In a statement shortly after, team boss Eric Boullier confirmed Petrov’s contract had been terminated and that he would not be in line for the team’s test and reserve driver role (presumably linked to his recent outbursts against the team).

And that just leaves Senna looking for a seat. So it seems ironic that on the very same day as the Grosjean announcement, Senna should appear modelling the new Lotus ORIGINALS collection. When he pictured himself sitting in for Lotus in 2012, I doubt he envisaged it being a lounge chair..

Bruno Senna and Lotus CEO Dany Bahar open the new Lotus ORIGINALS retail store in Hethel

Is this the price to be paid for waiting in the wings?

For what it’s worth, I remember enjoying Bruno’s drives in GP2, where he would comprehensively out-drive Vitaly Petrov and battle on equal terms with Romain Grosjean, so apart from his variable performance at times, I can see little justification in replacing him with Grosjean apart from the obvious financial ones (Grosjean is managed by team boss Eric Boullier and French oil giant TOTAL will be a team sponsor in 2012).

Lotus describe their new retail concept as “..a clear sign of their new brand identity and befitting the current and future collection of cars planned for 2013 and beyond.”

The first step in this process is opening the brand’s first retail store at Group Lotus HQ near Hethel.

In fact, if you’re in the area it might be worth popping in and taking a look, because in addition to the latest range of apparel and accessories, the retail store is also showcasing the new look customers can expect from Lotus dealerships in the future.

The new Lotus ORIGINALS retail store in Hethel

The dealership environment has a modern look and feel with an inviting lounge area where customers can browse the Lotus library or leisurely spec their new Lotus car. Lotus’ latest models will be on display in the store, with full paint and trim swatches to complete the Lotus shopping experience.

Commenting on the launch Group Lotus Director of Licensing and Merchandise Wiebke Bauer said: “It’s a very proud day for us today, it’s more than a simple store opening. One of the biggest challenges we have as a business, outside of selling cars, is to make the Lotus brand as accessible as possible. We have many fans out there in the world who aren’t necessarily in a position to buy one of our cars but they still want to be part of the Lotus world and this means a lot to us.”

Opening hours are 8.30am until 5pm (Monday to Thursday) and 8.30am until midday on Fridays. Hopefully you won’t find Bruno serving from behind the counter, but within the broadly defined contract he seems to be under with Lotus, you never know.

Let’s hope we see him in a race suit and off the cat-walk soon.

Q:  Jean, are you excited about the news that Kimi Raikkonen is returning to F1 next year with Lotus Renault GP?

It’s fantastic news. Kimi has more natural speed than just about anyone who has ever raced a Grand Prix car, and if he’s coming back it’s because he wants to do it, he misses F1, and he believes he can do well. He has had a short break, which was a little bit forced by Ferrari.

I think he was fed up with the system and wanted to take time out, which I can totally understand. But now he’s coming back, with Lotus, so it’s really exciting.

Q:  Kimi’s speed was never in question, but there were concerns he failed to develop the car as Michael Schumacher had done before him. Is that a concern for you now?

Michael was brilliant at that, but it isn’t working for him now at Mercedes and I think this is a reflection of how F1 has developed in recent years and re-prioritized. Now you just need to focus on having a quick driver, someone who does the job.

The great thing with Kimi is he extracts the maximum from a quick car. When the car was good at McLaren and Ferrari he was always winning. LRGP will expect him to extract the maximum from the Lotus as well.

Q:  It’s sure to fire up the workforce at Enstone, isn’t it, having a world champion in the car?

F1 teams need a driver who will consistently set lap times that are 100 percent on the edge. That is what a driver of Kimi’s caliber can do, to dance on the edge and never fall off. From that, the engineers get a baseline. They understand the true speed of their car and can make changes accordingly. It eradicates any doubt.

I expect Kimi will be a very valuable tool indeed. But I don’t expect a lot of talking outside the car! I’m sure he hasn’t changed a bit.

Q:  Let’s talk about the Sao Paulo race. Bruno Senna was given a drive-thru penalty after he came together with Michael Schumacher. Did you think that was unfair?

Definitely, yes. It was a 50/50 accident, so why penalize one of them? Both cars were compromised – Bruno with a broken front wing and Michael with a rear puncture. To then penalize one of the drivers in this situation kills the spirit of racing. The stewards should have let it go.

