Tweets of the Week – 7th March 2010

Everyone is gearing up for the season to begin. The teams returned from Barcelona and got everything together to ship off to Bahrain. Plus, HRT became the newest team to launch a car.

• Everyone back from testing now (I think the boys are due a well deserved rest having had about 4 hrs sleep per night for the last month!) Claire Williams
• Seen some news from finnish media about lotus/minardi, comments taken out of context, not fair for our team, gonna combat it big time now! Heikki Kovalainen
• Hamilton thinks that we are going to be competitive this year. Flattering to be honest. We’re working towards fulfilling expectations. Force India
• had some regular check ups today and play bowling with the Barrichello’s…grandpa is 83 and still on big form…206 points today for him Rubens Barrichello
• freight leaves tomorrow midnight! 25t of equipment to go to Bahrain! boys are working hard! Lotus Racing
• Finally it’s official !! I am a Formula 1 driver !! Karun Chandhok
• In the middle of the press conference for the team’s presentation in Murcia! Will try to post pics of the car asap!! Bruno Senna
• Shame that fellow Oxford United supporter Ian Phillips has left Jordan (and subsequent incarnations). Don’t think he’ll be out of F1 long… James Roberts
• Maximum attack coding today. A week from now and the Bahrain GP will be in the record books. The off-season used to be much longer I’m sure! Geoff Creighton
• Sooo excited that a week today we’ll have our first race winner of 2010! Lots of extra live F1 stats available online during races this year Jake Humphrey

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.

Force India testing concludes in Barcelona

Adrian Sutil brought the Force India F1 Team’s 2010 winter testing programme to a close at the Circuit de Catalunya today. The German ended the testing on a high with the fourth quickest time of the day, 0.139secs behind Lewis Hamilton.

Adrian worked through a full race programme today in anticipation of the start of the 2010 championship in just two weeks’ time. He conducted a race simulation and qualifying runs, in addition to aero and brake work.

With a combined total of approximately 4,000km and 12 days of testing under its belt, the team will now head back to Silverstone to finalise preparations for the Bahrain Grand Prix on 14 March.

Adrian Sutil
I feel like this was the first proper test day for me. We did our long race simulation and I think we can be quite happy and confident. The pace was good, the tyre life was very good, and I was able to run a lot of laps on both the soft and the hard tyres without any problems so both compounds seem to be working really well for us. Also the qualifying sim went well. Speed-wise the car is competitive and we have to show it in Bahrain now.

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
This morning was very windy, and it was affecting the balance of the car quite a lot. We changed our programme because of this, completing some long run evaluations either side of lunch and some performance outings in the afternoon with Adrian. He also tested some different brake materials and some developments for the brake cooling. It was a good day to complete our 2010 winter testing programme, covering 100 laps and signing off our pre-season test objectives. The team has worked extremely hard these past four days and they deserve credit for a very intensive February of running.

Testing data
Driver:   Adrian Sutil
Track:   Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Best lap time:  1:20.611
Laps completed: 100
Kilometres completed: 467km
Air temperature:  High of 19 C
Track temperature: High of 23 C
Weather:  Overcast but no rain

Liuzzi Completes Second Day of Testing in Barcelona

Force India F1 Team’s preparation for the start of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship continued in testing at Barcelona as Tonio Liuzzi worked through an intensive programme that included a full race distance.

After completing shorter runs in the morning, where he clocked his fastest time of 1:21.056, the fourth quickest of the day, Tonio started a race simulation after the lunchtime break. Aside from a red flag period shortly after his second stop for tyres, the VJM03 performed reliably throughout the day.

The team will now prepare the second chassis that will be tested by Adrian Sutil tomorrow.

Tonio Liuzzi
We can be quite happy about today’s programme. We completed everything without any issues and the car showed very good reliability, even when we did the race simulation. Again it is responding very well and we are improving day by day so everything is looking positive. We still don’t know where we are relative to the others, and we will only see in Bahrain, but overall we can be really happy. We now have two more days of testing to try and get as much information as possible.

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
Tonio covered more than 400km today with some performance work in the morning and long run evaluations in the afternoon. Good conditions today mean that the testing has proven very useful for data collection and analysis of the performance of the car in a race situation. Other test items today included some suspension components, fuel system and control systems testing.

Testing data
Driver: Tonio Liuzzi
Track: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Best lap time: 1:21.056
Laps completed: 90
Kilometres completed: 419km
Air temperature: High of 19 C
Track temperature: High of 31 C
Weather: Warm and sunny

Liuzzi Opens Final Force India Test in Barcelona

Tonio Liuzzi was on driving duty for Force India on the opening day of the four day test at the Circuit de Catalunya, the final test ahead of the start of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Weather conditions were significantly better than the previous two weeks’ tests in Jerez and Tonio was able to complete 65 laps without major issue. Several red flag periods interrupted some of the team’s planned running, however his best lap of 1:24.064 was still the sixth quickest of the day. With track conditions relatively ‘green’ Tonio’s programme principally concentrated on pit stop practice and drills and general set-up work.

Tonio will remain in the car for a second day tomorrow before Adrian Sutil takes over on Saturday.

Tonio Liuzzi
Once we realised the track was really green and not good enough to conduct some useful testing, we concentrated on set-up and pit stop practice to get back into the rhythm of a race weekend. Overall it was quite OK but we concentrated a lot on the pit stop practice to get the guys back up to speed. Tomorrow will be where we move to look at performance and long runs so it should be a more representative day regarding the pace of the new car.

