The midpoint of the British Grand Prix was the exact midpoint of the 17-race 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship that included the United States Grand Prix on June 17 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The battle for the championship has developed into an intense duel between powerhouses Ferrari and Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes.
Ferrari won the most recent round as Kimi Raikkonen took the victory in the British Grand Prix.
After nine races, Ferrari has earned five wins and five poles. McLaren has four wins, including Lewis Hamilton’s triumph in Indianapolis, and four pole positions.
Due better reliability, however, McLaren leads the points standings in both championships.
Rookie Hamilton heads the Drivers World Championship with 70 points followed by his teammate Fernando Alonso with 58 points. Ferrari drivers Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are next in the standings with 52 and 51 points respectively.
In the Constructors World Championship, McLaren-Mercedes has 128 points while Ferrari’s score is 103.
While Ferrari has been faster than McLaren in some races, its cars have not been as reliable.
“Our Achilles’ heel is reliability, even if we have the best package on track, ” Ferrari team principal Jean Todt said. “We have to work on pushing hard with our performance development so as to regain the maximum level of reliability. ”
Hamilton’s records: Rookie phenomenon Lewis Hamilton continues to add statistics to the record books. He has finished on the podium in each of his first nine starts, something no other rookie has come close to matching.
Hamilton is now tied for third in the record books among all drivers for consecutive podium finishes.
Seven-time World Champion and five-time United States Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher holds the record with 19 straight podium finishes. Schumacher’s streak started with his win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September 2001 followed by a win in Japan in October. In 2002, he finished on the podium in each of the 17 races, including a second place behind Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello in the United States Grand Prix.
Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso is second with 15 successive podium finishes over the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
Fan favorite: Why do the fans support Lewis Hamilton so much? One reason is that he supports the fans. He can’t sign every autograph, but he always signs some.
“Taken from my past experience when I used to go up to F1 drivers (for autographs), I wanted to be slightly different, ” Hamilton said. “I wanted for people to be able to approach me and to try and give them as much time as possible. That’s what some F1 drivers didn’t do when I was younger. ”
30,000 faces: About 30,000 people emailed in photos of themselves, their friends and their pets to help raise more than $1 million for the Red Bull team’s Wings For Life charity drive.
All the photos were displayed on the cars of David Coulthard and Mark Webber during the British Grand Prix weekend.
Investigation begins: An investigation has been launched into the alleged transfer of confidential Ferrari technical information to a member of the McLaren team.
Ferrari said in a statement: “It was brought to Ferrari’s attention by a third party outside Formula 1 racing within the last fortnight that a senior member of the technical staff within the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team might be in possession of highly sensitive Ferrari information. ”
Ferrari obtained a court order to search the house in England of the McLaren employee.
A McLaren statement said: “McLaren became aware on that a senior member of its technical organization was the subject of a Ferrari investigation regarding the receipt of technical information.
“The team has learnt that this individual had personally received a package of technical information from a Ferrari employee at the end of April. Whilst McLaren has no involvement in the matter and condemns such actions, we will fully cooperate with any investigation.
“The individual has, in the meanwhile, been suspended by the company pending a full and proper investigation of the matter. ”
With the full cooperation of both teams, the FIA has launched an investigation to ensure that no design elements of the McLaren car contain intellectual property rights owned by Ferrari.
DC back in 2008: David Coulthard has signed on to drive to Red Bull in 2008. It will be his fourth year with Red Bull and his 15th in F1. Mark Webber will be his teammate again next year.
Celebrity visitors: Soccer star David Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, attended the British Grand Prix.
Beckham is coming to America this month to begin his Major League Soccer career with the L. A. Galaxy.
Home race: The British Grand Prix is the home race for seven of the 11 F1 teams. McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, Williams-Toyota, Honda, Red Bull Racing, Super Aguri Honda and Spyker all have bases in England, most of them near the Silverstone circuit.
GP2 winners: Andreas Zuber won GP2 race July 7 at Silverstone. British driver Adam Carroll took the victory in front of his home fans July 8.
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