Monday, March 30, 2009
PaddockSpy Headline
Not since the French Grand Prix in 1954 has a team new to Formula One racing finished one-two on their debut. That day it was Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling for Mercedes-Benz. This afternoon it was Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello for Brawn-Mercedes after an extraordinary ‘race of two halves’ in Australia.
Button led from pole as Barrichello bogged down when his car activated its anti-stall device, and the Brazilian was then embroiled in a first-corner clash with BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Force India's Adrian Sutil and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.
Button streaked away from Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber, Nico Rosberg’s Williams and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. But the face of the race changed on Lap 19 when Kazuki Nakajima crashed his Williams heavily, bringing out the safety car until the end of the 24th lap.
By then Button had watched a 47.7s lead reduced to nothing, and began to struggle to generate heat in his tyres. But he got his head down and opened a gap to Vettel again. As the Ferraris faded, Kubica found his BMW Sauber getting better and better on the harder Bridgestone tyre and gradually began to put Vettel, on the softer option tyre, under serious pressure in the closing stages.
Going into Turn Three on the 55th lap - with three left to run under a setting sun which made driving conditions very difficult - Kubica got alongside Vettel but they touched. Both spun, but continued. But not for long. Vettel had lost his front wing and crashed heavily just as Kubica, further down the road, did the same thing. Out came the safety car again.
Incredibly, that melee had promoted Barrichello back to the second place, despite his first-lap incident and a later touch with Raikkonen which damaged his Brawn’s front wing. It was changed during his first pit stop on the 18th lap. As the race finished under the safety car, he admitted that he had never expected a one-two after all his dramas.
Jarno Trulli started from the pit lane after Toyota’s rear wing infringement yesterday, but hauled through to take the final podium finish, while a very determined drive brought a hugely valuable fourth place for McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. The world champion was briefly third in the dying stages after Trulli ran off track behind the safety car, before the Italian subsequently retook the place - an infringement which prompted stewards to subsequently add 25s to his race time, later dropping him to 12th.
In the second Toyota Timo Glock came home fifth. The German survived a spin while battling from his own pit lane start, when he and Fernando Alonso tangled.
The Spaniard brought his Renault home sixth, while seventh place came as a bitter disappointment to Rosberg. The German was running fourth with six laps to go and had set fastest lap, but had used up his Bridgestone option tyres and was simply in no position to defend the place. By the finish he had rookie Sebastien Buemi thirsting after him as Toro Rosso’s Swiss driver scored a point for eighth place on his debut.
Neither of the Ferraris finished. Both struggled with tyre wear, and as Massa suffered a mechanical problem late in the race, Raikkonen spun and subsequently retired.
Sebastien Bourdais was ninth in the second Toro Rosso, ahead of Adrian Sutil, who survived a brush with Force India team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. They were separated by Heidfeld, who was consigned to a recovery race after the first corner fracas, while Fisichella further delayed himself by missing his pit marks in his first stop.
Webber, another in recovery mode, was the final classified finisher, ahead of Vettel, Kubica, and Raikkonen. The retirements were Massa, Nelson Piquet who spun his Renault after the first safety car restart, Nakajima and Kovalainen.
Button’s great victory marked the 200th for a British driver.
"It's not just for me but for the whole team,” he said, “a fairy tale ending really to the first race of our career together and I hope we can continue this way. We are going to fight every way we can to keep this car competitive and at the front. This has got to continue and this is where we want to be. Bring on Malaysia!”
source: www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Although he could not prevent Casey Stoner taking the glory in the BMW M Award showdown, Valentino Rossi was content with his work at the Official MotoGP Test.
The World Champion Valentino Rossi came second in Sunday’s Jerez showdown with his predecessor as MotoGP title winner Casey Stoner, but the Fiat Yamaha man made progress in southern Spain and has had a good preseason as he prepares to defend his premier class crown.
The legendary Italian rider put in a best lap of 1’39.365s in the BMW M Award shootout, leaving him trailing Stoner by a 0.719 gap, but he was in or around the top three on the timesheets consistently over the course of the weekend, just as he was in tests at Sepang and Losail International earlier this year.
“Firstly the conditions were quite bad in the 45 minute session, but anyway I am quite happy, especially about the work we did yesterday and this morning,” Rossi stated. “We tested a lot of new and different things which worked well and we have found a setting which will be good for the race here at Jerez. I am quite fast with the hard tyres, I feel strong and our speed is ok.”
Having been tangled up with San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias at one stage and interrupted by the temporary halt in proceedings when Tech 3’s James Toseland crashed heavily, Rossi felt he could have gone quicker on Sunday.
However he nonetheless acknowledged Stoner’s rapid pace when he added, “Over one lap Stoner is faster than me, he did a good time today so congratulations to him. I was a little bit unlucky with the red flag and with Toni Elias. My potential is a little bit faster than I went, but I don’t think it was possible to have gone as fast as Casey.”
source: www.motogp.com
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MotoGP
Saturday, March 28, 2009
If you had the chance to drive and experience an A1GP Powered by Ferrari car, you’d jump at the chance, right?
Well, so would I.
There might even be a few vital organs in my body that I’d happily relinquish if, through some bizarre sequence of events, this actually led me to getting behind the wheel of one of the 600bhp nation-versus-nation racers for half a day’s running.
Fortunately (for one of my kidneys anyway) I don’t have the experience to safely turn a wheel in anger in one of A1GP’s Ferrari-powered babies. The merest suggestion of me fitting my 5 foot 11 inch, slightly lumpy frame into a racing seat would have many A1GP technicians reaching for tissues just to wipe away the tears of laughter.
The closest I get to experiencing an actual race car is constantly speaking to all the drivers about their feelings throughout every race weekend. You see, I have been editor of A1GP.com for two years now, and have written more than 1500 stories through interviews with drivers about their races. I cockily feel with my knowledge assimilation that I could be part of a championship-winning team if I was only given the chance, but it’s just five-time Grand Prix winner John Watson is allowed from A1GP’s media and TV staff to actually get in a real car.
But thankfully there was another answer – A1GP’s simulator in Italy. Given the ultimately static nature of a simulator compared with a racing car, I knew couldn’t do any damage to myself there.
But I was wrong.
A station for simulation
I was a little surprised standing outside the building in downtown Modena because this didn’t look like the NASA-style research facility I was expecting. However, on climbing the stairs and being presented with my first sight of the machine, any notions that this was just going to be fun ride in a souped-up video game were abandoned quickly. Stood before me was an A1GP monocoque, carefully mounted on complex electronics and special actuators, complete with real harness and carbon-fibre steering wheel. It was facing three large high definition plasma screens.
For a half a car on a motion platform, there was something about this that now seemed very real.
The A1GP simulator has been built at vast cost to allow teams and drivers to aclimatise themselves quickly with the advanced electronics and technology on the A1GP Powered by Ferrari car, introduced for the 2008/09 season. It also makes it possible to test something, in a series that has a strict ‘no testing’ policy between race events.
