F1 links 09/02/10

Published on 09/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

The Force India is set to be launched today! There will be more on the blog when the car is launched later today.

Links

The Art of F1: Is the era of sponsor-based liveries over?

Tom Bellingham, a guest poster over at The Art of F1 looks at if the era of sponsor-based liveries is over: “So it looks like the time of classic F1 liveries are over…. or is it? This year colour has come back into the sport with a bang, most noticeably with the new Renault. Many people wondered why Renault didn’t use black and yellow in the first place but of course, they went for team sponsors colours instead. It is a real shame it took the spy scandal, resulting in ING leaving the team, for Renault to go back to their classic colours. Just looking at the testing photos you can see how much the Renault stands out on track and I, like many others, think it looks brilliant.”

Motor Sport Musings: And the Next World Rally Champion is…

Dank tells us who he thinks will win the 2010 World Rally Championship: “The World Rally Championship season commences at Sweden this weekend, and with six titles under his belt already, is there anyone out there who can stop Sebastien Loeb, the undisputed king of modern rallying?”

William F1 Team: Golf adopts Formula One Technology in Unique Williams License Agreement

A press release from the Williams F1 team displaying details of the team’s new license agreement with Williams Sports, a US golf equipment company. Being a golfer myself, this is interesting stuff! “The purpose of the partnership is to inject Williams F1’s Formula One technology into the design and manufacture of Williams Sports’ golfing equipment. The initial areas of technical partnership are in the aerodynamic profiling of golf club shafts, ferrules and heads, and the application of composites and alloys materials science in club design.”

Comment of the day

Today’s comment of the day goes to james for his noting of the change in Kimi Raikkonen’s behaviour since moving to WRC, on my What F1 could learn from rallying post. Well done James!

“fantastic post,I agree in rallying far more freedom no silly politics and not be run by a dictator this is why kimi left f1 its a more relaxed enviornment,no politics teams get on well and the fans get to meet there heroes,since kimi has left f1 he has been a lot more relaxed and has been smiling a lot,f1 is losing touch with the fans in my opinion”

james

On the forum

Yesterday I launched An F1 Blog’s 2010 predictions league! It has an amazing prize if you win! All the details of the league are on the About page in the Predictions League section of the forum.

Pics of the day

Today’s pic of the day is of Norweigan WRC driver Petter Solberg demonstrating his new red & yellow livery. More on this livery here.

Blast from the past

The very successful Red Bull RB5 was launched on this day last year in Jerez. This is an image of Sebastian Vettel sat in the garage during the car’s debut test. The car was arguably the best designed of 2009, and many of the features have inspired the cars which will be sat on the grid this year.

For those who didn’t recognise Seb Vettel’s helmet in this image when I posted a clue to today’s blast from the past pic of the day on Twitter, this is the helmet he used for the opening races of the season. It is known as the ‘disco’ helmet.

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Petter Solberg reveals bold new 2010 colours

Published on 08/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

The 2003 WRC champion – Petter Solberg’s car has undergone a distinctive yellow and red makeover ahead of it’s WRC debut, when the 2010 season kicks off in Karstadt for Rally Sweden on Friday.

The Norweigan has backing from Mad Croc energy drinks and Shell, hence the new colour scheme. Solberg believes that it’s not just the livery which is looking good for the 2010 season:

“2010 is the year I really believe I have the tools to be able to fight at the very top again. I have kept dreaming about this opportunity for such a long time and we have all put in very, very long hours to make it happen. With fantastic support from our sponsors we have been able to get the budget together, enabling us to get the equipment to fight for wins.”

Petter Solberg

What do you think of the new livery? Leave a comment!
Images (C) WRC, www.pettersolberg.com

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F1 links 08/02/10

Published on 08/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

We are set for another quiet day in F1, but the Force India launch is tomorrow.

Links

The Bull Run is GO GO GO!

Tommy B’s excellent Toro Rosso blog, Forza Toro Rosso has become The Bull Run, as it moves to focus more on both of the Red Bull sister teams: “After much deliberation, I decided to change my blog to focus more on both Red Bull teams. I thought long and hard about it and realised during the season I’d like to talk about Red Bull Racing as well as Toro Rosso.” I have updated the link in our blogroll.

