2005/2006 F1 News and Testing.

Barcelona adds yet another grandstand

Spanish Grand Prix organisers have made available an extra 3,800 tickets for this year's race at Barcelona with the creation of a new grandstand.

Fernando Alonso's recent successes in Formula One have led to a massive growth in interest in the sport in Spain and, with the event fast selling out, the Circuit de Catalunya has announced plans to increase capacity further.

Tickets for the new grandstand, which will be located on the inner side of the circuit prior to the Seat Turn, are being offered at a special price of 185 Euros (£132) for the weekend during a pre-sale period until March 16.

The organisers have also confirmed that tickets for the other 14 Grandstands at the track, as well as the general admission areas, are almost sold out - meaning the circuit is likely to break its attendance record this year thanks to an increase in capacity of 8,000 over 2005.
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Why Renault cannot jump ship from the GPMA

This morning these is much talk of Renault trying to jump ship from the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association and join up with the deal to extend the Concorde Agreement to the end of 2012. This follows remarks made by Renault F1 managing-director Flavio Briatore in an interview in a German magazine. This is all well and good but it must be remembered that Briatore is not the man who decides Renault policy and that the French manufacturer has signed a legally-binding agreement not to negotiate individual deals with Formula One Management after a GPMA meeting at the end of September last year at Schloss Hohenkammer, a castle to the north of Munich.

This document was signed by the five manufacturers and includes a clause which states that any breach of the agreement could lead to unlimited claims from the other members of the pact. The deal lasts a year and can only be overturned if all those involved agree to cancel the arrangement. The implied threat that FOM may decide not to offer them any money may be the reason behind the rumours because Renault more than the others needs money from the sport to justify its involvement to the top management.

However, unless Renault is willing to get embroiled in legal action with other members of the GPMA clan it is not going to be breaking ranks.

Briatore may have aligned himself with Bernie Ecclestone of FOM and FIA President Max Mosley but this does not mean that Renault is in complete agreement with him.
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Rio offers to host Belgian Grand Prix

Rio de Janeiro is ready to step in and fill the void created by the cancellation of this season's Belgian Formula One Grand Prix, according to the city's Mayor.

Cesar Maia said Thursday that the Brazilian city, which hosted its country's leg of the Grand Prix calendar from 1981 to 1990 before the Brazil Grand Prix moved to Interlagos in Sao Paulo, could fill in after Belgium was forced to call off its Grand Prix on Wednesday.

"We know that Belgium has cancelled its meeting and we want to put ourselves at the service of the sport to organise our own," said Maia.

The FIA and Bernie Ecclestone removed the Belgian GP, scheduled for September 17th, from this year's calendar and ordered Spa Francorchamps to undergo vital track improvements to prepare it for the 2007 season.

Rio has been working hard in recent times to attract top international sport to the city and could host the Grand Prix at its Nelson Piquet circuit. Should Maia's offer be accepted by the FIA, the Rio Grand Prix would take place just over a month before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on October 22.
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Berger: Toro Rosso was impulse decision

Gerhard Berger has revealed that his 50 percent buy-in of Scuderia Toro Rosso was agreed on the spur of the moment with Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz.

The former Grand Prix driver has been a friend of Mateschitz for several years and, although he had been previously reluctant to accept an invite to help Red Bull's F1 activities, he has claimed it all changed during a conversation in Salzburg.

"Everything happened in one night, even though Dietrich and I have known each other for 20 years, when I was the first sportsman endorsing Red Bull," Berger was quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Lately we've met fairly often in Salzburg and one evening, while chatting about the things we did together in the past and about future projects, all of a sudden he told me: 'I'd like to buy 50% of your company.' I thought he was joking, so I replied: 'Fine, then I'm buying 50% of Toro Rosso.' And we did it for real... "

Part of the deal that sees Berger buy into Toro Rosso is for Red Bull to buy 50 percent of Berger's shipping company.

Berger has made it clear that he is not becoming the team boss of Toro Rosso and says he is happy to leave responsibility of that role to fellow Austrian Franz Tost.

"Don't confuse me with the team boss," he explained. "That role is and will be Franz Tost's, a person I trust with my eyes closed.

"My long experience in F1, with all the things learned over the years, will be the contribution I'll bring to the team when I'll be asked.

"I can't miss [attending] the first Grand Prix. As for the others, we'll see one by one."
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Yup - sounds like Berger to me. :D

One of the biggest jokers in F1 - but a absolute professional in the car itself.
Having him and Johnny Herbert together *the 2 biggest jokers...* back together could mean there's a few practical jokes going to be taking place in the pitlane again. :D

Simon/~Flibster
 
Flibster said:
Yup - sounds like Berger to me. :D

One of the biggest jokers in F1 - but a absolute professional in the car itself.
Having him and Johnny Herbert together *the 2 biggest jokers...* back together could mean there's a few practical jokes going to be taking place in the pitlane again. :D

Simon/~Flibster
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Oh yes... always a smile in the paddock with those 2 about :D
 
Rossi closer to F1 switch

Valentino Rossi is seriously considering a switch from MotoGP to Formula 1 in 2007 following his impressive test with Ferrari at Spain’s Valencia circuit last week.

Motorcycle News cites a “close personal friend” of Rossi saying the Italian surprised himself with how competitive he was against F1’s established stars – leaving him with a genuine dilemma over where his future lies.

The friend claimed Rossi is now “very close” to moving to F1 and that Ferrari has redoubled its efforts to lure him to Maranello.

Rossi’s performance at Valencia suggested he has the potential to emulate Britain’s John Surtees and make a successful transition from two wheels to four.

His best lap time at the twisty Spanish circuit of 1m12.3s, set in a Ferrari F2004 with 2004 downforce levels, compares with Michael Schumacher’s benchmark of 1m10.2s in a similar car last year.

