Fernando Alonso - classic F1 2011

It is the turn of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to pick his five favourite all-time grands prix in the latest edition of our classic Formula 1 series.

We have asked all the drivers to do the same, and are broadcasting their choices - and highlights of the relevant races - ahead of each grand prix this season to whet your appetites for the action to come. Highlights will be shown on this website and on the red button in the UK.

Alonso follows in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello so far this season.

We have chosen Spain's double world champion this time because it is his home race this weekend, and among his choices is a grand prix from the Circuit de Catalunya that has hosted the event since 1991.

That choice is the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix, which Alonso won to become the first Spaniard to win his home race. Of his 26 career victories, and 162 grands prix, the 29-year-old says this one "may be for me still the most emotional race".

Alonso has picked only two races from his own career, the other being his remarkable victory in last year's maiden Korean Grand Prix.

Those who remember his manic cackle over the radio on the slow-down lap - part disbelief, part sheer joy, part cartoon villain - will not be surprised that he has chosen that race. You may, though, be as surprised as I was that he did not choose his superb victory in the Italian Grand Prix last year, in his first season at Ferrari, which he likened to his Spanish victory.

For Alonso, Korea last year marked the climax of a quite brilliant fightback in the world championship battle.

Leaving the British Grand Prix, the 10th of 19 races last year, Alonso was 47 points off the championship lead. His victory in Korea, seven races later, put him at the top of the standings. Of course, he went on to lose the championship by just four points to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel after a catastrophic strategic error by Ferrari in the final race in Abu Dhabi.

In Korea, Alonso was engaged in an intense race-long battle for the lead with Vettel and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton which was finally decided in the Ferrari driver's favour when Vettel suffered an engine failure in the closing stages.

But that was not the only reason Alonso remembers the race so fondly - in fact, he did not even mention that he won it.

He said: "I will always remember the first race in Korea because the conditions were so extreme in terms of light.

"It was completely dark and it was so wet. It was one hour delayed because of the wet. We could not follow the safety car because of the spray.

"There were so many things in one race that it remains quite shocking what we did in Korea."

Alonso's other three choices are ones that have already proved popular among the other drivers.

He has chosen the two notorious Japanese Grands Prix of 1989 and 1990, in both of which Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost collided to decide the destiny of the world title. These were also chosen by Buemi.

And finally there is Belgium 2000, featuring Mika Hakkinen's famous pass of Schumacher, as the two went either side of the backmarker Ricardo Zonta. This race was also chosen by Schumacher.

Alonso says: "One of my favourite races was Senna-Prost fight in Suzuka when in Turn One they finished both in the gravel (1990), and the year before, when one of them (Prost) finished stopped in the chicane.

"I also like, and have seen many times on TV, the race at Spa with Mika and Michael, when they overtook Ricardo Zonta at the end of the straight. That was a super race - from both of them."

An interesting footnote about that weekend in Belgium in 2000 is that it was also crucial in Alonso's career.

He was racing in Formula 3000, the forerunner of today's GP2 feeder series, driving for the Astromega team, who were not one of the better outfits.

In terms of bald statistics, it was not a great season. At Spa, though, on one of the world's great driver circuits, Alonso was in a league of his own, taking pole position, a dominant victory and fastest lap.

His performance impressed many of those watching the race in the F1 paddock, among them a certain Flavio Briatore, who pretty much immediately signed Alonso up for his driver management business.

The next year, Alonso was driving for Minardi in F1, the year after that he was test driver for Briatore's Renault team, in 2003 he was promoted to a race drive and the rest is history.

In Hungary that year, Alonso's became the sport's youngest ever race winner and two years later its youngest world champion, and a year after that the youngest double champion.

Now, back to classic F1.

In these blogs, we pick one of the driver's choices to highlight. Logically, this time it would be Spain 2006, this being not only Alonso's favourite race but also the one that is most directly related to the forthcoming event.

The victory hinged on a blistering opening stint from Alonso - he was making a first stop much earlier than Schumacher's Ferrari and for a while there some tension about whether he was doing a three-stop strategy to Schumacher's two, and whether he would pull out enough of a gap to make it work.

