Lotus Racing today confirmed that the long awaited launch of the 2010 Lotus Formula 1 racing car will take place on the 12th of February in central London.
The Royal Horticultural Hall has been selected by the team as the perfect venue to unveil one of the sporting world's most eagerly anticipated new challengers and an audience of 400 guests, including all staff of the newly formed team, will be the first to see the livery of the new Lotus Racing car
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Thursday 28 January 2010
MERCEDES APPRENTICES IN THE LIMELIGHT AT TEAM PRESENTATION
Posted: Thursday 28 January 2010 at 12:48 On Monday 25 January, the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart saw the opening of a new chapter in the illustrious history of the Silver Arrows, as the livery of the new Silver Arrow was presented against the background of models from the past.
At 11.14am, four apprentices from the Mercedes-Benz factories in Sindelfingen and Untertürkheim wheeled out a Formula One car from the 2009 season in the new Silver Arrow livery of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team.
“Incredible. That was an experience I’ll never forget,” said Simon Küffner (22) from Haigerloch. “It was unbelievably exciting to be in one room or on stage with all the big names and to get a glimpse behind the scenes. I was really impressed by all the hard work that went into making the event go so smoothly.”
The presentation was also a very special occasion for 17-year-old Sarah Wurster from Aidlingen. “Today’s presentation made a big visual impression that will stay with me for a long time,” she said. “It’s not often that an apprentice can experience such an event at first hand, and it’s marvellous that my training at Mercedes-Benz has given me this opportunity.”
Claudia Lengerer (23) from Kirchheim was fascinated by the whole occasion. “I’m so proud to have seen all the stars and I was really pleased by how charming everyone was to us. Thank you to Mercedes-Benz for allowing me to be part of this occasion. I’ll never forget the day.”
“It was so interesting to get this close-up view of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team,” said Darko Turcan (19) from Stuttgart, the fourth member of the group. “I was also delighted by the chance to see what goes on behind the scenes and feel privileged to have played an active part in that days event.”
The four apprentices were selected by their supervisors as a reward for outstanding performance during their training period.
At 11.14am, four apprentices from the Mercedes-Benz factories in Sindelfingen and Untertürkheim wheeled out a Formula One car from the 2009 season in the new Silver Arrow livery of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team.
“Incredible. That was an experience I’ll never forget,” said Simon Küffner (22) from Haigerloch. “It was unbelievably exciting to be in one room or on stage with all the big names and to get a glimpse behind the scenes. I was really impressed by all the hard work that went into making the event go so smoothly.”
The presentation was also a very special occasion for 17-year-old Sarah Wurster from Aidlingen. “Today’s presentation made a big visual impression that will stay with me for a long time,” she said. “It’s not often that an apprentice can experience such an event at first hand, and it’s marvellous that my training at Mercedes-Benz has given me this opportunity.”
Claudia Lengerer (23) from Kirchheim was fascinated by the whole occasion. “I’m so proud to have seen all the stars and I was really pleased by how charming everyone was to us. Thank you to Mercedes-Benz for allowing me to be part of this occasion. I’ll never forget the day.”
“It was so interesting to get this close-up view of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team,” said Darko Turcan (19) from Stuttgart, the fourth member of the group. “I was also delighted by the chance to see what goes on behind the scenes and feel privileged to have played an active part in that days event.”
The four apprentices were selected by their supervisors as a reward for outstanding performance during their training period.
Ferrari’s Marmorini and Tombazis on the F10’s design
Although the regulation changes for this season are a lot less extensive than they were for 2009, Ferrari’s technical team have had their work cut out over the winter months. Charged with not only fine-tuning their engine and chassis to fit the new rules, they have also strived to overcome the performance shortfall that saw the Italian team clinch just one race win last year.
With these twin aims, it’s no wonder that the F10 looks a very different beast to its F60 predecessor. The ban on refuelling has necessitated a wider and longer chassis to accommodate the larger fuel tank, while Ferrari have entirely redesigned the car’s rear - including a new, smaller gearbox - to better exploit the double diffuser, which other teams had championed in 2009.
For designer Nikolas Tombazis, the F10 project has been a long slog, but one that he hopes will eventually prove fruitful.
“For the F10 we had to review the whole project from the nose to the rear wing because of the new rules and also because we had to recover the obvious performance deficit we had last year,” he told Ferrari’s official website, as he explained the car’s main changes.
“Because of the bigger fuel tank we had to deal with a longer and wider chassis. We have worked a lot in the aero department to try to exploit and widen the diffuser, making it more efficient, improving the airflow under the car, and therefore the downforce. We completely reviewed the gearbox and made it smaller so there’s more space for the diffuser and we also worked on the rear suspension. To improve the airflow to the car’s main body and more efficient diffuser, we’ve raised its nose and modified the lower part of the chassis. The front wing has also been improved.”
2010’s ban on refuelling - as well as the grid-wide agreement to stop using KERS - has also imposed new demands on the Ferrari engine. And while the freeze on development, in place since 2006, restricts their freedom to make changes, engine department boss Luca Marmorini is pleased with the revisions they have made, especially in terms of reducing the engine’s fuel consumption.
“Naturally we tried to improve performance but this only led to limited advantages because the engine development is frozen,” he explained. “From a technical point of view, reducing consumption was one of the most interesting things this year. We worked to find new and unusual fields of application for the engine, and we obtained some really interesting results.
“Consumption equals performance. Consuming less fuel means less petrol on board, and so whoever consumes less fuel will be faster on the track. Naturally, constructing an engine that consumes less brings about higher risks in terms of reliability. We worked very hard over the winter with our simulations and we are confident that at the start of the year we should be reliable.”
Weather permitting, the F10 will get its first shakedown run at Ferrari’s Fiorano circuit in Italy on Friday, before it’s transported to Spain for next week’s multi-team test at Valencia, which begins on Monday.
With these twin aims, it’s no wonder that the F10 looks a very different beast to its F60 predecessor. The ban on refuelling has necessitated a wider and longer chassis to accommodate the larger fuel tank, while Ferrari have entirely redesigned the car’s rear - including a new, smaller gearbox - to better exploit the double diffuser, which other teams had championed in 2009.
For designer Nikolas Tombazis, the F10 project has been a long slog, but one that he hopes will eventually prove fruitful.
“For the F10 we had to review the whole project from the nose to the rear wing because of the new rules and also because we had to recover the obvious performance deficit we had last year,” he told Ferrari’s official website, as he explained the car’s main changes.
“Because of the bigger fuel tank we had to deal with a longer and wider chassis. We have worked a lot in the aero department to try to exploit and widen the diffuser, making it more efficient, improving the airflow under the car, and therefore the downforce. We completely reviewed the gearbox and made it smaller so there’s more space for the diffuser and we also worked on the rear suspension. To improve the airflow to the car’s main body and more efficient diffuser, we’ve raised its nose and modified the lower part of the chassis. The front wing has also been improved.”
2010’s ban on refuelling - as well as the grid-wide agreement to stop using KERS - has also imposed new demands on the Ferrari engine. And while the freeze on development, in place since 2006, restricts their freedom to make changes, engine department boss Luca Marmorini is pleased with the revisions they have made, especially in terms of reducing the engine’s fuel consumption.
“Naturally we tried to improve performance but this only led to limited advantages because the engine development is frozen,” he explained. “From a technical point of view, reducing consumption was one of the most interesting things this year. We worked to find new and unusual fields of application for the engine, and we obtained some really interesting results.
“Consumption equals performance. Consuming less fuel means less petrol on board, and so whoever consumes less fuel will be faster on the track. Naturally, constructing an engine that consumes less brings about higher risks in terms of reliability. We worked very hard over the winter with our simulations and we are confident that at the start of the year we should be reliable.”
Weather permitting, the F10 will get its first shakedown run at Ferrari’s Fiorano circuit in Italy on Friday, before it’s transported to Spain for next week’s multi-team test at Valencia, which begins on Monday.
Singapore considering layout changes
Singapore Grand Prix chiefs are considering making changes to their Formula 1 track for 2011 in a bid to speed the circuit up.
According to a report in respected Singapore newspaper Today, Marina Bay chiefs are considering making significant changes to the 3.152-mile layout of the Marina Bay circuit after this year's race to raise the track's average lap speed.
Formula 1's night-race venue is one of the longest on the calendar, with Fernando Alonso's lap record standing at 1m48.240s. Both the events held so far have run to nearly two hours - the FIA's stated maximum time limit for a grand prix.
The Singapore Tourism Board is not planning to make any changes before this year's race, but is looking at modifications to two areas of the track for 2011.
The light-right-left zig-zag from Turns Seven to Nine could be changed into a simple 90 degree left-hander around the War Memorial, instead of inside it.
But more significantly, the changes may also remove altogether the bus-stop chicane sequence that runs underneath the grandstand near the end of the track – near where Nelson Piquet crashed in 2008.
Justin Chew, the Singapore Tourism Board's executive director, told Today: "We are always looking to see how we can improve the Singapore Grand Prix. If it is for the good of the race and makes it more exciting for fans and drivers, we will consider it.
According to a report in respected Singapore newspaper Today, Marina Bay chiefs are considering making significant changes to the 3.152-mile layout of the Marina Bay circuit after this year's race to raise the track's average lap speed.
Formula 1's night-race venue is one of the longest on the calendar, with Fernando Alonso's lap record standing at 1m48.240s. Both the events held so far have run to nearly two hours - the FIA's stated maximum time limit for a grand prix.
The Singapore Tourism Board is not planning to make any changes before this year's race, but is looking at modifications to two areas of the track for 2011.
The light-right-left zig-zag from Turns Seven to Nine could be changed into a simple 90 degree left-hander around the War Memorial, instead of inside it.
But more significantly, the changes may also remove altogether the bus-stop chicane sequence that runs underneath the grandstand near the end of the track – near where Nelson Piquet crashed in 2008.
Justin Chew, the Singapore Tourism Board's executive director, told Today: "We are always looking to see how we can improve the Singapore Grand Prix. If it is for the good of the race and makes it more exciting for fans and drivers, we will consider it.
Ferrari aims to benefit from Shell link
Ferrari's engine chief Luca Marmorini is confident the Italian squad will benefit from its close relationship with fuel supplier Shell this year.
Formula 1 has banned refuelling from the start this season and saving fuel will be a critical point in achieving good results.
Marmorini, speaking during the launch of the new F10 car, believes Ferrari's close ties with partner Shell will help the Maranello outfit extract the maximum performance of the car while saving as much fuel as possible.
"The 2010 season is most interesting," said Marmorini. "It's a new challenge, new if you consider the last 15 years. The ban on refuelling has made the fuel consumption parameter very important in performance terms. If you consume less it means the car is more lightweight - so the laptime performance is better.
"We've worked hard on that, not only in our team, and consumption optimisation is team work and it involves players who are interested in the engine management. It involves electronic people and the drivers as well.
"The fact that we work under the same roof, well we have a major advantage for optimising fuel consumption. A major contribution comes from this aspect. This is due to important partners like Shell that has allowed us to take a step ahead.
"Together with Shell we have tried to optimise the lubricants and fuel so that we can have an advantage that makes the F10 a winning car."
The Italian also said Ferrari has carried out few changes to its power unit given the development freeze.
"The engine is frozen which means that the main components can not be developed, so the possibility of developing performance directly is fairly limited," he said. "So we have redesigned the exhaust system, the F10 exhaust system is fairly unconventional.
"We have modified accessories because the engine will no longer have the KERS as it had in 2009, and we have invested in materials and processes to cut the engine cost."
He added: "We've never forgotten reliability. Reliability can never be forgotten can never be forgotten in engine development activity. In respect to that we have optimised and updated our bench simulation techniques. They are increasingly complex and getting closer and closer to the actual reality on the track during the season."
Formula 1 has banned refuelling from the start this season and saving fuel will be a critical point in achieving good results.
Marmorini, speaking during the launch of the new F10 car, believes Ferrari's close ties with partner Shell will help the Maranello outfit extract the maximum performance of the car while saving as much fuel as possible.
"The 2010 season is most interesting," said Marmorini. "It's a new challenge, new if you consider the last 15 years. The ban on refuelling has made the fuel consumption parameter very important in performance terms. If you consume less it means the car is more lightweight - so the laptime performance is better.
"We've worked hard on that, not only in our team, and consumption optimisation is team work and it involves players who are interested in the engine management. It involves electronic people and the drivers as well.
"The fact that we work under the same roof, well we have a major advantage for optimising fuel consumption. A major contribution comes from this aspect. This is due to important partners like Shell that has allowed us to take a step ahead.
"Together with Shell we have tried to optimise the lubricants and fuel so that we can have an advantage that makes the F10 a winning car."
The Italian also said Ferrari has carried out few changes to its power unit given the development freeze.
"The engine is frozen which means that the main components can not be developed, so the possibility of developing performance directly is fairly limited," he said. "So we have redesigned the exhaust system, the F10 exhaust system is fairly unconventional.
"We have modified accessories because the engine will no longer have the KERS as it had in 2009, and we have invested in materials and processes to cut the engine cost."
He added: "We've never forgotten reliability. Reliability can never be forgotten can never be forgotten in engine development activity. In respect to that we have optimised and updated our bench simulation techniques. They are increasingly complex and getting closer and closer to the actual reality on the track during the season."
Ferrari unveils F10 challenger
Ferrari became the first Formula 1 outfit to unveil its new challenger for the 2010 season on Thursday, as the wraps came off the Italian squad's F10 machine.
The car, with which the team hopes to return to the top after a difficult 2009 season, is the result of several months of design work, after Ferrari decided to switch its focus to 2010 early during last year's campaign.
Ferrari won just one race in 2009, finishing a distant fourth in the constructors' championship.
The Maranello-based outfit, however, has high hopes for the new car, with two-time champion Fernando Alonso having joined Felipe Massa for this year's championship assault.
"This championship will be very important for us," said team boss Stefano Domenicali. "The last championship, for different reasons, was not very positive, that is why we are dealing with this one looking to be competitive - and this is what Ferrari deserves to have."
He added: "We have two new drivers, why two new drivers? Fernando Alonso, is a twice world champion and we will say after the second one he will have a third one. He already appears among the big champions in F1, it is the right moment for him, for us, he wants to be successful and we want to repeat what the team concept is in our group.
"Felipe, we are talking of a new version of Felipe, but after such a dramatic championship like last year with the accident in Hungary and such a fantastic season, Felipe has all the assets to prove that he is a very successful one, he can prove that he wants to restart his pathway that destiny interrupted it in Hungary. Good luck to both of them."
Massa will be the man in charge of completing the first run in the car this afternoon at the Fiorano circuit.
The car, with which the team hopes to return to the top after a difficult 2009 season, is the result of several months of design work, after Ferrari decided to switch its focus to 2010 early during last year's campaign.
Ferrari won just one race in 2009, finishing a distant fourth in the constructors' championship.
The Maranello-based outfit, however, has high hopes for the new car, with two-time champion Fernando Alonso having joined Felipe Massa for this year's championship assault.
"This championship will be very important for us," said team boss Stefano Domenicali. "The last championship, for different reasons, was not very positive, that is why we are dealing with this one looking to be competitive - and this is what Ferrari deserves to have."
He added: "We have two new drivers, why two new drivers? Fernando Alonso, is a twice world champion and we will say after the second one he will have a third one. He already appears among the big champions in F1, it is the right moment for him, for us, he wants to be successful and we want to repeat what the team concept is in our group.
"Felipe, we are talking of a new version of Felipe, but after such a dramatic championship like last year with the accident in Hungary and such a fantastic season, Felipe has all the assets to prove that he is a very successful one, he can prove that he wants to restart his pathway that destiny interrupted it in Hungary. Good luck to both of them."
Massa will be the man in charge of completing the first run in the car this afternoon at the Fiorano circuit.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
The new Mercedes GP Petronas is presented in Stuttgart
27th January 2010
With full live coverage on two German television channels and surrounded by the world press, the new Silver Arrows Formula One works team Mercedes GP Petronas was presented at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Nico Rosberg and seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher along with team management Ross Brawn, Nick Fry and Norbert Haug were introduced to guests with a presentation and press conference.
Over 600 guests, including 200 media representatives and 200 Mercedes-Benz employees, visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum, one of the biggest and most famous car museums in the world, to see the launch of the team and the unveiling of the new Silver Arrows livery. Mercedes-Benz employees from the company’s manufacturing plants in Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen, 100 of whom were invited for their outstanding performances and 100 selected through a popular internal draw, also had the opportunity to take their first look at the new Mercedes GP Petronas team.
The event opened with a welcome speech by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars before Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg unveiled the new Silver Arrows livery for the 2010 season on last year’s car. The team’s 2010 car, the MGP W01, will make its track debut at the first Formula One test in Valencia on Monday 1 February; with the 2010 Formula One season starting in Bahrain on 14 March.
The new silver and green livery creates a true marriage between the heritage of the Silver Arrows and the team’s title partner Petronas. The legacy of the Silver Arrows goes back to the 1934 Eifel Race when, on the evening before the event, the white paint was sanded off the Mercedes W25 race car to fulfil weight regulations (750kg formula) and the silver colour of the aluminium surface of the car appeared. This season, with the return of the Silver Arrows, the MGP W01 will shine in silver combined with a flow of iridescent silver and green shading. On the nose and other parts of the car, traces of black carbon fibre visible are visible – a reminder of the first Silver Arrow of 1934.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER:
“Finally the 2010 Formula One season is firing up! I have to say that I am totally committed to this new challenge. This season feels like a re-start for me and I am so motivated. We have a very exciting combination at Mercedes GP Petronas. We have a World Champion team in every sense of the word and I cannot wait to get into the car for the first time in Valencia. I am convinced that Mercedes GP Petronas will be in a very good position to fight for the championships this season and I will definitely give it a go. Driving for Mercedes-Benz again is like the closing of a circle for me as I started my racing driver career with the three-pointed star on my helmet. This is another reason why I cannot wait for the competition to get underway.”
NICO ROSBERG:
“You can really feel the successful motorsport history of Mercedes-Benz here at the Museum in Stuttgart and to be part of the new Silver Arrows team and that racing heritage makes me feel extremely proud and motivated. Since joining the team in November, I have spent a lot of time at the factory in Brackley, at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth and here in Stuttgart, which has given me the opportunity to settle in and get to know everyone. I have seen how hard the team is working on the new car and I really can’t wait for the opportunity to drive it for the first time in Valencia next week. I am looking forward to working with everyone at Mercedes GP Petronas and will give it my all to reward their fantastic efforts with good on-track results this season.”
ROSS BRAWN, TEAM PRINCIPAL, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS:
“It is a privilege to be here at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart today for the official presentation of the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team. With your first look around the Museum, you realise the fantastic racing heritage of Mercedes-Benz and we hope to be able to contribute to those successes going forward. Our team have been working extremely hard throughout last year and over the winter on the development of the MGP W01 and everyone at the team is looking forward to the start of testing in Valencia next week. We have two excellent drivers in Nico and Michael, who will form one of the most exciting and one of the best partnerships on the grid, and with the support of Mercedes-Benz, Aabar, our new title partner Petronas and all of our team partners, everyone is looking forward to the 2010 Formula One season with anticipation.”
NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT:
“With today’s presentation of our new Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, a new and certainly the most important chapter of over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history begins. The new Formula One season will offer challenges which will be bigger than ever before in over sixty years of the sport’s history. We look forward to the cooperation with our drivers Nico Rosberg who has enormous capabilities and perspectives, and with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher who is no less motivated than at the time when he began his professional motor racing career with Mercedes-Benz and then made his first step into such a successful Formula One career with our support. Today I also cordially welcome our new title partner Petronas as well as our co-investor Aabar/IPIC together with all of our team partners. I warmly welcome all our colleagues from last year’s World Championship team Brawn GP headed by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to the Mercedes family. There are challenging tasks ahead of us and we will tackle them with power, consistency and full motivation.”
With full live coverage on two German television channels and surrounded by the world press, the new Silver Arrows Formula One works team Mercedes GP Petronas was presented at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Nico Rosberg and seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher along with team management Ross Brawn, Nick Fry and Norbert Haug were introduced to guests with a presentation and press conference.
Over 600 guests, including 200 media representatives and 200 Mercedes-Benz employees, visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum, one of the biggest and most famous car museums in the world, to see the launch of the team and the unveiling of the new Silver Arrows livery. Mercedes-Benz employees from the company’s manufacturing plants in Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen, 100 of whom were invited for their outstanding performances and 100 selected through a popular internal draw, also had the opportunity to take their first look at the new Mercedes GP Petronas team.
The event opened with a welcome speech by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars before Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg unveiled the new Silver Arrows livery for the 2010 season on last year’s car. The team’s 2010 car, the MGP W01, will make its track debut at the first Formula One test in Valencia on Monday 1 February; with the 2010 Formula One season starting in Bahrain on 14 March.
The new silver and green livery creates a true marriage between the heritage of the Silver Arrows and the team’s title partner Petronas. The legacy of the Silver Arrows goes back to the 1934 Eifel Race when, on the evening before the event, the white paint was sanded off the Mercedes W25 race car to fulfil weight regulations (750kg formula) and the silver colour of the aluminium surface of the car appeared. This season, with the return of the Silver Arrows, the MGP W01 will shine in silver combined with a flow of iridescent silver and green shading. On the nose and other parts of the car, traces of black carbon fibre visible are visible – a reminder of the first Silver Arrow of 1934.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER:
“Finally the 2010 Formula One season is firing up! I have to say that I am totally committed to this new challenge. This season feels like a re-start for me and I am so motivated. We have a very exciting combination at Mercedes GP Petronas. We have a World Champion team in every sense of the word and I cannot wait to get into the car for the first time in Valencia. I am convinced that Mercedes GP Petronas will be in a very good position to fight for the championships this season and I will definitely give it a go. Driving for Mercedes-Benz again is like the closing of a circle for me as I started my racing driver career with the three-pointed star on my helmet. This is another reason why I cannot wait for the competition to get underway.”
NICO ROSBERG:
“You can really feel the successful motorsport history of Mercedes-Benz here at the Museum in Stuttgart and to be part of the new Silver Arrows team and that racing heritage makes me feel extremely proud and motivated. Since joining the team in November, I have spent a lot of time at the factory in Brackley, at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth and here in Stuttgart, which has given me the opportunity to settle in and get to know everyone. I have seen how hard the team is working on the new car and I really can’t wait for the opportunity to drive it for the first time in Valencia next week. I am looking forward to working with everyone at Mercedes GP Petronas and will give it my all to reward their fantastic efforts with good on-track results this season.”
ROSS BRAWN, TEAM PRINCIPAL, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS:
“It is a privilege to be here at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart today for the official presentation of the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team. With your first look around the Museum, you realise the fantastic racing heritage of Mercedes-Benz and we hope to be able to contribute to those successes going forward. Our team have been working extremely hard throughout last year and over the winter on the development of the MGP W01 and everyone at the team is looking forward to the start of testing in Valencia next week. We have two excellent drivers in Nico and Michael, who will form one of the most exciting and one of the best partnerships on the grid, and with the support of Mercedes-Benz, Aabar, our new title partner Petronas and all of our team partners, everyone is looking forward to the 2010 Formula One season with anticipation.”
NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT:
“With today’s presentation of our new Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, a new and certainly the most important chapter of over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history begins. The new Formula One season will offer challenges which will be bigger than ever before in over sixty years of the sport’s history. We look forward to the cooperation with our drivers Nico Rosberg who has enormous capabilities and perspectives, and with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher who is no less motivated than at the time when he began his professional motor racing career with Mercedes-Benz and then made his first step into such a successful Formula One career with our support. Today I also cordially welcome our new title partner Petronas as well as our co-investor Aabar/IPIC together with all of our team partners. I warmly welcome all our colleagues from last year’s World Championship team Brawn GP headed by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to the Mercedes family. There are challenging tasks ahead of us and we will tackle them with power, consistency and full motivation.”
Lopez has power of a nation behind him
This is a big week in Formula 1. The new Mercedes team was launched on Monday, and new cars from Ferrari and McLaren are due to break cover on Thursday and Friday. But another development that has made less of an impact could prove a seminal moment in a different way.
The announcement on Tuesday that the little-known Argentine Jose Maria Lopez will drive for the new US F1 team in 2010 has made minimal impact compared to the fanfare afforded Mercedes's public presentation of their new livery and Michael Schumacher.
The general perception will be that this is just another pay-driver getting a seat with a struggling team, neither of which are likely to make much impact in 2010.
That assessment may well turn out to be factually correct - but the Lopez deal is rather more interesting than that. He has secured his drive thanks to backing from the government of Argentina itself. His appointment was announced by the president, Crista Fernandez de Kirchner.
As far as I am aware, this is the first time a national government has ever financially supported a driver's entry into F1 to any significant degree.
"He has got the nation behind him," US F1 sporting director Peter Windsor told me from Buenos Aires on Wednesday. "This has all come through the president's office. The government decided to get behind him and take him into F1, and when they did that a lot of other companies looked at it and decided to do the same. It's snowballed since then."
This is information that a lot of struggling young racers around the world, scrabbling to raise the money to further their careers, will find quite hard to take.
That, though, does not make it any less remarkable.
Argentina has had a very tough time economically in the last decade and, although things are improving from the lows of 2001, times are still hard for many Argentines. F1's popularity remains high, though - even though it is 12 years since the country had a race or a driver.
"Obviously football is huge, but motorsport is the number two sport in Argentina," Windsor says, "even with Juan Martin del Potro and Angel Cabrera winning majors in tennis and golf. Jose is huge here.
"A lot of people will say, 'Oh, it's a driver with money.' But that sidesteps the issues of how much time it takes to raise that money - and it's still government money they are spending. I'm very proud of that.
"My feeling is that the thinking is: 'Let's take a driver into F1; it'll be good for the country's morale.'
"They want to win in big sports - that's very important, just as it is in Australia. Here, it doesn't take much to trigger a spark of enthusiasm. Who's to say that the fact they are in economic recovery isn't even more reason to get behind a driver? It's a very optimistic attitude - very different from Europe where it tends to be all doom and gloom."
The chances of Lopez winning in F1, of course, are not great, at least in the immediate future.
US F1 are battling to get their debut car ready. Windsor says he and co-owner Ken Anderson haven't yet decided whether they will make any of the four pre-season tests in Europe, but he says it's likely the car will run only in the US. He insists, though, that they will be ready for the first race in Bahrain on 14 March, while admitting: "It's going to be tight."
And then there's the question of whether Lopez is any good. He did not exactly set the world on fire in the European feeder formulae, but Windsor says he always believed Lopez had talent; the respected driver coach Rob Wilson agrees - and so does Argentine F1 legend Carlos Reutemann.
Reutemann, now an influential name in Kirchner's Peronist party, is an old friend of Windsor from the 1970s and early '80s, when Reutemann was one of F1's leading drivers and Windsor a journalist. Although Windsor says the now Argentine senator - a member of Kirchner's party, but not exactly an ally - "is not really involved at all, other than he thinks Jose is very talented and very fast".
Whatever, all this is further evidence of a major shift that appears to be happening in F1 - as the car manufacturers leave, teams are increasingly taking on national identities, whether by accident or design.
So Brawn has been bought out by Mercedes, who are running two German drivers in Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. McLaren have two English drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Ferrari have long been considered in Italy as the national team, even if they do little to promote Italian drivers. The new Lotus outfit are effectively a Malaysian team. Then there's Force India - explicitly Indian, even if based at Silverstone. And now US F1, with backing from the Argentine government.
Windsor says he and Anderson chose that name for their team because of exactly this shift.
"The thinking was always, it's beyond car companies and the future will probably be an international element," he says. "And it's possible if we weren't called US F1, we wouldn't be here."
It looks incongruous, then, that there will not be an American driver in the team, but Windsor says the explanation for that is simple.
"No American driver has [the necessary F1] super licence," he says, "apart from maybe [GP3 driver] Alexander Rossi - but that was very recent.
"We had to draw a line. [IndyCar front-runners] Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti haven't got one. They may have been given one, but we couldn't take the risk of finding in the third week of February that they'd been turned down.
"We want to be in F1 for a long time. We'll build a stable platform and then do it [get an American driver] - we've got plenty of time."
"We're going to be doing quite a lot to promote American drivers this year, which we'll announce quite soon. But even though we're US F1, we don't have to have American drivers. We're in a global market place - there are also people who want to promote their company in the US. F1 is very international, but laying claim to a country is quite cool."
Windsor and his team can now lay claim to two.
The announcement on Tuesday that the little-known Argentine Jose Maria Lopez will drive for the new US F1 team in 2010 has made minimal impact compared to the fanfare afforded Mercedes's public presentation of their new livery and Michael Schumacher.
The general perception will be that this is just another pay-driver getting a seat with a struggling team, neither of which are likely to make much impact in 2010.
That assessment may well turn out to be factually correct - but the Lopez deal is rather more interesting than that. He has secured his drive thanks to backing from the government of Argentina itself. His appointment was announced by the president, Crista Fernandez de Kirchner.
As far as I am aware, this is the first time a national government has ever financially supported a driver's entry into F1 to any significant degree.
"He has got the nation behind him," US F1 sporting director Peter Windsor told me from Buenos Aires on Wednesday. "This has all come through the president's office. The government decided to get behind him and take him into F1, and when they did that a lot of other companies looked at it and decided to do the same. It's snowballed since then."
This is information that a lot of struggling young racers around the world, scrabbling to raise the money to further their careers, will find quite hard to take.
That, though, does not make it any less remarkable.
Argentina has had a very tough time economically in the last decade and, although things are improving from the lows of 2001, times are still hard for many Argentines. F1's popularity remains high, though - even though it is 12 years since the country had a race or a driver.
"Obviously football is huge, but motorsport is the number two sport in Argentina," Windsor says, "even with Juan Martin del Potro and Angel Cabrera winning majors in tennis and golf. Jose is huge here.
"A lot of people will say, 'Oh, it's a driver with money.' But that sidesteps the issues of how much time it takes to raise that money - and it's still government money they are spending. I'm very proud of that.
"My feeling is that the thinking is: 'Let's take a driver into F1; it'll be good for the country's morale.'
"They want to win in big sports - that's very important, just as it is in Australia. Here, it doesn't take much to trigger a spark of enthusiasm. Who's to say that the fact they are in economic recovery isn't even more reason to get behind a driver? It's a very optimistic attitude - very different from Europe where it tends to be all doom and gloom."
The chances of Lopez winning in F1, of course, are not great, at least in the immediate future.
US F1 are battling to get their debut car ready. Windsor says he and co-owner Ken Anderson haven't yet decided whether they will make any of the four pre-season tests in Europe, but he says it's likely the car will run only in the US. He insists, though, that they will be ready for the first race in Bahrain on 14 March, while admitting: "It's going to be tight."
And then there's the question of whether Lopez is any good. He did not exactly set the world on fire in the European feeder formulae, but Windsor says he always believed Lopez had talent; the respected driver coach Rob Wilson agrees - and so does Argentine F1 legend Carlos Reutemann.
Reutemann, now an influential name in Kirchner's Peronist party, is an old friend of Windsor from the 1970s and early '80s, when Reutemann was one of F1's leading drivers and Windsor a journalist. Although Windsor says the now Argentine senator - a member of Kirchner's party, but not exactly an ally - "is not really involved at all, other than he thinks Jose is very talented and very fast".
Whatever, all this is further evidence of a major shift that appears to be happening in F1 - as the car manufacturers leave, teams are increasingly taking on national identities, whether by accident or design.
So Brawn has been bought out by Mercedes, who are running two German drivers in Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. McLaren have two English drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Ferrari have long been considered in Italy as the national team, even if they do little to promote Italian drivers. The new Lotus outfit are effectively a Malaysian team. Then there's Force India - explicitly Indian, even if based at Silverstone. And now US F1, with backing from the Argentine government.
Windsor says he and Anderson chose that name for their team because of exactly this shift.
"The thinking was always, it's beyond car companies and the future will probably be an international element," he says. "And it's possible if we weren't called US F1, we wouldn't be here."
It looks incongruous, then, that there will not be an American driver in the team, but Windsor says the explanation for that is simple.
"No American driver has [the necessary F1] super licence," he says, "apart from maybe [GP3 driver] Alexander Rossi - but that was very recent.
"We had to draw a line. [IndyCar front-runners] Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti haven't got one. They may have been given one, but we couldn't take the risk of finding in the third week of February that they'd been turned down.
"We want to be in F1 for a long time. We'll build a stable platform and then do it [get an American driver] - we've got plenty of time."
"We're going to be doing quite a lot to promote American drivers this year, which we'll announce quite soon. But even though we're US F1, we don't have to have American drivers. We're in a global market place - there are also people who want to promote their company in the US. F1 is very international, but laying claim to a country is quite cool."
Windsor and his team can now lay claim to two.
US F1 Team announces Jose Maria Lopez as driver for 2010 season
Peter Windsor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and José Maria Lopez
Argentine star to race in US F1’s Debut Campaign
Charlotte, N.C. (Jan. 25, 2010) – US F1 Team announced today that they have signed the former Renault F1 Team test driver, Jose Maria "Pechito" Lopez (26), to race with them in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. Lopez will be the 24th Argentine* to race in Formula One, sustaining a heritage that began sixty years ago when Juan Manuel Fangio and Froilan "Pepe" Gonzalez took the F1 world by storm.
"Securing 'Pechito' Lopez for our debut season has been a goal of ours for a long time," said US F1 Team Executive Vice President Peter Windsor. "We've been following his career since he dominated the Renault V6 Championship in 2003 and we're thrilled to have him on board as we return America to Formula One. Lopez is a consummate professional and born leader. The most revealing thing about his character was how he handled the disappointment of not racing for Renault after three years of testing with them in F1. Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for himself, he returned to Argentina and totally dominated the local scene, winning 38 races and three championships. He became a major star as a result and, in turn, the Argentine nation – a country where F1 is second only to soccer - has got behind him." As proof of that, Lopez's US F1 contract was officially announced by the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in the Casa Rosada (Government House) in Buenos Aires on the afternoon of January 25.
After meeting Jose Maria and Windsor, the President commented: "The Argentine government is very happy to get behind this exciting new project and we wish Jose Maria and the team all the best for the 2010 season."
"This is a truly memorable day for me, my family and the people of Argentina," said Lopez, who has more than 6,000 kilometers of F1 test experience. "I have been working towards this day for much of my life and I can't thank Peter and Ken [Anderson] enough for this opportunity. Of course a new F1 team faces many challenges but our goal is to improve with each race and build a foundation that will eventually see this team competing for wins and championships."
After winning in karts all over the world from the age of seven – Lopez was leading Lewis Hamilton in the world final in Japan when his chain broke - he switched to race cars in Europe in 2001 . He won the 2002 Italian Formula Renault Championship with four wins, five poles and three podiums and in European Formula Renault he scored two wins, two poles and a podium. He dominated the European Formula Renault V6 Championship in 2003 (five wins, eight poles, seven podiums) and in one season of F3000 and two in GP2 he scored a win (Barcelona), seven podiums and a pole. As a contracted Renault driver, he also completed thousands of miles in the F1 car, focusing mainly on shake-downs and starts but also completing simulated race distances with compromised set-ups.
Disappointed not be given the opportunity to race in F1, Jose returned to Argentina in 2007. His positive, super-professional approach resulted in three championships, 38 wins and 36 pole positions. As a result, Jose became a hero in his own country and regained the momentum he needed to focus once again on F1.
US F1 Team, which is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, the motorsports capital of the United States, will be the only American-based team on the grid in 2010 and the first in more than 40 years. Team Principal, President and CEO Ken Anderson said finding the right drivers was a major part of forming US F1 Team.
"So many things go into starting a Formula One team from scratch," Anderson said. "You can nail every step along the way but if you don't have the right guys in the seats, everything else is for naught. With Jose Maria Lopez we have further positioned ourselves for a successful 2010 debut campaign."
Argentine star to race in US F1’s Debut Campaign
Charlotte, N.C. (Jan. 25, 2010) – US F1 Team announced today that they have signed the former Renault F1 Team test driver, Jose Maria "Pechito" Lopez (26), to race with them in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. Lopez will be the 24th Argentine* to race in Formula One, sustaining a heritage that began sixty years ago when Juan Manuel Fangio and Froilan "Pepe" Gonzalez took the F1 world by storm.
"Securing 'Pechito' Lopez for our debut season has been a goal of ours for a long time," said US F1 Team Executive Vice President Peter Windsor. "We've been following his career since he dominated the Renault V6 Championship in 2003 and we're thrilled to have him on board as we return America to Formula One. Lopez is a consummate professional and born leader. The most revealing thing about his character was how he handled the disappointment of not racing for Renault after three years of testing with them in F1. Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for himself, he returned to Argentina and totally dominated the local scene, winning 38 races and three championships. He became a major star as a result and, in turn, the Argentine nation – a country where F1 is second only to soccer - has got behind him." As proof of that, Lopez's US F1 contract was officially announced by the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in the Casa Rosada (Government House) in Buenos Aires on the afternoon of January 25.
After meeting Jose Maria and Windsor, the President commented: "The Argentine government is very happy to get behind this exciting new project and we wish Jose Maria and the team all the best for the 2010 season."
"This is a truly memorable day for me, my family and the people of Argentina," said Lopez, who has more than 6,000 kilometers of F1 test experience. "I have been working towards this day for much of my life and I can't thank Peter and Ken [Anderson] enough for this opportunity. Of course a new F1 team faces many challenges but our goal is to improve with each race and build a foundation that will eventually see this team competing for wins and championships."
After winning in karts all over the world from the age of seven – Lopez was leading Lewis Hamilton in the world final in Japan when his chain broke - he switched to race cars in Europe in 2001 . He won the 2002 Italian Formula Renault Championship with four wins, five poles and three podiums and in European Formula Renault he scored two wins, two poles and a podium. He dominated the European Formula Renault V6 Championship in 2003 (five wins, eight poles, seven podiums) and in one season of F3000 and two in GP2 he scored a win (Barcelona), seven podiums and a pole. As a contracted Renault driver, he also completed thousands of miles in the F1 car, focusing mainly on shake-downs and starts but also completing simulated race distances with compromised set-ups.
