The Back of Beyond

Sebastian Vettel celebrates his pole position in Bahrain, hugging chief mechanic Kenny Handkammer. The Red Bull driver stormed to pole, whilst teammate Webber qualified in 6th, after making a mistake on his final flying lap. Tyre wear was a significant problem in the heat of the desert, but Vettel starts in the best possible position – ahead of Massa and Alonso.

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The Boys are Back in Town

A ten-part F1 Big Picture series celebrating the return of F1 in Bahrain. Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel compare notes as they make their way through the paddock in Bahrain. Button finished ahead of Vettel in both sessions, but the pair were only four tenths apart by the end of the day. Vettel is slightly concerned about the lack of running he got in the afternoon, a brake problem meant he completed ten laps less than Button.

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11-Mar-10: McLaren Pass Scrutineering, Car is Legal

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 11th March 2010.

Firstly, McLaren have passed scrutineering today, with the FIA giving the rear wing the all-clear. Other teams, including Red Bull and Lotus aren’t at all happy about it but as usual McLaren have stuck to the letter of the regulations if not the spirit.

The FIA also announced that they will be re-opening the selection process for a team to replace US F1 in 2011. All the teams that applied this year can have another go, if they so desire. A statement from the governing body also hinted at the fact that it’s not over for US F1 and they may face some penalties for defaulting on their entry this year.

Finally, two quick snippets, Renault have signed up HP as a major sponsor this year – the company previously sponsored Williams, whilst Alain Prost is the first former F1 driver to join the stewarding panel for 2010, taking up a spot amongst the Bahrain stewards. Other stewards at future races will include Johnny Herbert, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Alex Wurz.

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

09-Mar-10: McLaren Confident Rear Wing is Legal

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 9th March 2010.

More McLaren news, as managing director Jonathan Neale has been speaking about the rear wing problem, suggesting that it really is just Red Bull and Ferrari’s problem. He said: “We’ve spoken to Stefano and some of the other team principals and colleagues there and of course everyone wants to see clarity. We’re doing the same on a number of other teams’ developments. There’s nothing untowards about it though – we’re quite confident the car is legal.” Neale also added that if the stewards did go against them, they have contingency plans, but he is not putting too much effort into them as they do not expect that to happen.

Finally, some new pictures of the work at Silverstone emerged today, and it looks as though they are almost done. The managing director Richard Phillips said: “The team has been working around the clock, through some pretty terrible weather conditions, to make sure the circuit is ready on time.” That’s Britain for you!

That will do for now, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

04-Mar-10: HRT Confirm Chandhok and Reveal New Car

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 4th March 2010.

Today was all about the new HRT team, as they confirmed Karun Chandhok as second driver alongside Bruno Senna for the upcoming year. Talking about the former GP2 driver, team principal Colin Kolles said: “We have been very impressed with Karun’s performance in GP2. India is a great country. It will be great for the sport to have an Indian driver on the grid for the first Indian Grand Prix.” That’s not this year, of course, who knows what will have changed by then! Also today, the team revealed their 2010 car at an event in Murcia. The car is a murky grey and white, and with just a week to go before Bahrain, there’s little chance of seeing it out on track before Free Practice.

Talking of the first race of the year, with echoes of 2009, Red Bull have asked for clarification from the FIA regarding an aerodynamic part on a rival team. They’re asking about the legality of McLaren’s rear wing – where the shark fin joins the wing itself. Oh joy.

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

FIA Formula One World Championship – Entry List

FIA Formula One World Championship – Entry List

No.	Driver	Team	Constructor
1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren Mercedes
2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren Mercedes
3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes Grand Prix	Mercedes Benz GP
4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes Grand Prix	Mercedes Benz GP
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull Racing Renault
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull Racing Renault
7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari
8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari
9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams	Williams Cosworth
10	Nico Hülkenberg	AT&T Williams	Williams Cosworth
11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team	Renault
12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team	Renault
14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	Force India Mercedes
15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team	Force India Mercedes
16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR Ferrari
17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR Ferrari
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus F1 Racing	Lotus Cosworth
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus F1 Racing	Lotus Cosworth
20	TBA	HRT F1 Team	HRT Cosworth
21	Bruno Senna	HRT F1 Team	HRT Cosworth
22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber Ferrari
23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber Ferrari
24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	Virgin Cosworth
25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	Virgin Cosworth

Note: The USF1 Team have indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in 2010.