Q:  Vitaly Petrov started the year on a high with his podium in Australia and finished the season tenth in the Drivers’ World Championship. How well do you think he did?

He’s been very competitive when the car is quick, and it’s been more difficult for him in the second half of the season. He did a fantastic first grand prix but he seems to suffer more when the car is not perfect.

Q:  Lotus Renault GP started the year on the podium but struggled towards the end. Did the designers take a few wrong turns?

The R31 was extremely aggressive in terms of design. At the start of the season, Red Bull’s designer Adrian Newey said that the most creative car out there was the Lotus Renault GP. When the best designer in the world says that, it means a lot, and at the start of the year LRGP were brilliant.

Then the exhaust-blowing rules changed, and that hurt the team a lot. We were penalized more heavily than any other team. To finish fifth in the championship is superb.

Q:  How did you rate the F1 World Championship 2011 generally?

Even though Red Bull Racing was dominant throughout, I thought it was a very interesting season and I enjoyed the races very much. Out of those 19 races, only three or four were a bit boring; I was on the edge of my seat for the rest. We’ve seen lots of overtaking, lots of incidents, and there was tough competition out there, particularly between McLaren and Ferrari.

Lotus Renault GP were very competitive at the start of the season as well, so overall I really enjoyed it.

Q:  Which race stood out for you?

My shoes are still drying after the Canadian Grand Prix, so that was memorable not least for the incredible race we saw. I could have done without the two-hour red flag delay in the middle, but that race was really exciting and it’s always great to see a change of the lead on the last lap.

Q:  Sebastian Vettel was the class of the field, but who would you nominate as your Man Of The Year?

Apart from Vettel, who did an unbelievable job, the award should go to Jenson Button. I was not surprised by his performance, because he’s been a world champion, but the way he managed to be there all the time, even when he was struggling with set-up, and still get good points was impressive.

He also pulled some great overtaking moves, so he was aggressive when he needed to be and smooth when he needed to be, adapting to the Pirelli tyres quicker than most. What a mature performance, and all the more impressive when your team-mate is Lewis Hamilton and Jenson is still, essentially, the new boy.

I believe 2011 was even more impressive than his championship-winning year, given that he didn’t have the best car and his team-mate was Hamilton

The press release begins, “Lotus Renault GP is pleased to announce that Kimi Räikkönen will race for the team next season.”, but we’re pretty sure that sentiment does not extend to existing drivers Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna, nor test and reserve driver Romain Grosjean.

When the music stops, only ONE of you gets to drive. The anxious drivers await the call – (L to R) Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Romain Grosjean.

The former Ferrari driver and 2007 World Champion, left Formula 1 at the end of 2009 to pursue a career in rallying, but has decided to make a comeback by signing a two-year agreement with Lotus Renault GP.

LRGP’s number one driver, Robert Kubica missed the 2011 season after being seriously injured in a crash at the Ronde di Andora rally last February, in which his forearm was partially severed. The condition of the Polish driver has remained unclear since then, although his management recently confirmed that he was not ready to return to F1 for the start of the 2012 season.

Team boss Eric Boullier has shown increasing frustration with his former star driver, saying that “..he has no intention of giving Robert Kubica a car to prove his fitness in only to see the Pole jump ship to another team in 2013.”

Team boss Eric Boullier together with Genii Capital Chairman Gérard Lopez have made a tough decision, but most probably the best decision for the team.

With Kimi Räikkönen on board, the team gains a proven champion, capable of guiding the development of the 2012 car before the season begins next March.

Kimi Räikkönen, said of the agreement: “I’m delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I’m grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity. My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career as a driver, but I can’t deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming.

It was an easy choice to return with Lotus Renault GP as I have been impressed by the scope of the team’s ambition. Now I’m looking forward to playing an important role in pushing the team to the very front of the grid.”

Gérard Lopez, Genii Capital, Chairman said: “All year long, we kept saying that our team was at the start of a brand new cycle. Backstage we’ve been working hard to build the foundations of a successful structure and to ensure that we would soon be able to fight at the highest level.