As it turned out, Alonso did only two stops, with a long middle stint, and while it was a powerful and impressive drive, the race was pretty uneventful. So we have decided instead to showcase last year's Korean Grand Prix, which was completely the opposite.

So, long highlights of that race are embedded below. A link to the short highlights is underneath, along with long and short highlights of Mark Webber impressive victory for Red Bull in last year's Spanish Grand Prix. Highlights of the other races Alonso picked are linked out of the relevant point in this blog.

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CLICK HERE TO WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 KOREAN GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE TO WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE TO WATCH EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

On digital satellite and cable television on the BBC red button in the UK, we will be showing short highlights from Japan 1989, Belgium 2000 and Spain 2006 as well as extended highlights of Korea 2010 and Spain 2010 from 1500 BST on Wednesday 18 May until 1200 BST Sunday 22 May.

On Freeview we will be showing short highlights from Japan 1989, Belgium 2000 and Spain 2006 as well as extended highlights of Korea 2010 from 1040 BST until 1250 BST on Friday 20 May.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/05/fernando_alonso_picks_his_five.html

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NASCAR Tickets -Patrick Mania Seeps into NASCAR

Neither the NASCAR nor IndyCar Series seasons are close to the end of their respective schedules for the year, but for whatever reason a spark has recently exploded concerning Danica Patrick and her almost inevitable crossover from IndyCar to NASCAR. Lured by far more lucrative contracts, exposure and promotional opportunities, Patrick could be looking to make the jump to NASCAR as soon as this season (along with her contract with Andretti-Green Racing) ends, and this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for NASCAR, either.

Patrick's status as a racecar driver has been boosted this year in the IndyCar Series with several top five finishes and even a third-place landing at May's Indy 500, but it is Danica Patrick's noteworthy marketability that keeps her in the running as one of the leading contestants for a sponsor and team in the 2010 racing season with NASCAR.
In a time where the economy has put enormous pressure on the racing circuit, Danica Patrick is still about as close to signing a deal with NASCAR as several of stock car racing's best drivers. GM's recent announcement to cut ties with the Nationwide Series is troubling, and it is predictable that more cuts are coming for next year's Sprint Cup Series, as well.

That said, the Danica factor could help pour money into the league to keep the racing circuit alive, as the racing queen garners more attention than almost any other driver in either NASCAR or the IRL. Still, Patrick acknowledges that winning races is the most important aspect of her career, saying, "I think the most important thing for me is to put myself in a situation where I can win as many races as possible and run up front and be in that competitive situation, because at the end of the day, usually the best press comes when I'm doing things on the track. That's really the most important thing for me as a driver.

So that's where the ultimate focus is going to go." The IndyCar princess didn't deny her marketability, however, going on to say, "Then aside from that and after that there has to be thoughts to the brand side of the situation, and being able to make the most of myself as an athlete and as an endorser of products and gaining exposure so that in due time I'm able to explore other things outside of racing. So, all of that comes afterwards. The most important thing is kicking butt out there."

The very fact that Danica Patrick is willing to publicly announce that she's thinking about the lure of NASCAR could either mean that she is indeed seriously considering an upcoming career with NASCAR or that she's trying to get more money out of Andretti-Green Racing, as her contract with the team is up at the end of this season. No matter if she ends up with NASCAR or IndyCar next season, the one thing for sure is that her price tag will be expensive.

Does any NASCAR team have the funds to cut a deal with Patrick? And does Danica Patrick even want to make the switch to NASCAR? Time is sure to tell, but NASCAR tickets will always be available, with or without racing's golden girl in the mix. To get tickets to an upcoming race, go online today.

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling NASCAR tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

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No more excuses, say Ferrari

At the Circuit de Catalunya

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali surveys the Formula 1 paddock through mirrored windows from a scrupulously tidy white office on the first floor of the team's pristine motorhome.

What he could see on Friday morning at the Spanish Grand Prix was a world still coming to terms with the news that Ferrari have extended their commitment to Fernando Alonso, rated by many in F1 as the finest racing driver in the world, until the end of 2016.

