Quotes Roundup - Week Ending 23rd Nov

The very best from the mouths of those in the know.

Testing out the 2009 Spec

We’re not the only ones who don’t like it…

• “I never saw such a sexy car.” Christian Klien
• “Considering this is Formula One - if people think the introduction of KERS and the reduction in downforce and slicks is going to transform Formula One, then forget it. It will still be a wide car, there will still be aerodynamic effect and offline will stay dirty. It will be easier, but it won’t be MotoGP. And people need to understand that.” Pedro de la Rosa
• “Obviously the set-up is far from ideal, especially on my car as I was focusing mainly on the KERS systems. We’re still having quite a few problems there, but at least we have it in the car.” Nick Heidfeld

The New Boys

We saw some fresh faces in Barcelona, but here’s what they thought…

• “Driving a Formula One car is really, really nice. And I was enjoying myself more and more each lap. Pushing harder and harder makes you find the edge and when the laptime comes from your effort that’s pretty good.” Bruno Senna
• “You can’t compare F1 to rallying, they are so different. It’s not true that rallying is more of a comfort zone, because when I am flat-out on the stages I am concentrating just as hard as I was today.” Sebastien Loeb
• “I only had a big curiosity to know. Well, I’m more and more convinced that with a bit of time I could have become a good F1 driver. It only remains to be seen how good, whether good enough to win or not.” Valentino Rossi

Bernie’s Corner

Three separate stories concerning Mr Ecclestone this week…

• “Given Mr and Mrs Ecclestone were reputed to be worth £2.4bn in the 2008 Rich List, this case may see the highest award to a wife in legal history.” Simon Bethel, family law specialist
• “Everybody understands gold medals and silver and bronze. Nearly all sports are done that way. The whole point will be, when they get to Melbourne for the first race, the guys will want to leave there with a gold medal.” Bernie Ecclestone
• “I think it’s almost certain that there will not be a grand prix in 2010. I always thought the Disney site was the right place for us, the new location that would suit the French Grand Prix. There’s a lot of infrastructure in place, the trains go there, everyone would know it – it was perfect.” Bernie Ecclestone

Bridgestone Motorsport Barcelona Test Summary

Bridgestone Motorsport, the Official Tyre Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, has completed its first post-season test of 2008 at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain, where two compounds of 2009 specification slick tyres were used as well as 2008 specification grooved tyres.

Nine teams were present over three days of testing between 17-19 November and they made use of hard and soft compound slick tyres as well as grooved tyres. Dry conditions meant that there was no use made of Bridgestone’s wet, extreme wet or development single wet tyre.

Although the weather was dry, it was cold, meaning that attaining and maintaining tyre temperature was a challenge for teams, particularly with the hard compound slick. A significant amount of data was gained with twenty-two different drivers over the course of the three days. Teams used visibly different packages, with development 2009 aerodynamic packages, interim and 2008 specification cars all in use. There was also some use of KERS systems by certain teams.

Bridgestone’s Potenza Formula One tyres will next been seen in use in Jerez on December 9-11, where eight teams are scheduled to test, and in Bahrain on December 10-12, where one team is scheduled to test.

Q&A with Tetsuro Kobayashi – Technical Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport:

Which tyres did Bridgestone bring to this test?
“We have brought two compounds of 2009 specification slick tyres, of a hard and soft compound. We also have several compounds of 2008 grooved tyre here as well as our current wet and extreme wet tyres, and the developmental single wet tyre.”

What was learnt with the slick tyres?

“We already have a lot of data from previous running with slick tyres, so the test helped build on this and allowed the teams to evaluate and develop their approach to using these tyres. The weather here in Barcelona has been quite cold so teams have found it difficult to warm up and maintain the heat in their tyres with the harder compound slick. We have gained a lot of data over the three days and we are still analysing it. This is not a completely straight-forward process as there were so many variations of car specification used here over the three days, with current cars, simulated 2009 downforce cars, and cars with early versions of the 2009 aerodynamic packages. Also, there were cars with KERS systems, which are still under development. It has been a very interesting three days, particularly as we have had feedback from a five-time World Rally Champion, as well as seeing new drivers, including the very well known motor sport name of Senna out on track.”

