Ferrari is not satisfied that McLaren is not punished. The World Motor Sport Council called by the FIA found McLaren guilty of possessing technical data owned by Ferrari. This has angered Ferrari. Scuderia Ferrari’s chief executive Jean Todt is also furious at the ruling. He accused McLaren’s team principal Ron Dennis of signing an agreement of trust between the two teams while at the same time is aware that a spy is working inside Ferrari.
“I replied that I found it impossible to believe him because we had seen that certain commitments had always been disregarded by McLaren,” said Todt. “There was an exchange of views and, believing in their good faith, I agreed to sign this agreement on June 9. So, on the one hand, they had come to say ‘let us trust one another’ and, on the other, they were hiding serious facts but making no effort to inform us as would have been in the spirit and to the letter of our agreement.”
Todt pointed out that since McLaren was found guilty, they should be punished. “There is not even a sign of logic in this verdict. Either they are guilty or they aren’t. McLaren were found responsible of having violated the regulations of F1, of having behaved in a fraudulent manner, but they haven’t been punished,” he shared.
McLaren though was not found guilty of having used the Ferrari data on their cars which would have given them immense advantage over the Italian team. If the FIA punished McLaren that would either come in form of a monetary fine docking points from the team and drivers. Currently, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are leading the race to the championship.
Aside from that the team’s drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are leading in the drivers’ championship standings. The scandal involved a Ferrari and a McLaren employee.
Nigel Stepney, formerly of Ferrari, is allegedly passing on technical secrets to Mike Coughlan, McLaren’s chief designer. Ferrari documents were found in the possession of Coughlan and being a member of the McLaren team, the team was summoned by the FIA to the council. The British Formula One team currently has 138 points after ten races so far. The hope of the team now lies in the testimony of Mike Coughlan. If Coughlan testified that someone aside from him in the team was aware of the secret dossier, McLaren’s name will forever be tainted.
Stepney was already sacked by the Italian Formula One team.
McLaren is now waiting for the decision of the World Motor Sport Council concerning the Ferrari spying scandal. The team has been summoned at the council to make known their involvement in the alleged spying on rival Ferrari.
For nine races this season before the European Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing’s highest ever finish this season is a fifth place taken by British Formula One driver David Coulthard. But at the race in Nürburgring, the duo of Coulthard and Mark Webber collected more points than in the nine races combined.
Before the European Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing only has six points. But at the Euro Grand Prix, Webber finished third, his second career podium finish for six points while Coulthard finished fifth for four points. Webber and Coulthard even outpaced the pair of BMW Sauber and Renault. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld finished sixth and Robert Kubica finished seventh. Obviously, Webber and Coulthard are pleased with their performance. Eventually though, Winkelhock would not finish the race as his car’s hydraulics malfunctioned.
“I am really happy about it – I was leading my home Grand Prix! Unfortunately then we had a hydraulic problem and I had to stop. The target for me was to finish, but I know that not getting there was not down to me, so I am really pleased with what I achieved,” said Winkelhock after the race.
Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren will be exonerated at next week’s hearing into the Formula One “spy” scandal, reports BBC Sport. Hamilton, teammate Fernando Alonso and the entire McLaren team face the prospect of having points docked or even ejected off the championship competition if they are found guilty of breaking the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile rules. McLaren boss Ron Dennis has unwaveringly maintained his and his team’s innocence in the whole affair since news broke of Coughlan’s suspension on 3 July. It was alleged by the Scuderia team that some of the members of McLaren, including Martin Whitmarsh, were aware of the Ferrari documents. “I know the team is working hard on it,” says Hamilton, who is struggling to overcome a ‘flu bug in time for Sunday’s European Grand Prix in Germany.
“I do feel they are one of the most honest teams out there,” says Hamilton. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s goal will be to get well for Sunday’s Nurburgring race.
Auto production of Japan’s top automakers was interrupted after Riken Corp., a leading auto part supplier, was damaged by a powerful earthquake which hit the territory last Monday. The Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest automaker, stopped production at its Japanese plants Wednesday after the said supplier of transmission and engine parts, sustained heavy damage at its facilities from the quake. Additionally, Toyota also cancelled one shift today and all production at its assembly and components plants in Japan on Friday. Other Japanese automakers might have suffered production curtailments. Honda is assessing the impact of the damage at Riken’s facilities, which supply its Japanese plants but do not ship parts to its North American plants, said David Iida, a Detroit-based spokesman for Honda.
Toyota, for one, produces 1.6 million product lines annually in North America. The rest are imported from Japan.
Meanwhile, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries, Suzuki Motor Corp., Jatco transmission manufacturer and other customers have scaled production in Japan.
Earlier this year, representatives from about 600 Saturn dealerships converged in Colorado Springs for the annual National Retailer Business Meeting. Under the partnership, Saturn dealerships will be building four environmentally-conscious homes for the Colorado Springs community.