As Alonso munched his breakfast outside his boss's office, the satisfaction Domenicali took from this development was plain. Yet the genial 46-year-old Italian remains a man with bigger problems to solve.

After the crushing disappointment of handing the 2010 drivers' title to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel after a strategy error left Alonso stranded down the field in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari were expecting to bounce back strongly this season.

Fernando Alonso at the cockpit of his Ferrari

Ferrari have not yet laid down a serious challenge to Red Bull this season

So the reality that their car is lagging a long way behind Red Bull on pace has been something of a shock, and it has triggered a period of introspection and self-analysis at Maranello.

While Vettel has stormed to three wins and a second place in the first four races of the season, Ferrari and Alonso had to wait until the Turkish Grand Prix two weeks ago to score their first podium finish.

The sport's most iconic team has been open about the fact that the problem has a dual cause.

As their president Luca di Montezemolo has said: "We were a little bit too conservative with the new (car) project but also unfortunately we faced something we have never seen before - that the wind tunnel results have not been confirmed by the track. This is not an easy problem (to solve)."

In a rare exclusive interview here, Domenicali projected a tough edge that some in the paddock have at times accused of him of lacking - especially in comparison with his ruthless predecessor, Jean Todt, now president of the governing body the FIA.

"No doubt I was expecting a better car because from the winter testing the feeling was not too bad," Domenicali says. "We have discussed that we have this problem with the correlation from the wind tunnel.

"But as I said to my people, I do not want to speak about this again. The situation is as it is. For the last grand prix it seems not too bad in the race but we definitely need to improve in qualifying otherwise the race is always difficult.

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"That's where we stand now. My engineers (must) just understand that the others are pushing very hard and we need to improve. Full stop."

The wind tunnel problem is one thing - it has arisen from Ferrari's switch from using a 50% scale model of their car to simulate aerodynamic performance to a 60% model, and it is the sort of thing that can happen.

More worrying is the creeping conservatism in the design office. Domenicali admits that the roots of it lay in the team's domination of the early part of the last decade with Michael Schumacher, when a process of gradual iteration of a proven concept delivered five consecutive world titles.

That all changed with the introduction of new regulations in 2009, when Ferrari had their least competitive season for years. They recovered impressively to fight for the title with Alonso last year, but that championship bid was aided by Red Bull's faltering progress - it is not as if Ferrari had the fastest car.

"First of all," Domenicali says, "with all respect you can see I was pushing my team since Turkey 2010 to be more aggressive in terms of design, in terms of approach to the car.
"It's a matter of mentality, ideas and organisation. And I really push with my people to go towards that route that is not really there at the moment.

"That doesn't mean if you are conservative you can't win, because if you remember last year, unfortunately the result was not in our favour, but if Abu Dhabi had been different, the season would have been not great but fantastic.

"So we don't need to throw away all the things that relate to a different methodology, or a more normal approach to the design of the car.

"It is a matter of balance, but for sure I am pushing my people to look ahead in a different way. The new elements of the regulation now are quite clear, and I want to see a step in that direction very soon - different ideas, different concepts."

The Ferrari designers, then, face a period of mounting pressure. Not only is the boss on their back, but the knowledge that Alonso has committed the rest of his career to Ferrari creates a heavy burden that is rooted in its obvious benefits.

Alonso is, as Domenicali says, a "reference", one of very few drivers a team knows they can count on to deliver every last bit of a car's potential, on every lap, of every race of the season.

He has a tireless pursuit of perfection and he drives his employers hard. His view is simple - give me the car and I will win the championship for you.

For their part, the designers know that with Alonso there is no hiding place. Any shortfall in performance cannot be laid at the door of the driver. It can only be that the car is not quick enough.

