29/07/2005
NEWS STORY
In the first of a regular series, Sally Aquire brings you some of the news stories you might of missed in recent days:
Liuzzi to be dropped?
It seems like it's a case of all or nothing for Vitantonio Liuzzi - either he gets the second seat at Red Bull Racing, alongside David Coulthard, or he loses out altogether.
Team boss Christian Horner admitted this week that American GP2 star, Scott Speed, is now first in the frame for the role of third driver next year.
Should current race driver, Christian Klien, retain his spot as the second driver, Liuzzi is all but out of a job, as Red Bull have revealed their plans to ditch the driver rotation system which is in place at the moment, between Klien and Liuzzi.
Red Bull have yet to decide who will partner Coulthard in 2006, stating earlier in the year that they will decide when the season is over.
All change at BAR?
Rumours suggest that Takuma Sato may be in danger of losing his seat at BAR in 2006, as the team are said to be less than impressed about his failure to keep up with team-mate Jenson Button.
Sato is the only driver this year to not score a single point- except for Minardi newcomer, Robert Doornbos (who has only started one race).
His possible replacements are said to include Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa.
Speaking about his season so far, Sato said : "It's been a tough season, no doubt about it. I think we just have to keep motivated and keep the spirit, that's all I can do. Hopefully in Hungary I can restart again and be pushing again."
Kimi`s special treatment
Ron Dennis revealed that he has a special arrangement with star driver Kimi Raikkonen, which allows the Finn to leave the circuit straight away, if he retires from a race which he was leading.
Dennis explained that "Kimi takes more than the normal two hours (to get over the disappointment)."
In other McLaren news, their factory in Woking, known as the 'Paragon', has apparently been nominated for the 'Stirling' prize. Other buildings up for the gong are the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and the BMW Central Building in Leipzig.
Alonso dismisses 'lucky' tag
To anyone who claims that the Spaniard is only in command of the championship due to the good luck of himself and his Renault team, Alonso has this to say : "Is it luck because the people at Renault have done a good job? We have designed an engine that lasts 1400 km, our mechanics did not sleep through the winter at the tests to prepare the car so we could test more, our guys in the wind tunnel are working 24 hours to improve the car, so I don't think you can say we are lucky. If the other teams have not done that, it is not our fault…"
Alonso has won six races this season, three of which have been gifted as a result of the seemingly endless bad luck of Kimi Raikkonen.
Minor trouble for Coulthard
David Coulthard got himself in a bit of trouble whilst promoting F1 in Turkey.
He opted to take his racing car over the Bosphorus Bridge - without realising that only the president, traffic police and emergency services can cross the toll bridge without incurring a fine.
He was promptly fined 20 euros, or £13.75, for the privilege, which his Red Bull team agreed to pay.