“If a brand does not have a cause marketing relationship or a cause identified as part of its brand, it’s missing the spirit of the brand. The dealers helped in framing four houses. “It was the emotional connection of us and our dealers working together in a team effort,” said Parrottino. The event gave the dealers the perception that Saturn is relating to its consumers. According to Parrottino, Saturn is the greenest brand in General Motors. “(The event gave) us a chance to explore the green side of our brand. Saturn is the greenest brand in General Motors,” Parrottino said.
The event worked out beautifully.
BMW Sauber is currently third in the constructors’ championship standing behind McLaren and Ferrari. Renault is last year’s champion but is currently caught up in a contest with third place BMW Sauber.
At the Canadian and United States Grands Prix, the French contingent stepped up their game to catch up with BMW Sauber.
Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella is confident that his team has what it takes to overtake BMW Sauber in the constructors’ championship. The plan now is for Renault to catch up with and overtake BMW Sauber.
At the two recent races though, BMW Sauber increased its lead over the French team. The German-Swiss Formula One team now has a 25 point lead over Renault. Renault’s technical director Bob Bell is in agreement with Fisichella.
As carmakers move away from producing large vehicles due to the constant increase of gasoline prices as well as the increasing demand for fuel efficient vehicles, French automaker Peugeot is doing the opposite. The carmaker recently introduced the Peugeot 4007 – the company’s first sports utility vehicle. The SUV may be the first from Peugeot but the carmaker knows what its doing by coming up with an SUV. It is powered by the latest generation of HDi engine technology. In the crossover SUV, the engine produces as much as 156 bhp at 4,000 revs per minute. The design of the engine though allows the engine to deliver 380 Newton meters of torque at 2,000 rpm. According to Peugeot, the 4007 produces less carbon dioxide gas than some family cars due to the engine technologies used in the design of the crossover’s HDi engine.
One of the most important engineering credentials of the 4007 is its innovative electronic ‘on-demand’ 4WD system. The On-Demand 4WD System enables the driver to select three modes of drive whilst on the move.
On-Demand 4WD System
- Permanent 2WD – great for the majority of times when travelling around town or on a motorway, with all power directed to the front wheels
- Automatic 4WD – engine torque is delivered automatically to wheels that require the most traction at any time
- Permanent 4WD – splits torque 50:50 between front and rear wheels making it perfect for when the going gets tough
Peugeot’s 4007 are launched with two trim levels in the UK, either the SE at £22,790 or GT at £25,490 on-the-road.
The 4007 was produced in partnership with the Mitsubishi and is a sister to the Citroen C-Crosser.
Rains showers limited the number of laps the drivers spent on the tracks. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa posted the fastest lap time on the second day of testing with a lap time of 1 minute and 46.698 seconds. Taking over test driving duties for McLaren, double world champion Fernando Alonso posted the second fastest lap time of the day. The team worked on adapting the car for dry and wet conditions.
The German Formula One driver started his run mid-morning after the weather postponed his run. Schumacher worked on various systems of his Formula One car like the car’s cooling system. Adrian Sutil completed the fastest five during the second day of testing. The German Formula One driver is driving for Spyker. The team’s chief race and test engineer Dominic Harlow has this to say about Sutil’s test session: “Adrian completed his initial setup work and tire evaluation before the familiar wet conditions set in over lunch”.
1. Massa – Ferrari – 1m21.506s
2. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m21.804s
3. Trulli – Toyota – 1m22.309s
4. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m22.378s
5. Alonso – McLaren – 1m22.579s
6. Kubica – BMW – 1m22.653s
7. Button – Honda – 1m22.765s
8. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1m23.027s
9. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m23.713s
10. Albers – Spyker – 1m24.870s
If there’s one thing that can save Ford Motor Co., it is another hit, says Freeman Thomas, Ford’s director of strategic design. Today, Thomas and his team at Ford’s advanced design studio in Irvine, Calif., are trying to do it again. Good thing Thomas knows a thing or two about designing hits.
Before defecting to the Dearborn automaker a couple of years ago, Thomas was the design guru at Chrysler Group. There, he designed the concept that became the Chrysler 300. Thomas also played a key role in designing the concepts that led to the Volkswagen New Beetle and Audi TT. Thomas calls design the great differentiator — the thing we auto purchasers buy when they are shopping for a car that says “me.” But great design is unworkable without great risk. “The auto industry is a dinosaur,” Thomas says.
Like many attendees, Mulally loved Ford’s stunning Interceptor concept. Even though it will not be produced, the Interceptor serves as a platform for several design cues that Thomas says will be incorporated into future Ford products.
So, does Thomas think he has another game-changing hit in his studio today? “I definitely do,” he says. “But I can’t tell you what it is.”
