Today is the 8th October 2008, welcome to F1 Minute.
This weekend in Japan, Bridgestone are painting the stripes on their tyres green. The FIA has a promotion called “Make Cars Green”, and in support Bridgestone will be painting every groove on the harder tyre a bright green colour. The announcement of coloured tyres, came with a joint statement from Honda, Williams and BMW, all supporting the idea of Formula 1 becoming greener. I can honestly say the green does not look great, but it’s all in a good cause.
Along with environmental issues, Max Mosley has also issued a stark warning that if Formula 1 doesn’t drastically cut costs it will face serious difficulties in the future. Today it was announced that the FOTA will meet with the FIA president immediately after the Chinese Grand Prix to discuss the matter. The FIA statement read: “At this meeting the FIA will discuss and share with the teams the strategic decisions which are now urgently required, having regard to current world-wide economic problems.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
BMW have become the next team to confirm their driver lineup for 2009 and it remains unchanged. Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld line up beside Christian Klien as test driver. BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen said, of the pairing: “We are in no doubt that we will again achieve our ambitious aims with them in the team’s fourth year.” Of course, this news narrows down Alonso’s options for next year, with his main choice now being between Renault and Honda.
Elsewhere today, Bernie Ecclestone has hit back at the statements Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo made regarding Singapore. The team boss said the safety car rules make F1 a circus. Ecclestone has apparently responded to this with: “After the weekend Ferrari had, their president should have shut up and kept his head down. If Massa loses the world championship, he will know the team were responsible. He would have destroyed everybody in Singapore if he had kept going.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
We heard earlier in the week that McLaren are pushing forward with development this year and it’s good news to hear that BMW haven’t given up on the title, either. Technical director Willy Rampf said that they will still develop despite Kubica being 20 points down on Hamilton. He said: “We will continue though. We will try to have at least small modifications and updates for the next races and hope to get closer to the top. We are not far away, not the team and not Robert as our leading driver.”
Elsewhere today, Autosport.com is reporting that the FOTA are looking at a new concept of sharing commercial revenues between the teams equally. Currently, teams get a bigger share, the higher they finish up the constructor’s championship. You’d imagine the larger teams wouldn’t appreciate getting less money, but Autosport has asked Frank Williams who said it’s the best way of making things more competitive. I’d love to know what you think about this potential new scheme, leave your thoughts at F1Minute.com.
This is F1 Minute and it’s the 20th September 2008.
Ron Dennis has said he has absolute faith in the International Court of Appeal, who are due to meet on Monday to discuss the Belgium penalty against Lewis Hamilton. When asked if he thinks there is a bias against anyone other than Ferrari, Dennis said: “Although Lewis has had five penalties already this season, I wouldn’t claim that he hasn’t been treated fairly. More importantly, we have to have faith in the system, and in the fairness of the FIA International Court of Appeal at which our appeal will be heard.”
Elsewhere, other teams are looking forward as well, although the Singapore Grand Prix seems to be at the forefront of their minds. BMW boss Mario Theissen thinks it is going to be something to behold: “You only need to think of the special atmosphere you get at a football match under floodlights: the surroundings melt into the background, the action itself takes centre stage. I’m expecting this premiere in Singapore to be the highlight of the year.”
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
It’s the 19th September 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
Pedro de la Rosa headed up the final day of testing at Jerez for McLaren, just ahead of BMW and Renault. There were no rain interruptions today, and no major incidents. Vettel returned to the Toro Rosso cockpit whilst Buemi returned to work for Red Bull.
Talking of which, it appears that Buemi may be a favourite for the Toro Rosso race seat in 2009, after Franz Tost has been quoted as saying as long as they could find an experienced driver to pair him with, they would want him in the car. Buemi isn’t getting too carried away, but says he is excited and getting into F1 is his main objective for next year.
Elsewhere today, Wurz has finished up testing Honda’s KERS system and declared that it’s quite safe: “Honda has an enormous amount of know how with the battery system and we have some security checks all the time going on, so we are very confident that we won’t be electrocuted.” He said it’s fine in road cars so all F1 teams have to do is work out how to package it correctly.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Vettel led the way at testing in Jerez today, still in the Red Bull car. He posted the fastest time despite only managing 37 laps due to an engine change. BMW were second, and Renault third. There was some rain in the middle of the day, which disrupted quite a few of the team’s programmes.
