Honda new car - all black

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya won the famous Daytona 24 Hours sportscar race on Sunday, earning himself a place in history.

Driving for Chip Ganassi's team in the race held Florida, Montoya shared the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley car with Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran.

The trio completed a massive 688 laps between them in the 24 hours to take the victory ahead of the No. 11 car of Ryan Dalziel, Patrick Carpentier, Darren Manning and Milka Duno.

The victory saw Montoya become only the second man after Mario Andretti to win the Indianapolis 500, a Formula One grand prix and the Daytona 24 Hours.

"It's a big deal for me," Montoya said. "The boys worked so hard for this.

"Me, Salvador and Scott all worked hard and we kept the car on the road at all times and that was the key to victory.

"We made no mistakes and were fast when we had to be."

Speculation has arisen questioning sole tyre supplier Bridgestone's insistence that all teams will be treated fairly.

The Cologne based publication Express observes that while most outfits have unveiled shorter-wheelbased cars to cope with the characteristics and required weight distribution for the current-spec tyre, Ferrari's new F2007 chassis uniquely has a longer wheelbase than in 2006.

It is suggested that Bridgestone may have provided Ferrari, the Japanese company's favoured partner during the now-ended tyre war, with privileged information about the likely direction of development during the season.

Mercedes' Competition Director Norbert Haug responded: "It would be a big mistake for Bridgestone to prefer one partner over the others, so I am completely relaxed."

E.A.
Source GMM

Mark Webber believes Michael Schumacher's presence at Ferrari's test sessions must be as uncomfortable for Kimi Raikkonen as if his new love's ex was hanging around.

Although Schumacher quit his role as Ferrari race driver at the end of last season, the seven-times World Champion remains with the team as a 'super assistant' to Jean Todt.

And part of that role means he will be attending a few of the Scuderia's test sessions.

However, according to Webber, that's the wrong thing to do as having Schumacher, a long-time Ferrari favourite, hanging around could be very uncomfortable to new driver Raikkonen - just like when your new love invites his/her ex around.

"It's odd having him (Schumacher) at the tests, I think - really odd," Webber told ITV.

"It's like having your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend there. Kimi must go 'what the f***?'

"It must feel so strange to have the teacher's pet standing above you while you are trying to get on with your own new programme.

"Suffocation or what?"

The row over customer cars in F1 continues with Prodrive chairman Dave Richards saying he will go ahead with his plans to lease cars next season.

Richards is set to join Formula One in 2008 and has already made it clear that he will use customer cars in his team's first season in the sport.

However, Sir Frank Williams recently warned the former BAR team boss that chassis sharing and the use of customer cars has not yet been agreed for the 2008 season.

"In the presently issued rules for 2008, customer cars are not yet a done deal," said Williams, who has already threatened legal action against Super Aguri and Toro Rosso should they use cars they have not designed or built themselves in this year's Championship.

However, Richards, who may lease cars from McLaren for Prodrive's first season in Formula One, claims that the rule is as good as written.

"There is absolutely no question about it, customer cars are permitted in 2008," Richards told The Guardian.

"Williams have entered the 2008 World Championship accepting that condition. It all seems absolutely clear to me."

I eagerly wait for 2007 season...
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro WINS 2007 SEASON!!!!!

McLaren's Fernando Alonso clocked the quickest time at Tuesday's eventful test at Valencia, trumping Kimi Raikkonen by a second.

The Finnish Ferrari driver was working alongside test driver Luca Badoer who endured a miserable day in the wet conditions.

Luca Badoer worked on installing new components on the 248 F1 but ended the day at the bottom of the timesheets after an unspecified technical problem ended his session.

Earlier he was involved in an incident with Alonso which saw his Ferrari end up in the gravel trap.

The track dried out in the afternoon which meant that many of the nine teams did their serious running later in the day.

Alonso was impressive in the MP4-22 as the Woking team focused on gaining track time on Bridgestone rubber. An oil leak towards the end of the day was the only problem the team reported.

Raikkonen got his first taste of the F2007 but his fastest lap was a second slower than Alonso's.

Renault were third quickest on the timesheets as Nelson Piquet Jr put the R27 through its paces. Nelsinho was content with the way the day progressed,

"In the end, it wasn't such a busy day for us. We only began the programme towards the end of the day when the weather improved.

"Everything went OK from my point of view, and it feels like the real work has begun now: these are important tests for the team, and there is still a lot to do before the opening races."

The Anglo French team are looking to add mileage on their 2007 challenger and waited for track conditions to improve before serious testing.

The Toyota's of Franck Montagny and Jarno Trulli were slightly quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella.

