You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2007.
After this stupid and stressful season, those guys finally have some leisure time by their hands and let’s see what they have done:
1. Jerez test: Dec. 4th-7th
A bunch of new drivers + return of Slicks + 2009-level downforce + return of the new WDC and the retired WDC… sounds like an end-of-year fiesta to me
I definitely enjoyed the debut performance of Nico, Asmer and Villa. Just see how they were excited after driving an actual (not in F1C anymore) Formula One car on the track. Nico even said :” it fullfilled with expections and much more…” hmmm, that was really an emotional statement…
And Kimi finally got back from his celebrating vacation. I bet in the past two months he has smiled more than the rest of his life 
Also we had our newly-wed Felipe! This guy traded his honeymoon for testing (with Michael? lol…) See how he looked at Michael each time like a fan looking at his idol? That’s so adorable 
Of course, our Schumi was back again. Apparently he was taking it less seriously than Barcelona. He even did some mini race with Piquet Jr. on the track. But well, he still wanted to prove he was something. So finally we had him on slicks and 09-level downforce, and a 4th fastest lap in the final test day. He always wants to prove something, doesn’t he?
2. Dec. 8th, Dec. 16th: Racing across Europe
Contestant #1:
Name: Michael Schumacher
Age: 39
Vehicle: Opel Vitaro
Race Track: German freeway from Gehülz to Coburg
Cotestant #2:
Name: Lewis Hamilton
Age: 22
Vehicle: Mercedes Benz
Race Track: French motorway near the town of Laon
Race Result:
Contestant #1 got attention and his family to the airport on time.
Contestant #2 got fine and his license suspended for one month.
Race Comment:
Contestant #1 is very experienced in autoracing and the way he passes through corners is quite unique. So we can observe several “unbelievable pass” during his race. The result was quite satisfactory. He drove his family and a newly-adopted dog to the airport in time to catch their flight. He even managed to squeeze a few minutes in the airport to distribute his autographs and the 100 Euro tip for the owner, and the supposed driver of the taxi. Good Job! Well Done!
However, apparently Contestent #2 is not that experienced, especially in the area of European traffic laws. We also can see how drivers of this generation are spoiled by the TC system. The only thing they know is speeeeeeeeding, and let the TC handle the rest. We honestly suggest Contestent #2 to learn at least one foreign language during his no-license weeks in order to understand the speed limit signs by the road. Or, if this one is easier, bring your local date with you next time you race across Europe.
Conclusion: If you have to drive fast, don’t speed. If you do speed, don’t get caught.
3. Dec. 16th: Race of Champions
Why Schumi was there again… He really couldn’t stop racing.
Don’t pretend you don’t care. It doesn’t work for us…
He and his “Bubi-Schumi” (well, you know who that is) paired up and won the national cup! The result was within expectation but we didn’t quite expect that he suffered so much in a touring car. @_@~~ Fortunately we still had Vettel! He did an amazion job in the last two rounds and saved the German team. Bravo!
So the guy who claimed “I’m here only for fun” also make his way into the RoC individual race FINAL. Yup he was pretending pretty well until… he lost again in the touring car. After he won the Buggies, he knew he was going to have a decisive race… well, in the touring car. Finally our seeking-for-fun-and-no-caring-about-winning legend couldn’t keep his cool. He actually asked the host to swap his and his rival’s vehicles! Of course his unreasonable request was rejected and of course he lost again… Poor Michael, he had to say “There is something that I need to see my wheels. If I don’t see my wheels…” to cover up his disappointment…
hmmm… how about the Opel cab you drove one week ago? Did you see their wheels while you were driving?
Just tell us “I miss racing”~ simple and enough
Though his insisting on not coming back is still quite lovely.
Another great thing about RoC was that Heikki didn’t wear his new team shirt. That shiny shirt really makes him look like an alien, seriously.
So the fabulous December comes and goes really fast. Let’s cross our fingers and wish FIA will not mess up the new season again.
So another piece in the jigsaw puzzle is fixed.
McLaren annouced today that they have signed ANOTHER Finnish driver, Heikki Kovalainen to be the official race driver for the 2008 season. It seemed they finally found someone to partner their prestigious Lewis Hamilton. (link here)
The rumor of Heikki’s joining McLaren has been around for quite a while. It’s said he has a really good relationship with Lewis and McLaren thinks he is really an interesting driver. The whole thing becomes more credible after Renault drove away Heikki to make a larger space for Alonso’s salary. In this week Heikki has been linked with McLaren and Toyota but at last it seemed he got the best.
But be careful, McLaren! Don’t just judge this guy as an “interesting” driver or just an “exceptional” person who can get along with the arrogant Lewis. Hope you still remember how capable the Finnish drivers are! Maybe when you are celebrating Lewis’ success this year, you should also try to remind yourself of your previous favorite drivers such as Mika and Kimi. Don’t try to sabotage one of your driver’s car to make another one look better in the races. That’s just way too naive. If your goal is to win the WCC, congratulations, you picked the right man! But, if your goal is only to give Lewis the WDC, oooops, you might need to think twice.
