Tweets of the Week – 14th February 2010

Twitter continued to guide us through testing at Jerez, even if it was slightly subdued due to the weather. We also had three launches, so there was plenty to be discussed.

• Wind tunnel apparently spent the w/e working through brake duct improvements to find a bit more cooling for the ultra-high brake tracks. Claire Williams
• This week Jerez will give everyone a better idea who is really fast. Ferrari seemed better than others but we have to wait. Rubens Barrichello
• At Jerez doing some pre test video footage for our title sponsor Vodafone, heading out for a circuit run with Physio Mikey in a mo! Jenson Button
• Saying hello to Ferrari’s new Spanish driver in the hotel lift. He’s quite small in real life… But he said hi back. So he’s got manners. Red Bull F1 Spy
• Rain in Jerez is getting worse and worse… Nico Hulkenberg
• The entire Lotus team is now enjoying a ‘bonding’ party in central London. Everyone came on coaches from Norfolk, even Sue the cleaner! Adam Cooper
• The parts are about to arrive on (not so dry) land and they should be fitted in the next couple of hours. Looking to fire up around 3! :) Virgin Racing
• Adrian’s initial comments: The car is good and I think it’s a positive place to start. I’m very confident on the general speed of the car. Force India
• Asked Vettel what the problem was and got a shrug of the shoulders and a smile – looked like can’t say rather than don’t know! Edd Straw
• Piquet made an impressive NASCAR Truck debut at Daytona yesterday. He finished 6th and ran as high as 2nd. Maybe he’s found his calling? Lawrence Barretto

12-Jan-10: Red Bull to Skip First Test of the Year

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Today is the 12th January 2010, welcome to F1 Minute.

Following on from yesterdays testing news, Autosport are reporting that Red Bull won’t be attending the very first pre-season test of the year. They did a similar thing in 2009, joining up with the rest of the teams at the second test, and Christian Horner explains: “It’s to optimise the team in the wind tunnel as much as possible. Obviously the car is much more of an evolution of the 2009 car rather than the clean sheet of regulations that we had for last season.”

Meanwhile, outside of F1, Nelson Piquet has decided to have a go at NASCAR in the States for 2010, although he hasn’t confirmed for which team or which particular series he’ll be in either. Piquet did say: “Being successful in F1 was always my goal but I have learnt that happiness is just as important as ambition and after my first 18 months in F1 did not go as planned, I have decided to focus on something different.” He’s feeling positive about the new challenge.

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

19-Nov-09: Brawn Won’t Let Button Out of Contract Early

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Today is the 19th November 2009, welcome to F1 Minute.

Autosport reports that Brawn GP aren’t going to be letting Button out of his contract with them anytime soon, as Nick Fry has confirmed the team are still working things out with him. He said: “Jenson will not be doing anything at all for McLaren until the end of this calendar year. And if he does, we will be looking on it very dimly.” Then he added: “There are clear constraints on what Jenson can do between now and the end of the year, which we will be rigorously enforcing.” That man means business!

Meanwhile, Trulli has been talking about his future, after testing with a NASCAR team yesterday. He said: “I haven’t signed with anyone yet and I’ve talked to teams. My door is open right now.” There are suggestions that he’ll make an announcement after this weekend, when he’ll be at the Toyota Motor Sport Festival at the Fuji Speedway. He’ll be joined be Kobayashi for the last F1 event the team participate in.

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

17-May-09: USGPE Plan to Hit the Track in January

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Welcome to F1 Minute, today is the 17th May.

There’s more news on USGPE’s preparations for next season. With submissions underway for 2010, and successful applicants to be announced in June, Peter Windsor has confirmed that the car will be completed by September. They want to test it out over the following couple of months and be ready to run out on track by January. Co-owner Ken Anderson revealed that the £40 million budget cap is close to what they were planning to spend anyway, so they’re happy for that to go ahead.

Elsewhere, today, Red Bull ran a demonstration through the streets of Hungary, with Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Buemi taking to the wheel. Vettel drove the Red Bull Racing show car, whilst Buemi took to driving a NASCAR round the city – his first time in a NASCAR and he said it was heavy and difficult to turn.

Whilst at the event, Vettel confirmed that Red Bull will debut the double diffuser at Monaco.

That’ll do it for now, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

27-May-08: Coulthard to Visit NASCAR Team

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It’s the 27^th May and this is F1 Minute.

David Coulthard is to visit the Red Bull NASCAR team to make a short promo film, including sitting in the car, attending a race, and hanging out with the team. Red Bull have released a press release saying: “Please note that David is visiting this event solely to shoot a film for Red Bull and we would appreciate it if you did not start a load of silly rumours about him switching from F1 to NASCAR in 2009.”

Ex-Super Aguri driver Takuma Sato has said he is looking to get back in F1 but has no plans at the moment. He played down rumours that he’s being lined up to replace Piquet at Renault, and said that he spoke to Honda about any opportunities they have, whether in F1 or outside of it. He said he’s in no rush, and will wait for the right situation to arise, even if that is a year or two of testing.

Finally today, in the most unsurprising news ever, Autosport are reporting that Max Mosley told a court he was “humiliated” by the News of the World revelations. No kidding.

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