Red Army Marches On In Germany
Qualifying for the German Grand Prix took place today with Ferrari hoping to keep their run of good form from France.
The first session took place in an overcast setting, with Midland driver Brad Horton fastest and his team mate Nathan Soyfu in second. 3rd was Carl Audet in the Renault with Ferrari driver Jef Beyens in 4th. Championship co-leader Simon Trendell was 6th with Blake Haswell 7th in the second Ferrari, Hutchison was 8th with fellow Brits Andrew Lewis in 9th and Lee Davidson rounding out the top 10. It was a bad session for Williams who saw both drivers eliminated, Pianelli seemed to have trouble with understeer whilst team mate Joe Blow lost his car into turn one damaging the back of the car. Pianelli will start 17th, Blow 20th. Also eliminated was Dennis Groper after running wide at the fast back straight thus ruining the under-tray. Lloyd Ramos failed to find any pace in his McLaren and Appie Charkaoui who lost out by one tenth of a second.
In the second session the heavens opened and a light drizzle fell to the track, however this wouldn't stop Midland as once again they took 1-2 in the times, Blake Haswell looked more competitive in the second session setting the 3rd fastest time and his fastest time of the day. His team mate Jef Beyens was 5th, with Audet the meat in the Ferrari sandwich in 4th. Lee Davidson showed more pace in 5th, just edging team mate Simon Trendell, Andrew Lewis in the Red Bull took 7th with Hutchison just behind in 8th. Dropping out was Ashley Butler, who later complained he was held up by Soyfu on his fast lap, Bob Smith in the BMW in one of his brightest qualifying performances, Bram Machiels in the Toyota managed to beat the BMW on his final lap to take 13th on the grid, 3rd of the rookies, Steve West was 12th, beating his team mate and Steve Travis took 11th, missing out of the top ten shoot out by just one tenth of a second.
The rain stopped in time for the third and final session, it was between the 2 Midlands, 2 Ferraris, 2 Hondas, 2 Renaults and 2 Red Bulls. The number of Hondas would soon drop to one though as Davidson, on slicks, ran through a wet patch at turn one and ploughed into the barrier, Davidson was fine but the front of the car was heavially damaged. This red flagged the session untill debris was cleared, as the cars came back out Davidson was sat at the pit wall discussing what happened to under-fire sporting director Gil De Ferran. As the times started to get competitive, first it was Audet that seemed like he found pace that was missing from recent grand prixs, beating Simon Trendell in the Honda, however he was soon beaten by Andrew Lewis in the Red Bull, producing a fantastic lap to beat the Season 1 Champion. Renault would soon strike back though as Duncan Hutchison beat Lewis' time by 5 hundreths of a second to put him on provisional pole. Then came the big guns, Horton was first to pit for new tyres and put them to good use setting the fastest time of the day so far, 1:14.206. His team mate Nathan Soyfu couldn't match the Australian's pace and so it was down to Ferrari, Jef Beyens took new tyres first and recorded a lap of 1:14.702, he had to push the car but he pushed it far too hard at the last corner, loosing the back end of the Ferrari and beaching it in the sand. So finally it was only Haswell who could ruin his fellow countryman's day, the Ferrari looked super fast through the stadium complex and time showed it, the only driver to get into the 1:13's on a 1:13.835, the Ferrari fans rejoiced, the lap had the essence of back when Schumacher was racing for the team. It was an Australian front row, but it was Ferrari who took pole.
Transfers Begin
Transfers for Season 3 have started to take place with some big names moving around. First of these is championship leader Simon Trendell, his contract at Honda is up at the end of the year and declined to sign a new one, instead opting to sign for Ferrari.
The driver he is replacing at Ferrari is Jef Beyens who has signed a new 2 year contract with Renault, replacing the retiring Carl Audet. This left a seat available at Honda, Lee Davidson signed on for the team with a year extension and was asked to help pick out potential drivers who could partner him, ultimatley it was Marc Pianelli who is leaving Williams at the end of the season, who got the drive and will partner Davidson.
McLaren lost both their drivers in the transfers with both Steve Travis and Lloyd Ramos joining Williams next season, both commenting on the mechanical side of McLaren being too poor. McLaren have confirmed that Toro Rosso driver Ashley Butler will be returning to them but have yet to fill in the second seat. At first it looked as though Beyens was to take it before signing with Renault, other potential targets are thought to be Adam Bond whos currentally at Red Bull and out going Williams driver, Joe Blow. Brad Horton has signed a new deal with Midland confirming he is to stay with the front running outfit.
There are still many drivers who have yet to confirm their future, notibly Blake Haswell, theres a rumour going around that he may be joining the returning team, Super Aguri but his manager has played down on them saying that he is very happy at Ferrari. Another is Duncan Hutchison who has failed to impress this year at Renault, he has been seen in talks with Flavio Briatore but with Flav's reputation as a world class manager, he may bring in a new young driver to the team yet.
Many of these issues are sure to be answered very soon.