The aim of that is to increase competition and not waste money on an expensive practice that the public neither sees nor benefits from. It’s is normally a moot point anyway, because for environmental reasons cars are transported directly from one event to another without going back home.
However, A1GP is also all about developing young talent and allowing drivers from developing nations and with limited experience to compete on a level playing field, so any extra track time and acclimatisation drivers can do, is going to allow them to compete when the real pressure of their nation is on them at an A1GP weekend. This led to the introduction of the Friday morning rookie session in 2006/07, which has now gone a stage further and become the simulator.
The simulator has every major A1GP circuit programmed into it, and drivers can simulate every aspect of a race weekend they want to. One major part of the system that differentiates it from a moving games console is that the system outputs telemetry in exactly the same way as its real-life counter part. Gear ratios, wing and damper settings can all be trialled and tested, and graphical feedback generated to be able to give accurate accounts of the run for careful analysis.
My mouth salivates as the machine whirrs into life and is taken through a ghost lap of Gauteng’s Kyalami circuit, the track I’m going to be driving and host of the latest round of A1GP. The car lurches forward and back turns left and right, with everything looking perfect. Except there is no driver in it yet.
It turns out that this was no ghost lap, it was the actual movements and performance of Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque, the current best driver around this virtual Kyalami.
“The teams are very serious about this,” explains Anton Stipinovich, A1GP’s lead consultant on electronic development and my host for the day. “The parts that are available on the simulator, the springs, the anti-roll bars and so on are the same ones that teams would have available for them at the track. We’ve got the proper tyre model from Michelin, we’ve got the proper engine map from Ferrari, we’ve got the electronics from Magneti Marelli, we’ve got the same vehicle dynamics, we’ve got the right aerodynamic performance. It’s a fantastic training tool and can be used on 200 tracks.”
Stipinovich is highly regarded in motor sports circles for his work on racing car electronics and simulators, having spent several years in Formula One including McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. He is also a jolly nice bloke, especially when considering he is letting a 28-year-old test a rather expensive machine.
“Some racing simulators have very big motion platforms that make drivers sick because they have so much movement,” he explained to me. “But our simulator was supposed to be a thing that the drivers could sit in for about four hours. It’s still very tiring mentally, and the concentration needed to drive electronically is much more demanding because in real life you get more feedback from the track. The screens are harder than real life on the eyes too.
“The most accurate thing about the simulator is the engine mapping, for example, when you get a chance to use the PowerBoost button you will find it is as close to reality as you will ever get.
“Our drivers are saying it’s about 60 to 70 per cent accurate when compared with real life, and that’s a huge figure let me tell you.
“The one item that drivers always say is difficult to reproduce in a simulator is braking because when you brake you get a lot of feedback from the track. We have tried to replicate this as much as we can and we have put in a lot of effects, like for example, we show smoke coming from the tyres, we give force feedback on the steering wheel.
“I am sure as we go along you will learn a lot. The first thing we have to do now is get you seated and comfortable.” 
Dreams are made of this?
You know what I said earlier about Anton being a nice guy?
“It’s ok, I expected anyone with your level of experience to be as bad as you Tim,” he uttered, evaluating my performance.
Rodi Basso, Stipinovich’s partner in putting the simulator together and my data engineer, concurred. He did his best to help, taking me through the data to explain specifically why I had spun for the seventh time in the last ten minutes.
It had been an enlightening time in the car.
I have always clung on to the belief that if I had just had the necessary breaks, I would have been able to lead my native England to World Cup glory in 2006. Similarly, had I just been spotted up on stage at school by the right Hollywood mogul, it would be me acting opposite Angelina Jolie in Mr and Mrs Smith. And until that moment, I always thought that it would have been possible for me to have been a motor racing star, if only I had started motor racing earlier in life.
But that illusion stood no longer. I was, as it turned out, a bit rubbish.
A normal racing driver could complete about 22 clean laps in the half hour time slot I received, setting lap after lap at blistering and consistent pace.
But I just managed three. Well, clean laps anyway. The rest of the time I spun, slid sideways, put it in the gravel, changed gear wrongly, crashed into the retaining wall, or generally made myself look slightly foolish to the ever growing simulator staff members gathering behind me.
Now, let’s focus on the good points. When I did complete a lap at pace I managed to put in a time within about nine seconds of Albuquerque, which for a complete novice which I still think is pretty good.
Despite the lack of clean running, the experience felt amazing. Changing up through the paddle-shift semi automatic gearbox was clean and precise and turning at the right time was difficult yet rewarding. Feeling the seat belts push themselves into my torso under braking felt as if it should be real, and having to carefully control my throttle input on cold tyres so as not to spin at every corner was the tightrope drivers constantly tell me about.
And boy did it feel quick, so much quicker than anything I had ever driven before. The three screens may look a bit bizarre in a still photo of the simulator, but I can assure you, you forget about that in what is a truly immersive experience. You focus solely on the central screen with the left and right screens enforcing a sensation of speed in your peripheral vision.
The car pivots and moves as you would expect and the throttle and brake pedal have the seemingly right amount of sensitivity. The engine notes change and the tyres screech when you brake too harshly.
In terms of learning a circuit, it was effective. By the end of my stint I knew where I should turn in, brake and change gear. The fact that my hands failed to heed the advice of my brain was neither here nor there. For any new driver learning a circuit, I could see how invaluable time in this machine could be. Why waste the first few laps of Friday morning on a race weekend learning the place when you could already be dialling in race set ups? If you spend a day in the simulator and it’s already mastered.
If I have any complaints, it was that it was too realistic, but I think that feedback will fall of deaf ears. It shouldn’t be easy to drive an A1GP car, whether real or otherwise, so my inability to keep it in a straight line much of the time reinforced my gladiatorial opinion of the 22 talented individuals who race for their nations at every A1GP event. 
Not just for drivers
The bank of screens and computer servers in a room next to the simulator visually demonstrates that this is not just a tool for drivers, but for engineers too.
It is here that I can take the time to study my best lap (or least worst lap), and over lay it with data from other real drivers.
This is a bit of a privilege for me compared with other teams. Those nations that choose to come to the simulator are guaranteed secrecy from one another on everything they do from the technical changes they programme in and how they perform, so as not to give any advantage to the competition.
However, Stipinovich insists there is a big correlation to those who have run well in the simulator to those who have run well in the real life A1GP cars.
“I am so impressed with A1 Team Malaysia and how they used it before the start of the season for example,” he says. “They were very proactive in using the simulator, the way they do it is quite amazing and they results they got, well, I wasn’t surprised.
“When we got to the first test of the year, I said to everybody that Malaysia would be one of the best prepared teams on the grid. It was. Look at Zandvoort.
“They came here with their rookies, they came here with their drivers, and their engineer came here with a test programme.”
Looking at the data telemetry, I studied exactly how I could have improved and what I was doing wrong, and with a bit of time and concentration, I probably had the chance to knock a few seconds off my time, simply by understanding why I was making the same mistakes over and over again.
