It’s the 24th September, and you’re listening to F1 Minute.
Although Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has already expressed his desire to sell sister team Toro Rosso before the end of 2009, co-owner Gerhard Berger wants more investment into his team. He believes Toro Rosso’s first win should inspire more support to get better results.
As well as that, customer cars are being outlawed after next season, and Berger knows they will need to increase the infrastructure. “If we need to build the entire car, it’s clear that to do that I can’t wait until 2010, I will have to start before then, and I will need more people. From the 160 staff we are now, to build and produce the entire car in 2010 we’ll need to grow to 230 people.”
Elsewhere today, Nakajima has spoken about Bridgestone’s new one-size fits all wet weather tyre, as he tested it at Jerez last week. He concludes that it was way too slippery, like driving on an ice rink: “It is the first generation one and I think we need to do a lot of work there.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
It’s the 22nd September 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
At the Jerez test last week, Williams ran a brand new but old-style rear wing in preparation for 2009. Not everyone, including myself, is in favour of the look of the cars with this wing, but Ross Brawn has defended the change. “I think they look okay - and they look in many ways nicer because the bodywork doesn’t have all this furniture. It is a much bigger front wing and smaller higher rear wing, but we have had things like that in the past.” He said that just like when grooved tyres were introduced, people didn’t like the look of them, but we will soon get used to it.
Talking of 2009, Vijay Mallya has spoken about how he is measuring the performance of his team, and whilst he says Force India are doing well this year, next season will be the real test. “I’ve always said that we will take baby steps in 2008, such as getting into Q2, and I think we have managed to do that. In 2009 we have no excuses, I know that, and I will make sure that we perform.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
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.
Vettel led the way at testing in Jerez today, still in the Red Bull car. He posted the fastest time despite only managing 37 laps due to an engine change. BMW were second, and Renault third. There was some rain in the middle of the day, which disrupted quite a few of the team’s programmes.
Someone in particular who was affected by the weather, was Takuma Sato who returned to Formula 1 for a test with Toro Rosso. He completed just under 50 laps and was 6th out of 8 runners. Afterwards, he said: “Although I couldn’t complete the day due to the weather conditions, I really enjoyed driving the STR3. I would like to say a big thank you to Red Bull and to the team for giving me this great opportunity.” What he doesn’t say is: Please give me a race seat next year.
Elsewhere today, Ron Dennis has issued some fighting talk, saying that McLaren are confident to do well at every circuit left on the calendar this year, and he feels they’re closing in on the constructor’s title at every stage.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Today is the 17th September and this is F1 Minute.
BMW climbed to the top of the timesheets for the second day at Jerez, where this time eight teams were in action, instead of just the three we saw yesterday. Klien was at the wheel, and he finished ahead of Vettel. The German was driving for Red Bull, as a pre-cursor to him joining them for next season. To add to the confusion, normal Red Bull test driver Sebastian Buemi was third fastest of the day, but with a Toro Rosso under him. He was under evaluation for a possible race drive in 2009.
Also today, McLaren were testing out their KERS setup for the first time, and Williams hit the track with their 2009 spec rear wing – a much narrower and higher evolution of this year’s wing. Nakajiama finished the day last and 2 seconds off the pace of his nearest rival.
Ferrari, meanwhile, were at their own private test with Badoer in the hotseat, whilst Force India have not joined the testing fun yet.
That wraps up everything for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
The final in-season test of 2008 has started at Jerez, with BMW, Williams and Honda turning up for the first day. The teams tested three young drivers: Marko Asmer finished the day on top for BMW, followed by Dani Clos for Williams and Mike Conway for Honda. Both Williams and Honda tested out the new KERS technology, but Honda only managed 20 laps whilst the others completed over 70 each.
Elsewhere today, Ron Dennis has been talking about his team’s relationship with Ferrari, and says things have never been better, despite last year’s spy scandal, and the Belgium penalty incident. Dennis spoke out to put pay to rumours that there might be trouble within the FOTA, and of new chairman di Montezemolo, he said: “Luca is an old friend. Granted, inevitably, our relationship has had its ups and downs as a result of the competitiveness of our respective organisations, but there’s a deep and mutual respect between us.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
There’s more Bridgestone news today as they’ve revealed they are looking at revamping the Formula 1 wet weather tyres. At the moment, there are two types, extreme wet and intermediate, and Bridgestone want to reduce this to just one. They’ve done it successfully in GP2, and although the F1 regulations don’t allow it yet, Bridgestone are planning to try out their new compound at the next wet test.
Talking of testing, Red Bull have confirmed that Sebastian Vettel will be hopping into their car at Jerez this month – the first time since he was signed up for 2009. It will be for two days to give him a taster of the team and the machinery he will be running with next season.
Finally today, Nick Heidfeld has said he is perfectly aware of the pressure on him to retain his seat at BMW, but says he puts the pressure on himself as well: “It is pretty clear that if one car finishes on the podium and I finish ninth then nobody needs to tell me anything.”
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Today BMW released the findings of their investigation into the incident that saw one of the mechanics receive an electric shock. At the Jerez test last month, the mechanic was thrown to the ground and later taken to hospital, although had no injuries. BMW have thoroughly looked into what happened, and said that although the shock was painful, none of the team were in any immediate danger.
If you can follow this, they say: “The mechanic suffered an electric shock after touching the sidepod and steering wheel of the car. There was a high frequency AC voltage between these contact points, the cause of which has been traced back to the KERS control unit and a sporadic capacitive coupling from the high-voltage network to the 12-volt network.”
The findings have been submitted to the FIA, and BMW will also make them available to the other teams, so that similar incidents, and some other problems picked up during the investigation, won’t happen again.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Well, the result is in, and Max Mosley has won his court case against the News of the World. The High Court decided that Mosley’s privacy was invaded, and he deserved a £60,000 settlement in damages. Mosley has said he is delighted with the result and the money will go to the FIA Foundation.
Now, in real F1 news, Webber topped the timesheets in Jerez today, ahead of Piquet for Renault and Raikkonen in the Ferrari. Piquet did manage to bring out a red flag after hitting the wall, and de la Rosa, Glock and Barrichello also saw red flags. Glock was returning to action today after his accident and thankfully didn’t crash, but simply stopped out on track.
Also, we don’t appear to have had any KERS related incidents today, but fears about the safety of it continue. Webber has said that he doesn’t want to look into the technology too much as it makes him nervous, and the drivers are happy to let the engineers sort it out. From his position within the GPDA, he said they won’t be getting involved just yet.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
The second day of testing in Jerez drew to a close today with Vettel still leading the way. Toro Rosso were testing out slick tyres and posted the fastest time ahead of de la Rosa in the McLaren and Raikkonen in the Ferrari – who was on grooved tyres. There was just one red flag caused by Alex Wurz for Honda, as he stopped on track with what appeared to be an engine problem.
Following yesterday’s incident where a BMW mechanic suffered an electric shock from a car with KERS installed, we’ve had a few updates. The mechanic was released from the medical centre with just a minor injury to his arm, but was later taken to hospital suffering dizzy spells and kept overnight for observation. He was released today. Toyota team president John Howett has spoken out, saying he doesn’t believe that KERS will be ready in time for introduction as soon as 2009.
It looks like the F1 Working Group will be discussing the issues at their next meeting.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.