A stormy 2008 British Grand Prix had left a three-way tie for the drivers' championship in Formula 1, with Hamilton. Raikkonen and Massa all in a deadlock at 48 points. That made the German Grand Prix this past weekend, the tenth race on the F1 calendar, that much more important. Raikkonen said it was a "must win" race for him, and Massa and Hamilton no doubt felt the same way. In qualifying Hamilton kept up the momentum from the previous race by capturing pole position, followed closely by Massa, Kovalainen, and Trulli.
Storms swept through Silverstone this year for the British Grand Prix. First came the announcement of David Coulthard's retirement from Formula 1, which was followed by the announcement that, starting in 2010, the race would leave its historic home at Silverstone and move to Donington Park.
The decision by Formula One Management and the FIA followed years of calls for the ageing Silverstone track -- owned and operated by the British Drivers Racing Club -- to renovate and get itself up to the modern standards set by F1's newer tracks. However, after failing to secure government funding or sufficient private investment, the decision was made to move the event to Donington. So as the storms set in to close two major chapters of British motor racing history, the rain poured down on the penultimate running of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
It is unlikely that most of us would pay for $400,000 for a personalized license plate. It is also unlikely that most of us are McLaren F1 driver Lewis Hamilton. The plate, "LEW 1S," was purchased by a real estate tycoon named Bob Lewis for under $100,000. When Lewis Hamilton decided he had to have it for his Mercedes SUV, he threw down more than four times that much to whisk it away from Bob. We have nothing against spending whatever you want on whatever you want. However, the plate purchase seems an interesting choice, since one of Hamilton's supposed reasons for leaving England for Switzerland, where he now lives, was to live a quieter, more anonymous life.
"Dad, I've totalled the (insert name of first car here)." Chances are that even if you haven't had to use that phrase, you know someone who has. But in an unusual twist, Anthony Hamilton may be making the sheepish call to his son this morning.
Lewis Hamilton's dad has put someone's Carrera GT through a hedge just a couple of hundred meters from the family home in the village of Tewin, just north of London. He's not saying who the Porsche belongs to, but it appears to have German license plates, which unfortunately makes it unlikely that the car belongs to new Swiss immigrant Lewis. That would have made the story so much sweeter.
Follow the jump to The Daily Mail's version of events, but we take the tabloid's assertation that Mr. Hamilton "somehow lost control on a straight road," with a pinch of salt. The road is a sweeping right hander and was greasy at the time of the accident. Given the proximity to the Hamilton home and the GT's reputation for snap over steer, it's pretty easy to imagine what happened.
Lewis Hamilton caught a plane headed west after dominating in Monaco, and when you're a rising F1 star in Los Angeles, you're certainly not going to hit up Avis to rent a Ford Focus – you want your vents to be functional. So Claus Ettensberger, owner of the So. Cal. tuning shop CEC, was kind enough to provide Hamilton with a fully-kitted Techart Porsche 997 911 during his stay in L.A. Granted, anything is kind of a demotion from his McLaren Formula One car, but we could think of worse ways for Hamilton to get around while mixing it up with L.A's elite.
![[SPOILER ALERT] Turkish Grand Prix was dog gone good](http://blog.niot.net/blog-images/12_may/spoiler-alert-turkish-grand-prix-was-dog-gone-good.jpg)
The real story coming out of this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix should be the fact that Ferrari won again and Lewis Hamilton is driving better than any other driver in F1, but a stray dog that was struck and killed on track during a GP2 Series by Bruno Senna - nephew of Ayrton, yes that Ayrton - has dominated much of the F1 headlines. There's video of it after the jump for those with hardy stomachs.
But back to the racing. After having dominated the prior week's Spanish Grand Prix by finishing one-two, Ferrari once again crowded the podium stand with two top-three finishers, though not in order this time. Felipe Massa, whose performance the last three races has marked an impressive turnaround, captured the checkered flag - his second of the season and third in a row in Turkey - by driving a very clean race. He was, however, passed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton mid-race, who had an impressive race all around. Some say Hamilton drove the race of his career at this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix, but his team's strategy of a three-pit race ultimately did him in, as Massa's two-pit strategy gave him enough lead time to hold off Hamilton. Third place was earned by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who will take the points to pad his slim points lead over teammate Massa and Hamilton.
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Imagine getting a contract with a major F1 team before you're even out of high school. That's what Lewis Hamilton got with McLaren when he was young(er), and what karting protégé Will Stevens has achieved with the Honda Racing F1 Team, reflecting a growing trend in motorsport recruitment. While team leaders have always kept an eye on feeder series like Formula 3 and, more recently, GP2, to scout up-and-coming talent, the rising level of competition has driven the teams to start earlier and earlier with their recruitment programs.
At 16 years old, Stevens has the FIA-CIK KF2 European and Asia-Pacific, International Open Masters KF2, WSK Junior ICA and MSA British Junior titles to his name, along with five national championships. He met over the weekend with Honda's Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to sign a long-term driver support agreement that will help him develop and advance through the ranks until he's ready to race in Formula One, giving David Coulthard a heads-up on the next little pischer to complain about.
Ten years ago, Lewis Hamilton was only 13 years old and was already under the wing of McLaren chief Ron Dennis. A young Lewis visited the McLaren headquarters in Woking, England, and fixed his eyes on a bright orange McLaren F1 LM supercar sitting on display at the factory. Good taste, Lewis: only five roadgoing LMs were made, and each one is said to be worth about $4 million. Produced in 1995 to commemorate McLaren's win at Le Mans, it was the fastest supercar of its day, and with a 0-60 time of under three seconds, it remains one of the fastest to this day.
Ron Dennis has now promised Hamilton that if he wins the world championship this year – and locks up the constructors' title together with teammate Heikki Kovalainen – the car will be his. Not a bad bonus.
Formula 1 will hit the BBC air waves in 2009 after a long run on ITV. The move will require new figureheads to sit at the desk, and London's Times has said that Top Gear's Richard Hammond is the top man for the job. Economics at least partially drove ITV's decision to withdraw from F1 coverage. The coverage is expensive, so making money is challenging, even with newly rising star Lewis Hamilton making F1 more interesting for UK viewers.
Hammond's presence might help broaden the appeal beyond just racing fans, as would guest appearances by Jeremy Clarkson and James May, Hammond's cohorts on Top Gear. Letting Clarkson and May prowl the paddock could offer priceless moments of color commentary that would set YouTube alight. The BBC also plans to update the look, feel and pace of its coverage, and fans will be able to get at the presentation more easily with races going out across broadband digital outlets in addition to the standard radio and television.
Scuderia Ferrari got its game on this past weekend, taking a step closer to defending its world titles at the Malaysian Grand Prix in claiming both pole position in Saturday qualifying and the checkered flag in the race on Sunday. Raikkonen and Massa nearly completed a one-two finish for Ferrari until Felipe's car spun out in the closing laps, taking the #2 car out of the race. Instead Robert Kubica took a career-best second place for BMW Sauber (while his team-mate Nick Heidfeld took 6th), prompting team principal Mario Theissen to declare that BMW could claim its first victory this season.
