Heading up to Road America in beautiful Elkhart Lake Wisconsin this weekend for the first track weekend of the year. Time to shake off the rust of the Midwestern winter to get some hot laps in with NASA Midwest.AutoWeek's reporter in Long Beach, Calif., for this weekend's IndyCar Grand Prix just received a call from Team Penske's Helio Castroneves. The news: the driver was just found not guilty of tax-evasion charges in federal court in Miami.
Castroneves's codefendants--sister/manager, Kati, 35, and attorney Alan Miller, 71--also were cleared of all tax-evasion charges. Miller also was acquitted of a conspiracy charge, while the jury was hung on single conspiracy charges against both Castroneves and his sister.
Sorry their were no decent driving clips. Enjoy!
What a difference a year makes! EXTRAORDINARY MEETING OF THE WORLD MOTOR SPORT COUNCIL
07.04.2009
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been invited to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday, 29 April, 2009, to answer charges that, in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, it
- on 29 March, 2009, told the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix that no instructions were given to Hamilton in Car No. 1 to allow Trulli in Car no. 9 to pass when both cars were behind the safety car, knowing this statement to be untrue;
- procured its driver Hamilton the current World Champion, to support and confirm this untrue statement to the stewards;
- although knowing that as a direct result of its untrue statement to the stewards, another driver and a rival team had been unfairly penalised, made no attempt to rectify the situation either by contacting the FIA or otherwise;
- on 2 April, 2009, at a second hearing before the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix, (meeting in Malaysia) made no attempt to correct the untrue statement of 29 March but, on the contrary, continued to maintain that the statement was true, despite being allowed to listen to a recording of the team instructing Hamilton to let Trulli past and despite being given more than one opportunity to correct its false statement;
- on 2 April, 2009, at the second stewards’ hearing, procured its driver Hamilton to continue to assert the truth of the false statement given to the stewards on 29 March, while knowing that what he was saying to the stewards was not true.
Update | 12:37 p.m.
McLaren Responds:
McLaren acknowledges receipt of an invitation to appear at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on April 29, received this afternoon.
We undertake to co-operate fully with all WMSC processes, and welcome the opportunity to work with the FIA in the best interests of Formula One.
This afternoon McLaren and its former sporting director, Dave Ryan, have formally parted company. As a result, he is no longer an employee of any of the constituent companies of the McLaren Group.
based Marketing."Jenson Button and Brawn GP Mercedes / Virgin Team made it two pole position in a row (WTF?) as he beat Jarno Trulli by less than a tenth of a second in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
However will Massa start from 16th after he and Ferrari made a bad decision early in the session. Having set decent times on soft tires Ferrari did not send their drivers out for a final run. But as track conditions improved Massa was caught out and dropped to 16th - with no time left to set another lap.
Massa's decision not to go out for a second attempt was even more baffling as he’d made a mistake on his first attempt. Maybe he had something else to attend to?
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:35.058 | 1:33.784 | 1:35.181 | 18 |
| 2 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:34.745 | 1:33.990 | 1:35.273 | 20 |
| 3 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:34.935 | 1:34.276 | 1:35.518 | 17 |
| 4 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:34.681 | 1:34.387 | 1:35.651 | 20 |
| 5 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:34.907 | 1:34.258 | 1:35.690 | 24 |
| 6 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:35.083 | 1:34.547 | 1:35.750 | 21 |
| 7 | 14 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:35.027 | 1:34.222 | 1:35.797 | 19 |
| 8 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:35.166 | 1:34.562 | 1:36.106 | 19 |
| 9 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:35.476 | 1:34.456 | 1:36.170 | 17 |
| 10 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:35.260 | 1:34.706 | 1:37.659 | 15 |
| 11 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:35.110 | 1:34.769 | 14 | |
| 12 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:35.341 | 1:34.788 | 13 | |
| 13 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:35.280 | 1:34.905 | 13 | |
| 14 | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:35.023 | 1:34.924 | 14 | |
| 15 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 1:35.507 | 1:35.431 | 16 | |
| 16 | 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:35.642 | 4 | ||
| 17 | 8 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 1:35.708 | 11 | ||
| 18 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 1:35.908 | 8 | ||
| 19 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:35.951 | 10 | ||
| 20 | 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:36.107 |
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:35.707 40
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:35.832 + 0.125 38
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:35.954 + 0.247 40
4. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.015 + 0.308 39
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.026 + 0.319 36
6. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:36.161 + 0.454 37
7. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:36.254 + 0.547 31
8. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.290 + 0.583 35
9. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.397 + 0.690 40
10. Piquet Renault (B) 1:36.401 + 0.694 35
11. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.515 + 0.808 30
12. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:36.516 + 0.809 34
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.628 + 0.921 32
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:36.639 + 0.932 29
15. Alonso Renault (B) 1:36.640 + 0.933 20
16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:36.875 + 1.168 36
17. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:37.267 + 1.560 38
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:37.278 + 1.571 30
19. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.432 + 1.725 27
20. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:37.930 + 2.223 37
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.260 + 27
2. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.305 + 0.045 25
3. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:36.430 + 0.170 20
4. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:36.487 + 0.227 22
5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:36.561 + 0.301 21
6. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:36.646 + 0.386 18
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.699 + 0.439 16
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.703 + 0.443 23
9. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.747 + 0.487 25
10. Glock Toyota (B) 1:36.980 + 0.720 27
11. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:36.982 + 0.722 26
12. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.025 + 0.765 20
13. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:37.039 + 0.779 18
14. Piquet Renault (B) 1:37.199 + 0.939 20
15. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.241 + 0.981 18
16. Alonso Renault (B) 1:37.395 + 1.135 12
17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:37.634 + 1.374 22
18. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:37.640 + 1.380 17
19. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:38.022 + 1.762 19
20. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:38.483 + 2.223 7
Maybe for the next race in Malaysia, the teams can forego actually running the race, and instead the outcome can be completely determined by FIA stewards.
This will be helpful in a several ways,
PRESS RELEASE: Penalty Imposed On Driver No. 1 Lewis Hamilton And Competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
At the first hearing following the Australian Grand Prix, the Stewards did not have the benefit of the radio exchanges between driver No. 1 Lewis Hamilton and his Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, nor did they have access to the comments to the Media given by Lewis Hamilton immediately after the end of the race.
From the video recordings available to the Stewards during the hearing, it appeared that Jarno Trulli’s car left the track and car No. 1 moved into third place. It then appeared that Trulli overtook Hamilton to regain third place, which at the time was prohibited as it was during the Safety Car period.
During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake. Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given. The Race Director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so.
The new elements presented to the Stewards several days after the 2009 Australian Grand Prix which led to the reconvened Stewards Meeting clearly show that:
a. Immediately after the race and before Lewis Hamilton attended the Stewards Meeting, he gave an interview to the Media where he clearly stated that the Team had told him to let Trulli pass.
b. Furthermore, the radio exchanges between the driver and the Team contain two explicit orders from the Team to let the Toyota pass.
The Stewards, having learned about the radio exchanges and the Media interview, felt strongly that they had been misled by the driver and his Team Manager which led to Jarno Trulli being unfairly penalised and Lewis Hamilton gaining third place.
I've included some video of Lewis Hamilton's meeting with the stewards and after reviewing it, I'd say its pretty damning.
