Lorenzo Bandini Trophy winner Robert Kubica will pick up his award in spectacular style this weekend, when he drives his BMW Sauber Formula 1 car along the 11-kilometre route from Faenza to Brisighella in Italy, where the presentation is held.

The award is given annually in memory of Italian driver Bandini, a grand prix winner for Ferrari in the 1960s, who died in an accident during the 1967 Monaco race.

It is presented to a driver or other F1 figure whose achievements, character and spirit have impressed the people of Brisighella, rather than the winner of a particular event.

Past winners include Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button, with Mark Webber the current holder.

But none of the previous recipients have driven to the event in their F1 mount, as Kubica plans to on Sunday.

The Pole said he was very touched to receive the award, especially as he felt he did not believe he had done much to impress during 2007.

"This is a big honour for me, and it comes as a surprise given the rather disappointing season I had in 2007," Kubica said.

"It's great that some people seem to believe in me and my abilities.

"I am particularly pleased that this award also has to do with my 'performance' off the race track - and that attitudes and actions that I don't really stop to think about have earned me an award like this.

"I'm really looking forward to the drive, too.

"That will be the icing on the cake!"

Source: Itv.com/f1

Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry believes Formula 1 should concentrate on enticing more car manufacturers into the sport rather than filling up the grid with independent teams.

The demise of Honda-supported Super Aguri last week for financial reasons reduced the number of cars on the grid to 20, with fears that it could soon fall by another two following Red Bull's decision to put Toro Rosso up for sale.

Should this happen, there would be just three independently-owned teams left on the grid: Williams, Force India and the main Red Bull squad - but Fry insists F1's main concern shouldn't be to protect a strong privateer force.

Instead he believes the sport should be looking to get the major worldwide car makers currently outside of F1 to field teams which will be on the grid for the long term.

"The first question to answer is, 'Is F1 any place for a not-very-well funded privateer team?'" he told Autosport magazine.

"In this sport, there is a history of teams working at the margins that invariably fall off the bottom, and I think it will ever be so.

"The real mission for F1 is to attract a Volkswagen, an Audi or another big consumer business into the sport and not attempt to bring in more privateers, who may end up in the same position as teams like Arrows and Prost.

"Privateer teams enter on the basis that they can afford the first season - but invariably can't generate the revenue to continue into their second or third years.

"If you can't afford to compete, you shouldn't be here."

Fry's views, however, are not shared by two fellow F1 bosses.

BMW motorsport chief Mario Theissen believes it is important the sport maintains a core base of independent outfits and hopes the impending budget cap makes competing more viable for such teams.

"We need the mix of manufacturers and independent teams and we are working towards a more stable situation [with the budget cap]," he told the magazine.

"I always hated the idea of customer teams so it would be much better to bring down the costs and allow only one sort of team into the sport."

RBR team principal Christian Horner added: "Somehow we need to get those costs under control."

The FIA is attempting to bring escalating costs down via a budget ceiling which is set to be introduced from 2009.

And while exact details of the plan are still being fleshed out, Autosport reports that FIA consultant Tony Purnell has written to the teams outlining the target figures for the first three years of the cap.

As a starting point for discussions, a limit of 175 million euros has been proposed for 2009, which would be trimmed further to €140m for the year after and €110m by 2011.

The areas exempt from the cap are spending on engines and KERS [Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems], driver and team boss salaries and marketing costs.

Source: Itv.com/f1

Would i be right in thinking McLaren are doing this to try and find out why their tyre degredation is worse than others? and see if they can sort it?

Or could it be something else?

KA what Redders is trying to point out is this

Is this wheel cover illigal? What aero gains will it give the car? If any at all?

Lewis Hamilton reckons his charging drive to second place in the Turkish Grand Prix was the best performance of his entire career.

The British ace had to run a three-stop strategy due to tyre concerns, and McLaren's simulations predicted that he would struggle to finish higher than fifth - especially after he underperformed in qualifying and only managed third on the grid.

Watch Lewis's charge in the race highlights video

But Hamilton stepped up to the challenge, grabbing the lead from Felipe Massa with a superb mid-race outbraking move and ultimately taking a close second.

"I probably drove the best race I have ever done," said Lewis.

"It doesn't particularly matter whether you win or not, it's whether you drive at 100%, whether you extract the most out of the car.

"It's one of those times when you end the race and you ask yourself and the team, could we have done a better job?

"And I strongly feel we couldn't have done a better job."

Hamilton told ITV Sport's Ted Kravitz that his team had inspired him to push ever harder to make the potentially costly strategy work.

"They said: 'You need to push some more, you need to find some more time - the time's in the last sector.

"'You need to overtake Felipe and you could possibly win this race.'

"When I heard that it was more encouragement, so I was pushing more and more and making every second count.

"I really made very, very few mistakes in that race."After the race, Hamilton's bullish demeanour was in stark contrast to his downcast post-qualifying interviews, when he admitted he had been frustrated with himself.

"I'm always hard on myself," Lewis conceded.

"I sat down on Saturday night and I was ticked off; I wasn't particularly happy with the job I did.

"At the end of the day the team give me a car and I've got to go out and drive 100%, and I didn't extract 100% from the car [in qualifying].

"That's why I'm always hard on myself - because we're top drivers, we should be able to do it.

"But it appears to be a lot harder in our car to do a solid lap.

"It looks a lot easier for them [Ferrari], so that's something we need to keep pushing [to address].

"Perhaps we've sacrificed a bit of qualifying pace for race pace, perhaps we need to work on bringing them both up."

Source: Itv.com/f1

Fernando Alonso fears Renault may not be as competitive on the streets of Monte Carlo as it was at Istanbul Park.

The Spaniard finished best of the rest behind the top three teams in a comfortable sixth place last weekend in Turkey, confirming the progress the team has made since introducing its heavily revised R28 car at Barcelona.

And it has been tipped to be even more competitive at the next round in Monaco by Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali - as the uniquely tight, low downforce layout can often be a car and driver leveller.

But Alonso, winner of the past two Monaco GPs, has sounded a note of caution on that theory, pointing to Renault's current lack of sufficient rear traction as a reason why it might actually fall back.

When asked for his hopes for the race, he replied: "Difficult to say.

"It is a circuit where the driver can really make the difference and spring a surprise.

"On the other hand, you need good traction and that is what we are missing at the moment.

"So we may not be as competitive as we were in Turkey, but let's wait and see.

"In any case I will approach this race with enormous motivation."

While Alonso couldn't match his shock front-row qualifying position from a fortnight ago in Spain, he believes his sixth place in Turkey proves Renault has now moved to the head of the chasing pack.

The former champion says the team should therefore be encouraged by the clear progress it is making.

"It's clear that we have built on the progress we showed in Barcelona and have become the fourth-placed team," he said.

"Although there is still much work to do, the result is encouraging.

"Nobody in the team would have thought that it would be possible to fight at this level three weeks ago and so it is good to be leaving Turkey with some more points."

Source Itv.com/f1

All i hope for is top quality racing at its finest, with all the features we expect from today's generation of gaming.

:( This is just not fair... Why? Why? *sigh* This team had great promise and potential and yet it was left to fall apart with no financial backing :(, I will certainly miss them on the grid.

Anthony and Taku will have to get looking for drives ASAP if they are to carry on competing even at some point this year, or to Look for a drive next year.

GoodBye Super Aguri, We will miss you.