BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Rubens Barrichello will celebrate his record 257th Grand Prix appearance in Turkey this weekend. There were three events that Barrichello entered but did not actually race in for various reasons. As there is no definitive F-1 record book, statisticians cannot agree exactly at which race this year that Barrichello will surpass Riccardo Patrese’s record of 256 starts.
Barrichello, therefore, picked Turkey as his record race, but plans to celebrate over the next three races.
“Becoming the most experienced F-1 driver ever means a great deal to me,” he said. “I’ve had a long career in F-1 and I have so many wonderful memories, but I don’t feel any different today to the day when I started out on this journey in 1993. My first race, at Kyalami [South Africa], seems like yesterday. I must thank my family and friends for their unwavering support through the years. I was lucky enough to start my career in F-1 at a young age and I love racing as much as ever and, importantly, I still love F-1.
“While people will look back at my 16-year career in Turkey, I’m still looking forward and the next race is the one that matters the most.”

• May 1 and April 30 marked the 14th anniversary of the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger during the San Marino Grand Prix weekend. The fact that Heikki Kovalainen escaped virtually unharmed from his huge accident in Spain shows how far F-1 safety has advanced since 1994.

• Heikki Kovalainen is undaunted by the crash that briefly knocked him unconscious after he wedged into a tire-lined barrier at 125 miles per hour in Spain. But he will have to wait until a final medical exam on the Thursday prior to the Turkish Grand Prix before he is cleared to race.
“None whatsoever,” he said when asked if he had any doubts about getting back into a F-1 car. “I want to get back racing as soon as possible; since the accident at Barcelona it has been my only focus.
“Everyone involved in the sport, the FIA in particular, is always working on improving safety for the drivers, but F-1 is a risky business. You know that as a driver, but you don’t think about it. If you worry about things like that, you lose focus. I guess it is just not in my psyche.”

• Mark Webber says the runoff area in the corner where Kovalainen crashed in Spain must be improved.
“Sebastien Bourdais had a crash there in testing,” he said. “The runoff on the exit of the corner is good, but if you have a problem on the way in, there is not enough runoff.”

• A French judge has turned down Max Mosley’s request to have Internet access to his sex video banned in France. The judge did, however, say that any remaining copies of the British tabloid News of the World containing the original scandal story could not be sold in France.

• Robert Kubica is hot property these days. Will he remain with BMW Sauber in 2009? “We will announce next year’s drivers in the summer,” said team boss Mario Theissen.

• An unofficial poll taken by 24 of the 26 members [excluding Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone] of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council revealed a split decision over whether Mosley should resign, according to Czech Radovan Novak who is one of the members. Novak said nine supported Mosley, nine were against him and six abstained.

• Many drivers and teams would like to see the safety-car rules changed soon. Currently, the pit lane remains closed until all the cars are lined up behind the safety car. This is done to prevent cars racing back to the pits past the scene of an accident.
Cars running out of fuel, however, have to pit before the pit lane is officially declared open and that results in a 10 second stop-and-go penalty.
“It’s a lottery, you cannot plan for it,” BMW Sauber’s Mario Theissen said after the Spanish Grand Prix where his driver Nick Heidfeld lost a top-six finish because of just such a penalty.
While there is a strong push to get the rule modified before Monaco and Montreal, races that traditionally feature several safety-car periods, it is doubtful that any changes will happen by then.

• Prices for Singapore hotels are ludicrously high for the Grand Prix weekend.
On top of the hotels raising their rates outrageously, the government will add a 20 to 30 percent tax to help pay for the race.
The government is now looking into the issue.