2006 Spanish Grand Prix - Race 6/18

Webber hopes to stay at Williams in 2007

Australian Mark Webber would be happy to stay with Williams next season and hopes they want to keep him.

"There's a lot of unfinished business here I think," the driver, one of several managed by Renault team principal Flavio Briatore, told Reuters when asked about his Formula One future.

"I'd just find it better if I could make it work here, that's the natural fit.

"It always seems greener somewhere else and then the timing changes and then Williams are quick next year and I'm not here and I've been through two pretty tough years. We could still have a good finish to the year, but it hasn't been easy."

Former world champions Williams have an option on the 29-year-old, whose contract expires at the end of the year, that must be exercised within the next few months if it is not to lapse.

Webber, who was linked to Toyota among other teams before he joined Williams from Jaguar at the end of 2004, has scored six points for the Cosworth-powered team in five races but has an impressive new teammate in German rookie Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg, son of 1982 champion Keke, has twice finished in the points including seventh on his debut in Bahrain.

"I think I've done a better job for the team this year (than last year), I feel much better with the tyre changes," said Webber.

"But it's up to Frank (Williams). I hope he likes what he's seen so far and I still think I'm one of the good guys out there, I keep my head up and keep going."

The next race is Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, where Webber finished sixth last year and where Rosberg had his first test drive in a Formula One car as a 17-year-old in 2002.

Williams will be bringing mechanical updates, which they say should improve qualifying pace, as well as new hydraulic parts to prevent any recurrence of the problem that forced Webber to retire at the Nurburgring last weekend.

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Toyota put Vasselon as head of chassis

Toyota have confirmed that Pascal Vasselon will replace Mike Gascoyne as the head of the chassis department, sharing the role of senior general manager with engine director Luca Marmorini.

Autosport.com revealed last month that Vasselon is the leading candidate to take over Gascoyne, who was curtly dismissed by the Cologne-based team after the Australian Grand Prix.

Vasselon, who headed Michelin's F1 operation before joining Toyota, will take over Gascoyne's responsibilities in chassis design, aerodynamics, race and test engineering and team management. But unlike Gascoyne, the Frenchman will share his role with the senior management.

Toyota motorsport president John Howett explained that teamwork was the key to success and the ultimate aim of winning the championship.

"We feel this can only be accomplished by focusing less on the position of technical director, therefore we have decided to erase this position from our structure," he said.

"We are confident these changes will significantly help our long-term internal stability and ultimately our on-track performance."

Toyota have had a disappointing start to the 2006 championship after their best season in Formula One last year when they finished fourth overall and took their first pole position, podium finish and fastest lap.

Italian Jarno Trulli has so far failed to score a point in five races while Ralf Schumacher finished third in Australia and eighth in Malaysia.

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Honda appoint new aero chief

The Honda team have announced that Mariano Alperin-Bruvera has been promoted to the position of chief aerodynamicist, as the squad prepare for the final commissioning of their wind tunnel.

With building work on the new full-scale tunnel nearing completion, Alperin-Bruvera will now lead the efforts of a significantly expanded team of aerodynamicists and engineers.

The 40-year old Argentinian joined the team at in 1998 as a senior aerodynamicist. He had previously worked with the Durango F3000 team before a four-year spell with Minardi.

"Mariano Alperin-Bruvera has been part of this team since the beginning and a key player in its progress to date," said technical director Geoff Willis. "His new role will see him step up from head of one of our two aero development groups to a position of overall aerodynamic leadership.

"I have every confidence that in the position of Chief Aerodynamicist, Mariano will continue to play a pivotal role in our team's pursuit of its championship ambitions."

Alperin-Bruvera added: "I'm very proud to be given this opportunity to lead what I believe to be one of the strongest and most talented aerodynamics teams in Formula One.

"Our new wind tunnel represents a new technological step in aerodynamic research and I'm confident that there are some very exciting times ahead of us."

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Has the Button backlash begun?

