2005/2006 F1 News and Testing.

[Flibster]

Mosley says this is his last mandate

FIA president Max Mosley has said he will step down from his position once his current term expires, and claims he already has a substitute ready.

The Briton, 65, was re-elected at the end of last year for another four-year term, his fourth successive one.

Mosley, who announced his resignation from the post in 2004 before being asked to stay, first took the helm of the FIA in 1991.

"In 2004 I resigned and was called back. In the end, who attacked me the most are the ones who got the biggest benefits from my presidency," Mosley was quoted as saying by Autosprint magazine.

"If the current issues are solved, I will reduce my activity. In any case, this is the last mandate, and I already have a substitute ready."

[sings]
Ding dong the witch is dead!
which old witch?
The wicked witch!!
[/sings]

However - I reckon his replacement will be...the Toad...

 

[Flibster]

Super Aguri shrug off poor tests

Super Aguri have put on a brave face after following troubled preparations for their debut at the first Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain next month.

The team were nearly three seconds behind the next slowest car this week in Barcelona in their first major test.

But chief technical officer Mark Preston said: "The team has delivered more than anyone imagined possible before we came to Barcelona.

"It makes us confident our performance in Bahrain will be acceptable."

But the Japanese outfit, who have endured a hectic few months gaining late entry to F1 and building their cars, face a race against time to be ready for Bahrain on 12 March.

Drivers Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide shook down the team's first car, which is based on a four-year-old ex-Arrows chassis but will be replaced with an all-new model in April.

But Preston shrugged off mechanical problems, which restricted Sato to just 10 laps on the first day of the Barcelona test on Tuesday.

"These three days have helped to gel the team together. The engine performed faultlessly, which is a good indicator of our reliability for the first race.

"The test fulfilled our requirements and we were able to solve a number of systems-related issues.

"Overall the team is tired following a week of very hard work, but amazingly we have achieved all of our goals and we are now looking forward to ticking the next box on the list - our test at Silverstone next week."

This week's test was conducted with illegal bodywork, a legacy of the four-year-old Arrows chassis, but the team plan to test their 2006 aerodynamics at Silverstone next week prior to the first race.

 

[Zip]

[sings]
Ding dong the witch is dead!
which old witch?
The wicked witch!!
[/sings]

However - I reckon his replacement will be...the Toad...

Formula 1 will be dead by the end of four years

 

[J1nxy]

Didn't he say he was going last time...to much rejoicing in the Motor Racing World...only to decide he hadn't managed to destroy enough formulas so he would stay on??

 

[Richard T]

Formula 1 will be dead by the end of four years

Agreed, It'll be too late by then!!!

 

[Flibster]

Doornbos flies to Barcelona for one lap

Robert Doornbos expected a bit more from his extra day of testing at Barcelona. Red Bull's test driver was called this morning to fly to Barcelona and replace David Coulthard. In the morning Coulthard pulled a muscle, which made it painful for the Scotsman to drive the RB2. Doornbos could only cover one lap though.

After a few installation runs Coulthard's engine broke down. The team worked hard on the car but the car wasn't finished until the end of the day. Doornbos could only cover one lap. "I was supposed to do a couple of interviews today but was called by the team if I could come straight to Barcelona," Doornbos told F1Racing.net. "They told me I could do around 40 laps which is half a race distance. When I arrived at the airport in Barcelona the team told me David blew up his engine. The car wasn't finished until the end of the day unfortunately."

Another blown Ferrari....

 

[Darryn]

Doornbos flies to Barcelona for one lap
...snip...
Doornbos could only cover one lap though.
...snip...
When I arrived at the airport in Barcelona the team told me David blew up his engine."

That sounds like the Bart Simpson-esque.... "I didnt do it, nobody saw me do it, cant prove anything" quote, who exactly blew the engine? DC or Doornbos?

 

[Duke]

Engineer: "So which way do you want to fall off the black stuff this time?"
Sato: "Well either this way or this way..."

 

[Flibster]

Sato: ...and then - he held his hands like this and the cow fell asleep and they could get past in the jeep...
Engineer: Think it will work on the other drivers?

 

[Flibster]

That sounds like the Bart Simpson-esque.... "I didnt do it, nobody saw me do it, cant prove anything" quote, who exactly blew the engine? DC or Doornbos?

DC did - the Ferrari engine this year does not look good.

So far it's outperforming Mercedes...


...for the highest number of failures!

 

[rpstewart]

Montagny, Rossiter, Glock on Aguri list
Super Aguri will make a decision next week on their third and reserve driver, team sources have told autosport.com.

The team are currently looking at three primary candidates: former Renault test driver Franck Montagny, Honda development driver James Rossiter, and newly signed GP2 driver Timo Glock.

According to officials at Super Aguri, their preferable scenario would be to have Montagny as reserve driver for the first three flyaway races of the season, starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix in two weeks.

