Archive for September, 2004
Grandson Of Britain’S Elizabeth II Unhurt After China Car Crash
SHANGHAI - Peter Phillips, grandson of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, escaped uninjured after being involved in a car crash on his way to Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Phillips, who is the son of Princess Anne and works in the Williams team’s marketing department, was in a van heading for the Shanghai circuit when hit by a car at high speed, Xinhua said.
Three other Williams employees were also in the van at the time of the collision, Xinhua said.
The agency quoted a Williams spokesman as saying team members were taken to hospital for checks but that none of them was seriously hurt. It added no one in the other vehicle was hurt either. - AFP
Utusan Malaysia
Barrichello To Start From The Front
Barrichello to start from the front
SHANGHAI,
SEPT. 25.
Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello gained the first-ever pole position for the Chinese GP on Saturday after Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher spun out seconds into his qualifying lap.
It was the 12th career pole and second straight for Barrichello. He now has three for the season: The U.S, Italian and Chinese races.
Barrichello recorded a time of 1m 34.012s on the brand-new 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit.
Schumacher spun on the first turn of the new track after leading the pre-qualifying an hour earlier in 1:33.185s. He will start in the second to last row in Sunday’s 56-lap race in 18th place.
It will be the German’s worst starting position as a Ferrari driver. In 1998 he had the pole position for the final race of the season, the Japanese GP, but stalled on the grid and was put to the back of the pack.
In 1995, as a Benetton driver, he was 16th on the grid but went on to win the Belgian GP.
Midway through the first turn, Schumacher lost control of his Ferrari and spun off the track into the wide gravel area. He went back on the track and completed the lap but failed to record a time.
The 2004 champion said the cause of the spin was not known.
“It’s the first time it’s happened to me. We need to find the explanation for it which we haven’t done yet,” he said. “The good thing is that we have all the cars in the Ferrari sandwich, one is in front one is in the back.”
Schumacher would have been in the back row, but Takuma Sato of BAR-Honda blew an engine in practice and was sent ten places back in the grid to 19th place. Schumacher already has 82 career victories, 12 season wins and a seventh drivers’ titles, all records.
The other Williams driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, was 11th in 1:34.458. Giancarlo Fisichella of Sauber was sixth in 1:34.286. His teammate Felipe Massa was fourth.
Fernando Alonso was sixth in the other Renault. BAR’s Takuma Sato had the ninth fastest time with 1:34.993 but lost 10 places on the starting grid because of engine change. — AP
Hindu On Net
Test Driver Davidson Fastest
Test driver Davidson fastest
BEIJING,
SEPT. 24.
Briton’s Anthony Davidson once again staked his claim to a fulltime Formula One race seat by setting the fastest time in both practice sessions on Friday for the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
The BAR test driver, who will not race on Sunday, topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1m33.289s. Jenson Button set the second fastest in the afternoon session with a time of 1:34.174.
Ralf Schumacher celebrated his return to active duty with Williams by clocking 1m 35.455s, second quickest in the morning. The German, however, fell to seventh with a time of 1:34.714 in the second session, Xinhua news agency said.
Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren, winner in Belgium last month, was third fastest in 1:34.289 in the afternoon, followed by his team-mate David Coulthard.
World champion Michael Schumacher, who clinched an unprecedented seventh drivers’ crown in Belgium, was a surprise 15th on the timesheets in the morning. He managed to go up to seventh overall.
Meanwhile, Formula One teams have praised Shanghai’s brand-new circuit. “What we see here is absolutely amazing, fantastic,” Jordan team boss Eddie Jordan said of the circuit.
“They need all the congratulations that you can imagine because it’s the detail, it’s things like the teams’ rooms and the facilities there. We don’t have that anywhere else, and these people have set the benchmark,” he said.
Renault team boss Flavio Briatore echoed Jordan’s compliment and compared the state-of-the-art track with that of Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit, which also hosted its first GP this season.
“Everybody has said the circuit is fantastic. This is an example,” he said. “To beat this one is really, really difficult. For me, Bahrain was already impressive but this one is better.” — PTI
Hindu On Net