2005/2006 F1 News and Testing.

Spice Girls manager signs Honda F1 deal

Simon Fuller, famous for making American Idol and the Spice Girls famous, will now get to work on improving Honda's F1 image.

His '19 Entertainment' company has penned a ground breaking five year contract with the Brackley based team, which is now fully owned by Japanese carmaker Honda, aimed at enhancing the squad's image via entertainment.

'This is exactly the direction the teams should be taking,' Bernie Ecclestone enthused to UK's Guardian newspaper, 'to broaden the entertainment and sporting appeal of Formula One to a global audience.'

Fuller's first ideas to uniquely market Honda, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, however, will probably not be seen until next year.

Honda's F1 principal Nick Fry said: 'The competition now for an audience is not just within motor racing but comes from (TV show) Desperate Housewives and Chelsea Football Club.'

Incidentally, Fuller named his company '19' after the 1985 Paul Hardcastle song, which refers to the average age of American soldiers in the Vietnam War.
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Piquet pans Speed's F1 debut

Scott Speed is making his F1 debut in 2006 because he has a cool name, a convenient nationality, and a certain energy drink-backer.

That is the claim of Nelson Piquet Jr, the GP2 driver who has missed out on a F1 opportunity this year despite '05 rivals Speed, Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen all making the coveted step.

23-year-old Speed, from California, will debut for his sponsor Red Bull's junior 'Scuderia Toro Rosso' team in 2006.

But Piquet, with the same name as his world championship-winning father, told Speed TV: ''Speed got in more because ... he's American and his last name is 'Speed', than for what he did on the track.'' Piquet's father said recently that, despite some contact with formula one teams and tests for Williams and BAR, 'Nelsinho' must win the junior GP2 title in order to truly woo the circus' fraternity.

The 20-year-old, who struggled in the category last year and will return in 2006, agreed: ''I'm completely focused on having a perfect year to earn my way into (F1). ''Without being at least second in the championship,'' the Brazilian added, ''that will be very difficult.''
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Someone bitter?? ;)
 
Drivers reactions to Spa being off

One man who was particularly disappointed was Tiago Monteiro, who finished eighth in the 2005 event, thus scoring his first real point (his words) of the season.

"It's a ******* shame," said the Midland F1 driver, without hesitation. "It my favourite track. It's a shame really because it's so... I was really, really looking forward to going there but I guess we will have to do without it now."

"It's a great circuit," added Fernando Alonso, "you always want to race well but it's true we have a lot of races this year so we do have one less for us so it's maybe more relaxed, so I am not too worried.

"However, it's not good that it's Spa, that is the one that is off, because it's a great circuit for driving."

"I didn't know that," admitted Nico Rosberg. "It's unfortunate because Spa is a great track for a driver it was great fun.

"I was there in GP2 last year," he continued, "we didn't do one lap in the dry but it was still a lot of fun. I don't know I suppose all together to loose one of 19 races there were too many anyway so there are positives and negatives.

Mark Webber wasn't in the mood for talking, that was until he heard the name 'Spa'. "What about Spa?" he said, then, when told the news, replied: "What a bloody shame".

Jo Ramirez has been in F1 for longer than even he would want to remember.

"I am glad I m not in it anymore," said the affable Mexican. "I would be very, very sad if I was still in it because to me it was of the only two real race tracks left. Spa and Suzuka were the only two tracks left. It's so sad I still hope that it will be resolved.

"Very often in Formula 1 officials can put the money up then be on again," he added. "I hope so because it will be really sad to loose that, very sad.

"In F1 the tracks are getting slower and slower, with all the new Herman Tilke race tracks. They are all the same. OK, Turkey was good, I think that is a good race track, but all the other ones there is no fun.

"They are making proper racing too slow now," he continued, "the engines are slower. I cannot understand where we are going to go, if you take the danger away you are going to kill Formula 1, it's part of the sport. If you don't like the heat get out of the kitchen like they say.

"I think the drivers will be very sorry to see Spa going. Imola was a good circuit but when Senna was killed they changed it all completely and now it's a circuit that is nothing. Imola is circuit that you always see the two Ferraris the two McLarens the two Renaults you can have one of the best drivers in the world you cannot make much difference in a circuit like Imola because they are all together."
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'New' Toyota to run next week

An all-new, Bahrain-spec bodywork package for Toyota's 2006 F1 car will be debuted next week.

While Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher were as much as 2.5 seconds off the leading pace at Jerez on Wednesday, their TF106s will look substantially different when they next take to the winter test circuits.

''We are looking forward to seeing how it makes an impact on our progress,'' said test team manager Gerd Pfeiffer.

Although widely reported as a radical and expensive approach to the launch of a new car, Toyota adopted a similar policy last year, according to technical director Mike Gascoyne.

Indeed, the 'TF105' - although ultimately beaten in the development race - got off to a stellar start, with the team hanging onto second in the constructors' for some time. ''This strategy helped us to be extremely competitive at the start of 2005,'' the Briton agreed, ''and we are confident the same will happen this year.''
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Fresh doubts over Renault future

Ghosn had rejected talk that Renault will quit F1 at the end of 2006
Renault's future in Formula One has been thrown into further doubt by news that the team will decide on a yearly basis whether to stay in the sport.

"As long as it's in Renault's interests to be in F1, we'll be there," said company president Carlos Ghosn.

Renault enjoyed their most successful season last year, winning both the constructors' and drivers' crowns.

But Ghosn, who used to be in charge of Nissan, added: "We're going to see how things go year by year."