How different are the slicks from the grooved tyres we have seen for the last eleven seasons?
“Grooved tyres are a different concept of tyre from slicks and their introduction brought many challenges such as graining and a change of tyre construction. The return to slick tyres in some ways makes things simpler, and the drivers in particular have welcomed their return. Our current slicks are very different from those we last used in Formula One in the 1997 season, and we have applied the lessons learnt from eleven seasons of working with grooved tyres and from our long experience of other categories of slick tyre.”

Will there be two specifications of tyre at each race next season, and how will you distinguish between them?
“We will take two specifications of tyre to each race and we have worked to engineer two specifications which have a greater difference in characteristics between the two than we saw in the 2008 season. The harder tyre of any given allocation should offer very good consistency, but not nable as good an initial lap time. The softer compound should offer a very good initial lap time, but will experience performance drop-off the more it is used. It is hoped that this should provide competitors with many challenges and strategy options to encourage exciting racing. As regards tyre markings, we are still evaluating exactly what we will use.”

Have you decided which compound allocations to take to each race yet?
“We are still accumulating data and it will be some time before we determine the particular tyre
allocations for each Grand Prix.”

What effect do the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) have from a tyre perspective?
“There should be no difference to overall tyre performance from the additional burst of power that the KERS systems are designed to provide. This is shown by the data we have seen from the systems that have been used so far. In terms of the overall performance of a Formula One car it is quite a complex area. To be effective, a good KERS system needs to be compact and light so it does not compromise the weight distribution opportunities of the chassis. Weight distribution, of course, affects tyre performance so the designers have this in mind when they design their KERS set-ups. This is all part of the challenge of Formula One, and illustrates why Formula One is an excellent test bed for new and emerging technology.”

20-Nov-08: Valentino Rossi Takes to the Track for Ferrari

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 20th November 2008.

The test in Barcelona is over now, but the track time continued for Ferrari in Mugello. Valentino Rossi took to the wheel of the F2008, completed about 30 laps, and was a couple of seconds off the pace. He says it’s all for fun, and will be back in the car tomorrow.

Meanwhile, everyone is evaluating what they learnt over the three test days, especially Bridgestone. They ran slick tyres with some of the teams in Barcelona and gathered plenty of data, but have said it will take them a while to process everything. Technical Manager Kobayashi said: “It has been a very interesting three days, particularly as we have had feedback from a five-time World Rally Champion, as well as seeing new drivers, including the very well known motor sport name of Senna out on track.”

Finally, two Red Bull stories – they have said that Loeb is fast enough for F1, despite only being in a car for the second time this week, and there are rumours that the Red Bulletin will be shutting down production.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

BMW Sauber F1 Team - Test in Barcelona - Day three

November 17th – 19th 2008
Day three – Wednesday

Weather conditions: Sunny all day.
Temperature: Air: 7 – 18 °C, Track: 9 – 23 °C
Number of drivers participating: 13 of 9 teams
Fastest lap overall: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) 1:19.295 min
Circuit length: 4.655 km

Nick Heidfeld
Chassis / engine: BMW Sauber F1.08B-03 / BMW 86/9
Test kilometres today: 494 km (106 laps)
Fastest lap: 1:21.592 min

Christian Klien
Chassis / engine: BMW Sauber F1.08B-06 / BMW 86/9 KERS
Test kilometres today: 410 km (88 laps)
Fastest lap: 1:21.534 min

Programme:
Again the BMW Sauber F1 Team concentrated on evaluation work with the F1.08B interim car. Based on a 2008 chassis with some aerodynamic components complying with the 2009 regulations, the two cars ran for 106 and 88 laps respectively. Christian Klien again drove the car equipped with BMW’s own KERS system, working on the setup of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System. Just before the end of the morning session he had a minor off caused by a hydraulic-related problem in the drivetrain. After repairs he was able to resume testing duties following the lunch break.