Honing ability on just one circuit, using exactly the same race timetable mirrors a weekend’s pressure characteristics. It’s not useful if you flip from one circuit to another on a whim.
Stipinovich continues: “If a team hasn’t done their preparation correctly, in other words, if they don’t do a simulation and find out the right gear ratios you could start lagging behind in sessions. If you get to the first session and you have the wrong gear ratio, that session turns into a waste of time so then you sit that out and you have to run in the next session.
“Everyone else who had their ratios right moves forward so it’s massively important for a team to hit the ground running. There is no team in the world that sees a race or a season as the start or end of the job. Constantly gathering data is important, so you go back to your notes and see what you did wrong here…”
Likewise, if the driver makes a mistake in the simulator, the best way is to also treat it like a real weekend to mirror the consequences of making a mistake. While I could press the reset button and instantaneously return to the pits for the sake of training me out of my muppet behaviour, a real driver would most likely get out of the car to study in detail what they had done, before simulating the next session that weekend.
“Teams have come back after a race weekend and tried different scenarios on what they should have done to help them learn from it better. What if on Friday they instead run different ratios, or tried soft instead of hard dampers. Maybe they shouldn’t have put that new set of tyres on in free practice and saved it for qualifying.”
Welcome to the real world
A few weeks later, I went down to the Portuguese pit to find Albuquerque and to learn what he thought of the machine. Turned out he wasn’t that proud about being nine seconds quicker than me, just amused.
“It’s very useful for getting to know the car’s controls,” he told me. “Some tracks are really accurate – Sepang for example is awesome. You can be consistent and be more focused and really pushed for times.
“Ultimately it’s a very good simulator, but it is not the real car. You can learn exactly what gear settings you should have and the shifting you need and where the bumps are on a course. You learn about the blind corners, which are key to a good lap time.
“In terms of feeling it’s slightly different, because it’s hard to get the feeling of locking the wheels whether the car is moving under braking, or whether there is oversteer exit. But that’s the difference between real life and the virtual life, you don’t quite have the feeling on your fingers.”
A1 Team Italy’s Edoardo Piscopo raved about it, saying it effectively gave him back the rookie sessions he lost when he became ineligible for them after competing in more than six races.
“They have worked hard on continually improving it,” he said. “When I first drove it felt really light but now they have added much more weight to the steering wheel and it is much more accurate.
“It is so useful to learn tracks. It gives you an advantage of about one or two sessions. When you go to a new track you know the braking points and new gears for each corner.
“You feel the downforce and the minimum speed, and you can feel how much speed you can bring into a corner. I drove the simulator in Donington, and it was really close to what we ended up doing in the test there.
“It’s not perfect, after all, it is not an actual car, but it gets really close. For example, in Zandvoort the difference between the lap times was just a couple of tenths different. It’s amazing how close it can get.
“We have tested several different solutions at Sepang with aerodynamics. We tried low and high downforce set ups which gave us some tips for the race.”
The future
Mother Nature’s delicious tapestry of changeable and variable climatic conditions combined with humans and machinery that degrade and tire mean that it will never be possible to exactly replicate what is real in a virtual world. However, the simulator comes pretty close to it, enough for the real race drivers to find it a valuable tool in their preparation, and to tell the less talented drivers (like me) where they need to improve.
It makes so much sense. Why spend thousands running a different car around a circuit to get mileage, when much less can be spent on hiring an A1GP simulator to be so much more useful?
Stipinovich, Basso and the team continually work on the simulator, and every race in real life gives them yet more information to improve its accuracy and make it even more useful for the drivers.
I would have suggested that the only other improvement needed was to include some driver aids such as traction control to give people like me a fighting chance, but it transpired that I already had them on. All of them.
The last resting place of my pride is somewhere in Italy.
Tim Redmayne
Opinions expressed are those of the au
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A1GP
Saturday, March 28, 2009
A date has been set for the FIA International Court of Appeal hearing over the diffusers on the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams cars. It will take place in Paris on April 14 in the week prior to round three of the championship, the Chinese Grand Prix.
Stewards passed the cars of all three teams in Melbourne on Thursday, prompting protests from rivals, who believe their diffusers may be illegal. Those protests were rejected, a decision that was subsequently appealed by Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Renault.
It means Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams could in theory be stripped of any points they score in Australia and Malaysia, should their cars be deemed outside of the rules.
source: www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
The first day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park produced a fascinating timesheet with Williams, Brawn and Toyota all showing enviable pace. Needless to say their Friday performance left a lot of high-ranking teams with red faces and a mountain of data to comb through for answers. We examine how each team fared ahead of Saturday’s action…
Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 26.687s, P1/1m 26.053s, P1
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 26.736s, P2/1m 26.560s, P7
Setting the fastest time in each session, and taking a one-two in the first, made this a day to remember for Williams. Having had their diffuser declared legal by the race stewards in the early hours of Friday morning, they built on that all through practice. Rosberg reported that his FW31 was working ‘particularly well’ in both sessions, and was well balanced, as did Nakajima.
Brawn GP
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 27.226s, P4/1m 26.157s, P2
Jenson Button, 1m 27.467s, P6/1m 26.374s, P5
Brawn GP’s first official day in the saddle began with the rejection of the protest against them by the race stewards, and got better and better. Barrichello was happy with his tyre evaluation work, while Button felt he had some set-up work to do on the softer tyre. He also complained of traffic on his new tyre laps in the second session. The BGP001s ran reliably, with only minor problems.
Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 28.142s, P12/1m 26.350s, P3
Timo Glock, 1m 27.710s, P8/1m 26.443s, P6
Toyota was the third happy camper after the stewards’ decision on their diffuser. Trulli said he was still not completely happy with the balance of his TF109 and that it was not particularly comfortable to drive. Glock reported that the first session was better for him than the second, when the behaviour of the car changed.
Red Bull
Mark Webber, 1m 29.081s, P17/1m 26.370s, P4
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 32.784, P20/1m 26.740s, P8
Red Bull described their day as ‘hit and miss’. Webber lost time in the first session with a driveshaft seal failure, and was in the pits again in the afternoon with an exhaust problem, and said he was surprised to be as high as fourth and that he did not expect to be there tomorrow. Vettel ground to a halt with hydraulic problems in the first session, then spun and could not restart in the second.
Force India
Adrian Sutil, 1m 27.993s, P9/1m 27.040s, P9
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 28.603s, P14/1m 27.282, P13
Sutil sprang surprises in both sessions, with ninth fastest times and a couple of fastest laps early on in the second. He reported that he was happy with the VJM02 apart from when it was on the softer rubber in the second session. Fisichella said his car felt better at high speed, but he had a problem with the rear brakes locking up.
Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 27.642s, P7/1m 27.064s, P10
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 26.750s, P3/1m 27.204s, P11
Nobody expected to see Ferrari in only 10th and 11th places, and they began practice smarting at the defeat by the stewards. Massa lost one chance to go fast on the soft rubber in the second session when he twitched into oversteer close to the end of the lap, and also found the balance had changed since he ran the harder compound Bridgestone. Raikkonen was fast in the first session, but did not find a satisfactory solution to grip problems in the second.
Renault
Fernando Alonso, 1m 28.123s, P10/1m 27.232s, P12
Nelson Piquet, 1m 29.461s, P18/1m 27.828s, P19
Both Renault drivers reported a general lack of grip as they struggled to find an ideal balance in the R29, though the team are confident they can find some solutions to the oversteer overnight. An electrical issue cost Alonso some track time in the morning, but no other problems were reported.
BMW Sauber
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 28.137s, P11/1m 27.317s, P1
Robert Kubica, 1m 28.511s, P13/1m 27.398s, P15
BMW Sauber completed their planned programme, Heidfeld running KERS, Kubica not. Both complained of serious lack of grip, which was reflected in their relative positions, and though they focused on race set-up, the team were not happy with their final result.
Toro Rosso
Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 29.499s, P19/1m 27.479s, P16
Sebastien Buemi, 1m 28.785s, P15/1m 28.076s, P20
Bourdais had a trouble-free day that enabled him to work through his programme, and was about where he expected to be without some development parts that Red Bull had. He liked his STR4’s balance on the softer tyre, apart from some high-speed oversteer. Buemi handled his first official practice day well, and was systematically able to improve his car.
McLaren
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 27.453s, P5/1m 27.802s, P17
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 29.042s, P16/1m 27.813s, P18
For a while in the morning it looked good for McLaren, with Kovalainen up in fifth place in the thick of things, and an explanation offered for Hamilton’s slow speed when a damaged floor was discovered. However, both suffered poor grip in the second session, Hamilton reporting bottoming, and it was clear that more work needed to be done on their low-fuel fast-lap set-up. Neither had any problem with their KERS.
source: www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Friday, 27 March 2009
Second part of Fiat Yamaha presentation sees team ready for coming season.
Continuing on from the team’s online presentation –sent across the world on February 12th of this year- Fiat Yamaha concluded the two-part unveiling of their 2009 project with a press conference in their hospitality suite on Friday evening.
Present at the event were riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, in addition to their respective crew chiefs Davide Brivio and Daniele Romagnoli, Fiat Yamaha Project Director Masahiko Nakajima, Yamaha Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis and Fiat CEO Lorenzo Sistino. A Q&A session lasting over an hour gave journalists an insight into the 2009 MotoGP project, with Yamaha offering a resilient outlook in the face of the current global economic situation.
“Yamaha has shown commitment in our endeavours. Being successful means that this project has retained important sponsors and support. We particularly want to thank Fiat for their continued involvement,” said Jarvis.
“Business is difficult, and the business period for selling bikes in the market is approaching, but we are fully committed to MotoGP.”
When pressed on cost-cutting methods enforced for the new season, Rossi stated that he would see little change to his Grand Prix weekends by joking that “I signed my contract in June. Who it will probably affect more are my mechanics and the people around me. However, the reduction of practice time worries me a little as we sometimes only found the best setting on Sunday morning last year.”
Brivio added his opinion that “the fans will not be thinking about any problems when they sit down at two o’ clock to watch the races.”
Pulling together has also led to cooperation in the Fiat Yamaha garage. Lorenzo’s answer to the endless posing of questions about the wall dividing him and his teammate? “I have Valentino’s telemetry, and he has mine, but every rider has to concentrate on his own work or he will never win"
source: www.motogp.com
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MotoGP
Massa predicts Algarve action
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s 2008 Formula 1 World Championship runner-up Felipe Massa believes A1GP is ‘going to have a lot of fun’ when it heads to the new Autodromo Internacional do Algarve next month.
A1GP will become the first international car series to race at the new multi-million dollar complex, in Portimao on 12 April.
Massa, who will be competing in the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend, is one of the few drivers in the world to have sampled the circuit, which was completed last Autumn.
Massa tested his new Ferrari F60 at the 4.69km track earlier this year, and believes that its long and wide straights will provide for some great racing action in A1GP next month.
“It will make a great racing circuit for A1GP,” Massa told A1GP.com. “I did one day of testing there and it was really nice. I think you guys will definitely have a lot of fun there.
“It is a pretty nice, well thought out track. The layout is fantastic.
“You should get lots of overtaking because of the long straights and you should get some good dicing going on. It will be a great circuit for A1GP”.
In addition to the circuit, the project also includes a karting track, a technology park, a five-star hotel, a sports complex and apartments.
source: www.a1gp.com
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A1GP
Thursday, March 26, 2009
At last, after what seems to have been the least conclusive off-season in a long while, the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship kicks off in Melbourne’s Albert Park on Friday. And, after months in which several teams appear to have achieved good things in testing, we may finally start to get some answers to that crucial question: who will set the pace?
With the new restrictions on testing, Friday’s practice sessions will assume a far greater importance, and nobody is likely to be going anything other than flat out at this meeting in particular as they hone their cars and further develop things such as KERS. Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and BMW Sauber are the teams who have confirmed they are ready to run KERS. Williams, Brawn and Force India have said they won’t.
Brawn, of course, dominated testing once they started running in March, and Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello come to Australia full of hope. Red Bull, however, have indicated that they intend to protest the Brackley car’s diffuser design if it is accepted by the Albert Park stewards.
"From our short but crucial testing programme over the past two weeks, we have reinforced our view that the BGP 001 is a good car and an excellent platform from which to develop performance over the course of the season,” said team principal Ross Brawn. “Our focus during the seven days of pre-season testing was on reliability and developing our understanding of the car in race conditions.
“We are very satisfied with the work achieved and the initial pace seen from the car however we are fully aware that our work has only just begun. The practice running in Melbourne will be crucial and we have to get as much mileage as possible under our belts to allow Jenson and Rubens to refine the set-up of the car to their liking."
Ferrari seem very happy with the development work they have done on the F60, and the only fly in their ointment all winter, reliability issues apart, was Brawn. Felipe Massa says he will adopt the same approach as he did in 2008, when he so narrowly lost out in the title fight with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
“We will work even harder to try to finish most of the races in the points because we saw that maybe one point is enough to lose the championship at the end of the year,” the Brazilian said, “so I think the approach now has to be the same in terms of driving, in terms of working with the team but trying to be a little bit more consistent.
“I think we can have maybe McLaren again fighting for the championship, BMW because they did a good job in the last years and maybe Renault and maybe some surprise, so I think it’s quite difficult to say now who our main rivals will be.”
Kimi Raikkonen has said that he likes the new Ferrari very much. “It looks very nice. I mean, it’s always when you get something new it takes a little while to get used to it, especially now we have, everybody has the same kind of front and rear wings so after the first couple of tests nobody any more notice and talks about it. It doesn’t really matter how it looks. If it’s fast, it’s enough.”
