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Felipe Massa was back behind the wheel of the Ferrari F60 on Sunday, his first outing in the team’s 2009 machine since his life-threatening crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix meeting back in July. Massa wowed the crowds at Spain’s Valencia circuit, where Ferrari were celebrating the end of their motorsport season with the annual Ferrari World Finals.

It may not have been his first time back in an F1 car - he tested an older machine at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track last month - but it was a very special day for the Brazilian, back in front of his beloved fans less than four months after his skull was fractured by a loose spring from a rival car.

“I am very happy to be here, that I can work with the team,” said Massa. “It’s true that I’ve been with them in Sao Paulo and in Abu Dhabi, but driving is really extraordinary! Today I also want to thank all the fans, who were really close to me over the last months. The messages I received were wonderful.”

Massa drove around 20 laps, first with his test driver team mates Marc Gene, Giancarlo Fisichella and Luca Badoer and later on, after a couple of pit stops, alone - an experience he described as almost as good as a race win.

Wow - it seems lately like everyone is jumping ship. Is it due to the economic downturn - or something else?

From the Formula One website:

Toyota will be absent from the grid next season after the team’s parent company announced its withdrawal from Formula One racing on Wednesday. The team had been competing since 2002.

“Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces it plans to withdraw from the FIA Formula One World Championship at the end of the 2009 season,” said a statement released by the Japanese car manufacturer.

“TMC, which had viewed its participation in F1 as contributing to the prosperity of automotive culture, remained dedicated to competing at the pinnacle of motor sports, even in the face of the abrupt economic changes that started last year.

“However, when considering TMC’s motor-sports activities next year and beyond from a comprehensive midterm viewpoint reflecting the current severe economic realities, TMC decided to withdraw from F1.”

Read more…

F1 2009™, the official video game of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship, is set to deliver an even more authentic experience for gamers after developers Codemasters announced that a limited edition Race Wheel accessory, styled after an F1 steering wheel, will ship with the Wii™ edition in selected territories.

The F1 2009 bundle box will feature the exclusive white Race Wheel, which the Wii remote slots into, enabling players to steer the Formula One cars in the game, due for release this autumn, like their heroes.

The news comes ahead of this weekend’s European Grand Prix and the Valencia circuit, complete with its unique swing bridge, is playable for the first time in F1 2009. A gameplay video packed with race action from Spanish track is now available at www.formula1-game.com.

F1 2009 will offer a fully authentic Formula One experience, with all the teams, drivers, cars and tracks from the enthralling 2009 season. The Wii version will set new standards for racing immersion and authenticity, while remaining accessible for the entire family, and the PSP version will allow fans the opportunity to enjoy the world’s most thrilling and glamorous sport on the move.

With Formula One heating up a LOT in recent weeks, we thought we’d share some quotes from the series’ top drivers with their thoughts on how the season is shaping up and what’s in store for the upcoming Grand Prix:

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
2008 Qualifying - 2nd, 2008 Race - 2nd
“It’s great to be getting back to business after the four-week break. I’m still buzzing from the win in Hungary and I’m hopeful of being able to carry that pace into the Valencia weekend - particularly with our new upgrades to the car. It’s a very demanding circuit, the kind of place that punishes any mistakes hard. It’s quite tight and relatively slow, so it should suit our package. It’s also very difficult to overtake, as we discovered last year - but, with our KERS, Mercedes-Benz has proved that anything can happen and I’m once again hoping that it will provide the difference in the race.”

Jarno Trulli, Toyota
2008 Qualifying - 7th, 2008 Race - 5th
“I am really glad to be racing again; it’s great to have some time off to relax with my family but my passion is racing so it’s good to be getting back to the track. It seems like a long time since the last race so everyone in the team is fired up to come out fighting this weekend. Valencia is not such an exciting circuit for me but that doesn’t matter so much if we are strong, which we were last year on this track. Unlike somewhere like Monaco, Valencia is actually very fast for a street circuit so that should suit our car pretty well. In fact, it doesn’t really feel much like a street circuit at all because it is so much faster than other city tracks. We were in the top six last year in Valencia and that is my target this season. It was good to have both cars in the points in Hungary. The Valencia track has a different character so it’s difficult to predict at this stage but my target is to score as many points as possible.”

After travelling back to his home country of Brazil on Monday, Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello has wasted no time in catching up with friend Felipe Massa. Barrichello visited Massa’s home on Wednesday, as his fellow Brazilian continues to recuperate from the fractured skull he sustained during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Updating his official Twitter page, Barrichello said: “I have spent the afternoon with Felipe. He is fine and exactly the same person as before…thank God. I loved the afternoon, he was so well and in good spirits. On Felipe’s comeback we need to be patient. He has to be 100 percent before he drives again.”

