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STEWARDS TO GET SOFTWARE BACK-UP
Bill Gates has offered his help to the FIA by producing new software that will simplify and speed up the penalty process. Microsoft Steward Assistant will be very much like Microsoft Word Assistant, the "funny little paper clip" that helps format documents. All the stewards need to do is type in such key words as Car 21, Car 22, Kovalainen, Hamilton, McLaren, Heikki or Lewis and Microsoft Steward Assistant will come up with a range of penalties from a 10,000 Euro fine to life imprisonment that can be awarded for various offences on the track.
Max Mosley's F1 representative Allan Donnelly, who gets himself involved in all controversial decisions, has welcomed the software as being a great addition to the sport. As long as he gets to operate it.
Planet F1
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The two Formula One world championship contenders, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, have car concerns ahead of their final-race showdown in Brazil.
Hamilton's McLaren will be running its engine for the second race of two, whereas the Ferrari pair of Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, along with Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, will have new engines for the race.
Massa's worry is the lack of speed he had in China, where he was outpaced by race-winner Hamilton and Raikkonen throughout the weekend, only finishing second after team orders slowed the Finn. Massa trails Hamilton by seven points.
McLaren are conscious of the need to manage Hamilton's one-race old engine, which will give away perhaps a one-tenth of a second per lap to a new motor
"Of course, we are keenly aware that the world championship could be won or lost by a mechanical failure," said McLaren chief executive officer Martin Whitmarsh.
"As a result, we are leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to minimize this possibility. For example, that meant consciously turning down Lewis's engine on the run to the flag in China in order to give him plenty of engine life for Brazil."
McLaren could have given Hamilton a new engine for the last race if they had not played their 'joker' -- the one free engine change each driver has per season -- earlier in the year.
The Englishman would be punished with a 10-place grid drop if his engine was changed before the Sao Paulo race.
But despite Hamilton suffering a reliability glitch during last year's Brazilian Grand Prix that effectively cost him the title, Whitmarsh is confident of being able to push for victory in a race where fifth place would suffice.
He added: "Clearly, we can afford to be more conservative than normal in our approach to Lewis's race, [but] there's no reason why we can't take forward the pace and form we showed in China to achieve a one-two in Brazil.
"We do have a number of minor aerodynamic upgrades in the pipeline that we are evaluating for inclusion on our Brazil-spec car."
Meanwhile Ferrari are looking into where their performance advantage over McLaren, which was clear in the Singapore and Japanese races, went in China.
"We cannot be fighting for the titles in the condition where our car is less competitive, with such a big gap to McLaren," said Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali, ahead of a race Massa won in 2006 and dominated in 2007 before moving aside for Raikkonen.
"We need to understand why there was this kind of change on the performance side. I don't believe that in one week all the others have made a step which we haven't, so it's something connected to our performance.
"This is why we must work hard because we need to make sure that we do everything in order to have a good car for the last grand prix."
plex wrote:So what do you all think of Toyota leaving F1 and coming to Le Mans?
Toyota consider leaving F1 for Le Mans
Endurance racing appeals to Toyota
Clear signs are emerging that Toyota could be contemplating its future in Formula One.
The Japanese giant, which entered the sport in 2002, was perhaps the most enraged among F1's manufacturer ranks at the proposal of a single engine formula.
Even though that prospect has receded, Toyota Motorsport President John Howett recently admitted the move 'would be a reason' for the Cologne based team to quit F1.
Now, in the pages of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, it is suggested that Toyota sees returning to Le Mans-style prototype sports car racing as an alternative to F1 beyond 2010.
At this year's Le Mans 24 hour race, for instance, a dozen ununiformed Toyota engineers were present, armed with cameras and reportedly sizing up the current competitors.
Additionally, at the American Le Mans Series race in Detroit in August, Toyota officials met with representatives of the series' organising body ACO.
"We would like to go back to Le Mans," Toyota's F1 team boss Tadashi Yamashina confirms. "The final decision is budgetary.
"Under the present economic conditions, it is unlikely that we could do Formula One and Le Mans in a parallel fashion," he explained.
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