Montagny is still looking to join the Champ Car series in the United States and could land a driver with Rocketsports.

However, the Champ Car season is not due to start before April 9th in Long Beach, which would allow Montagny to act as reserve driver for Super Aguri in the first three rounds of the F1 calendar.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is held on March 12th, followed by the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 19th and the Australian Grand Prix on April 2nd.

After that, Super Aguri could sign James Rossiter as their regular third driver. The Briton, who last year finished his first F3 Euroseries season in 7th, is a Honda protege and has tested for the team this winter in Jerez and Bahrain.

Glock, who raced for Rocketsports in Champ Car last year, has been confirmed to race in GP2 with BCN Competicion this season, but the German too could be available for the first three rounds of the F1 season.

A decision on the third driver is expected next week, with the team looking to secure a stand-by driver for the three flyaway races and only later seek a long-term solution.

"Franck Montagny is most likely for the first three races, and after that maybe it will be Rossiter," a team official told autosport.com.

"This is what we are thinking right now, but it can still change."

 

[6thElement]

Watching an F1 season preview on the Motors channel earlier, Toyota expect to have to manufacture 200 engines for this season to supply themselves and MF1. 200!!!!

 

[clv101]

Watching an F1 season preview on the Motors channel earlier, Toyota expect to have to manufacture 200 engines for this season to supply themselves and MF1. 200!!!!

That's the sort of number I'd pull out of the air when you think about the number cars, number of races, amount of testing, engines lost due to accidents or blowing up... plus a nice safety margin so there isn't a shortage.

Maybe a good regulation would be instead of asking an engine to last for a certain number of races allocate a certain number of engines to a team per season including all testing etc. Maybe a maximum of 30 engines per team per season to be used between drivers, cars, testing, racing etc however the team saw fit.

There is a limit on sets of tyres per race... why not a limit on engines per season?

 

[Zip]

Why not take all engine and tire limits away?

Bring back the slicks

 

[lineaR]

Anyone got solid info on the Silverstone test originally scheduled for this monday/tuesday?

 

[Flibster]

Ecclestone: Schumacher is replaceable

If rumours that Michael Schumacher may quit Formula 1 at the end of 2006 turn out to be true, the sport's popularity will not go down. That's the claim of F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. "No driver, no person will ever be bigger than Formula 1 itself. It would take two or three races, then we'd have a new superstar", the British billionaire told the German magazine Sport Bild in their most recent motorsport issue.


Ecclestone sees Nelson Piquet Jr. and Finland's Heikki Kovalainen as possible future superstars. Fernando Alonso, already a world champion now, is not on Bernie's list. Neither is he happy with the Spaniard's switch to McLaren in 2007, which was already announced at the end of last year. "To me, it was the right way to handle when Ron Dennis did not talk to Flavio Briatore before announcing the deal. That was just plain stupid."

Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher himself does not seem to think about retiring just yet. The German is keen on getting back the title that he had to give up last year. "I trained the whole winter. In other years, I gave myself a little break after the end of the season. I want the title back."

At least for now, 'Schumi' still enjoys being an F1 driver - even with the new, less powerful V8 engines. "The new engine is really a lot of fun. The engine's power can be transferred directly, as it's not as high."

 

[Flibster]

Cosworth works through teething troubles

Cosworth had a difficult start to this week's test in Barcelona with the WilliamsF1 team, the company's new series 2 V8 engine running into problems. It also suffered another engine failure, but finished the test on a positve note.

"Cosworth completed this week's Barcelona test in reasonable shape," said Simon Corbyn, head of F1 race engineering, Cosworth. "The first day was difficult as we had to stop running Mark's primary Series 2 test engine when it developed a leak which couldn't be fixed trackside. In addition, Nico suffered an engine failure, although this was at high mileage and was an earlier spec engine. Fortunately, the remainder of the test was rather less eventful as Alex successfully exceeded the two race weekend target mileage on his Series 2 engine, plus we were able to complete valuable engine calibration work in preparation for Bahrain."

 

[Flibster]

Bulls can't climb trees...

Which is very lucky for anyone walking underneath them. But Red Bull Racing’s engineers now have their very own tree-house at the race tracks.

Last year, the famous Energy Station hospitality unit could often get a bit rowdy, what with its open house policy and the Formula Una ladies hanging around looking decorative, so this year, our engineers will have a quiet cabin in the clouds in which to exercise their little grey cells.

The team has built a glass and metal office, in similar style to the Energy Station, but obviously much smaller, that sits above two of the race trucks behind the pit garages.

Immediately named “The Tree House,” it made its track debut at this week’s Barcelona test. Maybe it’s in keeping with Red Bull’s tradition of getting involved with “extreme sports,” but just getting in and out of the Tree House requires nerves of steel as it is approached by an incredibly steep and very narrow staircase. There’s no landing outside the house, so any absent minded engineer who steps out the door while thinking about wing angles will soon find himself flying, but without those all-important wings to help him!

