Timo Glock has been handed a ten-place grid penalty for the German Grand Prix after his team fitted a new gearbox to his car before qualifying.
The German had qualified 20th for his home race but his team had been forced to change the gearbox after the final free practice session.
That change alone meant that Glock would start from the back of the grid, but his Virgin Racing team also fitted a different seventh gear ratio from the one declared on Friday - which means he will get an additional five-place penalty.
Glock's team-mate Lucas di Grassi is also set to be handed a penalty for a gearbox change that will be required tonight after problems he encountered in qualifying.
The FIA stewards also gave Mark Webber a reprimand after qualifying for exceeding the maximum permitted time between the two safety car lines on his qualifying lap that he had aborted following his first corner error.
"It was to do with my in-lap, after I made a mistake," said the Australian. "I was a little bit too slow between the two sector lines because I was letting people through as I didn't want to destroy anyone's laps."
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Showing posts with label Timo Glock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Timo Glock. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Glock hopes Virgin can worry Lotus
Timo Glock thinks that Lotus may have to start worrying about the challenge from his Virgin Racing outfit once again judging by the success of recent updates added to his car.
Although Lotus said recently that its attention had shifted away from the contest between the new teams on to the fight with the established outfits, Glock reckons the battle of F1 rookies has been reignited once again.
And, after updates to the VR-01 helped him lead the new team contest on Friday in Hockenheim, and more tweaks scheduled to be fitted to his car before final free practice, Glock is more encouraged than ever about Virgin's form.
When asked about Lotus' recent claims that they had moved their attention away from worrying about the new team contest, Glock said: "Maybe they have to think about it again! Let's see.
"It is hard to say after a Friday about who is driving what engine, how old is the engine and just let's see how tomorrow goes.
"However, it is positive that we have two races now where we bring parts and they work. It is quite a nice step and I hope there is more to come.
"Nick [Wirth, technical director] is pushing for another big upgrade later in the season and that could bring us another step. And I hope now the time comes where we can concentrate only on bringing performance on the car."
Virgin Racing had one of its biggest updates of the season at the British Grand Prix and Glock thinks that finally the team is making the progress that he had hoped for when he joined.
"It is more positive, yes, definitely. It is going in the right direction," he said. "The one is Silverstone was quite a big one, which brought us quite close to Lotus.
"And now we have another three or four tenths which should theoretically bring us in front of them."
Although Lotus said recently that its attention had shifted away from the contest between the new teams on to the fight with the established outfits, Glock reckons the battle of F1 rookies has been reignited once again.
And, after updates to the VR-01 helped him lead the new team contest on Friday in Hockenheim, and more tweaks scheduled to be fitted to his car before final free practice, Glock is more encouraged than ever about Virgin's form.
When asked about Lotus' recent claims that they had moved their attention away from worrying about the new team contest, Glock said: "Maybe they have to think about it again! Let's see.
"It is hard to say after a Friday about who is driving what engine, how old is the engine and just let's see how tomorrow goes.
"However, it is positive that we have two races now where we bring parts and they work. It is quite a nice step and I hope there is more to come.
"Nick [Wirth, technical director] is pushing for another big upgrade later in the season and that could bring us another step. And I hope now the time comes where we can concentrate only on bringing performance on the car."
Virgin Racing had one of its biggest updates of the season at the British Grand Prix and Glock thinks that finally the team is making the progress that he had hoped for when he joined.
"It is more positive, yes, definitely. It is going in the right direction," he said. "The one is Silverstone was quite a big one, which brought us quite close to Lotus.
"And now we have another three or four tenths which should theoretically bring us in front of them."
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Virgin hoping to retain Glock for 2011
Virgin technical director Nick Wirth is hopeful that Timo Glock will remain with the team next year.
The German has registered only four finishes in 10 races in 2010, with a best result of 18th.
But despite a difficult season, Wirth is confident that Glock is fully committed to the cause even though Renault is believed to be interested in his services for next year.
