F1-Blog

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.

After a stunning 'test' of the GPMasters car at Silverstone, it seems Hill will not be racing. He has said

“No I’m not going to be racing no, I took a decision not to race a long time ago.

But it was definitely worth coming back and trying it out.

So I’ve got to say a big thank you to the GP Masters for giving me the chance to sample it and give me something to think about, anyway.

This series has created a space for old timers like myself to do what they love, so there's a possibility there.

So I wouldn’t rule it out, but I can’t honestly say that right now I need to race.

That is the bit that is missing.

I love driving, I love pushing the limit and all the rest of it but racing for me…I don’t have an ambition to do it and I think that’s an important part of the equation.

You never know,”

So it seems he will not be racing this weekend, but may take up the series at a later date. I say come back Damon, it would be good to see you race again. 

Super Aguri have shown off their latest SA06 car today (Wednesday) at a Silverstone test.

The Car although still based on the SA05, which was a modified 2002 Orange Arrows, has apparently had so much work done to it that the FIA made the team pass the crash test again.

The SA team are hoping the car is a big step in the right direction, and hopefully stops them being relegated to the rear of the grid.

The engine after all, is the Honda engine used in the works Honda team, so horsepower should not be an issue, it could be interesting though, if Honda cannot pick their game up, the satellite team may start to qualify ahead of them. 

I was going to put a nice piece together on the history of the Silverstone GP. However F1Fanatic have a good piece up, and untill I finish the history piece I recomend you check out their great preview article.

The British GP is always a great race, and this year I can see it being a classic. 

Niki has come out in a Guardian interview stating that he believes Jenson Button does not have it in him to win the title.

"As an observer I found the situation in the Honda team this year to be extremely interesting, With joining the team from Ferrari we already had a good picture of how Rubens compared with Michael Schumacher from the standpoint of talent, and now we were going to get an idea of how Jenson compared with Michael via his comparative performance against Rubens.

To start with Rubens was disappointing, but I understand that he was struggling with the Honda's braking and took some time to get the best out of the car's traction control system. Jenson was initially quicker, but in three recent races the tables were turned and Rubens had the edge in qualifying, something I found rather strange".

He continued to say that he believed Both Kimi and Fernando are quicker, more capable drivers. He went on to say that even if Jenson was in the Renault, he doubted if he could win the title, and said he needs to be at least 3 tenths of a second quicker lap on lap than his team mate.

However Frank Williams did go on to say (in the same article) that "If Father Christmas ever delivers Jenson to our team, gift wrapped, then I'd be delighted."

So Jenson, It's time to prove Niki wrong. Let's see another Brit on the top step this weekend.

Jarno Trulli has recently come out with some comments on the recently released TF106B car that was introduced at Monaco for the Toyota team.

Jarno is hoping the new specification car will show it's abilities at this weekend's Silverston GP, "Monaco was not the right place to judge the TF106B but the car behaved well in the race, It has also showed promise during testing so I'm confident the car is a step forward but we can't yet say how much.

The car at the moment is not all to my liking so we have to work on that. I am having a little struggle to drive this car at the moment, but I am sure we will work it out."

The TF106B was introduced in the attempt to solve some of the tyre issues the team are having (in similar vain to the Honda team). The B specification has not solved all of those problems, but Jarno says it's a step forward, "The tyres, they do look better," he said. "We have made an improvement, but in getting temperatures into the tyres we are not completely on top of the problems yet. As for Silverstone it is very difficult to judge, we will see."

The Silverstone circuit is one of a few on this years calender that the drivers need to get their heads around because of the V8 change. Previously in the V10 days it was a 60% full throttle circuit, but now it seems that the engines are certainly worked harder. Reports from the various teams have the circuit now at between 80 and 90% full throttle.

"Silverstone is a long and demanding circuit from both a driving and an engineering perspective," Jarno said. "A set-up for the entire lap is a challenge because the track has every type of corner. You need traction out of the slow corners and efficient aero through the faster corners.

"Becketts is the most fun part of the circuit but a driver needs to be committed everywhere to get the most out of the lap time. We'll head to Silverstone hoping for a stronger weekend. After my difficult run this year I'm ready for a change of luck!"

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has been elected the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) President at a meeting on Friday, replacing the previous president Jackie Stewart.

The BRDC is the owner of the Silverstone Circuit so Hill will have to steer the re-development of the race circuit to allow it to compete for a place in the calender after the 2009 season.

He faces a tuff job as Jackie struggled to get all the parties to agree on any of the proposals put forward to them.

The Renault team showed their pace for the Wednesday and Thursday sessions.

Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella set the pace for the sessions with Fisi recording a 1:18.506 on the Thursday. The team have commented on the new tyre compound, saying it gets to temperature a lot more quickly than the previous version (that should help the Honda team).

Rubens Barrichello set the second best time, with Kimi Raikkonen getting the third fastest time with the new Mercedes-Ilmore engine.

The Red Bull team added to the beliefs that they will be looking for a new engine supplier after the Ferrari V8 proved un-reliable at the test. The BMW team did not do much better, with an engine failure for them as well.

I headed along to the Silverstone test today to get some shot's and video of the event and to see what I could learn if anything about the running. Most of the teams have deemed it a 'Tyre' test session so I was not expecting much.

What surprised me was the openness that Renault had with their pits. Unlike the other teams that covered the area up with boards every time a car came in or out. Renault did not really bother, having the pit garage open for anyone to see as some of the shot's show.

I could not really see anything glaringly obvious from the different teams running to show that perhaps they where trying new parts, however the Honda's did seem to be running at least one new engine (as Anthony Davidson stopped out on the track at one point, so that must be replaced or repaired)

There was a fair few stoppages today, unfortunately for the spectators, most of these happened on the closed side of the track, so details of the issues and pictures are missing (at least from my set).

Pop over to the Flickr Feed for the images if you want to have a look.

Well, OK it's not the GP itself. But it is one of the biggest F1 based event at Silverstone besides the GP.

The date's to put in your calender are Tue, Wed and Thur the 25th-27th of April for a bought of pre Imola testing. So far 6 teams have confirmed attendance, these are :- Renault, McLaren, Williams, Red Bull Racing, BMW Sauber and the local boys Midland F1.

Some of the stands will be open all around the circuit so there should be plenty of good views for everyone.

So my advice is to get yourself a good picnic together, bundle the kids in the car (if there off school that is) and pop down for one of the days (check the weather forecasts) and have a great day! I have fond memories of attending similar test's in the old Kyalami days.