This week’s test in Barcelona was supposed to be our last of the season. However, so much time was lost in Spain because cold weather and rain meant no meaningful work could be carried out for the first few hours of the day than another final pre-Bahrain test has been squeezed in at Valencia.

To be honest, the weather was not entirely to blame as reliability problems with RB2 also reduced track time. But you don’t get anywhere in Formula One moaning about things and Sporting Director Christian Horner prefers to concentrate on the positives and there are plenty of them. “The new bodywork we introduced is doing what it is supposed to do and RB2 has obvious potential which we are now beginning to see,” claims Christian. “Klien did a decent lap today (24 February) in testing which proves the car has got speed. The engineers have a good understanding of how the car reacts to set-up changes and the drivers are growing in confidence in its abilities. Everyone in the team is working flat out to be as well prepared as possible for Bahrain and the final test in Valencia will give us more track time to smooth out a few rough edges in the overall package.”

 

[Flibster]

The streets and skies of Bahrain brought to life

Sunday 26 February at 15:07 : With just two weeks to go before the Bahrain Grand Prix gets underway, the capital city Manama witnessed one of the finest moments in its illustrious history on Friday - the Yalla Bahrain! F1 Festival.

In the shadow of Bahrain's World Trade Centre and the giant Financial Harbour development, a dazzling array of racing machinery hit the streets while the skies were filled by an extraordinary daredevil demonstration from Red Bull 'Flying Bulls' stunt planes and lit up by an extravagant musical firework show.

As the majestic shoreline boulevard, the Corniche on the King Faisal Highway, filled with over 20,000 eager spectators, the Festival began with a cavalcade of motorcycles: both racing machines and rumbling Harley-Davidsons. The bikes were followed by the Bahrain International Circuit's fleet of off-road vehicles from the only 4x4 driving centre in the region and a Toyota Formula One car on a celebratory float. Next came the high-speed parade of racing cars glinting in the blazing Bahraini sunshine.

Thunder Arabia and Formula BMW single-seaters led the way before the Caterham sportscars heralded the arrival of the Porsche Michelin SuperCup GT3s that will be competing on the support bill to the Grand Prix on March 10-12. Finally the BIC?s all-new fleet of Chevrolet Lumina V8 SS racers thundered down the Corniche in readiness for their debut in the star-studded pro-celebrity races over the Grand Prix weekend.

After a moment of calm fell over the 1.5km parade route, the skies then erupted with the barnstorming antics of the Flying Bulls display team. The formation of Zlin aerobatic planes whirled, spun, dived and looped in a breathtaking display of skill over the coastline and met a rapturous reception. As darkness fell the event reached a dazzling climax with fireworks that illuminated the city with a deafening barrage and filled the sky with spectacular colour.

"A very proud moment for the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Bahrain International Circuit," said Martin Whitaker, General Manager of the BIC. "It was an absolute pleasure to see the cars roaring down the King Faisal Highway, normally one of Bahrain?s busiest streets, and receiving such applause from the massive crowds that came down to take their part in this event."

"Over the past two weeks Bahrain has been lit up by a number of events aimed at creating a real carnival atmosphere in the lead up to the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, from Motorsport Art Exhibition's to Autograph session?s and now a parade that attracted over 20,000 people. The next two weeks before the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix see even more festivities with perhaps the highlight being the Yalla Bahrain Spectacular event on 11 March. There is a real buzz of anticipation around the Kingdom at the moment and I am very much looking forward to March 10, 11 and 12."

 

[clv101]

Max fears fuel crisis could cripple F1
Sunday February 26 2006

It's hard to imagine what Max Mosley would do if he didn't have a crisis to fret about, and his latest fear is that Formula One will soon bare the brunt of a worldwide fuel shortage.

According to the FIA President, Formula One could fall foul to politics should the world experience a fuel shortage as governments could ban the fuel-guzzling sport in an attempt to preserve fuel supplies.

"Some time in the next few years we are almost bound to have a major oil crisis, for political reasons that have nothing to do with Formula One," he told the Sunday Mirror.

"When that happens all those politicians will say, 'We must show the public we are serious about fuel economy and we must stop Formula One'.

"There will always be politicians on our side but we need to arm them with good arguments.

"If all the research and development and engine work is on the cutting edge of fuel efficiency it would be much harder to argue against us."

Mosley added that he believed F1 would be targeted ahead of all other motorsports because of its "high publicity.

"If you go on television and say, 'We've got to stop the North Wales rally', only the locals will take notice but if you say, 'We must ban Formula One', you immediately get coverage and that would be very tempting for politicians.

"It's a real danger."

F1 cars use one gallon of fuel ever four miles and the average team uses roughly 200,000 litres of fuel each year.
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