Although Massa has been making a remarkable recovery from his injuries, no official date has been set for his return to the track, with personal doctor Dino Altman explaining last week that he’ll need time to ‘calmly convalesce’. Ferrari tester Luca Badoer is to fill in for the 28 year-old at next weekend’s European Grand Prix.

See even more info/updates at www.formula1.com and follow F1 and other racing series every day at www.carracing.com.

The inaugural F1 ROCKS™ event will take place at the 2009 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX later this year, with a star-studded music line-up headlined by global superstars the Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce. ‘F1 ROCKS™ Singapore with LG’ will span three days of the night-time race weekend, from September 24-26.

F1 ROCKS™ fuses the world’s most popular annual sporting series with the most iconic music stars to create an unrivalled experience for Formula One and music fans alike. At the core of F1 ROCKS™ is a series of spectacular multi-artist live music events from glamorous Formula One race locations around the world, of which Singapore will be the first.

Other artists confirmed for the concerts in Singapore’s Fort Canning Park are ZZ Top, Simple Minds, N*E*R*D and Chinese pop legend Jacky Cheung. Along with the two headliners, they have sold over 245 million records worldwide between them. The show will also feature guest appearances from top Formula One drivers and celebrities.

F1 ROCKS™ is set to be a global sensation and will be broadcast worldwide across a potential 188 Formula One territories. Two TV programmes will be produced from ‘F1 ROCKS™ Singapore with LG’; the first will be an hour-long entertainment show, giving viewers unrivalled access into the glamorous world of Formula One racing with A-List celebrity interviews, TV stunts, unique performances and aspirational and lifestyle features. The second will be a high-octane music special showcasing the best live music performances and interviews.

The full line-up for Singapore (other artists to be announced):
Thursday September 24 - Jacky Cheung, Da Mouth and Sodagreen
Friday September 25 - ZZ Top, Simple Minds and N*E*R*D
Saturday September 26 - Beyonce and Black Eyed Peas

Tickets go on sale on August 5 at www.f1rocks.com

Interesting article based on an interview with Tony Stewart at Indy re: the way that technology has changed auto racing forever…

This has been nagging at me all week.

There was Tony Stewart, one of the true devotees of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, sitting at a microphone Sunday after finishing third in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, firing back after a question about the way the cars were spread out all day.

“When was the last time, other than stock car racing, you saw any kind of bumper-to-bumper racing here?” the two-time Brickyard winner and five-time Indianapolis 500 participant said.

“That’s my question to you: Have you seen that in the last 30 years here?”…

LINK - JSOnline.com

Formula One’s leading teams revived their threat to form a breakaway series on Thursday despite the sport’s governing body insisting that a deal to end the long-running saga over regulations could be reached in days.

F1’s fragile peace was thrown into doubt again Wednesday when the Formula One Teams Association walked out of a meeting with the FIA after being told they had not been entered into the 2010 championship and would have no say in finalizing cost-cutting measures.

“We cannot sit back and wait. We have to keep all options open,” BMW Sauber motorsport director Mario Theissen said Thursday from the site of the upcoming German Grand Prix. “And that means we have to look at the other points as well. We have to prepare for all possibilities.”

What’d I tell you? Jenson Button was on the top of the podium again following the Monaco Grand Prix in the Formula One series this weekend.

This is Button’s fifth win in the 2009 season - how far will he go? - it’s still pretty early in the season!

There was not a single moment when he ever looked like losing this one, as he stretched his points score to 51, and his lead to 16 over Barrichello. His only error came following the chequered flag when, in his jubilation, he parked his car in the wrong parc ferme area and had to jog all the way to the podium like the triathlon runner he is. It was a pluperfect performance.

Can you imagine? What a season! Formula One’s Jenson Button got his fourth WIN in the open wheel series in just five races so far in the 2009 season. The result gives Button 41 points to Barrichello’s 27, Vettel’s 23 and Webber’s 15.5. In the constructors’ stakes, Brawn have 68 to Red Bull’s 38.5.

Formula One has been undergoing much “growing pains” in the 2009 season, with rule changes and restrictions that have pretty much pulled the once formidable Ferrari Team out of the running for wins or championship. That cleared the way for other teams and new drivers to achieve podium status this year, and helped Button to achieve his 4th win in just 5 races thus far.

Tune in to see what else happens as more changes are rumored and possibly even a step-down of FIA’s chairman. Formula One is definitely evolving in 2009 - where it will end up and how the fans will react can only be guessed!