The wet weather limited running time and ten red flags hampered the test. Renault have called for the test to be extended until Friday to make up for lost time.

Improved weather conditions are expected for Wednesday, but Fisi found it impossible to hide his frustration.

"It was pretty frustrating today, waiting for the track conditions to improve. We basically lost a day's work but that can happen at this time of year.

"We still have three days left though, and I am sure we can make some good progress during the rest of the week."

Valencia Test Times - 30/01/2007
1 . F. Alonso - McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 - 1:12.538 (+ 0.000 ) - 96 laps
2 . K. Raikkonen - Ferrari F2007 - 1:13.533 (+ 0.995 ) - 48 laps
3 . N. Piquet - Renault R27 - 1:13.550 (+ 1.012 ) - 31 laps
4 . F. Montagny - Toyota TF107 - 1:13.672 (+ 1.134 ) - 38 laps
5 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF107 - 1:13.722 (+ 1.184 ) - 54 laps
6 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.07 - 1:13.863 (+ 1.325 ) - 56 laps
7 . G. Fisichella - Renault R27 - 1:13.871 (+ 1.333 ) - 37 laps
8 . R. Barrichello - Honda RA107 - 1:14.018 (+ 1.480 ) - 35 laps
9 . S. Vettel - BMW Sauber F1.07 - 1:14.047 (+ 1.509 ) - 81 laps
10 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW28 B - 1:14.527 (+ 1.989 ) - 79 laps
11 . J. Rossiter - Honda RA106 - 1:14.638 (+ 2.100 ) - 43 laps
12 . T. Sato - Super Aguri Honda RA106 - 1:15.684 (+ 3.146 ) - 31 laps
13 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB3 - 1:15.729 (+ 3.191 ) - 32 laps
14 . L. Badoer - Ferrari 248 F1 - 1:16.388 (+ 3.850 ) - 48 laps

i saw on youtube when ferrari test thier new car schumi also there

Kimi must think "...menyibuk je..." 

Fernando Alonso continued to demonstrate the pace of the new McLaren MP4-22 at Valencia on Wednesday, topping the timesheets ahead of his former team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

Despite the clear skies in the morning when running began, the track was wet from overnight rain and took a long time to dry out.

However, the rain did little to dampen Alonso's charge and he completed 86 laps with a best time of 1:12.582 to beat Fisichella by 0.155 seconds.

Fisichella, though, had his running cut short when, after just 37 laps, his new Renault R27 suffered a mechanical failure.

"The weather dictated our running once again today. We waited for a long time, which ate into our programme, but these things happens," said the Roman.

"I had a mechanical problem but I'm not worried - the team is working to find out what happened, and it is always better to have these problems in testing... We will carry on with the programme tomorrow, hopefully with some better weather!"

His team-mate Heikki Kovalaien finished in third place, just 0.033 seconds off Fisichella's pace. "The track conditions today were changing all the time, and quite tricky, but we still made some progress with our work," said the Finn.

"We need to carry on in the same direction tomorrow, and hopefully we can do more laps. The performance of the car seems OK, but we want to put more miles on it -- and we need better weather to do so!"

Kimi Raikkonen clinched fourth place in the new Ferrari F2007. The Finn's best time for the day, a 1:12.869, was just 0.287s off Alonso's P1 time.

Fifth place went to BMW's Nick Heidfeld, while his team-mate Robert Kubica finished with the seventh fastest time. Kubica, though, only managed 42 laps as a hydraulic leak caused a fire in his car.

Jarno Trulli slotted in between the two BMW drivers, while Felipe Massa completed the top eight for Ferrari. The Brazilian was driving last year's 248 F1.

Times
1 F. Alonso McLaren 1:12.582 86 laps
2 G. Fisichella Renault 1:12.737 37 laps
3 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:12.770 43 laps
4 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:12.869 51 laps
5 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:13.012 50 laps
6 J. Trulli Toyota 1:13.297 47 laps
7 R. Kubica BMW 1:13.310 42 laps
8 F. Massa Ferrari 1:13.574 80 laps
9 R. Barrichello Honda 1:13.690 72 laps
10 J. Rossiter Honda 1:13.732 28 laps
11 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:13.839 31 laps
12 P. de la Rosa McLaren 1:14.286 41 laps
13 K. Nakajima Williams 1:14.401 116 laps
14 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:14.812 36 laps
15 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:15.939 26 laps
16 G. van der Garde Super Aguri 1:26.348 4 laps

hey not bad. previous day i think Kimi was about 1sec off the pace.

but we still cant compare the time directly IMO, dont know what are they testing.

To prevent 'reliability syndrome'