However, Rossi was using a restricted V10 engine developing 200bhp less than the car used by Schumacher, thought to account for a time loss of about 1.5s.

Taking the different engine specifications into account, Rossi was only around 0.7s slower than the seven-times world champion on his fourth outing in an F1 car.

“For the first time I didn’t feel like a visitor, I felt like a member of the team,” Rossi is quoted as saying by MCN.

“I learned a lot in the three days and we have to keep working in this way.”

Rossi is committed to racing for Yamaha this season but is a free agent thereafter.

Schumacher has yet to extend his contract beyond this season while Ferrari’s second driver Felipe Massa only has a one-year deal.

In theory, therefore, there could be two vacancies, although McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen has been linked with a possible switch to the Italian squad and Schumacher is by no means certain to retire.
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ashtray_head said:
Oh yes... always a smile in the paddock with those 2 about :D
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he's one of the nicest blokes I ever met in the pits as well - will always talk to fans if he's not needed somewhere and was happy to sign hundreds of autographs. :D

He kind of lost his passion with F1 after Ratzenbergers and Senna's death though. :(

Was nice to see him in 2004 driving Senna's JPS Lotus - while wearing a badge of Ratzenbergers helmet as a tribute to them both. Senna as a friend and Ratzenberger as a fellow Austrian.

He was great friends with Senna and would often share a helicopter with him on the way to the track.

Thats where one of the best stories I hear of came from. Flying into a track - Berger notices Senna's new briefcase...Carbon Fibre Briefcase.

Berger asks about it and Senna talks about it and says that it's virtually industructable. Berger then says - "lets find out" opens the helicopter door and throws the briefcase out the door then shuts it again.

As far as I know - was never found again. :D

We need people like that in F1 - just like Raikkonen being found half naked asleep in someone's front garden - thats fine. :D

Simon/~Flibster
 
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J1nxy said:
Chaps,

Any good sites whith more pics of the Toro Rosso?? Want to see if my uncle made it into any of them.

Steve
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Best one is Autosport or the Sutton Motorsport Images pages - but you have to pay for Autosport and pay for good sized images from Sutton.

Simon/~Flibster
 
//Mike said:
Any more news on the McLaren MP4-21 launch guys? I heard rumours it would be today...
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Nothing yet...

They were testing yesterday so unless they've got a 2nd car all painted up and ready to go it's looking more likely that it'll be next week tbh.

Simon/~Flibster
 
Flibster said:
he's one of the nicest blokes I ever met in the pits as well - will always talk to fans if he's not needed somewhere and was happy to sign hundreds of autographs. :D

He kind of lost his passion with F1 after Ratzenbergers and Senna's death though. :(

Was nice to see him in 2004 driving Senna's JPS Lotus - while wearing a badge of Ratzenbergers helmet as a tribute to them both. Senna as a friend and Ratzenberger as a fellow Austrian.

He was great friends with Senna and would often share a helicopter with him on the way to the track.

Thats where one of the best stories I hear of came from. Flying into a track - Berger notices Senna's new briefcase...Carbon Fibre Briefcase.

Berger asks about it and Senna talks about it and says that it's virtually industructable. Berger then says - "lets find out" opens the helicopter door and throws the briefcase out the door then shuts it again.

As far as I know - was never found again. :D

We need people like that in F1 - just like Raikkonen being found half naked asleep in someone's front garden - thats fine. :D

Simon/~Flibster
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I seem to remember hearing that briefcase story before

Sounds like a right joker...... bet no-one falls asleep around him!!!
 
ashtray_head said:
I seem to remember hearing that briefcase story before

Sounds like a right joker...... bet no-one falls asleep around him!!!
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There was also stories of whoopie cushions in cars on the grid and things like that... :D

Simon/~Flibster
 
Flibster said:
Yup - sounds like Berger to me. :D

One of the biggest jokers in F1 - but a absolute professional in the car itself.
Having him and Johnny Herbert together *the 2 biggest jokers...* back together could mean there's a few practical jokes going to be taking place in the pitlane again. :D

Simon/~Flibster
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I wonder if Donkey (if he's still under contract :) ) could make the switch to STR? Would be nice to see Donkey on tour again.

Flibster said:
Holy hell - over 1000 posts now....

Not bad for a little under 4 months of posting...
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That is good going and I think an appropriate time to say thanks for all your efforts.
 
Flibster said:
We need people like that in F1 - just like Raikkonen being found half naked asleep in someone's front garden - thats fine. :D
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Yeah but Ron likes to hide those stories away from the press ;).
 
Honda's test team gears up for Bahrain

Since last month's introduction of the latest RA106 at Barcelona, the Honda Racing F1 Team has been busy putting the new car through its paces in Spain. Despite winter sunshine and largely dry track conditions, the temperatures have been chilly on the Iberian peninsula - quite unlike the conditions expected in the opening three Grands Prix of the season that take place in the heat of Bahrain, Malaysia and Australia.

To prepare for those races, the team is now leaving Spain for an important test in the warmer climate of the Bahrain International Circuit, venue of the season's opening race in four weeks time.

Mark Ellis, Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance "We've just completed another positive test at Jerez and we are now looking forward to next week's four-day test in Bahrain where we can fully evaluate the latest tyre developments from Michelin in realistic conditions and start our real preparations for the opening races. The pace of the RA106 has again been very encouraging and the car has been extremely reliable despite a couple of small issues."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development, is also keen to see how the RA106 performs in the Middle East; more so as Honda has an engine update to evaluate. “We will have some new improvements next week on the engine that we will be running in Bahrain,” he confirms. “We've had some minor issues but overall we are in good shape."
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