Nick Heidfeld today was at the wheel of the BMW Sauber F1.08B without KERS, working on reliability as well as trying different solutions for the mechanical and aerodynamic setup with the 2009 season in mind. While getting used to the slick tyres he also had the chance to collect data on the all-new power-adjustable front wing. “Definitely the slick tyres provide more grip than the 2008 grooved tyres,” Heidfeld said. “On the other hand we have to start from zero by learning how the slick tyres heat up and for how many laps they deliver optimum performance.”

What comes next:
The BMW Sauber F1 Team will continue winter testing in Jerez, where two sessions – December 9th to 11th and 15th to 17th – will conclude the 2008 season.

Honda - Barcelona test report, day three

Following his second day on the main winter testing programme Jenson says it’s nice to be back on slick tyres with reduced downforce, while Bruno Senna completes 107 laps in his full-day evaluation.

Date: Wednesday 19 November
Track: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Drivers: Jenson Button / Bruno Senna

No of Laps: 94 laps / 107 laps
Best Lap Time: 01:21.387 / 1:21.676
Kilometres Covered: 936km
Track Length: 4.655km

Total Test Laps: 585 laps
Total Test Kilometres: 2723km

Weather: Cold and sunny
Ambient Temperature: Maximum 18°C
Track Temperature: Maximum 23°C

The Honda Racing F1 Team today concluded the first test of the winter at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona with Jenson Button and Bruno Senna at the wheel of the Honda cars.

On his second day of running, Jenson continued his set-up programme with the modified RA108 running on slick tyres. He worked through a series of aerodynamic and suspension evaluations to provide further feedback for the development of the team’s 2009 car.

On the other side of the garage, Bruno had his opportunity for a full day of running today. His focus during the morning was to establish a good baseline set-up however traffic frustrated his new tyre runs. Bruno continued to work on improving the car in the afternoon completing two further new tyre runs and setting consistent lap times.

The team’s next test will take place at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 December.

JENSON BUTTON
“It’s nice to be back in a car that I enjoy driving. Taking a lot of the downforce off and running on slick tyres suits my driving style a lot more than grooved tyres. I’ve had a fun couple of days and it’s been very useful as we have tested many things which should help us with the new car. It’s been a positive start to 2009 already and I’m very pleased. I’ve just got to keep pushing the team hard now to get the improvements that we are hoping to achieve for next year.”

BRUNO SENNA
“Today has been a really good day and I’m very pleased. I’ve become a lot more comfortable and confident in the car and I think that showed in the lap time, both in the actual time and also the consistency. We found some good set-ups and we were able to make a lot of progress through the day. Whether what I did today is good enough is for the team to decide now and I respect that. But for me personally, for my first time in a Formula One car, I have to be happy with what I achieved today. Driving a Formula One car is a very special feeling and it is very easy to know why it is the pinnacle of motorsport. It’s very different to anything else you can drive and I just wanted to go faster and faster. Aside from the hard work and focus here this week I have really enjoyed myself. The Honda team are very professional and I am proud to have spent the time with them during this very special week for me.”

ROSS BRAWN
“The first test of the winter in Barcelona has seen us commence our on-track preparations for 2009, a season which will see the most significant change in Formula One’s technical regulations for many years. We have been running two modified RA108 chassis with an aerodynamic package representative of the downforce levels required for next season.

“We have also conducted an intensive tyre programme with the Bridgestone Potenza slick tyres. Having been sensible in the use of our tyre allocation so far this year, we are in the best possible position to gain information about the new slicks ahead of the launch of our new car. Whilst the temperatures have been quite cool this week, which has affected the behaviour of the tyres, both the team and drivers are happy to see Formula One back on slicks.

