Sir Frank Williams says his team will be pushing for Formula 1 to adopt a compulsory budget cap next season to avoid the creation of a two-tier world championship.The FIA World Motor Sport Council decided to introduce £40m cap for 2010 at its meeting in Paris on Wednesday.But already teams are raising concerns that the optional nature of the scheme – whereby cost-capped teams will be granted greater technical freedoms in return for accepting the spending limit – will cause problems.
Williams said in a statement issued on Thursday that he supports the budget cap solution to reducing F1 costs, but wants all teams to compete under the same set of rules.“Williams has supported the introduction of a budget cap since the idea was first put forward early in 2008,” he said.
“Since then FOTA [the Formula One Teams’ Association] has made tremendous steps forward on costs but the rationale for a budget cap has also grown even stronger.“We would like to see all the teams operating to one set of regulations and under a budget cap in 2010 and that is the position we will be advocating within FOTA when we meet next week.“We understand that this will represent a serious challenge for some of the teams but we expect that FOTA will work together to find a unified and constructive way to take the FIA’s initiative forward.”
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has also argued that a two-tier regulatory framework is not the “optimal solution” for F1 and has called for “measured negotiation” between the teams and the FIA to reach a better outcome.
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
FIA's watered-down budget cap
The FIA has confirmed that it will introduced a budget cap in Formula 1 next year, but has raised the figure to £40m and exempted some of the costliest items of team expenditure.
The scheme will remain optional, with teams that accept the cost constraints being granted greater technical freedoms than those continuing to spend at will.The FIA published details of how the new regulations will work a day after its World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on Wednesday.
There are significant changes to the version passed by the WMSC last month, after concerns were raised that the proposed £30m was unrealistically low and the cap too all-encompassing.
Under the new plans the budget ceiling has been raised by one-third to £40m per annum and the list of exempted items dramatically expanded to include driver salaries, marketing and hospitality budgets, engine costs (for 2010 only) and “any expenditure which the team can demonstrate has no influence on its performance”.Previously FIA president Max Mosley had said the cap would cover “everything except the motor home (if the team has one) and any fines imposed by the FIA”, suggesting that the only way the salaries of drivers or star designers could be excluded would be for them to become shareholders of their team and be paid a dividend.
By confirming that the budget cap will be optional, the WMSC has chosen not to address concerns that it will create a two-tier Formula 1, with different regulations applying to different teams.The FIA previously said it would equalise performance between the two types of car by periodically adjusting the technical freedoms accorded to the cost-capped outfits, but the latest document gives no further details of how this will operate.
However, on leaving Wednesday’s meeting Mosley said he believed teams would be sufficiently attracted by the revised budget cap scheme that they would all choose to adopt it – thus negating the problem of a two-tier championship.“I suspect that when they see the figures, everyone will come in under the cost cap,” he told reporters. "I certainly hope so."
The cost-capped teams will be allowed to use movable front and rear wings – whereby downforce and drag levels can be adjusted around the lap – and will not be subject to an engine rev limit.They will also be permitted to carry out unlimited out-of-season track testing and restrictions on wind tunnel use will be lifted.The budget cap will be monitored and enforced by a new Costs Commission comprising a chairman and two other members, appointed by the WMSC for three-year terms.
One Commissioner will be a finance expert, another will have high-level experience in motorsport and the chairman will have “appropriate experience and standing in motorsport or sports governance”.
All three Commissioners will be independent of all teams.
The FIA says teams intending to compete in the 2010 world championship must submit their applications during the period 22-29 May, and are required to state at that stage whether or not they will adopt the budget cap.
The scheme will remain optional, with teams that accept the cost constraints being granted greater technical freedoms than those continuing to spend at will.The FIA published details of how the new regulations will work a day after its World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on Wednesday.
There are significant changes to the version passed by the WMSC last month, after concerns were raised that the proposed £30m was unrealistically low and the cap too all-encompassing.
Under the new plans the budget ceiling has been raised by one-third to £40m per annum and the list of exempted items dramatically expanded to include driver salaries, marketing and hospitality budgets, engine costs (for 2010 only) and “any expenditure which the team can demonstrate has no influence on its performance”.Previously FIA president Max Mosley had said the cap would cover “everything except the motor home (if the team has one) and any fines imposed by the FIA”, suggesting that the only way the salaries of drivers or star designers could be excluded would be for them to become shareholders of their team and be paid a dividend.
By confirming that the budget cap will be optional, the WMSC has chosen not to address concerns that it will create a two-tier Formula 1, with different regulations applying to different teams.The FIA previously said it would equalise performance between the two types of car by periodically adjusting the technical freedoms accorded to the cost-capped outfits, but the latest document gives no further details of how this will operate.
However, on leaving Wednesday’s meeting Mosley said he believed teams would be sufficiently attracted by the revised budget cap scheme that they would all choose to adopt it – thus negating the problem of a two-tier championship.“I suspect that when they see the figures, everyone will come in under the cost cap,” he told reporters. "I certainly hope so."
The cost-capped teams will be allowed to use movable front and rear wings – whereby downforce and drag levels can be adjusted around the lap – and will not be subject to an engine rev limit.They will also be permitted to carry out unlimited out-of-season track testing and restrictions on wind tunnel use will be lifted.The budget cap will be monitored and enforced by a new Costs Commission comprising a chairman and two other members, appointed by the WMSC for three-year terms.
One Commissioner will be a finance expert, another will have high-level experience in motorsport and the chairman will have “appropriate experience and standing in motorsport or sports governance”.
All three Commissioners will be independent of all teams.
The FIA says teams intending to compete in the 2010 world championship must submit their applications during the period 22-29 May, and are required to state at that stage whether or not they will adopt the budget cap.
Friday, 1 May 2009
BMW Sauber look to upgrade
BMW Sauber expects a 'significant' improvement in its pace when it introduces a swathe of upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix, but with so many of its rivals doing likewise, the team is unsure whether its development efforts will pay off.
Technical director Willy Rampf explained that major aerodynamic changes were on the cards as last year's third-best team tried to get out of its current lower midfield position."The nose section, more deeply undercut sidepods and the rear wing are all totally new," he said.
"Added to which, modifications have also been made to the front wing, engine cover and underbody. We expect these improvements to significantly reduce our lap times.
"Of course, we know that the other teams will also have made modifications to their cars for Barcelona."However, we expect to be able to close the gap to our rivals.
"We won't find this out for certain, though, until the race weekend."Up to then we will only have the results from the wind tunnel and simulations to go on and, of course, can no longer test in advance on the track."
Team boss Mario Theissen admitted that BMW's very poor start to 2009 had been tough to take. "We cannot be satisfied at all with the first four races of the season," he said.
"After our positive winter testing, all of us at the BMW Sauber F1 team envisaged a rather different start to the season."The car is not fast enough and we have recorded only one podium finish.
"We are approaching this challenge in a positive way and are working intensively in Munich and Hinwil to get back to our old form."We will be lining up in Barcelona with an extensive aerodynamics-focused development package, and are already working on further upgrades to be introduced later on in the season."
Technical director Willy Rampf explained that major aerodynamic changes were on the cards as last year's third-best team tried to get out of its current lower midfield position."The nose section, more deeply undercut sidepods and the rear wing are all totally new," he said.
"Added to which, modifications have also been made to the front wing, engine cover and underbody. We expect these improvements to significantly reduce our lap times.
"Of course, we know that the other teams will also have made modifications to their cars for Barcelona."However, we expect to be able to close the gap to our rivals.
"We won't find this out for certain, though, until the race weekend."Up to then we will only have the results from the wind tunnel and simulations to go on and, of course, can no longer test in advance on the track."
Team boss Mario Theissen admitted that BMW's very poor start to 2009 had been tough to take. "We cannot be satisfied at all with the first four races of the season," he said.
"After our positive winter testing, all of us at the BMW Sauber F1 team envisaged a rather different start to the season."The car is not fast enough and we have recorded only one podium finish.
"We are approaching this challenge in a positive way and are working intensively in Munich and Hinwil to get back to our old form."We will be lining up in Barcelona with an extensive aerodynamics-focused development package, and are already working on further upgrades to be introduced later on in the season."
BMW Sauber look to upgrade
BMW Sauber expects a 'significant' improvement in its pace when it introduces a swathe of upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix, but with so many of its rivals doing likewise, the team is unsure whether its development efforts will pay off.
Technical director Willy Rampf explained that major aerodynamic changes were on the cards as last year's third-best team tried to get out of its current lower midfield position."The nose section, more deeply undercut sidepods and the rear wing are all totally new," he said.
"Added to which, modifications have also been made to the front wing, engine cover and underbody. We expect these improvements to significantly reduce our lap times.
"Of course, we know that the other teams will also have made modifications to their cars for Barcelona."However, we expect to be able to close the gap to our rivals.
"We won't find this out for certain, though, until the race weekend."Up to then we will only have the results from the wind tunnel and simulations to go on and, of course, can no longer test in advance on the track."
Team boss Mario Theissen admitted that BMW's very poor start to 2009 had been tough to take. "We cannot be satisfied at all with the first four races of the season," he said.
"After our positive winter testing, all of us at the BMW Sauber F1 team envisaged a rather different start to the season."The car is not fast enough and we have recorded only one podium finish.
"We are approaching this challenge in a positive way and are working intensively in Munich and Hinwil to get back to our old form."We will be lining up in Barcelona with an extensive aerodynamics-focused development package, and are already working on further upgrades to be introduced later on in the season."
Technical director Willy Rampf explained that major aerodynamic changes were on the cards as last year's third-best team tried to get out of its current lower midfield position."The nose section, more deeply undercut sidepods and the rear wing are all totally new," he said.
"Added to which, modifications have also been made to the front wing, engine cover and underbody. We expect these improvements to significantly reduce our lap times.
"Of course, we know that the other teams will also have made modifications to their cars for Barcelona."However, we expect to be able to close the gap to our rivals.
"We won't find this out for certain, though, until the race weekend."Up to then we will only have the results from the wind tunnel and simulations to go on and, of course, can no longer test in advance on the track."
Team boss Mario Theissen admitted that BMW's very poor start to 2009 had been tough to take. "We cannot be satisfied at all with the first four races of the season," he said.
"After our positive winter testing, all of us at the BMW Sauber F1 team envisaged a rather different start to the season."The car is not fast enough and we have recorded only one podium finish.
"We are approaching this challenge in a positive way and are working intensively in Munich and Hinwil to get back to our old form."We will be lining up in Barcelona with an extensive aerodynamics-focused development package, and are already working on further upgrades to be introduced later on in the season."
Williams looking to F1 GP Spain
Nico Rosberg: "It's been a bit of a frustrating start to the season. We should be going into Europe with more than 3.5 points from the first four races. We were looking competitive at the outset in Australia, but things just haven't gone our way. It's also so close out there, probably the closest season I've raced in. We'll have some aero upgrades for Barcelona which I'm hoping will help us and push us further up the grid. It would be good to score some points to reward the team at Grove who have been pushing really hard."It's been a long trip so I'll be resting a bit between the usual training I do before races. I also have lots of personal things to do as I haven't been home for six weeks and that will definitely include catching up with friends and family.
"As we spend quite a lot of time testing at Barcelona, it's a circuit we all know well. Last year was going really well for me and I was looking good for 6th place, but then a technical problem put me out of the race. The only concern with Barcelona is that track conditions are constantly changing, so knowing what direction to go with the set-up can prove hard."With the new rule changes, this year really is all about who makes the greatest progress back at the factories with development. As with all the other teams, we'll have an upgraded car in Spain and I hope it will make the difference we need."
Kazuki Nakajima: "It's been a tough start to the season for me. I've had three DNFs out of four races and I don't want anymore. I'm going to put them behind me now though and concentrate on the work ahead. There's still 12 more races to go and I'm determined to get some good results for myself and for the team."It's nice to be home after so long away. I'm spending the ten days in Oxford and will catch up with friends over some football and, hopefully, a softball game at the weekend. There will also be a few visits to the factory to talk to my engineers about Barcelona and to use the simulator to prepare myself as much as I can for the track. No doubt my trainer will also be putting me through my paces as well!
"I really like Barcelona and have lots of racing experience there. Last year, I had a good qualifying session and scored two points for the team coming 7th in my debut race. As I haven't had a great first few Grands Prix, I hope that this will mark the start of a new phase for me and I can do something good in Barcelona."I didn't have the new parts on my car in Bahrain so I'm looking forward to trying those out in Spain and to see how the other new bits go. I'm sure that the upgraded package will be a step forward, we already know how much time it will give us, but it's all relative compared to what the other teams have done."
"As we spend quite a lot of time testing at Barcelona, it's a circuit we all know well. Last year was going really well for me and I was looking good for 6th place, but then a technical problem put me out of the race. The only concern with Barcelona is that track conditions are constantly changing, so knowing what direction to go with the set-up can prove hard."With the new rule changes, this year really is all about who makes the greatest progress back at the factories with development. As with all the other teams, we'll have an upgraded car in Spain and I hope it will make the difference we need."
