13-Mar-10: Vettel Takes Pole Position in Bahrain

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Today is the 13th March 2010, this is F1 Minute.

Fernando Alonso led the way in free practice 3 this morning, showing some excellent Ferrari pace. He was followed by Rosberg and Webber. Di Grassi had gearbox troubles and didn’t set a time, whilst Chandhok’s car still wasn’t able to leave the garage, meaning he would have to put in his debut lap in F1 during qualifying.

When the three-part session took place, Chandhok did finally make it out on track, and although he was initially 21 seconds off the pace, he closed up considerably and finished last, but only one second off his teammate. All the new teams plus Alguersuari were out in the first session, but it was Glock who led the new team battle, finishing 19th. At the top, Vettel took a storming pole position, with Massa and Alonso lining up behind him. Webber made a mistake on his final flying lap to finish down in 6th. Rosberg was 5th, finishing ahead of Schumacher yet again – the seven times world champion qualified 7th,

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

Let’s Get This Party Started

A ten-part F1 Big Picture series celebrating the return of F1 in Bahrain. Lucas di Grassi gets some laps under his belt during Free Practice on Friday in Bahrain. The Virgin Racing driver had a slow morning, but things picked up for him during FP2. Afterwards, he said: “I wasn’t able to run this morning so the afternoon laps were key to my performance and helping us get started this weekend. The mechanics did a great job running the car and everything seems fine so far.”

Credit: Virgin Racing

12-Mar-10: Sutil and Rosberg Lead the Way in Free Practice

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 12th March 2010.

F1 has finally returned and Free Practice 1 and 2 are complete. The drivers descended on the Bahrain International Track, well, most of them did. In FP1, Sutil topped the session, followed by Alonso and Kubica. Rosberg was 8th whilst Schumacher was 10th, amid suggestions that he was not at all comfortable in the car yet. Further back, neither di Grassi nor Senna set a time, although it was quite a moment when Senna began his installation lap, making both his and Hispania’s debut. Chandhok did not leave the garage at all, his car wasn’t ready. For FP2, his car still remained stuck in the garage, leaving the Indian with no laps completed at all. Rosberg was fastest at the end of the day, followed by Hamilton and Schumacher. We only had one major spin from Alguersuari who narrowly missed the barriers, but continued on his way unharmed.

That’s all for today. Don’t forget F1 Minute goes seven days a week now the season has begun, so I will be back tomorrow with all the news from qualifying.

28-Feb-10: Hamilton Leads Final Day of Testing

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 28th February 2010 – a special edition to cover the fourth and final day of pre-season testing.

Lewis Hamilton was fastest on the last day in Barcelona, and he completed the most number of laps with 134. He was only a couple of hundredths faster than Webber in second though, and Massa and Sutil weren’t that far behind either. Further down the order, Kubica finished up tenth for Renault, whilst Kovalainen pipped di Grassi to finish Lotus ahead of Virgin by just under a second. Lotus had a good morning but had gearbox troubles in the afternoon, whilst Virgin were still struggling with hydraulic problems – but as mentioned previously, they’re hoping their pre-Bahrain upgrade will sort that out.

Massa has been talking about Ferrari’s progress so far and said: “I’m satisfied with the whole of testing, not just Barcelona. We did what we wanted to do, but it looks like it will be a very tough and competitive championship.” He also added: “I’m 100% sure that I will never have a problem with Fernando.” Just wanted to highlight that, in case it comes back to haunt him.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with your regular F1 Minute.

Virgin Racing – Barcelona Test – Day 4

Virgin Racing today concluded its three-test, pre-season programme at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, the team’s final day of running ahead of the season curtain-raiser in Bahrain in two weeks’ time.

In consistently warm and dry conditions, Lucas di Grassi completed 49 laps and set a best time of 1:26.160.

The past three weeks have witnessed a monumental effort by the whole team to ensure Virgin Racing arrives in Bahrain in the best possible shape. Despite a few mechanical trials and tribulations along the way, the team takes away many positives from the programme, particularly in the areas of aerodynamic performance and validation.

Nick Wirth, Technical Director for Virgin Racing, commented: “Once again, our running today has been heavily compromised by the reoccurrence of the hydraulic leak. We have new components designed to fix this issue on their way for the Bahrain race and we’re looking forward to putting that particular story behind us. Lucas did manage to conduct some productive race work but we leave Barcelona having never run a qualifying simulation or the super soft tyres that all our competitors are likely to have set their times on. Now both Virgin Racing and Wirth Research have a busy two weeks preparing both race cars and spares for our debut in Bahrain.”