Disappointed not be given the opportunity to race in F1, Jose returned to Argentina in 2007. His positive, super-professional approach resulted in three championships, 38 wins and 36 pole positions. As a result, Jose became a hero in his own country and regained the momentum he needed to focus once again on F1.
US F1 Team, which is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, the motorsports capital of the United States, will be the only American-based team on the grid in 2010 and the first in more than 40 years. Team Principal, President and CEO Ken Anderson said finding the right drivers was a major part of forming US F1 Team.
"So many things go into starting a Formula One team from scratch," Anderson said. "You can nail every step along the way but if you don't have the right guys in the seats, everything else is for naught. With Jose Maria Lopez we have further positioned ourselves for a successful 2010 debut campaign."
NEW MERCEDES GP PETRONAS FORMULA ONE TEAM PRESENTED AT THE MERCEDES-BENZ MUSEUM IN STUTTGART
Today, the new Silver Arrows Formula One works team MERCEDES GP PETRONAS was presented at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Nico Rosberg and seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher along with team management Ross Brawn, Nick Fry and Norbert Haug were introduced to guests with a presentation and press conference.
Over 600 guests, including 200 media representatives and 200 Mercedes-Benz employees, visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum, one of the biggest and most famous car museums in the world, to see the launch of the team and the unveiling of the new Silver Arrows livery. Mercedes-Benz employees from the company’s manufacturing plants in Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen, 100 of whom were invited for their outstanding performances and 100 selected through a popular internal draw, also had the opportunity to take their first look at the new MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team.
The event opened with a welcome speech by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars before Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg unveiled the new Silver Arrows livery for the 2010 season on last year’s car. The team’s 2010 car, the MGP W01, will make its track debut at the first Formula One test in Valencia on Monday 1 February, with the 2010 Formula One season starting in Bahrain on 14 March.
The new silver and green livery creates a true marriage between the heritage of the Silver Arrows and the team’s title partner PETRONAS. The legacy of the Silver Arrows goes back to the 1934 Eifel Race when, on the evening before the event, the white paint was sanded off the Mercedes W25 race car to fulfil weight regulations (750kg formula) and the silver colour of the aluminium surface of the car appeared. This season, with the return of the Silver Arrows, the MGP W01 will shine in silver combined with a flow of iridescent silver and green shading. On the nose and other parts of the car, traces of black carbon fibre visible are visible – a reminder of the first Silver Arrow of 1934.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER:
“Finally the 2010 Formula One season is firing up! I have to say that I am totally committed to this new challenge. This season feels like a re-start for me and I am so motivated. We have a very exciting combination at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS. We have a World Champion team in every sense of the word and I cannot wait to get into the car for the first time in Valencia. I am convinced that MERCEDES GP PETRONAS will be in a very good position to fight for the championships this season and I will definitely give it a go. Driving for Mercedes-Benz again is like the closing of a circle for me as I started my racing driver career with the three-pointed star on my helmet. This is another reason why I cannot wait for the competition to get underway.”
NICO ROSBERG:
“You can really feel the successful motorsport history of Mercedes-Benz here at the Museum in Stuttgart and to be part of the new Silver Arrows team and that racing heritage makes me feel extremely proud and motivated. Since joining the team in November, I have spent a lot of time at the factory in Brackley, at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth and here in Stuttgart, which has given me the opportunity to settle in and get to know everyone. I have seen how hard the team is working on the new car and I really can’t wait for the opportunity to drive it for the first time in Valencia next week. I am looking forward to working with everyone at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS and will give it my all to reward their fantastic efforts with good on-track results this season.”
ROSS BRAWN, TEAM PRINCIPAL, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS:
“It is a privilege to be here at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart today for the official presentation of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team. With your first look around the Museum, you realise the fantastic racing heritage of Mercedes-Benz and we hope to be able to contribute to those successes going forward. Our team have been working extremely hard throughout last year and over the winter on the development of the MGP W01 and everyone at the team is looking forward to the start of testing in Valencia next week. We have two excellent drivers in Nico and Michael, who will form one of the most exciting and one of the best partnerships on the grid, and with the support of Mercedes-Benz, Aabar, our new title partner PETRONAS and all of our team partners, everyone is looking forward to the 2010 Formula One season with anticipation.”
NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT:
“With today’s presentation of our new MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team, a new and certainly the most important chapter of over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history begins. The new Formula One season will offer challenges which will be bigger than ever before in over sixty years of the sport’s history. We look forward to the cooperation with our drivers Nico Rosberg who has enormous capabilities and perspectives, and with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher who is no less motivated than at the time when he began his professional motor racing career with Mercedes-Benz and then made his first step into such a successful Formula One career with our support. Today I also cordially welcome our new title partner PETRONAS as well as our co-investor Aabar/IPIC together with all of our team partners. I warmly welcome all our colleagues from last year’s World Championship team Brawn GP headed by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to the Mercedes family. There are challenging tasks ahead of us and we will tackle them with power, consistency and full motivation.”
Over 600 guests, including 200 media representatives and 200 Mercedes-Benz employees, visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum, one of the biggest and most famous car museums in the world, to see the launch of the team and the unveiling of the new Silver Arrows livery. Mercedes-Benz employees from the company’s manufacturing plants in Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen, 100 of whom were invited for their outstanding performances and 100 selected through a popular internal draw, also had the opportunity to take their first look at the new MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team.
The event opened with a welcome speech by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars before Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg unveiled the new Silver Arrows livery for the 2010 season on last year’s car. The team’s 2010 car, the MGP W01, will make its track debut at the first Formula One test in Valencia on Monday 1 February, with the 2010 Formula One season starting in Bahrain on 14 March.
The new silver and green livery creates a true marriage between the heritage of the Silver Arrows and the team’s title partner PETRONAS. The legacy of the Silver Arrows goes back to the 1934 Eifel Race when, on the evening before the event, the white paint was sanded off the Mercedes W25 race car to fulfil weight regulations (750kg formula) and the silver colour of the aluminium surface of the car appeared. This season, with the return of the Silver Arrows, the MGP W01 will shine in silver combined with a flow of iridescent silver and green shading. On the nose and other parts of the car, traces of black carbon fibre visible are visible – a reminder of the first Silver Arrow of 1934.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER:
“Finally the 2010 Formula One season is firing up! I have to say that I am totally committed to this new challenge. This season feels like a re-start for me and I am so motivated. We have a very exciting combination at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS. We have a World Champion team in every sense of the word and I cannot wait to get into the car for the first time in Valencia. I am convinced that MERCEDES GP PETRONAS will be in a very good position to fight for the championships this season and I will definitely give it a go. Driving for Mercedes-Benz again is like the closing of a circle for me as I started my racing driver career with the three-pointed star on my helmet. This is another reason why I cannot wait for the competition to get underway.”
NICO ROSBERG:
“You can really feel the successful motorsport history of Mercedes-Benz here at the Museum in Stuttgart and to be part of the new Silver Arrows team and that racing heritage makes me feel extremely proud and motivated. Since joining the team in November, I have spent a lot of time at the factory in Brackley, at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth and here in Stuttgart, which has given me the opportunity to settle in and get to know everyone. I have seen how hard the team is working on the new car and I really can’t wait for the opportunity to drive it for the first time in Valencia next week. I am looking forward to working with everyone at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS and will give it my all to reward their fantastic efforts with good on-track results this season.”
ROSS BRAWN, TEAM PRINCIPAL, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS:
“It is a privilege to be here at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart today for the official presentation of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team. With your first look around the Museum, you realise the fantastic racing heritage of Mercedes-Benz and we hope to be able to contribute to those successes going forward. Our team have been working extremely hard throughout last year and over the winter on the development of the MGP W01 and everyone at the team is looking forward to the start of testing in Valencia next week. We have two excellent drivers in Nico and Michael, who will form one of the most exciting and one of the best partnerships on the grid, and with the support of Mercedes-Benz, Aabar, our new title partner PETRONAS and all of our team partners, everyone is looking forward to the 2010 Formula One season with anticipation.”
NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT:
“With today’s presentation of our new MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team, a new and certainly the most important chapter of over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history begins. The new Formula One season will offer challenges which will be bigger than ever before in over sixty years of the sport’s history. We look forward to the cooperation with our drivers Nico Rosberg who has enormous capabilities and perspectives, and with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher who is no less motivated than at the time when he began his professional motor racing career with Mercedes-Benz and then made his first step into such a successful Formula One career with our support. Today I also cordially welcome our new title partner PETRONAS as well as our co-investor Aabar/IPIC together with all of our team partners. I warmly welcome all our colleagues from last year’s World Championship team Brawn GP headed by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to the Mercedes family. There are challenging tasks ahead of us and we will tackle them with power, consistency and full motivation.”
Campos could miss all testing
The Campos Meta F1 team has admitted that it may not take part in any pre-season testing, but insists it will make the opening race in Bahrain.
The Spanish team has signed Bruno Senna and its Dallara-built chassis passed the FIA's final crash test last week, but concerns remain about its financial strength and it is still searching for investors.
Campos's head of strategy Daniel Eisen says the season's first race will be the team's testing time.
"Bahrain is a test, it's not a first race for us," Eisen told the Associated Press. "The cars are very advanced, we have a driver under contract and our intention is to be in Bahrain for the first race.
"Everybody's worried and that's logical because the season is long and we're the new ones. But first things first, we want to be there with the best of everything - especially the cars.
"It's no secret that we are negotiating with investors and sponsors, especially on an international scale. But everything is going according to plan."
Eisen denied that the team's deal to run Bruno Senna brought in money and says Campos is determined to succeed without pay drivers.
"Bruno didn't come with cash, and that's important," he added. "We've always wanted it like that from the start. Yes, it would bring a lot economically, but our focus is to be ready. We can't compromise the cars in any way."
The team also admitted that it may not announce a second driver until the eve of the Bahrain race.
The Spanish team has signed Bruno Senna and its Dallara-built chassis passed the FIA's final crash test last week, but concerns remain about its financial strength and it is still searching for investors.
Campos's head of strategy Daniel Eisen says the season's first race will be the team's testing time.
"Bahrain is a test, it's not a first race for us," Eisen told the Associated Press. "The cars are very advanced, we have a driver under contract and our intention is to be in Bahrain for the first race.
"Everybody's worried and that's logical because the season is long and we're the new ones. But first things first, we want to be there with the best of everything - especially the cars.
"It's no secret that we are negotiating with investors and sponsors, especially on an international scale. But everything is going according to plan."
Eisen denied that the team's deal to run Bruno Senna brought in money and says Campos is determined to succeed without pay drivers.
"Bruno didn't come with cash, and that's important," he added. "We've always wanted it like that from the start. Yes, it would bring a lot economically, but our focus is to be ready. We can't compromise the cars in any way."
The team also admitted that it may not announce a second driver until the eve of the Bahrain race.
Teams agree new tyre rule for 2010
Formula 1 teams have agreed to introduce an extra strategic element to races this season by forcing leading drivers to start races on the same tyres that they qualified on, AUTOSPORT can reveal.
With the ban on refuelling for 2010 already forcing a big change in tactics compared to how grands prix have run in recent years, the new rule looks set to have an impact on how teams approach qualifying as well.
Although the tweak has not yet been committed to the regulations, sources have revealed that last week's meeting of the Sporting Working Group agreed to the change as a way of improving the show.
It is understood that the majority of teams present voted in favour of a rule that will require the top 10 cars that make it through to the final session of qualifying to start the race on the same tyres that they set their fastest Q3 time on.
This will open up the possibility of teams gambling on sacrificing the best possible time in Q3 by running a more consistent but less quick tyre so as to have a better chance in the race. Alternatively, teams may choose a tyre that is better over a single lap to secure a good grid position, even if it runs the risk of compromising race performance.
The teams hope that the rule tweak will serve to mix up the tactics throughout the grid and therefore lead to more exciting races.
The change still needs to be voted on by the Formula 1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council next week before passing into the regulations, but this is likely to be a formality.
The refuelling ban this season has brought about mixed opinions about whether it will improve the racing - with some suggesting that the difficulties in overtaking will result in races turning into pure processions.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said on Monday that he hoped the ban would prove a positive for F1.
"Inevitably, when you make a change, there are pros and cons," he said. "Regarding the pros, it arguably makes qualifying purer because the fastest car/driver combination will be setting the fastest times, and the public can understand that.
"Secondly, in the race itself, overtaking was often being planned and implemented to occur as a consequence of strategy, and therefore happening in the pit lane and not the circuit.
"In the absence of that effect, drivers will have a greater incentive to overtake. There have been occasions in the past where a driver hasn't had that incentive because he knows he will be running longer and can get past the car ahead strategically through the pit stops.
"Additionally, the fact that drivers will qualify on low-fuel, and then the next time they drive the car in anger into the first corner will be after a standing start with cold tyres and cold brakes and 160kg of fuel.
"That will be very challenging for them, not just in terms of getting round that first corner, but in terms of how they look after their tyres and how the balance of the car will alter as a consequence of that. And there will be drivers who are able to deal with those changes better than others.
"Those are all the positives. On the negative side, it's possible that if all of the above is managed equally well by every driver, then we'll have lost one of the strategic campaign interests that the more avid fans enjoyed in the sport. Hopefully the former points will outweigh the latter."
With the ban on refuelling for 2010 already forcing a big change in tactics compared to how grands prix have run in recent years, the new rule looks set to have an impact on how teams approach qualifying as well.
Although the tweak has not yet been committed to the regulations, sources have revealed that last week's meeting of the Sporting Working Group agreed to the change as a way of improving the show.
It is understood that the majority of teams present voted in favour of a rule that will require the top 10 cars that make it through to the final session of qualifying to start the race on the same tyres that they set their fastest Q3 time on.
This will open up the possibility of teams gambling on sacrificing the best possible time in Q3 by running a more consistent but less quick tyre so as to have a better chance in the race. Alternatively, teams may choose a tyre that is better over a single lap to secure a good grid position, even if it runs the risk of compromising race performance.
The teams hope that the rule tweak will serve to mix up the tactics throughout the grid and therefore lead to more exciting races.
The change still needs to be voted on by the Formula 1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council next week before passing into the regulations, but this is likely to be a formality.
The refuelling ban this season has brought about mixed opinions about whether it will improve the racing - with some suggesting that the difficulties in overtaking will result in races turning into pure processions.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said on Monday that he hoped the ban would prove a positive for F1.
"Inevitably, when you make a change, there are pros and cons," he said. "Regarding the pros, it arguably makes qualifying purer because the fastest car/driver combination will be setting the fastest times, and the public can understand that.
"Secondly, in the race itself, overtaking was often being planned and implemented to occur as a consequence of strategy, and therefore happening in the pit lane and not the circuit.
"In the absence of that effect, drivers will have a greater incentive to overtake. There have been occasions in the past where a driver hasn't had that incentive because he knows he will be running longer and can get past the car ahead strategically through the pit stops.
"Additionally, the fact that drivers will qualify on low-fuel, and then the next time they drive the car in anger into the first corner will be after a standing start with cold tyres and cold brakes and 160kg of fuel.
"That will be very challenging for them, not just in terms of getting round that first corner, but in terms of how they look after their tyres and how the balance of the car will alter as a consequence of that. And there will be drivers who are able to deal with those changes better than others.
"Those are all the positives. On the negative side, it's possible that if all of the above is managed equally well by every driver, then we'll have lost one of the strategic campaign interests that the more avid fans enjoyed in the sport. Hopefully the former points will outweigh the latter."
Schumi will join Rosberg on Day One
Ross Brawn has revealed that Michael Schumacher will join Nico Rosberg for the first day of pre-season at Valencia next week.
Initial reports claimed that Rosberg would in action alone on Day One at Valencia, which is also the day when Mercedes GP unveil their 2010 challenger, the MGP W01, to the world.
However, a change of plans means the former Williams driver will now share the testing duties with Schumacher when the action gets underway on Monday.
"What we want to try and do is give both drivers a drive on the first day. The first day is about checking the car and inspecting all the pieces - and there will be several strip downs of critical parts," said team boss Brawn.
"So during that period we will swap drivers and we want both drivers to get a run in the car on the first day to give us their impressions.
"Nico will probably do the second day and Michael the third day. But it will be split on the first day."
Initial reports claimed that Rosberg would in action alone on Day One at Valencia, which is also the day when Mercedes GP unveil their 2010 challenger, the MGP W01, to the world.
However, a change of plans means the former Williams driver will now share the testing duties with Schumacher when the action gets underway on Monday.
"What we want to try and do is give both drivers a drive on the first day. The first day is about checking the car and inspecting all the pieces - and there will be several strip downs of critical parts," said team boss Brawn.
"So during that period we will swap drivers and we want both drivers to get a run in the car on the first day to give us their impressions.
"Nico will probably do the second day and Michael the third day. But it will be split on the first day."
Lopez joins US F1 for 2010
Team US F1 has signed former Renault test driver Jose Maria Lopez to join its debut season in Formula 1.
The Argentinean's move into F1 with the Charlotte-based outfit was announced by the President of his native country, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in Buenos Aires late on Monday evening.
Speaking about his step up to F1, Lopez said: "This is a truly memorable day for me, my family and the people of Argentina.
"I have been working towards this day for much of my life and I can't thank Peter and Ken [Anderson] enough for this opportunity. Of course a new F1 team faces many challenges but our goal is to improve with each race and build a foundation that will eventually see this team competing for wins and championships."
US F1 executive vice president Peter Windsor said he had been following Lopez's career for several years.
"Securing 'Pechito' Lopez for our debut season has been a goal of ours for a long time," he said. "We've been following his career since he dominated the Renault V6 Championship in 2003 and we're thrilled to have him on board as we return America to Formula 1.
"Lopez is a consummate professional and born leader. The most revealing thing about his character was how he handled the disappointment of not racing for Renault after three years of testing with them in F1.
"Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for himself, he returned to Argentina and totally dominated the local scene, winning 38 races and three championships. He became a major star as a result and, in turn, the Argentine nation - a country where F1 is second only to soccer - has got behind him."
Lopez enjoyed a successful kart career and won several championships in junior single seaters, including the 2002 Italian Formula Renault Championship and the European Formula Renault V6 Championship in 2003.
He was a race winner in GP2, triumphing at Barcelona in 2005, and he also he completed several thousands of miles in F1 machinery in his test driver role with Renault in 2003 before returning to race action in touring cars in his native Argentina.
The Argentinean's move into F1 with the Charlotte-based outfit was announced by the President of his native country, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in Buenos Aires late on Monday evening.
Speaking about his step up to F1, Lopez said: "This is a truly memorable day for me, my family and the people of Argentina.
"I have been working towards this day for much of my life and I can't thank Peter and Ken [Anderson] enough for this opportunity. Of course a new F1 team faces many challenges but our goal is to improve with each race and build a foundation that will eventually see this team competing for wins and championships."
US F1 executive vice president Peter Windsor said he had been following Lopez's career for several years.
"Securing 'Pechito' Lopez for our debut season has been a goal of ours for a long time," he said. "We've been following his career since he dominated the Renault V6 Championship in 2003 and we're thrilled to have him on board as we return America to Formula 1.
"Lopez is a consummate professional and born leader. The most revealing thing about his character was how he handled the disappointment of not racing for Renault after three years of testing with them in F1.
"Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for himself, he returned to Argentina and totally dominated the local scene, winning 38 races and three championships. He became a major star as a result and, in turn, the Argentine nation - a country where F1 is second only to soccer - has got behind him."
Lopez enjoyed a successful kart career and won several championships in junior single seaters, including the 2002 Italian Formula Renault Championship and the European Formula Renault V6 Championship in 2003.
He was a race winner in GP2, triumphing at Barcelona in 2005, and he also he completed several thousands of miles in F1 machinery in his test driver role with Renault in 2003 before returning to race action in touring cars in his native Argentina.
Mercedes GP unveils car colours
The Mercedes GP Petronas team unveiled its official colour scheme for the 2010 season, in an event held at the German car maker's museum in Stuttgart.
Mercedes, who took over world champion team Brawn GP to race under its own name this year, showed off its new colours using a 2009 car, before its new challenger is unveiled at the start of next month.
The new car, which sports Mercedes' classic silver colours, will make its first public outing at the Valencia circuit on 1st February, when the first testing session of the pre-season will kick off.
The 2010 car will be called MGP W01.
"With today's presentation of our new Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 team, a new and certainly the most important chapter of over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history begins," said Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug. "The new Formula 1 season will offer challenges which will be bigger than ever before in over sixty years of the sport's history.
"We look forward to the cooperation with our drivers Nico Rosberg who has enormous capabilities and perspectives, and with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher who is no less motivated than at the time when he began his professional motor racing career with Mercedes-Benz and then made his first step into such a successful Formula One career with our support.
"Today I also cordially welcome our new title partner Petronas as well as our co-investor Aabar/IPIC together with all of our team partners. I warmly welcome all our colleagues from last year's World Championship team Brawn GP headed by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to the Mercedes family. There are challenging tasks ahead of us and we will tackle them with power, consistency and full motivation."
The team will be led again by Ross Brawn, who will be forming a partnership with seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, making a sensational return to the sport after retiring in 2006.
Schumacher will be partnered by Nico Rosberg.
Brawn could not hide his enthusiasm during the birth of the new team.
"I think for me it is several things, one is a wonderful future for our team which a year ago never had a future, such an exciting partnership and such an exciting involvement for us," said Brawn, who achieved great success with Schumacher during their stint at Ferrari.
"It is a great thing, working with Michael again is a very special treat and something I didn't think would happen again.
"It's so exciting and so motivational for me and the team to be involved. Nico is a very exciting prospect who will make a wonderful partner for Michael. Nico has been in a racing for a number of years but he will enjoy working with Michael and seeing how a seven-time champion operates.
"But also the final thing is being the part of a rebirth of a racing brand so iconic as Mercedes. It's been 55 years since Mercedes had its own racing team. I have been very privileged in my career to be involved in special things but this is very exciting to be involved in."
Rosberg said driving for Mercedes was a dream come true for him.
"For sure for me it is very, very special, a dream come true to be able to drive the first silver arrow for more than 50 years," he said.
"I'm looking forward to it, working with people like Norbert [Haug], Ross and Nick [Fry] and having Michael as team-mate is great. It is going to be a great season."
Schumacher admitted he has been overwhelmed by the reaction of his fans since he announced his comeback.
"We obviously saw some of it in the summer time and I was surprised to see the reaction, now with the announcement being part of the silver arrows team," Schumacher said.
"It is a great emotion and it is a great feeling that I am getting from the outside, so a big compliment to all fans that see it like this. It gives me a greater feel and a greater push."
Mercedes, who took over world champion team Brawn GP to race under its own name this year, showed off its new colours using a 2009 car, before its new challenger is unveiled at the start of next month.
The new car, which sports Mercedes' classic silver colours, will make its first public outing at the Valencia circuit on 1st February, when the first testing session of the pre-season will kick off.
The 2010 car will be called MGP W01.
"With today's presentation of our new Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 team, a new and certainly the most important chapter of over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history begins," said Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug. "The new Formula 1 season will offer challenges which will be bigger than ever before in over sixty years of the sport's history.
"We look forward to the cooperation with our drivers Nico Rosberg who has enormous capabilities and perspectives, and with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher who is no less motivated than at the time when he began his professional motor racing career with Mercedes-Benz and then made his first step into such a successful Formula One career with our support.
"Today I also cordially welcome our new title partner Petronas as well as our co-investor Aabar/IPIC together with all of our team partners. I warmly welcome all our colleagues from last year's World Championship team Brawn GP headed by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to the Mercedes family. There are challenging tasks ahead of us and we will tackle them with power, consistency and full motivation."
The team will be led again by Ross Brawn, who will be forming a partnership with seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, making a sensational return to the sport after retiring in 2006.
Schumacher will be partnered by Nico Rosberg.
Brawn could not hide his enthusiasm during the birth of the new team.
"I think for me it is several things, one is a wonderful future for our team which a year ago never had a future, such an exciting partnership and such an exciting involvement for us," said Brawn, who achieved great success with Schumacher during their stint at Ferrari.
"It is a great thing, working with Michael again is a very special treat and something I didn't think would happen again.
"It's so exciting and so motivational for me and the team to be involved. Nico is a very exciting prospect who will make a wonderful partner for Michael. Nico has been in a racing for a number of years but he will enjoy working with Michael and seeing how a seven-time champion operates.
"But also the final thing is being the part of a rebirth of a racing brand so iconic as Mercedes. It's been 55 years since Mercedes had its own racing team. I have been very privileged in my career to be involved in special things but this is very exciting to be involved in."
Rosberg said driving for Mercedes was a dream come true for him.
"For sure for me it is very, very special, a dream come true to be able to drive the first silver arrow for more than 50 years," he said.
"I'm looking forward to it, working with people like Norbert [Haug], Ross and Nick [Fry] and having Michael as team-mate is great. It is going to be a great season."
Schumacher admitted he has been overwhelmed by the reaction of his fans since he announced his comeback.
"We obviously saw some of it in the summer time and I was surprised to see the reaction, now with the announcement being part of the silver arrows team," Schumacher said.
"It is a great emotion and it is a great feeling that I am getting from the outside, so a big compliment to all fans that see it like this. It gives me a greater feel and a greater push."
Hartley and Ricciardo named Red Bull reserves
Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso are to have an all-Australasian reserve line-up this season after it was announced New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley and Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo will occupy their subs’ bench. Ricciardo and Hartley, who are both members of the Red Bull Junior team, will alternate reserve driver duties on a race-by-race basis.
Ricciardo is the reigning British Formula Three champion. A native of Perth, the 20 year-old moved to Europe in 2007 to compete in the Italian Formula Renault series. In 2008 he switched to the Formula Renault West European cup, winning the title after taking eight victories. He competed in the British F3 series in 2009, where he wrapped up the championship with two races to spare.
Hartley, meanwhile, hails from New Zealand’s Palmerston North. After impressing in his home country, the 20 year-old moved to Europe and in 2006 raced in Formula Renault 2.0. In 2007 he won the Eurocup title with a round in hand, before he switched to British F3 in 2008. Last year he raced in the Formula Three Euroseries.
Both drivers took part in the young driver test at the Spanish circuit of Jerez in December 2009. Hartley was in action for Toro Rosso, whilst Ricciardo was behind the wheel of Red Bull’s RB5.
Ricciardo is the reigning British Formula Three champion. A native of Perth, the 20 year-old moved to Europe in 2007 to compete in the Italian Formula Renault series. In 2008 he switched to the Formula Renault West European cup, winning the title after taking eight victories. He competed in the British F3 series in 2009, where he wrapped up the championship with two races to spare.
Hartley, meanwhile, hails from New Zealand’s Palmerston North. After impressing in his home country, the 20 year-old moved to Europe and in 2006 raced in Formula Renault 2.0. In 2007 he won the Eurocup title with a round in hand, before he switched to British F3 in 2008. Last year he raced in the Formula Three Euroseries.
Both drivers took part in the young driver test at the Spanish circuit of Jerez in December 2009. Hartley was in action for Toro Rosso, whilst Ricciardo was behind the wheel of Red Bull’s RB5.
Tuesday 26 January 2010
Alonso tests '09 Ferrari with new livery
Fernando Alonso drove a Ferrari Formula 1 car for the first time when he took part in the shooting of a commercial that revealed the Italian's squad new colours for the 2010 season.
Alonso took to the Paul Ricard circuit in last year's F60 car, but the car sported a new livery with the Santander branding very visible on both the front and the rear wings, as well as on the car's mirrors.
The Spanish banking giant signed a five-year deal with the Maranello-based squad last year, coinciding with Alonso's arrival at the team to replace Kimi Raikkonen.
The short run at the French circuit was Alonso's first with his new team before the two-time champion begins proper work with the 2010 car at Valencia next month.
Ferrari's new challenger will be officially unveiled on 28 January.
Alonso took to the Paul Ricard circuit in last year's F60 car, but the car sported a new livery with the Santander branding very visible on both the front and the rear wings, as well as on the car's mirrors.
The Spanish banking giant signed a five-year deal with the Maranello-based squad last year, coinciding with Alonso's arrival at the team to replace Kimi Raikkonen.
The short run at the French circuit was Alonso's first with his new team before the two-time champion begins proper work with the 2010 car at Valencia next month.
Ferrari's new challenger will be officially unveiled on 28 January.
Thursday 21 January 2010
The Showcar Must Go On
20 | 01 | 10
Our visit to Canada at the weekend turned out to be one of the most memorable trips for the Running Showcar team - and we have the video to prove it.
In the driver’s seat was our former third driver and current Toro Rosso pilot Sébastien Buemi, and the venues were the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and the Lac-à-l'Eau-Claire.
The Showrun on the frozen waters of the Olympic Basin had to be postponed because the ice wasn’t thick enough.
So how was it? "A bit cold but in the end, it is good to be back!” said Buemi.
The car itself had to be adapted to give the best possible (...make that some) grip on the ice.
It was fitted with Bridgestone Potenza F1 snow tyres and featured 420 tungsten studs on each of the front and 588 studs on each of the rear tyres, each one embedded in an aluminium casing. "There's only one set in the world so we had to be very careful with them because - obviously - it's the only set we've got,” explained Tony Burrows, our test team manager.
Séb was able to get his bearing on the Canadian Grand Prix track where he will return in June and the frozen lake track was set out in the same shape as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve… but this time, rather than racing alongside drivers, Buemi was driving next to a team of sled dogs.
Our visit to Canada at the weekend turned out to be one of the most memorable trips for the Running Showcar team - and we have the video to prove it.
In the driver’s seat was our former third driver and current Toro Rosso pilot Sébastien Buemi, and the venues were the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and the Lac-à-l'Eau-Claire.
The Showrun on the frozen waters of the Olympic Basin had to be postponed because the ice wasn’t thick enough.
So how was it? "A bit cold but in the end, it is good to be back!” said Buemi.
The car itself had to be adapted to give the best possible (...make that some) grip on the ice.
It was fitted with Bridgestone Potenza F1 snow tyres and featured 420 tungsten studs on each of the front and 588 studs on each of the rear tyres, each one embedded in an aluminium casing. "There's only one set in the world so we had to be very careful with them because - obviously - it's the only set we've got,” explained Tony Burrows, our test team manager.
Séb was able to get his bearing on the Canadian Grand Prix track where he will return in June and the frozen lake track was set out in the same shape as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve… but this time, rather than racing alongside drivers, Buemi was driving next to a team of sled dogs.
Rossi tests
Montmelò, 21 January 2010 – Start of the test session slightly postponed, due to thick fog at the Catalan circuit of Montmelò this morning.
It’s Valentino Rossi’s second day of testing here in Spain behind the wheel of a F2008. No fear for Maranello’s F1 Clienti department’s technical staff, used to the fog at the home of the Prancing Horse. The Champion from Tavullia, who came to Barcelona Tuesday evening on the occasion of the two-day special, organised by Ferrari on board of a ‘historical’ single-seater, will conclude his new experience behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, his sixth since his debut in Fiorano in 2004.
Great expectations and confidence in the test session after yesterday’s good results at the end of the day by the World Champion, while Rossi is accompanied by his old friends and numerous fans on the grandstand.
It’s Valentino Rossi’s second day of testing here in Spain behind the wheel of a F2008. No fear for Maranello’s F1 Clienti department’s technical staff, used to the fog at the home of the Prancing Horse. The Champion from Tavullia, who came to Barcelona Tuesday evening on the occasion of the two-day special, organised by Ferrari on board of a ‘historical’ single-seater, will conclude his new experience behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, his sixth since his debut in Fiorano in 2004.
Great expectations and confidence in the test session after yesterday’s good results at the end of the day by the World Champion, while Rossi is accompanied by his old friends and numerous fans on the grandstand.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Martin Whitmarsh elected as new FOTA Chairman
The Executive Committee of the Formula One Teams Association elected Martin Whitmarsh as its new Chairman for the year 2010.
Stefano Domenicali will be the Vice Chairman. Completing the team which will lead FOTA in 2010, Christian Horner takes the role of Chairman of the Sporting Regulations Working Group while Ross Brawn will maintain his role of Chairman of the Technical Regulations Working Group. The activities of the Commercial Development Working Group will be directly managed by the Executive Committee.
All members placed on record their thanks to Luca di Montezemolo for his valuable leadership and remarkable contribution in the successful establishment of FOTA, as well as all the other key figures who contributed greatly to a successful first year. FOTA Teams now look forward to working with Martin Whitmarsh to continue the development of activities in the long-term interest of Formula One, in collaboration with all other stakeholders.
Each member of the association, which now includes all Teams competing in Formula One, is entitled to appoint one representative within the Executive Committee and within each of the standing Working Groups. The different bodies work closely together in order to define FOTA’s objectives and initiatives.
Stefano Domenicali will be the Vice Chairman. Completing the team which will lead FOTA in 2010, Christian Horner takes the role of Chairman of the Sporting Regulations Working Group while Ross Brawn will maintain his role of Chairman of the Technical Regulations Working Group. The activities of the Commercial Development Working Group will be directly managed by the Executive Committee.
All members placed on record their thanks to Luca di Montezemolo for his valuable leadership and remarkable contribution in the successful establishment of FOTA, as well as all the other key figures who contributed greatly to a successful first year. FOTA Teams now look forward to working with Martin Whitmarsh to continue the development of activities in the long-term interest of Formula One, in collaboration with all other stakeholders.
Each member of the association, which now includes all Teams competing in Formula One, is entitled to appoint one representative within the Executive Committee and within each of the standing Working Groups. The different bodies work closely together in order to define FOTA’s objectives and initiatives.
Kubica could start Renault testing alone
Renault team boss Eric Boullier says the squad might not sign its second driver before the first tests of its 2010 car at Valencia in early February.
Robert Kubica is currently Renault's only confirmed 2010 driver. The team is set to launch its new R30 on 31 January at the Spanish track prior to the start of testing the following morning, but Boullier has revealed that Kubica could begin testing alone as there is no guarantee that the identity of his partner will have been decided by then.
"It's not decided yet, very frankly," Boullier told AUTOSPORT when asked about Renault's driver plans.
"We are still looking at several drivers available on the market. Two of them are experienced, two of them are rookies. We are now the last established team [without two drivers] and the situation is very different than in July, when you could discuss with everybody.
"So now we have to focus on two things. First, and this is very important, we have to bring serenity to the team and bring the morale back up. Second, we are looking for sponsors. We are waiting to have all these elements in place to take our decision.
"We'd love to take the decision before the test. If not Robert will start the development alone."
Boullier confirmed that Nick Heidfeld, Kubica's former team-mate at BMW Sauber, was among the contenders.
"It would be a lie to say 'no'," he said. "Definitely it's a different question because he has spent so many years with Robert. The question mark is if we want to put them together again or not. But he is on the list.
"Today we have a situation where there are not many drivers available on the market. I speak about drivers with Formula 1 experience and drivers who are rookies but successful enough and graduated enough to get into Formula 1. The key thing is that we do consider driver performance and driver development state."
He reiterated that drivers associated with Renault's new investment partner Gerard Lopez's Gravity organisation - such as Ho-Pin Tung and Jerome D'Ambrosio - would not be given priority.
"Definitely not. Some of my comments have been used in the press against Gravity," said Boullier. "It would be crazy for me to give a privilege to Gravity drivers compared to some others. Being team principal of Renault F1 means that I have to protect the interests of Renault F1, not Gravity."
Boullier also said there was no requirement to sign a French driver for the second seat.
"Nationality is completely open," he said. "It has been policy since many years that Renault and even our partner Total don't intervene with the sporting policy of the team.
"So it's completely up to the team to decide what is best for the team. The driver could be French, but he could be Russian, Chinese, German, Austrian or whatever you want."
He confirmed that a Russian driver was "definitely" a possibility, with GP2 title contender Vitaly Petrov known to be chasing 2010 F1 opportunities.
Robert Kubica is currently Renault's only confirmed 2010 driver. The team is set to launch its new R30 on 31 January at the Spanish track prior to the start of testing the following morning, but Boullier has revealed that Kubica could begin testing alone as there is no guarantee that the identity of his partner will have been decided by then.
"It's not decided yet, very frankly," Boullier told AUTOSPORT when asked about Renault's driver plans.
"We are still looking at several drivers available on the market. Two of them are experienced, two of them are rookies. We are now the last established team [without two drivers] and the situation is very different than in July, when you could discuss with everybody.
"So now we have to focus on two things. First, and this is very important, we have to bring serenity to the team and bring the morale back up. Second, we are looking for sponsors. We are waiting to have all these elements in place to take our decision.
"We'd love to take the decision before the test. If not Robert will start the development alone."
Boullier confirmed that Nick Heidfeld, Kubica's former team-mate at BMW Sauber, was among the contenders.
"It would be a lie to say 'no'," he said. "Definitely it's a different question because he has spent so many years with Robert. The question mark is if we want to put them together again or not. But he is on the list.
"Today we have a situation where there are not many drivers available on the market. I speak about drivers with Formula 1 experience and drivers who are rookies but successful enough and graduated enough to get into Formula 1. The key thing is that we do consider driver performance and driver development state."
He reiterated that drivers associated with Renault's new investment partner Gerard Lopez's Gravity organisation - such as Ho-Pin Tung and Jerome D'Ambrosio - would not be given priority.
"Definitely not. Some of my comments have been used in the press against Gravity," said Boullier. "It would be crazy for me to give a privilege to Gravity drivers compared to some others. Being team principal of Renault F1 means that I have to protect the interests of Renault F1, not Gravity."
Boullier also said there was no requirement to sign a French driver for the second seat.
"Nationality is completely open," he said. "It has been policy since many years that Renault and even our partner Total don't intervene with the sporting policy of the team.
"So it's completely up to the team to decide what is best for the team. The driver could be French, but he could be Russian, Chinese, German, Austrian or whatever you want."
He confirmed that a Russian driver was "definitely" a possibility, with GP2 title contender Vitaly Petrov known to be chasing 2010 F1 opportunities.
Klien still holding out for F1 race seat
Christian Klien has not given up hope of returning to Formula 1 racing this year, despite being beaten to the one remaining Sauber seat by veteran Pedro de la Rosa.
Klien had been in protracted negotiations with the Hinwil-based squad – for which he has been a test driver since 2008 – but team principal Peter Sauber ultimately chose the ultra-experienced de la Rosa to partner rookie Kamui Kobayashi.
