Tweets of the Week – 14th March 2010

The first race of 2010 has been and gone, and given the volume of information coming out of Twitter, I’m narrowing this week’s Tweets of the Week down to solely drivers and teams. It was an amazing race, watching the teams be so open, and I hope they can keep it up all year.

• Great to get back to some sunshine, +25C 9am in bahrain! Gonna rush to the track after breakfast to check out the new circuit layout… Heikki Kovalainen
• Heikki off playing golf again. Don’t know where the course is but there are plenty of bunkers around Mike Gascoyne
• It’s like the first day of term here. But without anyone trying to steal your lunch money. Or at least not trying very hard… Red Bull F1 Spy
• This usually is the longest night of the race weekend: engineers and mechanics are working hard to prepare the cars for tomorrow and Sunday. Inside Ferrari
• Yesterday went pretty well, tried different fuel loads and compared the two compounds of tyres we have here.. It’s good to be back racing!! Jenson Button
• I’ve only just clocked the lack of firesuits for the crew in qualy. No wonder the boys don’t look so hot! Renault F1
• Objective was to get points in the first race of the season. Would have been nice if both our drivers made it to the top 10 though. Force India
• yiha!! we’ve done it!! Lotus Racing
• end of a crazy weekend…. need a couple days of peace and quiet to recover from the stress ! shame a bump in T12 just bounced me off track Karun Chandhok
• NEED TO SAVE BETTER THE REAR TYRES…A LOT¡¡ Jaime Alguersuari

Fernando’s First for Ferrari

Fernando Alonso leads his teammate around the Sakhir circuit before taking his first victory since Japan 2008. He and Massa made it a 1-2 for the Italian squad, with Hamilton joining them on the podium. Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel suffered mechanical troubles that meant he fell back through the field, ultimately finishing fourth.

Credit: Bridgestone Corporation

Many Massa Returns

A ten-part F1 Big Picture series celebrating the return of F1 in Bahrain. Massa steers the Ferrari around Bahrain during Free Practice. Felipe made his F1 weekend return after sitting out the sport since his accident in Hungary 2009. His performance in testing showed no significant issues, and despite running with a temperature today, he says he’s ready for the first race to begin.

Credit: Bridgestone Corporation

Ferrari – Bahrain GP – 12th March 2010

Weather
First session: air 29/31 °C, track 37/42 °C; sunny.
Second session: air 33 °C, track 47/46 °C; sunny.

After winter testing featured rain and below average temperatures, the first round of the World Championship, which got underway today at Sakhir, took place in hot and sunny conditions. Therefore, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro work programme over the three hours of free practice, focussed almost entirely on assessing the behaviour of the F10 and the two types of tyre brought here by Bridgestone, in conditions very different to those experienced during the fifteen days of testing. “We had set ourselves an agenda based on preparation for Sunday’s race and we are pleased with what we have seen so far,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “Even more so than in the past, it is difficult to get an idea of the pecking order on Friday, because the fuel levels of the cars during these three hours of running can vary quite considerably. Now, we must try and prepare as well as possible for tomorrow’s qualifying, which will be difficult and closely contested for a variety of reasons, without losing sight of the fact that the points are only handed out on Sunday afternoon.”

Fernando Alonso: “A slightly different Friday to usual for me, as it was the first one with my new team. We concentrated mainly on comparing the two types of tyre, so as to be as well prepared as possible for the race on Sunday, trying to get a car that performs consistently over a long run. Obviously, with such high temperatures, tyre degradation was more rapid, especially with the rears. From what we could see, the indications we got from testing have been confirmed, with four teams that you could describe as favourites, although there could yet be a few surprises, Force India for example. The new track is not bad: it is fun, even if there are a few too many bumps which I hadn’t spotted when I inspected it by bicycle.”

Felipe Massa: “We worked a lot on finding the right balance on the car in race trim and on comparing the two types of tyre, running with various fuel levels, although never going for a quick time. I am quite happy with what we have seen today, even if it is difficult to get an accurate picture of how competitive we are compared to the others. We will definitely face stiff competition from many teams, but we were preparing as well as possible for Sunday’s race and tomorrow morning, we will work on qualifying. I’ve got a bit of a temperature today, but I feel 100% for this start to the season.”

Chris Dyer: “We are reasonably pleased with the work done today. We had a very busy programme and we got through just about all of it: the only problem was a loss of air from a tyre on Alonso’s car which interrupted his long run. We picked up a lot of data which we will use to decide on set-up and strategy for the rest of the weekend. It’s hard to say where we are compared to the other teams in terms of performance and we will only find that out tomorrow afternoon. The new part of the circuit is rather narrow and at some points the surface is very bumpy, but it does not present any particular problems for the car.”

10-Mar-10: Massa and Chandhok Discuss Potential

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Today is the 10th March 2010 and this is F1 Minute.

