11-Mar-10: McLaren Pass Scrutineering, Car is Legal

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 11th March 2010.

Firstly, McLaren have passed scrutineering today, with the FIA giving the rear wing the all-clear. Other teams, including Red Bull and Lotus aren’t at all happy about it but as usual McLaren have stuck to the letter of the regulations if not the spirit.

The FIA also announced that they will be re-opening the selection process for a team to replace US F1 in 2011. All the teams that applied this year can have another go, if they so desire. A statement from the governing body also hinted at the fact that it’s not over for US F1 and they may face some penalties for defaulting on their entry this year.

Finally, two quick snippets, Renault have signed up HP as a major sponsor this year – the company previously sponsored Williams, whilst Alain Prost is the first former F1 driver to join the stewarding panel for 2010, taking up a spot amongst the Bahrain stewards. Other stewards at future races will include Johnny Herbert, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Alex Wurz.

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

08-Mar-10: Renault Hoping to Fight in Top Four

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This is F1 Minute for the 8th March 2010.

The ongoing saga with McLaren’s rear wing continues, as the FIA will now wait until Bahrain to inspect the design. Charlie Whiting was due to visit the factory last week, but travel delays meant that could not happen. Apparently, McLaren and the FIA have corresponded previously, and there was no problem found with the part, but they will confirm this in Bahrain.

Preview quotes are coming thick and fast now, and team principal of Renault, Eric Boullier, has said he hopes the team will be fighting in the top four for the championship. He says their testing performance seemed slow because they ran with heavy fuel loads.

Finally, a quick note that Sir Stirling Moss was injured over the weekend in a lift accident at his home. He fell down three floors after the door opened without the lift present. He suffered broken ankles and bones, underwent some surgery and is now safe and stable. His wife has said he is in high spirits after his fall. We wish him a speedy recovery.

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

Slot Car Racing

Jenson Button peers into Lewis Hamilton’s MP4-25 cockpit. The McLaren team are coming under close scrutiny at the moment from rivals who are questioning the functionality of the car’s airbox and rear wing.

Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner said today that his team have asked the FIA for clarification on the matter, and suggested that a slot in the wing might be an attempt to stall the wing to pick up straight line speed.

Credit: McLaren.com

03-Mar-10: FIA Release Entry List With 12 Teams Only

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It’s the 3rd March 2010 and this is F1 Minute.

Following the revelation yesterday that US F1 were closing down their bid to make it to the grid this year, Ken Anderson has finally spoken out. The co-owner of the team has said they are still keen on getting into F1. “We have applied to the FIA to hold our entry until 2011. It was supposed to be confidential, so I could not really comment on it. It seems to have leaked out though. We are waiting for a reply from the FIA and are working with them. In the mean time, there is nothing for the employees to do, so we have told them to stop working on the current car until we have a decision.” The FIA released the entry list with no US F1, and no Stefan GP either. There are just 12 teams this year.

Meanwhile, Campos have officially changed their name to Hispania Racing F1 Team, to be known as HRT F1. Not the best acronym they could have chosen, for various reasons.

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

24-Feb-10: US F1 Inspected by the FIA

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This is F1 Minute and today is the 24th February 2010.

Today, Autosport is reporting that US F1 are being inspected by the FIA, as the doubts about their being able to join the grid in Bahrain keep on growing. Charlie Whiting has apparently been dispatched to Charlotte to see how they are getting on. The FIA haven’t commented on whether this is fact or not, and there is plenty of other speculation surrounding the team as well, including that main sponsor Chad Hurley may have left for Campos instead, or that they may be trying to merge the new teams together. Given the uncertainty, US F1 driver Jose Maria Lopez has confirmed that his manager is in talks with the new bosses at Campos to try and make sure he has a spot on the 2010 grid.

Elsewhere, James Key, who was the technical director at Force India, has taken up the role at BMW Sauber for this year replacing Willy Rampf. He said: “There is significant potential at Sauber, and with the ever-changing world of F1, I think the team is very well placed at present.”

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

Virgin Racing Signs Andy Soucek

The Virgin Racing Formula One team is pleased to announce that it has signed Andy Soucek to the role of Test and Reserve Driver, finalising the team’s driver line-up for the 2010 season.

The 24 year old Spaniard, winner of the 2009 FIA Formula 2 Championship, will attend Grands Prix with Virgin Racing during its inaugural season, benefiting from being part of the team’s race weekend preparations whilst standing by to deputise for one of the race drivers if required.

Andy will also provide valuable car development support back at the team’s technical base in Bicester, assisting in the ongoing simulator programme with race drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi in between Grands Prix.

Andy will continue to hone his racecraft in a variety of other motor racing series.

