11-Sep-08: Ferrari Say KERS is Making Next Year Difficult
Welcome to F1 Minute for the 11th September 2008.
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.
18-Aug-08: Teams Expect Safety Car This Weekend
This is F1 Minute and it’s the 18th August 2008.
The build up to Valencia continues, with teams apparently expecting a safety car to enter into proceedings, and they are planning their strategies around such an eventuality.
With a new track, some close walls and the general unknowns of the street circuit, it’s not far fetched to assume that an incident might occur. Mike Gascoyne of Force India says they are hoping to make the best of any luck that is thrown their way, as it’s all the team can hope for at the moment. An interesting quote from him is: “”We may look at strategies that will put us out of sync with the others so we can take advantage of it.” What happens if there is no safety car, then they are just out of sync. Let me know your thoughts about the chances of a safety car during this weekend’s race at F1Minute.com.
To finish, I just wanted to update the Mecachrome story we covered a few days ago. It’s rumoured the engine manufacturer’s are now ending their involvement with Formula 1, after recording severe losses due to the homologation regulations.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
13-Aug-08: Ex-Renault Director Dino Toso Passes Away
Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 13th August 2008.
Sad news today, the former director of aerodynamics at Renault, Dino Toso has died aged 39. He joined the team in 2000, and left in June this year, and he passed away this morning after a long battle with cancer. Toso was instrumental in the Renault campaign that saw them win two World Championships, and the team have paid their respects, saying: “His contribution to the team, both through his results and his courage in the face of illness, are an inspiration. He will be missed enormously and the immediate thoughts of the whole team are with his family.”
In other Renault-related news, their engine partners Mecachrome have blamed the engine freeze in Formula 1 as part of their financial problems. The company is much less involved with the engines now, and attributes it’s recent quarter losses of $17.5 million to delays in the aerospace industry but also the homologation regulations.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
01-Jan-08: Honda Ask for Budget Caps Idea
This is F1 Minute for January 1st 2008 – Happy New Year!
Nick Fry and Ross Brawn of Honda have recently been putting their heads together to come up with an idea of what can be done to save money in Formula 1. The FIA are constantly trying to cut costs, and have taken the direction of an engine freeze and long-life components. CEO of Honda Racing, Fry said that he and Brawn agree that capping the budget of F1 teams is the most likely way of stopping outrageous expenditure.
The idea is to stop the current practice, whereby teams simply switch expenditure to other parts of the car when certain things are frozen. With a budget cap in place, it would seem to be a more fair and measurable way of controlling costs.
Brawn added that although he thinks the idea of applying the caps wouldn’t be simple, it would create a new spin on the competition. He says: “How fast can you make this car go for 100 million a year? How efficient can you be? And it’s up to the teams to decide whether they spend 50 million on the driver and 50 million on the car; or one million on the driver and 99 million on the car. It would be fascinating to have that challenge.”
That’s all for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
07-Dec-07: FIA Statement Reveals McLaren Car Future
This is F1 Minute for the 7th December 2007.
The testing news involves Vettel topping the time sheets for the last day in Jerez, just beating Nico Rosberg in the Williams.
However, the more important news released today was an extra-long FIA statement. Firstly, the report on McLaren’s 2008 car has been compiled but the World Motorsport Council wants it to be circulated to Ferrari, McLaren and other competitors and another hearing held before any decisions are reached.
The statement also had more details about the engine freeze, and some aerodynamic testing restrictions, including teams only being allowed use of one wind tunnel for a certain amount of time, and scale models to be a maximum of 60. The last note on the statement from the FIA informs us that they may be suing the Sunday Times for libellous comments about a witch hunt against McLaren.
And finally, many more details about yesterday’s Renault/McLaren hearing emerged today, with the decision being based on the fact that it was only four drawings of a one year old part that Renault did not gain any benefit from.
That’s all for today, have a great weekend and join me on Monday for another F1 Minute.
24-Oct-07: Spyker Confirm 2008 Name Change
Hello everyone, welcome to F1 Minute for the 24th October 2007. These are your top headlines for today.
Spyker have confirmed their new name for 2008. The team will be onto their fourth name in three years. No more Jordan, Midland, or Spyker, from next season they will be known as Force India. Team boss Vijay Mallya also announced the colours of the car, predictably, the same as the Indian flag, green, white and orange.
Now this season is over, the FIA have worked out that McLaren would have finished second, had they been allowed to keep their points. This means that the $100 million fine handed out at the espionage hearing can be reduced, but reports say it will still be in excess of $50 million. The money is payable in December and will go towards setting up the FIA Development Fund.
And finally, engine development will be frozen for 10 years from 2008 in an effort to reduce costs. A change could be made after 5 years, as long as it’s unanimous and subject to a two-year notice period.
That’s all for today, join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.