McLaren encountered a significant aerodynamic problem during the Spanish tests in March, but modifications which appeared late in the month in Jerez went some way towards improving the car and world champion Hamilton is feeling optimistic.
“There is no better place to begin the championship than in Australia,” he said. “The weather is fantastic, the facilities are excellent and the people of Melbourne make us all feel extremely welcome. Most importantly, everyone arrives with an air of enthusiasm and expectation. Despite weeks of winter testing, it’s still difficult to know exactly who has the best package, and finding out over the weekend in Albert Park is always fascinating. Perhaps we don’t come to Melbourne with the same prospects to challenge at the front that we experienced in both 2007 and ’08, but the whole team will be working tirelessly to help us move back to the front.”
New team principal Martin Whitmarsh added: “We go into the start of the 2009 season fully aware that we do not yet have the technical package that will allow our drivers to fight at the front. In Formula 1, there is nowhere to hide: that’s what makes our sport so demanding and yet so endlessly fascinating. And as a team that goes grand prix racing with the expectation of winning races and challenging for world championships, we therefore go to Melbourne with realistic expectations. Nonetheless, we begin our season with huge determination to re-assert ourselves at the front and we will not rest for a moment until we have done that. Most importantly, we haven’t forgotten how to win.”
BMW Sauber, Renault and Toyota all believe they have the firepower for victory this season. The Swiss-German team plans to do just that as the next step in its challenge for the world championship, while the two others want success to help justify their continued participation.
“We are heading in the right direction with the BMW Sauber F1.09,” said BMW Sauber team principal Mario Theissen. “Both the drivers and the engineers came back with positive feedback during testing. Plus, Nick (Heidfeld) and Robert (Kubica) carried out full race simulations without suffering any technical problems.
"As far as KERS is concerned, our system will be race-ready. We sent the cars out regularly with KERS during testing and the results were very good. Now it's just a matter of weighing up the pros and cons.”
Renault’s Fernando Alonso comes here aiming for victory, and said: “The first test in Portimao was tough as we had some bad luck with the weather, but when we introduced updates at the later tests we quickly improved the car. We’ve learnt how to optimise the set-up and we now have a car that is easy to drive and consistent. What is important now is that we keep improving and developing it throughout the year.
“With the KERS and moveable wings the drivers now have more work to do inside the cockpit. During testing I have been working hard to adapt to these new systems so that I can get the most from them in Melbourne. I’m really pleased with the KERS system that we have developed and hopefully this will give us an advantage at the start of the season. I’m not sure if it will make overtaking easier, but it will certainly improve lap times.
“Albert Park has been a good track for Renault and so I hope we can have a strong weekend. I think the order of the teams will probably be different from the last few years as we have got used to Ferrari and McLaren dominating, but with the new rules I think there will be lots of cars fighting for the win.”
Besides Toyota, who will be in there pitching, Red Bull and Toro Rosso have very high hopes for their new Adrian Newey-designed cars, while Williams believe their FW31 will be very competitive. Frank Williams’ team - along with Brawn and Toyota - are another to have found a potential loophole in the rear diffuser regulations. Their design could draw protests from rivals, but could also bring invaluable performance gains. Meanwhile, Force India - now with Mercedes rather than Ferrari power - know they have work to do on their aerodynamic package, but are keen to score points early in the season.
Albert Park is a technically demanding, high-speed ‘street’ circuit. Cars reach maximum speeds of 300 km/h (185 mph) and average 225 km/h (140 mph) around the 5.3 kilometre (3.3 mile) 16-turn lap. The track surface is bumpy, particularly in the braking areas, hard on the brakes and slippery at the start of the race weekend before the road rubbers in.
Teams will run relatively high levels of downforce, and everyone will be looking for good front-end grip which is the secret of quick laps here.
In the first race for their new slick tyres, Bridgestone are using the opportunity to launch a new system to show their continued support for the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign, by marking the softer of the two dry compounds with green sidewalls. For this race they will offer the medium and super soft tyres from their range of hard, medium, soft and super soft rubber.
source: www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Fans wishing to attend the British Grand Prix in July can now purchase race tickets for the Donington Park event via motogp.com.
This summer’s MotoGP trip to the United Kingdom will be a historical event with the 2009 British Grand Prix being the World Championship’s final visit to Donington Park, before relocating to Silverstone in 2010.
To book your travel, accommodation and entrance to the British GP please visit our Race Tickets section.
source: www.motogp.com
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MotoGP
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
As A1GP approaches its 75th race in Portugal next month, A1GP.com thought it would be a good time to take a look back at the greatest drives and performances in the history of the sport.
What makes a great drive? Well, the reasons are argued over by A1GP fans worldwide, and superb bravery, outstanding achievement and triumph in the face of adversity are things that are all commonly mentioned. One thing is for certain however - everyone thinks they know a great drive when they see one.
After much debate here at A1GP.com towers, here are our top ten.
10 Shanghai surprise
Jonny Reid (A1 Team New Zealand) A1GP Shanghai, China, 2006/07
At a time when Jonny Reid was fighting for his seat in Black Beauty, he delivered a stunning performance. After only seeing the rear-wing of Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr in the Sprint race (he lost the win by 0.385 seconds), he was able to extract revenge in the Feature. The pair went into the circuit’s opening complex of turns side-by-side, and while Kerr bravely tried to hold on the outside, Reid’s resilience was enough for him to sneak through. Putting a pre-race oil leak to the back of his mind, Reid pulled away to take the third of what proved seven career victories.
10 Shanghai surprise
Jonny Reid (A1 Team New Zealand) A1GP Shanghai, China, 2006/07
At a time when Jonny Reid was fighting for his seat in Black Beauty, he delivered a stunning performance. After only seeing the rear-wing of Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr in the Sprint race (he lost the win by 0.385 seconds), he was able to extract revenge in the Feature. The pair went into the circuit’s opening complex of turns side-by-side, and while Kerr bravely tried to hold on the outside, Reid’s resilience was enough for him to sneak through. Putting a pre-race oil leak to the back of his mind, Reid pulled away to take the third of what proved seven career victories.
9 Duran, Duran
Salvador Duran (A1 Team Mexico) A1GP Laguna Seca, USA 2005/06
The dream of 80s music-loving headline writers worldwide, Salvador Duran was able to do the double in uncharacteristically terrible Californian conditions. Laguna Seca doesn’t normally go as far as to snow in March, yet the weekend A1GP came to town, the weather gave us everything. Salvador Duran didn’t mind however, driving the weekend of his life to overcome them all. Once he had won pole position he was simply a class above the rest in the Sprint race, leading all but the first lap as the rain came down. He went on to do the double in a slightly drier Feature race, and the wins remain Mexico’s only gold medals to this day.