That, says Domenicali, is the whole point. "That's what I need," he says. "I don't want to hear from my engineers that they have a problem with the wind tunnel. If you have something to improve you have to do it. The time of excuses is finished. I don't want to look for excuses - this is not our style, and it's not mine."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/05/ferrari_conscious_of_need_to_c.html

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NASCAR Tracks - The Texas Motor Speedway

Texas Motor Speedway is the second largest sports facility in America and it plays host to professional auto racing, concerts and giant auto shows. Take a tour of the Speedway and get a birds-eye view of more than 150,000 seats and 1,000 acres that make up the Speedway. Texas Motor Speedway represents the pinnacle of luxury for fans of auto racing, as the facility features 194 sky box VIP suites. Order your tickets today. Texas Motor Speedway offers amenities to make every fan comfortable while they watch in awe as 43 Nextel Cup stock cars roar around the Texas track. There is no better way to spend an afternoon than with NASCAR tickets for the whole family.

Texas Motor Speedway also has a special ticket for $79 for fans who want to be close to the pre-race activities. The 7-Eleven Pre-Race ticket provides access to the infield and pre-race show stage area, a prime spot for viewing the entertainment as well as pre-race driver introductions. Texas Motor Speedway has begun to be a fast track and is becoming more like Atlanta! Texas Motor Speedway remains a favorite of racing fans because it is still managed by the legendary racing promoter Eddie Gossage. Gossage has managed TMS since it was built in 1996.

The Texas Motor Speedway also offers fans access to pit road where you can glimpse the behind-the-scenes workings of a pit crew. The Texas Motor Speedway is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long: The front stretch is 2,250 feet (686 m) long, and the back stretch is 1,330 feet (405 m) long. At 230 mph (337 f/s), the drivers take about 6.5 seconds to go down the front stretch, and then they are slammed by almost 5 Gs of force for the next 6.5 seconds as they go around the turn.

The Texas Motor Speedway's track has longer turns with higher banks at each corner than the Indianapolis 500 track. This affects the G-forces on the driver and how long they are acting on them. The Texas Motor Speedway is a 1.5 mile obstacle that offers many of the same challenges as Lowes Motor Speedway. Banked turns and a long straightaway on the back half offer drivers the chance to let loose. The Texas Motor Speedway ticket office will be open from 9:03 a.m. Sunday and then traditional weekday hours from 9 a.m.

The Texas Motor Speedway is a 1.5 mile obstacle that offers many of the same challenges as Lowes Motor Speedway. Banked turns and a long straightaway on the back half offer drivers the chance to let loose. The Texas Motor Speedway's track has longer turns with higher banks at each corner than the Indianapolis 500 track. This affects the G-forces on the driver and how long they are acting on them. The Texas Motor Speedway, that was designed very similar to the Atlanta Speedway, did have faster times during 2004 to 2005, but after its surface was worn, the higher speeds returned to Atlanta. Tracks such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway did once have faster lap times, averaging about 322 kilometers an hour, but NASCAR mandated restrictor plates for these tracks, making the average speed approximately 306 kilometers an hour.

The Texas Motor Speedway is a popular venue for concerts and live performances. The biggest names in entertainment perform at the Texas Motor Speedway year round.

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Article Source: NASCAR Tracks - The Texas Motor Speedway

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/189628/nascar-tracks-the-texas-motor-speedway

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NASCAR Tickets - Yates Racing's Kvapil Loses Ride

Even a season-best 18th place finish couldn't keep Yates Racing's Travis Kvapil and his No. 28 Golden Corral Ford Fusion in the running of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after last week's Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, and the Tennessee race was likely Kvapil's last race of the season. The 39th ranked Sprint Cup driver has had incredible difficulty keeping a sponsor this year, and Yates Racing had to make the tough choice this week to pull the plug on his 2009 racing career, suspending operations for this Wisconsin native's car in the wake of hard financial times.

Geoff Smith, president of Roush Fenway Racing (also partner with Yates Racing,) made a statement this week regarding the Kvapil decision, saying, "It's difficult to be in a situation when you have to deal with the consequences of the economy. We're in a situation where there's no extra cash to support running an unsponsored car for any period of time." While this means that the near future isn't looking so bright for Kvapil, Smith did say that "if the economy picks up later in the season maybe we'll be able to pick up something for that team."

Travis Kvapil had a hard break this year after failing to gain substantial backing in the form of a sponsor. Yates Racing and Roush put as much money as the teams could into Kvapil's car, but the demands to keep this stock car running were ultimately more than the team could handle, leaving No. 28 behind. Yates and Roush have been scrambling for sponsorship money for their drivers for a while now, and speculation is also starting to arise about other Roush drivers like Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth, as Edwards is currently sponsored by the ailing Aflac and Kenseth's deal with DeWalt expires after this season.