Kimi’s decision to come back to Formula 1 with us is the first step of several announcements which should turn us into an even more serious contender in the future. Of course, we are all looking forward to working with a world champion. On behalf of our staff, I’d like to welcome Kimi to Enstone, a setting that has always been known for its human approach to Formula 1.”

Images: Lotus Renault GP

Now, I suspect there are many who can’t wait to return. Forget about the odd dog or two, delays with visas, and commentary boxes without windows, this was a festival for the world to see, and we loved it!

In terms of racing, the GP, surprisingly, under-delivered. There were, of course, “incidents”, but there was little of the wheel to wheel action that we have seen throughout much of this year.

Watching Friday’s first Free Practice, it seemed that Hermann Tilke’s stunning design of flowing and undulating track, with wide entries and sharp kerbs would reward the brave and punish the tyres. But this was not to be. Instead, we were treated to another flawless display by Sebastian Vettel and an almost resigned acceptance by those following behind.

For once though, this grand prix was not about the racing; it was about the way in which a country, with a GDP per capita of just 10% of that here in the UK, went about welcoming Formula One and in the process, demonstrated that India is a nation that means business.

There are many who must take credit for this achievement and notably, two names that have a familiar ring to many who follow F1 must be singled-out for their efforts – Vicky Chandhok (father of Karun) and Vijay Mallya, Team Principal of Sahara Force India.

Both have worked tirelessly for years, in India, in the UK, and within F1, lobbying for support, creating and presenting a credible media case and most importantly, finding the local funding to make the whole thing happen.

And of course, there is the Jaypee Group who set about building the circuit and all of its facilities: If ever a job has been well-done, this has been it. Also working fervently in the “best supporting” role has been Karun Chandhok, a young man who exudes class and who for several years now has been travelling across continents to engage the media and sell India’s story.

Only this week, in the build-up to the Formula One circus arriving, he performed over 50 one-to-one interviews with local media, going to great lengths to extend the hand of friendship to journalists who would normally be passed-over as outsiders of the high-profile formula one circus.

It will be interesting to see if Team Lotus can retain his services after failing to deliver him a race seat this weekend; if they don’t, it will be their loss.

India: an opportunity for all

To better understand why Formula One and India are so important for each other, you only need to understand a few simple statistics.

Currently, India has a population of approximately 1.2bn of which over 50% are officially catagorised as “poor” and only 18% can be considered “middle class” or better.

By 2025, it is estimated that the population will have risen to 1.4bn but significantly, 45% will be middle class or better. In other words, there will be 600 million active consumers or roughly speaking, the same number as the whole of Europe. Business, for some, will be very good!

At the same time though, India needs to support its growing population and this means attracting trade and jobs. Already, some African countries are taking highly lucrative call-centre and data contracts, and with the emergence of the region as a whole (China and Malaysia in particular), F1 can help to bring to India global attention, credibility and ultimately those all important revenues.

So whilst some teams made serious efforts to engage new support (Sahara Force India, HRT, Red Bull and McLaren), I was surprised that for most, it seemed like “business as usual”.

The manufacturers, of course, used the event to launch new product but what I particularly noticed was the lack of local language social media interaction . . . i.e.; “where were the Tweets in Hindi?!” This is a country that reveres its stars and it is possible that opportunities have already been lost.

That’s what I’m talking about

But going back to the racing, it really was all about Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. Looking again at stats, Vettel is a driver who knows what he has to do. This was his 13th pole position of the season and Red Bull’s 16th (of 17). He is now equal (in terms of career total) with the great Juan Fangio on 28, and he is still only 24 years old!

He also, for statistics sake, led the entire race, won it and pumped in a fastest lap right at the end for good measure. Canada proved that he is not invincible, but his confidence in the car and himself is supreme and for the remainder of this season, I wouldn’t place my money anywhere else.

Unsurprisingly, team mate Mark Webber had another frustrating weekend. The Aussie has incredible nerve and skill, yet he has clearly also lost that element of belief that keeps Vettel in P1.

This is something that both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso appear to recognise and no matter how many times Christian Horner smiles and says he supports “Number 2”, even he must acknowledge that the team are fortunate that they have the young German to keep the silver-ware coming in.

It was an equally diametric race for both McLaren and Ferrari. Jenson Button has done an incredible job this year of using his head and getting on with it. He never really got close to Vettel during the race, but then neither did anyone else trouble him. He’s a class act and McLaren did well to extend his contract!