NASCAR.com: Patrick finishes sixth in stock-car debut at Daytona

Saturday night’s ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway was both Nelson Piquet Jr and Danica Patrick’s first ever stock car race. This is a link to the race report on NASCAR.com.

The ARCA race on Saturday night was live blogged on our F1 Live page, with live blogging and a video stream. 50 of you visited and participated in the chat, with just short of 1000 messages being sent. It was great fun and thanks to all who came along. We will be doing another live blogging event next Sunday for the NASCAR Daytona 500, and in every F1 qualifying and race session in 2010. We are also looking into the prospect of live blogging during GP2 races. All the info you need will be posted on our Twitter page in due course.

BBC: Successful start for Lotus’ new Cosworth V8 engine

Audio clip on the BBC of Lotus starting their Cosworth V8 for the first time, which is the first Lotus Cosworth to be fired up in 27 years.

Nico Hulkenberg.net now in English

Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg’s website is now in English.

Comment of the day

There were too many comments of the day yesterday to make me pick just one! There were some crackers from steph90, Cubejam and Red Andy though on my post What F1 could learn from rallying.

Pics of the day

Today’s pic of the day is of Danica Patrick making her stock car debut in the ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night.

A blast from the past


On this day in 2005, the Jordan EJ15 had it’s first track outing. Here is a pic of Tiago Monteiro driving it, at the Silverstone shakedown. The E15 was the last ever Jordan F1 car.

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What F1 could learn from rallying

Published on 07/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

When I was sat, earlier on today watching the World Rally Championship season preview on Dave, seeing all the drivers having discussions with their fans, and signing caps etc, it got me thinking about how, in some respects, rallying is so much better than Formula 1.

In Formula 1, everything is so corporate, with the McLaren drivers playing around with their strategically placed Vodafone mobiles, and Felipe Massa wearing a watch the size of his face. Even Red Bull Racing and their sister team Toro Rosso, who many people argue to be the least corporate teams in F1 can still be seen waving a Red Bull water bottle in full glare of the camera. The drivers seem false and you don’t know what a driver really thinks – is he saying that because he really believes it, or is it because he doesn’t want to upset Mobil 1?

However in rallying the drivers have a lot less sponsorship work to do. In fact the only sponsorship work most of the WRC drivers have to do is wear overalls and drive a car with the brand’s name and logo on.

And the fans; WRC encourage and embrace fan footage, and even use it in their TV programs! This is in stark contrast to Bernie and his mob, who take Formula 1 footage off the web the minute it is posted up there, as well as displaying a ‘do not redistribute or face imminent death’ screen before you can actually click onto the proper video section of their website, and saying that you are not allowed to bring a camera to a Grand Prix with a total focal strength of greater than 300mm!

In the WRC the fans are so much closer to the drivers. I’m not suggesting that the F1 fans should be allowed to stand at the end of the Abu Dhabi straight before running to the side of the track as the cars pass through, or push drivers out of the gravel trap like they can do on rally stages, but I believe that the fans should have a better relationship with the drivers.

Petter Solberg chatting with fans in the service park at Rally Norway

You can see WRC drivers like Petter Solberg having discussions with the fans and signing autographs in the service park, just minutes before getting into the car and driving the rally stage. There is very little of this type of opportunity to get up close and personal with the drivers in Formula 1.

The last thing which WRC can teach F1 is in regards to the politics side of things. 2007 F1 World Champ Kimi Raikkonen who has made the switch to rallying, said on his move: “In F1, politics gets in the way of the exciting side of things. The atmosphere in rallying is much nicer and there’s a lot less politics involved. It’s much more about how the driver performs.” And he is exactly right. There is no messing around with rules, everyone is on a level playing field and in agreement in that the only thing that matters is that the drivers get out there, and drive as fast as they can.

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F1 links 07/02/10

Published on 07/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

There is nothing of note scheduled in the world of Formula 1 today.

Links

Autosport: Valsecchi takes last gasp GP2 win

Autosport’s report of the second GP2 race in Abu Dhabi, which was won by Davide Valsecchi.

“Davide Valsecchi extended his GP2 Asia lead by denying Michael Herck victory with a late pass in the second Abu Dhabi race.

Until the closing stages, Herck and his team-mate Giacomo Ricci had looked set to give their DPR team a shock one-two – four and a half years after the squad’s last wins.

