Kimi Raikkonen believes that Rally Japan will be one of the toughest challenges that he faces in his debut season in the World Rally Championship.

The Sapporo-based event, which gets underway on Thursday evening (September 9) features narrow roads, blind corners and inconsistent grip, with the latter being one of the areas where Raikkonen says he has struggled most this year.

“When the grip is changing all the time, it’s not been so easy for me,” said the 30-year-old. “You need experience to deal with those situations in rally, and I don’t have that yet. I think Japan is going to be very tricky from what I hear. For us, it is just a question of getting to the finish. What we need is just more kilometres in the car and more experience of the conditions.”

Raikkonen has not tested his Citroen C4 WRC since finishing seventh on the Tarmac-based Rallye Deutschland last month, so has pledged a cautious approach to Rally Japan.

“We’re going to use the first few stages just to see where we are, and then we can set a target,” added the Finn. “There’s no pressure: we’re just learning. Gravel rallies are always more tricky for me and this one is going to be especially tough I think.”

The 2007 Formula One world champion has yet to sign a deal for 2011, although he has previously stated that he would like to remain in the WRC next year.

Finally the fans of the Scuderia Ferrari can compete against each other online thanks to the brand-new and technologically advanced simulator, driving the F10 single-seater at the circuits of Fiorano, Mugello and the Nürburgring. As of 9 September every week the global Ferrari Virtual Academy competition will award the best virtual drivers of the world with exclusive Scuderia gadgets and further surprises.

The Ferrari Virtual Academy simulator has been developed with the help of the Scuderia Ferrari engineers and the support of the most advanced technologies such as Laser Scan and Motion Capture, to accurately rebuild the circuits, reaching highest standards regarding the car’s dynamics accuracy, unprecedented in this area.

Exclusive content is already available on www.ferrarivirtualacademy.com together with the trailer and the simulator’s making of as well as the videos taken by the Scuderia drivers Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella.

The Ferrari Virtual Academy will be available for digital download as of 9 September with the first package including the F10 and the Fiorano circuit for Euro 14,90.

This coming weekend, the Magyar Hungaroring circuit will be the backdrop to the third Ferrari Racing Days of the season.

The event features the fifth rounds of the Italian and European series of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli and will also see on track, the Ferrari cars involved in the non-competitive programmes run by the Maranello Corse Clienti Department. Alongside the F430 Challenge cars competing in a double bill of practice and races, fifteen historic single-seaters run by the F1 Clienti department will take to the track, as well as four Ferrari FXX and fourteen 599XX, taking part in some free practice sessions.

Special guest at the event on the Sunday, will be Felipe Massa, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro race driver, who comes to Budapest to greet the Prancing Horse fans from the wheel of an F2008. On Saturday, the Maranello team’s official test driver, Marc Gené will be in attendance as a coach to the drivers taking part in the F1 Clienti programmes. The event gets underway on Friday 3 September, with testing and free practice, while Saturday features two qualifying sessions and the first races, ending on Sunday with the second leg for the Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell categories, competing together in two races, but with separate classifications.

Going into the much awaited meeting, Andrea Belluzzi (Motor/Modena) from San Marino, leads the Italian Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli on 94 points, while the young Motor/Piacenza driver, Andrea Rizzoli heads the gentleman drivers in the Coppa Shell on 82 points. In the European series of the one-make championship, Austria’s Philipp Baron (Baron Service) heads the Trofeo Pirelli classification on 106 points, while England’s Oliver Morley of the Motor/Malucelli team, tops the Coppa Shell standings with 66 points.

The day after a poor Belgian Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the overriding sentiment in Maranello is that the weekend had been unsatisfactory. The team arrived in Belgium expecting to continue the trend that had seen its performance move forward as from Valencia and which, as from Hockenheim had also begun to deliver results, but the verdict from Spa, putting to one side all the external factors linked to the weather and incidents, was a negative one, especially in terms of the outcome of the race itself.

The usual Monday morning debrief, attended by President Luca di Montezemolo, centred on analysing the effects of the new components introduced on the F10 and the reasons why it proved impossible to make use of all the potential of the package. One can never count on new solutions that have never been track-tested before immediately delivering results: that has been the case several times this year for all the teams. On top of that, the changeable weather during Friday’s free practice certainly did not make the job any easier for the engineers. With this in mind, as well as in order to test the aerodynamic configuration to be used in the Italian Grand Prix, there will an aero test at the Vairano straight over the next few days. After the debrief, Montezemolo had a meeting with Team Principal Stefano Domenicali, as well has having lengthy telephone conversations with Felipe and Fernando.