Fortunately our Heikki doesn’t seem as emotionally unstable as Alonso. So he will survive, I have no doubt. And I am actually counting on him to replace Hamilton and become the #1 driver in McLaren. That may make me feel better about that team. I mean, he is fast, as everyone can see. And he just needs a better car to achieve the extreme. And he is a nice guy, indeed. So let’s all cross our fingers and hope for the best!
here are some tips for our little Heikki:
1. About dealing with McLaren: DON’T look at the copied blueprints with a prancing horse logo on the upper right corner.
2. About dealing with MP4-23: DO tell Kimi what you think of your car, and make sure him gives your feedback to Jean Todt. (well, the CEO still have some power with him, I assume)
3. About dealing with Hamilton: DON’T accept his party invitation when you are racing in Monaco. DON’T ask him his new girlfriend’s name and remember them all, though we all know that you are just trying to be nice.
4. About dealing with Dennis: DO visit back Renault at least twice a month. Make acquaintance with the old Piquet and drag him to stand on your side.
5. About dealing with the media and fans: Just keep your smile and passion! That’s enough for them to love you.
Alright, Heikki, you are ready to go now!
Well, let’s have a final look at the pieces left in our jigsaw puzzle. After Alonso signed the Renault contract earlier this week, everything seems to accelerate in a sudden. Now the vacancy in McLaren is filled. We still have 3 opennings now, 2 in Super Aguri and 1 in Force India. It’s quite likely that Super Aguri will continue with Sato next year because he did some good races in 07. But Anthony Davidson or Luca Filippi? That should be a tough decision. Luca still needs to learn a lot to be in F1 but the sponsorship going with him is really attractive. The team is in financial troubles as we all know, but if the need for the money is still not that urgent, maybe keeping Davidson is the best decision.
On the other side, the competition for Adrian Sutil’s partner in Force India is really heated now. Fisichella, Ralf (eliminated already), Liuzzi, Christian Klien, van de Garde, Montagny and Rodriguez are all on the candidate list. In my opinion, Fisichella and Klien may be the best choices. Klien did a good job in Barcelona test and was invited back to test in Jerez. That’s a good sign. And of course Fisichella did not waste any of his experience gained in Renault. I have to say that I don’t think it’s a good decision for Sutil to stay in that team. He got talent and he needs a better vehicle. But let’s see what he can do for the team next year. It’s expected that all the drivers line-up will be finished in two weeks so let’s wish we can have some nice pairs and nice drivers for next year and finally put an ending to this lame season:)
Congratulations again, Heikki!
Well, it’s about Nico Hulkenberg again… I’ve really talked about him a lot recently…
So it all goes official now. Williams signs Nico Hulkenberg as the official test driver for 2008!! (link here)
I am quite emotional at this moment. It feels so great to see a young driver gradually gaining fame in some lower formulas and moving up step by step. I can remember vividly how excited I was to find out his coming to Macau, his testing in Jerez, his ‘possible’ contract with Williams… and of course how emotional I am right now to see his official contract with Williams is done.
I said it in the previous post that he can enjoy an early Christmas present now:) And well, I didn’t expect the contract can be done so faaaaaaaast. He said in the interview that it’s like an early Christmas for him. hmmm… but why I remember the German people celebrate another festival in Dec. 6th (maybe? not quite sure, but it’s definitely in early Dec.) instead of Christmas?
haha, never mind. Just write down my thoughts at this moment and hope I’ll laugh at this post next time I read it:)
by the way, poor BMW, I’m so sorry for your loss… It’s not a great decision to give your old partner a chance to grasp the brightest rising star in this sport 
You could have signed him into your team now… but maybe you need to wait one more year:(
Well, I am NOT supposed to be emotional about this. I used to hate Alonso and Renault but I am now really moved by Alonso’s returning. Sympathy? Maybe.
It’s not unusual for a Schumi fan to hate Alonso. I mean, this guy was cocky, arrogant and he won the 06 title just with his luck and Michael’s misfortune. I can never forget the “Schumacher who?” thing. Though a lot of people were saying that the Schu was also like this back in his early days. It just didn’t feel right.
But this year things are different. We all Schumi fans can finally calm down and take another thought for all the current drivers. You have to say Fernando is one of the best drivers nowadays. He controlled his car well and he was smart in races. But he was way too emotionally unstable. It was just not professional to stand out and point his fingers to the team and his teammate. I even suspected he was paranoid some time. Come on, your team can let little Lewis pass you by a simple pitstop, they don’t need to do some secret things on your engine.
I really don’t want to see a new world champion being destroyed in this way. So most of the time he had my compassion. I was glad that he ended his contract with McLaren and finally returned to Renault. Maybe Renault feels more like a home to him. That’s the team he won the title with. That’s also the team where he actually stepped into the real competition of this sport. He may still miss the days he drove with Trulli, who acted pretty much like as a big brother and took care of almost everyting back then. But at least he can go back to Briatore. It just feels like a kid finally go back home after he rebelled and had a tough year on his own. The world outside is new and fabulous maybe but it’s still your home where you can feel the love and attention.
