Pre-German Grand Prix News

All right people... It's the German Grand Prix up next and the biggest name in German motorsport history(or indeed, motorsport as a whole), Michael Schumacher will be missing for the first time in about 16 years. There are, however 5 other Germans taking part in their home race. One of them, of course, is Michael Schumacher's brother, Ralf Schumacher, who will be hoping to do well and score more than just a single point in the race. Other German racers are: Nico Rosberg for Williams, Nick Heidfeld for BMW, Adrian Sutil for Spyker and newcomer and first-time racer, Markus Winkelhock, also for Spyker.

Let's talk about Winkelhock. Markus Winkelhock, relatively unknown till Adrian Sutil's (so far) teammate, Christijan Albers was sacked due to sponsor problems, was a test driver for Spyker with no superlicence that is needed to race in F1. Christijan Albers was thoroughly outpaced, both in qualifying and in the races, by his rookie teammate, Adrian Sutil. Not that at their level, competition is much, but still... What I mean is that Spyker's main aim usually is to finish the race and finish is as high as possible. And so, between these two, Sutil has generally qualified higher and atleast finished more races than Albers. Perhaps the last straw for Spyker boss, Colin Kolles, was at the French Grand Prix, held a week before the British one, when after his pitstop, Albers took the fuelling hose with him all the way down the pitlane, and consequently, retire. That did not go down well with the bosses and heads of Spyker. After the Silverstone GP(where Sutil retired 'coz of a blown engine and Albers finished last), it became official that Spyker had parted company with Albers. It then became a case of test drivers jumping into the fray to occupy the vacant seat. Our Indian racer, Narain Karthikeyan was also supposedly in the running. (Although I never thought he would make it.) Winkelhock, at that time was a very vague possibility and Christian Klien was the one touted to replace Albers. That did not happen and Spyker have done something of a favour to Winkelhock by letting him race in his home GP. As you might already know, a home GP is very special to a racer. It gives him extra motivation and maybe, just maybe, he tries harder than he already is, to do better and go faster. Winkelhock has been given this one race. If he impresses, he's in. Else, he's out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping he'll finish his very first race, perhaps higher than his slightly more experienced teammate, Sutil.

Next up, it's about Kimi Räikkönen. This extremely talented Finnish driver wants to break his German jinx and fin(n)ish first in the race. He's always had bad luck here. With just a single podium to his name at this circuit and a retirement whilst leading, Räikkönen, has this to say about the race:
"I don't know what it is about Germany. I have never had any luck there during my entire Formula One career. I've always been competitive at the Nürburgring and at Hockenheim, but something always happened to stop me from winning. Let's hope that I can turn around things here my first time with Ferrari. I had one podium finish at the Nürburgring with my former team, but a couple of times I had to stop while I was leading in the race: that is a bad memory. Although I have to say that I like the place."
Well, all the best Kimi... And watch out for teammate, Massa. I don't think he's too happy with you stealing what could have been his victory, at France. Let's see.

Lastly, work in the largest Arabian emirate of Abu Dhabi, on the F1 track to be built as a part-permanent, part-non-permanent circuit has begun and work is well underway. They'll be making their F1 appearance in 2009. With the announcement that F1 will be leaving the US in 2008, Bernie Ecclestone, F1 supremo, is determined that the "show must go on." Besides, the East is sitting up and taking notice of the sport and so it's really not that surprising after all. Here's to a successful Abu Dhabi GP.

Well, that's all there is for today. Watch this space for more.