03-Nov-09: Theissen Weighs Up His Options

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 3rd November 2009.

BMW boss Mario Theissen has said that he’s keeping his options open for the future. He said: “I certainly have the option to stay with BMW with the other racing programmes. But I deliberately pushed the decision out of my way until the final race, so I will decide in the coming weeks. But the top priority is to get a place on the grid for the team, and even after that I will think about my own future.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull have a decision to make over who their engine supplier will be for next year. It looked like they might want to change, as they were a high profile team struggling with engine reliability, but now Autosport reports that they will likely be staying with Renault. Christian Horner said: “Since Monza, Renault have remarkably raised their game and done everything they could for us to have such a strong finish of the year. Renault has fuel-efficient engines which will be very important in 2010.”

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

Low Down with Low Downforce

Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima steer their FW31 round the circuit at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix this weekend. The team had a rather nondescript weekend, which sounds about right for their season as well. Rod Nelson suggests a lack of budget, no KERS and an incorrect downforce package for their poor results.

Credit: Lorenzo Bellanca/LAT Photographic

Sum 41

Nick Heidfeld on the grid before the Italian Grand Prix gets underway. Heidfeld had a quiet afternoon, finishing 7th and picking up two points. His record for consistency without retirements continues as well, with 41 consecutive finishes so far.

Credit: BMW AG

12-Sep-09: Hamilton Takes Pole for Italian Grand Prix

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It’s the 12th September 2009, welcome to F1 Minute.

Lewis Hamilton lines up on pole for the Italian Grand Prix tomorrow with his good friend Sutil beside him on the grid. The pair of them battled it out over the last few laps of Q3 for pole, but it was McLaren who ended up on top. They are both quite light though, and we also need to watch out for the Brawn cars, who start 5th and 6th which much heavier fuel loads – they may be one stopping.

Further back, Fisichella starts 14th, having spun the Ferrari in Free Practice 3, crashed into the barriers, and lost some running time. The mechanics fixed the car up in time, but he couldn’t get into Q3, unlike Raikkonen who starts 3rd. Fisi says he is still pretty happy with what he’s achieved though.

Elsewhere, Max Mosley has revealed the idea of running three cars will most likely not come into fruition, not under this Concorde Agreement, anyway. The number of teams would need to reduce before that happens.

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

United Colours of Barrichello

Barrichello starts 5th on the grid after qualifying in Monza today, but his fuel corrected times put him right up there towards the front. Rubens has changed his helmet colours again, in tribute to Piquet and Massa – his Brazilian compatriats – who he misses having around in F1.

Credit: Brawn GP

Toyota – Italian Grand Prix – Free Practice Round-Up

Jarno Trulli (Car 9, Chassis TF109-06)
1st Practice: 19th, 1m 26.020s, (+2.084s) 23 laps
2nd Practice: 13th, 1m 24.967s (+1.043s), 40 laps

Timo Glock (Car 10, Chassis TF109-05)
1st Practice: 20th, 1m 26.325s (+2.389s), 17 laps
2nd Practice: 6th, 1m 24.634s (+0.710s), 36 laps

Panasonic Toyota Racing completed the first two practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza today. This weekend’s race marks the final Grand Prix in Europe in 2009 and is also a home race for Jarno Trulli. The unique demands of Monza, which is the fastest circuit on the calendar, meant both Jarno and Timo Glock had new low-downforce aerodynamic items to test today. These included circuit-specific revisions to the front and rear wings. They both completed their programmes on a sunny day, in which air temperatures reached 28°C and track temperatures 41°C. The morning session saw both drivers complete a series of set-up comparisons on the medium compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres while further set-up fine-tuning was carried out in the afternoon. During that session Jarno and Timo also tested the soft compound tyres, gathering data which will allow the team to effectively plan its strategy for the weekend.

Jarno Trulli
“That was a typical Friday for me and it went smoothly with no problems. As usual we tested the two different tyres and also worked on setting up the car. We made some improvements from first practice so in the afternoon I was happier with the car. We still have some work to do to improve and get the best out of it around this track so we will look at all the data to improve the set-up for qualifying. Today we also experienced the new kerbs at the chicanes for the first time and these seem to be okay; I had no problem with them. It’s nice to be back in Italy, driving in front of my home fans, and I just hope I can do a good race on Sunday.”

Timo Glock
“It was a reasonably good second practice. It was tougher in the morning but we made some changes to the set-up and in the afternoon the car felt better overall. We got more performance from the car and got through our normal programme with no issues. The car feels pretty good but of course we need to work on improving our lap times again. If we can find the right aero balance I think we will be okay here. The new kerbs are fine; they are different to last year but still acceptable. The weather was also quite a bit different to last year’s rain and that was definitely an improvement.”

Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test
“Monza is always a very particular circuit to race on but due to the lack of testing this year the difference compared to other tracks seems to be even bigger. You have the usual problems of trying to get used to running much lower downforce, which obviously means you are lacking grip compared to your baseline configuration. We had a decent day and went through our programme which has given us plenty of information to work with so we will continue working on the car balance prior to qualifying. In terms of tyres, the medium and soft compounds seem to behave pretty much as expected so we don’t expect any major issues as both appear to be reasonable.”

11-Sep-09: Hamilton and Sutil Lead Free Practice in Monza

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This is F1 Minute for the 11th September.

Free Practice got underway today with Hamilton leading the morning and Sutil the afternoon. The only real things of note through the day were Vettel’s lack of running in the morning, Sutil’s engine change during the second session, and both Fisichella and Liuzzi managing to stay on the pace of everyone else.

It was a busy day off track as Renault have launched legal proceedings against the Piquet family. There’s no time to go into serious detail, but suffice it to say it is all getting very ugly. Also on that subject, FOTA have said they aren’t happy with the amount of information that is leaking out regarding this messy business, especially as it is overshadowing the racing action.

The FIA also confirmed that the 13th grid slot for next year will be filled by either Lotus, Epsilon, or whatever BMW will become. The governing body are looking into the three teams and will announce their decision soon after this weekend.

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

Kerb Grinding

Lewis Hamilton rides the kerbs during Free Practice at Monza. Hamilton led the way for Free Practice 1, but fell to 11th by the end of the day. Adrian Sutil proved that Force India’s pace wasn’t a complete Belgium one-off, by topping FP2.

Credit: www.mclaren.com

Shiny Happy People

Tonio Liuzzi and Giancarlo Fisichella meet in the paddock at Monza on Thursday before the weekend gets underway. Liuzzi is stepping up to take Fisi’s seat, whilst the Italian joins his dream team Ferrari for his home race.

Credit: Force India F1

Like a Rainbow

Timo Glock navigates the damp track at Monza during Friday Practice back in 2008. The long range weather forecast for this weekend shows some sunshine for Friday, but it’s looking like there will be rain showers when it really matters.

Credit: Toyota Motorsport GmbH

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