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
The first day of our final pre-season test was concentrated on race team pitstop practice, with simulations of live race stops and various different race scenarios conducted through the day. The circuit conditions weren’t particularly good today, and tomorrow will be used to continue our set-up and development programme.

Testing data
Driver: Tonio Liuzzi
Track: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Best lap time: 1:24.064
Laps completed: 65
Kilometres completed: 303km
Air temperature: High of 18 C
Track temperature: High of 27 C
Weather: Warm and sunny

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.

BMW Sauber – Willy Rampf hands over top slot to James Key

In April the BMW Sauber F1 Team will see a change that has been long in the planning: after ten years as Technical Director in Hinwil, Willy Rampf (56) will hand over to Englishman James Key (38), who takes up his new position on 1st April. Willy Rampf will be leaving the team at the end of April.

“The first time I saw the facilities in Hinwil, I knew straightaway the kind of opportunities open to me there,” says Key. “The wind tunnel, the supercomputer, the machine park and the expertise of the team were extremely persuasive. There is significant potential at Sauber, and with the ever-changing world of F1 I think the team is very well placed at present. I am grateful to my old team for the past 12 years I spent with them, but now I very much look forward to starting my new job. I would like to thank Peter Sauber and the team for this great opportunity.”

After two years as a designer with Lotus, Key launched his Formula One career in 1998 as a data engineer with Jordan, where he went on to become Takuma Sato’s race engineer. After a year in the aerodynamics department he was made head of vehicle dynamics. Soon after the Midland Group took over the team, he was appointed Technical Director in season 2005, at the age of just 33. He retained this position when the team became SpykerF1 and ultimately Force India. Key was in charge of the VJM02 with which the private team took a pole position, a podium place and a fastest race lap in 2009.

James Key was born on 14th January 1972. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham. He is currently preparing his move from Warwick, UK to Switzerland. Key is married with three children.

Team Principal Peter Sauber notes: “Despite his young age, James looks back on more than a decade of experience in Formula One – and the 2009 car in particular proved quite a revelation. James comes from a private team and knows how to work around a limited budget. With us he will enjoy high-level technical opportunities. Willy and James will be devoting April to the handover. I have known about Willy’s plans for some time, of course,” Sauber continues, “and fully understand his decision. He has achieved great things for our team. I had managed to get him on board as race engineer for season 1994. Then in 1998 he temporarily left the team to pursue his Paris-Dakar Rallye dream and ran BMW’s motorcycle involvement – a successful interlude, as we know. In 1999 he returned to the fold with the clear aim of becoming Technical Director. It was practically his first Formula One car that was out on the grid in 2001, and we finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship as a privately-run team. We have Willy to thank for a great deal.”

Willy Rampf said: “When you’re Technical Director of a Formula One team, the job comes first and everything else is subordinate to it. I have done my job with a passion for ten years, but now it’s time to hand over the baton. Peter Sauber gave me the chance to enter this league of motor sport and I greatly value all my years spent working with the team.”

Some Light on the Matter

The VJM03 sits in the Force India garage, awaiting testing in Jerez last week. The team’s former technical director James Key was confirmed today at BMW Sauber, replacing the outgoing Willy Rampf. Key said that with the ever-changing world of F1, and the team set up as they are, he’s relishing the challenge and thinks they’re in a good position to do well.

Credit: Force India F1

Force India Announces Technical Department Restructure

The Force India Formula One Team today announced a restructure to its technical department ahead of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship season, due to James Key, technical director, leaving the team to pursue new opportunities. Mark Smith, formerly design director, will now become technical director and will assume responsibility for the entire mechanical and aerodynamic design of the team’s challengers.

James has been a long-standing member of the team, first joining Jordan Grand Prix in 1998 as a data engineer before progressing to test engineer and later senior race engineer for Takuma Sato. In 2003, James joined the aerodynamic group and was then promoted to head of vehicle science towards the end of that year before becoming technical director in 2005.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal, said, ‘We would like to thank James for his commitment and drive over his 12 years with the team. Over this period he has seen four changes of owners, but his consistency and drive have enabled the team to field cars that have often belied our small size. We wish him every success in his future endeavours. For Force India, we will now undergo a slight restructure where Mark will take responsibility for the whole design process and various departments within the drawing office and we are confident we will have both the resources and the personnel to continue our strong progress shown at the end of 2009.’

James Key commented, ‘I have spent the majority of my motor racing career within the team and although a difficult decision I felt the time was right for me to move on to new opportunities. After four owners and various changes and challenges, to field a car that got a pole position and a podium seemed like a culmination of all the efforts. While I’m sad to leave a team I know so well, one which has allowed me to realise many ambitions within F1, I’m looking forward to a new start. The VJM03 is now up and running and early indications are good, I wish Force India all the very best for the next and coming seasons.’

Mark Smith will now assume the role of technical director with responsibility for all of the technical departments. Mark was one of the first Jordan employees and progressed through the team’s ranks to become joint chief designer. After 11 years with Jordan, Mark joined Renault Formula 1 as chief designer before joining Red Bull Racing in 2005, initially as deputy technical director and then technical director. Mark re-joined Force India in November 2007.

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