The winners podium at the inaugural Indian GP with Jenson Button (2nd place), Adrian Newey (Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer), Sebastian Vettel (1st place) and Fernando Alonso (in 3rd place).

The Limping Horse

Fernando Alonso in 3rd place knows that this year’s car isn’t up to the job and as ever, he drove the socks off it. I’ve not always been a fan, but I can’t help but admire his ability and determination.

Ferrari have, of course, understood that Alonso’s results have somewhat flattered them and have been keen to continue the development of the 150 Italia, whilst also looking ahead to next year’s car.

This resulted in more on-track tests for the new Red Bull-esque front wing but throughout Free Practice and then mid race, Massa’s would flex violently, seeing both end plates alternatively hitting the ground, creating a shower of sparks.

Ferrari very wisely called Massa in to change it for an older design. Nevertheless, it’s encouraging to see Maranello take a less conservative approach and I suspect that by the time we get to Albert Park next March, red might just be the colour to look out for.

Gloves off…again!

Then we had MAS vs HAM (Round 6?).

Both are supremely talented, yet both have succumbed to making fundamental, often inexcusable errors on far too many occasions this season. I love Lewis’s passion and I still like to think of him as being the most gifted driver out there, but he’s too tense and is allowing his frustrations to colour his judgment.

At the end of the day, if you go side by side into a corner, you have to understand that there is a strong chance of contact.

As it was, the stewards made a strong call and penalised Massa for turning-in, and of course, just a few laps later, the hapless Brazilian once again took too much orange kerb and broke his front left suspension. It’s perhaps that latter action that worries me the most.

Having already made the same mistake in FP2, Massa really ought to have learned a lesson and if anything casts yet more doubt on his credentials for the 2012 drive, it’s failing to finish races through avoidable damage.

As for Lewis, as I’ve said before, McLaren, his family and his friends need to be there for him. He may be in a dark place but his pole in South Korea showed that he’s lost none of his ability.

Schumi comes on form, leading Mercedes towards 4th in the championship

Elsewhere, we almost saw a race between the two Mercedes but for once, it was Michael Schumacher’s pace that saw-off his young rival, Nico Rosberg.

More interesting though was Schumacher’s body language both before and after the race; here is a man who has absolutely no intention of quitting but instead is reveling in his new found form and clearly looking forward to a more competitive car next year.

In the midfield, there’s tremendous competition from all four teams to secure both bragging rights and prize money. Although seemingly secure in 5th, Lotus Renault have been struggling with form lately.

Ironically, Toro Rosso, currently in 8th, have made such rapid progress that they are fast becoming the team to beat. Getting both cars into the top 10 for the first time in qualifying was a statement of intent from the Italian squad and despite losing Sébastien Buemi to a Ferrari engine failure, Jaime Alguersuari was on top of his game to finish in P8, ahead of highly credible performances from Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez.

Sutil knows that he’s fighting for his F1 life at the moment and post race interviews with Nico Hulkenberg suggest that he has every right to be concerned. Meanwhile, Perez continues to impress, bringing his Sauber through the pack and keeping another under-threat driver, Vitaly Petrov, at bay to score the final point.

Lotus Renault are another team with a surplus of talent fighting for just two seats in 2012. Petrov and (Nick Heidfeld’s replacement) Bruno Senna, have both delivered inconsistent results and whilst they both bring strong commercial backing, reserve driver Romain Grosjean, fresh from his GP2 Championship victory, has already been confirmed for more FP1 tests in the year’s two remaining races.

Then, of course, there is Robert Kubica, still side-lined after those appalling injuries to his hand following his rally crash, but still, doubtless, one of the finest F1 drivers of our time (and seemingly recovering well).

Bringing up the rear

It’s sad that I have to describe Williams as “tail-enders”, but on recent form, this is exactly where they’ve been heading.

Of the remaining teams, Team Lotus will have been pleased with Heikki Kovalainen’s 14th place finish, despite the fact that they are still well off one-lap pace in qualifying.

Marussia Virgin endured another difficult weekend, and perhaps the biggest smiles of the weekend could be found at the bottom of the pit lane with Narain Karthikeyan bringing his battered HRT home ahead of his much fancied team mate, Daniel Ricciardo.

