F1-Blog

Well sort of, Thanks to Lee for the heads up.

The next generation of GP2 car has been tested at Paul Ricard test track.

Nelson Piquet Jr put 60 laps on the new car, and announced that he thinks the car will be a second quicker at all the tracks the series goes to.

The new car has an improved 4ltr V8 engine, gearbox and aero package, with many of the aero changes coming directly from the F1 grid.

The Dallara built chassis has even been designed to pass the 2008 FIA F1 crash test rules, and includes all the latest safety features (like the GPS marshal light system)

The only thing left is how much faster the car will be when it reaches the grid in 2008.

Most of the changes to the engine and gearbox are actually there to ease the maintenance of the parts, and reduce the running costs of the car over the championship.

It still begs the question though, if these cars can be a second quicker, how close to F1 times will they be?

[tags]GP2, 2008[/tags]

Testing was ongoing this week, however it was split between 2 sites. Most of the teams ran at Silverstone in an attempt to work out setup for the British GP, however the two Honda backed teams flew out to Spain at Jerez for their test.

The Honda teams worked on the new aero parts that are coming for both of the teams, with the Honda Factory team seeming to improve. Jenson finished with the fastest time for the Honda team on a 1m19.621s, with fellow Brit Anthony Davidson managing a 1m20.450s in the Super Aguri. It seems that the Honda boys may be making steps forward, even if they are small steps, it’s certainly in the right direction.

The other 9 teams testing decided on the Silverstone track. In contrast to the 3 hot days that the Honda teams had, Silverstone was wet for most of the three days.

Some surprises were to be had as well. Day one saw Ralf Schumacher fastest in the Toyota, and then Jarno backed the Toyota’s pace up on the second day registering the fastest time again.

However Felipe Massa came out on the last day of testing and set a fastest time of 1m20.805s, eclipsing the two Toyota times (in the low 1m21’s).

The track conditions however were slightly better for the Ferrari driver, and there was more rubber on the track.

Obviously we do not know what the various parts and or strategies where that the teams were running, however it looks like both the Toyota and the Ferrari have taken steps forward.

Let’s hope it makes for interesting racing.

My Monday morning question surrounds Ralf Schumacher. Is it time for Toyota to throw him out, and get someone more hungry into the team?

My reasoning goes something like this. Yes he may be the brother of Michael, but he sure as heck does not have his talents (any of them). Toyota brought him on board hoping that the ‘Schumacher influence’ would rub off on the team, as it did with Ferrari. But this has not happened.

Instead the Toyota team pay him one of the largest wages on the grid, and for what? He is consistently out performed by his team mate, in both Qualifying and Races.

Toyota need someone who can help develop the car, and that is not Ralf.

Who could they buy in though?

Jarno Trulli seems to be doing a sterling job, so if they have their ‘old hand’ it would seem they need some young blood, someone to give the testing and development some fresh insight.

In that vain they have Kohei Hirate and Kamui Kobayashi, but they don’t have the required background yet, and are perhaps too immature to promote from their own driver program. Franck Montagny is a possibility, but perhaps not quite what is needed in a full time driver.

From the GP2 background there are some great talents in the wings. Piquet Jnr is being courted by Renault. There is Timo Glock that could be brought in, and then there is Bruno Senna as well.

Whatever Toyota do, they need to sort something out. Without a big shake up, that includes the management structure, the Toyota team will just keep spending money, and not going anywhere. 

Hot on the heals of his win in Canada, Lewis Hamilton has followed other illustrious British drivers like Damon Hill, and Nigel Mansel to win two in a row after their maiden win.

Lewis qualified on the pole position, and used it to his advantage in the  first stint of the race. Fernando Alonso tried to overtake on the first lap, but could not manage it. Lewis then seemed to be the quicker driver and pulled away from his twice world champion team mate.

After the stops Fernando seemed to be the quicker McLaren, and caught Lewis up. From their he hassled his younger team mate all the way round until the second stop (he ran wide on lap 46, just before the stops).

After the second stop, Lewis managed to hold off his team mate again on the harder tyres, then it seemed with 12 laps to the end, it seemed the team called a halt to the challenge. And that is how the McLaren’s finished the race.

Third on the podium was Filipe Massa again. The Ferrari’s were certainly not as quick as the McLaren’s, however they were not as slow as they were expected to be. Kimi Raikkonen struggled with the hard tyres on his first stint, then came back at Filipe after he switched over to the softer tyres at his first stop. He could not however overtake his junior team mate, and had to settle for fourth.

Heikki Kovalainen brought his improving Renault into the fifth spot, however it is worth noting that the BMW of Nick Heidfeld would have probably taken that spot, but had to retire due to a power steering issue.

The Williams Toyota of Nico Rosberg performed quite well, up until the engine fire caused him to stop on the main straight, although because he was only four laps from the finish he get categorised as 16th.

Jarno Trulli again had a good days racing, bringing the Toyota into sixth, which is a needed result considering that his team mate Ralf Schumacher caused the only multi car accident of the race in the first corner, destroying David Coulthard, and Rubens Barichello’s race as well.

Mark Webber gets the first points for the Red Bull team, bringing his car into seventh, and new boy Sebastien Vettel gets the last point for the BMW Sauber team.

With all the talk of disharmony in the McLaren team at the moment, at least this race showed that both of the McLaren cars are as quick as one another, and unlike last race, Lewis had to work for this win, with Fernando hounding him all the way home. Fernando will still not be happy that he was beaten, but at least he knows that he came second to a deserving winner this race.