The British media is well-known for helping to build the careers of stars, be they sportsmen, actors, writers or musicians, only to begin tearing them apart once the subject's fame and fortune has reached a level that is convinced, by the media's standards, 'enough'.

For years the media will fawn over the newcomer, praising each and every achievement, no matter how minor. However, once the backlash begins it is merciless, and few recover.

Over the past weekend it appears that the start of the 'Button-backlash' might be about to begin.

On ITV, which broadcasts F1 in Britain, the pre-race Button hype was as strong as ever, but following the Englishman's retirement the mood was somewhat sombre. Nonetheless, members of the ITV team appeared to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about Lewis Hamilton's back-to-back wins in the GP2 event, even holding an interview with the youngster. Not bad, when you consider that the broadcaster won't be showing highlights of the races until next weekend.

Several newspapers also appear to be growing tired of the Button/Honda excuse factory, with the (ever flowery) Kevin Garside of The Daily Telegraph, writing: "For British success in Barcelona, Hamilton is your man".

Ouch!

While in The Times, Kevin Eason, a keen Button fan, who only a few days earlier had allowed the Englishman to suggest that the competition now is tougher than it was in mid-seventies, has also become aware of Hamilton. Referring to the Nurburgring victories, he wrote: "Hamilton put on a blistering display with two dominant victories that were as good as a wake-up call for Formula One."

The British media, which is not entirely inspired by motorsport in the first place, cannot cope with two heroes, and Hamilton is closing in on Brackley's golden boy at a vast rate of knots, with growing media support.

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Yamaha: Rossi could stick to bikes

Yamaha’s MotoGP team boss Lin Jarvis reckons Valentino Rossi could decide against switching to Formula 1 now that he has a new breed of up-and-coming rivals to race against on two wheels.

Hot rookies Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa have both given Rossi a run for his money in 2006, providing him with a fresh challenge as his Ferrari deadline fast approaches.

The Italian has until June to chose between a switch to F1 with Ferrari or to stay on bikes.

“We have an understanding together when that decision will be and we fully respect that decision which ever he chooses,” Jarvis told Motor Cycle News.

“We all know that Valentino is truly a motorcyclist at heart and I think that seeing the new young riders coming into the sport, and not having it easy at the moment is every reason to continue his motivation.

“So if anything I hope this current situation will give him more motivation to stay.”

But despite Rossi’s insistence that he still has the power to decide his future, his switch appears to depend on the movements of Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.

Both have been closely linked to Ferrari for 2007, if they haven’t signed already, which would leave Rossi without an obvious race seat.

Another scenario could see Rossi put off his move until Schumacher retires, perhaps at the end of 2007, which would give the Italian an opportunity to help Yamaha develop its new 800cc bike and still fulfill his F1 dream further down the road.

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US GP post 06 - undecided

It is unclear whether formula one will return to Indianapolis following its seventh visit in 2006.

The US grand prix's existing contract is set to expire, and - with race bosses still recovering from the anger of the six-car debacle in June last year - there is no certainty about whether a new deal will even be sought.

The story has returned to the spotlight after fans were not, as usual, sent a renewal form to buy tickets for the subsequent year's race.

''If (it) is on F1's calendar for 2007,'' Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Joie Chitwood told the Indianapolis Star, ''we'll do a renewal in (autumn).''

He thus admitted the 'uncertainty' of the race's future.

But Chitwood insisted: ''The decision for us to (host an F1 race) wasn't for seven years; it was for the long haul.''

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Coulthard ready for the big 200

David Coulthard can truly call himself a Formula One veteran following this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix as he will have joined that exclusive club led by Ricardo Patrese (256) to make 200 Grand Prix starts.

Coulthard made his debut for Williams Renault back in 1994 at Circuit de Catalunya taking over the late Ayrton Senna’s seat following the San Marino tragedy. Since then the Scot has made 199 starts, won 500 championship points, taken 60 podium positions and won 13 Grand Prix.

Heading to Barcelona this weekend, Coulthard and team-mate Christian Klien will be putting the misfortunes of Imola and Nurburgring behind them as they both aim to bring home valuable points for Red Bull Ferrari.

