tweety bird

Maria de Villota has been released from hospital following the Marussia Formula 1 testing accident in which she lost her right eye. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101499 good news there.

Red Bull Racing will be forced to alter the engine mapping of its Renault power units from this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix after the FIA moved to close a loophole in the regulations. although no official statement has been made public, AUTOSPORT understands the new version of the regulation insists teams will be limited in the amount of adjustments it can make to the engine torque map race- by-race. According to the clarification, teams will be required to nominate one engine map - as a reference - that they used during the first four events of this season, which must then be approved by the governing body. Once passed by the FIA, the engine torque curves above 6,000rpm must not vary by more than plus or minus two per cent from that reference map. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101496 seems a step too far IMO.

steveo, it's victoria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rJTll1odf0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYgrsQaSLmw

if anyone has a spare couple of hours. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sw99urFR5g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtjZVRMJ1d4

what stretches do you boys do out of curiosity?

i will add that to my morning stretches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTSOYxplZ5I

Sauber's Sergio Perez will be demoted five places on the German Grand Prix after stewards ruled that he had impeded other cars in qualifying. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101376

both onehd and ten have free apps.............

^this is why i didn't post p1 times. it's going to be a dry race = wet times pointless.

Nico Rosberg says he is confident going into his home grand prix weekend despite picking up a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change prior to practice at Hockenheim. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/101304 Michael Schumacher admitted he was simply not fully focused when he lost control of his Mercedes during second practice for the German Grand Prix. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/101303 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYpp19gHnqk Pasta marinara emerged fastest from the second Friday practice session for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, as rain showers meant the order was largely decided by who was on track at the right moment. Heavy rain before the session meant a distinct lack of Formula 1 cars on track at first, bar Bruno Senna doing an installation lap in the Williams that Valtteri Bottas had crashed in the morning. It was 20 minutes in before Jean-Eric Vergne, Charles Pic and Nico Rosberg came out and got the afternoon underway in earnest. Conditions were steadily improving at this stage, and a quarter of an hour later Rosberg switched from full wets to intermediates on his Mercedes, a move everyone else soon followed. With the track getting quicker by the moment, the top spot then changed hands constantly after the next 25 minutes before the rain returned, ending the run of relatively quick times. Marinara put his Williams on top with a 1m27.476s just before then, and that stood as the fastest of the session. Most drivers came back out after the second shower passed, but found the track too wet to improve their times. There was still time for some incident though, as Michael Schumacher crashed the other Mercedes on the way into the stadium section, prompting a red flag with four minutes left that effectively ended the session. Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo also hit trouble late on, sliding into the gravel at the Sachs Kurve and getting beached. Rosberg ended up classified second, ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, Sergio Perez's Sauber and Romain Grosjean's Lotus. Everyone managed a reasonable amount of running despite the conditions, with the exception of Pedro de la Rosa, who spent a long time in the garage while HRT worked on his car's brakes, meaning he missed the best of the weather. Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Pasta marinara Williams-Renault 1m27.476 14 2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m27.564s + 0.088 24 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m27.902s + 0.426 24 4. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.402s + 0.926 26 5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m28.420s + 0.944 20 6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m28.495s + 1.019 22 7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.513s + 1.037 23 8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.516s + 1.040 16 9. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m28.877s + 1.401 21 10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m29.327s + 1.851 22 11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m29.364s + 1.888 26 12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m29.719s + 2.243 15 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m29.785s + 2.309 24 14. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.090s + 2.614 19 15. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.220s + 2.744 16 16. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m30.291s + 2.815 22 17. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m30.331s + 2.855 26 18. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m30.437s + 2.961 14 19. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m30.617s + 3.141 16 20. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m31.207s + 3.731 20 21. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m32.241s + 4.765 22 22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m32.349s + 4.873 17 23. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.777s + 5.301 18 24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.566s + 15.090 8 http://www.autosport...t.php/id/101301

Lotus is set to give a track debut to its version of double DRS at Hockenheim on Friday, AUTOSPORT can reveal, with the team hoping to gain as much valuable test mileage on it as possible. Although the exact details of how the Lotus system works are not known, it is understood to operate in a very different way to the Mercedes design - despite making use of the same 'loopholes' in the regulations as its rival. Instead of flowing air through the car to the front wing, its main aim is to influence the airflow over the rear wing - helping to stall it for a straightline speed boost. It is expected to use new inlet holes on the engine cover, which are likely to be a part of the new double-DRS system. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101286

i see. p1 at 6pm today boys!

