28-Oct-09: Renault Sign Up with New Sponsor

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It’s the 28th October 2009, welcome to F1 Minute.

Renault have announced their first sponsor deal since the fallout from the Singapore 2008 row, where two of their main sponsors ditched the team instantly. The team confirmed that they have signed a three year deal with TW Steel, a Dutch watchmaker. The deal starts at this weekend’s race in Abu Dhabi, so you should be able to spot some new stickers on the Renault car.

Elsewhere, McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is hoping that the British Grand Prix can be saved, after the neverending Donington saga continues. He said: “It’s not just McLaren but everyone in F1 knows the importance of the British Grand Prix. You couldn’t say any are absolutely vital, but losing the British GP would be massively damaging to the sport. It’s the kind of support from the fans there. It’s different to other places.” Ah good. If we can get teams campaigning to get races on the calendar, we might have some hope for the future.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Trouble at Home

This week we are telling the story of Jenson Button’s in 2009, from its humblest beginnings to the championship winning weekend. Jenson contemplates the weekend ahead at Silverstone. For his home Grand Prix, in Britain, Button saw the end of his run of podium finishes, crossing the line sixth to Sebastian Vettel’s win.

Credit: Brawn GP

12-Oct-09: Donington Get Yet Another Deadline Extension

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Today is the 12th October 2009 and this is F1 Minute.

This can’t really be classed as news anymore but Donington has had yet another extension to prove their circuit will be ready in time for the 2010 British Grand Prix. Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that it’s not looking good for the circuit though. Speaking to The Times newspaper he said: “Even if they get the money, I cannot see how it will all be ready in time to go. It is very disappointing because we thought it would happen but they cannot go on missing deadlines.” Having said that over the weekend, Donington boss Simon Gillett has confirmed they’ve been given two more weeks.

Meanwhile, Massa had his test in the F2007 with GP2 tyres on and said he felt exactly the same as he did before the accident happened. He said: “Everything went well, I felt very good physically, it felt like the crash from 25 July had never occurred. I haven’t had any eyesight problem and today I’d be ready to do not just one, but two races in a row.”

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

It’s the Same for Everybody

Nico Rosberg during the British Grand Prix weekend. Sam Michael has stated today that the reason Williams are enjoying increased consistency this year is because of the new regulations – he must be one of the only people to be in favour of them!

Credit: Bridgestone Corporation

09-Jul-09: Hamilton Thinks Celebrating Wins Should be Encouraged

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 9th July 2009.

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he wasn’t penalised for doing some donuts for the crowd after the British Grand Prix. Hamilton finished outside the points, and spun his McLaren a few times on the in lap, but says if things were different, he wouldn’t have done it: “I think when you have won the race you don’t want to risk anything and they don’t want to damage the car. You have got to do all these different things like pick up rubber and you don’t want to get a penalty on top of that.” He added: “We do burn-outs and donuts all the time in demonstrations and things and the car will be fine. As long as you treat it right and do it properly you won’t damage the car. I don’t think it was unsafe for anyone so why shouldn’t we be allowed to do it?” Hear, hear.

Elsewhere, Sebastien Bourdais has spoken out against rumours that this may be his last race. I hadn’t heard these but apparently the French media believe he might be dropped for new tester Alguersuari. He says the team have said nothing to him, but chances are they wouldn’t, would they?

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

No Luck Stories

Giancarlo Fisichella tries to beat the weather during Free Practice Friday at Silverstone. Force India boss Vijay Mallya is happy the team are making progress and beating some of their rivals on merit, rather than because of bad conditions or safety car periods.

Credit: Force India F1

Awaiting Their Turn

The Brawn GP mechanics wait to spring into action during the British Grand Prix weekend. Ross Brawn has admitted that despite the fact the team finished third and sixth, they went away from Silverstone distinctly disappointed with their performance.

Credit: Brawn GP

Williams – British Grand Prix Review

SYNOPSIS

Nico Rosberg’s second fifth place in two races enabled the AT&T Williams team to move up another place in the Constructors’ Championship for the third successive Grand Prix and into the top half of the table.

In Friday’s practice sessions, the team analysed the various new aero parts, including a new floor, diffuser and front wing upgrade, all of which worked as anticipated. Friday’s schedule also involved mechanical set-up work and the usual tyre evaluations, which showed little difference between the hard and softer compound, with the prime perhaps having a slight advantage at Silverstone. Kazuki Nakajima ended the second session in P4, and Nico in P9.

For the second time this season, Kazuki progressed through to Q3 in qualifying, while Nico made his eighth appearance. Both drivers demonstrated encouraging pace in the top ten shoot out, which saw Kazuki set the fifth and Nico the seventh fastest time, traffic and a three lap heavier fuel load perhaps costing Nico one grid position.

For the race, both drivers continued the strong first lap form seen all season, Kazuki gaining a position off the line to run in fourth place, while Nico moved up to sixth by the end of lap one following his overtaking manoeuvre going into Stowe. The team chose to run a prime, prime, option strategy with the tyres and put Kazuki on a short first stint and Nico on a slightly longer one. Unfortunately, Kazuki was unable to pull out enough of a gap ahead of his first stop on lap 15 which had the effect of leaving him embroiled in traffic during his second stint, which subsequently ruled out a potential points-paying finish. Nico drove a strong first stint but a slower car after the first round of stops ultimately cost him track position to the Ferrari. At the flag, Kazuki crossed the line in P11, while Nico brought his FW31 home in fifth while also setting the third fastest lap time of the race just behind the Red Bull pairing.