This frustrating situation is tough for the ousted Travis Kvapil to stomach, yet the NASCAR driver is still being optimistic about his Cup Series run in 2009, saying, "We've just had bad luck [in 2009] and haven't had the results to show for it. [Sunday] we ran in the Top 15 most of the day but got the car a little bit off on one run and that hurt us and got us a lap down. I was hoping for a little bit better result to give us something more to sell, but I thought overall we did an OK job. It was fun to drive up through there and race hard. I leave here knowing in every race so far we've had competitive racecars - but it's gonna be a bummer when we realize it might be the end."

While the door has (temporarily?) closed for Travis Kvapil, Yates Racing's other driver Paul Menard is still in the running to rev his engine on race days to come, thanks in part due to his hefty sponsorship with his father's own chain of Menards home improvement stores. Menard is currently ranked 38th in the Sprint Cup Series, and now that Kvapil is gone he has the chance to fend off his position even more. Even though Travis Kvapil has been cut from the NASCAR circuit, the racing must go on, and NASCAR tickets are available now online.

This article is sponsored by StubHub. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling NASCAR tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

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Critics Say NASCAR Diversity Not a Priority

It was always Joe Henderson III’s dream to become a successful NASCAR driver. He entered NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity (D4D) program with hopes of cracking a barrier that remains in place for most African American drivers. According to New York Times article published in 2006, Henderson was under contract from 2005 to 2006 and was used for publicity for NASCAR diversity efforts but was given poor equipment in 2005 and not even provided a racecar in 2006.

As a result of mixed results from the D4D program, many in the minority community doubt if NASCAR diversity is really a priority for those in charge of the lucrative sport.

“It’s a sham,” said Henderson’s father Joe Henderson, Jr. “The program is not designed to be successful because, No. 1, it’s not properly funded … They claim that it’s a pipeline. Well, nobody came out of the pipe.”

Despite Michael Cherry, coming from the D4D pipeline, and recently obtaining sponsorship with Nationwide Insurance, many critics including ESPN.com columnist Ed Hinton and former participants in the D4D program believe that the lack of funding is an indicator that NASCAR is continuing to drive, but not towards true diversity.

Hinton, in a recent column on ESPN.com, stated that the problem with the diversity program is the money and the fact that is limited to the developmental stage, not providing a bridge for minority drivers to transition from the small time to the big time. Approximately three years ago, $4 million annually was the budget for D4D, which is “significantly more” now, said Marcus Jardotte, NASCAR’s vice president for public affairs, whose department oversees D4D. However, Hinton believes that even $6 million annually is not enough to fund one decent effort for one Nationwide driver for one season, let alone the 12 that were selected for D4D this year.

However, NASCAR states they cannot fund particular drivers because it would represent a conflict of interest, choosing instead to stop funding drivers once they move up from the developmental level into Trucks, Nationwide or Cup (the top three racing series).

“It would be a conflict of interest for the entity that’s responsible for making and enforcing the rules to also support a particular driver at the national touring level,’ Jardotte said.

However, many believe NASCAR diversity could improve if they encourage its many sponsor to seriously get behind a minority driver because that would increase the viewership from various demographic groups, specifically African Americans, who stereotypically do not support NASCAR in large numbers.

“It can’t all be done at the late-model level and then assume that everybody, somehow, can find a couple of million [dollars a year] to run Trucks,” says Marty Buckles, a member of the first D4D class in 2004. “Once you get ready to run Trucks [first level of the major series] you’re on your own.”

However, many potential sponsors say that the reason they have not sponsored many African American drivers is because of the small African American market that watches NASCAR. Sponsors are more interested in promoting their products than promoting NASCAR diversity and if that demographic is watching other sports, companies usually will endorse athletes from the other sports.

