No Room for Nerves
March 8, 2010 by Mr. C
Filed under F1 Big Picture
Renault driver Vitaly Petrov prepares to get in the car during F1 testing in Jerez. Petrov has said that he isn’t feeling nervous ahead of the season, although people keep asking him. He’s still learning but he says he’s used to racing and knows what’s expected of him. Team boss Eric Boullier confirmed the team were aiming for around about fourth in the championship – not aiming too high, then.
Credit: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Photographic
Mercedes GP – Michael Concludes Testing in Barcelona
February 28, 2010 by Christine
Filed under Press Releases
Michael Schumacher was at the wheel of the MGP W01 car today to conclude this week’s four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona and complete his own on-track preparations for the new season.
Michael spent the morning focusing on qualifying simulations and developing the set-up of the car before working on race procedures throughout the afternoon. Michael completed 123 laps with a quickest time of 1:20.745.
Today’s action brings the pre-season test programme to a conclusion after fifteen days of track action in Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona during February. With the 2010 Formula One season getting underway in less than two weeks, Michael and Nico Rosberg will next be in action on Friday 12 March for the first practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher: “The four testing days here in Barcelona have helped us to make significant progress with the MGP W01 and I am feeling quite confident for the start of the season. It is always difficult to read too much into testing but knowing our programme, it is fair to say that the times did not always reflect the true picture. We have worked through many set-up and development evaluations this week and gained valuable information to study before Bahrain. We are heading the first race with a good feeling and we know that we will have our upgrades there. But most of all we know that our prospects for even the first races are looking very reasonable now.”
Ross Brawn: “Today brings our pre-season testing programme to its conclusion and overall we are very pleased with the progress made with the MGP W01 and the integration of Michael and Nico into our team. In performance terms, we are not quite where we want to be yet but then again we are not far off. In testing, it is always difficult to be precise about your position relative to the competition, and we have our complete upgrade package due for the first race in Bahrain which should bring further improvements. Michael and Nico have both looked very good during the tests and they are working well together to improve the car.”
BMW Sauber F1 Team supports Esteban Gutièrrez
February 26, 2010 by Christine
Filed under Press Releases
The BMW Sauber F1 Team is taking 18-year-old Esteban Gutièrrez under its wing. The Mexican driver will attend a number of the Grands Prix in 2010, observe the goings-on in the pits, listen in to the radio communications and be present at meetings. Added to which, he will be incorporated into the team’s driver development programme. This means that he will follow the same training regime as race drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi, and his physical condition will be monitored and evaluated in the same way.
“We view this link-up as a kind of sponsorship arrangement,” explains team boss Peter Sauber. “Nowadays you can only give young drivers a very limited amount of help in gaining a foothold in Formula One. With the limited number of testing opportunities, it is important for the teams to have the race drivers in the cars during those sessions. However, the world of Formula One is so complex that you can learn a great deal just by watching and listening to what’s going on. That’s the opportunity we’re giving Esteban. And we will also help him to get himself in F1-trim physically.”
Gutièrrez also gave his thoughts: “I felt very comfortable at the young driver test at Jerez in December and enjoyed every second, but I also saw that I still have a lot to learn before I’m ready to be a good Formula One driver. Experience behind the wheel is, of course, the most important thing, but I’m under no illusions. I’m happy that the BMW Sauber F1 Team has shown so much confidence in me by giving me the chance to look behind the scenes and learn about the sport. And at the same time, I will be training hard with an instructor, which will definitely help me achieve my goals in the GP3 series.”
Gutièrrez will line up for the ART Grand Prix Team in the new GP3 race series this season. Seven of the eight GP3 races in 2010 will take place on the Formula One support programme.
Liuzzi Opens Final Force India Test in Barcelona
February 25, 2010 by Christine
Filed under Press Releases
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
Bridgestone Motorsport Jerez Test Summary
February 24, 2010 by Christine
Filed under Press Releases
Bridgestone Motorsport concluded two pre-season tests at the Circuito de Jerez last Saturday, where extensive use was made of Bridgestone’s wet and intermediate tyres for the majority of eight days’ testing at the track in southern Spain, on February 10-13 and 17-20.
The final two days provided extensive dry running, but prior to that uncharacteristic and persistent rain in Spain made matters difficult for teams trying to develop their new cars for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, for which Bridgestone is the Official Tyre Supplier.
Three compounds of 2010 specification dry tyres were available, with all but the super soft on offer, but it was the wet and intermediate tyres which were used for the majority of the time. Such was the demand for these tyres that Bridgestone sent extra sets of both for all teams from its UK base. Bridgestone’s Potenza Formula One tyres will next be used in test action this week at Barcelona on February 25-28 where all four dry compounds as well as the wet and intermediate will be available.
Q&A with Jun Matsuzaki – Assistant Technical Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport:
How much of a factor has the weather been in Jerez?
“I think this is the most rain ever seen at Jerez, and on Thursday night it was almost impossible to leave the circuit as there was so much water on the roads. Fortunately, there was no more rain left in the sky so we had good dry running on Friday and Saturday which was very valuable.”