“In addition to our main test programme, we took the opportunity to evaluate the emerging talents of Lucas Di Grassi and Bruno Senna. Both drivers spent one and a half days in our car which has enabled the team to assess their performance and level of technical skill. Lucas and Bruno have both performed admirably over the course of the week and their evident enthusiasm and commitment has made them a pleasure to work with. We will now take some time to carefully consider our findings from this test before reaching any further conclusions.”

The ING Renault F1 Team completes its Barcelona test

Nelson Piquet, R28-04/05, 94 laps, 438 km, fastest lap 1:22.148

The ING Renault F1 Team concluded its opening winter test session today at the Circuit de Catalunya near
Barcelona. The team continued working with the R28 as Nelson Piquet completed his third day of work this week.

The team’s programme saw further continuation of slick tyre evaluation and R&D work with an R28 that was set up to simulate 2009 settings. Nelson had a trouble-free day and completed a total of 94 laps to round off a positive test for the team.

The ING Renault F1 Team will be back in action from the 9th to the 11th of December to resume its winter
testing programme in Jerez.

Nelson Piquet: “We had a busy morning, continuing with the work we began earlier this week by evaluating the tyres and looking at some more development parts in preparation for next year. The car still feels strange running with settings to simulate 2009, but we now have lot of data to work through and so it has been a valuable few days for the team.”

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “It’s been a good test for us and we were able to cover the main test
items that we had scheduled, which included a few R&D items that gave us some positive results. Working with the car on slick tyres has been very useful and the engineers now have some valuable data to take back to the factory and to look at before the next test in a couple of weeks time.”

19-Nov-08: Vettel Takes Red Bull to the Top on Final Test Day

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 19th November 2008.

Vettel led the way once again in Barcelona on the third and final day of testing. He was ahead of two Toro Rosso’s, with Bourdais just edging out Buemi. For the second day in a row Gary Paffet was best of the rest. De la Rosa was once again in the Force India and once again last.

Sutil has said he isn’t worried about his race seat going to the McLaren tester: “He’s a nice guy. He came from McLaren just to have an idea about the car, and everything else we will see in the next weeks. The team is happy with my performance and I have my contract here.” He did say that de la Rosa’s testing experience helped a lot with the feedback he gave to the team.

Sebastien Buemi is waiting to hear whether he’s done enough to secure a drive with Toro Rosso, and expects to hear the news soon. He said: “For the team, it’s really important to make a decision and to try to have a test before Christmas with the proper drivers for next year.” Apparently Bourdais has said the decision will purely be based on the driver with the biggest budget.

That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

Honda - Barcelona test report, day two

Jenson Button takes over from Alex Wurz on the main programme while Lucas di Grassi gets his full day of running with the Honda Racing F1 Team.

Date: Tuesday 18 November
Track: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Drivers: Jenson Button / Lucas Di Grassi

No of Laps: 110 laps / 110 laps
Best Lap Time: 01:21.770 / 1:22.283
Kilometres Covered: 1024km
Track Length: 4.655km

Weather: Cool and overcast
Ambient Temperature: Maximum 14°C
Track Temperature: Maximum 15°C

The Honda Racing F1 Team continued the test programme in Barcelona today with Jenson Button and Lucas Di Grassi at the wheel of the Honda RA108 cars.

Jenson joined the team at the Circuit de Catalunya this morning to take over from Alex Wurz for the final two days of the test. After adjusting the set-up of the car to his liking, Jenson concentrated on a tyre programme using the Bridgestone Potenza slick tyres to evaluate various set-up and balance changes.

The team’s evaluation of Lucas Di Grassi continued today with the young Brazilian driver having his opportunity for a full day in the RA108. After an installation run, Lucas completed a back-to-back balance evaluation on used slick tyres from Jenson’s programme before the team fitted new tyres for his final run of the morning. In the afternoon session, Lucas was able to use two further sets of new tyres as he worked though a chassis set-up programme.

