a shot for next term, or another term.”

Sebastian Vettel insists he is happy that his “main opponent” at present is his own teammate Mark Webber.

The Red Bull pair are tied for points at the top of the drivers’ world championship, after 33-year-old Australian Webber dominated the last two grands prix from pole.

“At the moment my main opponent is Mark and that is a good thing,” German Vettel is quoted by Sport Bild.

However, other reports have indicated that the young German is far from happy about his recent struggle to keep up with Webber, even though team boss Christian Horner insists Vettel should be relaxed and confident.

“Sebastian will win many races this season,” the Briton is quoted as saying.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa is regarded as a specialist of the Istanbul circuit, but last year it was Vettel who was on pole, after dominating all three segments of qualifying.

He ultimately made a mistake and finished behind winner Jenson Button and Webber, and Vettel now insists: “I like the track and I am going there to win.”
(GMM)

May 6 (GMM)  The famous and unpronounceable Icelandic volcano could be set to once again disturb the travel plans of the formula one world.

European airports ground to a halt due to the dangerous ash cloud nearly three weeks ago, stranding the sport’s travelling circus in China.

On Wednesday and early on Thursday, it emerged that the ash is threatening to once again drift over the north of Europe, and multiple British airports have already had flights cancelled.

When contacted, the European air traffic agency Eurocontrol admitted that hundreds of other flights across Europe could also be affected.

The Civil Aviation Authority said main airports serving London have not yet been disrupted, but the Icelandic Met Office warns that the volcanic eruptions “will continue at full force in the next days”.

However, the situation is now far less severe for F1, in the wake of the initial ‘flyaway’ segment of the 2010 calendar.

The bulk of the equipment is transported by the teams to European venues by road, even if many of the personnel travel by plane for convenience.

Full qualifying times for the third round of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park.

1. Will Power Penske 1m 10.1356s
2. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1m 10.6501s
3. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m 10.6569s
4. Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1m 11.0701s
5. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m 11.3557s
6. Takuma Sato KVRT 1m 11.4387s*
7. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m 10.6307s
8. Tony Kanaan Andretti Autosport 1m 10.6903s
9. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m 10.7602s
10. EJ Viso KVRT 1m 10.7757s
11. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m 10.7760s
12. Mario Moraes KVRT 1m 11.5219s
13. Simona de Silvestro Stargate Works/HVM 1m 11.0262s*
14. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 1m 10.7449s
15. Graham Rahal Sarah Fisher 1m 11.1495s
16. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 1m 10.9524s*
17. Hideki Mutoh NHLR 1m 11.2855s
18. Raphael Matos de Ferran Luczo Dragon 1m 11.0507s
19. Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport 1m 11.5340s
20. Vitor Meira AJ Foyt 1m 11.1348s
21. Alex Tagliani FAZZT 1m 11.5669s
22. Mario Romancini Conquest 1m 11.6020s*
23. Dan Wheldon Panther 1m 11.6095s
24. Milka Duno Dale Coyne 1m 15.9800s
25. Bertrand Baguette Conquest 1m 11.9800s*

* denotes rookie driver

The great heights and popularity that the NASCAR automobile competition is getting will be fully covered by ESPN and ABC television networks, which have guaranteed the 17 tests for the next season’s broadcasts.

The remaining 41 tests will be broadcast by the National network FOX (14), cable’s TNT (6) and SPD (4), respectively.
The competition will again have among its outstanding pilots the Colombian, Juan Pablo Montoya -who last season finished on 8th place of the championship’s competition-, will begin February 6 with the initial text in the Daytona International Speedway.

But it will not be but until February 21, a week after the Daytona 500 Mile classic race, that the Sprint Cup Series competition will begin at California’s Auto Club Speedway.
Nevertheless, ESPN and ABC will not begin the 17 broadcasts they have programmed until July 25 with the Brickyard 400 test, and will complete them when the season ends with the 10 races that define the NASCAR champion with the Sprint Cup Chase series.  The last one will be the one that will take place at Homestead (Miami), in November 21.

ESPN will broadcast 14 tests, while ABC -the National network from the same business group and which last season broadcast 11-, this year will only broadcast three, and all of them on Saturday night.
ESPN’s broadcast races’ schedules will be: 1:00 PM (18:00 GMT) for the East Coast and 3:00 PM (20:00 GMT) in the West Coast, except for Atlanta’s on September 25, which will begin at 7:30 PM (00:30 GMT).
The three races broadcast by ABC on Saturday nights will be Bristol, Tennessee, (August 21), Richmond, Virginia, (September 11) and Charlotte, North Carolina, (October 16), at 7:30 PM (00:30 GMT).
John Skipper, ESPN Executive Vice-President, stressed in an official press release about the excellent results the network had last year with NASCAR competition’s broadcast.
“All we did last year showed us that ESPN is the best network for NASCAR”, Skipper underlined. For his part, Paul Brooks, NASCAR Media Group’s President, likewise in an official press release, praised all of ESPN’s subscriber base which has special relevance among the young population segment.

“They are wonderful news for our NASCAR competition fans,” said Brooks in the press release.  ”The ESPN subscriber base is of nearly 100 million and the network has a special gift to attract young viewers.”
Brooks recognized that this ESPN reality will allow the NASCAR competition to be viewed more, which will benefit all equally.

Last season, US Jimmy Johnson (6.652 points) won the championship title for fourth consecutive year, being the first to do this in the history of the competition.
Montoya, who fought among the firsts until the last two Sprint Cup Chase tests, finished on eighth position, with 6.252 points and winning 5.270.120 million dollars, in what was his second season in the NASCAR competition.