Salvador Duran (A1 Team Mexico) A1GP Laguna Seca, USA 2005/06
The dream of 80s music-loving headline writers worldwide, Salvador Duran was able to do the double in uncharacteristically terrible Californian conditions. Laguna Seca doesn’t normally go as far as to snow in March, yet the weekend A1GP came to town, the weather gave us everything. Salvador Duran didn’t mind however, driving the weekend of his life to overcome them all. Once he had won pole position he was simply a class above the rest in the Sprint race, leading all but the first lap as the rain came down. He went on to do the double in a slightly drier Feature race, and the wins remain Mexico’s only gold medals to this day.
8 China’s day in the sun
Ho-Pin Tung (A1 Team China) A1GP Sydney, Australia 2006/07
In what was perhaps China’s greatest ever race to date, Ho-Pin Tung secured a superb bronze medal, which was made all the more impressive because it included one of the passing moves of the year. It was the first medal for a nation not famed for its motorsport heritage, but it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Tung qualified sixth, and after achieving the same position in the Sprint, he was able to improve in the Feature driving round the outside of the Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen at the flat-out first turn. “I think it looked braver on TV than it did in reality,” said a modest Tung.
Ho-Pin Tung (A1 Team China) A1GP Sydney, Australia 2006/07
In what was perhaps China’s greatest ever race to date, Ho-Pin Tung secured a superb bronze medal, which was made all the more impressive because it included one of the passing moves of the year. It was the first medal for a nation not famed for its motorsport heritage, but it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Tung qualified sixth, and after achieving the same position in the Sprint, he was able to improve in the Feature driving round the outside of the Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen at the flat-out first turn. “I think it looked braver on TV than it did in reality,” said a modest Tung.
7 Splash and dash
Loic Duval (A1 Team France) A1GP Zandvoort, Netherlands 2008/09
Many great drives have come in appalling weather conditions, however, this drive was also worth applauding because Duval’s car experience was almost zero. Having only received its new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car just prior to the race weekend, A1 Team France had not been even able to apply its full livery before practice, let alone test it, when it hit the track for the final moments of Saturday. He climbed from 11th in qualifying to third in the Sprint race before commanding the Feature race from the ninth lap. He was then only headed during the two rounds of mandatory pit stops, in what was an immensely impressive victory. 
Loic Duval (A1 Team France) A1GP Zandvoort, Netherlands 2008/09
Many great drives have come in appalling weather conditions, however, this drive was also worth applauding because Duval’s car experience was almost zero. Having only received its new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car just prior to the race weekend, A1 Team France had not been even able to apply its full livery before practice, let alone test it, when it hit the track for the final moments of Saturday. He climbed from 11th in qualifying to third in the Sprint race before commanding the Feature race from the ninth lap. He was then only headed during the two rounds of mandatory pit stops, in what was an immensely impressive victory.
6 Inaugural glory
Nelson Piquet (A1 Team Brazil) A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain 2005/06
The first meeting of a brand new series means a brand new car and a brand new race format, for everyone to learn and look what happens? One driver goes out and dominates. Nelson Piquet Jr took pole position and both race victories at Brands Hatch in A1GP’s inaugural meeting. Had Robbie Kerr’s battery not failed in the GBR machine then things could have been different, but Piquet’s Feature race pass around the outside of Will Power at Surtees was worthy of any great drive. Brazil has used eight other drivers since Piquet’s 14-race stint at the start of 2005/06, and only two have won medals, let alone come close to emulating Piquet’s Brands achievements.
Nelson Piquet (A1 Team Brazil) A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain 2005/06
The first meeting of a brand new series means a brand new car and a brand new race format, for everyone to learn and look what happens? One driver goes out and dominates. Nelson Piquet Jr took pole position and both race victories at Brands Hatch in A1GP’s inaugural meeting. Had Robbie Kerr’s battery not failed in the GBR machine then things could have been different, but Piquet’s Feature race pass around the outside of Will Power at Surtees was worthy of any great drive. Brazil has used eight other drivers since Piquet’s 14-race stint at the start of 2005/06, and only two have won medals, let alone come close to emulating Piquet’s Brands achievements.
5 Handy man
Jonathan Summerton (A1 Team USA) A1GP Shanghai, China 2007/08
For a day that ended in glory, race day hadn’t started well for Jonathan Summerton. An accident at the start with New Zealand’s Jonny Reid, ended his Sprint race before the lights had even gone out. But it wasn’t the repair of the car which worried officials, it was the damage to Summerton’s right hand in the impact. He chose to race in the later Feature however, aided by an anti-inflammatory dressing designed to reduce the bruising and swelling to a tendon. He then went on to deliver a virtuoso performance, pulling away from the rest to win by 9.7 seconds from Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque. “Who wants the lottery numbers now,” joked Summerton afterwards, referring to an A1GP.com interview he gave a fortnight previously, predicting a maiden USA victory.
Jonathan Summerton (A1 Team USA) A1GP Shanghai, China 2007/08
For a day that ended in glory, race day hadn’t started well for Jonathan Summerton. An accident at the start with New Zealand’s Jonny Reid, ended his Sprint race before the lights had even gone out. But it wasn’t the repair of the car which worried officials, it was the damage to Summerton’s right hand in the impact. He chose to race in the later Feature however, aided by an anti-inflammatory dressing designed to reduce the bruising and swelling to a tendon. He then went on to deliver a virtuoso performance, pulling away from the rest to win by 9.7 seconds from Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque. “Who wants the lottery numbers now,” joked Summerton afterwards, referring to an A1GP.com interview he gave a fortnight previously, predicting a maiden USA victory.
4 The best form of attack is defence
Filipe Albuquerque (A1 Team Portugal) A1GP Chengdu, China
Albuquerque had been threatening to take the A1GP world by storm ever since he scored a bronze medal on his debut around the unforgiving streets of Durban, South Africa in Season Three. At the ‘undulating’ circuit of Chengdu, Albuquerque used pit strategy to take the lead, but then drove aggressively in a resolute defense of Ireland’s Adam Carroll, who appeared to have a tad more pace but was still not able to get by. Carroll used the PowerBoost and made several attempts to pass, but to no avail, as Albuquerque was wise to everything that could be thrown at him. Portugal became the 17th nation to win an A1GP race.
Filipe Albuquerque (A1 Team Portugal) A1GP Chengdu, China
Albuquerque had been threatening to take the A1GP world by storm ever since he scored a bronze medal on his debut around the unforgiving streets of Durban, South Africa in Season Three. At the ‘undulating’ circuit of Chengdu, Albuquerque used pit strategy to take the lead, but then drove aggressively in a resolute defense of Ireland’s Adam Carroll, who appeared to have a tad more pace but was still not able to get by. Carroll used the PowerBoost and made several attempts to pass, but to no avail, as Albuquerque was wise to everything that could be thrown at him. Portugal became the 17th nation to win an A1GP race.