01-Mar-10: Red Bull Boss Aiming for Title in 2010

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This is F1 Minute for the 1st March 2010.

With testing over, teams and drivers are turning their attention to the upcoming season, and it’s time for everyone to start talking about how well they are going to do. Starting with Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz has said they are going to be one of the fastest teams this year. Talking about his hopes for the season, he said: “We have realistic expectations that of course progressed each year… This year we have to fight for the championship because we belong to the three fastest teams. The rest is not dependent on us but on FIA decisions, driver errors, reliability, safety car periods and so on.” They are definitely targeting the 2010 title.

Elsewhere, Jenson Button has predicted that the lack of refuelling will produce some interesting, well, he said crazy, strategy decisions. Quote: “There will be lots of different strategies which will make it exciting for the viewers… But the problem is that for us it’s very difficult to know what the strategy is. You can’t plan in advance.” I thought that’s what they all did!

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

Quotes Roundup – Week Ending 28th February

The very best from the mouths of those in the know.

Final Test in Barcelona

The cars get set for their second week of testing…

• “If they did that time with 150 kilos then they were quick. But this time is not the benchmark. It’s early days, and I would not say that any team has made any serious qualifying efforts so far.” Norbert Haug on Red Bull
  
• “I really don’t know where we are, compared to all the other teams. There is such a scatter of lap times and long runs, it is very difficult for me to judge. I think we are quite competitive, but let’s wait.” Pedro de la Rosa
  
• “We are trying to do the best that we can, and then we will find out in Bahrain whether it is enough or not. But to be honest it is never enough, so we are pushing very hard and trying to work as hard as possible in these tests, which are quite crucial for the first few races, and we hope to be ready in Bahrain.” Robert Kubica
  

All About Virgin

The team prepare for the season…

• “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.” Nick Wirth
  
• “I am thrilled to be joining Virgin Racing. This role offers me a great opportunity to prepare myself for the Formula 1 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.” Andy Soucek
  
• “The way of operating with CFD is just a bit quicker than windtunnel time. A lot of stuff in the windtunnel takes quite a lot of time to make the model and test in the tunnel. That goes much quicker with CFD, but we still have to show people that it is definitely working.” Timo Glock
  

Return of the Michael

Schumacher is ready to race…

• “I cannot make judgements specifically to other teams. At the moment we are not perfectly in the position we would like, to be competitive to win the first races straight away. But we are working hard, the season is long, and the main issue is not to be too far off. This is very difficult to judge right now, what is the real picture.” Michael Schumacher
  
• “For me the age doesn’t matter. I don’t feel like what it says on my passport. The guys I am around with, with most of them I still feel like it’s the good old days. It’s no different for me. It’s the challenge of driving the car, fighting with the other guys and going wheel-to-wheel. It’s a specific thing, it’s difficult to put in words.” Michael Schumacher
  
• “We are working very well together. It has taken very little time to work with the team and get on with everybody, they are very good guys. It’s very professional and a good atmosphere. But we have to prove ourselves on track, testing is one thing racing is another thing.” Michael Schumacher
  

27-Feb-10: Rosberg Fastest on Day Three of Testing

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This is a special F1 Minute for the 27th February 2010 – catching up on the third day of testing in Barcelona.

The rain has held off since Jerez, but it returned to Barcelona today for a couple of hours. Nico Rosberg posted the fastest time of the day in the morning, and the damp track ensured that no one could beat it. Rosberg also completed the most laps with 128, whilst Massa completed 115 back in fifth place. Is it even worth me saying that Virgin Racing completed the least number of laps and Timo Glock was the slowest of the day? Well, that happened, but Vettel also completed a relatively low number of laps with 51. He ended up 8th but most of the Red Bull running was done after the rain came down.

Elsewhere, Michael Schumacher has done some rapid backtracking after proclaiming that Mercedes weren’t ready to be winning any races yet. He said: “”Yesterday I was a little bit pessimistic before I studied the data. I mentioned it after not having studied the data, afterwards it looks much more reasonable than I thought.” Does anyone else think he got told off?

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

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

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