Speculation about Renault's future has increased in recent weeks, with claims surfacing that they would bow out of F1 at the end of this season.

Both Ghosn and team boss Flavio Briatore have rejected the rumours, although Renault have suffered a number of setbacks.

Fernando Alonso, who became the youngest-ever F1 champion at 24 in 2005, has signed to join rivals McLaren in 2007, claiming his defection was not down to money but to confusion over Renault's future plans.

And the loss of key sponsor Mild Seven, a cigarette company, at the end of the year has also contributed to speculation about the team's ability to continue competing.
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Flibster said:
Someone bitter?? ;)
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Very probably considering he's just lost his A1GP drive to Christian Fittipaldi which isn't really surprising given that he's been propping up the midfield since his Brands Hatch wins.

As for the STR01 - spot the V10 car, compared to the RB2 et-al it's got a hoooge rear.
 
New Toro Rosso hits track at Jerez

Scuderia Toro Rosso's new Formula One car has run for the first time at Jerez in Spain this morning.

The team's driver Vitantonio Liuzzi has given the Cosworth V10-powered STR01 its first laps, with the team having so far spent its winter testing using a modified version of Red Bull Racing's 2005 RB1.

The new car looks remarkably similar to the Red Bull Racing machine, however, although the team have been at pains to make it clear that the STR01 is an all-new design not based on either their sister team's chassis or an old Minardi.

The only discernable differences appears to be revised sidepods, engine cover, and air intake.

The colour scheme is the same as that of the interim RB1, but the final livery will be revealed in Bahrain.

Team principal Franz Tost said last year that the fact that his team are running a V10 engine this year, compared to Red Bull Racing's V8, means the two outfits will have to operate independently.

"Red Bull Racing will run the new RBR02 and the V8 Ferrari engine, while Toro Rosso will have the new STR 01 with the V10 Cosworth engine incorporating different torque curves from the engine side and with a different weight distribution, which will make it difficult to compare cars or data," he said.

"Because of these differences the teams will operate independently and in their own separate way during the race weekends."
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Yup...

Gerhard Berger buys into Toro Rosso

Former Grand Prix driver Gerhard Berger has bought a 50 percent stake in Red Bull's Scuderia Toro Rosso team.

The Austrian, who has not been involved in the sport since he left his position as BMW Motorsport Director in 2003, will also act in an advisory capacity for Red Bull's entire F1 operation.

The deal, which was announced by the energy drinks company today, sees Berger take control of 50 percent of Toro Rosso's shares while Red Bull purchases 50 percent of Berger's shipping company to form a joint operation.

Berger's involvement with Red Bull comes after a long-standing friendship with company boss and fellow Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz, who dismissed late last year that Berger was planning to be involved in his team.

Berger said today: "Three birds with one stone! The involvement of a company like Red Bull is an important milestone for the Berger shipping company and for its successful future development.

"On the other hand, I am aware that my Formula One know-how is very much valued by Red Bull in general and by the Italian Toro Rosso team in particular.

"Last but not least, I'm looking forward to not only continuing to have a great time with Dietrich Mateschitz, but also to being able to implement serious and visionary business developments together in the future."

Mateschitz added: "I have known and admired Gerhard for twenty years. 18 years ago, he was the first top athlete to drink Red Bull and therefore to make a significant contribution to our growth and to the brand in Austria.

"I am particularly pleased that we will now be able to take advantage of the synergies that undoubtedly exist between us also for joint business activities."

The announcement of Berger's involvement with Scuderia Toro Rosso comes on the same day that the team's new STR01 ran for the first time at Jerez.

Berger told autosport.com last October that he turned down the option of running Toro Rosso because he was not interested in it being a pure marketing exercise.

"My idea for the team was to be successful, and make some money, whereas Red Bull's big motivation is marketing," he said last year. "I've no problem with that, but I didn't want to be involved on that basis."
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Makes a lot of sence for both of them to be honest - Berger learns how to run a team, STR saves on transport bills, STR gets Bergers experience for the new drivers..

Sounds good to me - will be good to see him back at GP's as well...

Oh hell - Herbert and Berger back in the pitlane together. :eek:

Simon/~Flibster
 
Renault investigate rear wing failure

Renault are confident they will quickly have an answer as to the cause of a rear wing failure on an R26 that has forced the team to adopt a compromised test programme at Jerez today.

The rear wing on the car of test driver Heikki Kovalainen suffered a problem during testing yesterday, and the team decided to take no risks and cut short the Finn's running while they flew the part back to their Enstone factory for analysis.

Although the team initially feared they would only be able to run one car today, with only one low-mileage rear wing available, the team have decided to get both Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella on track to get mileage on their engines - although the pair are having to swap the rear wing.

That means the team can only have one car in action at a time until they discover exactly what was the cause of Kovalainen's problem. There is a chance a solution can be found by tomorrow, but if not then the team will have new parts ready for next week's test in Valencia.

The problems with the wing, and the knock-on impact on the testing programme, meant Fernando Alonso decided to cut short his testing and return home last night.
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Presumably it will have a few sponsers on it when it is officially released?

Red Bull deny Pepsi talks
Speculation in the drinks market

Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of two Formula One teams, has reportedly denied speculation that he might sell Red Bull to soft drink rival PepsiCo.

Austria's NEWS magazine claimed that Mateschitz, a multi billionaire, had held discussions with the New York-based Pepsi company, on the back of speculation that it was keen to capitalise on the small but lucrative market of energy drinks.

Meanwhile, it is reported that 61-year-old Mateschitz has bought a five square-mile Fijian private island - called Laucala - for $10m.
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