Posted by ashleigh on
March 12, 2007
Rules amendments
Ok with less than a week to go till the first GP of the season, it seems the FIA have decided to play with some of the rules.
Tyres
When it was announced that the teams will all have to use both compounds of tyres that Bridgestone supply, it was generally accepted that they would be distinguishable from one another in the same way as they are in Champcars. That however was decided against, however the FIA have made a U-Turn decision and are now going to mark the tyres so commentators and watchers can distinguish the two compounds from one another.
This adds to the ‘exitment’ the FIA say, as one car may be better suited to one compound than another, it will also make working out when to switch tyres more strategic as the other teams can see what rubber you are on.
Safety Car
Posted by ashleigh on
February 27, 2007
Honda slow
Jenson Button has told Reuters that the 07 Honda is not on pace and the team are playing catch-up.
This is not news, the Honda has not been quick all through the winter testing. It seems that the teams 2006 bugbear has shown it’s head again, Tyres.
The team struggled with the tyres in the early part of last season, but seemed to get the hang of it towards mid season. However it looks like the switch to Bridgestone has not helped.
Also the Earth scheme on the car has come about through struggling to find an official sponsor for this season after the tobacco ban coming into full effect.
Button said “We still have another test in Bahrain where we have a lot of things to test. Hopefully they are going to help the car because we are not on the same pace as the Ferraris, the McLarens or the BMWs.”
“I don’t think you can really tell too much from the lap times in testing, I feel the initial car was not quite where we wanted it to be but we’ve definitely improved.
Posted by ashleigh on
October 7, 2006
Bridgestone quick at home
It seems that the Bridgestone tyres where certainly the rubber to have in Japan today.
The qualifying session ended with the first four spots on the grid for tomorrows race are held by the Japanese tyre giant.
This is certainly bad news for the Renault's and Alonso in particular. However the Ferrari's where pushed hard during the third session by one of the other home teams Toyota. This caused both of the Ferrari cars going out to set the fastest times at the end of the session, this however worked against Michael as Fillipe managed to pip the German to the pole position.
The Renault team are the fastest of the Michelin tyre runners starting from fifth and sixth on the grid behind the two Toyota's and the two Ferrari cars.
The shock of the session was the lack in pace from the McLaren cars, both of the cars did not make it through to 3rd qualifying.
Posted by ashleigh on
July 17, 2006
Microsoft in F1?
It's been announced that Microsoft MES has been selected as the official FIA partner for the 2008/2009/2010 standard electronic control units in the F1 engines using the Windows Mobile for Automotive platform. Now as many know, in my other 'life' I am quite a fan of MS technologies, however Microsoft really need to be on the ball on this project! F1 is watched by a massive number of viewers, and if the unit's supplied to the teams are less than perfect it will be mentioned, on live
TV, the Microsoft boys really don't want to annoy the Ron Dennis and Frank Williams of this world, as even the might marketing people at MS will not be able to live that down.
The other FIA announcement is that surprise surprise, Bridgestone have been announced as the single tyre supplier to F1 for the 2008/2009/2010, and it would seem with Michelin pulling out at the end of the year the 2007 season as well (unless BF Goodrich turn up like in WRC, who are Michelin by another name, and will bizarrely be the only tyre supplier in the WRC series).
Posted by ashleigh on
May 22, 2006
FIA open to offers
The FIA have asked for all tenders for the 3 year supply of tyres from 2008 on. It looks to be a forgone conclusion that Bridgestone will get the nod, they are after all the only supplier in 2007.
The reason for the single supplier is to help reduce cost's for the teams, as a good proportion of testing is due to tyres.