Kazuki Nakajima: "It's been a tough start to the season for me. I've had three DNFs out of four races and I don't want anymore. I'm going to put them behind me now though and concentrate on the work ahead. There's still 12 more races to go and I'm determined to get some good results for myself and for the team."It's nice to be home after so long away. I'm spending the ten days in Oxford and will catch up with friends over some football and, hopefully, a softball game at the weekend. There will also be a few visits to the factory to talk to my engineers about Barcelona and to use the simulator to prepare myself as much as I can for the track. No doubt my trainer will also be putting me through my paces as well!
"I really like Barcelona and have lots of racing experience there. Last year, I had a good qualifying session and scored two points for the team coming 7th in my debut race. As I haven't had a great first few Grands Prix, I hope that this will mark the start of a new phase for me and I can do something good in Barcelona."I didn't have the new parts on my car in Bahrain so I'm looking forward to trying those out in Spain and to see how the other new bits go. I'm sure that the upgraded package will be a step forward, we already know how much time it will give us, but it's all relative compared to what the other teams have done."
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
F1 Force India: Sutil penalty too harsh
Force India team manager Andy Stevens believes that stewards were unnecessarily harsh in giving Adrian Sutil a three-place grid penalty for blocking Mark Webber in Bahrain qualifying. The German moved across in front of Webber at the final corner as the Red Bull finished its final Q1 flying lap and Sutil prepared to start his.
The delay left Webber 19th on the grid, which became 18th when Sutil was demoted three places from 16th as a punishment for the move.Amid suggestions that Force India was to blame for not alerting Sutil to Webber coming up behind him, Stevens said his driver was actually an innocent victim of a brush between Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso ahead.
"We were watching the timing monitors and we could see that Webber was on a fast lap behind us, but what we felt at the time was that Adrian was far enough in front that we didn't really have to consider it - it wasn't going to affect Webber's lap as we saw it on the GPS monitor," Stevens explained in an interview on Force India's official podcast."But in front of us Alonso and Kubica had sort of tangled together in the last corner, which had meant that Alonso had backed out of the throttle, and Adrian came upon him a bit too quick.
"So Adrian came out of the throttle, looked in his mirrors, and Webber was there."It looked like he tried to move over to get out of the way just at the same point as Webber decided to go around Adrian, so they tangled a bit, which did ruin Mark's lap unfortunately."
Stevens did not feel Force India could have warned Sutil about Webber in the time available."Certainly my point of view was that at the time we could've given Adrian the message that Webber was coming, it wasn't a problem and we didn't need to inform him," he said.
"We don't want to break the driver's concentration as he's just about to begin his lap - they're focused and they're got to do one lap and lay everything on the line."Unfortuntely what happened between Kubica and Alonso affected us."
But the stewards insisted the team should have instructed Sutil to get out of Webber's way."In my mind, the timescale that we had to do that was too short," said Stevens."So I feel the penalty was very, very harsh."
He added that Webber had seemed sanguine about the incident, and suggested that the officials should not have been involved."When you look at the times from Webber as well, he probably wouldn't have made it through to Q2 anyway," Stevens said."It was a bit of sour grapes, I believe, on Red Bull's part.
"I believe these things should be kept out of the stewards' rooms and we look after it ourselves."We had dealt with it with Mark and he was quite happy that it was an innocent circumstance, but the stewards got involved."
The delay left Webber 19th on the grid, which became 18th when Sutil was demoted three places from 16th as a punishment for the move.Amid suggestions that Force India was to blame for not alerting Sutil to Webber coming up behind him, Stevens said his driver was actually an innocent victim of a brush between Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso ahead.
"We were watching the timing monitors and we could see that Webber was on a fast lap behind us, but what we felt at the time was that Adrian was far enough in front that we didn't really have to consider it - it wasn't going to affect Webber's lap as we saw it on the GPS monitor," Stevens explained in an interview on Force India's official podcast."But in front of us Alonso and Kubica had sort of tangled together in the last corner, which had meant that Alonso had backed out of the throttle, and Adrian came upon him a bit too quick.
"So Adrian came out of the throttle, looked in his mirrors, and Webber was there."It looked like he tried to move over to get out of the way just at the same point as Webber decided to go around Adrian, so they tangled a bit, which did ruin Mark's lap unfortunately."
Stevens did not feel Force India could have warned Sutil about Webber in the time available."Certainly my point of view was that at the time we could've given Adrian the message that Webber was coming, it wasn't a problem and we didn't need to inform him," he said.
"We don't want to break the driver's concentration as he's just about to begin his lap - they're focused and they're got to do one lap and lay everything on the line."Unfortuntely what happened between Kubica and Alonso affected us."
But the stewards insisted the team should have instructed Sutil to get out of Webber's way."In my mind, the timescale that we had to do that was too short," said Stevens."So I feel the penalty was very, very harsh."
He added that Webber had seemed sanguine about the incident, and suggested that the officials should not have been involved."When you look at the times from Webber as well, he probably wouldn't have made it through to Q2 anyway," Stevens said."It was a bit of sour grapes, I believe, on Red Bull's part.
"I believe these things should be kept out of the stewards' rooms and we look after it ourselves."We had dealt with it with Mark and he was quite happy that it was an innocent circumstance, but the stewards got involved."
Brawn F1 team bring on improvements for Barcelona
The Brawn team is confident that it has the resources to stay ahead in the development race as the likes of McLaren and Ferrari try to fight back.
Although the Brawn GP BGP001 was designed and developed with the full might of Honda behind it, the team - now owned by Ross Brawn - has become much smaller since it was sold off by the Japanese manufacturer.
Jenson Button has been concerned that the pack has rapidly caught Brawn up after its dominant start to 2009, but the team's chief executive Nick Fry said Brawn could withstand whatever the established big guns threw at it.
"I think our team has got all the resources,” Fry told the Times newspaper.We have got a reasonable upgrade package for Barcelona."Whether it will be as big as some others, we don't know."Do we have the resources to develop for the rest of the year?""Yes, we do.”
Ross Brawn admitted that there had been a pause in the arrival of new parts due to the winter of uncertainty that the team endured after Honda pulled the plug, but said development had now been ramped up again.
"From the time that Honda announced they were stopping at the end of November, the budget was limited, the developments weren't coming,” he said."But they are coming now, so we can get the ball rolling again in terms of improving the car.”
Although the Brawn GP BGP001 was designed and developed with the full might of Honda behind it, the team - now owned by Ross Brawn - has become much smaller since it was sold off by the Japanese manufacturer.
Jenson Button has been concerned that the pack has rapidly caught Brawn up after its dominant start to 2009, but the team's chief executive Nick Fry said Brawn could withstand whatever the established big guns threw at it.
"I think our team has got all the resources,” Fry told the Times newspaper.We have got a reasonable upgrade package for Barcelona."Whether it will be as big as some others, we don't know."Do we have the resources to develop for the rest of the year?""Yes, we do.”
Ross Brawn admitted that there had been a pause in the arrival of new parts due to the winter of uncertainty that the team endured after Honda pulled the plug, but said development had now been ramped up again.
"From the time that Honda announced they were stopping at the end of November, the budget was limited, the developments weren't coming,” he said."But they are coming now, so we can get the ball rolling again in terms of improving the car.”
Monday, 27 April 2009
Hamilton and McLaren fears backward F1 step in Spain
Lewis Hamilton is resigned to a less competitive showing from McLaren at next month’s Spanish Grand Prix after its resurgence in Bahrain.Hamilton battled with the leading group in the early stages of the Sakhir race and went on to finish fourth, his and the team’s best result of the season so far.
That prompted many to conclude that McLaren is making rapid strides with the development of its car and will be challenging for victories within the next few races.But speaking to reporters after Sunday’s race, Hamilton struck a much more cautious note, suggesting that McLaren has largely capitalised on its rivals’ mistakes and made only modest performance gains.“We’re not really fighting back [yet] – I think we’ve just done a better job than a lot of people, and whilst they make mistakes we are just collecting the points,” he said.“We are still a long way behind with the car. But for sure it feels good to have consistency and a step [forward in performance], and it gives us a better foundation to keep building and get better.”
Team boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted that the Sakhir track played to McLaren’s strengths and masked the car’s lack of downforce.
And while the whole field will be bringing new parts to the first European race of the season in Barcelona in two weeks’ time, Hamilton reckons the faster Catalunya circuit will be less forgiving of the MP4-24 than Sakhir.“I think the gap will be bigger when we get to Barcelona and [rival teams] will be a bit further ahead because it’s a high-downforce circuit,” he said.“We have to challenge for the top 10, but maybe a top five will be harder.”
Hamilton said his McLaren’s deficiencies were all too apparent to him when he was racing in close company with Jenson Button’s Brawn and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.“It was very tough behind the top cars,” he said.
“They are so fast in the high-speed corners; the downforce they have is almost double mine... It’s very hard to follow.
“We just don’t have any rear downforce to keep up with the guys in front, but we will get there eventually hopefully.”
That prompted many to conclude that McLaren is making rapid strides with the development of its car and will be challenging for victories within the next few races.But speaking to reporters after Sunday’s race, Hamilton struck a much more cautious note, suggesting that McLaren has largely capitalised on its rivals’ mistakes and made only modest performance gains.“We’re not really fighting back [yet] – I think we’ve just done a better job than a lot of people, and whilst they make mistakes we are just collecting the points,” he said.“We are still a long way behind with the car. But for sure it feels good to have consistency and a step [forward in performance], and it gives us a better foundation to keep building and get better.”
Team boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted that the Sakhir track played to McLaren’s strengths and masked the car’s lack of downforce.
And while the whole field will be bringing new parts to the first European race of the season in Barcelona in two weeks’ time, Hamilton reckons the faster Catalunya circuit will be less forgiving of the MP4-24 than Sakhir.“I think the gap will be bigger when we get to Barcelona and [rival teams] will be a bit further ahead because it’s a high-downforce circuit,” he said.“We have to challenge for the top 10, but maybe a top five will be harder.”
Hamilton said his McLaren’s deficiencies were all too apparent to him when he was racing in close company with Jenson Button’s Brawn and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.“It was very tough behind the top cars,” he said.
“They are so fast in the high-speed corners; the downforce they have is almost double mine... It’s very hard to follow.
“We just don’t have any rear downforce to keep up with the guys in front, but we will get there eventually hopefully.”
iSport waiting for finalised budget cap before entering F1
Former GP2 teams' champion iSport has moved to make it clear that it has no solid plans to make an entry into the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship until it knows exactly what the FIA's plans are to cap budgets.
Following widespread stories on the internet, team principal Paul Jackson told AUTOSPORT that his views at the weekend had been misrepresented.
He is waiting for Wednesday's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting, when it is expected that the future plan for a budget-capped F1 will be unveiled.
"For many years I've said if the conditions were right and the numbers made sense, then we'd enter F1," said Jackson. "The budget cap could be the perfect opportunity for us, but until we find out what the magic number is, I don't know if it's do-able or feasible.
"When it's all in print, we'll look at it, start doing our sums and talking to potential investors. Until then, it's all speculation but there have been a few outrageous stories about us doing it."Of course we'd like to do it, and I think we can do a good job in F1, especially as we'd be working our team up to a budget cap, whereas the others would be coming down. But there's no way we could come in and take on the big boys. We'd simply be aiming to break in to the top 10."
iSport ran Timo Glock to the GP2 title in 2007 and Bruno Senna to the runner-up spot behind Giorgio Pantano last season.
Following widespread stories on the internet, team principal Paul Jackson told AUTOSPORT that his views at the weekend had been misrepresented.
He is waiting for Wednesday's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting, when it is expected that the future plan for a budget-capped F1 will be unveiled.
"For many years I've said if the conditions were right and the numbers made sense, then we'd enter F1," said Jackson. "The budget cap could be the perfect opportunity for us, but until we find out what the magic number is, I don't know if it's do-able or feasible.
"When it's all in print, we'll look at it, start doing our sums and talking to potential investors. Until then, it's all speculation but there have been a few outrageous stories about us doing it."Of course we'd like to do it, and I think we can do a good job in F1, especially as we'd be working our team up to a budget cap, whereas the others would be coming down. But there's no way we could come in and take on the big boys. We'd simply be aiming to break in to the top 10."
iSport ran Timo Glock to the GP2 title in 2007 and Bruno Senna to the runner-up spot behind Giorgio Pantano last season.
iSport waiting for finalised budget cap before entering F1
Former GP2 teams' champion iSport has moved to make it clear that it has no solid plans to make an entry into the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship until it knows exactly what the FIA's plans are to cap budgets.
Following widespread stories on the internet, team principal Paul Jackson told AUTOSPORT that his views at the weekend had been misrepresented.
He is waiting for Wednesday's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting, when it is expected that the future plan for a budget-capped F1 will be unveiled.
