Giancarlo Fisichella may have stolen all the headlines with his shock drive to second place at the Belgium Grand Prix but he wasn't the only driver fighting for a brighter Formula 1 future at Spa.
Out of the top eight finishers on Sunday, only Sebastian Vettel knows for certain who he is driving for next season after penning a new deal with Red Bull in Valencia.
Speculation over the fate of race winner Kimi Raikkonen, said to be on his way out of Ferrari despite having a contract for 2011, McLaren incumbent Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-linked Nico Rosberg and veteran Brawn driver Rubens Barrichello - all out of contract at the end of the season - kept the Belgium paddock humming.
Read the rest of this entry
Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella sent shockwaves through Formula 1 by setting pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix - but it is Toyota's Jarno Trulli who on paper has the best chance of winning Sunday's race.
Once the amount of fuel being carried by the cars is taken into account, Trulli - who qualified second - was the fastest man at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday. Fisichella was fourth behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld - still a stunningly good result for a team more used to being at the back of the F1 grid.
The BBC Sport fuel-adjusted Belgian Grand Prix grid, with predicted first pit stops, is as follows:
1 Trulli (lap 12)
2 Vettel +0.156 secs (lap 15)
3 Heidfeld +0.157secs (lap 12)
4 Fisichella +0.211 (lap 10)
5 Kimi Raikkonen +0.290 (lap 12)
6 Mark Webber +0.341 (lap 13)
7 Robert Kubica +0.454 (lap 10)
8 Nico Rosberg +0.495 (lap 16)
9 Rubens Barrichello +0.538 (lap nine)
10 Timo Glock +0.562 (lap 10)
Read the rest of this entry
There are just two words needed to sum up the magic of Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps circuit - Eau Rouge.
The left-right-left combination sweeps down from La Source and then steeply uphill to a blind summit which Michael Schumacher describes as "seeing a big mountain in front of you".
But just how steep is that famous slope? The BBC TV team and Red Bull put their heads together and came up with a unique solution - plonk a teenage skateboarding star on the crest of the hill and watch him fly back down.
Read the rest of this entry
The Mole welcomes BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz to the blog to give his inside line on the European Grand Prix at Valencia
McLaren's pit stop
I hate to spoil a good story, but McLaren were correct when they said they would have lost the European Grand Prix even without the blunder at Lewis Hamilton's pit stop.
The key piece of information gleaned from the Brawn team at Valencia on Sunday night was that Rubens Barrichello pitted three laps early.
Read the rest of this entry
Lewis Hamilton undoubtedly did a splendid job to set pole position for the European Grand Prix - but the fastest man in qualifying was actually Brawn's Rubens Barrichello. And Hamilton was actually slower than team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who qualified behind him.
The cars in the top 10 shoot-out are not allowed to refuel between qualifying and the race so their pace in qualifying is determined by the amount of fuel they are carrying, which in turns defines when they have to make their first pit stop.
So once the weights of the cars are published it is possible to work out who was actually the de facto fastest man.
Read the rest of this entry
When the axe hanging over Nelson Piquet Jr finally fell after the Hungarian Grand Prix, there was no need to guess who Renault would choose as his replacement.
Romain Grosjean has long been waiting in the wings and this weekend the 23-year-old is making his bow on the biggest stage in motorsport.
The flame-haired driver has been a constant presence in the corner of the Renault garage all season and, as reserve driver, he has also been clueing up at the driver meetings and post-race debriefs.
Read the rest of this entry
The Mole welcomes back BBC Formula 1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz to the blog as he reports from Switzerland on Michael Schumacher's aborted return to F1.
Had his injured neck allowed him, Michael Schumacher would have spent large parts of this week lapping the Mugello track in Tuscany in a two-year-old Ferrari.
Instead he was in the ballroom of a smart hotel near his home in Geneva, answering questions about one of the lowest points of his Formula 1 career. Alongside him were his long-time manager, Willi Weber, and his doctor of nine years, Johannes Peil.
Michael looked miserable. He started by saying how frustrated and sad he felt and how disappointed he was that he wasn't able to help Ferrari by standing in for the injured Felipe Massa. He then explained why.
Read the rest of this entry
Formula 1 looks to be heading back to North America, possibly as soon as next season, after commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said the Canadian Grand Prix could be reinstated in 2010.
The Montreal race - which was popular with teams and fans - was shelved for 2009 after a financial disagreement between Ecclestone and the race promoters.
But now Ecclestone has told Swiss magazine Motorsport Aktuell that "we'll be driving in Montreal again in 2010" and further reports have suggested that a seven-year deal to stage the grand prix is on the table.
Read the rest of this entry
The Mole welcomes back BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Lee McKenzie to the blog with news of an initiative to inject some extra showbiz into F1.
Thanks to Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, NERD, ZZ Top and Simple Minds, F1 really will rock in Singapore this year.
Bernie Ecclestone launched a new initiative on Tuesday to combine the thrills of F1 with those of rock music.
Read the rest of this entry
After six grands prix victories this season, watching Jenson Button cross the finish line has become a familiar sight in Formula 1 but on Sunday the Brawn driver was a little bit harder to spot.
With a final burst of adrenalin, the world championship leader flashed past the finish in a blur of grey shorts with his hair slicked flat to his face.
Was that him?
The watching Mole couldn't be sure because Button was just another face among 6,000 amateur athletes testing their mettle in the London Triathlon.
Read the rest of this entry
