Rubens Barrichello is all set to break Riccardo Patrese's record of 256 races,he will race his 257th race this sunday in Turkey.Barrichello's Honda RA108 race car and helmet will feature a specially designed ‘257’ livery throughout the weekend.


To celebrate the event auto major Honda held a event titled The Rubens Barrichello 257 Golf Tournament in the prestigious club of "Club de Golf El Prat",in Barcelona after the Spanish GP.Principal Ross Brawn, current record holder Riccardo Patrese, fellow F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and David Coulthard, plus his former team boss at Stewart Grand Prix, Sir Jackie Stewart OBE were present at the event along with Honda team members.There were also many VIPs present at the special event.The 2005 World Golf Trick Shot champion,Jose-Manuel Lara,gave some advices to the guests and players present.He entertained the crowds with a eloquent trick-shot display to round-off the activities.Players were given a chance to play the 18-hole tournament for a bespoke winners' trophy exclusively designed by the ex Honda Chief Mechanic Alastair Gibson and the also the trophy was built from Rubens' RA108 F1 car parts.The highlight of the day was that Rubens Barrichello was given the state of art Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade in recognition of his record.

 

BMW go Ferrari way

Posted In: , . By dilip




BMW and other teams will mostly experiment with the new "nose-hole" technology following Ferrari,which did it in the last race in spain.However Ferrari says that it would not use the shark mouth style feature in front driver's position for all the races in this season.And BMW's technical director Willy Rampf confirmed that they would use a similar concept in a trial team's Hinwil wind tunnel in the coming days.


"I am almost certain that it would also work on some of the other cars so we will have a look," Rampf is quoted as saying by Switzerland's Motorsport Aktuell publication.




 

Heidfeld was doing good till 22nd lap where Mclaren's Hekki kovalainen hit a tyrewall and a safety car had to be employed.According to this new rule the pit lane is closed for the first few laps of any Safety Car period and any driver who pits during the period receives a 10 second stop-and-go penalty.Unfortunately the crash happened to be just before Heidfeld's first pit stop.He had to choose between running out of fuel and getting a penalty.He choose to pit and refuel and got a ten second penalty and then dropped to back.He says in his website that his engineer asked him to pit but by then he had passed the pit entry and then safety car was deployed and the pit lane was closed and he had his race messed up for no mistake of his.

"For weeks we have talked and tried to find a better solution. Luck or bad luck should not play a role in Formula One. But right now this rule exists and therefore it was logical that I had to serve a stop-and-go penalty." says Heidfeld.He also said "i always thought that this rule was stupid".


 

No more help --- Honda

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Japanese automaker Honda has statement that it will not help Super Aguri anymore.Honda helped Super Aguri in the spanish GP providing spares and financial help.A Japanese News paper quoted a Honda offcial saying "We will not provide relief on a race-by-race basis any longer".Super Aguri has been a struggling since the start after former racer Aguri Suzuki launched it in 2005.Super Aguri are using Honda Engine, after this ,i dont know how SA is going to cope up.The next GP is on 11th of may in Turkey.Lets wait...

 

Avram Grant was all smiles when German captian Michael Ballack scored two goals against United in stamford brigde which made them win equalising the points.In the first half it was chelsea mostly having the ball and trying to score.Red devils' defence went a bit weak when Vidic was injured in the early stage of the game,he was hit in his mouth by Didier Drogba and had to be carried away in a stretcher.Coming back to Ballack,the first one was a head hit which went straight to the goal.Then Wayne Rooney eqaulized the score at 57th minute,after a careless pass by Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho.Then Ballack had the second one going in a penalty shot when Michael Carrick carelessly handed the ball.Though both teams points stand at 81,chelsea have a fair chance of winning the Premier league.Chelsea wanted a penalty when Carrick ran down a cross from Essien,the referee Alan Wiley came and indicated that it wasn't a handball but his linesmen declared it was.While Van der Sar,Hargreaves and Ferdinand came down to argue with the referees, but the referee pointed to the spot and Ballack stayed calm before powering the kick past Van der Sar for a winner that Chelsea deserved.Van der Sar made all his efforts to ward off the kick from Drogba after being cleared by Ashley Cole and Shevchenko.In the last stages Ferdinand and Claude Makelele had a scuffle and went to the extent of almost hitting each other.The pushing and shoving landed Ferdinand and a Hargreaves a yellow card.Then efforts of Joe Cole went down the drain,as his kick hit the post in the injury time.Drogba's kick in the injury time also found the goal post.Ronaldo played only the last 25 minutes of the game and rest oof the time he was on the benches.