"For many years I've said if the conditions were right and the numbers made sense, then we'd enter F1," said Jackson. "The budget cap could be the perfect opportunity for us, but until we find out what the magic number is, I don't know if it's do-able or feasible.
"When it's all in print, we'll look at it, start doing our sums and talking to potential investors. Until then, it's all speculation but there have been a few outrageous stories about us doing it."Of course we'd like to do it, and I think we can do a good job in F1, especially as we'd be working our team up to a budget cap, whereas the others would be coming down. But there's no way we could come in and take on the big boys. We'd simply be aiming to break in to the top 10."
iSport ran Timo Glock to the GP2 title in 2007 and Bruno Senna to the runner-up spot behind Giorgio Pantano last season.
Following widespread stories on the internet, team principal Paul Jackson told AUTOSPORT that his views at the weekend had been misrepresented.
He is waiting for Wednesday's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting, when it is expected that the future plan for a budget-capped F1 will be unveiled.
"For many years I've said if the conditions were right and the numbers made sense, then we'd enter F1," said Jackson. "The budget cap could be the perfect opportunity for us, but until we find out what the magic number is, I don't know if it's do-able or feasible.
"When it's all in print, we'll look at it, start doing our sums and talking to potential investors. Until then, it's all speculation but there have been a few outrageous stories about us doing it."Of course we'd like to do it, and I think we can do a good job in F1, especially as we'd be working our team up to a budget cap, whereas the others would be coming down. But there's no way we could come in and take on the big boys. We'd simply be aiming to break in to the top 10."
iSport ran Timo Glock to the GP2 title in 2007 and Bruno Senna to the runner-up spot behind Giorgio Pantano last season.
Button and Brawn capture a F1 Bahrain victory
Jenson Button reasserted his grip on the 2009 world championship with a brilliant victory in searing desert heat in Bahrain – his third win in four races extending his title lead to 12 points.The Briton and his Brawn team turned around the form book from qualifying to beat pre-race favourites Sebastian Vettel and Jarno Trulli thanks to a perfect strategy and inch-perfect driving, the Red Bull and Toyota drivers finishing second and third respectively
Button had expressed optimism that his BGP 001 remained a force to be reckoned with over a race distance after only qualifying fourth and after jumping the front-row Toyotas during the first pit-stop phase, a strong middle stint ensured he wouldn’t be caught at the front.Toyota’s hopes of finally scoring its maiden Formula 1 victory faded after both its drivers made early pit stops, Chinese GP winner Vettel eventually vaulting ahead of pole-sitter Trulli into second place.
Lewis Hamilton completed McLaren’s best weekend of the season so far to take a morale-boosting fourth, ahead of the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello who now slips more than a win behind team-mate Button in the points standings.Meanwhile, Ferrari managed to avoid the worst start to a Formula 1 season in its history by finally getting on the scoreboard at the fourth attempt, Kimi Raikkonen racing hard to sixth place.
As had been the case all weekend at Sakhir teams were faced with sweltering race-day conditions and as the 20 cars lined up on the grid under the beating sun the track temperatures nudged 50 degrees.
At the lights, the significantly lighter-fuelled Glock outdragged pole-sitting team-mate Trulli off the line to take the lead into the first corner.And while this may have been a pre-planned arrangement given Glock’s inferior fuel strategy, Trulli came under attack for real by a predictably fast-starting Hamilton – the world champion’s KERS system's power boost having helped him catapult past Button and Vettel off the line from fifth.
Hamilton then put his KERS to good effect again on the long uphill straight betweens turns three and four to speed past Trulli.
But the world champion didn’t stay here for long, running wide under braking which allowed the Toyota to regain the position.Hamilton was then demoted to fourth at the start of the next lap by Button, the Brawn driver judging an out-braking move to perfection down the inside of the first turn.
The pass turned out to be crucial as it ensured the championship leader could keep the Toyotas in sight over the first stint.Glock, meanwhile, had immediately opened up a one second advantage at the front, but despite his lighter fuel load he never shook Trulli off by more than two seconds.
Indeed by the time he dived into the pit lane at the end of lap 10 his lead was only 1.8s and, after the published fuel loads suggested Trulli would be carrying on for several more laps, his team-mate now seemed set to take the race by the throat.
Surprisingly however the Italian headed for service himself at the end of the very next tour, Toyota seemingly bringing its driver’s planned stop forwards.
Whatever the reason for the change of strategy, it changed the complexion of Trulli’s afternoon and gave Button – who had remained just 1.5s adrift of the Italian – the chance he needed to flex his BGP 001’s muscles.
For Trulli, while he exited the pit lane ahead of Glock – the German just starting a mysterious slide down the order after switching to the medium tyres – he encountered problems in the shape of Fernando Alonso’s KERS-equipped Renault.Having held off his old team-mate on rejoining the track, Alonso quickly showed he was in no mood to have his crucial laps before his own pit stop spoiled by a heavier-fuelled Toyota by sensationally muscling his way around the outside of the Italian at turn four.
That certaintly wasn't in Trulli's gameplan but in any case as things turned out this made little difference to the Italian's hopes of staying ahead of Button, the Brawn driver using his extra four laps-worth of fuel to easily leapfrog the Toyota.
This was also the stage of the race when Vettel turned around his afternoon following a difficult first stint spent behind Hamilton in fifth.
Carrying the most fuel of the leading runners, the German’s RB5 had looked less balanced than it had done when he sped to the fastest time in low-fuel Q2 on Saturday but, as his fuel burned off, he began to push on as the cars ahead of him peeled into the pits.
By the time he eventually pitted from the lead by lap 18 – promoting Button to the head of the field – he had done enough to not only jump Hamilton, but get himself tagged onto the back of Trulli.However, the re-appearance of the notorious ‘Trulli Train’ scuppered his hopes of taking the fight to Button on the super-soft tyres.While Trulli was lapping up to a second slower on the medium compound, frustratingly for Vettel all he could do was follow the Toyota around the 3.3-mile track again, again and again – the German and Hamilton running under a second behind the Italian for most of the next 18 laps.
This was a god-send for Button, who had no similar road-block preventing him exploiting the full potential of the soft tyres and he duly scampered away into the distance.
The championship leader’s advantage was 16.8s when he pitted for the second and final time on lap 36, the Brawn driver exiting the pit just as Trulli and Hamilton entered for their own respective final stops.With Vettel again stopping later than his respective rivals, the Red Bull star almost inevitably was going to move up to second and his three extra laps on track were indeed enough to allow him to stop and then rejoin ahead of Trulli.
The situation was now reversed, however, with the Toyota driver now the one on the super-soft rubber. Trulli duly made a renewed charge and closed onto Vettel’s gearbox, but it was too little and too late and the pole-sitter had to settle for the lowest rung of the podium.As long as the now faster Toyota remained tucked up behind the RBR, Button was always going to cruise to the flag and ultimately clocked off the final laps to take the win 7.1s ahead of Vettel.
Hamilton struggled on the harder tyres in the closing stages but nevertheless finished a comfortable fourth, with Barrichello fifth after his gamble on a three-stop strategy never paid dividends despite some impressive overtaking moves.
Early leader Glock eventually came home right behind Raikkonen in seventh, thus maintaining his 100% points-scoring record in 2009.But he and Toyota will be seeking answers as to how his race unravelled in the middle stint so badly.
Alonso may have taken the honours for ‘overtaking move of the race’ with his move on Trulli earlier in the day, but a single point was not what the Spaniard or Renault would have been hoping for this weekend after making big progress last week in China.
Felipe Massa, however, is still waiting for his first points of the season after last year’s championship runner-up finished a lap down in 14th. The Brazilian made a poor start from eighth despite having KERS and then had to pit for a new nosecone after lap one contact. But while his Ferrari team can take comfort from Raikkonen’s result, rival BMW will want to forget its Bahrain weekend as quickly as possible after its most uncompetitive race showing as an F1 team owner.
Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finished last of the classified runners after both picking up damage to their F1.09s on the opening lap, each having to pit for new front wings.A driver who enjoyed a more positive day, however, was the under-pressure Nelson Piquet Jr who produced his best race performance of his tough season so far to move up from 15th to the top 10 for Renault.
Bahrain Grand Prix result (57 laps)
1. BUTTON Brawn 1h31m48.18s
2. VETTEL Red Bull +7.1s
3. TRULLI Toyota +9.1s
4. HAMILTON McLaren +22.0s
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn +37.7s
6. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +42.0s
7. GLOCK Toyota +42.8s
8. ALONSO Renault +52.7s
9. ROSBERG Williams +58.1s
10. PIQUET Renault +1m05.1s
11. WEBBER Red Bull +1m07.6s
12. KOVALAINEN McLaren +1m17.8s
13. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1m18.8s
14. MASSA Ferrari +1 lap
15. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
16. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
17. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap
18. KUBICA BMW +1 lap
19. HEIDFELD BMW +1 lap
20. NAKAJIMA Williams +9 laps
Fastest lap: TRULLI 1m34.556s (lap 10)
Button had expressed optimism that his BGP 001 remained a force to be reckoned with over a race distance after only qualifying fourth and after jumping the front-row Toyotas during the first pit-stop phase, a strong middle stint ensured he wouldn’t be caught at the front.Toyota’s hopes of finally scoring its maiden Formula 1 victory faded after both its drivers made early pit stops, Chinese GP winner Vettel eventually vaulting ahead of pole-sitter Trulli into second place.
Lewis Hamilton completed McLaren’s best weekend of the season so far to take a morale-boosting fourth, ahead of the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello who now slips more than a win behind team-mate Button in the points standings.Meanwhile, Ferrari managed to avoid the worst start to a Formula 1 season in its history by finally getting on the scoreboard at the fourth attempt, Kimi Raikkonen racing hard to sixth place.
As had been the case all weekend at Sakhir teams were faced with sweltering race-day conditions and as the 20 cars lined up on the grid under the beating sun the track temperatures nudged 50 degrees.
At the lights, the significantly lighter-fuelled Glock outdragged pole-sitting team-mate Trulli off the line to take the lead into the first corner.And while this may have been a pre-planned arrangement given Glock’s inferior fuel strategy, Trulli came under attack for real by a predictably fast-starting Hamilton – the world champion’s KERS system's power boost having helped him catapult past Button and Vettel off the line from fifth.
Hamilton then put his KERS to good effect again on the long uphill straight betweens turns three and four to speed past Trulli.
But the world champion didn’t stay here for long, running wide under braking which allowed the Toyota to regain the position.Hamilton was then demoted to fourth at the start of the next lap by Button, the Brawn driver judging an out-braking move to perfection down the inside of the first turn.
The pass turned out to be crucial as it ensured the championship leader could keep the Toyotas in sight over the first stint.Glock, meanwhile, had immediately opened up a one second advantage at the front, but despite his lighter fuel load he never shook Trulli off by more than two seconds.
Indeed by the time he dived into the pit lane at the end of lap 10 his lead was only 1.8s and, after the published fuel loads suggested Trulli would be carrying on for several more laps, his team-mate now seemed set to take the race by the throat.
Surprisingly however the Italian headed for service himself at the end of the very next tour, Toyota seemingly bringing its driver’s planned stop forwards.
Whatever the reason for the change of strategy, it changed the complexion of Trulli’s afternoon and gave Button – who had remained just 1.5s adrift of the Italian – the chance he needed to flex his BGP 001’s muscles.
For Trulli, while he exited the pit lane ahead of Glock – the German just starting a mysterious slide down the order after switching to the medium tyres – he encountered problems in the shape of Fernando Alonso’s KERS-equipped Renault.Having held off his old team-mate on rejoining the track, Alonso quickly showed he was in no mood to have his crucial laps before his own pit stop spoiled by a heavier-fuelled Toyota by sensationally muscling his way around the outside of the Italian at turn four.
That certaintly wasn't in Trulli's gameplan but in any case as things turned out this made little difference to the Italian's hopes of staying ahead of Button, the Brawn driver using his extra four laps-worth of fuel to easily leapfrog the Toyota.
This was also the stage of the race when Vettel turned around his afternoon following a difficult first stint spent behind Hamilton in fifth.
Carrying the most fuel of the leading runners, the German’s RB5 had looked less balanced than it had done when he sped to the fastest time in low-fuel Q2 on Saturday but, as his fuel burned off, he began to push on as the cars ahead of him peeled into the pits.
By the time he eventually pitted from the lead by lap 18 – promoting Button to the head of the field – he had done enough to not only jump Hamilton, but get himself tagged onto the back of Trulli.However, the re-appearance of the notorious ‘Trulli Train’ scuppered his hopes of taking the fight to Button on the super-soft tyres.While Trulli was lapping up to a second slower on the medium compound, frustratingly for Vettel all he could do was follow the Toyota around the 3.3-mile track again, again and again – the German and Hamilton running under a second behind the Italian for most of the next 18 laps.
This was a god-send for Button, who had no similar road-block preventing him exploiting the full potential of the soft tyres and he duly scampered away into the distance.