But the way to reclaim his title is difficult. We have all seen how difficult Renault was throughout this year. (Though I think it may have something to do with their using McLaren’s blueprints 
) The situation is not optimistic for next year neither. Now Kimi is fully adapted in Ferrari, Lewis will be the absolute core and destroy another driver next year, Red Bull and Scuderia Toro Rossa are improving steadily and they have great drivers like Vettel, Nick Heidfeld is trying his best to grasp something before he retires, Honda now has Ross with him so Button is really motivated at this moment and Nico Rosberg will push himself to the extreme with all his experience this year. Renault couldn’t really keep up with the teams above this year and i’m just not sure whether their development this year can bring their positions forward a little bit next year.
Another thing is Alonso’s teammate Piquet Jr. Oooops, Watch Out! This guy may not be that easy to handle. Though it’s widely thought that Renault let Heikki go to make space for Fernando’s salary, the rookie driver may ask for others things except money. It could have been a more interesting scene if Piquet went to McLaren and gave us a great show on Piquet Jr. vs Hamilton + the old Piquet vs the old Dennis~ Well, let’s just wish Renault in 2008 will not be as crappy as McLaren this year.
When the news was first released on Fernando’s official website, I couldn’t even open the webpage. The traffic jam was exactly like what we had for autosport and pitpass when the decision result for McLaren-Ferrari spy case was released. It’s weird because I feel even more emotional than those real Nano fans. But anyway, let’s just say: Welcome Home, Fernando!
It all came as a surprise, though I should have expected this to happen
So according SPORT BILD online and Auto Motor und Sport, the 20-year German driver Nico Hulkenberg will soon become the test driver for Williams-Toyota. His manager Willi Weber, who is also the manager of Michael Schumacher, told SPORT BILD that the contract would be officially signed by Christmas.
Obviously this is one of the best Christmas presents for the rising star from Emmerich am Rein. He gained his fame by his spetacular drive in A1GP 06-07 Season. He was consistent, and of course, extremely fast. After moving to Formula 3 euroseries, he struggled a little bit but soon got back his speed. He didn’t get the final title but we can’t ignore that he scored more scores than all the other drivers in the second half of the season. As a plus, he also won the Master race. But unfortunately, he didn’t do a good job in Macau. He is now the #1 driver for ART next year, which is managed by, as I mentioned in a previous post, Nicolas Todt.
I actually found this piece of news when I was google-ing his news within the recent 24 hours. This is where I love google most You can search for the updates within a day and really keep up with your interest. And it seemed expect adrivo no other major F1 websites have any response yet. All this looked quite similar to how I found that Nico was testing for Williams last Monday. Autosport didn’t put this news on until hours after I got the news from google.com:) So this is what you can expect, in the first hour you found the news, there were <100 websites on google. But one day after, the number becomes 500 and two days after, you have >1000 websites by your hand so you simply give up reading them all… Maybe if autosport.com need a person in finding news and rumors, they should consider me I would definitely love to take the job!!
So back to Nico, it’s mentioned in the original SPORT BILD post that “even the Williams engineers were impressed by his detailed description of the car after driving”. Why I feel I see another Michael Schumacher growing up?? lol…
However, he will not be the reserve driver for Williams. His main focus will still be the champion of F3 euroseries. I have all my faith in him that he can get the title next year. But will he still come to Macau? I’m not so sure then… But allow me to make a wish and wish I can see him again in Macau~
I’m not being too optimistic but I seriously believe that he will become an official driver in 2009. For Williams? Maybe but he may have a bunch of other choices. If Alonso do leave Renault for Ferrari in 2009, maybe he can consider Renault? I’m sure Willi Weber can get it done during a lunch with Briatore. Anyway I just want him to be in the best team because I am so sure that he will be the next WDC!
One funny thing here is what BMW is thinking about right now. Remember the saturday before Jerez test when BMW announced that they would test Villa and Asmer? Theissen said that they would not test Nico because they didn’t want him to have a year busy hopping between F3 and F1 test. But apparently this was not how our future world beater expected for himself. He still went to Jerez and tested for Williams. I was kind of confused then because for all the time I thought he was linked with BMW. I even saw a picture of Theissen talking with him after the Macau race (I was only one or two minutes late to enter the pitlane and capture the scene myself…). But how about now? The vastly talented Nico went to Jerez, beated Asmer and Villa on track nicely and now got a test driver contract! I’m not saying Asmer and Villa are lame drivers but they simply do not have the same potent as Nico. Just see how fast he adapted in a new race series every time. It pretty much looks like he can achieve the extreme as soon as he jumped in a new car.
Wow… seems I’ve prasied this dude too much I’m just excited to see another German driver entering Formula One. With Willi Weber and Nicolas Todt, I am very confident that Nico can get a chance for the best of the best. The only thing left is his own passion and determination in this sport. So work hard and try your best, dear Nico… and ENJOY YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENT!!
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