F1 Minute

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 12th November 2008.

Singapore has picked up an award for it’s spectacular hosting of the first ever F1 night race. The Professional Motorsport World awards were held in Cologne on Tuesday, and Singapore was given the title: Motorsport Facility of the Year for the circuit around Marina Bay.  They beat the new Valencia street circuit as well, plus two non-F1 calendar tracks. Franz Tost won the award for Team Principal of the year, whilst Adrian Newey for Red Bull was nominated for the Design Engineer of the Year. I found it interesting that the R28 was nominated for the Vehicle Development award, although they didn’t win.

Talking of Renault, they’ve confirmed that Giedo van der Garde will be testing with them in Barcelona next week, as a prize for winning the World Series by Renault. Van der Garde says he is extremely excited about the chance to get back into an F1 car, as he was previously a test driver for Spyker in 2007.

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

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It’s the 19th September 2008, and this is F1 Minute.

Pedro de la Rosa headed up the final day of testing at Jerez for McLaren, just ahead of BMW and Renault. There were no rain interruptions today, and no major incidents. Vettel returned to the Toro Rosso cockpit whilst Buemi returned to work for Red Bull.

Talking of which, it appears that Buemi may be a favourite for the Toro Rosso race seat in 2009, after Franz Tost has been quoted as saying as long as they could find an experienced driver to pair him with, they would want him in the car. Buemi isn’t getting too carried away, but says he is excited and getting into F1 is his main objective for next year.

Elsewhere today, Wurz has finished up testing Honda’s KERS system and declared that it’s quite safe: “Honda has an enormous amount of know how with the battery system and we have some security checks all the time going on, so we are very confident that we won’t be electrocuted.” He said it’s fine in road cars so all F1 teams have to do is work out how to package it correctly.

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

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It’s the 1^st July 2008 and you’re listening to F1 Minute.

Although Toro Rosso have been put up for sale and face an uncertain future, team principal Franz Tost says there is no need to panic just yet. He said that when the rumours were non-stop a few weeks ago, it did unsettle the employees and strained the running of the team, however things are calming down again. Tost says: “The message we have from Dietrich Mateschitz is clear, that for 2009, everything will remain stable, not just in terms of employment but also in terms of the budget. Then, from 2010 we will see what happens.”

Toyota have signed a deal with Warner Bros to promote the new Batman film at this weekend’s British GP. The cars will run a Batman inspired livery, and the overalls and motorhome will receive similar treatment. The Batmobile will also be making an appearance for an on-track demonstration with the Toyota close by.

Finally today, Bridgestone have announced they have had to modify the slick tyres compound for next year, after the tyre warmers ban was pushed aside

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

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This is F1 Minute for the 27^th March 2008.

According to reports from Germany, Toro Rosso have offered the hand of peace to Force India by suggesting they share any profits from this year. Whilst still defending the team as being within the rules, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has apparently said that the only people winning at the moment are the lawyers, and if Force India don’t finish in the top ten constructors this year, they can have half of any commercial revenue received.

It seems that money is the subject of the day, with Lewis Hamilton revealing that he will receive a McLaren F1 supercar worth about £2 million, if he wins the championship this year. Hamilton fell in love with the machine when he saw it in the factory and Ron Dennis has promised his young star the car in exchange for the title.

Also, the eBay auction to sell off an RB3 for charity has closed with the car being sold for just over £165,000. The money will go to the Red Bull charity Wings for Life.

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

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Today is the 31^st December 2007 and this is F1 Minute.

There hasn’t been too much news over the Christmas period, it has mostly been teams and drivers talking about how confident they are for the new season.

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has said that he feels the biggest step forward for the team in 2007 was getting the right mix of personnel. With Vettel and Bourdais on board, he feels the team now gels and they can look forward to the future. Vettel, for his part, has said he doesn’t think starting this season with last year’s car will be too much of a hindrance for them.

Meanwhile, over at McLaren, Kovalainen has said he’s sure they can come up with a competitive and consistent car, despite the fact that the team now lack experienced drivers. Although McLaren said they would not be launching their 2008 car, they have now changed their mind and will be holding a launch on January 7^th at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart.

And finally, top sponsor Kingfisher have parted ways with Toyota, ending their contract early. This is not a big surprise, as the company are owned by new Force India boss Vijay Mallya.

That’s all for today, enjoy New Year’s Eve and join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

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I’m Christine and this is F1 Minute for the 26^th November 2007.

David Coulthard has given an exclusive interview to the ITV-F1 website giving some frank views and interesting insights.

His first point is that he doesn’t think Fernando Alonso will be joining Red Bull in the near future. He’s slightly disappointed in the lack of communication from the media since that story began to surface, thinking that perhaps journalists should do slightly more research and get the information firsthand.

David also uttered some surprise at the fact that Franz Tost from Toro Rosso was allowed to get away with inciting such rumours, considering the fact that Red Bull are first a totally separate team, and second, the parent company of his own.

Coulthard stuck up for Alonso considerably, saying that although events throughout the year may not have helped the image of the sport, at least everyone involved has acted consistently. And speaking from experience about McLaren, David said that although Ron can be a difficult man to get on with, the team absolutely do offer a fair and equal racing experience.

He even managed a quick plug for his autobiography.

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