What are the difficulties with testing in wet conditions?
“The difficulty with wet conditions is that they are never constant so there are too many variables to gain good data and develop cars. If it is raining, the circuit is getting wetter so lap times become slower because of this. If it is a drying track, there will be improving lap times due to the improved track surface, a change to the car, or use of a different tyre. This makes it very difficult for everyone. Also, logistically, we had to bring out extra wet and intermediate tyres to enable the teams to continue
running in these difficult conditions.”
“The difficult factor has been that these tyres have been used before the teams have been able to get good dry set-ups on their cars. This is important to have as it makes finding a wet set-up far easier. This has meant we’ve seen a variety of wear characteristics, particularly on the intermediate tyre which is used on a drier track than the wet. When the intermediate is used on a track which has dry patches, or on a car where the set-up is not so balanced, you do see more wear with this tyre. The additional weight of the fuel loads in this season’s cars also adds to the difference in wear from that seen before. Equally, Jerez is a circuit which has quite high wear so we expect better performance as teams develop better set-ups of their cars and at less severe circuits than Jerez.”
What have you learnt about the dry tyres?
“Saturday was the only day where we started with a dry track and we had very little rain through the day, so we are still working with limited data. We can say that warm-up has been good for all three dry compounds here, with a definite improvement from last season’s tyres. It is too early to understand the differences between the compounds. Jerez is particularly severe on the rear tyres and we are happy with their performance from what we have seen so far. Hopefully, we will have better weather in Barcelona.”
Some Light on the Matter
February 24, 2010 by Christine
Filed under F1 Big Picture
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
Established Teams Only
February 23, 2010 by Christine
Filed under F1 Big Picture
Felipe Massa keeps his Ferrari ahead of a following Williams during testing in Jerez last week. In a post on the official website, Ferrari have hit out at the FIA for allowing new teams onto the grid who might not make it. They specifically call out Campos for reorganising their whole management structure and US F1 who have “gone into hiding.”
Credit: Bridgestone Motorsport
Virgin Racing – Jerez Test 2 – Day 4
February 23, 2010 by Christine
Filed under Press Releases
Virgin Racing concluded its second full pre-season test in Jerez today. Timo Glock climbed back into the cockpit of the VR-01 with the intention of achieving much-needed dry track time in the improved conditions. In the absence of the new parts set to be introduced for next week’s test in Barcelona, the team continued to endure a frustrating time addressing the current hydraulic issue. In another day of compromised running, Timo completed just 28 laps and his best time was a 1:22.433.
Nick Wirth, Technical Director of Virgin Racing, commented: “It has been a character-building week, that’s for sure! Despite our best efforts to cure the hydraulic problem which has beset our entire test, this was simply not achievable with the components that we had available in the field. The specific problem is that we have been losing hydraulic oil at a rate which has limited the number of laps we can achieve on each run and so we look forward to receiving updated parts for the Barcelona test, which we expect to fully resolve the problem. Having said that, we will now need to continue focusing on reliability work when we would have liked to introduce our Bahrain-specification aerodynamic updates. The revised programme means we will be reserving our full set of aero warpaint for the first race.
“On a positive note, despite these issues, we have actually completed a lot of good race preparation work and it is satisfying to see the car’s potential with minimum set-up changes or development, bearing in mind that we have consistently run with a healthy amount of fuel. Indeed, none of our lap times have been achieved with anything close to qualifying fuel and therefore we are not letting the frustrations in one specific area overshadow what has generally been an encouraging start to our development programme.”
The Impression of Speed
February 22, 2010 by Christine
Filed under F1 Big Picture
Timo Glock gives the impression of speed whilst testing in Jerez last week. Technical Director of Virgin Racing, Nick Wirth, has said that the reliability issues they struggled with in Spain have knocked their pre-season schedule back a little, and that they are now going to turn their attention to Bahrain. He added that they had worked with heavy fuel loads though, and they weren’t worried about the slower times posted.
Credit: Virgin Racing
22-Feb-10: Virgin Racing Behind Schedule But Optimistic
February 22, 2010 by Christine
Filed under Daily F1 News
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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 22nd February 2010.
We’ve seen the Virgin Racing team struggle during testing over the past couple of weeks, and technical director Nick Wirth has admitted that the niggles they’ve suffered have left them a little bit behind schedule. He said: “It has been a character-building week, that’s for sure. Despite our best efforts to cure the hydraulic problem which has beset our entire test, this was simply not achievable with the components that we had available in the field.” He did add a positive spin on it though, and said they’ve run with heavy fuel, their lap times aren’t meaningful, and they will be looking ahead to the race.
Elsewhere, Stefan GP have had to call off their test in Portimao this week, as Bridgestone can’t supply them with any tyres. The team, who have no entry to F1 as yet, aren’t allowed to have F1 tyres, and Bridgestone couldn’t get them any GP2 tyres either. Stefanovic also confirmed they are talking with Nakajima and Villeneuve for a drive.
That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
