Date Set For Toyota Appeal

The appeal by Toyota of a 25 second penalty which cost Ralf Schumacher a championship point after the San Marino GP will be heard by the International Court of Appeal in Paris next Wednesday (May 4). Their decision is expected on the following day.

Posted: Wednesday, April 27th, 2005

Jenson Button’s BAR – Legal Or Not?

Following Jenson Button’s third place finish in San Marino yesterday the race stewards investigated his BAR for several hours before declaring it legal and the results official. There had been claims that at times during the race it may have been underweight.

Today, however, the FIA announced that it is going to appeal this decision. The International Court of Appeal will hear the case in Paris on May 4 and, if the FIA wins, Button could be disqualified, losing the only points he has scored so far this year.

Another rumour says that the stewards found that the car had a "secret" fuel tank but this is hardly likely as the stewards would certainly have disqualified it under those circumstances.

Posted: Monday, April 25th, 2005

Ralf Schumacher Penalized

Following today’s San Marino GP the race director referred Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher to the race stewards. At issue is a pit lane incident with Nick Heidfeld’s Williams after Schumacher’s second pit stop.

The stewards decided that it was an unsafe move and hit Ralf with a 25 second penalty which dropped him from 8th to 11th. This means that Heidfeld will move up to 8th and score a single championship point for Williams.

Needless to say, Toyota will appeal the decision.

Posted: Sunday, April 24th, 2005

Fernando Alonso Wins 2005 San Marino GP

It has been three weeks since the Bahrain race but Fernando Alonso picked up right where he left off and made it three in a row for him — and four for Renault — by winning the Grand Prix of San Marino in Imola today.

That was where the similarity to the previous race ended though as, despite a qualifying mistake which had him starting from the seventh row, Michael Schumacher drove a brilliant, strategic race and finished second for his first podium of the year. Although his Ferrari looked to be faster than Alonso’s Renault he just couldn’t get past him and so he stalked him to the finish, just yards behind for the last dozen or so laps.

Jenson Button finished third to score his first points finish of the year for BAR and Alexander Wurz, subbing for the injured Juan Pablo Montoya, finished fourth in his first Grand Prix start in several years.

Complete GP of San Marino results.

Posted: Sunday, April 24th, 2005

Fernando Alonso Wins 2005 Bahrain GP

Fernando Alonso made it two in a row for him and three for Renault by winning the Grand Prix of Bahrain in Sakhir today. Also for the second event in a row, Jarno Trulli took second place to continue Toyota’s remarkable improvement in performancee compared to last year.

Kimi Raikkonen captured third to score his first podium finish of the year for McLaren and Ralf Schumacher finished fourth to put both Toyotas in the top five.

The new 2005 Ferrari, which had been the talk of the weekend, failed to live up to its promise with Michael Schumacher retiring early and Rubens Barrichello fading to finish out of the points.

Not to be outdone by his race-winning countryman, Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa finished fifth while substituting for Juan Pablo Montoya in his McLaren. Montoya could be out for several more races after injuring his shoulder playing tennis.

Complete GP of Bahrain results.

Posted: Sunday, April 3rd, 2005