BlogF1

Roger Williamson died on this day in 1973 at the tender age of 25.

Roger had been participating in the Dutch Grand Prix held at the Zaandvort circuit as a rookie who was gaining experience in a borrowed March 731. He was hoping to be able to get a full drive for the next season in 1974.

Unfortunately, on lap eight he ran wide going through the sweeping section called Hondenvlok and caught the guard rail. His car was flipped over and continued to slide down the track for another 80 yards before coming to a rest. The car ignited and was soon engulfed in flames.

David Purley, a fellow colleague and competitor in the race stopped his car to see if he could help. He tried to correct the car back onto its wheels, but had no luck. He also grabbed a fire extinguisher from one of the marshalls, but it was not enough. Despite David’s brave and admirable efforts, Roger Williamson passed away at the scene. Much to the utter outrage of Purley, he forcibly pushed a commiserating marshall away.

This tragic event is often overlooked, with the sad loss of Ayrten Senna and Roland Ratzenberger etched in our more recent memory of Formula One. But it serves as a reminder to the never-ending need to continue improving safety in one of the most dangerous - yet exhilirating - sports in the world.

I have just left on vacation, so I’m afraid there will be no posts for the next 14 days (with the exception of one pre-published article). But, when I return, I should be all refreshed and energised and all…
…Well, at minimum I’ll be tanned!

So on that note of motivational pre-emptness, if there is anything you feel that I could do to improve BlogF1, I want you to use the contact form and let me know. Even if it is “Post more regularly”, or “Be more opinionated” - let me know. When I return I will filter out the inevitable spam and read all your constructive comments. If I can, I will implement.

Enjoy the German Grand Prix and I look forward to hearing all about it when I return. And as a quick side note: Last year in San Cipriano, I watched the Hungarian Grand Prix post-race press conference from my hotel room. Michael Schumacher was speaking German, this was immediately dubbed over into English, and the RAI TV Network dubbed the whole shaboodle into Italian before it came out of the televisions speakers. Quite the audible mess…!

The Bonneville 400 attempts got ever closer on Wednesday when Alan van der Merwe broke the 400kph barrier, setting a speed of 400.459kph at 0721 on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Unfortunately, to officially set the record, the team needed to do a similar speed on the return run, but only managed an aggregate speed of 393.613kph.
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Honda have succeeded in setting a new land speed record for a formula one car. In a race-legal 2005 BAR-Honda, Alan van der Merwe clocked a speed of 220.571mph, completed over two runs of a measured mile on Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA.

It had been a dream of Honda to complete for quite some time, but initially the team had several set backs. Although the team haven’t quite hit the 400kph mark yet, they will run again today to attempt it.
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1. M. Schumacher - Ferrari
2. Alonso - Renault
3. Massa - Ferrari
4. R. Schumacher - Toyota
5. Raikkonen - McLaren
6. Fisichella - Renault
7. De La Rosa - McLaren
8. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber
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1. M. Schumacher - Ferrari
2. Massa - Ferrari
3. Alonso - Renault
4. Trulli - Toyota
5. R. Schumacher - Toyota
6. Raikkonen - McLaren
7. Fisichella - Renault
8. De La Rosa - McLaren
9. Rosberg - Williams
10. Coulthard - Red Bull
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The F1 French Grand Prix will see two changes made to the qualifying format. These changes have been made to hopefully improve the session and minimise the initial lack of action in session three. We shall see if it has any real effect later today, but I for one feel the changes are the going to be better, even if I do feel that ‘ye olde qualye’ is better than any kind of one-lap or knockout format.
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Since 1991, the French Grand Prix has been held at Circuit de Nevers at Magny Cours, deep in rural France. The circuit has staged a Formula One race every year since ‘91.

The circuit was built in 1960 by Jean Bernigaud and was originally intended to be a motoring school. Famous drivers to have come from this training ground are François Cévert and Jacques Laffite. The circuit was bought in 1980 by Regional Conseil de la Nièvre and has since been improved and bought to the international standard that is required.
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Pedro De La Rosa - McLaren’s experienced test driver - is to replace the outgoing Juan Pablo Montoya for this weekends French Grand Prix.

It was announced on Sunday that Montoya would be leaving McLaren and Formula One at the end of the year to join former boss Chip Ganassi in NASCAR for 2007. But in a statement made today by McLaren, it was said that they and Montoya had come to a mutual agreement that would allow Juan Pablo to spend some time with his family before making the tough transition to NASCAR.
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Although F1 will probably not return to the BBC (for UK viewers and those ‘lucky’ enough to get their feed from ITV) for a number of years yet, regular reader and commenter Desmond has asked what would the general reaction be within Formula One Fan circles if F1 changed to the BBC, and James Allen continued to commentate.

A good question, Mr Elmes, and one I feel needs to be addressed.

In my opinion…
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