David Coulthard

“Two hundred Grand Prix is an achievement in itself, which I’m proud of, because you don’t do that number of races by accident, you do it by maintaining a certain level of performance. I reckon that 500 points from 200 Grand Prix is not a bad average. Of course, people will always talk about what might have been, but I can feel confident when I walk into the paddock knowing that there are only a few guys on the grid that have, or ever will, come close to achieving what I have. The start of my career was pretty difficult as it came about after Roland and Ayrton had died at the San Marino GP in Imola. Williams ran only one car in the following race, Monaco, as a mark of respect for Ayrton and then made me a Grand Prix driver at the Spanish GP in 1994, so my opportunity definitely came with mixed emotions. ”

“My first win came in my twenty-first GP in Portugal and I remember that the gist of what some of the British media wrote was, ‘at last he wins a race’. Seems they’ve always been impatient! I’m particularly proud of winning Monaco twice and Silverstone a couple of times. As for my best performance, that would be Magny Cours 2001. I had to overtake Rubens and Michael and I was stronger than my team-mate all weekend. Mika was a great benchmark for me because he was so fast. I had a real battle to pass Michael which resulted in me giving him ‘that hand signal’ and I’ve still got the photograph of the incident on top of the TV in my motorhome!”

“Of my twelve Pole Positions, I am particularly proud of the one in Monaco in 2001. How has the sport changed since I started? I think the young drivers are better prepared for the sport these days. When I turned up for my first race Patrick Head just said ‘good luck’. That was my briefing. When I was a test driver you would turn up at 8.45, still asleep, get in the car, do lots of laps and by 5.30 you were back in the hotel. There were none of these hours of debriefing and studying telemetry that we do today. I guess that’s why people say it’s not as much fun as it was ‘in the old days’, but I wouldn’t swap it for anything else. It’s what I love to do and looking at the numbers, I guess it’s what I’m good at!”

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Flibster said:

....And new to this race - a Video Preview of the race.

Click the map below for the video - yup - it's another map - shows some different information though.

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el_dazza said:

Ugh... barcelona.. cant remember the last time i saw some overtaking on that track. I just pray we dont see it won in the pits again, or it's going to be a very dull season

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Schu to debut 'super-soft' Bridgestone

Thursday 11 May at 11:47 : Michael Schumacher will charge for a hat-trick of victories with a brand new 'super-soft' Bridgestone tyre in Spain.

Germany's 'Bild' newspaper revealed that the new spec, only completed by the Japanese supplier on Monday this week, is softer and faster than the tyre with which Ferrari's number one won a week ago in Germany.

Previously, Bridgestone's product - also used for the first time in 2006 by Toyota and Williams - operated only within a small 'window' of performance.

But Schumacher told Bild: ''Whether it is hot or cold no longer plays a role.''

Ferrari boss Jean Todt added: ''Bridgestone have made a giant jump and from now on we will be strong.''

Pat Symonds, a technical chief at Renault, confessed that Fernando Alonso was simply beaten by Ferrari's Bridgestone-clad pace in the Eifel region.

'Our Michelins just could not keep up,'' Bild quoted him as saying.

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el_dazza said:

Ugh... barcelona.. cant remember the last time i saw some overtaking on that track. I just pray we dont see it won in the pits again, or it's going to be a very dull season

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AndyC said:

Not sure what the real solution is but a standard tire would help for sure, although some races have been good this year.

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Villeneuve's engine damaged in transit
FIA decline BMW inspection request

The engine raced by Jacques Villeneuve at the Nurburgring had to be replaced because it was damaged on the way to Barcelona, it has emerged.


Sport-Informations-Dienst reported on Thursday that the error will cost the French Canadian ten places on Sunday's grid, after the FIA declined BMW Sauber's request to open the V8 unit to inspect the damage.

Rumours in the paddock at Circuit de Catalunya suggest that the engine might have been dropped.

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