The Monza round beckons and if the home race is always something special for the Scuderia, this year’s edition will be very important in terms of keeping alive the hope of fighting for the titles right to the end. Everyone in Maranello is aware that if more ground is lost, it could compromise any chance of a comeback. Therefore there is a strong desire, from the team, as well as the drivers, to make up for the Spa setback: the plan is to be in the fight for a victory at Monza, something which has not happened since 2006.

The Ferrari Driver Academy has witnessed a growing level of interest in the media. This is definitely a good thing, but there is also the other side of the coin, namely the proliferation of rumours. The latest one of these regards a mythical Ferrari-Minardi team, apparently to be entered in the Renault World Series for the 2011 season, with the direct involvement of Luca Baldisserri, the head of the FDA. This rumour has absolutely no basis in fact. Furthermore, it is not part of FDA strategy to compete directly in any championship.

A dissapointing day for Ferrari as the team only manage a 4th place from what started as a very promising prospect after friday practice. Felipe Massa managed a quiet forth place in the Race whilst Alonso saw all the action, very early on getting shunted by Rubens Barichello after losing control of his car. Suprisingly,
Alonso's car wasn't badly damaged and managed to continue the race to get into a good solid position before finally making a slight mistake in the wet and crashed his car after taking too much kerb.

Lewis Hamilton’s 14th career win was only the second time he’d led every lap of an F1 race.

But Ferrari’s feat of having both their cars classified in every race this year came to an end when Fernando Alonso crashed out.
Read on for the stats and facts from the Belgian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton scored his third win of the year and 14th of his career. He’s now won as many races as Jack Brabham, Graham Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi.

Hamilton led every lap of the race, something he had only done once before in F1, at the Hungaroring in 2007.

No team other than McLaren or Ferrari have won the Belgian Grand Prix since Jordan scored a one-two in 1998. This year saw McLaren’s first win at the track since 2005, though of course they won “on the road” with Hamilton in 2008.

The McLaren driver also set his third fastest lap of the year. A prize is given to the driver with the most at the end of the season, and Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are currently tied for first with three each. It was the sixth fastest lap of Hamilton’s career.

Red Bull started from pole position for the 12th time in 13 races. It was the sixth of Mark Webber’s career, giving him as many as countryman Alan Jones plus Fittipaldi, Phil Hill, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Carlos Reutemann and Ralf Schumacher.

For the first time this year one of the Ferraris failed to be classified at the end of the race (Alonso stopped before the end of the Malaysian Grand Prix but had already completed 90% of the race distance). The only driver to have finished every race this year is Felipe Massa.

Rubens Barrichello recorded his 300th Grand Prix start – more stats on that later this week. Unfortunately he failed to complete a single lap of this landmark race.

Jaime Alguersuari started from a career-best 11th, having been promoted from 13th after both Mercedes drivers were given penalties. Michael Schumacher started from the second-worst grid position of his career, 21st.
 

Fernando Alonso
“The first of the seven “finals” went badly for me and for two of the other five finalists, while the remaining two got the maximum results: that means we will have to make up the ground lost today somewhere else. At the start, I immediately made up some places and the signs were that I could have a good race. Then, I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, when Rubens could not control his car under braking and crashed into me. I came straight back to the pits to change the tyres and to check the car was alright, when we fitted intermediate tyres, expecting more persistent and harder rain, but that was not the case. Yesterday we were hoping for rain, but when it came it was already too late to be of much use to me; on the contrary it prevented me from getting the chance to overtake the cars which would have had to stop to fit the soft tyres. Then I went off the track, when I went over a kerb and that was my race over: a shame even if the points I could have brought home would not have been a lot. It is very disappointing, because this is a bad result, but it does not mean I have given up on my chances of winning the title.”

Felipe Massa
“I think this is a positive result and, given the way the race went and the accidents that put Vettel and Button out of the game, we can even say we were a bit lucky. This weekend, Red Bull and McLaren were stronger than us, but we worked well as a team, making the right choices before and during the race. Our set-up was a bit more efficient in the dry, while we suffered a bit in the wet, especially in the middle sector, while in the first two we were reasonably competitive. Now we go to Monza, for our home race: we hope to do well at a track where speed and stability under braking count for a lot. We will continue to fight right to the end, even if the situation in the championship is ever more compromised.”