The championship leader’s advantage was 16.8s when he pitted for the second and final time on lap 36, the Brawn driver exiting the pit just as Trulli and Hamilton entered for their own respective final stops.With Vettel again stopping later than his respective rivals, the Red Bull star almost inevitably was going to move up to second and his three extra laps on track were indeed enough to allow him to stop and then rejoin ahead of Trulli.
The situation was now reversed, however, with the Toyota driver now the one on the super-soft rubber. Trulli duly made a renewed charge and closed onto Vettel’s gearbox, but it was too little and too late and the pole-sitter had to settle for the lowest rung of the podium.As long as the now faster Toyota remained tucked up behind the RBR, Button was always going to cruise to the flag and ultimately clocked off the final laps to take the win 7.1s ahead of Vettel.
Hamilton struggled on the harder tyres in the closing stages but nevertheless finished a comfortable fourth, with Barrichello fifth after his gamble on a three-stop strategy never paid dividends despite some impressive overtaking moves.
Early leader Glock eventually came home right behind Raikkonen in seventh, thus maintaining his 100% points-scoring record in 2009.But he and Toyota will be seeking answers as to how his race unravelled in the middle stint so badly.
Alonso may have taken the honours for ‘overtaking move of the race’ with his move on Trulli earlier in the day, but a single point was not what the Spaniard or Renault would have been hoping for this weekend after making big progress last week in China.
Felipe Massa, however, is still waiting for his first points of the season after last year’s championship runner-up finished a lap down in 14th. The Brazilian made a poor start from eighth despite having KERS and then had to pit for a new nosecone after lap one contact. But while his Ferrari team can take comfort from Raikkonen’s result, rival BMW will want to forget its Bahrain weekend as quickly as possible after its most uncompetitive race showing as an F1 team owner.
Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finished last of the classified runners after both picking up damage to their F1.09s on the opening lap, each having to pit for new front wings.A driver who enjoyed a more positive day, however, was the under-pressure Nelson Piquet Jr who produced his best race performance of his tough season so far to move up from 15th to the top 10 for Renault.
Bahrain Grand Prix result (57 laps)
1. BUTTON Brawn 1h31m48.18s
2. VETTEL Red Bull +7.1s
3. TRULLI Toyota +9.1s
4. HAMILTON McLaren +22.0s
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn +37.7s
6. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +42.0s
7. GLOCK Toyota +42.8s
8. ALONSO Renault +52.7s
9. ROSBERG Williams +58.1s
10. PIQUET Renault +1m05.1s
11. WEBBER Red Bull +1m07.6s
12. KOVALAINEN McLaren +1m17.8s
13. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1m18.8s
14. MASSA Ferrari +1 lap
15. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
16. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
17. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap
18. KUBICA BMW +1 lap
19. HEIDFELD BMW +1 lap
20. NAKAJIMA Williams +9 laps
Fastest lap: TRULLI 1m34.556s (lap 10)
Bahrain Grand Prix - F1 Toyota Race Round-Up
======================================================================
1 J. Button Brawn GP Formula One Team
2 S. Vettel Red Bull Racing
3 J. Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing
4 L. Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
5 R. Barrichello Brawn GP Formula One Team
6 K. Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
7 T. Glock Panasonic Toyota Racing
8 F. Alonso ING Renault F1 Team
Bahrain Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
Panasonic Toyota Racing is celebrating its third podium of 2009 after
Jarno Trulli took third place at today's Bahrain Grand Prix. On
another sweltering day, Jarno started on pole with Timo alongside him
on P2, both on the super soft tyre. Both cars made good starts but
Timo edged in front into the first corner. The pair were closely
matched early on, building up a cushion over the third placed car as
Jarno set the race's fastest lap. Timo pitted on lap 11 and Jarno
took advantage of his extra lap of fuel, jumping ahead at his first
stop. Both drivers swapped to the medium compound tyre and Jarno ran
second after the first round of stops. But Timo struggled for grip on
his heavy fuel load and he brought his second stop forward to lap 33,
fuelling to the end on the super soft tyre. Jarno also took the super
soft tyres when he pitted on lap 37, battling hard en route to the
podium. Timo added another two valuable points with 7th. Toyota was
already celebrating in Bahrain as third driver Kamui Kobayashi
wrapped up the GP2 Asia championship on Saturday.
1 J. Button Brawn GP Formula One Team
2 S. Vettel Red Bull Racing
3 J. Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing
4 L. Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
5 R. Barrichello Brawn GP Formula One Team
6 K. Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
7 T. Glock Panasonic Toyota Racing
8 F. Alonso ING Renault F1 Team
Bahrain Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
Panasonic Toyota Racing is celebrating its third podium of 2009 after
Jarno Trulli took third place at today's Bahrain Grand Prix. On
another sweltering day, Jarno started on pole with Timo alongside him
on P2, both on the super soft tyre. Both cars made good starts but
Timo edged in front into the first corner. The pair were closely
matched early on, building up a cushion over the third placed car as
Jarno set the race's fastest lap. Timo pitted on lap 11 and Jarno
took advantage of his extra lap of fuel, jumping ahead at his first
stop. Both drivers swapped to the medium compound tyre and Jarno ran
second after the first round of stops. But Timo struggled for grip on
his heavy fuel load and he brought his second stop forward to lap 33,
fuelling to the end on the super soft tyre. Jarno also took the super
soft tyres when he pitted on lap 37, battling hard en route to the
podium. Timo added another two valuable points with 7th. Toyota was
already celebrating in Bahrain as third driver Kamui Kobayashi
wrapped up the GP2 Asia championship on Saturday.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Bridgestone to introduce softer F1 inter
Bridgestone will introduce a new softer compound intermediate tyre from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards.Formula 1's control tyre supplier made the decision to produce a more grippy intermediate specification of rubber to counterbalance the loss of aerodynamic grip in wet conditions caused by the change in regulations in 2009. This follows a wet start to the season both during pre-season testing and the Malaysian and Chinese grands prix where drivers struggled for grip in intermediate conditions.
"Our new intermediate tyre compound will debut at Monaco and we will use this for the rest of the season," said Bridgestone director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima. "It is a softer compound and will allow more mechanical grip, however the lower downforce from the latest cars means that it is still more of a challenge driving in the wet than before."
Bridgestone has also announced the dry tyre compound allocation for the four races from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards. This includes a switch in running compounds separated by one step of hardness for the street circuit, where super soft and soft tyres will be offered.
"Our allocations for the next four races from Monaco onwards are based on the data we have collected so far this season, and the extensive knowledge we have of the race venues we visit. "In Monaco, there is a change to our allocation philosophy due to the unique characteristics of this smooth and slippery track. This means we will bring the super soft and soft tyres, which are next to each other in terms of softness, and also both from our low temperature working range family."
Tyre allocation for the next five grands prix:
Spain: soft, hard
Monaco: super soft, soft
Turkey: soft, hard
Britain: soft, hard
Germany: super soft, medium
"Our new intermediate tyre compound will debut at Monaco and we will use this for the rest of the season," said Bridgestone director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima. "It is a softer compound and will allow more mechanical grip, however the lower downforce from the latest cars means that it is still more of a challenge driving in the wet than before."
Bridgestone has also announced the dry tyre compound allocation for the four races from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards. This includes a switch in running compounds separated by one step of hardness for the street circuit, where super soft and soft tyres will be offered.
"Our allocations for the next four races from Monaco onwards are based on the data we have collected so far this season, and the extensive knowledge we have of the race venues we visit. "In Monaco, there is a change to our allocation philosophy due to the unique characteristics of this smooth and slippery track. This means we will bring the super soft and soft tyres, which are next to each other in terms of softness, and also both from our low temperature working range family."
Tyre allocation for the next five grands prix:
Spain: soft, hard
Monaco: super soft, soft
Turkey: soft, hard
Britain: soft, hard
Germany: super soft, medium
Bridgestone to introduce softer F1 inter
Bridgestone will introduce a new softer compound intermediate tyre from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards.Formula 1's control tyre supplier made the decision to produce a more grippy intermediate specification of rubber to counterbalance the loss of aerodynamic grip in wet conditions caused by the change in regulations in 2009. This follows a wet start to the season both during pre-season testing and the Malaysian and Chinese grands prix where drivers struggled for grip in intermediate conditions.
"Our new intermediate tyre compound will debut at Monaco and we will use this for the rest of the season," said Bridgestone director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima. "It is a softer compound and will allow more mechanical grip, however the lower downforce from the latest cars means that it is still more of a challenge driving in the wet than before."
Bridgestone has also announced the dry tyre compound allocation for the four races from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards. This includes a switch in running compounds separated by one step of hardness for the street circuit, where super soft and soft tyres will be offered.
"Our allocations for the next four races from Monaco onwards are based on the data we have collected so far this season, and the extensive knowledge we have of the race venues we visit. "In Monaco, there is a change to our allocation philosophy due to the unique characteristics of this smooth and slippery track. This means we will bring the super soft and soft tyres, which are next to each other in terms of softness, and also both from our low temperature working range family."
Tyre allocation for the next five grands prix:
Spain: soft, hard
Monaco: super soft, soft
Turkey: soft, hard
Britain: soft, hard
Germany: super soft, medium
"Our new intermediate tyre compound will debut at Monaco and we will use this for the rest of the season," said Bridgestone director of motorsport tyre development Hirohide Hamashima. "It is a softer compound and will allow more mechanical grip, however the lower downforce from the latest cars means that it is still more of a challenge driving in the wet than before."
Bridgestone has also announced the dry tyre compound allocation for the four races from the Monaco Grand Prix onwards. This includes a switch in running compounds separated by one step of hardness for the street circuit, where super soft and soft tyres will be offered.
"Our allocations for the next four races from Monaco onwards are based on the data we have collected so far this season, and the extensive knowledge we have of the race venues we visit. "In Monaco, there is a change to our allocation philosophy due to the unique characteristics of this smooth and slippery track. This means we will bring the super soft and soft tyres, which are next to each other in terms of softness, and also both from our low temperature working range family."
Tyre allocation for the next five grands prix:
Spain: soft, hard
Monaco: super soft, soft
Turkey: soft, hard
Britain: soft, hard
Germany: super soft, medium
F1 Toyota's Howett wary of McLaren, Ferrari
Toyota F1 president John Howett has urged his team to remain 'paranoid' that big guns McLaren and Ferrari will come back strongly soon - despite its lock-out of the front row at the Bahrain Grand Prix.The Japanese manufacturer has had a strong start to the campaign, taking podium finishes in the first two races, and could be on the verge of a maiden victory at Sakhir after Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock took the first two places on the grid.
With the performance of the TF109 pointing towards a potential title challenge, Howett wants his team to remain cautious."We are in the top three definitely," he told AUTOSPORT. "There is no question about that. We have got to be paranoid that the McLaren and Ferraris are recovering very strongly. But we have got to keep pushing and have confidence. If we can get a really strong result it will help."
Toyota's promising start to the year has eased speculation that the Japanese manufacturer could pull out of F1 – although Howett has reiterated that its future will not be totally secure until it scores a maiden victory."I think in the end Toyota is a winning company – we use the brand slogans on the back of our car relative to the market," he said.
"They are all about pushing the limits and winning. That is the culture in the company. We will never rest until we win, and then we need to win, and then we need to win for half the cost."Howett is refusing to take anything for granted about Toyota's chances for the Bahrain Grand Prix, even though the team appears to have the pace to beat its rivals.
"I am really happy – but qualifying is qualifying. It is only one step to winning. You need to qualify well but now we have got to focus on having a great race and capitalising on the advantage. Until we are there, don't get complacent."He added: "Yes, the car is quick. Relative to Brawn and Red Bull, I think it is very, very tight. And you can see some of the others catching up now. So, it means no sleep."
With the performance of the TF109 pointing towards a potential title challenge, Howett wants his team to remain cautious."We are in the top three definitely," he told AUTOSPORT. "There is no question about that. We have got to be paranoid that the McLaren and Ferraris are recovering very strongly. But we have got to keep pushing and have confidence. If we can get a really strong result it will help."
Toyota's promising start to the year has eased speculation that the Japanese manufacturer could pull out of F1 – although Howett has reiterated that its future will not be totally secure until it scores a maiden victory."I think in the end Toyota is a winning company – we use the brand slogans on the back of our car relative to the market," he said.
"They are all about pushing the limits and winning. That is the culture in the company. We will never rest until we win, and then we need to win, and then we need to win for half the cost."Howett is refusing to take anything for granted about Toyota's chances for the Bahrain Grand Prix, even though the team appears to have the pace to beat its rivals.
"I am really happy – but qualifying is qualifying. It is only one step to winning. You need to qualify well but now we have got to focus on having a great race and capitalising on the advantage. Until we are there, don't get complacent."He added: "Yes, the car is quick. Relative to Brawn and Red Bull, I think it is very, very tight. And you can see some of the others catching up now. So, it means no sleep."