3 Last lap loggerheads
Alexandre Premat (A1 Team France) A1GP Sepang, Malaysia, 2007/08
In what has become enshrined in folklore as the greatest last lap in A1GP history, France’s Alexandre Premat battled with Swiss young-gun Neel Jani to take the Sprint race victory. Premat had already won a fantastic battle with Great Britain's Robbie Kerr (below), but that was the just the starter before main course. Going into the last tour, Premat got a strong run out of the final turn and was inside Jani at the first corner. The pair then ran side-by-side for nearly a third of a lap, before Premat skillfully got his nose ahead and took the chequered flag. It was the highlight of a fantastic championship season for the French team.
Alexandre Premat (A1 Team France) A1GP Sepang, Malaysia, 2007/08
In what has become enshrined in folklore as the greatest last lap in A1GP history, France’s Alexandre Premat battled with Swiss young-gun Neel Jani to take the Sprint race victory. Premat had already won a fantastic battle with Great Britain's Robbie Kerr (below), but that was the just the starter before main course. Going into the last tour, Premat got a strong run out of the final turn and was inside Jani at the first corner. The pair then ran side-by-side for nearly a third of a lap, before Premat skillfully got his nose ahead and took the chequered flag. It was the highlight of a fantastic championship season for the French team.
2 Sepang’s sweetheart
Neel Jani (A1 Team Switzerland) A1GP Sepang, Malaysia, 2007/08
Unlike what you have just read, Jani didn’t always lose out around the 3.44km circuit in Sepang. Infact, it has become known as ‘his’ circuit with four gold medals from eight starts. The best of these was easily the chaotic Feature race in 2007/08. In a race which included crashes, fantastic passes, safety car periods and even a standing start at the end of the pit lane following an errant red light, Jani was mighty, winning by an effortless eight seconds in blistering heat. It rounded off a perfect weekend where he had scored two wins, two poles and two fastest laps. In an A1GP career that has spanned 56 races and a superb nine victories, this was perhaps Jani’s most dominant.
Neel Jani (A1 Team Switzerland) A1GP Sepang, Malaysia, 2007/08
Unlike what you have just read, Jani didn’t always lose out around the 3.44km circuit in Sepang. Infact, it has become known as ‘his’ circuit with four gold medals from eight starts. The best of these was easily the chaotic Feature race in 2007/08. In a race which included crashes, fantastic passes, safety car periods and even a standing start at the end of the pit lane following an errant red light, Jani was mighty, winning by an effortless eight seconds in blistering heat. It rounded off a perfect weekend where he had scored two wins, two poles and two fastest laps. In an A1GP career that has spanned 56 races and a superb nine victories, this was perhaps Jani’s most dominant.
1 Malaysian Master
Nico Hulkenberg (A1 Team Germany) A1GP Sepang Malaysia 2006/07
Sometimes in sport, statistics mean nothing – but the sheer statistics in the 2006/07 Malaysia Feature race detail an awesome performance. The winning margin of 42.8 seconds remains the largest in A1GP history, and one of the largest for any single-make racing series in the world. Nico Hulkenberg, a man just starting to show just how much of a star he was, blitzed the field in absolutely treacherous tropical storm conditions. It could have been an even more sizable victory – one of the German mechanics dropped a wheel nut underneath his car during the mandatory stop and Nico also struggled when leaving. No matter, “I like wet weather and I have no problems with it,” said Nico afterwards, slightly understating the enormity of what he had achieved.
Nico Hulkenberg (A1 Team Germany) A1GP Sepang Malaysia 2006/07
Sometimes in sport, statistics mean nothing – but the sheer statistics in the 2006/07 Malaysia Feature race detail an awesome performance. The winning margin of 42.8 seconds remains the largest in A1GP history, and one of the largest for any single-make racing series in the world. Nico Hulkenberg, a man just starting to show just how much of a star he was, blitzed the field in absolutely treacherous tropical storm conditions. It could have been an even more sizable victory – one of the German mechanics dropped a wheel nut underneath his car during the mandatory stop and Nico also struggled when leaving. No matter, “I like wet weather and I have no problems with it,” said Nico afterwards, slightly understating the enormity of what he had achieved.
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A1GP
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has approved a change to the points systems for this year’s drivers’ championship, which will see the title awarded to the driver with the most race wins. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system.
If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the existing 10, 8, 6 etc. structure. The constructors’ championship is unaffected.
The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council accepted the proposal for the new system from Formula One Management at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday. An alternative proposal to change the points awarded to drivers finishing in first, second and third place to 12, 9 and 7 points respectively was rejected.
Further changes agreed by the Council included minor tweaks to the testing regulations, increased media duties for teams and drivers at races, and a cost capping option for 2010 (see separate story). Honda’s request to have their entry changed to the Brawn GP Formula One Team was also approved.
The World Motor Sport Council’s decisions in full:
A number of measures were agreed to help reduce costs and increase interest in the FIA Formula One World Championship.
2009 Formula One Regulations
Points
The WMSC accepted the proposal from Formula One Management to award the drivers’ championship to the driver who has won the most races during the season. If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the current 10, 8, 6 etc. system.
The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system. There is no provision to award medals for first, second or third place. The Constructors’ Championship is unaffected.
The WMSC rejected the alternative proposal from the Formula One Teams’ Association to change the points awarded to drivers finishing in first, second and third place to 12, 9 and 7 points respectively.
Testing
Teams will be allowed to carry out three one day young driver training tests between the end of the last event of the Championship and 31 December of the same year. Drivers are eligible only if they have not competed in more than two F1 World Championship Events in the preceding 24 months or tested a Formula One car on more than four days in the same 24 month period.
Teams can also conduct eight one day aerodynamic tests carried out on FIA approved straight line or constant radius sites between 1 January 2009 and the end of the last Event of the 2009 Championship.
Media
The FIA will publish the weights of all cars after qualifying at each Event.
For greater clarity for spectators and media, wet tyres have been renamed “intermediate” and extreme-weather tyres renamed “wet”.
On the first day of practice all drivers must be available for autograph signing in their designated team space in the pit lane.
All drivers eliminated in qualifying must make themselves available for media interviews immediately after the end of each session.
Any driver retiring before the end of the race must make himself available for media interviews after his return to the paddock.
All drivers who finish the race outside the top three must make themselves available immediately after the end of the race for media interviews.
During the race every team must make at least one senior spokesperson available for interviews by officially accredited TV crews.
A number of further amendments were adopted for the 2009 Technical Regulations. Full details will be available shortly on www.fia.com.
2010 Formula One Regulations
Budgets
As an alternative to running under the existing rules, which are to remain stable until 2012, all teams will have the option to compete with cars built and operated within a stringent cost cap.
The cost cap is £30m (currently approximately €33 or $42m). This figure will cover all expenditure of any kind. Anything subsidised or supplied free will be deemed to have cost its full commercial value and rigorous auditing procedures will apply.
To enable these cars to compete with those from teams which are not subject to cost constraints, the cost-capped cars will be allowed greater technical freedom.
The principal technical freedoms allowed are as follows:
1. A more aerodynamically efficient (but standard) under body.
2. Movable wings.
3. An engine which is not subject to a rev limit or a development freeze.
The FIA has the right to adjust elements of these freedoms to ensure that the cost-capped cars have neither an advantage nor a disadvantage when compared to cars running to the existing rules.