That lack of funding has caused many African Americans, including Buckles to place their career on hold. Buckles and Chris Bristol, another D4D participant, have had to take jobs in mechanical engineering. Fortunately for Bristol, his engineering job is in a race-related profession, working for Roehrig Engineering, a manufacturer of racing shock testing equipment.

Bristol was able to continue his career briefly with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), who many credit as being one of few owners seriously promoting NASCAR diversity. Nevertheless, JGR has had a difficult time obtaining sponsorship as well because of the current state of the economy, which many sponsors state is another factor affecting their decision to fund more drivers.

Many drivers such as Marc Davis, 18, and Chase Austin, 19, have decided to pursue their dreams without major sponsorships. Austin is in the Truck series with African American ownership, refusing to enter the NASCAR diversity program because he does not want to be known as an affirmative action driver.

Since there is still no African American or females in the drivers’ seats, full-time, in the top three series is an indicator of racial problems in the sport and no sincerity when it comes to NASCAR diversity, according to critics.

“It should not be easier for an African American to become President of the United States than a full-time driver in one of NASCAR’s top series,” wrote Doug Demmons of the Birmingham News.

Preston Miller, project manager for NASCAR at Ford Motor Company for 13 year stated: “NASCAR isn’t stepping up for what they say they want to do. They’re doing it like they’ve always done, putting the onus on the owners of the Cup cars. They beat them up to make them fund everything … They’ve put the load on everybody else to go out and get diversity.”

Unfortunately for Henderson, the lack of NASCAR diversity was a load that he could not carry alone, who experienced angry crowds at races hurling racial epithets in his direction. Hopefully for Cherry, the struggles that his predecessors had to endure may have made the journey a little more bearable for him and those that follow.

Todd A. Smith is the web master for ; Regal Mag The Preeminent Online Magazine for African American Men. For more information on this subject visit our ; Sports Section To read about ; NASCAR diversity

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Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/230987/critics-say-nascar-diversity-not-a-priority

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Williams seek to end cycle of decline

If the idea was to attract attention, Williams certainly succeeded. Choosing Mike Coughlan, one of two men at the heart of 2007's 'spy-gate' scandal, to spearhead your attempt to reverse a cycle of decline is guaranteed to get you headlines.

This, after all, is the man who, when he was employed as McLaren's chief designer, sent his wife to photocopy nearly 800 pages of Ferrari technical information in a local shop. Unsurprisingly, the assistant got suspicious, phoned Maranello, and the rest is history. McLaren were ultimately fined $100m and thrown out of that year's constructors' championship.

Coughlan was banned from F1 for two years and has filled his time since designing a vehicle for the army, working in the US-based Nascar stock-car series and, briefly, for the still-born Stefan Grand Prix team.

Now, though, he is back, following a decision by Williams to employ him as chief engineer in a reshuffle of their technical department aimed at recapturing the glory days of the third most successful team in F1 history.

As part of the changes, Sam Michael, who has been technical director for seven years, and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson have both resigned, although they will stay in their current roles until the end of the year.

And in perhaps the most significant change of all, Williams co-founder Patrick Head will retire from his role as director of engineering later this year, although he will remain involved in both the F1 team and specific other Williams sister companies as a shareholder and board member.

Head is one of the most experienced and widely respected men in F1 so, for the many both inside and outside F1 who care about whether this iconic team can recapture at least some of their past form, his continued involvement is reassuring.

As these changes have made clear, though, those hopes can no longer be invested in Head or even, to some degree, team founder and owner Sir Frank Williams, who formed one of the most remarkable partnerships in F1 history.

The man who has been given the reins is the chairman Adam Parr, who was formally named as the man in charge of the day-to-day running of Williams last summer.

A Williams returns to the pits with a shredded tyre

The wheels have been coming off at Williams for some time. Photo: Getty

Since then, Parr and the seven-man Williams board have certainly been ringing the changes.

The first was the decision to drop the promising German Nico Hulkenberg, who impressed increasingly in the course of his debut season in 2010, and replace him with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado.

Judging by their careers so far, Maldonado is not Hulkenberg's equal on ability, but he came with a sizeable and lengthy sponsorship deal from his country's state oil company.