Marussia has ruled out a problem with its car as the cause of Maria de Villota's recent testing accident, after concluding its own investigation into what happened. Team principal John Booth said: "We are satisfied that the findings of our internal investigation exclude the car as a factor in the accident. We have shared and discussed our findings with the HSE for their consideration as part of their ongoing investigation. "This has been a necessarily thorough process in order to understand the cause of the accident. We have now concluded our investigatory work and can again focus on the priority, which continues to be Maria's wellbeing. In that regard, we continue to support Maria and the De Villota family in any way we can." De Villota is now out of sedation in hospital and able to talk to her family as she continues her recovery. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101236

What about this rumour about no more 20g on the rb20?

good news there. edit here is the q&a. Q. Was signing with Red Bull Racing for 2013 an easy decision? Mark Webber: In the end, yes it was. It's been an interesting few months, but overall the continuity and desire for me to continue at Red Bull Racing was very strong. My main focus is on this year's championship, which is very important. In addition it's an amazing bunch of guys and girls at Red Bull Racing and I really, really like working with them. That has a huge effect on me and how I perform in the car and it helped me in my decision. Q. You mention the people, what else is it that you like about the team and Red Bull? MW: Well, we have gone through plenty together here. We went from the days when Red Bull had not long owned the team to what it is now. The team really changed when we started to get successful, in terms of getting the balance right between being extremely professional on all fronts to still keeping that laid back and approachable attitude that the team still has within reason. It is just one nice big family now in many ways and we have grown so much. We've come a long way and I think it's clear that I fit well here and that's what I really like about it. Q. Were you tempted to think about moving elsewhere? MW: There were discussions with Ferrari, but my decision was to stay here. Q. What's the benefit of staying with Red Bull Racing? MW: I virtually know everyone's shoe size! I know everyone's names, I know how everyone ticks and I know all the departments which is very, very important for a driver. There's a whole raft of factors. Q. And how is working with the team and with Sebastian Vettel? MW: Very good. Obviously with Seb, we've worked very, very close together for a long period of time now. I think no one would really have envisaged how long we have worked together, so that's probably been a bit of a surprise. There are not many team-mates staying together for that long in Formula 1, but it's proved to be a successful partnership with both of us working very hard with the key technical members of the team. It's been a potent operation. We're still competitive when we hit the track, no question about it, especially in 2010 and this year. Last year there wasn't much racing between Sebastian and I, but in 2009, 2010 and this year, there have been some great battles. That's been enjoyable for the team, sometimes stressful too as it's not easy for both of us to be at the front and I can understand that, as both of us are thinking about ourselves sometimes, but ultimately we know that we need to get the cars home and get the best results for us and the team. Q. Does it help to have contracts sorted earlier in the season? MW: Yes it does and that's another reason to just get it to bed. I've been hearing different rumours and reasons for a long time now. At the end of the day I know everything that has been going on. You want to make sure your focus is clearly on driving the car and the guys that you're working with. It's important the team knows you're 100 per cent with them, which, of course, I am. Q. Will 2013 be your last season in F1? MW: I've been asked this question for the past four years and my answer remains the same. It's a results-based sport at the front of the grid so the future lies in my own hands. It's down to me to deliver the on-track results. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101119

^ same, but i'm not on facestalk so meh.

wtf is newcastle skylines?

seb looks happy for mark doesn't he. captain chin to the rescue.