Virgin Racing – Barcelona Test – Day 1

Virgin Racing got down to business at its third and final pre-season test in Barcelona today. The dry and sunny conditions were in welcome contrast to the weather the teams experienced during the last two tests in Jerez and so Lucas di Grassi had been looking forward to getting some good mileage under his belt. There were a few smaller issues to contend with early this morning but then Lucas was finally able to take to the track in earnest. He completed 31 laps before a spin at turn nine brought an end to the day’s running and this meant he was unable to improve on his best time of the morning – a 1:27.057. The early conclusion spells a long night for the team as they replace damaged parts ready for Timo to join the programme tomorrow.

Nick Wirth, Technical Director of Virgin Racing, commented: “We are continuing to debug the car hydraulics and making good progress in our understanding of the issue. Unfortunately when we were running some experimental control settings on the car, which were adversely affecting its handling, this caught Lucas out on the entry to turn nine resulting in a spin and contact with the barrier. We’re going to need to spend the time before tomorrow replacing some broken suspension and wings. We should be back on track tomorrow morning when we hope to really start building up our mileage.”

25-Feb-10: Webber Leads Day One of Barcelona Testing

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It’s the 25th February 2010 and this is F1 Minute.

Mark Webber put the first marker on the board for the initial day of testing in Barcelona. The Red Bull driver was about a second faster than next placed man Hulkenberg, with Rosberg behind for Mercedes. At the other end of the time sheets, Fauzy for Lotus, and di Grassi just above for Virgin Racing. di Grassi had a big crash just before lunchtime, causing a red flag, but more importantly, stopping the team from any more running. Technical director Nick Wirth said: “We’re going to need to spend the time before tomorrow replacing some broken suspension and wings. We should be back on track tomorrow morning when we hope to really start building up our mileage.”

Meanwhile, Robert Kubica has been discussing the atmosphere at Renault with Autosport, and he says: “I have found what I was looking for – a motivated team that is really nice to work with. I’ve got back something of the feeling like it was 10 years ago when I was in karting. Everything is much easier, it’s not as stressful, not as strict.” Well, he almost sounds happy!

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

Red Bull on a Charge

Mark Webber on the first day of testing in Barcelona today. Webber led the way, giving Red Bull some much needed headlines, as the Australian finished about a second ahead of his nearest rival. Towards the back of the grid, Lotus and Virgin continued to struggle, with di Grassi crashing off halfway through the day. Testing continues tomorrow.

Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Virgin Racing Signs Andy Soucek

The Virgin Racing Formula One team is pleased to announce that it has signed Andy Soucek to the role of Test and Reserve Driver, finalising the team’s driver line-up for the 2010 season.

The 24 year old Spaniard, winner of the 2009 FIA Formula 2 Championship, will attend Grands Prix with Virgin Racing during its inaugural season, benefiting from being part of the team’s race weekend preparations whilst standing by to deputise for one of the race drivers if required.

Andy will also provide valuable car development support back at the team’s technical base in Bicester, assisting in the ongoing simulator programme with race drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi in between Grands Prix.

Andy will continue to hone his racecraft in a variety of other motor racing series.

John Booth, Team Principal of Virgin Racing, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Andy Soucek to Virgin Racing. He had a very good season in Formula 2 last year and a positive F1 test with Williams. He is certainly someone we have been keeping a close eye on as we believe he has a great deal of potential. We expect him to be a real asset to our development programme with the VR-01 and at the same time he provides the experience we need should he be required to deputise for one of the race drivers at short notice. We are pleased to have finalised our driver line-up and we look forward to having Andy alongside us in Barcelona later this week so he can spend some valuable familiarisation time with the team.”

Andy Soucek commented: “I am thrilled to be joining Virgin Racing. This role offers me a great opportunity to prepare myself for the Formula One environment, which is naturally where my longer-term ambitions lie. I look forward to learning from Timo and Lucas as well as soaking up as much information as possible from engineering meetings and time on the simulator. I would like to thank John Booth and Nick Wirth in particular for the faith they have shown in me at this stage in my career. It is exciting and very motivating to be part of a new structure in such a challenging sport and I hope that my experience can contribute a great deal to the development of the car and team in order to help us progress as quickly as possible.”

Virgin Racing – Jerez Test 2 – Day 4

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.”

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