"We've got another year on the contract with Timo, but like anything in life everyone has got to want to carry on," Wirth told AUTOSPORT
"Timo understood that we were a new team and he wanted to be part of something that was growing going forward. That's why the Silverstone weekend was so important because it has hopefully shown him that we can do it."
Wirth added that being able to attract and keep hold of a driver who has three podium finishes to his name is a good sign of the team's long-term potential.
"We were so lucky to have a driver with his talent, ability and experience join us at his age," said Wirth. "It's up to us to try and deliver on that
Wirth also believes that Lucas di Grassi has been an impressive rookie this season despite only outqualifying Glock once in 10 attempts.
"I know I'm very biased, but I think he is looking good for rookie of the year if you look at his relative performance," said Wirth.
"He's coming into his own and doing a fantastic job. The disadvantage is that Lucas is naturally a bit heavier than Timo. For all of the new teams, weight is an issue so he's still got a disadvantage. It's to do with us and we're working very hard on it."
Wirth is hopeful that di Grassi will be able to run on the weight limit before the end of the European season with a raft of lightweight parts planned.
The German has registered only four finishes in 10 races in 2010, with a best result of 18th.
But despite a difficult season, Wirth is confident that Glock is fully committed to the cause even though Renault is believed to be interested in his services for next year.
"We've got another year on the contract with Timo, but like anything in life everyone has got to want to carry on," Wirth told AUTOSPORT
"Timo understood that we were a new team and he wanted to be part of something that was growing going forward. That's why the Silverstone weekend was so important because it has hopefully shown him that we can do it."
Wirth added that being able to attract and keep hold of a driver who has three podium finishes to his name is a good sign of the team's long-term potential.
"We were so lucky to have a driver with his talent, ability and experience join us at his age," said Wirth. "It's up to us to try and deliver on that
Wirth also believes that Lucas di Grassi has been an impressive rookie this season despite only outqualifying Glock once in 10 attempts.
"I know I'm very biased, but I think he is looking good for rookie of the year if you look at his relative performance," said Wirth.
"He's coming into his own and doing a fantastic job. The disadvantage is that Lucas is naturally a bit heavier than Timo. For all of the new teams, weight is an issue so he's still got a disadvantage. It's to do with us and we're working very hard on it."
Wirth is hopeful that di Grassi will be able to run on the weight limit before the end of the European season with a raft of lightweight parts planned.
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Wirth praises Virgin's step forward
Virgin's technical director Nick Wirth praised the team's step forward after Timo Glock qualified in 15th position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"Today has been a great day for everyone involved in Virgin Racing - a clear step forward for the team," said Wirth, whose team had never made it to Q2 before.
"Despite still not running qualifying fuel loads, it was nice to again demonstrate the underlying potential of this car and its unique design process," added the Briton, referring to his cars still running with more fuel than necessary to work around its fuel pick-up issues.
"Timo continued to demonstrate our potential in Q1 and whilst some of our more experienced competitors elected to stay in the garage at the optimum time, Timo made it through to Q2.
"The Q2 session was tricky. We were running with all our weather prediction services warning us of an imminent downpour, so unfortunately we ran our last set of Intermediates a little bit early, which costs us a place. Looking at our times from earlier today though, that won't matter in the race."
Glock was also very pleased with his day's performance.
"It's been a very good weekend for us so far," he said. "We've had no real problems with the car and we've been able to do proper work during every session. Qualifying went quite smoothly considering the rain at the start of the session.
"It was critical to get out on time and my lap in Q1 was really good, getting me into Q2. It was good to see us do a better job than some of the top teams and as a result they will be starting behind us. Q2 wasn't perfect though as we came in too early and that cost us the place against Heikki.
"In general though we have to be happy with what we have achieved today. It's great for the team and there is now a lot of motivation for tomorrow. It looks like it could be a crazy race tomorrow, so we have to stay focused - and stay on the track - and we'll see how it all ends."