When will Lewis make his first mistake? or will he even make one? All drivers tend to make a big mistake in the beginning of their F1 career, and even Michael Schumacher was no exception. The question is, will he be able to pick his cards up, and join the game again after it happens, or will it knock his confidence completely?

Only time will tell, but for now, Lewis is on top of his game, now with a 10 point lead in the drivers championship. However it seems that Fernando is now starting to settle into the new team and tyres, so it’s any ones guess who will be the dominant driver when F1 comes back to Europe.

The McLaren team have put both of their drivers on the front row for the American GP. Lewis Hamilton once again managed to get the best out of the McLaren at the required time giving him the pole position.

It’s not all good news for Hamilton though. His twice world champion team mate Alonso has been faster at the track all weekend, and seems to like the McLaren better than the Renault’s he used to drive at the Indianapolis track.

The Ferrari’s again seemed to struggle, with Kimi again being outpaced by his more junior team mate. They only just seemed to hold off the BMW Sauber and Renault behind them.

Nick Heidfeld once again showed that he is enjoying the improving pace in the BMW Sauber car. With his rookie temporary team mate Sebastien Vettel.

Heikki is obviously riding high on his Canadian performance. The rumors that he was on the verge of being replaced by the Renault test driver (Piquet Jnr) will be quashed if he keeps this performance up.

Trulli managed to get the Toyota to perform well enough to sit the car in eighth spot, and that will do nothing to help the rumors of trouble with Ralf Schumacher, and his imminent replacement.

Fisi then got the second Renault onto the last spot in the top 10, showing that the Renault is certainly improving as a car, at least in low downforce setup.

It seems that BMW are not happy putting Robert Kubica in the car for this weekends American GP.

Instead Sebastien Vettel will get his first outing in the big class.

Kubica said he was ready to drive, however doctors expressed concerns with the Pole driving because if he had another incident they believe it would be too much for the young driver.

Vettel said - “Of course I am looking forward to my first F1 race,” he admitted, “but I wish it had come under different circumstances. It’s never nice if a team-mate can’t drive because he had an accident. For me the Indianapolis Speedway is unknown territory, but I have prepared myself for this situation and I have two 90 minute practice sessions. I know the car very well as I have quite a lot of testing miles under my belt.”

Good luck to Sebastien and BMW at Indy.

EDIT : I’ve just noticed that if you want to watch the Le Mans, then download TVUPlayer and goto channel 53060

Just a friendly note to F1 (and motorsport fans in general). This weekend is also the 75th Le Mans 24 Hours.

The new Peugot Diesel racer looks like it may be able to challenge the Audi R10 this weekend. However the McNish’s / Kristensen / Capello team (in the R10) are a well gelled team, and the Audi boys are famous for there ability to keep the cars running.

1. Bourdais/Sarrazin/Lamy Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 3m 26.344s LMP1 #
2. McNish/Kristensen/Capello Audi Sport North America Audi R10 Tdi 3m 26.916s LMP1 #
3. Villeneuve/Minassian/Gene Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 3m 27.724s LMP1 #
4. Pirro/Biela/Werner Audi Sport North America Audi R10 Tdi 3m 28.301s LMP1
5. Luhr/Premat/Rockenfeller Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 Tdi 3m 29.736s LMP1
6. Boullion/Dumas/Collard Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo-Judd 3m 33.590s LMP1
7. Gounon/Moreau/Johansson Courage Competition Courage LC70-AER 3m 35.171s LMP1
8. Hall/Barbosa/Short Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo-Judd 3m 35.559s LMP1 #
9. Lammers/Hart/Bleekemolen Racing For Holland Dome S101.5-Judd 3m 35.660s LMP1
10. Nakano/Ortiz/Campbell-Walter Creation Autosportif Creation CA07-Judd 3m 36.279s LMP1 #
11. Yoong/Mucke/Charouz Charouz Racing System Lola B07/17-Judd 3m 37.737s LMP1
12. Cochet/Frei/Besson Courage Competition Courage LC70-AER 3m 38.371s LMP1 #
13. Tinseau/Treluyer/Primat Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo-Judd 3m 38.753s LMP1
14. Fassler/Deletraz/Alexander-David Swiss Spirit Lola B07/10-Audi 3m 42.626s LMP1
15. Kerr/Kurosawa/Fernandez Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S/2 3m 44.158s LMP2
16. Berridge/Evans/Owen Chamberlain Synergy Lola B06/10-AER 3m 44.721s LMP1
17. Amaral/de Castro/Hughes Quifel-ASM Team Lola B05/40-AER 3m 45.838s LMP2 #
18. Buncombe/Timpany/Binnie Binnie Motorsports Lola B05/40-Zytek 3m 48.173s LMP2
19. Moseley/Greaves/Liddell Bruichladdich Radical Radical SR9-AER 3m 48.332s LMP2 #
20. Vergers/Barazi/Ojjeh Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S/2 3m 48.935s LMP2

After our first Indian driver (Narain Karthikeyan) it seems that the F1 circus could find it’s way to the Indian sub continent in 2009.

Suresh Kalmadi said “We have received a letter in this regard from Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One. The IOA (Indian Olympic Association) will be the promoter, the first event of which will be held in 2009.”

Good news for the championship, with India going from strength to strength in many other ways, and car buying becoming larger in the country.

The deal hangs on whether the circuit (yet to be built) lives up to the high standards that are required nowadays, however it would probably be a Herman Tilke circuit, so that should not be an issue.

The Robert Kubica crash has been stopped by the FIM from uploading the official F1 TV footage.

However a couple of people have uploaded their personal footage.

A good breakdown of the crash is up on ITV-F1.com as well.

And