Fernando Alonso played down concerns over his fifth row grid position for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver said:

Obviously, I can’t be pleased with this result, but it has to be said that if there is one track where grid position is less critical than others, then it is this one, both because of the track characteristics and because the weather can be very changeable: in some cases the right decision at the right time can see you make up an advantage of a minute, therefore we will have to be clever and make the most of every opportunity.

In Q3, I only had one set of new soft tyres left and I used it on my second run when, unfortunately, there was a bit of rain.

There’s no point in making a drama over this tenth place: we must stay calm and concentrated, because qualifying is one thing and the race is quite another when the points are given out, not today.
Fernando Alonso

It all looked very promising on Friday as Fernando Alonso topped both sessions, but both Ferrari's never really looked quite on the pace today in difficult conditions on track. Lewis Hamilton looked quick all through Quali before Australians Mark Webber put another stunning lap in for the inform man to claim another Pole Position. Ferrari managed just 6th with Massa and a lowely 10th with Alonso, the slowest driver in Q3 as he made small mistakes during his flying laps.

Sixth and tenth places in qualifying is definitely not the result that was expected by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, nor does it represent the true potential of the car. Felipe Massa was sixth fastest in Q3, making the most of the first set of new tyres, out of the two available, while on his second run, a sudden light shower prevented the Brazilian from improving. But it was even more penalising for Fernando Alonso who, with only one set of new soft tyres left, was unable to post a competitive time: hence the tenth place for the Spaniard on tomorrow’s starting grid.

Pos.	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1′57.352	1′47.253	1′45.778
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1′56.706	1′46.211	1′45.863
3	Robert Kubica	Renault	1′56.041	1′47.320	1′46.100
4	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1′58.487	1′47.245	1′46.127
5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1′57.981	1′46.790	1′46.206
6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1′58.323	1′47.322	1′46.314
7	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1′55.757	1′47.797	1′46.602
8	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1′58.730	1′47.292	1′46.659
9	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1′55.442	1′47.821	1′47.053
10	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1′57.023	1′47.544	1′47.441
11	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1′56.313	1′47.874
12	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1′54.826	1′47.885
13	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1′58.944	1′48.267
14	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	2′01.102	1′48.680
15	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	2′00.386	1′49.209
16	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	2′01.343	1′50.980
17	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	2′01.316	1′52.049
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	2′01.491
19	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	2′02.284
20	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	2′03.612
21	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	2′03.941
22	Pedro de la Rosa	Sauber-Ferrari	2′05.294
23	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	2′18.154
24	Vitaly Petrov	Renault

Felipe Massa (6th, Q3 - 1m 46.314s)
“Definitely a difficult qualifying. Already this morning, we had seen that the McLarens and Red Bulls were quicker than us and they confirmed that this afternoon, when we had a few difficulties, failing to get the result we were expecting: which means we will be trying to improve our positions tomorrow in the race. As usually happens here in Belgium, you can predict that the changeable weather might play a crucial role: it will be vital to manage the situation as well as possible. On my first run in Q3 I got a good lap, but maybe it could have been a couple of tenths quicker, while on the second one, I immediately had rain at Turn 1 and I locked the wheels and I decided to pit without completing the lap, because I would not have been able to improve my lap time. If we have a track that is only slightly damp but not too wet, it could be a problem because the rain tyres get destroyed very quickly and it will be necessary to manage them very carefully.”

Fernando Alonso (10th, Q3 - 1m 47.441s)
“Obviously, I can’t be pleased with this result, but it has to be said that if there is one track where grid position is less critical than others, then it is this one, both because of the track characteristics and because the weather can be very changeable: in some cases the right decision at the right time can see you make up an advantage of a minute, therefore we will have to be clever and make the most of every opportunity. In Q3, I only had one set of new soft tyres left and I used it on my second run when, unfortunately, there was a bit of rain. There’s no point in making a drama over this tenth place: we must stay calm and concentrated, because qualifying is one thing and the race is quite another when the points are given out, not today.”

Chris Dyer, Ferrari chief engineer
“We cannot be pleased with the outcome of this qualifying session. Of course, the fact the weather was so changeable made running the session more tricky, especially for Fernando, who found himself with just one set of new soft tyres left in Q3: when he used them there was just a short shower which prevented him from setting the time he was capable of doing and which would have seen him starting a bit higher up the grid. Spa is famous for being unpredictable in terms of the weather: and once again this was confirmed today, with the possibility that tomorrow’s race will also be similarly affected, therefore we will have to do a good job in managing the possible variables.”

