RENAULT NOISE ROW
Formula One giants run into trouble with neighbours
RENAULT bosses have run into trouble with their Cambridgeshire neighbours over the noise from their cars.
Families several miles away from the team's Duxford site have complained about the constant din from the test track.
Team boss Steve Nielsen, who wants the best possible testing for drivers Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet, said: "We can't run these cars silenced.
"It would be great if we could and it is something we looked into but it would negate all of our data if we did.
"The car needs to be identical to the cars that race in the Grands Prix and unfortunately that means running it without silencers.
"I have some sympathy with people about the noise. The cars are noisy things but this is absolutely not something we would be doing every day for a week."
Councillor Peter Topping said: "Quite a number of people have said the noise is unbearable, including people who were indoors with all the windows closed - they could still hear it. People who keep horses have complained to me that their horses were running all over the place."
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LAUDA HITS OUT
OUTSPOKEN Former F1 champ Niki Lauda believes the budget-cap row is turning the sport into an embarrassment.
The 60-year-old Austrian spoke out after crisis talks in Monaco crumpled when the FIA rejected pleas from team bosses for an extension to the deadline for entries for the 2010 world championship.
He said: "For decades Formula One has been the stage for egocentric performers, and the cast grows every day.
"This is a Formula One that is just embarrassing."
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KIMI RALLIES AGAIN
ICEMAN Kimi Raikkonen hopes to continue his run of luck this weekend when he will swap his Ferrari for a Fiat rally car for a second time this year.
The flying Finn, who is thinking about quitting F1 at the end of the season to take up rallying, will join the Italian round with co-driver Kaj Lindstrom - just four months after his debut in the Arctic Lapland Rally.
Raikkonen said: "I want to thank the Scuderia for giving me the possibility to take part in such a competition, I really enjoy myself and it will be my first experience on tarmac after some tests on snow last winter.
"As I'm coming from the race track it will be interesting to see what I will be able to do behind the wheel on the roads."
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AFM SLUMP
CASH-STRAPPED BTCC Team AFM will sit out the next two rounds after mechanical problems at Donington left the team struggling for funds.
The diesel-powered BMW squad, who have yet to score a point this season, will miss the Oulton Park and Croft rounds while they make repairs.
AFM driver Nick Leason said: "I hope people understand we are only a very small team with an extremely small budget so we are always working so hard in need of more funding to progress further," said Leason.
"We need to re-group and pick ourselves up, taking a step back to assess what else needs improving. We are being sensible, even though it has been a very hard decision to take.
"We hope to have the car sorted out by next week, and then do a test session to start honing car set-up. Missing one, or maybe even two races, is not the end of the world when you look at the bigger picture."
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SPORTING CHANCE
PORTUGUESE football club Sporting Lisbon have entered a team in the football-themed SuperLeague Championship.
They will line up alongside British clubs Spurs and Liverpool and their big rivals Porto in the second year of the series, which starts next month. French side Olympique Lyonnais and Denmark's FC Midtjylland are also running teams.
The Lisbon side, who unveiled its car at the Jose Alvalade Stadium this week, also join newcomers Denmark's and French champions Olympique Lyonnais.
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