The Honda Racing F1 Team requested to change its name to the Brawn GP Formula One Team. The WMSC accepted this request on the basis that the team is, in effect, a new entry in the FIA Formula One World Championship. The contract the team had with the FIA was to run as ‘Honda’, which they are no longer in a position to do. However, the standard fee required for a new entry has been waived.
source: www.formula1.com
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Formula 1
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Former World Championship runner-up Randy Mamola has given motogp.com his thoughts on how the main players in the premier class are shaping up for the forthcoming season.
Paddock regular Randy Mamola has been watching the preseason preparations of MotoGP’s ‘front-runners’ as closely as ever ahead of the 2009 season and he believes Casey Stoner may have a critical advantage further to the reduction of practice time this season.
The Australian has been the fastest rider at both preseason tests this year in Malaysia and Qatar, despite not fully recovering from surgery on his left wrist in November, which has prevented him from undertaking a race simulation so far in 2009.
Although Stoner is yet to demonstrate his stamina levels of late, Mamola believes the 2007 World Champion is in good shape and could have the edge over his rivals due to his ability to set the Desmosedici up so quickly on GP weekends – given the cost reduction rule changes in MotoGP which have seen Friday morning free practices removed from the schedules.
“We had to see how Stoner would get on after his operation and it seems to be getting better,” Mamola noted. “At the last test in Qatar he was going well and was starting to prolong his runs. There has not been a big surprise in terms of the first two, Valentino and Casey.”
The American four-time premier class runner-up continued, “The real questions will come when we get to round two in Japan and the riders have three 45-minute sessions to set up their bikes with the tyres, not five or six hours like they get at a test. The two strongest riders in this championship are Casey and Valentino and Casey is the favourite on that side of things, because he gets his bike set-up so quickly.”
Considering the affect that 2009’s other major rule change could have, Mamola also stated, “With going to the single-tyre supplier we have heard the riders say they are in favour and they like it. But it is going to put more pressure on the teams and the riders to make those tyres work for them. Valentino said for 2008 that he wanted to develop his Yamaha around the tyre that Casey had used in general in 2007.”
The former Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda rider went on to say, “Then we also heard that Suzuki had done the same, building a couple of chassis to try and make the tyres work well for their bike. Obviously that work is paying off because Suzuki have been running well in the first two tests of this year. Now that everyone is on the same tyre it is even more crucial to make sure your chassis and your race setting are set to those points. It is not as easy as it looks.”
When asked about the damage Dani Pedrosa’s preseason injuries could do to his title aspirations Mamola replied, “He is basically not allowed to move his leg for four weeks. What happens when you don’t move a muscle for four weeks is that it deteriorates. So Dani is going to be behind whether he races or he doesn’t. Dani can go to Qatar to try and get points, because if he can ride he can most likely finish in the top 15, but I would hate to see him prolong the injury.”
Acknowledging Jorge Lorenzo’s late improvements in the Qatar night test, which saw him shoot up the timesheets into second place on the last evening, Mamola concluded, “For me it was good to see Lorenzo pop up there, but the key point is that it has taken him quite a long time to get up to speed on the new tyres. He had been hovering around the ‘mid-pack’ area in tenth place on the timesheet. Right on that last day he did that long run and it was very encouraging to see because on his last lap he did his best time.”
source: www.motogp.com
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MotoGP
Monday, March 16, 2009
Portugal, Switzerland and Ireland.
The A1GP title has always gone to a European nation and there are plenty of people who now believe the 2008/09 title race is down to just those three teams.
And, they are making a strong argument. After ten races so far this season, the leading trio of teams are separated by just nine points. Between them, the trio account for seven out of the ten wins available, and have finished in the top ten a combined total of 26 times from a possible 30.
Even Ireland’s Adam Carroll and Switzerland’s Neel Jani are confident you don’t have to look any further than those three to find the eventual 2008/09 champion, with those teams performing consistently well, no matter what track.
“I think it will be between the three of us for sure,” Jani told A1GP.com. “We are now back at the top of the standings and we have to aim to win it. We got a present from Ireland in Gauteng but I am sure they will bounce back even harder next time. And you can’t forget Portugal, they are always up there too. But that’s it.”
The Netherlands is the team next up in fourth place, 17 points behind, but this increases to 20 when taking into account the new-for-2008/09 dropped scores rule. This season, teams must drop their worst complete event score, and the Dutch has the highest ‘worst’ score to drop.
“I agree with Neel,” Carroll confirmed. “It’s pretty tight between us at the top and all three teams are doing a good job, our guys are working really hard, we just need to make sure the car is good enough from now on.
“Retiring in Guateng was disappointing for the guys and the team. But that is racing - the lows are low and the highs are high.”
The bookies also agree. One leading online book maker is quoting long odds for anyone but the top three - 11/10 for Switzerland, 6/4 for Ireland with 5/1 for Portugal to be crowned eventual winner. The Netherlands is a long outsider at 14/1, and is the only other team actually given a price.
A1GP.com points analysis
A look at the points situation makes for interesting reading:
The current official standings
| 1 | Switzerland | 73 | |
| 2 | Ireland | 70 | -3 |
| 3 | Portugal | 64 | -9 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 56 | -17 |
| 5 | France | 41 | -32 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 36 | -37 |
| 7 | Malaysia | 32 | -41 |
| 8 | Australia | 30 | -43 |
The picture of the title race is even closer when looking at an adjusted table, taking into account ‘dropped scores.’ The rules this season mean that a team’s worst score is discounted after the final round. As things stands, no team has more than six points to drop, while some teams don’t have anything to drop.
Because Ireland and Portugal both had disastrous rounds at Zandvoort, each failing to score, they have nothing to drop from their current totals at the end of the season. All the teams around them have points to drop, so the table including dropped scores is as follows:
Standings adjusted for dropped scores
| 1 | Ireland | 70 | (0 points dropped) | |
| 2 | Switzerland | 69 | -3 | (4 points dropped) |
| 3 | Portugal | 64 | -9 | (0 points dropped) |
| 4 | Netherlands | 50 | -17 | (6 points dropped) |
| 5 | France | 40 | -32 | (1 point dropped) |
| 6 | New Zealand | 34 | -37 | (2 points dropped) |
| 7 | Malaysia | 31 | -41 | (1 point dropped) |
| 8 | Australia | 25 | -43 | (5 points dropped) |
It makes for an even tighter battle at the top, with just six points separating the top three, adding leverage to the top three’s claims that the title fight is now just between them.
If Switzerland score less than four points in one of the remaining rounds this season then it would effect how many points they have to drop - but such an occurrence would have devastating effects on its title chances anyway, because it would have scored badly in a round where it needed to keep up the title pressure.
However, with 27 points available at every meeting, there is plenty of time for a team to make its mark from deeper in the pack…
source: www.a1gp.com
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