Although disappointed by the decision, the 26-year-old Austrian says he is pursuing other options and is in “serious” talks with two teams.
“There are still a few seats up for grabs,” he told his website.
“I have been approached by several teams throughout the 2009 season.
“With two of those teams I am currently in serious negotiations.
“My goal is to be racing in F1 this season and I still have every chance to achieve that.”
Only Renault, Campos and US F1 still have vacancies, and Klien hinted that the French manufacturer – which recently sold a 75% stake in its F1 team to Genii Capital – was one of the teams he was talking to.
“A few teams are under new ownership, which results in new management and new strategic emphasis here and there,” he noted.
“In those teams decisions will take a little longer with new people in place and a whole new framework.”
Klien believes the “massive restructuring” that F1 is undergoing means the final driver signings might be made on the eve of the season.
“Theoretically the decision about drivers can be made right before the first race in Bahrain in March,” he said.
But he added: “Common sense tells us though that it makes sense to have your line-up ready before you go testing, which will be at the beginning of February or mid-February depending on the teams.”
Asked whether he would consider a fourth year as a test and reserve driver, Klien said it would be very much a fallback option.
“The clear goal is to race,” he said.
“With all the test restrictions the job of a test driver is not as attractive as it was some time ago.
“Still, you have to weigh this option carefully.
“Last season, no fewer than five reserve drivers were called upon in 10 teams to replace a racing driver. Statistically the job makes sense.
“Still, my plan is to go racing. That is top of the list. And I still see a fair chance to be on the grid in 2010.”
Klien last raced in F1 with Red Bull Racing in 2006, since when he has been on the testing bench and raced sports cars for Peugeot.
Klien had been in protracted negotiations with the Hinwil-based squad – for which he has been a test driver since 2008 – but team principal Peter Sauber ultimately chose the ultra-experienced de la Rosa to partner rookie Kamui Kobayashi.
Although disappointed by the decision, the 26-year-old Austrian says he is pursuing other options and is in “serious” talks with two teams.
“There are still a few seats up for grabs,” he told his website.
“I have been approached by several teams throughout the 2009 season.
“With two of those teams I am currently in serious negotiations.
“My goal is to be racing in F1 this season and I still have every chance to achieve that.”
Only Renault, Campos and US F1 still have vacancies, and Klien hinted that the French manufacturer – which recently sold a 75% stake in its F1 team to Genii Capital – was one of the teams he was talking to.
“A few teams are under new ownership, which results in new management and new strategic emphasis here and there,” he noted.
“In those teams decisions will take a little longer with new people in place and a whole new framework.”
Klien believes the “massive restructuring” that F1 is undergoing means the final driver signings might be made on the eve of the season.
“Theoretically the decision about drivers can be made right before the first race in Bahrain in March,” he said.
But he added: “Common sense tells us though that it makes sense to have your line-up ready before you go testing, which will be at the beginning of February or mid-February depending on the teams.”
Asked whether he would consider a fourth year as a test and reserve driver, Klien said it would be very much a fallback option.
“The clear goal is to race,” he said.
“With all the test restrictions the job of a test driver is not as attractive as it was some time ago.
“Still, you have to weigh this option carefully.
“Last season, no fewer than five reserve drivers were called upon in 10 teams to replace a racing driver. Statistically the job makes sense.
“Still, my plan is to go racing. That is top of the list. And I still see a fair chance to be on the grid in 2010.”
Klien last raced in F1 with Red Bull Racing in 2006, since when he has been on the testing bench and raced sports cars for Peugeot.
Michael looks forward to F1 season and announces to be fighting for the wc titles
Michael, since a long time you were driving a race car over several days. A GP2 car is at least coming close to a F1 car. How was it?
The test was super, I can't tell differently. We have been handicapped a bit because of the weather in the first two days but on the third day we could do a lot and even simulate a race on slicks. It went better than I had expected. I immediately felt well in the car, it was as if I never was gone.
Did you have after-effects, especially at the neck, after the motorbike accident last year?
The after-effects of that accident are gone since long, that's why I was sure that the neck would not cause any problems. This was one year ago, that's over. No, I am practising since December physically very carefully and feel extremely fresh and fit. That was one of the reasons why I felt so good in the car in Jerez. But then, Formula 1 is another thing, the g-forces are higher, that's not really comparable. That is why I look forward so much to testing in February. Only then the old feeling will be completely back. I can't wait to be back there.
Many people had thought you'd come back in the cockpit for only 1 year but you went for 3 years. Why?
Because we want to achieve something together. The constellation we have here is pretty unique - with Ross and his world championship winning team, with the KnowHow of Mercedes, with the best engine at the moment -, and we want to use that. We have a clear aim: we want to win the championships. That's what we will fight for from the beginning. That is my personal standard too.
But haven't you said repeatedly you could not imagine coming back into F1 anymore at all?
Yes, and I couldn't. After my retirement at the end of 2006 I was very happy, I felt relieved, just like freed. I enjoyed that feeling because especially in the last 2 years F1 had demanded a great deal from me - not the racing, that I loved during all the time, but all those things which relate to living under constant observation. It did me extremely well to be quiet for those 3 years. It really is as if my batteries were fully loaded. My energy is back completely. I really notice how the prickle is coming, how motivated I am because I so much look forward to this competition. It is about time to start this whole thing.
The test was super, I can't tell differently. We have been handicapped a bit because of the weather in the first two days but on the third day we could do a lot and even simulate a race on slicks. It went better than I had expected. I immediately felt well in the car, it was as if I never was gone.
Did you have after-effects, especially at the neck, after the motorbike accident last year?
The after-effects of that accident are gone since long, that's why I was sure that the neck would not cause any problems. This was one year ago, that's over. No, I am practising since December physically very carefully and feel extremely fresh and fit. That was one of the reasons why I felt so good in the car in Jerez. But then, Formula 1 is another thing, the g-forces are higher, that's not really comparable. That is why I look forward so much to testing in February. Only then the old feeling will be completely back. I can't wait to be back there.
Many people had thought you'd come back in the cockpit for only 1 year but you went for 3 years. Why?
Because we want to achieve something together. The constellation we have here is pretty unique - with Ross and his world championship winning team, with the KnowHow of Mercedes, with the best engine at the moment -, and we want to use that. We have a clear aim: we want to win the championships. That's what we will fight for from the beginning. That is my personal standard too.
But haven't you said repeatedly you could not imagine coming back into F1 anymore at all?
Yes, and I couldn't. After my retirement at the end of 2006 I was very happy, I felt relieved, just like freed. I enjoyed that feeling because especially in the last 2 years F1 had demanded a great deal from me - not the racing, that I loved during all the time, but all those things which relate to living under constant observation. It did me extremely well to be quiet for those 3 years. It really is as if my batteries were fully loaded. My energy is back completely. I really notice how the prickle is coming, how motivated I am because I so much look forward to this competition. It is about time to start this whole thing.
Force India - Dominic Harlow
Dominic Harlow: “I can’t remember a better winter build period”
Even during the winter the pace never slows in Grand Prix racing, and it’s been a busy few months at the Force India factory at Silverstone as the team prepares for the 2010 season.
In some ways life has been easier than last year, when Dr Vijay Mallya made a relatively late call to switch to Mercedes power and a McLaren transmission. Hindsight shows that it was an inspired decision, but the drawback was that last winter the technical team had to make a lot of changes to a car design that was already in progress.
That is no longer an issue, of course. On the other hand time is a little tighter than last year, because the first race in Bahrain is two weeks earlier than the 2009 season opener in Australia.
However, the big difference in the Force India factory is the buzz about the place. After fighting at the back of the field for several seasons, last year the team earned a pole position and regularly challenged for points. Everyone expects that form to carry on in 2010.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer, says that there’s a great atmosphere in the camp.
“I can’t remember a better winter build period for the team in the time since I’ve been here,” he says. “It’s been good in terms of continuity, the general feeling, and the aims and the goals that we are setting ourselves. That’s all been very positive. It’s still a time for change and regrouping and planning and so on, so all of that is going on as normal.
“But underlying that there’s just a confidence that if we carry on what we’re doing and believe in each other, then we will deliver. And unlike some other teams we’re not scratching around trying to put together a car at the last minute.”
Continuity is the key. Under its various identities over the years the team became used to changing engine suppliers at relatively short notice, so carrying over the Mercedes from 2009 – not to mention the fact that the same engine that won the World Championship – is a major boost.
“It certainly is,” says Harlow. “We’ve kept the whole powertrain. The regulations are basically the same, although that helps every other team as well. We’ve been able to start everything much earlier and everything is as you’d want to have it now, rather than just being a reaction to everything else that’s going on around.”
Although the regulations are essentially unchanged after the huge upheavals of last winter, there are some issues that have to be addressed.
“We have a narrower front tyre. And the tyres generally always change and are a little bit of an unknown – we’ll be interested to find out about them when we go testing. The deletion of spinners, or wheel discs, also has a big impact.”
The biggest change is that there is no refuelling at pit stops in 2010, so cars will start races with a much heavier fuel load than previously. Thus a major task over the winter has been to determine the size of the fuel tank – in other words calculate how much fuel would be required to finish the race which is heaviest on fuel consumption. Get the numbers wrong and make the tank too small, and there could be a major embarrassment.
“We were pretty systematic,” says Harlow. “We looked at everything we could think of that affects fuel consumption – the drag of the car, the circuits we run at, driving style, the way we run the engines, the fuel itself. We forecast that forward to 2010 and came up with a prediction based on the worst circuit in terms of fuel use, which is now Valencia. Then you have some design factors to include, such as the way a calculated fuel tank size never quite becomes a manufactured one – it’s a slightly inexact science.”
The lack of refuelling means that race strategy is now going to be quite different. Drivers still have to use both the prime and option tyres during a race, so there will be pit stops. But determining the best time to change – given that the heavy fuel load at the start will put more stress on the tyres in the early laps – is an extremely complicated equation.
“It’s quite a big unexplored area, and there’s still a lot of modelling for the fuel consumption and the tyres that we still need to do. Depending on where we’re racing, I think people are going to be a bit more cagey at the start of the race.”
The extra complication for the drivers is that the car behaviour will change dramatically between the early laps, with a full load, and the latter stages of the race.
“The car balance will change quite a lot as the fuel weight goes down. I think it’s another challenge, and as always, the cream will rise to the top. It will help the fastest learners. And for us it’s where the continuity and the relative experience of our guys is going to favour us.
“In wet conditions the extra weight of the cars will be another interesting factor, and will probably accentuate the differences between the drivers even more than previously.”
Even during the winter the pace never slows in Grand Prix racing, and it’s been a busy few months at the Force India factory at Silverstone as the team prepares for the 2010 season.
In some ways life has been easier than last year, when Dr Vijay Mallya made a relatively late call to switch to Mercedes power and a McLaren transmission. Hindsight shows that it was an inspired decision, but the drawback was that last winter the technical team had to make a lot of changes to a car design that was already in progress.
That is no longer an issue, of course. On the other hand time is a little tighter than last year, because the first race in Bahrain is two weeks earlier than the 2009 season opener in Australia.
However, the big difference in the Force India factory is the buzz about the place. After fighting at the back of the field for several seasons, last year the team earned a pole position and regularly challenged for points. Everyone expects that form to carry on in 2010.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer, says that there’s a great atmosphere in the camp.
“I can’t remember a better winter build period for the team in the time since I’ve been here,” he says. “It’s been good in terms of continuity, the general feeling, and the aims and the goals that we are setting ourselves. That’s all been very positive. It’s still a time for change and regrouping and planning and so on, so all of that is going on as normal.
“But underlying that there’s just a confidence that if we carry on what we’re doing and believe in each other, then we will deliver. And unlike some other teams we’re not scratching around trying to put together a car at the last minute.”
Continuity is the key. Under its various identities over the years the team became used to changing engine suppliers at relatively short notice, so carrying over the Mercedes from 2009 – not to mention the fact that the same engine that won the World Championship – is a major boost.
“It certainly is,” says Harlow. “We’ve kept the whole powertrain. The regulations are basically the same, although that helps every other team as well. We’ve been able to start everything much earlier and everything is as you’d want to have it now, rather than just being a reaction to everything else that’s going on around.”
Although the regulations are essentially unchanged after the huge upheavals of last winter, there are some issues that have to be addressed.
“We have a narrower front tyre. And the tyres generally always change and are a little bit of an unknown – we’ll be interested to find out about them when we go testing. The deletion of spinners, or wheel discs, also has a big impact.”
The biggest change is that there is no refuelling at pit stops in 2010, so cars will start races with a much heavier fuel load than previously. Thus a major task over the winter has been to determine the size of the fuel tank – in other words calculate how much fuel would be required to finish the race which is heaviest on fuel consumption. Get the numbers wrong and make the tank too small, and there could be a major embarrassment.
“We were pretty systematic,” says Harlow. “We looked at everything we could think of that affects fuel consumption – the drag of the car, the circuits we run at, driving style, the way we run the engines, the fuel itself. We forecast that forward to 2010 and came up with a prediction based on the worst circuit in terms of fuel use, which is now Valencia. Then you have some design factors to include, such as the way a calculated fuel tank size never quite becomes a manufactured one – it’s a slightly inexact science.”
The lack of refuelling means that race strategy is now going to be quite different. Drivers still have to use both the prime and option tyres during a race, so there will be pit stops. But determining the best time to change – given that the heavy fuel load at the start will put more stress on the tyres in the early laps – is an extremely complicated equation.
“It’s quite a big unexplored area, and there’s still a lot of modelling for the fuel consumption and the tyres that we still need to do. Depending on where we’re racing, I think people are going to be a bit more cagey at the start of the race.”
The extra complication for the drivers is that the car behaviour will change dramatically between the early laps, with a full load, and the latter stages of the race.
“The car balance will change quite a lot as the fuel weight goes down. I think it’s another challenge, and as always, the cream will rise to the top. It will help the fastest learners. And for us it’s where the continuity and the relative experience of our guys is going to favour us.
“In wet conditions the extra weight of the cars will be another interesting factor, and will probably accentuate the differences between the drivers even more than previously.”
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Campos car passes final crash test
Campos Meta 1's pre-season preparations received a boost on Tuesday when the team's Formula 1 car passed its final mandatory FIA crash test, AUTOSPORT has learned.
The Spanish team's 2010 challenger is being developed by Italian constructor Dallara, and the progress on the technical front comes as the outfit closes on a financial deal that will secure its place on the grid.
Team principal Adrian Campos told AUTOSPORT that he was pleased with the rate of development being made ahead of a debut test in Spain next month, despite speculation over recent weeks suggesting the team was struggling to raise the money needed to start the season.
"The car is now homologated and we are still working very, very hard," said Campos. "We are very confident about our position, and we are close to a deal with an investor that will help us even more."
Campos is targeting joining some of the other new teams and running for the first time at the second Jerez test, which takes place from February 17-20. If it does not make that test, however, it will run at Barcelona at the end of the month.
The team hopes to be able to announce its second driver in the next fortnight, with Bruno Senna having already signed up for this year.
The Spanish team's 2010 challenger is being developed by Italian constructor Dallara, and the progress on the technical front comes as the outfit closes on a financial deal that will secure its place on the grid.
Team principal Adrian Campos told AUTOSPORT that he was pleased with the rate of development being made ahead of a debut test in Spain next month, despite speculation over recent weeks suggesting the team was struggling to raise the money needed to start the season.
"The car is now homologated and we are still working very, very hard," said Campos. "We are very confident about our position, and we are close to a deal with an investor that will help us even more."
Campos is targeting joining some of the other new teams and running for the first time at the second Jerez test, which takes place from February 17-20. If it does not make that test, however, it will run at Barcelona at the end of the month.
The team hopes to be able to announce its second driver in the next fortnight, with Bruno Senna having already signed up for this year.
Rule changes fof the 2010 season
2010 marks the second consecutive season where major rule changes have affected car design in the F1 championship, you can only have pity for the designers of the four new teams entering this year, and all the engineers who have the job of setting up cars that will behave very differently on the first and last lap.
Continuity is always a prerequisite for a successful campaign, so although there are brave words coming out of the various headquarters of the teams, a number of them will be hoping that they will not add a layer of management that slows down development of the new cars. This was part of the death knell of teams like Toyota, Honda (pre-Brawn) and to a lesser extent BMW, not being able to react quickly to bring cars up to speed.
The package of technical changes for the new season is not as significant as last year; Grand Prix racing will have a new and exciting look in 2010 thanks to the ban on refuelling during races. This divides petrol-heads into two camps, refuelling was once famously described as “as ridiculous as seeing which football team can eat their half-time oranges quickest.” Refuelling came in 1994 which brought greater strategic planning into qualifying, fuel load, tyre performance, race set-up and balance while the cars were involved in their short sprints.
There will be an element of this as cars have to use both tyre compounds, but the days of seeing a car trailing a fuel hose and ball of flame up the pit lane have gone. The rules on tyre changes could suit certain drivers such as Button – who is famously easy on them – because drivers could be getting on the “right” set after only a few laps and will need to nurse them for a long stretch with a full tank of fuel on-board. Oddly, from the initial figures supplied from the engine manufacturers, the fuel tanks vary by as much as 25 kg. This may change by the start of the season, but with space limited inside an F1 car someone could be very cross by the end of the Canadian Grand Prix when they park up with five laps to go.
Some of the other new changes include:
• Changes to how drivers are given time penalties after a race
• A reduction in the amount of one-day aerodynamic tests a team may conduct from eight to six
• Teams may now substitute aerodynamic test days for 24 hours of full-scale wind tunnel testing
• Teams which choose to bring in a driver with no prior F1 experience will be permitted an extra days’ testing on a non-calendar track
• A new clause stipulates that pit space will be allocated “on a strictly equal basis” – this space will be under pressure with the addition of new teams in 2010
• Drivers who perform multiple engine changes in a weekend will now get extra penalties.
• Although tyre warmers remain legal a new clause says the heating element may only act on the surface of the tyre
• Teams are no longer allowed to use powered devices to lift the cars in the pit lane
• Pit space – which will be at a premium next year – will now be allocated evenly between the teams.
• There are new restrictions on how teams can test tyres
• Drivers who use two additional engines during a weekend will be moved back ten places on the grid at that race and the next one
• Drivers who get away slowly on the formation lap and cannot start from their designated starting position must start the race from the pit lane.
• During safety car periods drivers must lap slower than a designated lap time displayed in their cars
Bring on Bahrain on March 14.
Continuity is always a prerequisite for a successful campaign, so although there are brave words coming out of the various headquarters of the teams, a number of them will be hoping that they will not add a layer of management that slows down development of the new cars. This was part of the death knell of teams like Toyota, Honda (pre-Brawn) and to a lesser extent BMW, not being able to react quickly to bring cars up to speed.
The package of technical changes for the new season is not as significant as last year; Grand Prix racing will have a new and exciting look in 2010 thanks to the ban on refuelling during races. This divides petrol-heads into two camps, refuelling was once famously described as “as ridiculous as seeing which football team can eat their half-time oranges quickest.” Refuelling came in 1994 which brought greater strategic planning into qualifying, fuel load, tyre performance, race set-up and balance while the cars were involved in their short sprints.