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Trulli heads all-Toyota front row Bahrain F1 2009
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock delivered on the promise Toyota has been showing all season to lock out the front row of the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Qualifying master Trulli pulled out all the stops in a thrilling climax to Q3 to seize pole position from team-mate Glock and head the Japanese manufacturer’s first ever grid one-two.
Trulli prevailed by 0.3s, with Glock another three-tenths clear of Q2 pacesetter Sebastian Vettel – a margin almost certainly boosted by an aggressive fuel strategy.
But after a difficult Friday, Toyota seems to have found the set-up sweet spot with the TF109 and always looked like contending for pole.
Vettel will share the second row with championship leader Jenson Button, while reigning champion Lewis Hamilton will start fifth in the improving McLaren after by far his best showing of the season so far.
The two knockout sessions were a fitting warm-up for the main battle, Vettel setting the pace in both with the Toyotas hot on his heels.
In Q2 the Red Bull driver again showed his impressive ability to reel off an ultra-quick lap without the need for a prior ‘banker’ run, saving a new set of super-soft tyres for the race in the process.
Toyota came to the fore in the Q3 run-off, topping the charts by a comfortable margin on both runs.
On each occasion Glock was the first to show his hand and set a benchmark that fleetingly gave him pole before Trulli eclipsed him.
Vettel had to settle for third, fractionally ahead of Button, who admits that single-lap pace is currently a slight weakness of the Brawn BGP001 but believes he is in stronger shape for the race.
The points leader also expressed concern at the presence of four KERS-equipped cars close behind him on the grid, which is likely to leave him on the defensive at the start.
The first of those is fellow Brit Hamilton, who proved the strides McLaren is making with its MP4-24, even if team-mate Heikki Kovalainen just missed the cut for Q3 and will start 11th.
Rubens Barrichello was sixth fastest in the second Brawn ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso, while Ferrari was simply relieved to get both its cars into Q3 with eighth for Felipe Massa and 10th for Kimi Raikkonen.
Once again Nico Rosberg couldn’t live up to his practice form and will sandwich the Ferraris in ninth, three places in front of Williams team-mate Kazuki Nakajima.
Both BMWs fell at the Q2 hurdle and will share the seventh row, Robert Kubica just edging Nick Heidfeld.
Nelson Piquet, who is coming under increasing pressure to perform from the Renault management after a succession of desultory showings, broke out of Q1 for the first time this year but made a mistake on one of his Q2 runs and managed only 15th.
The luckless Mark Webber was consigned to 18th after being blocked by an inattentive Adrian Sutil on his crucial Q1 lap.
The Force India driver said he did not realise Webber was on a quick lap and apologised to the Australian, but his contrition didn't spare him from a three-place grid penalty.
Provisional Bahrain GP grid
1. TRULLI Toyota
2. GLOCK Toyota
3. VETTEL Red Bull
4. BUTTON Brawn
5. HAMILTON McLaren
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn
7. ALONSO Renault
8. MASSA Ferrari
9. ROSBERG Williams
10. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
11. KOVALAINEN McLaren
12. NAKAJIMA Williams
13. KUBICA BMW
14. HEIDFELD BMW
15. PIQUET Renault
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso
17. FISICHELLA Force India
18. WEBBER Red Bull
19. SUTIL Force India*
20. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
* penalised 3 places for impeding Webber
Qualifying master Trulli pulled out all the stops in a thrilling climax to Q3 to seize pole position from team-mate Glock and head the Japanese manufacturer’s first ever grid one-two.
Trulli prevailed by 0.3s, with Glock another three-tenths clear of Q2 pacesetter Sebastian Vettel – a margin almost certainly boosted by an aggressive fuel strategy.
But after a difficult Friday, Toyota seems to have found the set-up sweet spot with the TF109 and always looked like contending for pole.
Vettel will share the second row with championship leader Jenson Button, while reigning champion Lewis Hamilton will start fifth in the improving McLaren after by far his best showing of the season so far.
The two knockout sessions were a fitting warm-up for the main battle, Vettel setting the pace in both with the Toyotas hot on his heels.
In Q2 the Red Bull driver again showed his impressive ability to reel off an ultra-quick lap without the need for a prior ‘banker’ run, saving a new set of super-soft tyres for the race in the process.
Toyota came to the fore in the Q3 run-off, topping the charts by a comfortable margin on both runs.
On each occasion Glock was the first to show his hand and set a benchmark that fleetingly gave him pole before Trulli eclipsed him.
Vettel had to settle for third, fractionally ahead of Button, who admits that single-lap pace is currently a slight weakness of the Brawn BGP001 but believes he is in stronger shape for the race.
The points leader also expressed concern at the presence of four KERS-equipped cars close behind him on the grid, which is likely to leave him on the defensive at the start.
The first of those is fellow Brit Hamilton, who proved the strides McLaren is making with its MP4-24, even if team-mate Heikki Kovalainen just missed the cut for Q3 and will start 11th.
Rubens Barrichello was sixth fastest in the second Brawn ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso, while Ferrari was simply relieved to get both its cars into Q3 with eighth for Felipe Massa and 10th for Kimi Raikkonen.
Once again Nico Rosberg couldn’t live up to his practice form and will sandwich the Ferraris in ninth, three places in front of Williams team-mate Kazuki Nakajima.
Both BMWs fell at the Q2 hurdle and will share the seventh row, Robert Kubica just edging Nick Heidfeld.
Nelson Piquet, who is coming under increasing pressure to perform from the Renault management after a succession of desultory showings, broke out of Q1 for the first time this year but made a mistake on one of his Q2 runs and managed only 15th.
The luckless Mark Webber was consigned to 18th after being blocked by an inattentive Adrian Sutil on his crucial Q1 lap.
The Force India driver said he did not realise Webber was on a quick lap and apologised to the Australian, but his contrition didn't spare him from a three-place grid penalty.
Provisional Bahrain GP grid
1. TRULLI Toyota
2. GLOCK Toyota
3. VETTEL Red Bull
4. BUTTON Brawn
5. HAMILTON McLaren
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn
7. ALONSO Renault
8. MASSA Ferrari
9. ROSBERG Williams
10. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
11. KOVALAINEN McLaren
12. NAKAJIMA Williams
13. KUBICA BMW
14. HEIDFELD BMW
15. PIQUET Renault
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso
17. FISICHELLA Force India
18. WEBBER Red Bull
19. SUTIL Force India*
20. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
* penalised 3 places for impeding Webber
Branson working on new F1 Advertising Brawn deal
Richard Branson has made an offer to up his Virgin Group's sponsorship involvement with Brawn GP - but has insisted he will not break the bank to have a bigger presence on the team's cars.
Virgin announced at the Australian Grand Prix that it was to become a sponsor of Brawn, and Branson said at the time that there was a chance of him expanding the deal - to potentially become title sponsor.
Discussions about such plans are still ongoing, and Branson said in Bahrain on Saturday that he has laid out the terms to the team – and was now awaiting an answer.
"The team have become very popular since the beginning of the season," said Branson. "We are negotiating, as are other people, and we may or may not end up doing a full branding exercise.
"If we end up not doing it, we will obviously be the sponsor for this year and would be delighted with the way it has gone. If we end up doing it, even better.
"Let's see how it goes. Someone could come in and pay a silly price, and we will bow out gracefully if that happens. But we've made an offer we feel we can afford."
Team principal Ross Brawn did not rule out a deal happening as soon as the Spanish Grand Prix, but said no decision had been made about what they were going to do.
"It's still in discussion," he explained. "We are looking to try and develop a bigger longer term relationship and it is understanding what they want and what we want. So it is still ongoing. The right deal could happen any time.
He added: "Any team is looking for medium term commitments particularly in this environment so it would be nice to have our principal funding in place for the next few years."
Virgin announced at the Australian Grand Prix that it was to become a sponsor of Brawn, and Branson said at the time that there was a chance of him expanding the deal - to potentially become title sponsor.
Discussions about such plans are still ongoing, and Branson said in Bahrain on Saturday that he has laid out the terms to the team – and was now awaiting an answer.
"The team have become very popular since the beginning of the season," said Branson. "We are negotiating, as are other people, and we may or may not end up doing a full branding exercise.
"If we end up not doing it, we will obviously be the sponsor for this year and would be delighted with the way it has gone. If we end up doing it, even better.
"Let's see how it goes. Someone could come in and pay a silly price, and we will bow out gracefully if that happens. But we've made an offer we feel we can afford."
Team principal Ross Brawn did not rule out a deal happening as soon as the Spanish Grand Prix, but said no decision had been made about what they were going to do.
"It's still in discussion," he explained. "We are looking to try and develop a bigger longer term relationship and it is understanding what they want and what we want. So it is still ongoing. The right deal could happen any time.
He added: "Any team is looking for medium term commitments particularly in this environment so it would be nice to have our principal funding in place for the next few years."
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Toyota Bahrain Grand Prix - Preview F1 2009
======================================================================
Panasonic Toyota Racing returns to action swiftly after the Chinese
Grand Prix with a trip to the Middle East for the Bahrain Grand Prix
on the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir. The team benefits
from extensive recent experience of the track with the TF109, having
spent two weeks testing there in February, completing 3,847km over
711 laps. Toyota has scored points in every race so far this season,
with Timo Glock claiming a fighting seventh place in China on a day
when Jarno Trulli was eliminated after being hit from behind by a
rival. This weekend the team will again use the super soft and
medium compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres, having previously used
these in both China and Australia. Toyota has a strong record in
Bahrain and already has experience of the podium there following
Jarno's second place in 2005. More recently, Jarno finished sixth
there last year while Timo was ninth after a late gearbox issue
denied him points.
Read more :
http://www.toyota-f1.com/en/season/gp2009/04_bahrain/preview.html
for more information, please visit our website :
http://www.toyota-f1.com
Drivers Championship
1 Jenson Button Brawn GP Formula One Team 21
2 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP Formula One Team 15
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 10
4 Timo Glock Panasonic Toyota Racing 10
5 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 9.5
6 Jarno Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing 8.5
7 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber F1 Team 4
8 Fernando Alonso ING Renault F1 Team 4
9 Heikki Kovalainen Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 4
10 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 4
11 Nico Rosberg AT&T Williams 3.5
12 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 3
13 Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
14 Adrian Sutil Force India F1 Team 0
15 Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
16 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
17 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India F1 Team 0
18 Kazuki Nakajima AT&T Williams 0
19 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber F1 Team 0
20 Nelsinho Piquet ING Renault F1 Team 0
Constructors Championship
1 Brawn GP Formula One Team 36
2 Red Bull Racing 19.5
3 Panasonic Toyota Racing 18.5
4 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 8
5 BMW Sauber F1 Team 4
6 ING Renault F1 Team 4
7 Scuderia Toro Rosso 4
8 AT&T Williams 3.5
9 Force India F1 Team 0
10 Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
---- Race Schedule (All Local Time)-----------------------------------
FORMULA 1 Round 4 Grand Prix of Bahrain
24th April Friday 10:00-11:30 Free Practice 1
14:00-15:30 Free Practice 2
25th April Saturday 11:00-12:00 Free Practice 3
14:00- Qualifying
26th April Sunday 15:00- Race
Panasonic Toyota Racing returns to action swiftly after the Chinese
Grand Prix with a trip to the Middle East for the Bahrain Grand Prix
on the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir. The team benefits
from extensive recent experience of the track with the TF109, having
spent two weeks testing there in February, completing 3,847km over
711 laps. Toyota has scored points in every race so far this season,
with Timo Glock claiming a fighting seventh place in China on a day
when Jarno Trulli was eliminated after being hit from behind by a
rival. This weekend the team will again use the super soft and
medium compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres, having previously used
these in both China and Australia. Toyota has a strong record in
Bahrain and already has experience of the podium there following
Jarno's second place in 2005. More recently, Jarno finished sixth
there last year while Timo was ninth after a late gearbox issue
denied him points.
Read more :
http://www.toyota-f1.com/en/season/gp2009/04_bahrain/preview.html
for more information, please visit our website :
http://www.toyota-f1.com
Drivers Championship
1 Jenson Button Brawn GP Formula One Team 21
2 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP Formula One Team 15
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 10
4 Timo Glock Panasonic Toyota Racing 10
5 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 9.5
6 Jarno Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing 8.5
7 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber F1 Team 4
8 Fernando Alonso ING Renault F1 Team 4
9 Heikki Kovalainen Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 4
10 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 4
11 Nico Rosberg AT&T Williams 3.5
12 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 3
13 Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
14 Adrian Sutil Force India F1 Team 0
15 Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
16 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
17 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India F1 Team 0
18 Kazuki Nakajima AT&T Williams 0
19 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber F1 Team 0
20 Nelsinho Piquet ING Renault F1 Team 0
Constructors Championship
1 Brawn GP Formula One Team 36
2 Red Bull Racing 19.5
3 Panasonic Toyota Racing 18.5
4 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 8
5 BMW Sauber F1 Team 4
6 ING Renault F1 Team 4
7 Scuderia Toro Rosso 4
8 AT&T Williams 3.5
9 Force India F1 Team 0
10 Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
---- Race Schedule (All Local Time)-----------------------------------
FORMULA 1 Round 4 Grand Prix of Bahrain
24th April Friday 10:00-11:30 Free Practice 1
14:00-15:30 Free Practice 2
25th April Saturday 11:00-12:00 Free Practice 3
14:00- Qualifying
26th April Sunday 15:00- Race
Sunday, 19 April 2009
F1 Vettel claims RBR's first win
Sebastian Vettel delivered Red Bull Racing’s first Formula 1 victory with a wet-weather masterclass in China, leading team-mate Mark Webber home in a sensational 1-2 for the Milton Keynes-based squad.