 

Chelsea's midfielder Frank Lampard will not play the game following the death of his mother.It is said that Chelsea will give Frank Lampard all time he needs.Lampard,29, missed the early stages of the game at Wigan and Everton beacuse his mother had been admitted to hospital due to pneumonia.He underwent training after her condition improved,however it went down and was confirmed to be dead on thursdays afternoon.Avram grant announced the team list without lampard's name.He is replaced by Michael Essien,who was suspended in the first leg.

 

Raikkonen and Massa kept Ferrari in a high pace,with Raikkonen being the fastest with a time of 1m:20.649s and his team-mate Massa posting the second fastest lap of 1m:20.699s as you can see they were just .050s apart.Massa lost the his F2008's rear end in chicane towards the end of the track.Then Hamilton filled in the third place with a time of 1m:21.192s,he managed get fairly close to the Ferrari's times though his MP4-23 is quicker than the F2008,Hamilton was slower than the Ferrari's by 0.543s.While his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen came fifth with a time of 1m:21.758s.BMW's Robert kubica came in fourth with a time of 1m:21.568s.Renault filled in the 6th and 7th positions.Alonso clocked a time of 1m:21.933s while his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr. came very close to him posting a time of 1m:21.936s.Coulthard came Eigth with his Red Bull and with a time of 1m:22.118s.BMW again at the ninth place with Nick Heidfeld at 1m:22.278s.Honda's Button came tenth with a time of 1m:22.632s .Timo Glock of Toyota at 11th with 1m:23.002s.Williams's Nico Roseberg actually posted a time of 1m:22.838s but it was scrapped as he missed turns 13 and 14,then after a proper session he posted a time of 1m:23.003s putting him at 12th place.At 13 th were Red Bull’s Mark Webber with a time of 1m:23.015s.At 14th Toyota again with Jarno trulli posting 1m:23.141s.In 15th Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima who had a time of 1m:23.153s.In 16th and 17th were Force India's Adrian Sutil and Fisichella with time of 1m:23.153s and 1m:23.196s respectively.Honda's Barrichello with a hugely disappointing time of 1m:23.353s,it actually hurts to see Rubens at 18th.Then Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais came 19th with a time 1m:23.952s.Sebastian Vettel was 20th with Rosso, on 1m 24.082s.At last were the two super aguri's who were allowed to run only hours after the session started.Sato posted a time of 1m:24.082s,his Davidson team-mate posted a time of 1m:25.068s.
Practice Session times:

1. RAIKKONEN- Ferrari- 1m20.649s

2. MASSA- Ferrari- 1m20.699s

3. HAMILTON- McLaren- 1m21.192s

4. KUBICA -BMW- 1m21.568s

5. KOVALAINEN- McLaren 1m21.758s

6. ALONSO- Renault- 1m21.933s

7. PIQUET- Renault- 1m21.936s

8. COULTHARD- Red Bull -1m22.118s

9. HEIDFELD - 1m22.278s

10. BUTTON -Honda -1m22.632s

11. GLOCK -Toyota- 1m23.002s

12. ROSBERG- Williams -1m23.003s

13. WEBBER- Red Bull -1m23.015s

14. TRULLI -Toyota- 1m23.141s

15. NAKAJIMA- Williams- 1m23.153s

16. SUTIL -Force India- 1m23.156s

17. FISICHELLA -Force India -1m23.196s

18. BARRICHELLO -Honda- 1m23.353s

19. BOURDAIS- Toro Rosso -1m23.952s

20. VETTEL -Toro Rosso- 1m24.082s

21. SATO- Super Aguri- 1m24.278s

22. DAVIDSON- Super Aguri- 1m25.068s