There will be an element of this as cars have to use both tyre compounds, but the days of seeing a car trailing a fuel hose and ball of flame up the pit lane have gone. The rules on tyre changes could suit certain drivers such as Button – who is famously easy on them – because drivers could be getting on the “right” set after only a few laps and will need to nurse them for a long stretch with a full tank of fuel on-board. Oddly, from the initial figures supplied from the engine manufacturers, the fuel tanks vary by as much as 25 kg. This may change by the start of the season, but with space limited inside an F1 car someone could be very cross by the end of the Canadian Grand Prix when they park up with five laps to go.
Some of the other new changes include:
• Changes to how drivers are given time penalties after a race
• A reduction in the amount of one-day aerodynamic tests a team may conduct from eight to six
• Teams may now substitute aerodynamic test days for 24 hours of full-scale wind tunnel testing
• Teams which choose to bring in a driver with no prior F1 experience will be permitted an extra days’ testing on a non-calendar track
• A new clause stipulates that pit space will be allocated “on a strictly equal basis” – this space will be under pressure with the addition of new teams in 2010
• Drivers who perform multiple engine changes in a weekend will now get extra penalties.
• Although tyre warmers remain legal a new clause says the heating element may only act on the surface of the tyre
• Teams are no longer allowed to use powered devices to lift the cars in the pit lane
• Pit space – which will be at a premium next year – will now be allocated evenly between the teams.
• There are new restrictions on how teams can test tyres
• Drivers who use two additional engines during a weekend will be moved back ten places on the grid at that race and the next one
• Drivers who get away slowly on the formation lap and cannot start from their designated starting position must start the race from the pit lane.
• During safety car periods drivers must lap slower than a designated lap time displayed in their cars
Bring on Bahrain on March 14.
Scott Bennett - January 18, 2010
Scott Bennett is one of US F1 Team's senior designers. A graduate of Automotive Engineering from Loughborough University north of Leicester, Bennett has worked in auto racing notably with Falcon Cars and G Force, as well as the aviation industry. A native of Denver, Colorado, Bennett also designs a line of furniture which can be seen at housefish.com.
Almost nobody knows it, but this team has come an unbelievably long way since it was first announced on Speed TV 11 months ago. I was at that press conference, and I was one of the first three or four people to start working on the design of the car shortly afterwards, all of us crowded with our computers around a wobbly conference table in a dreary, poorly configured former Nascar shop. I wish I had taken pictures.
A strange quirk of my career is that every vehicle I have ever been involved in designing (including a few Indycars, an off-road trophy truck, and a composite aircraft) have all been clean sheet of paper designs. I don't know what it's like to start with something that already exists and try to refine it.
When we started this car, we started with nothing but fundamentals. The majority of a modern F1 car is tightly defined by the rules, so there isn't scope these days to come out with a Lotus 88 or Tyrrell P34. But there is still a daunting set of basic parameters that you have to define before you can even start designing anything - things like wheelbase, drivetrain configuration, suspension layout, weight distribution. And when you're doing it for the first time, you don't have an in-built knowledge of what's worked in the past. Throw in some major rules changes in each of the last two off-seasons, and there are even more unknowns. On the other hand, knowing that you're facing a lot of unknowns also means you don't think you already know everything. Hubris has dashed far more dreams than humility.
I'm extremely fortunate in that I've been able to do most of the car's layout from day one - I've seen and had a hand in almost every step of its evolution. Primarily I've been responsible for the front and rear suspension, particularly packaging. This has been a huge challenge. F1 cars are small, and we are fitting a lot of stuff into a very tight volume. And we're doing a few things quite differently than they have been done in recent years. I can't give specifics (yet), but we've looked at everything with a fresh perspective, and come up with some different answers. We'll know whether they were the right or wrong answers soon enough, but our car certainly won't be a clone of anything else out there. And did you know that we're the only one of the four new teams designing our own gearbox...?
It sounds like a cliché, but I'm quite literally living the dream here, or at least my dream. For almost as far back as I can remember, I would wake up at 6:00am every other Sunday and watch the F1 race with my dad. He was a huge Lotus fan, so of course I was too. When I was nine years old I watched Nigel Mansell collapse pushing his car across the finish line in Dallas. A year later I watched Senna win his first race, a brilliant drive in the rain at Estoril. I would read all the F1 technical books I could get my hands on, examine die cast F1 cars for hours, and try to draw my own. Where my friends wanted to be astronauts or firemen, I wanted to be Colin Chapman.
I ended up going to Loughborough University in England, to get an Automotive Engineering degree, because I figured that would bring me closer to a spot in F1. During my summers home, I got a data acquisition engineering job with Bradley Motorsports, an Indy Lights team based in my hometown of Denver. But things don't always work out the way we plan, and by the time I was finishing my degree I had collected a nice stack of rejection letters from every existing F1 team (and Lotus Cars, of course).
I came to US F1 through a long association with Ken Anderson. We first worked together at Bradley almost exactly 15 years ago. As things worked out, he got the job to design the original G-Force IRL car just as I was finishing up at school, still wondering what the hell I would do with my life. The day after my last exam at Loughborough, I drove down to Sussex and started working on that car, which won its first race, then the Indy 500, and the IRL championship. Ken and I have worked together off and on ever since.
I had given up on ever getting into Formula 1 around a decade ago. By the time I was 25, I had a good degree from a UK university, I had been involved at a high level on the design of a couple of successful top level racing cars, I had designed racing shock absorbers, and I had written suspension geometry and vehicle simulation software. I still couldn't get so much as an interview with a team. I don't hold a grudge about it. I always felt it was more puzzling than anything else.
Almost as long as I have known him, Ken had talked about his plan to someday build an American F1 team, but I never put much stock in it. It seemed such an utterly impossible task. Until a couple of years ago, anyway, when he somehow managed to finally put all the pieces together. And now here we are, only a handful of weeks away from having our car run its first race. In less than a year we've built a very capable shop, put together the smartest and most talented group of people I've ever had the privilege of working with, and designed what should be a fast, reliable, safe, drivable, and yes, beautiful car.
This team means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but for me it's literally a dream come true. When those lights go out at the start of our first race, it will be both the end of a long road, and the start of a new one. I can't wait.
Almost nobody knows it, but this team has come an unbelievably long way since it was first announced on Speed TV 11 months ago. I was at that press conference, and I was one of the first three or four people to start working on the design of the car shortly afterwards, all of us crowded with our computers around a wobbly conference table in a dreary, poorly configured former Nascar shop. I wish I had taken pictures.
A strange quirk of my career is that every vehicle I have ever been involved in designing (including a few Indycars, an off-road trophy truck, and a composite aircraft) have all been clean sheet of paper designs. I don't know what it's like to start with something that already exists and try to refine it.
When we started this car, we started with nothing but fundamentals. The majority of a modern F1 car is tightly defined by the rules, so there isn't scope these days to come out with a Lotus 88 or Tyrrell P34. But there is still a daunting set of basic parameters that you have to define before you can even start designing anything - things like wheelbase, drivetrain configuration, suspension layout, weight distribution. And when you're doing it for the first time, you don't have an in-built knowledge of what's worked in the past. Throw in some major rules changes in each of the last two off-seasons, and there are even more unknowns. On the other hand, knowing that you're facing a lot of unknowns also means you don't think you already know everything. Hubris has dashed far more dreams than humility.
I'm extremely fortunate in that I've been able to do most of the car's layout from day one - I've seen and had a hand in almost every step of its evolution. Primarily I've been responsible for the front and rear suspension, particularly packaging. This has been a huge challenge. F1 cars are small, and we are fitting a lot of stuff into a very tight volume. And we're doing a few things quite differently than they have been done in recent years. I can't give specifics (yet), but we've looked at everything with a fresh perspective, and come up with some different answers. We'll know whether they were the right or wrong answers soon enough, but our car certainly won't be a clone of anything else out there. And did you know that we're the only one of the four new teams designing our own gearbox...?
It sounds like a cliché, but I'm quite literally living the dream here, or at least my dream. For almost as far back as I can remember, I would wake up at 6:00am every other Sunday and watch the F1 race with my dad. He was a huge Lotus fan, so of course I was too. When I was nine years old I watched Nigel Mansell collapse pushing his car across the finish line in Dallas. A year later I watched Senna win his first race, a brilliant drive in the rain at Estoril. I would read all the F1 technical books I could get my hands on, examine die cast F1 cars for hours, and try to draw my own. Where my friends wanted to be astronauts or firemen, I wanted to be Colin Chapman.
I ended up going to Loughborough University in England, to get an Automotive Engineering degree, because I figured that would bring me closer to a spot in F1. During my summers home, I got a data acquisition engineering job with Bradley Motorsports, an Indy Lights team based in my hometown of Denver. But things don't always work out the way we plan, and by the time I was finishing my degree I had collected a nice stack of rejection letters from every existing F1 team (and Lotus Cars, of course).
I came to US F1 through a long association with Ken Anderson. We first worked together at Bradley almost exactly 15 years ago. As things worked out, he got the job to design the original G-Force IRL car just as I was finishing up at school, still wondering what the hell I would do with my life. The day after my last exam at Loughborough, I drove down to Sussex and started working on that car, which won its first race, then the Indy 500, and the IRL championship. Ken and I have worked together off and on ever since.
I had given up on ever getting into Formula 1 around a decade ago. By the time I was 25, I had a good degree from a UK university, I had been involved at a high level on the design of a couple of successful top level racing cars, I had designed racing shock absorbers, and I had written suspension geometry and vehicle simulation software. I still couldn't get so much as an interview with a team. I don't hold a grudge about it. I always felt it was more puzzling than anything else.
Almost as long as I have known him, Ken had talked about his plan to someday build an American F1 team, but I never put much stock in it. It seemed such an utterly impossible task. Until a couple of years ago, anyway, when he somehow managed to finally put all the pieces together. And now here we are, only a handful of weeks away from having our car run its first race. In less than a year we've built a very capable shop, put together the smartest and most talented group of people I've ever had the privilege of working with, and designed what should be a fast, reliable, safe, drivable, and yes, beautiful car.
This team means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but for me it's literally a dream come true. When those lights go out at the start of our first race, it will be both the end of a long road, and the start of a new one. I can't wait.
Lots of enthusiasm for Alonso in the chat
Another day in red for Fernando Alonso after the Wrooom week in Madonna di Campiglio, while he came to Maranello for several meetings with the technicians.
Fernando even had the possibility to see the chassis 281 for the first time, which is about to be assembled at the assembly area of the Scuderia.
During a break the Spanish driver connected to Ferrari.com, chatting with the fans directly from Maranello, as it had been announced last week. At 3pm Fernando started to answer the fans’ questions from all over the world for about 40 minutes online.
Lorenzo.cloud asked at what stage the new car is and if there is the possibility to fight for victory: “It’s almost ready. I’m here in Maranello today to prepare the seat and other things connected to the debut on the track. I think that the Ferrari will be competitive and I really hope to bring the Drivers’ Title here to Maranello."
Oldfarmhouse wanted to know from Fernando what it is that makes Ferrari so different from the other teams and what impressed him the most at the first impact: " What impressed me the most was the atmosphere. Everybody here lives and breathes racing and has the passion for it. And then I really like that people talk to each other here and they don’t write emails although they sit right in front of each other.”
Vassilis asked the uncomfortable question, if Fernando had changed his mind to when he criticized Ferrari. Fernando defended himself by saying: “I don’t think that I’ve ever said anything tremendous regarding the team. It’s true that on some occasion in the past there has been some discussion with someone, but these things can happen when you’re fighting for the world title. In the end we’re human, not robots!" To Spoli, who asked if Fernando is worried to deal with angry Ferrari fans, the Spanish driver said: "I don’t think that they criticised me that much in the past. Naturally when you’re the competitor it’s different, but I’m sure that I’ll have the Ferraristi’s support."
Many questions were asked regarding the strongest competitor in the fight for the title and Fernando said the same as in Madonna di Campiglio, although he added a sweet introduction: “The ideal would be if my fiercest competitor was Felipe: that would mean that we’re the best team. Although I think that McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes will be very competitive and hard to beat."
There were also many questions regarding Fernando’s first impact with the world of Ferrari. To Uch and others he replied: "I can only say positive things. They are all giving it all to make me feel at ease, which is very important for me. I already feel to be part of a very special family."
Meanwhile Fernando won’t be part of those racing in rallies, which seems to be en vogue these days amongst the drivers. “For me Formula 1 is the top," he said to Nix and other fans. "I can’t see myself anywhere else. I always wanted to race in F1 since I was a child. Nascar? I like to play it on my Playstation."
To the classical questions (“what’s our preferred race track?; who’s your idol as a driver?) Fernando gave some unsurprising answers ("My preferred track is Sepang, followed by Spa and Monaco. My preferred driver is Ayrton Senna"). To the question by noncsi120, where the place is he would love to go, Fernando said: “Mount Everest”. We already knew that he’s a driver, who’s always aiming at the highest goal.
Fernando even had the possibility to see the chassis 281 for the first time, which is about to be assembled at the assembly area of the Scuderia.
During a break the Spanish driver connected to Ferrari.com, chatting with the fans directly from Maranello, as it had been announced last week. At 3pm Fernando started to answer the fans’ questions from all over the world for about 40 minutes online.
Lorenzo.cloud asked at what stage the new car is and if there is the possibility to fight for victory: “It’s almost ready. I’m here in Maranello today to prepare the seat and other things connected to the debut on the track. I think that the Ferrari will be competitive and I really hope to bring the Drivers’ Title here to Maranello."
Oldfarmhouse wanted to know from Fernando what it is that makes Ferrari so different from the other teams and what impressed him the most at the first impact: " What impressed me the most was the atmosphere. Everybody here lives and breathes racing and has the passion for it. And then I really like that people talk to each other here and they don’t write emails although they sit right in front of each other.”
Vassilis asked the uncomfortable question, if Fernando had changed his mind to when he criticized Ferrari. Fernando defended himself by saying: “I don’t think that I’ve ever said anything tremendous regarding the team. It’s true that on some occasion in the past there has been some discussion with someone, but these things can happen when you’re fighting for the world title. In the end we’re human, not robots!" To Spoli, who asked if Fernando is worried to deal with angry Ferrari fans, the Spanish driver said: "I don’t think that they criticised me that much in the past. Naturally when you’re the competitor it’s different, but I’m sure that I’ll have the Ferraristi’s support."
Many questions were asked regarding the strongest competitor in the fight for the title and Fernando said the same as in Madonna di Campiglio, although he added a sweet introduction: “The ideal would be if my fiercest competitor was Felipe: that would mean that we’re the best team. Although I think that McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes will be very competitive and hard to beat."
There were also many questions regarding Fernando’s first impact with the world of Ferrari. To Uch and others he replied: "I can only say positive things. They are all giving it all to make me feel at ease, which is very important for me. I already feel to be part of a very special family."
Meanwhile Fernando won’t be part of those racing in rallies, which seems to be en vogue these days amongst the drivers. “For me Formula 1 is the top," he said to Nix and other fans. "I can’t see myself anywhere else. I always wanted to race in F1 since I was a child. Nascar? I like to play it on my Playstation."
To the classical questions (“what’s our preferred race track?; who’s your idol as a driver?) Fernando gave some unsurprising answers ("My preferred track is Sepang, followed by Spa and Monaco. My preferred driver is Ayrton Senna"). To the question by noncsi120, where the place is he would love to go, Fernando said: “Mount Everest”. We already knew that he’s a driver, who’s always aiming at the highest goal.
2010 F1 line-up nears completion
The line-up for the 2010 Formula 1 season took another step towards completion on Tuesday with the news that Pedro de la Rosa will drive for the BMW Sauber team, the Spaniard securing one of the most coveted seats left.
With the Sauber line-up complete, all eyes will be now on Renault, which is yet to announce who will partner Robert Kubica at the team this year.
There will be no shortage of candidates for the vacant seat, with drivers like Nick Heidfeld or Romain Grosjean yet to find out if they will be on the grid again this season.
Another team yet to finalise its line-up is Campos Meta, which has only signed Brazilian Bruno Senna so far and has one of the four empty slots ahead of the start of the season in March.
US F1 remains the only team yet to confirm any drivers, with Argentinean Jose Maria Lopez linked with one of the seats for several months.
2010 driver line-up:
Mercedes GP
Michael Schumacher
Nico Rosberg
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel
Mark Webber
McLaren-Mercedes
Jenson Button
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso
Felipe Massa
BMW Sauber
Pedro de la Rosa
Kamui Kobayashi
Williams-Cosworth
Rubens Barrichello
Nico Hulkenberg
Renault
Robert Kubica
TBA
Force India-Mercedes
Adrian Sutil
Tonio Liuzzi
Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Sebastien Buemi
Jamie Alguersuari
Lotus-Cosworth
Jarno Trulli
Heikki Kovalainen
Campos-Cosworth
Bruno Senna
TBA
Virgin-Cosworth
Timo Glock
Lucas di Grassi
US F1-Cosworth
TBA
TBA
With the Sauber line-up complete, all eyes will be now on Renault, which is yet to announce who will partner Robert Kubica at the team this year.
There will be no shortage of candidates for the vacant seat, with drivers like Nick Heidfeld or Romain Grosjean yet to find out if they will be on the grid again this season.
Another team yet to finalise its line-up is Campos Meta, which has only signed Brazilian Bruno Senna so far and has one of the four empty slots ahead of the start of the season in March.
US F1 remains the only team yet to confirm any drivers, with Argentinean Jose Maria Lopez linked with one of the seats for several months.
2010 driver line-up:
Mercedes GP
Michael Schumacher
Nico Rosberg
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel
Mark Webber
McLaren-Mercedes
Jenson Button
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso
Felipe Massa
BMW Sauber
Pedro de la Rosa
Kamui Kobayashi
Williams-Cosworth
Rubens Barrichello
Nico Hulkenberg
Renault
Robert Kubica
TBA
Force India-Mercedes
Adrian Sutil
Tonio Liuzzi
Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Sebastien Buemi
Jamie Alguersuari
Lotus-Cosworth
Jarno Trulli
Heikki Kovalainen
Campos-Cosworth
Bruno Senna
TBA
Virgin-Cosworth
Timo Glock
Lucas di Grassi
US F1-Cosworth
TBA
TBA
Pedro de la Rosa leaves McLaren for Sauber race seat
Sauber have signed McLaren reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa to complete their driver line-up for 2010.
De la Rosa, 38, has spent seven years at McLaren but will now return to racing for the first time since 2006.
"I always firmly believed I would be given another chance as a team driver," said De la Rosa. "I'm really excited about the season with Sauber."
The Spaniard, a veteran of 71 grands prix, will race alongside Japanese team-mate Kamui Kobayashi.
The team is back in the ownership of founder Peter Sauber after BMW withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season.
Sauber said he wanted one experienced driver and one novice in 2010 and believes the combination of De la Rosa and Kobayashi, who impressed when he was called up by Toyota to race in Brazil and Abu Dhabi last season, is the perfect match.
"Pedro has spent many years working for a top team at the highest technical level," added Sauber.
"We as a team stand to gain from his experience and the same goes for young Kamui.
"The combination of a seasoned racer and an up and coming young driver has repeatedly proved a very fruitful one.