HRT’s decision to put their faith in Karthikeyan will hopefully bring rewards and give the affable Indian a chance to secure a decent seat for next year.

As for Williams, I suspect that they need more than talk of former champion, Kimi Raikkonen, returning to the F1 grid to race with them next year. “Yes”, they’ll have Renault power, “yes”, they’ll have KERS but unfortunately, they’ll also have a team who just can’t get their car to work well and who have clearly already made significant sacrifices to bring it in within budget.

It’s now a good few hours after the race as I write this and the formula one circus has long ago left town. All that will remain are scattered posters on the busy streets and the noise of 24 highly-strung V8 engines still ringing in their ears.

But one thing is for certain, the circus will return and next time, it will be even bigger and better. Motorsport in New Dehli might never be as big as cricket, but a statement was made this weekend; from the marshals, the press, the fans and the tuk-tuk drivers, India can love Formula One, and Formula One clearly loves India.

Images: Mercedes GP Petronas, Red Bull Racing, Getty Images

A consortium comprising Capita Symonds, Populous and DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System Ltd) has been appointed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to build the new circuit, who will work with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) to ensure that all aspects of the scheme meet the future licensing and regulatory requirements of national and international motor sport on four and two wheels.

Buddh Internation Circuit was designed by renowned circuit architect Hermann Tilke and stretches to 5.137-kilometres. With its two sizeable straights and an interesting mix of corners and elevation, the track should guarantee plenty of challenges for drivers and engineers alike.

The project team is built around world class experts with unrivalled experience of regeneration, development, engineering, transportation, motorsport and other major sporting events. Capita Symonds and Populous have delivered designs for some of the world’s most famous iconic sporting venues, including the London 2012 Olympic Stadium and the surrounding Olympic Park, Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon Tennis Ground, Oval Cricket Ground, and Silverstone – the original home of British motorsport.

Mumbai is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the most densely populated city in India (4th in the world). Mumbai is also the richest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West or Central Asia.

Nevertheless, the project announced today is heavily focused on regeneration and will incorporate community, commercial, retail, leisure and residential properties.

Jerry Muscroft, of Capita Symonds, said, “The consortium understands how large sporting projects can be ‘Urban Generators’ that enhance and encourage development.”

“We are committed to delivering the next generation of racing circuits, with great racing, overtaking, world class facilities and architecture; but above all the intention is to create a sustainable venue that will not need continuous financial support, and will facilitate investment and re-generation.”

The new Buddh International Circuit as seen from Neel Jani’s Red Bull F1 car.

This week I’ll explore the subject a little further, using the latest Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Caption Competition as the case in point.

The competition is built around the team’s F1 world champions, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, and encourages participants to have fun writing captions for a gallery of behind-the-scenes photographs of the lads and their engineers at work. To provide some creative inspiration a series of viral videos have been produced, which you can take a look at below.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Cap Signing. Ever wonder what Jenson gets up to when he’s not racing?

Hosted on the Vodafone Racing Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/vodafoneracing, fans are invited to choose a photo then add a witty caption, after which they can vote on other captions from the 800 or so already added.

Some of my favourites include a picture of Lewis saying, “I left Massa this much room and he still hit me..”, or one where Jenson is looking at a magazine with his engineer and says ‘..at least I’m sexier than Vettel in the latest Pirelli photo shoot..”. You get the idea.

The App can prove quite an addictive experience, especially once you realise there are prizes on offer. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes merchandise (including caps and t-shirts signed by either Lewis or Jenson) will be given to the highest points scorer each week, but the grand prize is a meet and greet for the main winner (and a friend) to visit either Lewis or Jenson at the McLaren Technical Centre in Woking, tour the facilities and pick up a signed copy of their winning caption. The team will even lay on flights and accommodation if the winner lives outside the UK.

The campaign which has been running since late July, has earned Vodafone over 500,000 views on YouTube (300,000 of those in the past month) but perhaps more importantly has fed plenty of positive social conversation about the playful side of the team and its drivers.

Now you might be thinking it’s easy for Vodafone, with access to two F1 world champions and a marketing budget equivalent to the gross domestic product of a third-world country, but there are in fact several lessons that can be applied to every campaign.