Having ended Jenson Button and Brawn GP’s dominant start to the season in qualifying with RBR’s first pole and a third, the pair proved too strong for the championship-leading combination in treacherous Shanghai conditions and denied them a hat-trick of wins.Vettel, not for the first time in the wet, stole the show with a flawless performance that was a carbon-copy of his metronomic drive to victory in the rain at Monza for Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso last September.
The Brawn BGP001 was no match for the RB5 in the conditions and Button finished a distant third ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello – the Briton nevertheless increasing his early points lead to six over the Brazilian.With standing water all around the circuit and rain still falling, a safety car start was declared and the Mercedes led the field around for the first seven laps.
The long caution period was bad news for the lighter-fuelled drivers, giving them ever less scope to make an aggressive strategy work.Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg elected to cut their losses and refuel under the safety car, at the price of falling to the back of the field.
The Red Bulls stuck to their original plan and duly led away from the Brawns once the race got underway in anger, Vettel building an immediate 2.4s cushion over Webber.Most of the action in the early laps came from the busy queue of cars that had formed up behind a struggling Jarno Trulli, who was all at sea in the conditions and began to tumble down the order.
Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a long duel, trading places several times (in between a brief spin from Lewis), but the man making the most impressive progress was Sebastien Buemi.The Toro Rosso rookie passed Raikkonen and Trulli with the confidence of a seasoned winner, snatching fifth place from the Toyota on lap 13.
In the meantime the two Brawns had exchanged places, Button capitalising on a mistake from Barrichello in turn 11 to take over third place.Webber was the first of the Red Bulls to pit at the end of lap 14, with Vettel following suit the following lap and relinquishing a 13.6s lead over Button.
By this time the rain had began to fall more heavily again, and on lap 19 the safety car was deployed once again, prompting the Brawns to make an immediate beeline for the pits.It worked out well for Button, who rejoined in between the two Red Bulls, but Barrichello slipped behind Hamilton and the two Ferraris.
The Maranello contingent was reduced to a single car when Massa’s F60 lost drive on the back straight and crawled to a halt, condemning last year’s championship runner-up to his third successive non-score.Meanwhile there had been a scare for leader Vettel when he was hit from behind by Buemi as they made their way through the murk – in an uncanny echo of the German’s own blunder while driving for STR in the wet 2007 Fuji race when he crashed into Webber.
Fortunately for Vettel (and Buemi’s own standing within the Red Bull stable), the only damage done was a broken front wing on the Swiss driver’s Toro Rosso, which was swiftly replaced at his pit stop.Vettel proved his car was unscathed by storming away at the restart, pulling out a 4.3s cushion over Button on the first flying lap and steadily increasing it until he had 10s in hand by lap 28.
Webber was hot on Button’s heels and pounced on a mistake from the Briton under braking for the turn 14 hairpin to reclaim second – only to return the favour a couple of laps later when he got caught out by a puddle on the turn-in to the final corner.As if irritated by that slip-up, Webber snatched the place straight back on the very next lap with an audacious move around the outside of the fast turn seven, restoring a Red Bull 1-2.
Vettel had taken full advantage of his team-mate’s antics with Button to cement his advantage, and while Webber matched his pace once he was clear of Button, he was 17.5s adrift when Sebastian pitted for the second time on lap 37.When Vettel rejoined directly behind Button, who still had to make his final stop, it was clear he had the race by the throat.
But such was his superior pace that he swept past the Brawn anyway on lap 41, getting a run along the back straight and outbraking it into the hairpin with clinical precision.Button pitted soon afterwards, clearing the way for Red Bull’s breakthrough 1-2 and relegating the championship leader to the bottom rung of the podium for the first time this year.
Barrichello moved back up to fourth to continue the team symmetry, withstanding a late challenge from Heikki Kovalainen, who finally got on the scoreboard after failing to complete a lap in the first two races.It was a sure-footed performance from the Finn, in contrast to team-mate Hamilton who provided plenty of entertainment as he mixed bold passing moves with a seemingly equal number of off-course excursions.
The world champion ran as high as fourth in the race’s middle stages prior to his only pit stop, but thereafter his progress was stymied by excessive tyre wear (which only worsened with each new off) and he slipped to an eventual sixth.Timo Glock likewise had a scrappy afternoon but kept plugging away and was rewarded with seventh.
The Toyota driver charged up the order early on after starting from the pit lane, but tangled with Nick Heidfeld’s BMW, damaged his front wing and had several other minor indiscretions.Buemi deservedly took the final point after his most impressive F1 performance to date, but might have done better still but for unlucky timing with the second safety car period.
Another to shine in the abject conditions was Sutil, who came within half a dozen laps of giving Force India its best ever result after using canny strategy and his own wet-weather talents to climb to sixth place.But, as in the Monaco rain last year when he was set for fourth until being rammed by Raikkonen’s Ferrari, there was late heartbreak for Sutil when he aquaplaned on a puddle at the turn five kink and slammed into the barrier.
Ferrari’s nightmare 2009 season plumbed new depths, with reliability problems resurfacing to cause Massa’s demise and Raikkonen finishing slipping down to 10th.Having failed to score a single point in the first three races, the reigning world champion team has now had its worst start to a season since 1981.
Chinese GP result - 56 laps
1. VETTEL Red Bull 1hr57m43.485s
2. WEBBER Red Bull +10.9s
3. BUTTON Brawn +44.9s
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn +1m03.7s
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren +1m05.1s
6. HAMILTON McLaren +1m11.8s
7. GLOCK Toyota +1m14.4s
8. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1m16.4s
9. ALONSO Renault +1m24.3s
10. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +1m31.7s
11. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1m34.1s
12. HEIDFELD BMW +1m35.8s
13. KUBICA BMW +1m46.8s
14. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
15. ROSBERG Williams +1 lap
16. PIQUET Renault +2 laps
R. SUTIL Force India +6 laps
R. NAKAJIMA Williams +13 laps
R. MASSA Ferrari +34 laps
R. TRULLI Toyota +38 laps
Fastest lap: BARRICHELLO 1m52.592s
Having ended Jenson Button and Brawn GP’s dominant start to the season in qualifying with RBR’s first pole and a third, the pair proved too strong for the championship-leading combination in treacherous Shanghai conditions and denied them a hat-trick of wins.Vettel, not for the first time in the wet, stole the show with a flawless performance that was a carbon-copy of his metronomic drive to victory in the rain at Monza for Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso last September.
The Brawn BGP001 was no match for the RB5 in the conditions and Button finished a distant third ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello – the Briton nevertheless increasing his early points lead to six over the Brazilian.With standing water all around the circuit and rain still falling, a safety car start was declared and the Mercedes led the field around for the first seven laps.
The long caution period was bad news for the lighter-fuelled drivers, giving them ever less scope to make an aggressive strategy work.Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg elected to cut their losses and refuel under the safety car, at the price of falling to the back of the field.
The Red Bulls stuck to their original plan and duly led away from the Brawns once the race got underway in anger, Vettel building an immediate 2.4s cushion over Webber.Most of the action in the early laps came from the busy queue of cars that had formed up behind a struggling Jarno Trulli, who was all at sea in the conditions and began to tumble down the order.
Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a long duel, trading places several times (in between a brief spin from Lewis), but the man making the most impressive progress was Sebastien Buemi.The Toro Rosso rookie passed Raikkonen and Trulli with the confidence of a seasoned winner, snatching fifth place from the Toyota on lap 13.
In the meantime the two Brawns had exchanged places, Button capitalising on a mistake from Barrichello in turn 11 to take over third place.Webber was the first of the Red Bulls to pit at the end of lap 14, with Vettel following suit the following lap and relinquishing a 13.6s lead over Button.
By this time the rain had began to fall more heavily again, and on lap 19 the safety car was deployed once again, prompting the Brawns to make an immediate beeline for the pits.It worked out well for Button, who rejoined in between the two Red Bulls, but Barrichello slipped behind Hamilton and the two Ferraris.
The Maranello contingent was reduced to a single car when Massa’s F60 lost drive on the back straight and crawled to a halt, condemning last year’s championship runner-up to his third successive non-score.Meanwhile there had been a scare for leader Vettel when he was hit from behind by Buemi as they made their way through the murk – in an uncanny echo of the German’s own blunder while driving for STR in the wet 2007 Fuji race when he crashed into Webber.
Fortunately for Vettel (and Buemi’s own standing within the Red Bull stable), the only damage done was a broken front wing on the Swiss driver’s Toro Rosso, which was swiftly replaced at his pit stop.Vettel proved his car was unscathed by storming away at the restart, pulling out a 4.3s cushion over Button on the first flying lap and steadily increasing it until he had 10s in hand by lap 28.
Webber was hot on Button’s heels and pounced on a mistake from the Briton under braking for the turn 14 hairpin to reclaim second – only to return the favour a couple of laps later when he got caught out by a puddle on the turn-in to the final corner.As if irritated by that slip-up, Webber snatched the place straight back on the very next lap with an audacious move around the outside of the fast turn seven, restoring a Red Bull 1-2.
Vettel had taken full advantage of his team-mate’s antics with Button to cement his advantage, and while Webber matched his pace once he was clear of Button, he was 17.5s adrift when Sebastian pitted for the second time on lap 37.When Vettel rejoined directly behind Button, who still had to make his final stop, it was clear he had the race by the throat.
But such was his superior pace that he swept past the Brawn anyway on lap 41, getting a run along the back straight and outbraking it into the hairpin with clinical precision.Button pitted soon afterwards, clearing the way for Red Bull’s breakthrough 1-2 and relegating the championship leader to the bottom rung of the podium for the first time this year.
Barrichello moved back up to fourth to continue the team symmetry, withstanding a late challenge from Heikki Kovalainen, who finally got on the scoreboard after failing to complete a lap in the first two races.It was a sure-footed performance from the Finn, in contrast to team-mate Hamilton who provided plenty of entertainment as he mixed bold passing moves with a seemingly equal number of off-course excursions.
The world champion ran as high as fourth in the race’s middle stages prior to his only pit stop, but thereafter his progress was stymied by excessive tyre wear (which only worsened with each new off) and he slipped to an eventual sixth.Timo Glock likewise had a scrappy afternoon but kept plugging away and was rewarded with seventh.
The Toyota driver charged up the order early on after starting from the pit lane, but tangled with Nick Heidfeld’s BMW, damaged his front wing and had several other minor indiscretions.Buemi deservedly took the final point after his most impressive F1 performance to date, but might have done better still but for unlucky timing with the second safety car period.
Another to shine in the abject conditions was Sutil, who came within half a dozen laps of giving Force India its best ever result after using canny strategy and his own wet-weather talents to climb to sixth place.But, as in the Monaco rain last year when he was set for fourth until being rammed by Raikkonen’s Ferrari, there was late heartbreak for Sutil when he aquaplaned on a puddle at the turn five kink and slammed into the barrier.
Ferrari’s nightmare 2009 season plumbed new depths, with reliability problems resurfacing to cause Massa’s demise and Raikkonen finishing slipping down to 10th.Having failed to score a single point in the first three races, the reigning world champion team has now had its worst start to a season since 1981.
Chinese GP result - 56 laps
1. VETTEL Red Bull 1hr57m43.485s
2. WEBBER Red Bull +10.9s
3. BUTTON Brawn +44.9s
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn +1m03.7s
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren +1m05.1s
6. HAMILTON McLaren +1m11.8s
7. GLOCK Toyota +1m14.4s
8. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1m16.4s
9. ALONSO Renault +1m24.3s
10. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +1m31.7s
11. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1m34.1s
12. HEIDFELD BMW +1m35.8s
13. KUBICA BMW +1m46.8s
14. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
15. ROSBERG Williams +1 lap
16. PIQUET Renault +2 laps
R. SUTIL Force India +6 laps
R. NAKAJIMA Williams +13 laps
R. MASSA Ferrari +34 laps
R. TRULLI Toyota +38 laps
Fastest lap: BARRICHELLO 1m52.592s
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Vettel hands stunning Red Bull first F1 pole
Sebastian Vettel delivered Red Bull Racing its first Formula 1 pole position with a brilliant last-gasp lap in China, as Jenson Button and Brawn GP’s early stranglehold on the 2009 season was shattered in qualifying.Completing a new-look order at the head of the field was, totally unexpectedly, Fernando Alonso – Renault’s fortunes seemingly transformed by the introduction of an interim diffuser from Saturday morning’s final practice onwards.Mark Webber completed RBR’s best ever qualifying session by claiming third in the second RB5 having held provisional pole going into the dying seconds.