"I don't expect either of them to disappoint in 2010."
After a spell testing for Jordan, De la Rosa made his grand prix debut with Arrows in 1999 before moving to Jaguar.
In 2003, he joined McLaren as their test driver and was called upon to deputise for Juan Pablo Montoya nine times.
When the Colombian quit F1 for the Nascar Series in the United States in 2006, De la Rosa filled his race seat and went on to score his first podium, finishing second behind Jenson Button at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The ban on in-season testing, introduced in 2009 as part of an initiative to cut costs, has since limited De la Rosa's mileage.
He will be 39 by the opening race in Bahrain on 14 March and revealed a desire to get back behind the wheel prompted his decision to end his tenure at McLaren.
"Since the number of test drives were radically reduced, this was what I was working towards," added De la Rosa.
Pedro will be remembered by all at McLaren as, not only an esteemed colleague, but also a good friend
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh
"I'm excited about Peter Sauber's team, which has been a solid fixture in Formula 1 ever since 1993."
Gary Paffett is McLaren's remaining reserve driver but the team have not confirmed who will take over De la Rosa's duties at the forthcoming pre-season tests.
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: "Pedro has never made any secret of his continued ambition to race in Formula 1, so we were never going to stand in his way should an attractive opportunity come his way. On the contrary, we wish him well.
"He's been a fantastic team player for the past seven years, has contributed a huge amount to our successes in that time, and will remembered by all at McLaren as, not only an esteemed colleague, but also a good friend."
De la Rosa, 38, has spent seven years at McLaren but will now return to racing for the first time since 2006.
"I always firmly believed I would be given another chance as a team driver," said De la Rosa. "I'm really excited about the season with Sauber."
The Spaniard, a veteran of 71 grands prix, will race alongside Japanese team-mate Kamui Kobayashi.
The team is back in the ownership of founder Peter Sauber after BMW withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season.
Sauber said he wanted one experienced driver and one novice in 2010 and believes the combination of De la Rosa and Kobayashi, who impressed when he was called up by Toyota to race in Brazil and Abu Dhabi last season, is the perfect match.
"Pedro has spent many years working for a top team at the highest technical level," added Sauber.
"We as a team stand to gain from his experience and the same goes for young Kamui.
"The combination of a seasoned racer and an up and coming young driver has repeatedly proved a very fruitful one.
"I don't expect either of them to disappoint in 2010."
After a spell testing for Jordan, De la Rosa made his grand prix debut with Arrows in 1999 before moving to Jaguar.
In 2003, he joined McLaren as their test driver and was called upon to deputise for Juan Pablo Montoya nine times.
When the Colombian quit F1 for the Nascar Series in the United States in 2006, De la Rosa filled his race seat and went on to score his first podium, finishing second behind Jenson Button at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The ban on in-season testing, introduced in 2009 as part of an initiative to cut costs, has since limited De la Rosa's mileage.
He will be 39 by the opening race in Bahrain on 14 March and revealed a desire to get back behind the wheel prompted his decision to end his tenure at McLaren.
"Since the number of test drives were radically reduced, this was what I was working towards," added De la Rosa.
Pedro will be remembered by all at McLaren as, not only an esteemed colleague, but also a good friend
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh
"I'm excited about Peter Sauber's team, which has been a solid fixture in Formula 1 ever since 1993."
Gary Paffett is McLaren's remaining reserve driver but the team have not confirmed who will take over De la Rosa's duties at the forthcoming pre-season tests.
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: "Pedro has never made any secret of his continued ambition to race in Formula 1, so we were never going to stand in his way should an attractive opportunity come his way. On the contrary, we wish him well.
"He's been a fantastic team player for the past seven years, has contributed a huge amount to our successes in that time, and will remembered by all at McLaren as, not only an esteemed colleague, but also a good friend."
Monday 18 January 2010
More Rossi tests ahead
The Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali, gave a live webchat this afternoon on Ferrari.com after the team announced that Valentino Rossi was to test again for them on January the 20th.
Rossi has given recent press reports that he is remaining on bikes for a few years and that his future is likely to be in rallying, but it still raises hope among the tifosi that an Italian, Rossi could be joining them in 2012.
Domenicali also added prior to the webchat that he was confident that the new signing Fernando Alonso can defeat Ferrari’s former main man Michael Schumacher - provided they can deliver a car good enough to beat Mercedes.
Not surprising that he said this, but McLaren and Red Bull may have something to add to the debate
Rossi has given recent press reports that he is remaining on bikes for a few years and that his future is likely to be in rallying, but it still raises hope among the tifosi that an Italian, Rossi could be joining them in 2012.
Domenicali also added prior to the webchat that he was confident that the new signing Fernando Alonso can defeat Ferrari’s former main man Michael Schumacher - provided they can deliver a car good enough to beat Mercedes.
Not surprising that he said this, but McLaren and Red Bull may have something to add to the debate
F1 - Who are this year's drivers?
With Kubica confirmed at Renault for next year, the 2010 driver market has almost fallen into shape with just five empty seats to fill.
The next minor slot to be filled is the second Toro Rosso seat beside Buemi. It was assumed that Alguersuari would continue after stepping into the action halfway through last year after Bourdais, however Toro Rosso haven’t confirmed that they are looking for a new driver after an initial denial of the story on their website back in October, his habit of crashing expensive cars on a regular basis may have something to do with this. The desire to replace him, if any, would be from Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz. As Toro Rosso is set up as the development team for Red Bull, any number of young drivers would fit the bill.
Xosé Estrada gave us the news this week that De La Rosa was in the frame for the second seat at Sauber which is as good a shout as any, it is still unclear as to the financial well-being of the team, but it is likely to be similar to the Honda – Brawn situation last year, without immediate need for a self-financing driver. This would seem to make sense to have an experienced driver alongside the raw energy of Kobayashi.
On to Renault, who could still go out on a limb with the Chinese (or Dutch) new-comer Ho-Pin Tung, as an upgrade on Grosjean and appealing to a big new market, he remains my favorite. Wiser heads have narrowed the list to Sato or Jerome D’Ambrosio as having the ability to keep Renault competitive with the perceived big four, McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
The final two seats are maybe the biggest conundrum and possibly the smallest gamble, US F1, after months spent last autumn staying quiet have recently come out punching. With their funding stream and home market seemingly in good shape, the results in 2010 don’t matter as much as developing and staying in for those awkward teenage years. J R Hildebrand looks like a good potential No 2 for the team as he hails from California and has been testing well at Jerez for Force India.
For the No 1 car, it is still very uncertain as the only person who has been making noise about it for a couple of months is José María López who has been out of GP2 and single seaters for a couple of years. This has all the hallmarks of an Ecclestone deal, with the Argentinian in the seat, this would be good publicity to help draw a big audience and re-develop a historic market. Now that US F1 seems not to be as needy for a paying driver they could yet surprise us in a couple of weeks in Alabama.
Campos seem to be narrowing down the search to anyone with 5 million euros in his back pocket.
The next minor slot to be filled is the second Toro Rosso seat beside Buemi. It was assumed that Alguersuari would continue after stepping into the action halfway through last year after Bourdais, however Toro Rosso haven’t confirmed that they are looking for a new driver after an initial denial of the story on their website back in October, his habit of crashing expensive cars on a regular basis may have something to do with this. The desire to replace him, if any, would be from Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz. As Toro Rosso is set up as the development team for Red Bull, any number of young drivers would fit the bill.
Xosé Estrada gave us the news this week that De La Rosa was in the frame for the second seat at Sauber which is as good a shout as any, it is still unclear as to the financial well-being of the team, but it is likely to be similar to the Honda – Brawn situation last year, without immediate need for a self-financing driver. This would seem to make sense to have an experienced driver alongside the raw energy of Kobayashi.
On to Renault, who could still go out on a limb with the Chinese (or Dutch) new-comer Ho-Pin Tung, as an upgrade on Grosjean and appealing to a big new market, he remains my favorite. Wiser heads have narrowed the list to Sato or Jerome D’Ambrosio as having the ability to keep Renault competitive with the perceived big four, McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
The final two seats are maybe the biggest conundrum and possibly the smallest gamble, US F1, after months spent last autumn staying quiet have recently come out punching. With their funding stream and home market seemingly in good shape, the results in 2010 don’t matter as much as developing and staying in for those awkward teenage years. J R Hildebrand looks like a good potential No 2 for the team as he hails from California and has been testing well at Jerez for Force India.
For the No 1 car, it is still very uncertain as the only person who has been making noise about it for a couple of months is José María López who has been out of GP2 and single seaters for a couple of years. This has all the hallmarks of an Ecclestone deal, with the Argentinian in the seat, this would be good publicity to help draw a big audience and re-develop a historic market. Now that US F1 seems not to be as needy for a paying driver they could yet surprise us in a couple of weeks in Alabama.
Campos seem to be narrowing down the search to anyone with 5 million euros in his back pocket.
Racing pedigree - Mercedes' Grand Prix history
After years as McLaren’s engine supplier, Mercedes will also step into the ring to fight alone this season, following their November takeover of the Brawn team. The German car giant shouldn’t be too nervous, however, as they can claim one of the longest running associations with Grand Prix racing of any automobile manufacturer.
Indeed, Mercedes claim to have taken part in the very first car race, all the way back in 1894 between Paris and Rouen in France, and their relationship with Grand Prix racing is as old as the sport itself…
Motor racing became increasingly popular after the First World War, as cars became progressively more powerful and tracks were created, normally on closed public roads. Daimler (of Daimler-Benz, makers of Mercedes) was among the first companies to develop supercharged engines for racing, the supercharger (which forces air into the engine) having proved its worth in aircraft and marine applications.
The power of these cars rapidly began to grow, and by 1928 the mighty 6.8 litre SSKL took victory at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring with a one-two-three finish, Rudolf Caracciola taking the top step of the podium.
By the early 1930s the Nazi regime in Germany had recognised the propaganda value that racing offered, and both the Mercedes and Auto Union teams were encouraged to build the fastest and most exciting cars possible to race against each other. A new weight formula for Grand Prix racing was brought into force in 1934, intended to end the development of ever heavier and more powerful cars (which overwhelmed the ability of existing tyre technology to control their power), the so-called '750 kg' formula.
Mercedes' elegant entrant into the class, the W25, was to become one of the most famous racing cars in the world when, on the night before the first race to the new formula at the Nurburgring, the racing manager Alfred Neubauer discovered his cars were one kilogram overweight, and ordered mechanics to scrape off the white paintwork, leaving exposed shining alloy. The legend of the 'Silver Arrows' was born.
Power levels continued to increase until the cars were racing with around 500 hp, and in 1935 Caracciola took both European and German championships with victories in nine out of ten races.
It was a period of intense, dramatic and incredibly dangerous racing. The speed and performance of racing cars was completely unmatched by any safety provisions beyond the occasional straw bale. It was a highly symbolic tragedy when, on the eve of war in 1939, Mercedes' British ace driver Richard Seaman was killed in a horrible accident at Spa.
Racing was suspended during the war and in defeat, with Germany's industry devastated, it took some time for Mercedes to return to the fray. Neubauer kept his faith during the dark days and after the end of hostilities found three pre-war race cars, which were entered in the 1951 race in Argentina.
A full return was made to the new Formula One category in 1954 with the beautiful W196, adapted from the 300 SL sports car and powered by a fuel injected eight cylinder in-line engine. Drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling scored a commanding one-two victory in the car's very first outing at the 1954 French Grand Prix, and Fangio went on to take the world championship.
But dominance was short-lived. In 1955 Mercedes withdrew from motorsport following a massive accident at the Le Mans 24 hour race when the Mercedes of Pierre Levegh somersaulted into a stand at over 150 mph after a collision and 79 spectators were killed. The company only returned to motorsport again in 1984, entering touring car and then sports car racing.
Ten years later the German firm was back in Formula One racing as an engine supplier for Sauber in 1994, before joining forces with McLaren the following year. Never a company to do anything by half, the Mercedes-powered McLarens gradually became the class of the field, eventually taking Mika Hakkinen to his two drivers' titles and also bringing the Woking team the 1998 constructors' championship.
Mercedes were by then so embedded within McLaren that they had bought a share in the team. In terms of results, however, the partnership seemed to struggle over the next decade. And while they came close to the title on several occasions, they never quite made it until Lewis Hamilton’s success in 2008. But even then, the constructors’ glory fell to rival team Ferrari.
The following season a new chapter in the Mercedes’ Formula One story began when they agreed to supply engines to Force India and Brawn, as well as McLaren. Almost immediately, the dominance of the Brawn package became apparent and by the finale in Abu Dhabi the team had taken eight wins and both titles.
Within a month, Mercedes had announced they would to sell back their 40 percent shareholding in McLaren, take over Brawn for the 2010 season and rebrand the team ‘Mercedes GP’ to create their first works entry since 1955. With Mercedes’ pedigree and Brawn’s own inimitable talent pool at their disposal, the team already looked strong on paper, but when they subsequently hired seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher they became formidable. This team may be ‘new’, but rivals know they underestimate them at their peril.
Indeed, Mercedes claim to have taken part in the very first car race, all the way back in 1894 between Paris and Rouen in France, and their relationship with Grand Prix racing is as old as the sport itself…
Motor racing became increasingly popular after the First World War, as cars became progressively more powerful and tracks were created, normally on closed public roads. Daimler (of Daimler-Benz, makers of Mercedes) was among the first companies to develop supercharged engines for racing, the supercharger (which forces air into the engine) having proved its worth in aircraft and marine applications.
The power of these cars rapidly began to grow, and by 1928 the mighty 6.8 litre SSKL took victory at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring with a one-two-three finish, Rudolf Caracciola taking the top step of the podium.
By the early 1930s the Nazi regime in Germany had recognised the propaganda value that racing offered, and both the Mercedes and Auto Union teams were encouraged to build the fastest and most exciting cars possible to race against each other. A new weight formula for Grand Prix racing was brought into force in 1934, intended to end the development of ever heavier and more powerful cars (which overwhelmed the ability of existing tyre technology to control their power), the so-called '750 kg' formula.
Mercedes' elegant entrant into the class, the W25, was to become one of the most famous racing cars in the world when, on the night before the first race to the new formula at the Nurburgring, the racing manager Alfred Neubauer discovered his cars were one kilogram overweight, and ordered mechanics to scrape off the white paintwork, leaving exposed shining alloy. The legend of the 'Silver Arrows' was born.
Power levels continued to increase until the cars were racing with around 500 hp, and in 1935 Caracciola took both European and German championships with victories in nine out of ten races.
It was a period of intense, dramatic and incredibly dangerous racing. The speed and performance of racing cars was completely unmatched by any safety provisions beyond the occasional straw bale. It was a highly symbolic tragedy when, on the eve of war in 1939, Mercedes' British ace driver Richard Seaman was killed in a horrible accident at Spa.
Racing was suspended during the war and in defeat, with Germany's industry devastated, it took some time for Mercedes to return to the fray. Neubauer kept his faith during the dark days and after the end of hostilities found three pre-war race cars, which were entered in the 1951 race in Argentina.
A full return was made to the new Formula One category in 1954 with the beautiful W196, adapted from the 300 SL sports car and powered by a fuel injected eight cylinder in-line engine. Drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling scored a commanding one-two victory in the car's very first outing at the 1954 French Grand Prix, and Fangio went on to take the world championship.
But dominance was short-lived. In 1955 Mercedes withdrew from motorsport following a massive accident at the Le Mans 24 hour race when the Mercedes of Pierre Levegh somersaulted into a stand at over 150 mph after a collision and 79 spectators were killed. The company only returned to motorsport again in 1984, entering touring car and then sports car racing.
Ten years later the German firm was back in Formula One racing as an engine supplier for Sauber in 1994, before joining forces with McLaren the following year. Never a company to do anything by half, the Mercedes-powered McLarens gradually became the class of the field, eventually taking Mika Hakkinen to his two drivers' titles and also bringing the Woking team the 1998 constructors' championship.
Mercedes were by then so embedded within McLaren that they had bought a share in the team. In terms of results, however, the partnership seemed to struggle over the next decade. And while they came close to the title on several occasions, they never quite made it until Lewis Hamilton’s success in 2008. But even then, the constructors’ glory fell to rival team Ferrari.
The following season a new chapter in the Mercedes’ Formula One story began when they agreed to supply engines to Force India and Brawn, as well as McLaren. Almost immediately, the dominance of the Brawn package became apparent and by the finale in Abu Dhabi the team had taken eight wins and both titles.
Within a month, Mercedes had announced they would to sell back their 40 percent shareholding in McLaren, take over Brawn for the 2010 season and rebrand the team ‘Mercedes GP’ to create their first works entry since 1955. With Mercedes’ pedigree and Brawn’s own inimitable talent pool at their disposal, the team already looked strong on paper, but when they subsequently hired seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher they became formidable. This team may be ‘new’, but rivals know they underestimate them at their peril.
Kubica begins work at Renault factory
Robert Kubica began his preparations for the 2010 season by visiting Renault's Enstone factory to try the cockpit of his new car.
The Pole got a seat fitting in a mock-up of this year's R30 car, also meeting up with new team boss Eric Boullier.
"I had been to the factory before when I tested for the team a few years ago, but it was great to return and see how much has changed," said Kubica.
"The site is bigger now and there are more facilities such as the CFD centre, which is very impressive and will play a big role in the development of our car this year.
"When you walk around the factory there is a great atmosphere and everybody seems motivated and up for the fight - just like me!"
Kubica will return to the factory at the end of the month to complete the seat fitting.
"We've only done the first stage in a mock-up chassis as the first R30 isn't ready yet," he said. "So we checked the dimensions and took measurements to make sure I was comfortable in the car. There are some small changes to be made, but no major issues.
"Later this month I'll go back to Enstone to try out the proper chassis and to have my seat made so that we are ready for the first test in Valencia."
He added: "So far things are going really well and the factory has given me a warm welcome. It's still very early days and I need to get to know everybody in the team, but at the moment things are going well. I already have a good relationship with my engineers and we talk on the phone every week as I want to know as much about the new car as possible.
"The only difficulty I have is being patient enough to wait for the first test as it has been a long winter out of the car. Valencia cannot come soon enough!"
The Pole got a seat fitting in a mock-up of this year's R30 car, also meeting up with new team boss Eric Boullier.
"I had been to the factory before when I tested for the team a few years ago, but it was great to return and see how much has changed," said Kubica.
"The site is bigger now and there are more facilities such as the CFD centre, which is very impressive and will play a big role in the development of our car this year.
"When you walk around the factory there is a great atmosphere and everybody seems motivated and up for the fight - just like me!"
Kubica will return to the factory at the end of the month to complete the seat fitting.
"We've only done the first stage in a mock-up chassis as the first R30 isn't ready yet," he said. "So we checked the dimensions and took measurements to make sure I was comfortable in the car. There are some small changes to be made, but no major issues.
"Later this month I'll go back to Enstone to try out the proper chassis and to have my seat made so that we are ready for the first test in Valencia."
He added: "So far things are going really well and the factory has given me a warm welcome. It's still very early days and I need to get to know everybody in the team, but at the moment things are going well. I already have a good relationship with my engineers and we talk on the phone every week as I want to know as much about the new car as possible.