Gamification

A few years ago we ran a campaign with Volkswagen & Tribal DDB, called GTI Project, a Scaletrix-themed driving game with its own microsite supported by a series of cryptic display ads. You can still play the game today (http://www.gtiproject.com/), but make sure you’ve got plenty of spare time available – it’s thoroughly addictive.

I remember measuring yield figures 60 times that of other campaigns and it went on to win several well-deserved awards.

The lesson learned was that a successful social campaign should focus on the viewer’s needs more so than the brand, and that play (just as it was for all of us at one time) is the best tool for learning.

An article published on Mashable earlier this year – Gamification: How Competition Is Reinventing Business, Marketing & Everyday Life – provides a more in-depth look at the mechanics of the approach, but in simple terms the use of gameplay for non-gaming applications plays on our intrinsic desire for reward and recognition amongst our peers.

From a behavioural standpoint it also lowers our guard, sustains participation over a much longer period and builds a shared experience, which as anyone involved in team building will know is crucial to the success of relationships in a group.

And of course groups of supporters and advocates are the goal of nearly every social campaign, so it makes sense for companies to start a campaign considering how they can facilitate the growth of these social groups using their brand as the catalyst. Gameplay is by far the best way to achieve this.

Content

Success in all of our relationships, hinges on the conversations we participate in and this is never more obvious than in the relationship between a brand and its customers online.

The problem as many brands have discovered, is without a constant flow of engaging content, audiences will swiftly move off topic, or worse, start talking about the brand negatively. Facebook pages become customer complaint forums and suddenly all those ‘fans’ turn from being an asset into a liability.

This is where content marketing comes into play. If gameplay is the mechanism, then content is the raw material which feeds it. Content won’t cover up a PR or customer service blunder, but it will provide the means to build a positive relationship with an audience and in many ways this is the main benefit of campaigns such as Vodafone’s Caption Competition.

It’s fun, it’s inclusive and brings us a little closer to the team which Vodafone are helping to sponsor.

There are plenty more examples in this sector which show how gamification can be used to great effect, including:

- MINI’s Getaway Stockholm challenge – where the City of Stockholm provided the backdrop for the world’s largest reality board game. [Link]

- Volkswagen’s The Fun Theory (The Speed Camera Lottery) – which tested the hypothesis, “Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do?” [Link]

- Ford Focus Rally – an interactive pan-American cross-country road rally with the grand prize of $100,000 and a brand new 2012 Ford Focus. [Link]

- Citroën DS4SEEKERS Competition – an online and mobile competition in a multi-player game of hide and seek for a chance to win a New Citroën DS4. [Link]

If you haven’t already scrolled past all the marketing speak, then take a look at the remaining viral clips featuring Lewis and Jenson overdubbed with the voice of an actor. They might just inspire you to create the perfect caption that wins you a visit to the most impressive F1 facility on the planet.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Hands Up

Just how hot does Jenson look in his new uniform?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Coin

What does Jenson keep in his pockets when he’s driving?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Jenson Excited

Ever wondered what goes through Jenson’s mind when he’s driving?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Lewis Solo

Ever wondered what Lewis and Jenson chat about on the phone?

Disclosure: This article is sponsored in part by Vodafone, however all views expressed within are entirely our own. We’ve used it to illustrate our wider feature on digital marketing within automotive and motorsport. Sponsored articles are accepted at our own discretion and only where we believe such additional focus or analysis will benefit our readers. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this article further, then get in touch via email or using the contact tab on this page.

The Daily Mail Newspaper (the last bastion of truly fine reporting) claimed that “Felipe Massa was urged to ‘destroy’ Lewis Hamilton prior to their collision in last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix”, but then went on to clarify that Smedley told Massa, ‘Hold Hamilton as much as we can,’ and then added, ‘Destroy his race as much as we can. Come on, boy!’

So, Ferrari’s off-the-record spokesperson has sought to clarify the misunderstanding in a blog post on ferrari.com

So consider yourself verbally chastised for entertaining the thought of anything improper – it can be pretty grim up north in Middlesbrough and sometimes the vocabulary of the locals reflects this..