Team-mate Lucas di Grassi, on the other hand, was unable to escape trouble and qualified at the bottom of the grid.
"Once more some problems affected us today and we had to rebuild parts of the car between practice and qualifying," di Grassi said. "It was touch and go whether we would even get the car out at all for qualy, but the mechanics did an incredible job and because of that we were able to do at least a couple of laps to make sure the car was working well.
"While it has been a disappointing day for me personally, it has been a good day for the team so we all have to be pleased for that. We look forward to the race tomorrow and hope that brings better things, including achieving our target of finishing our first race.
"Today has been a great day for everyone involved in Virgin Racing - a clear step forward for the team," said Wirth, whose team had never made it to Q2 before.
"Despite still not running qualifying fuel loads, it was nice to again demonstrate the underlying potential of this car and its unique design process," added the Briton, referring to his cars still running with more fuel than necessary to work around its fuel pick-up issues.
"Timo continued to demonstrate our potential in Q1 and whilst some of our more experienced competitors elected to stay in the garage at the optimum time, Timo made it through to Q2.
"The Q2 session was tricky. We were running with all our weather prediction services warning us of an imminent downpour, so unfortunately we ran our last set of Intermediates a little bit early, which costs us a place. Looking at our times from earlier today though, that won't matter in the race."
Glock was also very pleased with his day's performance.
"It's been a very good weekend for us so far," he said. "We've had no real problems with the car and we've been able to do proper work during every session. Qualifying went quite smoothly considering the rain at the start of the session.
"It was critical to get out on time and my lap in Q1 was really good, getting me into Q2. It was good to see us do a better job than some of the top teams and as a result they will be starting behind us. Q2 wasn't perfect though as we came in too early and that cost us the place against Heikki.
"In general though we have to be happy with what we have achieved today. It's great for the team and there is now a lot of motivation for tomorrow. It looks like it could be a crazy race tomorrow, so we have to stay focused - and stay on the track - and we'll see how it all ends."
Team-mate Lucas di Grassi, on the other hand, was unable to escape trouble and qualified at the bottom of the grid.
"Once more some problems affected us today and we had to rebuild parts of the car between practice and qualifying," di Grassi said. "It was touch and go whether we would even get the car out at all for qualy, but the mechanics did an incredible job and because of that we were able to do at least a couple of laps to make sure the car was working well.
"While it has been a disappointing day for me personally, it has been a good day for the team so we all have to be pleased for that. We look forward to the race tomorrow and hope that brings better things, including achieving our target of finishing our first race.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Timo Glock
Exclusive Timo Glock Q&A:
Virgin aiming to be best newcomer
For 2010 Timo Glock moves from the vast corporate structure of Toyota to the far more intimate surroundings of the new Virgin Racing team. With a rookie for a team mate in Lucas di Grassi, it will also be Glock’s first time as number one driver. The German is confident he can cope with the pressure - if he doesn’t he could face the prospect of Virgin boss Richard Branson dressed as an air stewardess. Motivation indeed…
Q: To an outsider your move from Toyota’s corporate culture to Virgin’s more relaxed approach seems like a real change. Do you agree?
Timo Glock: This question has two sides. If you take the factory then it was far from that. Sure if you drive for Toyota and visit that impressive factory near Cologne, and you then move to a small British team with obviously smaller facilities, it is like being on a different planet. But I would also say that it felt like a healthy step back to grassroots. It felt very positive. If, on the other hand, you take the corporate culture, then yes it’s quite different. I feel I have much more freedom and everything is less complicated. In this respect things have turned out for the better. So far everything is running extremely smoothly. The team launch was very laidback - more so than with any other team I’ve ever been with - and I feel very, very comfortable.