This brings Lucas’s test activity in Barcelona to a close and Bruno Senna will take over the car tomorrow for his full-day programme.

LUCAS DI GRASSI
“I completed 110 laps today so I have had a really productive day and I am very pleased. I ran for the first time properly with new tyres and the difference was massive compared to the used tyres from yesterday. With each new tyre run I was getting faster and faster. The slick tyre has much more grip and compared with the grooved tyre is easier to drive and more consistent over a run. I was very pleased with the performance of the car, the way the day developed and ultimately my lap time. I ended the day 0.5s from Jenson’s time and getting as close to him as possible was my target. I don’t think the day could have gone much better. I felt like I gave everything I could to the day. Finally I would just like to thank Honda for giving me this experience and I hope they are happy with my performance today.”

18-Nov-08: Vettel Ahead For Second Day of Barcelona Test

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Today is the 18th November 2008, and you’re listening to F1 Minute.

Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets at testing in Barcelona today, in his Red Bull. Yesterday’s leader Takuma Sato was close behind in second, with the other two Toro Rosso entrants Bourdais and Buemi settling in third and fourth. Gary Paffett in the McLaren was best of the rest with normal McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa in the Force India car. He ended the day last.

After seeing the potential 2009 BMW yesterday, tester Christian Klien has admitted that it’s not a nice looking car: “To me, for the moment, it’s the worst Formula One car I have ever seen. It just doesn’t fit together.” Kubica agreed that it looks a lot better from inside the cockpit.

Finally today, Bernie Ecclestone has resurfaced his idea of changing the current points system to a medal tally, to encourage drivers to fight for gold instead of settling for silver. He says that the FIA and teams are all for the idea.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

The ING Renault F1 Team continues testing in Barcelona

Nelson Piquet, R28-04, 85 laps, 396 km, fastest lap 1:22.348

Giedo van der Garde, R28-05, 37 laps, 172 km, fastest lap 1:23.250

The ING Renault F1 Team continued its winter testing programme today in Barcelona as the team’s regular driver Nelson Piquet was again joined by young Dutchman, Giedo van der Garde. Nelson completed a full day’s work, while Giedo drove for half the day as reward for winning the World Series by Renault earlier this year.

The team worked on a similar programme to yesterday with the main emphasis being data collection and
evaluation of the slick Bridgestone tyres. There was also further running with 2009-type set-ups to give the
team further information, which will be fed into next year’s car. Giedo enjoyed another strong outing with the team, completing 37 laps and building on the work he completed yesterday. He adapted well to the team’s technical programme and continued to give the engineers valuable feedback.

Nelson will remain in the car tomorrow as the team runs just a single car for the final day of testing.

Nelson Piquet: “It was a similar day to yesterday as we continued learning about the slick tyres and working on the car set-up by trying to simulate next year’s settings. It was a bit cooler than yesterday, but the track
conditions were not too bad and we didn’t have any problems with the car, which allowed us to get a good
number of laps in. So a positive second day, which we can build on tomorrow.”

Giedo van der Garde: “I’ve had another really enjoyable day working with the team and helping them with their preparations for next year. Towards the end of the morning I had the chance to do a couple of new tyres runs, which helped me build confidence in the car and each time I improved my lap times. We made good progress across the two half days and the team was happy with how things went so overall it has been a very positive experience. I’m grateful to the ING Renault F1 Team for giving me this opportunity.”

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “Another interesting day’s testing, which saw us continue with the work
we did yesterday by trying to understand the tyres, as well as some R&D work. We had a good morning running Giedo and he was quite competitive and gave good feedback to the engineers and worked well with the team. Nelson had a busy day jumping between the cars, working on the set-up and collecting basic data on the tyres, so it’s been another productive day for us.”

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