Q&A WITH SAM MICHAEL, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Q: Did the new parts on the FW31 perform as you’d hoped at Silverstone?
Yes, they did. We had some mechanical changes on the suspension at Silverstone and various aero updates. Testing during Friday’s practice sessions showed they all worked as we expected.

Q: How does the FW31 now compare to the opposition?
We’re currently in fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship having been promoted up the table for the third race in succession. That’s what matters and that shows where the FW31 is. Race-by-race performance can fluctuate and we were competitive at Silverstone, but the measure for any team is their place in the Constructors’ tables and we are presently fifth.

Q: How did the cool(ish) temperatures affect the pace of the FW31?
For us, the temperatures at Silverstone didn’t have any real influence on our race. We would have preferred to have run the hard tyre throughout, but there wasn’t a massive difference between the two.

Q: Kazuki was quickest in Q1 and lined up in fifth place on the grid. Was the British Grand Prix a breakthrough weekend for him?
Kazuki has been continually improving since Barcelona and it’s pleasing to see him helping to move the team forward. The major difference is that he is now contributing directly to the set-up process over a race weekend.

Q: Kazuki was fourth until his first pitstop, but he finished the race in 11th. Why did he lose so many positions?
Kazuki was on a shorter first stint than the other drivers because we had to do more laps in Q3 to get a lap time than we had planned to. Unfortunately, that then makes it critical to build up a good gap to the driver behind during the early part of the race, but Kazuki wasn’t able to get the gap we needed him to. That caused him to then fell behind the chasing pack in the second stint.

Q: Nico finished the race only 0.8s behind Felipe Massa. Were you disappointed not to get
fourth, or even third, with him?
If we could have run at our true pace in the middle stint, Nico would have been racing Barrichello for third place. As we weren’t able to do that, Massa managed to catch Nico, even though he was slower than him. Massa then simply ran longer before the second pitstop and beat us.

Q: Looking ahead, there’s now a three week break in the calendar before Germany. Time for a holiday?
No! The whole team has already started to prepare for the Nürburgring and will continue to do so for the next few weeks.

Williams – British Grand Prix Race

Today’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone delivered another points-scoring finish for the AT&T Williams team in front of a home crowd. Nico Rosberg claimed a second successive fifth place finish, his four points promoting the team into the top half of the Constructors’ Championship to fifth place. Despite gaining track position in the first lap and running in fourth up until his first stop, Kazuki Nakajima was unable to convert the competitive pace he’s demonstrated all weekend and dropped down the order to end the race in P11.

Nico Rosberg:
I am very pleased for the whole team, and for myself, that we had another good race. We still didn’t get the result that we are capable of today, but Barrichello was slow in the middle stint and I was stuck behind him and that cost me the place to Massa. If that hadn’t happened, we would have had a solid fourth place. I have to say a big well done to the team because everyone is doing a really great job and we are moving ahead in terms of development. We are consistent on every track so I’m looking forward to the races to come.

Kazuki Nakajima:
That result was not ideal for me. There weren’t any particular reasons for it. I was pleased with my start and I thought it was going to be a good race for me, but I was held up by the car in front before my first stop and then it was difficult to keep up with the cars ahead of me for the rest of the race.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was great for the team to pick up more points today with Nico’s fifth place and it shows we’re still heading in the right direction with development. Nico drove well, it was just a shame he was caught up in traffic for the majority of the race as I think he could have done more. He showed that he was quick by setting the third fastest laptime in the race, only behind the two Red Bulls. With his strategy, it was always going to be difficult for Kazuki to score points, but he is definitely improving, and he really helped the team with set-up direction this weekend.

Points: AT&T Williams 15.5 (5th), Nico Rosberg 15.5 (7th), Kazuki Nakajima 0 (20th)

BMW Sauber F1 Team – British Grand Prix – Qualifying

The BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld qualified only 12th and 15th for the British Grand Prix in Silverstone.

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.09-03 / BMW P86/9
Qualifying 12th, 1:19.308 min in Q2 (3rd Free Practice: 20th, 1:21.039 min)
“This has been a very difficult weekend so far. Yesterday, I had technical problems in both sessions and then again this morning. During the three free practice sessions I had maybe ten laps without any problems, which was simply not enough to do the necessary work. No surprise that the set-up of the car was not very good in qualifying. P12 was the maximum I could achieve under the circumstances.”

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.09-06 / BMW P86/9
Qualifying 15th, 1:19.448 min in Q2 (3rd Free Practice: 18th, 1:20.696 min)
“Being 15th on the grid is obviously disappointing, although I have to admit I didn’t have too high expectations before we came here. We brought a new front wing to this race, but other teams apparently have bigger updates. It will be difficult to collect points from where we are starting – that is if it stays dry, which is something you never can rely on here in Silverstone. However, for the next races we have more new parts, so we will keep working and never give up.”

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“Obviously we are not satisfied with the qualifying result. Our goal was to get into the top 10. It did not help Robert that he has had technical problems in every free practice session, and therefore was not able to do proper set-up work.”

Willy Rampf (Head of Engineering):
“So far it has been a very difficult weekend for us, and that continued in qualifying. With starting positions 12 and 15 we are not satisfied. A main problem was getting the ideal tyre temperatures in these cold conditions. Even with our new aero-update that did not work out.”

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