"The only difficulty I have is being patient enough to wait for the first test as it has been a long winter out of the car. Valencia cannot come soon enough!"
Saturday 16 January 2010
Button talks
Jenson Button is still on a high after capturing the world championship this year - although he readily confesses the challenge of switching to McLaren has given him a fresh motivation too.
Making his first public appearance of the year at the AUTOSPORT International Show on Saturday, Button was on top form as he received a rapturous reception from the thousands of fans who had turned out to see him.
Taking to the stage, and fielding questions from both the host and the public, Button talked about his title success, the move to McLaren and why his singing is still a major talking point.
Q. I guess that applause still gives you a real buzz, doesn't it?
Jenson Button: Yeah, you can call me world champion all you like. Everyone keeps saying it, and saying, 'oh, I bet that gets boring after a while?' But not really. It is quite nice.
Q. Can we take you back to October 18 and the greatest day of your life? Can you relive a few of the emotions of that day?
JB: It wasn't the easiest weekend. It was Brazil, Sao Paulo GP. Saturday didn't really go to plan. It was raining in qualifying, we were very cautious as you would be in our position... maybe a little bit too cautious. We chose the wrong tyres for the conditions and I qualified down in 14th.
That was a very difficult position to be in. I got to watch qualifying and I got to watch my team-mate qualify on pole for the race in his home country, where the crowd went wild. It was a really difficult situation.
I had to pick myself up on Saturday evening. I was helped a lot by the team and the people around me, and I came in on Sunday morning very focused and really wanting to get it wrapped up in Brazil. To be fair, I must say, the crowd did spur me on, but in a very different way to what you could imagine.
They are very passionate the Brazilian fans, as we are for motorsport, and they were really cheering for their driver Rubens [Barrichello] and really booing for me! But it helped me, it really drove me on. I had to really fight my way through the field to make it happen in Brazil.
It was such a fun race for me. It was a real challenging race and I really had to take the bit between my teeth. I was like a hungry lion I suppose, and it was a fantastic experience and to cross the line and the team say, you are the F1 world champion in 2009 is something I will never forget. I didn't know how to react, so I thought I would sing, 'We are the Champions!'
Q. And how did it go?
JB: It was pretty good actually, if I do say so myself. For some reason the broadcasting quality wasn't very good! But from what I heard it was a pretty good rendition. So I was very happy, I'm going to release an album soon, 'Songs from inside my helmet', and I am looking forward to it.
Q. It was a funny year, wasn't it? The first six or seven races were fantastic, and then it sort of tailed off a bit. Were you concerned?
JB: There were a couple of races, one was Singapore, and also in Japan, where it was very frustrating. After the first seven races we got to some circuits that really didn't suit our car, and I struggled really to get tyre temperature, whereas my team-mate didn't struggle so much. It is a different style of driving, something I really had to work on, and I did get better at through the season
But also, because we were in such a position of leading the championship by quite a few points, we were too cautious. We didn't want anything to go wrong. We were too cautious for the situation, although you can say too cautious and we still ended up winning the championship. I think we should have been a little bit more aggressive with our strategy, and also myself, I should have been more aggressive.
It was a position I had never been in before. It was something I really learned through the season, and it is amazing that you learn so much when you are fighting for a championship - a championship that is so important to you. So it was a very up and down season, and when we got to Brazil, and also a couple of races before Brazil, we realised we started to need to get aggressive again and we really had to fight for this.
It wasn't just going to come to us. The thing is there was some negative publicity for a couple of races, but we never forgot that we had such a lead in the championship. We had a 14 point lead, and that was the worst it ever got before I won the championship, which is massive. The last three years have been won by one or two points, so it was a very strange position to be in knowing you had to be a little conservative and maybe when you are conservative you go too far. It is all a learning curve, and you learn so much when you are in that position, and it means I come back this year so much stronger as an individual - not just as a driver.
Q. But you never once let your head drop – even through the grief with BAR and Honda. You got on with it and kept smiling.
JB: I did, but just not in public. It is so important when you are working with such a big team. If your head drops, then the 700 people that work with you, their heads drop because you are one of the spokesmen for that team. It is quite a lot to have on your shoulders when you are that young. It is a real experience and you do grow up very quickly. I speak not just for myself but every driver who is out there racing for a big team.
It is all positive and negative. You always have positives and negatives through your career - even if you are racing for best team in the world there are always going to be negatives. It is about building on those negatives and taking the positives out of them, and it is what you have to do in a cut-throat sport like F1.
Q. Let's talk about McLaren and 2010. Lewis Hamilton has been there for a few years, and you are going into what is perceived as a scenario that revolves around him. How are you going to approach that?
JB: It is an interesting one because people always say that after you win the world championship, are you really that hungry to achieve that again? I have been working for 21 years to achieve my goal – but yes, I am massively hungry. When I won the world championship in Brazil I was looking for something else. I thought I have achieved what I set out to do, but what do I do now? It is a very strange situation to be in, because you should enjoy the moment but it is very, very difficult to because you are always thinking too far ahead that you have to be careful of.
I knew that moving to a new team and moving to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes would be a real challenge for me, and racing alongside Lewis, but it is a challenge I am so excited about. I am putting so much effort into making this work. This is the most important thing for me at the moment.
Winning the championship with Brawn was great, because we worked so hard for it over many, many years. But now to race for McLaren, a team that has so much history and has achieved so much in F1 is a real privilege for me. And working alongside Lewis, the guy has achieved so much in the sport in such a limited time, he has had some massive ups and downs, and it is my career squashed into two or three years. So, we have a lot of experience there and if we work together we will build a phenomenal race car and have a very good season.
Q. Have you met your side of the garage? How is it going to work?
JB: Each driver in F1 has two main engineers - the race engineer, who you talk to most of the time, and the data engineer, who is pushing keys, but does a lot more than that!
It is always something that is very personal. I worked with my previous engineer for seven years in my career, and I got very close to him. It is very important to get that relationship, so when I first got to McLaren I thought this was going to be a tricky situation. I have been working with my two engineers in the simulator quite a few times.
It is going really well. I am surprised in a good way that we have got to know each other very quickly. McLaren is very lucky because they have a simulator that it not like a computer game. A lot of other teams' simulators are like a computer game but this is close to reality as you are going to get it really. We have been doing a lot of set-up work on the car, testing new tyres and what have you, and they are the guys sat behind me while I am driving. We are talking to them, the whole time, just like in testing. And we have really got to know each other, and understanding each other is very, very important within a team.
You can be the best driver in the world and the best engineer in the world, but if you don't work together, if you don't click, it is never going to work. It has started clicking already, so I am very happy there, and now we can push forward and produce something special.
Q. If you could have your career again, is there anything you would do differently?
JB: It is very easy to say, yes. I would love to forget about the difficult years, and 2008 was a pretty tough year for me, but if I didn't have that season then maybe I would not have won the world championship this year. I would not change anything. I think it makes you the person you are. We all go through difficult times, some much worse than others of course. But it makes you the person you are and makes you a lot stronger.
Q. If you weren't a racing car driver what would you be?
JB: I don't have an answer for that one! The obvious one would be to be a singer – that is the obvious one! Something I would want to be? I don't know really, it is a difficult one. My whole life has been focused on motor racing. I left school at 16, which worked for me, and I started racing. My whole career and whole life has been aimed at F1 and winning in F1.
I don't know. It is something I need to think about for after racing, but not yet. What am I going to do after racing in F1? I don't know. I want to do the Dakar, which would be quite fun, that is on at the moment and I would like to do that. It is something very difficult but outside of motorsport is something I need to think about and something my manager is thinking about right now.
Q. What about Le Mans?
JB: Yeah, that would be okay. If I raced in other formulae it would be because I want to go and have fun. Doing the Dakar, for example, I would want to do it as a privateer, just go there and have fun. It would be such a life experience. If you get into one of the top teams and you are racing for them, it is just so much pressure. I would want to go there and enjoy the race.
Q. How much quicker are you after you shaved?
JB: I don't know! I've only just started shaving! Do you like it? I've trimmed up. I arrived here and thought I was going to be wearing team kit so I thought I would have the cap on, so I didn't get a haircut. So it is a little bit bushy, I must say, but I shaved. I feel a lot younger having shaved.
Q. A quick word about Silverstone, 17 years was the right decision and great news for F1, wasn't it?
JB: For me, I wanted to race in Britain. That was the first thing we wanted to happen. But it is at Silverstone again. It was a sell-out crowd in 2009. It was a pity we did not have a good race there. It was an amazing experience and atmosphere, so great to have the race back there. Hopefully the racing will be fun. There are a few little tweaks to the circuit they are making, so I am looking forward to it. And hopefully you guys will be there again.
Q. What's it like to be a world champion?
JB: That's a really good question and a very difficult one to answer. Wow! I am speechless. You never know what to expect when you are younger and when you work towards something. It was a very emotional moment when I won the world championship, and that evening in Brazil the team had a party. I went to the party for five minutes and that was it – I went back home. I sat on my bed at home for three hours, just thinking about what I had achieved.
It is something I will never forget and I suppose it is a little bit like when you think about racing when you are eight years old. It is all about the racing. It is not about standing here on stage talking to you. I love that, but that is not what went through my mind. It was just about crossing that line and winning the world championship – being the best in the world over 17 races and a very special feeling. That is why I am so hungry to fight for it again this year. I know it is not going to be easy, there are a going to be a lot of challenges, but that is the aim.
Q. Two years ago my daughter and I said you would be world champion? Are you going to be world champion this year, and are you any good on Mario Kart?
JB: Have you said I am going to be world champion this year? Yes, you have? Then it's easy, isn't it! I used to be good at Mario Kart, but I haven't played computer games for a while. I don't actually play computer games, I play Brain Challenge instead! Have you played that before? No? It's fantastic.
Computer games, not for a while. I have many other things to be doing with my time right now.
Making his first public appearance of the year at the AUTOSPORT International Show on Saturday, Button was on top form as he received a rapturous reception from the thousands of fans who had turned out to see him.
Taking to the stage, and fielding questions from both the host and the public, Button talked about his title success, the move to McLaren and why his singing is still a major talking point.
Q. I guess that applause still gives you a real buzz, doesn't it?
Jenson Button: Yeah, you can call me world champion all you like. Everyone keeps saying it, and saying, 'oh, I bet that gets boring after a while?' But not really. It is quite nice.
Q. Can we take you back to October 18 and the greatest day of your life? Can you relive a few of the emotions of that day?
JB: It wasn't the easiest weekend. It was Brazil, Sao Paulo GP. Saturday didn't really go to plan. It was raining in qualifying, we were very cautious as you would be in our position... maybe a little bit too cautious. We chose the wrong tyres for the conditions and I qualified down in 14th.
That was a very difficult position to be in. I got to watch qualifying and I got to watch my team-mate qualify on pole for the race in his home country, where the crowd went wild. It was a really difficult situation.
I had to pick myself up on Saturday evening. I was helped a lot by the team and the people around me, and I came in on Sunday morning very focused and really wanting to get it wrapped up in Brazil. To be fair, I must say, the crowd did spur me on, but in a very different way to what you could imagine.
They are very passionate the Brazilian fans, as we are for motorsport, and they were really cheering for their driver Rubens [Barrichello] and really booing for me! But it helped me, it really drove me on. I had to really fight my way through the field to make it happen in Brazil.
It was such a fun race for me. It was a real challenging race and I really had to take the bit between my teeth. I was like a hungry lion I suppose, and it was a fantastic experience and to cross the line and the team say, you are the F1 world champion in 2009 is something I will never forget. I didn't know how to react, so I thought I would sing, 'We are the Champions!'
Q. And how did it go?
JB: It was pretty good actually, if I do say so myself. For some reason the broadcasting quality wasn't very good! But from what I heard it was a pretty good rendition. So I was very happy, I'm going to release an album soon, 'Songs from inside my helmet', and I am looking forward to it.
Q. It was a funny year, wasn't it? The first six or seven races were fantastic, and then it sort of tailed off a bit. Were you concerned?
JB: There were a couple of races, one was Singapore, and also in Japan, where it was very frustrating. After the first seven races we got to some circuits that really didn't suit our car, and I struggled really to get tyre temperature, whereas my team-mate didn't struggle so much. It is a different style of driving, something I really had to work on, and I did get better at through the season
But also, because we were in such a position of leading the championship by quite a few points, we were too cautious. We didn't want anything to go wrong. We were too cautious for the situation, although you can say too cautious and we still ended up winning the championship. I think we should have been a little bit more aggressive with our strategy, and also myself, I should have been more aggressive.
It was a position I had never been in before. It was something I really learned through the season, and it is amazing that you learn so much when you are fighting for a championship - a championship that is so important to you. So it was a very up and down season, and when we got to Brazil, and also a couple of races before Brazil, we realised we started to need to get aggressive again and we really had to fight for this.
It wasn't just going to come to us. The thing is there was some negative publicity for a couple of races, but we never forgot that we had such a lead in the championship. We had a 14 point lead, and that was the worst it ever got before I won the championship, which is massive. The last three years have been won by one or two points, so it was a very strange position to be in knowing you had to be a little conservative and maybe when you are conservative you go too far. It is all a learning curve, and you learn so much when you are in that position, and it means I come back this year so much stronger as an individual - not just as a driver.
Q. But you never once let your head drop – even through the grief with BAR and Honda. You got on with it and kept smiling.
JB: I did, but just not in public. It is so important when you are working with such a big team. If your head drops, then the 700 people that work with you, their heads drop because you are one of the spokesmen for that team. It is quite a lot to have on your shoulders when you are that young. It is a real experience and you do grow up very quickly. I speak not just for myself but every driver who is out there racing for a big team.
It is all positive and negative. You always have positives and negatives through your career - even if you are racing for best team in the world there are always going to be negatives. It is about building on those negatives and taking the positives out of them, and it is what you have to do in a cut-throat sport like F1.
Q. Let's talk about McLaren and 2010. Lewis Hamilton has been there for a few years, and you are going into what is perceived as a scenario that revolves around him. How are you going to approach that?
JB: It is an interesting one because people always say that after you win the world championship, are you really that hungry to achieve that again? I have been working for 21 years to achieve my goal – but yes, I am massively hungry. When I won the world championship in Brazil I was looking for something else. I thought I have achieved what I set out to do, but what do I do now? It is a very strange situation to be in, because you should enjoy the moment but it is very, very difficult to because you are always thinking too far ahead that you have to be careful of.
I knew that moving to a new team and moving to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes would be a real challenge for me, and racing alongside Lewis, but it is a challenge I am so excited about. I am putting so much effort into making this work. This is the most important thing for me at the moment.
Winning the championship with Brawn was great, because we worked so hard for it over many, many years. But now to race for McLaren, a team that has so much history and has achieved so much in F1 is a real privilege for me. And working alongside Lewis, the guy has achieved so much in the sport in such a limited time, he has had some massive ups and downs, and it is my career squashed into two or three years. So, we have a lot of experience there and if we work together we will build a phenomenal race car and have a very good season.
Q. Have you met your side of the garage? How is it going to work?
JB: Each driver in F1 has two main engineers - the race engineer, who you talk to most of the time, and the data engineer, who is pushing keys, but does a lot more than that!
It is always something that is very personal. I worked with my previous engineer for seven years in my career, and I got very close to him. It is very important to get that relationship, so when I first got to McLaren I thought this was going to be a tricky situation. I have been working with my two engineers in the simulator quite a few times.
It is going really well. I am surprised in a good way that we have got to know each other very quickly. McLaren is very lucky because they have a simulator that it not like a computer game. A lot of other teams' simulators are like a computer game but this is close to reality as you are going to get it really. We have been doing a lot of set-up work on the car, testing new tyres and what have you, and they are the guys sat behind me while I am driving. We are talking to them, the whole time, just like in testing. And we have really got to know each other, and understanding each other is very, very important within a team.
You can be the best driver in the world and the best engineer in the world, but if you don't work together, if you don't click, it is never going to work. It has started clicking already, so I am very happy there, and now we can push forward and produce something special.
Q. If you could have your career again, is there anything you would do differently?
JB: It is very easy to say, yes. I would love to forget about the difficult years, and 2008 was a pretty tough year for me, but if I didn't have that season then maybe I would not have won the world championship this year. I would not change anything. I think it makes you the person you are. We all go through difficult times, some much worse than others of course. But it makes you the person you are and makes you a lot stronger.
Q. If you weren't a racing car driver what would you be?
JB: I don't have an answer for that one! The obvious one would be to be a singer – that is the obvious one! Something I would want to be? I don't know really, it is a difficult one. My whole life has been focused on motor racing. I left school at 16, which worked for me, and I started racing. My whole career and whole life has been aimed at F1 and winning in F1.
I don't know. It is something I need to think about for after racing, but not yet. What am I going to do after racing in F1? I don't know. I want to do the Dakar, which would be quite fun, that is on at the moment and I would like to do that. It is something very difficult but outside of motorsport is something I need to think about and something my manager is thinking about right now.
Q. What about Le Mans?
JB: Yeah, that would be okay. If I raced in other formulae it would be because I want to go and have fun. Doing the Dakar, for example, I would want to do it as a privateer, just go there and have fun. It would be such a life experience. If you get into one of the top teams and you are racing for them, it is just so much pressure. I would want to go there and enjoy the race.
Q. How much quicker are you after you shaved?
JB: I don't know! I've only just started shaving! Do you like it? I've trimmed up. I arrived here and thought I was going to be wearing team kit so I thought I would have the cap on, so I didn't get a haircut. So it is a little bit bushy, I must say, but I shaved. I feel a lot younger having shaved.
Q. A quick word about Silverstone, 17 years was the right decision and great news for F1, wasn't it?
JB: For me, I wanted to race in Britain. That was the first thing we wanted to happen. But it is at Silverstone again. It was a sell-out crowd in 2009. It was a pity we did not have a good race there. It was an amazing experience and atmosphere, so great to have the race back there. Hopefully the racing will be fun. There are a few little tweaks to the circuit they are making, so I am looking forward to it. And hopefully you guys will be there again.
Q. What's it like to be a world champion?
JB: That's a really good question and a very difficult one to answer. Wow! I am speechless. You never know what to expect when you are younger and when you work towards something. It was a very emotional moment when I won the world championship, and that evening in Brazil the team had a party. I went to the party for five minutes and that was it – I went back home. I sat on my bed at home for three hours, just thinking about what I had achieved.
It is something I will never forget and I suppose it is a little bit like when you think about racing when you are eight years old. It is all about the racing. It is not about standing here on stage talking to you. I love that, but that is not what went through my mind. It was just about crossing that line and winning the world championship – being the best in the world over 17 races and a very special feeling. That is why I am so hungry to fight for it again this year. I know it is not going to be easy, there are a going to be a lot of challenges, but that is the aim.
Q. Two years ago my daughter and I said you would be world champion? Are you going to be world champion this year, and are you any good on Mario Kart?
JB: Have you said I am going to be world champion this year? Yes, you have? Then it's easy, isn't it! I used to be good at Mario Kart, but I haven't played computer games for a while. I don't actually play computer games, I play Brain Challenge instead! Have you played that before? No? It's fantastic.
Computer games, not for a while. I have many other things to be doing with my time right now.
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