18-Feb-10: Barrichello Heads Up Second Day in Jerez

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 18th February 2010.

Testing again today as the rain continued in Jerez so that there was barely any dry running at all. Barrichello posted the fastest time of the day for Williams, although he also caused one of the four red flags. The others were caused by Kovalainen once and Glock twice, as the pair of them spun off into the gravel. Buemi suffered a hydraulic problem for Toro Rosso, and Ferrari spent much of the day with Massa in the garage – partly for technical reasons, and mostly because they were still sulking about the rain.

Despite his visits off track, Glock actually had a very productive day and finally managed to get 72 laps under his belt. He also wasn’t last with Liuzzi, Hamilton, Buemi and Kovalainen behind him. Virgin Racing Technical Director Nick Wirth said: “We had another issue today and pretty much every issue we’ve had has fallen into the category of ‘happy issues’, which are problems that are not fundamental, but are new problems that we did not understand when we got into this project.”

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

Facing Things Head On

Sébastien Buemi awaits permission to leave the garage during testing in Jerez this week. The Toro Rosso suffered hydraulic problems, which halted some of their running. Massa also spent a lot of time in the garage with reliability niggles. Rubens Barrichello posted the fastest time of the day.

Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Cool Runnings

Sébastien Buemi takes his Toro Rosso on an early morning lap of the Jerez circuit during Winter testing. Rain is expected to disrupt the weeks running, although skies did clear briefly on Wednesday afternoon.

Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

11-Feb-10: Kobayashi Steals the Limelight in Jerez

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It’s the 11th February 2010 and this is F1 Minute.

We saw a lot more laps in Jerez today, as the weather was much improved on yesterday. Sebastien Buemi led the way for the majority of the time, but he was beaten right at the last minute by a tenth of a second from Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi. There were a couple of red flags, one from Button and one from Hulkenberg, plus Timo Glock stopped the action when his front wing fell off. Virgin Racing confirmed they knew what the problem was but didn’t have enough parts to fix it, so they couldn’t continue testing for the rest of the day. Glock managed just 5 laps yesterday and only 11 today.

Meanwhile, the managing director of Silverstone, Richard Phillips, has confirmed that they will use the new layout for the grand prix this year. The design was originally brought in for MotoGP but Phillips says: “Some will miss not seeing modern day F1 cars accelerating through Bridge, but we have to move with the times and continue looking at ways to improve the overall experience.”

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

10-Feb-10: Rosberg Leads a Wet First Day in Jerez

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 10th February 2010.

The second test of 2010 got underway today, although there wasn’t an enormous amount of action to keep track of. The first hour was clear of rain, with Rosberg posting the fastest time for Mercedes, just ahead of Buemi in the Toro Rosso. Then the weather turned, and no one could beat Nico’s time. Also of note, though, Hulkenberg was third, completing the most laps – 118. Glock only ran 5 laps for Virgin Racing, which was a suspiciously low amount for the car’s first outing.

Elsewhere, you may have heard rumours recently, talking about the fact that teams would be given a three race allowance to miss events, mostly aimed at the new teams in case they aren’t ready for the season. However, the FIA have moved to clear this up, issuing a statement saying: “From a sporting and regulatory point of view, each team that has registered for the championship is obliged to take part in every event of the season.”

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

No Bull For Buemi

Sebastien Buemi steers the STR5 round the Ricardo Tormo circuit during the first pre-season test. The Toro Rosso is the first to be built by the team and not given to them by Red Bull, and although it suffered some reliability issues yesterday, the car was up to scratch (if not speed) today, and completed over 100 laps. Buemi ended the day two seconds off Massa, who posted the fastest time.

Credit: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images

22-Jan-10: Alguersuari Confirmed at Toro Rosso for 2010

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 22nd January 2010.

Toro Rosso have finally confirmed that Buemi’s teammate for this year will be Jaime Alguersuari. He always claimed he would be there this year and he had a contract to that effect, but he was missed off the FIA entry list, to much confusion. Clearly, there was some kind of delay, but it’s all sorted now and the Toro Rosso line up is complete. That leaves just four seats available for the 2010 season.

Elsewhere, McLaren have announced they will be live streaming the launch of their new car on the 29th January, as it is unveiled at the Vodafone headquarters in Newbury. The launch and the following press conferences will all appear on the website and it all gets underway at 11 o’clock UK time.

Finally, Autosport is reporting that Alan Donnelly will have no role in F1 this year. He used to be a permanent adviser to the stewards, but now that system has been shuffled, he has been moved to a non-motorsport role.

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

Dashing Through the Snow

Sebastien Buemi gets behind the wheel of the Red Bull demo car to race on the snow in Canada. The initial plan was to run on a frozen lake, but the ice wasn’t thick enough, so Buemi stuck to the relative safety of the snow.

Credit: www.tororosso.com

An Expensive Place to Race

Sebastien Buemi heads round the circuit at Istanbul during the Turkish Grand Prix weekend. The future of the race in Turkey is looking uncertain after reports suggest Bernie has doubled the cost of hosting the event. Organisers are not impressed, but will make a decision by the end of the month.

Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images

Clipped Wings

The FIA released the official 2010 Formula One Championship Entry List today, in the process revealing the full team names of next years entrants, including the yet to be announced Virgin Racing.

Conspicuous by his absence was Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari, despite team mate Sébastien Buemi making the list. The team are yet to confirm their final 2010 line-up, but in the meantime Alguersuari is left out in the cold.

Credit: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

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