Following on from the great race in Singapore, here are some news snippets we might have missed.
Bernie Ecclestone has announced that the Indian Grand Prix, due to be on the calendar from 2010, has been pushed back a year. It looks as though construction work will be finished in time for the 2010 debut, so reasons for Bernie’s decision remain unknown.
Ferrari have confirmed they will be keeping Luca Badoer and Marc Gene as test drivers for next season.
Alonso says that although he knows he was lucky with the safety car timing at the weekend, he also had a fast car, and he believes this win makes up for what has been a really tough year.
Ex-F1 champ Jackie Stewart has said the biggest winner from the Singapore race this weekend was Formula 1 in general, because such a fantastic event should help put some of the recent controversies behind us.
And finally, it’s no surprise that the overhaul of the safety car regulations has resurfaced, with teams very unhappy about the lottery effect.
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.
This is F1 minute and today is the 22nd July 2008.
All ten teams turned up in Jerez for the first day of testing this morning, and by the afternoon, Vettel was top of the leaderboard. He beat Paffett in the McLaren and Badoer in the Ferrari. The only other racing driver out there was Trulli who finished 7th. The day was not without it’s mishaps though.
BMW were testing out their new KERS, but when a mechanic touched the car, he received an electric shock. He fell to the ground, and later went to the medical centre but was unharmed. BMW were understandably cautious, and Klien didn’t complete any timed laps in the car. The team have also now decided to halt testing the system for now.
Elsewhere today, Toyota have confirmed that Glock will be back in action on Thursday, and Glock himself says: “It was a really hard impact and my back hurt immediately after I got out of the car but now it is fine. Actually, it looked worse on TV than it really was.”
That’s all for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Luca Badoer topped the timesheets for the second day of the test in Barcelona, making that two in a row for Ferrari. He finished ahead of de la Rosa in the McLaren and Glock in the Toyota. There were three red flags, caused by Piquet, Badoer and Glock throughout the day, and the session only saw about 20 minutes of rain. Toro Rosso joined the other teams, meaning Force India are the only ones not to have tested so far.
As it’s Friday, here are two very tenuously F1 related stories. Jenson Button will be taking part in his second triathlon this weekend. His first attempt at the non-motorsport event was in April where he came 16th out of 250 entrants, and this week he’ll be competing against over 2,500 other triathletes. Good luck Jenson.
Good luck also needs to go out to the many ex-F1 drivers taking part in the Le Mans 24 Hour race this weekend. Notably Alex Wurz, Christian Klien, Marc Gene, Pedro Lamy, Stephane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny, and Ricardo Zonta are all lining up at the front of the grid for the Peugeot team.
That’s all for this week, I’ll be back on Monday with another F1 Minute.
You’re listening to F1 Minute for the 12th June 2008.
Testing in Barcelona kicked off today with Luca Badoer topping the timesheets for Ferrari. Robert Kubica was second in his BMW, and David Coulthard third with Red Bull.
The day was relatively uneventful, with some rain towards the end limiting the running. Anthony Davidson returned to Formula 1 action, for the first time since the demise of Super Aguri. He was testing for Honda and finished 6th out of 9 drivers. Only eight of the teams were represented with Force India and Toro Rosso not on track.
Elsewhere today, Giedo van der Garde has launched claims against Force India, saying that when they were Spyker, they did not allow him the testing mileage they had promised. He is demanding the sponsor money returned to him as his contract was breached, he wants 1.3 million Euros, and the case will be heard on the 20th June.
Finally, today, the boss of the Montreal circuit has said that they will definitely be looking into the problems that were experienced with the track during the last race, he admits it’s unacceptable.
That’s all for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Hi everyone, I’m Christine and this is F1 Minute for the 5th February 2008.
Ferrari and Toyota continue their test in Bahrain, with Kimi Raikkonen topping the times, Badoer in the sister Ferrari behind him, and Glock and Trulli rounding out the four runners. The Toyota boys appeared to be struggling and Trulli commented on what a difficult day it was. He said: “At the moment we are still in the first stages of our preparation - we have updates and more performance to come.”
The boss of the Circuit de Catalunya has been speaking of the incident at Barcelona testing this past weekend. He said that officials acted immediately to deal with those involved, and he feels that reporting of the incident has not been entirely accurate. He says: “In no way can the behaviour of ten fans represent the 55,000 who enjoyed the three days and knew how to behave. I think that in some cases the behaviour of some 10 or 15 people has been taken out of context. We are against any racist or xenophobic demonstration, even if it’s from a few, and we are not going to allow a repeat of this in the future.”
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
I’m Christine from Sidepodcast and this is F1 Minute for the 13th November.
The first day of testing in Barcelona took place today, and Michael Schumacher marked his return to the Ferrari team in style. Topping the timesheets over fellow Ferrari driver Luca Badoer and de la Rosa in the McLaren, Schumacher proved he’s still got what it takes despite not having driven for a year.
Most drivers were concentrating on 2008 rules and regulations, such as taking the traction control off, and some had better days than others. Jarno Trulli was not well, suffering from a fever, and his misery continued with an engine problem towards the end of the session.
The Force India team hit the track for the first time with their new name, but test drivers Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez finished bottom of the timesheets. Indian driver Karun Chandok debuted in the Red Bull but only finished slightly above the Team India boys after completing 39 laps.
Both BMW drivers were practicing without traction control and Kubica thoroughly beat Heidfeld in 4th position to his team mates 10th.
That’s all for today but I’ll have more news from testing on tomorrow’s F1 Minute.