The legendary Nordschleife played host to 2 of Germany’s finest drivers, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, who took to the Northern Loop track in two very iconic Mercedes grand prix cars. First, Michael chauffeured his team-mate in a Mercedes SLS AMG around the complete North Loop, then they both covered a section of the route in separate W 196 Formula One racing cars. Michael took the wheel of a W 196 ‘Stromlinie’ (streamlined model) while Nico drove a W 196 with open wheels.

“At the wheel of the W 196, I was driving a piece of motor racing history,” said Michael, who also spoke in glowing terms of the engineering that had gone into this particular Silver Arrow. “What better way could there be to motivate ourselves for our second home race in a fortnight than to go for a drive in a proven winner?”

Michael believes that the achievements of the drivers who had to contend with circuits such as the North Loop cannot be overestimated: “Hats off to these guys for what they accomplished with the resources they had available at the time.”

Nico also described his journey in the open-wheel W 196 as a fantastic experience: “From a modern perspective, the upright sitting position feels very strange, but the drive itself was great. It must have been tremendous fun driving these cars back in the Fifties. Compared with our modern safety standards, though, it was much more dangerous when racing on tracks like the Nordschleife.”

The W 196 was the first Formula One Silver Arrow. Statistics for the car in the 1954 and 1955 seasons: 17 podiums, 9 wins, 9 fastest laps, 8 pole positions and two world titles, both for Juan Manuel Fangio.

In addition to the streamlined version, there was also a single-seater with open wheels from the 1954 Nürburgring race onwards. The car was powered by an eight-cylinder inline engine generating 257 horsepower (1954) and 280 horsepower (1955). It reached a top speed of between 280 and 290 kilometres per hour (175 – 180mph).

Heroes indeed. In the meanwhile enjoy the pictures..

Gallery

Fresh from his dominant win in last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the 23 year-old Red Bull Racing driver took to the wheel of a 5.0-litre V8 Infiniti FX50 followed by a 3.7-lite V6 Infiniti G37 and delighted onlookers with several quick laps of the coned circuit. Vettel runs an FC50 as his own road car, so was familiar with its handling and took full advantage of the opportunity to explore its limits.

After the driving session, Sebastian visited an Infiniti Centre in Shanghai where he met fans and senior Infiniti executives, plus toured the showroom to take a closer look at the full Infiniti range.

Commenting on his experience, Sebastian Vettel said: “It was great fun to drive these Infiniti cars today. I was impressed; they have good handling and plenty of power – which is always a good mix – it was fun out on the track. I have been driving an FX50 myself recently, they’re nice cars and it’s great that more dealerships are opening in China.”

Gallery

At the ceremony conducted at Buckingham Palace, Fernandes was joined by his daughter.

“I am extremely humbled to have received this award today and I would like to thank Her Majesty The Queen for bestowing such an honour upon me. More than a personal honour, it will serve as a catalyst to further enhance relations between the UK and Malaysia, particularly in the areas of business, culture and education,” says Tony Fernandes CBE.

He adds: “I receive this award today not on my behalf, but on behalf of all the incredible people I work with, wherever they may be around the world. It is their dedication, passion, enthusiasm and hard work that drives me on every single day and it is also my great honour to have the privilege of working with them.”

Tony’s personal credo is “Dream the Impossible, Believe the Unbelievable and Never Take No for an Answer” and he believes deeply in providing opportunities throughout his businesses for talent to flourish, for meritocracy to reign and for helping people realise their dreams. “I realised mine, and I am determined to help others realise theirs too,” sums up Tony’s approach to his work and personal life.

The CBE is the second major award conferred on Fernandes in Europe. In 2010, the French government conferred upon him the title of Officier of the Legion d’honneur, the highest award for a non-French national, for his outstanding contributions to the aviation industry.

Fernandes was also recently named “Asia Businessman of the Year 2010″ by the international magazine Forbes, and has gathered a slew of other top awards from private bodies and media organisations for his innovative approaches to business.

Today also marks Day 11 of the ‘Lotus vs. Lotus’ trial at the High Court in London between 1Malaysia Racing and Group Lotus over the use of the Lotus name in F1. This season Fernandes’ 1Malaysia Racing team is racing under the ‘Team Lotus’ name, whilst Group Lotus in partnership with Renault have entered the championship as ‘Lotus Renault GP’.