A late red flag and a last ditch effor by Alonso saw the spaniard top both sessions on friday practice in Spa, Belgium. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa only managed the 5th best time, half a second behind his team-mate.

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit wasted no time in keeping up with tradition, serving up rain of the light and heavy variety, even a thunderstorm early in the morning and moments of hot weather with sunny skies. In practical terms for the twenty four drivers tackling the first three hours of free practice for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, this meant they had the unusual opportunity of using every one of the four types of tyre – two slick and two rain – that Bridgestone has brought to the track in the one day. The heaviest rain fell throughout the morning, while by the time the afternoon session got underway at two o’clock, the track was beginning to dry, so that towards the end, the slicks made their first appearance of the weekend. But not for long, as the Race Director red flagged the session in the last quarter of an hour, as some spectators had been spotted standing in a dangerous position.

With conditions changing by the minute, the order on the time sheets had even less significance than usual on a Friday, but nevertheless it was encouraging to see Fernando Alonso top the classification in both sessions and Felipe Massa in the other F10 post the fifth quickest time in the afternoon. With the chance of more rain over the next two days, today’s experience is certainly not wasted and the dry running meant that at least the drivers could save their extreme wet tyres for later in the weekend, as the rules state that each driver can only use three sets of these tyres during the entire three days of the race meeting.

In common with the majority of the field, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro would probably appreciate some dry running in tomorrow’s final hour of free practice, to fine tune the set-up of the cars and have a final look at dry tyre wear. Second fastest today was Adrian Sutil in the Force India, the team that sprung such a surprise here last year, when Ferrari’s current third driver, Giancarlo Fisichella finished in second place, behind Kimi Raikkonen who, on that day, secured his last victory with the Maranello team. In third place today was Lewis Hamilton for McLaren, ahead of Robert Kubica, while completing the top six behind Felipe was Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull.

Pos.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1′49.032
2	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1′49.157	0.125
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1′49.248	0.216
4	Robert Kubica	Renault	1′49.282	0.250
5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1′49.588	0.556
6	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1′49.689	0.657
7	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1′49.755	0.723
8	Pedro de la Rosa	Sauber-Ferrari	1′50.081	1.049
9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1′50.128	1.096
10	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1′50.200	1.168
11	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1′50.251	1.219
12	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1′50.341	1.309
13	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1′50.382	1.350
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1′50.682	1.650
15	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1′50.831	1.799
16	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1′51.520	2.488
17	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1′51.523	2.491
18	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1′51.636	2.604
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1′53.480	4.448
20	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1′53.639	4.607
21	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	1′54.325	5.293
22	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	1′55.751	6.719
23	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	1′56.039	7.007
24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	2′03.179	14.147

The first free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix has just ended at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which is hosting the thirteenth round of the Formula 1 World Championship. The session was held in the rain, which looks like playing a significant role throughout the weekend. Fernando Alonso set the quickest time in his Ferrari, in 2.00.797, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren (2.01.567) and the Renault of Robert Kubica (2.02.081.) In the other F10, Felipe Massa was eleventh, completing 17 laps, the best in 2.03.601.

The terrible track conditions seriously affected the team’s Friday work schedule, with only a small amount of data gathered regarding the car’s handling in the wet, while the drivers also did some practice starts at the end of the session.

The second session gets underway today at 14.00.

Pos.	Car	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	2′00.797		17
2	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	2′01.567	0.770	7
3	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	2′02.081	1.284	14
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	2′02.450	1.653	11
5	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	2′02.646	1.849	14
6	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	2′02.913	2.116	6
7	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	2′02.926	2.129	11
8	23	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	2′03.401	2.604	17
9	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	2′03.424	2.627	7
10	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	2′03.489	2.692	9
11	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	2′03.601	2.804	17
12	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	2′03.649	2.852	17
13	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	2′03.654	2.857	6
14	22	Pedro de la Rosa	Sauber-Ferrari	2′03.851	3.054	17
15	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	2′04.145	3.348	12
16	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	2′04.250	3.453	16
17	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	2′04.690	3.893	15
18	16	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	2′05.680	4.883	6
19	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	2′05.697	4.900	18
20	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	2′06.695	5.898	14
21	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	2′07.189	6.392	15
22	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	2′07.737	6.940	13
23	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	2′07.955	7.158	15
24	20	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	2′10.507	9.710	18