Q: The Virgin Racing launch was certainly very cool. It looked more like the launch of a rock band…
TG: It’s funny that you say that. That was what I thought myself. You could say that what you saw on that day was Virgin’s philosophy and I predict that this will have a very refreshing impact on the paddock. I think that the Virgin brand is kind of rock ’n’ roll, and my guess is that Richard Branson wants to cultivate that. We’ll surely see some surprises in that mould over the course of the season.
Q: After Toyota announced they were to withdraw, was your Formula One future ever in doubt?
TG: No, not for one second. I had realized early on that there would be no future for me at Toyota, so I started to look for alternatives early on and I have to say that our instinct didn’t let us down. We started to negotiate with Virgin shortly after the Japanese Grand Prix. In my head I was probably ready to race for another team by Suzuka. And when shortly after the race there was an invitation to visit the factory, it became very obvious to me that they were very serious about their F1 plans. My gut feeling told me that this could be the place for me in 2010.
Q: When you say that by the weekend of the Japanese race you already knew that your future wasn’t with Toyota, do you mean just in relation to yourself or did you already believe that Toyota would withdraw from the sport?
TG: No, at that time I hadn’t any clue that Toyota would withdraw. It was only that I knew my time there was coming to an end.
Q: Virgin team boss Richard Branson has proudly declared that the team will run with one of the smallest budgets on the Formula One grid. Does that plan suit an ambitious diver?
TG: It suits me very well because I think that they will be able to put their plans into action. On the technical side, their plans are substantially different from all the other F1 teams. Their whole programme has been run via CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) which is an immense factor in terms of limiting cost. And at the end of the day I don’t think it takes 600 employees to run a successful Formula One team. I think success can be achieved with a far smaller headcount and much smaller budgets than the teams are used to at the moment. I saw during Toyota’s final stages that it is possible to run on a smaller budget and to increase a budget from 40 to 70 million pounds is much easier than to trim back from 300 to 150 million or even to 100 million.
Q: Your new team mate Lucas di Grassi is a Formula One rookie. Are you ready to lead a team?
TG: Yes I am and I am really looking forward to it. In fact that was one of my reasons for choosing Virgin Racing because I was promised the number one position and the team will be structured around me. This will be a completely new experience for me and will add further experience to my CV. In this respect I have to say that I’ve learned a lot at Toyota over the years and feel ready for the challenge.
Q: Toyota was undoubtedly a powerful and rich player amongst the teams. When you visited the Virgin Racing factory for the first time what was your first thought?
TG: My first thought was very pragmatic. I thought that it would be much easier for me to remember all the names of my team mates as there were a lot less people working there and that due to the smaller size of the facility everything is much more compact. We have all seen that success has nothing to do with the size of the factory but depends instead on the quality of the people and how the team is structured.
Q: There’s a very high profile bet running between fellow newcomers Lotus and Virgin, with Branson agreeing to spend a day as an Air Asia stewardess (Lotus boss Tony Fernandes is also CEO of Air Asia) if Virgin ends the season behind Lotus. How are you coping with the pressure to succeed?
TG: To be honest it would be pretty cool to see Richard in the uniform of a stewardess, but we will do everything to prevent that from happening. But if I should prevent him from wearing a short red outfit, then I would appreciate it very much if he would serve me on one of the flights we’re both on, when it is clear that we’ve achieved our minimal goal of ending the season as the best of the new teams.
Virgin aiming to be best newcomer
For 2010 Timo Glock moves from the vast corporate structure of Toyota to the far more intimate surroundings of the new Virgin Racing team. With a rookie for a team mate in Lucas di Grassi, it will also be Glock’s first time as number one driver. The German is confident he can cope with the pressure - if he doesn’t he could face the prospect of Virgin boss Richard Branson dressed as an air stewardess. Motivation indeed…
Q: To an outsider your move from Toyota’s corporate culture to Virgin’s more relaxed approach seems like a real change. Do you agree?