It’s all about the build up to the race now as teams and drivers descend on Bahrain to prepare for Free Practice on Friday. Massa has said he thinks Ferrari are in a good position this year, especially compared to their recent history: “I am very happy and very motivated that we can start the championship in a better way not just than last year, which was not a very good year, but also than the other championships.”

Meanwhile, Autosport asked Karun Chandhok his thoughts on the recent comments by other teams about the slow new boys and he said: “In all honesty, I appreciate these concerns to some extent – because if I was in their situation then I would be concerned as well. The last thing you want in Q3… is to get someone in your way. But I would be amazed if any of the new teams get to Q3!” I’m not sure that’s really defending his team, but we’ll go with it for now.

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

Way Back When…

Michael Schumacher drives the Bahrain International Circuit back in 2006, the last time the track held the opening round of the Formula One World Championship. It also marks the last time Schumacher raced an F1 car in the desert, back when grooved tyres were all the rage and cigarette advertising had yet to be banned.

Michael returns to the track this year after a three year absence, this time at the wheel of his Mercedes MGP W01.

09-Mar-10: McLaren Confident Rear Wing is Legal

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 9th March 2010.

More McLaren news, as managing director Jonathan Neale has been speaking about the rear wing problem, suggesting that it really is just Red Bull and Ferrari’s problem. He said: “We’ve spoken to Stefano and some of the other team principals and colleagues there and of course everyone wants to see clarity. We’re doing the same on a number of other teams’ developments. There’s nothing untowards about it though – we’re quite confident the car is legal.” Neale also added that if the stewards did go against them, they have contingency plans, but he is not putting too much effort into them as they do not expect that to happen.

Finally, some new pictures of the work at Silverstone emerged today, and it looks as though they are almost done. The managing director Richard Phillips said: “The team has been working around the clock, through some pretty terrible weather conditions, to make sure the circuit is ready on time.” That’s Britain for you!

That will do for now, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

05-Mar-10: Ian Phillips Leaves Force India F1

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 5th March 2010.

Force India have confirmed that Ian Phillips, their director of business affairs, will be leaving the team. Phillips has been with them for 19 years, since they were Jordan but is now being let go. The consensus of opinion appears to be that he was not popular after letting slip Fisichella’s move to Ferrari last year before it actually happened, and that people tend to go to Phillips for the gossip. A Force India statement simply read: “The team would like to wish Ian every success in his future endeavours.”

Elsewhere, McLaren have invited the FIA to come to the factory and take a look at their rear wing, after Red Bull queried the design. Charlie Whiting was due to inspect the part today, but didn’t make it to the factory.

Very quickly to finish, Mercedes won the race to get their preview quotes out first, and Schumacher says: “Finally the season will start! I feel like a child looking forward to Christmas.”

That’s all for now, please join me on Monday for another F1 Minute.

FIA Formula One World Championship – Entry List

FIA Formula One World Championship – Entry List

No.	Driver	Team	Constructor
1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren Mercedes
2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren Mercedes
3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes Grand Prix	Mercedes Benz GP
4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes Grand Prix	Mercedes Benz GP
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull Racing Renault
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull Racing Renault
7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari
8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari
9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams	Williams Cosworth
10	Nico Hülkenberg	AT&T Williams	Williams Cosworth
11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team	Renault
12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team	Renault
14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	Force India Mercedes
15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team	Force India Mercedes
16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR Ferrari
17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR Ferrari
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus F1 Racing	Lotus Cosworth
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus F1 Racing	Lotus Cosworth
20	TBA	HRT F1 Team	HRT Cosworth
21	Bruno Senna	HRT F1 Team	HRT Cosworth
22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber Ferrari
23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber Ferrari
24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	Virgin Cosworth
25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	Virgin Cosworth

Note: The USF1 Team have indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in 2010.

28-Feb-10: Hamilton Leads Final Day of Testing

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 28th February 2010 – a special edition to cover the fourth and final day of pre-season testing.

Lewis Hamilton was fastest on the last day in Barcelona, and he completed the most number of laps with 134. He was only a couple of hundredths faster than Webber in second though, and Massa and Sutil weren’t that far behind either. Further down the order, Kubica finished up tenth for Renault, whilst Kovalainen pipped di Grassi to finish Lotus ahead of Virgin by just under a second. Lotus had a good morning but had gearbox troubles in the afternoon, whilst Virgin were still struggling with hydraulic problems – but as mentioned previously, they’re hoping their pre-Bahrain upgrade will sort that out.

Massa has been talking about Ferrari’s progress so far and said: “I’m satisfied with the whole of testing, not just Barcelona. We did what we wanted to do, but it looks like it will be a very tough and competitive championship.” He also added: “I’m 100% sure that I will never have a problem with Fernando.” Just wanted to highlight that, in case it comes back to haunt him.

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

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