Someone in particular who was affected by the weather, was Takuma Sato who returned to Formula 1 for a test with Toro Rosso. He completed just under 50 laps and was 6th out of 8 runners. Afterwards, he said: “Although I couldn’t complete the day due to the weather conditions, I really enjoyed driving the STR3. I would like to say a big thank you to Red Bull and to the team for giving me this great opportunity.” What he doesn’t say is: Please give me a race seat next year.
Elsewhere today, Ron Dennis has issued some fighting talk, saying that McLaren are confident to do well at every circuit left on the calendar this year, and he feels they’re closing in on the constructor’s title at every stage.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Today is the 17th September and this is F1 Minute.
BMW climbed to the top of the timesheets for the second day at Jerez, where this time eight teams were in action, instead of just the three we saw yesterday. Klien was at the wheel, and he finished ahead of Vettel. The German was driving for Red Bull, as a pre-cursor to him joining them for next season. To add to the confusion, normal Red Bull test driver Sebastian Buemi was third fastest of the day, but with a Toro Rosso under him. He was under evaluation for a possible race drive in 2009.
Also today, McLaren were testing out their KERS setup for the first time, and Williams hit the track with their 2009 spec rear wing – a much narrower and higher evolution of this year’s wing. Nakajiama finished the day last and 2 seconds off the pace of his nearest rival.
Ferrari, meanwhile, were at their own private test with Badoer in the hotseat, whilst Force India have not joined the testing fun yet.
That wraps up everything for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
The final in-season test of 2008 has started at Jerez, with BMW, Williams and Honda turning up for the first day. The teams tested three young drivers: Marko Asmer finished the day on top for BMW, followed by Dani Clos for Williams and Mike Conway for Honda. Both Williams and Honda tested out the new KERS technology, but Honda only managed 20 laps whilst the others completed over 70 each.
Elsewhere today, Ron Dennis has been talking about his team’s relationship with Ferrari, and says things have never been better, despite last year’s spy scandal, and the Belgium penalty incident. Dennis spoke out to put pay to rumours that there might be trouble within the FOTA, and of new chairman di Montezemolo, he said: “Luca is an old friend. Granted, inevitably, our relationship has had its ups and downs as a result of the competitiveness of our respective organisations, but there’s a deep and mutual respect between us.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
We’ve seen some teams struggle with KERS already this year, notably BMW, but now Ferrari say they too don’t think it will be ready in time for the 2009 season. Engine Technical Director Gilles Simon says: “The Kinetic Energy Recovery System is a complex subject, which finds us dealing with a lot of new and complicated areas, while ensuring that we still devote all necessary efforts into continuing our usual development programme on the current year car.” He said that all the teams will struggle to get the technology ready, and that not everyone will benefit in the same way.
Whilst we’re on the subject of new regulations, BMW director Mario Theissen says that even longer-life engines are the way to go. He says changing the regulations drives costs up, but under the current freeze, he thinks teams could get away with three-race engines, if speeds were reduced. I get the feeling any moves to deliberately make things slower won’t be popular, but let me know what you think at F1 Minute.com.
Welcome to F1 Minute, today is the 6th September 2008.
Hamilton has put McLaren on pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix tomorrow, posting a time three tenths of a second faster than second place Felipe Massa. Kovalainen aimed for the front row as well, but missed, settling behind the Ferrari, with Raikkonen in turn behind him.
For the second race in a row, both Toro Rosso drivers made it into the third session of qualifying, although didn’t get any higher than 9th and 10th. For a moment it looked as though Force India might be able to get into Q2, as Sutil was running in 14th, but inevitably he was pushed down the order. Both Force Indias and Hondas start at the back of the grid, plus Nakajima who had a very poor showing.
Heidfeld had a good day though, qualifying 5th well ahead of Kubica in 8th, trying to ease some of the pressure on him from BMW.
There was no rain to speak of, and no major incidents, and it looks as though tomorrow may be a dry day as well.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.