The decision to hire him, then, was an effective admission that long gone were the days of Williams being successful enough to choose their drivers on merit and let their performance on track deliver the necessary sponsorship resources. That particular equation had been reversed by the tide of declining results.

A second controversial decision was floating the team on the Frankfurt stock exchange, making it effectively the only F1 team to be a publicly listed company - although of course Mercedes and Ferrari are indirectly listed through their parent companies.

It has not gone especially well so far. The shares fell on their first day of trading and recently had lost a third of their value. They rebounded, though, on Tuesday following the news of the changes at the team.

The fact that there was a resurgence is interesting in itself - it's not necessarily what you would expect in the context of a decision to employ a man at the centre of one of the two biggest scandals in F1 over the last four years.

But while Coughlan's return was certainly a surprise to many in F1, perhaps that reflects an essential truth about his appointment, one voiced by Williams and Parr themselves. Spy-gate was a long time ago, he has served his punishment, it is probably time to move on.

That certainly seems to be McLaren's view of the matter. "The events that led to our decision to terminate Mike's contract occurred nearly four years ago," a spokesman told BBC Sport. "He's an experienced engineer and Williams are a famous team which we would all like to see recover to better fortunes."

The reshuffle at Williams follows the worst start to a season in the team's history, with drivers Rubens Barrichello and Maldonado failing to score points in the first three races. But unacceptable as that was, as Williams have themselves described it, what really prompted the changes was the difference between on-track performance and pre-season expectation.

For a number of years now, Williams have started each F1 season proclaiming that their new car was the one that would deliver a return to form. The difference in 2011 was that this time they really believed it.

The new FW33 is quite a radical design, featuring a remarkably small gearbox, the intention of which was to free up as much airflow as possible to what is now the critical area at the bottom of the rear wing.

"This year, we really thought we'd come out fighting," said the team's head of communications, Claire Williams, Frank's daughter, on Wednesday. "We thought we had the potential for more podiums only to find the reality was we had regressed further. After however many years, that wasn't acceptable any more."

In the short to medium term, it is Coughlan who has been charged with turning the team's fortunes around. The 52-year-old is to be considered for Michael's soon-to-be-vacant role. And even if they ultimately appoint someone else as technical director, Coughlan is responsible for next year's car and will clearly remain a key figure in the technical department for some years to come.

He is a man of vast experience - he has been in F1 since 1984 and has worked for Lotus, Benetton, Ferrari, Arrows and McLaren. He is regarded as very bright, enthusiastic and hard-working, even if he is, as someone said to me on Wednesday, "not exactly Adrian Newey".

That was a bit harsh. Newey, the man responsible for Red Bull's current period of domination, is a genius, one of the greatest engineers in F1 history. The problem for all the other F1 teams is that he is one of a kind. But you can see why the comparison was made - their shared history means it is Newey's shadow that hangs heaviest over Williams.

The team's spell at the very top of F1 ended with his departure for McLaren. The final car he had an influence on, the 1997 FW19, was the last Williams to win a title. And they have never been the same since.

Frank Williams has admitted that letting Newey go, not acceding to his demands for more involvement in the running of the team, was his biggest mistake. But expecting a return to those days, of the fastest car in F1, of seasons - entire eras - of domination, is a pipe dream, as Parr himself admits.

When I asked him on the eve of the season why Williams had not won a race since 2004, he turned the question back at me. "Let's just switch it around," he said. "Why would you expect Williams to beat Ferrari?"

It was a fair point. Years of lack of performance have produced a vicious circle of decline. Lack of results makes it harder to attract the best drivers and sponsors with big money. Lack of resources makes it even harder to produce a winning car. And not being able to attract a man who can transcend it - a Hamilton, an Alonso - makes the results even more elusive. So it goes on.

Even Barrichello's vast experience and highly regarded technical ability, which was instrumental in helping Williams recover from a poor start last year, has not helped them produce a competitive car in 2011.

Coughlan's job, then, is not to return Williams to its previous heights, but to restore respectability, get them back on an even keel. Only then can they think again about going further.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/05/williams_look_for_way_out_of_c.html

Karl Kling Ernst Klodwig Kamui Kobayashi Helmuth Koinigg