Timo Glock: This question has two sides. If you take the factory then it was far from that. Sure if you drive for Toyota and visit that impressive factory near Cologne, and you then move to a small British team with obviously smaller facilities, it is like being on a different planet. But I would also say that it felt like a healthy step back to grassroots. It felt very positive. If, on the other hand, you take the corporate culture, then yes it’s quite different. I feel I have much more freedom and everything is less complicated. In this respect things have turned out for the better. So far everything is running extremely smoothly. The team launch was very laidback - more so than with any other team I’ve ever been with - and I feel very, very comfortable.
Q: The Virgin Racing launch was certainly very cool. It looked more like the launch of a rock band…
TG: It’s funny that you say that. That was what I thought myself. You could say that what you saw on that day was Virgin’s philosophy and I predict that this will have a very refreshing impact on the paddock. I think that the Virgin brand is kind of rock ’n’ roll, and my guess is that Richard Branson wants to cultivate that. We’ll surely see some surprises in that mould over the course of the season.
Q: After Toyota announced they were to withdraw, was your Formula One future ever in doubt?
TG: No, not for one second. I had realized early on that there would be no future for me at Toyota, so I started to look for alternatives early on and I have to say that our instinct didn’t let us down. We started to negotiate with Virgin shortly after the Japanese Grand Prix. In my head I was probably ready to race for another team by Suzuka. And when shortly after the race there was an invitation to visit the factory, it became very obvious to me that they were very serious about their F1 plans. My gut feeling told me that this could be the place for me in 2010.
Q: When you say that by the weekend of the Japanese race you already knew that your future wasn’t with Toyota, do you mean just in relation to yourself or did you already believe that Toyota would withdraw from the sport?
TG: No, at that time I hadn’t any clue that Toyota would withdraw. It was only that I knew my time there was coming to an end.
Q: Virgin team boss Richard Branson has proudly declared that the team will run with one of the smallest budgets on the Formula One grid. Does that plan suit an ambitious diver?
TG: It suits me very well because I think that they will be able to put their plans into action. On the technical side, their plans are substantially different from all the other F1 teams. Their whole programme has been run via CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) which is an immense factor in terms of limiting cost. And at the end of the day I don’t think it takes 600 employees to run a successful Formula One team. I think success can be achieved with a far smaller headcount and much smaller budgets than the teams are used to at the moment. I saw during Toyota’s final stages that it is possible to run on a smaller budget and to increase a budget from 40 to 70 million pounds is much easier than to trim back from 300 to 150 million or even to 100 million.
Q: Your new team mate Lucas di Grassi is a Formula One rookie. Are you ready to lead a team?
TG: Yes I am and I am really looking forward to it. In fact that was one of my reasons for choosing Virgin Racing because I was promised the number one position and the team will be structured around me. This will be a completely new experience for me and will add further experience to my CV. In this respect I have to say that I’ve learned a lot at Toyota over the years and feel ready for the challenge.
Q: Toyota was undoubtedly a powerful and rich player amongst the teams. When you visited the Virgin Racing factory for the first time what was your first thought?
TG: My first thought was very pragmatic. I thought that it would be much easier for me to remember all the names of my team mates as there were a lot less people working there and that due to the smaller size of the facility everything is much more compact. We have all seen that success has nothing to do with the size of the factory but depends instead on the quality of the people and how the team is structured.
Q: There’s a very high profile bet running between fellow newcomers Lotus and Virgin, with Branson agreeing to spend a day as an Air Asia stewardess (Lotus boss Tony Fernandes is also CEO of Air Asia) if Virgin ends the season behind Lotus. How are you coping with the pressure to succeed?
TG: To be honest it would be pretty cool to see Richard in the uniform of a stewardess, but we will do everything to prevent that from happening. But if I should prevent him from wearing a short red outfit, then I would appreciate it very much if he would serve me on one of the flights we’re both on, when it is clear that we’ve achieved our minimal goal of ending the season as the best of the new teams.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)