John Booth, Team Principal of Virgin Racing, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Andy Soucek to Virgin Racing. He had a very good season in Formula 2 last year and a positive F1 test with Williams. He is certainly someone we have been keeping a close eye on as we believe he has a great deal of potential. We expect him to be a real asset to our development programme with the VR-01 and at the same time he provides the experience we need should he be required to deputise for one of the race drivers at short notice. We are pleased to have finalised our driver line-up and we look forward to having Andy alongside us in Barcelona later this week so he can spend some valuable familiarisation time with the team.”

Andy Soucek commented: “I am thrilled to be joining Virgin Racing. This role offers me a great opportunity to prepare myself for the Formula One environment, which is naturally where my longer-term ambitions lie. I look forward to learning from Timo and Lucas as well as soaking up as much information as possible from engineering meetings and time on the simulator. I would like to thank John Booth and Nick Wirth in particular for the faith they have shown in me at this stage in my career. It is exciting and very motivating to be part of a new structure in such a challenging sport and I hope that my experience can contribute a great deal to the development of the car and team in order to help us progress as quickly as possible.”

23-Feb-10: Andy Soucek Joins Virgin Racing as Reserve

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 23rd February 2010.

Virgin Racing have confirmed that Andy Soucek will be joining them as reserve driver this year, as their previous announced driver Alvaro Parente had to step down due to sponsorship deals falling through. Formula 2 champion Soucek was rumoured to be joining Campos META but the Spaniard now picks up the test role at Virgin instead. He said he was excited and motivated and looking forward to learning.

Elsewhere, Ferrari have written a scathing piece on their official website, laying into the new teams this year. The article says: “Of the thirteen teams who signed up, or were induced to sign up, for this year’s Championship, to date only eleven of them have heeded the call, turning up on track, some later than others.” It goes on to add that some of those who have turned up have been very slow, whilst Campos has completely transformed it’s management structure, and US F1 have gone into hiding. The attack is on the FIA rather than the teams, but it’s a pretty harsh piece.

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

20-Feb-10: Button On Top for Final Jerez Test

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 20th February 2010.

Jenson Button was the fastest man out on track today, in the final day of testing at Jerez. There was absolutely no rain at all today, which was a nice change for the teams, and meant lots and lots of laps for all. Kubica and Kobayashi were second and third with 117 laps apiece, whilst the most laps went to Alguersuari who completed 139. The fewest went to Glock who finished second from last with only 28 laps. Virgin Racing had more problems with their hydraulics, and Glock caused one of the day’s red flags. The others were from Webber and Kobayashi.

Whilst I’m here for this special F1 Minute, it’s worth noting the rumours of US F1. There has been a lot of talk that they were about to call it quits, although nothing official. Now co-owner Ken Anderson has confirmed that they are in talks with the FIA to be allowed to miss the first four races of the season. They are lacking in funding, and Anderson believes they could be ready for Barcelona.

That’s all for now, I will be back on Monday with another F1 Minute.

New Partnership for Virgin Racing

The Virgin Racing Formula One team is pleased to announce a new partnership with UST Global®, a leading provider of end-to-end IT services and solutions for Global 1000 companies. The agreement between the team and the California-based company is for an initial period of three years.

Virgin Racing and UST Global intend to develop a strong operational partnership and over the course of the relationship, UST Global will collaborate with the team on a number of high-level technical projects. For 2010 UST Global is developing a bespoke race management tool that will provide the race engineers a 360 degree trackside perspective as each Grand Prix unfolds. This software collation programme will integrate a number of different information data streams from the FIA and FOM, the GPS positioning of the Virgin Racing cars out on track relative to the competition, plus FOM visual feeds to enable the engineers to optimise race strategy.

UST Global will also integrate the Wirth Research simulator with set-up data for the VR-01 to ensure a constant two-way correlation between both sets of inputs.

Additionally, UST Global will have a strong visual presence within the team. Their distinctive identity will appear on the Virgin Racing VR-01 race car, the racesuit and paddock wear of race drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi, team equipment, as well as the clothing of the race team and pit crew.

Graeme Lowdon, Virgin Racing’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to welcome UST Global to Virgin Racing and to be entering into a partnership that will directly benefit our trackside operational performance. Virgin Racing is a very young team but we have a clearly defined path for development which has inspired the confidence of a growing list of discerning companies and brands. We look forward to working with UST Global over the next few weeks to prepare for our debut race in Bahrain and the exciting 2010 season beyond.”

Joe Nalkara, President of UST Global said “We are excited to be partnering with Virgin Racing. Formula One represents the pinnacle of racing, and like UST Global, Virgin Racing is a brand that epitomises customer experience and relationships. We are both next generation companies throwing aside convention to take on the establishment. These shared principles made it a natural choice for UST Global to partner with Virgin Racing over any other teams.”

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