All this meant that hitherto pacesetter Brawn was shuffled down to fourth and fifth, with Rubens Barrichello outqualifying championship leader Button for the first time this season.Indeed after all the week’s arguments over the teams running two-step diffusers, the other two ‘diffuser gang’ squads were also usurped at the front with Jarno Trulli (Toyota) sixth and Nico Rosberg (Williams) seventh.And to heighten expectations that the early pacesetting teams may not run away with the championship as feared after all, the sport’s two big guns, Ferrari and McLaren, also showed much-needed improved form.Kimi Raikkonen was eighth in the lead Ferrari, although the Italian squad again couldn’t get two cars into Q3 after Felipe Massa was dumped out in the second phase.
And arch-rival McLaren’s previously steady progress away from the lower midfield seems to have been accelerated by its own interim diffuser and new front wing as Lewis Hamilton made the pole shootout for the first time in 2009, eventually claiming ninth.Rookie Sebastien Buemi completed a banner day for the Red Bull family by making the top 10 for the first time at just the third attempt, with STR another team to have made tangible progress since the Malaysian GP two weeks ago.
After practice form suggested that Brawn may face a more difficult time in Shanghai than at the first two races, RBR served notice of its intention to give the Brackley squad a run for its money in Q2.
Vettel and Webber lapped over 0.3s quicker than both Brawn cars in the low-fuel second session, and after Barrichello had topped the first Q3 runs Webber threw down the gauntlet as the decisive final laps got underway with a time of 1m36.466s.Team-mate Vettel had only needed one flying lap to top the second session order and repeated the feat in the third, sitting out most of the 10 minutes before uncorking a sensational 1m36.184s to seal his second career pole.
Alonso then produced an even more unexpected lap which split the two RBRs, 0.2s shy of Vettel, in a revised R29 car that had completed just six laps in its new form in final practice. While the Shanghai pole shootout was arguably the best of the season so far, the first two stages of the session also produced other unexpected results.
BMW had failed to get either car into the top 10 throughout practice and that form continued into qualifying – although things played out even worse that it may have feared as Robert Kubica was a shock Q1 casualty and will start 17th.
A late flying lap ensured team-mate Nick Heidfeld’s progression into the second phase and the German missed out on Q3 by just one hundredth of a second, although 11th place probably still represents a good result given the team’s current problems.
The second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen will share the sixth row with the BMW, the Finn not being able to match Hamilton after deciding not to run with the MP4-24’s new front wing or diffuser.Massa faces another tough race from 13th on the grid, the Brazilian failing to make the final phase for the second weekend in a row.
Although at least he can take some comfort in the fact he at least got out of Q1 unlike at Sepang.Perhaps Saturday’s most disappointed man, however, was Timo Glock in the second Toyota.His problems started when a gearbox problem in final practice necessitated a change of the unit for qualifying, meaning he picked up the mandatory five-place grid penalty.
However, his TF109 still should have been fast enough to secure passage into the top 10, but Glock failed to even get that far and his 13th fastest time becomes 19th on the grid.The next five drivers are therefore promoted a place, with Kazuki Nakajima the first to benefit, moving up a spot from 15th, after the Japanese driver again failed to exploit the full potential of the Williams as demonstrated by Rosberg.
Another man to fall well short of his team-mate’s exploits was STR’s Bourdais – the Frenchman comprehensively outqualified by rookie Buemi for the second time in three races, failing to get past Q1.Nelson Piquet Jr’s long-standing problems over a single lap showed no sign off easing as he slumped to a Q1 exit for the third consecutive race.
While the Brazilian’s car doesn’t feature Renault’s interim diffuser, he nevertheless lapped half a second slower than he did when he set the fifth-fastest time in the morning’s final practice session.Kubica on the other hand experienced a Q1 elimination for the first time in his career after he failed to lap quicker than the 18th quickest effort – a time that worryingly for BMW was 0.3s below the cut line.
Having failed to finish higher than sixth in three previous visits to Shanghai, Kubica admitted he was desperate for a change of luck this year especially on the back of a point-less start to 2009.But despite ditching KERS for Saturday’s running after finding it of little benefit during a difficult Friday, his weekend of woe worsened as a continuing lack of grip continued to hamper his F1.09’s speed.
Force India, meanwhile, was adrift at the foot of the times with Adrian Sutil ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, Sutil promoted off the back row courtesy of the demoted Glock.
The team expects to make more progress when the European season gets underway in two races time and the Spanish round now can’t come soon enough after both drivers lapped 0.7s slower than the struggling Kubica alone.
Chinese GP grid
1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. ALONSO Renault
3. WEBBER Red Bull
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn
5. BUTTON Brawn
6. TRULLI Toyota
7. ROSBERG Williams
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
9. HAMILTON McLaren
10. BUEMI Toro Rosso
11. HEIDFELD BMW
12. KOVALAINEN McLaren
13. MASSA Ferrari
14. NAKAJIMA Williams
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
16. PIQUET Renault
17. KUBICA BMW
18. SUTIL Force India
19. GLOCK Toyota*
20. FISICHELLA Force India
* five-place penalty for gearbox change
All this meant that hitherto pacesetter Brawn was shuffled down to fourth and fifth, with Rubens Barrichello outqualifying championship leader Button for the first time this season.Indeed after all the week’s arguments over the teams running two-step diffusers, the other two ‘diffuser gang’ squads were also usurped at the front with Jarno Trulli (Toyota) sixth and Nico Rosberg (Williams) seventh.And to heighten expectations that the early pacesetting teams may not run away with the championship as feared after all, the sport’s two big guns, Ferrari and McLaren, also showed much-needed improved form.Kimi Raikkonen was eighth in the lead Ferrari, although the Italian squad again couldn’t get two cars into Q3 after Felipe Massa was dumped out in the second phase.
And arch-rival McLaren’s previously steady progress away from the lower midfield seems to have been accelerated by its own interim diffuser and new front wing as Lewis Hamilton made the pole shootout for the first time in 2009, eventually claiming ninth.Rookie Sebastien Buemi completed a banner day for the Red Bull family by making the top 10 for the first time at just the third attempt, with STR another team to have made tangible progress since the Malaysian GP two weeks ago.
After practice form suggested that Brawn may face a more difficult time in Shanghai than at the first two races, RBR served notice of its intention to give the Brackley squad a run for its money in Q2.
Vettel and Webber lapped over 0.3s quicker than both Brawn cars in the low-fuel second session, and after Barrichello had topped the first Q3 runs Webber threw down the gauntlet as the decisive final laps got underway with a time of 1m36.466s.Team-mate Vettel had only needed one flying lap to top the second session order and repeated the feat in the third, sitting out most of the 10 minutes before uncorking a sensational 1m36.184s to seal his second career pole.
Alonso then produced an even more unexpected lap which split the two RBRs, 0.2s shy of Vettel, in a revised R29 car that had completed just six laps in its new form in final practice. While the Shanghai pole shootout was arguably the best of the season so far, the first two stages of the session also produced other unexpected results.
BMW had failed to get either car into the top 10 throughout practice and that form continued into qualifying – although things played out even worse that it may have feared as Robert Kubica was a shock Q1 casualty and will start 17th.
A late flying lap ensured team-mate Nick Heidfeld’s progression into the second phase and the German missed out on Q3 by just one hundredth of a second, although 11th place probably still represents a good result given the team’s current problems.
The second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen will share the sixth row with the BMW, the Finn not being able to match Hamilton after deciding not to run with the MP4-24’s new front wing or diffuser.Massa faces another tough race from 13th on the grid, the Brazilian failing to make the final phase for the second weekend in a row.
Although at least he can take some comfort in the fact he at least got out of Q1 unlike at Sepang.Perhaps Saturday’s most disappointed man, however, was Timo Glock in the second Toyota.His problems started when a gearbox problem in final practice necessitated a change of the unit for qualifying, meaning he picked up the mandatory five-place grid penalty.
However, his TF109 still should have been fast enough to secure passage into the top 10, but Glock failed to even get that far and his 13th fastest time becomes 19th on the grid.The next five drivers are therefore promoted a place, with Kazuki Nakajima the first to benefit, moving up a spot from 15th, after the Japanese driver again failed to exploit the full potential of the Williams as demonstrated by Rosberg.
Another man to fall well short of his team-mate’s exploits was STR’s Bourdais – the Frenchman comprehensively outqualified by rookie Buemi for the second time in three races, failing to get past Q1.Nelson Piquet Jr’s long-standing problems over a single lap showed no sign off easing as he slumped to a Q1 exit for the third consecutive race.
While the Brazilian’s car doesn’t feature Renault’s interim diffuser, he nevertheless lapped half a second slower than he did when he set the fifth-fastest time in the morning’s final practice session.Kubica on the other hand experienced a Q1 elimination for the first time in his career after he failed to lap quicker than the 18th quickest effort – a time that worryingly for BMW was 0.3s below the cut line.
Having failed to finish higher than sixth in three previous visits to Shanghai, Kubica admitted he was desperate for a change of luck this year especially on the back of a point-less start to 2009.But despite ditching KERS for Saturday’s running after finding it of little benefit during a difficult Friday, his weekend of woe worsened as a continuing lack of grip continued to hamper his F1.09’s speed.
Force India, meanwhile, was adrift at the foot of the times with Adrian Sutil ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, Sutil promoted off the back row courtesy of the demoted Glock.
The team expects to make more progress when the European season gets underway in two races time and the Spanish round now can’t come soon enough after both drivers lapped 0.7s slower than the struggling Kubica alone.
Chinese GP grid
1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. ALONSO Renault
3. WEBBER Red Bull
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn
5. BUTTON Brawn
6. TRULLI Toyota
7. ROSBERG Williams
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
9. HAMILTON McLaren
10. BUEMI Toro Rosso
11. HEIDFELD BMW
12. KOVALAINEN McLaren
13. MASSA Ferrari
14. NAKAJIMA Williams
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
16. PIQUET Renault
17. KUBICA BMW
18. SUTIL Force India
19. GLOCK Toyota*
20. FISICHELLA Force India
* five-place penalty for gearbox change
Kubica urges Sauber F1to improve quickly
Robert Kubica believes that BMW Sauber must make some rapid car improvements if the team is to avoid slipping permanently down the order after qualifying a disastrous 18th for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Despite showing strong form in the first two races of the season - Kubica was set for at least second place in Australia before a clash with Sebastian Vettel and Nick Heidfeld was runner-up in Malaysia two weeks ago – the Pole believes the team has been overtaken by many of its rivals."It will have to be really big (package) if we want to be at the top because the gap is quite big," said Kubica when asked by AUTOSPORT if he expects car improvements for next week's Bahrain Grand Prix."Some of the teams have moved forward and some of the teams are already, after the decision of the FIA, adjusting their cars to the clear idea of the regulations. We have exactly the same car that we had in Australia.
"The gap to the front cars is pretty much the same; the difference is now Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren are stronger."If we don't bring anything new [to Bahrain] we can struggle as well there, although in Bahrain the gaps will be smaller because downforce is not as important. Braking stability and traction is more important, but the overall picture will not change."
Despite admitting to making a small mistake on his best Q1 lap, Kubica believes that the qualifying pace of the BMW Saubers is representative of their competitiveness in China."Today is not idea, unfortunately it didn't work out," he said. "The pace of the car and the way we approached qualifying has been a bit disappointing.
"Anyway, I would not be much further forward even without the small mistake. So that's how it is."Kubica also believes that his inability to run with KERS, which he tried in Friday practice but discarded today, is partly down to how sensitive the BMW Sauber F1.09 is to weight distribution in comparison to some of the other teams on the grid.
"There are some drivers that have no problem with it that don't weigh much less than me," said Kubica. "It looks like our car is very sensitive to weight distribution and it's very important not only for the car balance, but the setup as well."In the past, we were playing quite a lot with it, and for now the situation is like this. For the future, I don't know."
Despite showing strong form in the first two races of the season - Kubica was set for at least second place in Australia before a clash with Sebastian Vettel and Nick Heidfeld was runner-up in Malaysia two weeks ago – the Pole believes the team has been overtaken by many of its rivals."It will have to be really big (package) if we want to be at the top because the gap is quite big," said Kubica when asked by AUTOSPORT if he expects car improvements for next week's Bahrain Grand Prix."Some of the teams have moved forward and some of the teams are already, after the decision of the FIA, adjusting their cars to the clear idea of the regulations. We have exactly the same car that we had in Australia.
"The gap to the front cars is pretty much the same; the difference is now Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren are stronger."If we don't bring anything new [to Bahrain] we can struggle as well there, although in Bahrain the gaps will be smaller because downforce is not as important. Braking stability and traction is more important, but the overall picture will not change."
Despite admitting to making a small mistake on his best Q1 lap, Kubica believes that the qualifying pace of the BMW Saubers is representative of their competitiveness in China."Today is not idea, unfortunately it didn't work out," he said. "The pace of the car and the way we approached qualifying has been a bit disappointing.
"Anyway, I would not be much further forward even without the small mistake. So that's how it is."Kubica also believes that his inability to run with KERS, which he tried in Friday practice but discarded today, is partly down to how sensitive the BMW Sauber F1.09 is to weight distribution in comparison to some of the other teams on the grid.
"There are some drivers that have no problem with it that don't weigh much less than me," said Kubica. "It looks like our car is very sensitive to weight distribution and it's very important not only for the car balance, but the setup as well."In the past, we were playing quite a lot with it, and for now the situation is like this. For the future, I don't know."
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
F1 renault in Dubai
Renault complete spectacular Roadshow in Dubai The Renault team completed a successful Roadshow in Dubai this weekend as race driver Nelson Piquet led the demonstrations along with third driver Romain Grosjean and demo driver Adam Khan.
Entering its seventh year, the Renault Roadshow kicked off its 2009 campaign with a unique format which saw last year's Renault F1 car, the R28, demonstrated at various venues across Dubai, including the desert and Dubai Autodrome. However, the main venue for the spectator events was Downtown Barj Dubai in front of the world's tallest building with the demonstrations staged on a giant floating platform built on the Dubai Mall lagoon.
The climax of the Roadshow on Sunday saw Piquet demonstrate the R28 at 'Ski Dubai', an indoor ski slope. Fitted with specially-adapted Bridgestone studded snow tyres, Piquet completed a series of donuts in the snow at the bottom of the slope. It took the Bridgestone engineers 16 hours to manually insert all 2,016 studs, but the end result was well worth the effort.
Speaking at the end of the weekend, Piquet said: "Coming to Dubai has been a great experience and a real success for Renault. We packed a lot into this event and did some unusual things that I hope the fans enjoyed. Driving on the snow in an F1 car is something I never thought I would have the chance to do and it was a lot of fun."
Grosjean commented: "Dubai is such an amazing city and everyone here has really embraced the Roadshow. For me the highlight was driving through the desert, but the
downtown demos were great for the fans as they could get close to the team and the car, which is what the Roadshows are all about."
Khan, who made his Roadshow debut added: "To come to such an exciting place as Dubai and experience my first Roadshow has been really enjoyable. Seeing everything for the first time and the enthusiasm of the fans has made me realise just how special these events are."
Entering its seventh year, the Renault Roadshow kicked off its 2009 campaign with a unique format which saw last year's Renault F1 car, the R28, demonstrated at various venues across Dubai, including the desert and Dubai Autodrome. However, the main venue for the spectator events was Downtown Barj Dubai in front of the world's tallest building with the demonstrations staged on a giant floating platform built on the Dubai Mall lagoon.
The climax of the Roadshow on Sunday saw Piquet demonstrate the R28 at 'Ski Dubai', an indoor ski slope. Fitted with specially-adapted Bridgestone studded snow tyres, Piquet completed a series of donuts in the snow at the bottom of the slope. It took the Bridgestone engineers 16 hours to manually insert all 2,016 studs, but the end result was well worth the effort.
Speaking at the end of the weekend, Piquet said: "Coming to Dubai has been a great experience and a real success for Renault. We packed a lot into this event and did some unusual things that I hope the fans enjoyed. Driving on the snow in an F1 car is something I never thought I would have the chance to do and it was a lot of fun."
Grosjean commented: "Dubai is such an amazing city and everyone here has really embraced the Roadshow. For me the highlight was driving through the desert, but the
downtown demos were great for the fans as they could get close to the team and the car, which is what the Roadshows are all about."
Khan, who made his Roadshow debut added: "To come to such an exciting place as Dubai and experience my first Roadshow has been really enjoyable. Seeing everything for the first time and the enthusiasm of the fans has made me realise just how special these events are."
Ferrari reacts to slump with reshuffle
Ferrari has moved to address its worst start to a season for 17 years by announcing an organisational reshuffle which sees team manager Luca Baldisserri take on a factory-based role.
After failing to score a point in either of 2009’s first two races, the world champion team has created what it is calling a ‘working party’ in order to accelerate development updates onto its struggling F60 car.
The group will coordinate development work at its Maranello base with the results from on-track performance and be led by technical director Aldo Costa, with Baldisserri charged with overseeing the development process from the factory.
Ferrari says Baldisseri’s trackside tasks will be carried out by Chris Dyer, who this year became chief track engineer after six seasons as race engineer to first Michael Schumacher and then Kimi Raikkonen."The goal is to anticipate as much as possible the introduction of new technologies to reduce the performance gap as fast as possible, which, apart from the question of the diffuser, seems to be there," a team statement said.
"A working party has been set up under the coordination of Aldo Costa, which will follow the development programme at Maranello in close contact with the experience made on the track.
"A crucial element of this group is Luca Baldisserri. The Scuderia team manager will follow the single-seater's development step by step, while his role at the track will be covered by Chris Dyer."Ferrari also admitted that this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix “must be a turning point” for its season following on from a crisis meeting which involved its president Luca di Montezemolo last week when it analysed the reasons for its troubled start to 2009.
And in an immediate bid to kick-start its title defence, the team says its F60 will feature several updates in Shanghai – including a revised front wing after Marc Gene signed off the modified part during straight-line testing at Vairano last week.Ferrari will attempt to resolve one key development area it is claims is currently handing the early-season pacesetters an unfair advantage when it, and rivals BMW, Renault, Red Bull and McLaren, take their complaints over ‘double decker’ diffusers to the International Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
The FIA hearing is set to either declare the designs legal – thus prompting all the other teams to introduce them as quickly as possible – or outlaw them completely.Ferrari says its case will be made at the Paris hearing by design and development consultant Rory Byrne and chief designer Nikolas Tombazis.
Fernando Alonso fears this season's formula one world championship could today be decided in court
• Former world champion says diffuser is unfair
• Spaniard says ruling in Paris is crucial to season's outcome
Fernando Alonso fears this season's formula one world championship could today be decided in court when Ferrari, Renault, BMW Sauber and Red Bull face Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota at an International Court of Appeal hearing in Paris.
The case centres around the diffuser - an aerodynamic body part that aids performance - at the rear of the cars belonging to the three defendants.In the opening two grands prix in Australia and Malaysia, the three teams have a clear performance advantage, with Brawn GP's Jenson Button winning both.
If the judges deem the part is illegal, they have the power to overturn those two race results, potentially wiping Button's two victories from the record books.
However, the double former world champion Alonso believes if the judges side with the diffuser teams, it will be difficult for any of the other seven to win either the drivers' or constructors' title."It's a complicated issue, but the championship could be more or less decided," said Alonso. "If the diffusers are legal, the Brawns are going to be nearly unreachable for any other team."
The major concern for Ferrari and the rest is that if they do lose, they will be forced into a radical redesign of their cars as the diffuser affects a number of areas."You have to work on the whole car," explained the Renault driver.
"It's not just about adding the diffuser and suddenly the car is a second quicker. The diffuser makes you go fast if you have a new front end, new sidepods, a new engine cover. You have to rebuild the whole car, and that would take a lot of months."
• Spaniard says ruling in Paris is crucial to season's outcome
Fernando Alonso fears this season's formula one world championship could today be decided in court when Ferrari, Renault, BMW Sauber and Red Bull face Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota at an International Court of Appeal hearing in Paris.
The case centres around the diffuser - an aerodynamic body part that aids performance - at the rear of the cars belonging to the three defendants.In the opening two grands prix in Australia and Malaysia, the three teams have a clear performance advantage, with Brawn GP's Jenson Button winning both.
If the judges deem the part is illegal, they have the power to overturn those two race results, potentially wiping Button's two victories from the record books.
However, the double former world champion Alonso believes if the judges side with the diffuser teams, it will be difficult for any of the other seven to win either the drivers' or constructors' title."It's a complicated issue, but the championship could be more or less decided," said Alonso. "If the diffusers are legal, the Brawns are going to be nearly unreachable for any other team."
The major concern for Ferrari and the rest is that if they do lose, they will be forced into a radical redesign of their cars as the diffuser affects a number of areas."You have to work on the whole car," explained the Renault driver.
"It's not just about adding the diffuser and suddenly the car is a second quicker. The diffuser makes you go fast if you have a new front end, new sidepods, a new engine cover. You have to rebuild the whole car, and that would take a lot of months."
Monday, 13 April 2009
Force India car has potential for f1 season
The Malaysian GP was a frustrating race for Adrian Sutil, who was hoping that rain would give him the sort of boost that he had in Monaco last year. After starting on a light fuel load he made his first stop on lap 15, just before the skies darkened. With rain threatening he came in again just three laps later and gambled on wets, as did Kimi Raikkonen on the very same lap. The gamble didn’t pay off, but after the red flag he was ready with new wet tyres and a full tank for the run to the finish. However, the race was not restarted and thus he was unable to take advantage of his strategy. We asked Adrian for his thoughts on the weekend
Q: Why did you take the tyre gamble?
‘I pitted and I did one or two laps on slicks, but then I had a small problem with the car so I couldn’t really drive the car in the dry. We pitted again and changed onto the wet tyres and with slower speeds through the corners, it was alright, I could drive the car.’
Q: Did you realise straight away that the change was too early?
‘Yes, I think I was one of the first! I did five or six laps on wets in the dry but it was dark, it was starting to spot with rain and we had nothing to lose. Just before the race was stopped I put on new wet tyres because my first set was really worn out as we had changed too early, as we took a gamble. When the race stopped we had pitted and changed again and refuelled. In fact we would have been in quite a good position as some of the other teams still had to stop.’
Q: Any regrets on taking that gamble?
‘For sure we lost a lap or one and a half laps but we had to try, as we were at the end of the field. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not. I’m not really disappointed about that, I’m more disappointed that the race was suspended, and there was no other chance. We have to look at whether it’s really a good idea to run races so late! We were running out of time, and that’s a shame really.’
Q: So do you see it as a missed opportunity?
‘Yes, definitely. I was hoping to restart the race because we were filled up. We were the only car which went into the pits at that point and right at this time they stopped the race and we had to wait at the end of the pitlane. It was not a problem, as I was 15th with a good chance to gain a lot of places but it was just getting too dark.’
Q: Have had a chance to fight with anyone running KERS?
‘In Melbourne I had Nick Heidfeld in front of me, but like I said, our car is very fast on the straight, and I couldn’t really see a benefit of KERS. I was actually slipstreaming him sometimes and trying to overtake, so it is possible without KERS. Right now they seem to have a little bit of a problem with the balance all the time when they run KERS, so it’s very, very equal.’
Q: Any thoughts on the next race in China?
‘It’s quite a nice circuit, with good corners. Let’s see how the temperature is. It could be quite cold there now. In previous years we’ve had the race at the end of the season in hot conditions, so this could be the main difference. But I’m looking forward to it.’
Q: Why did you take the tyre gamble?
‘I pitted and I did one or two laps on slicks, but then I had a small problem with the car so I couldn’t really drive the car in the dry. We pitted again and changed onto the wet tyres and with slower speeds through the corners, it was alright, I could drive the car.’
Q: Did you realise straight away that the change was too early?
‘Yes, I think I was one of the first! I did five or six laps on wets in the dry but it was dark, it was starting to spot with rain and we had nothing to lose. Just before the race was stopped I put on new wet tyres because my first set was really worn out as we had changed too early, as we took a gamble. When the race stopped we had pitted and changed again and refuelled. In fact we would have been in quite a good position as some of the other teams still had to stop.’
Q: Any regrets on taking that gamble?
‘For sure we lost a lap or one and a half laps but we had to try, as we were at the end of the field. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not. I’m not really disappointed about that, I’m more disappointed that the race was suspended, and there was no other chance. We have to look at whether it’s really a good idea to run races so late! We were running out of time, and that’s a shame really.’
Q: So do you see it as a missed opportunity?
‘Yes, definitely. I was hoping to restart the race because we were filled up. We were the only car which went into the pits at that point and right at this time they stopped the race and we had to wait at the end of the pitlane. It was not a problem, as I was 15th with a good chance to gain a lot of places but it was just getting too dark.’
Q: Have had a chance to fight with anyone running KERS?
‘In Melbourne I had Nick Heidfeld in front of me, but like I said, our car is very fast on the straight, and I couldn’t really see a benefit of KERS. I was actually slipstreaming him sometimes and trying to overtake, so it is possible without KERS. Right now they seem to have a little bit of a problem with the balance all the time when they run KERS, so it’s very, very equal.’
Q: Any thoughts on the next race in China?
‘It’s quite a nice circuit, with good corners. Let’s see how the temperature is. It could be quite cold there now. In previous years we’ve had the race at the end of the season in hot conditions, so this could be the main difference. But I’m looking forward to it.’
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)