But Valsecchi mounted a last gasp charge to pass both Ricci and Herck in quick succession and claim his iSport squad’s second win of the weekend.”

Motorsport Musings: These Are Testing Times

Dank explains his disapproval of the intense media coverage of pre-season testing. “Testing has never and will never appeal to me. Absolutely nobody really knows just who is quick until it comes to the first qualifying session of the season, and for anyone to form any conclusions this early on in the year is just foolhardy. Countless Internet forums across the globe will speculate wildly and over-analyse everything to the nth degree. Who was on a low-fuel run, who was actually doing some reliability work… It’s all just a pointless exercise as there are very few of us who can properly decode what the heck is actually going on.”

Michael Griffin on F1: Safety over the years

Our resident rally editor Mike Griffin has recently been looking at F1 safety over the years, over at his own blog. So far he has looked at the safety developments of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s & 80’s and every post is very interesting, with a pinch of humour. Here is an extract from the study of safety in F1 in 1969: “Now, when you look at this record, you must be a bit shocked at the lack of safety. If you died, you were seen as very good, because you were obviously quick enough to die, and some people actually said that the dead were obviously better than the living drivers.”

Pic of the day

Today’s pic of the day is GP2 Asia driver Oliver Turvey on his way to winning his maiden race yesterday.

Notices

Lotus Racing boss Tony Fernandes yesterday tweeted saying that you can win a place at the 2010 Lotus’ launch, which takes place in the Royal Horticultural Hall, central London on the 12th February. To be in with a chance of winning, tweet @tonyfernandes saying why you believe Lotus Racing is special, before midnight on Monday.

I have updated the Virgin Racing shakedown post with some better video footage, which was recorded and uploaded to Youtube by Virgin’s test driver Luiz Razia.

New on the blog is the Downloads & Games section, with some great online games, info on our fantasy league and desktop wallpapers of every car which has been launched so far.

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F1 links 06/02/10

Published on 06/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

Yesterday Virgin Racing completed their two day shakedown at Silverstone. Check out the post for images, interviews and a video of the VR-01 rolling out for the very first time.

Links

Weather Underground: Jerez forecast

According to Autosport, the Jerez weather is looking bad, and it claims that some, if not all four days of the test will be affected by to rain. I have checked this out for myself on Weather Underground, and sure enough, rain seems to be on the way.

Nico Hulkenberg’s official website

Nico Hulkenberg has recently tweeted “[Nico Hulkenberg] proudly presents his new official website. Have a look at http://www.nicohulkenberg.net/ – English version coming soon!”. So, his site is still in German, but it looks good and an English version will be on its way soon.

Formula1.com: Q&A with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi

Interesting Q&A session on the official Formula 1 website with Kamui Kobayashi.

On the forum

On the forum I am asking what do you think makes a classic livery? Register for the forum here and get posting!

Pics of the day

The pic of the day today is a side-on shot of the Virgin VR-01 being driven by Lucas di Grassi at yesterday’s shakedown. You get a good view of them cool ‘car tattoos’ in this shot.

A blast from the past

This time last year Toro Rosso confirmed that Sebastien Bourdais would continue driving for them in 2008, hence this magnificent photo of Bourdais which was taken at the Nurburgring German Grand Prix. Toro Rosso issued this press release on Bourdais continuing with the team:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Bourdais was sacked by Toro Rosso half way through 2009 after only picking up 6 championship points in his one-and-a-half year F1 career. Bourdais currently drives for Spanish football club Sevilla FC in the Superleague Formula series.

Notices

You may notice that the Tweetmeme retweet button at the bottom of every post says ‘upgrading’ at the moment. The Tweetmeme system is currently being upgraded and should be back up shortly.

We are always looking for guest posters. If you are interested, contact me, with the subject line ‘guest posts’.

Have you got a cool story you want to feature in our F1 links section, or some pics to share? Leave a comment!

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Virgin complete VR-01 shakedown (Gallery & Video)

Published on 05/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

Virgin Racing have completed their two-day shakedown today, with Timo Glock kicking things up a notch from yesterday’s exploratory laps, completing 42 laps of the 1.8km Stowe circuit during the morning.

Lucas di Grassi then took over in the afternoon recording his first 36 laps as an F1 driver, before saying:

“It feels good. It feels like home! I’m really happy and our first impressions of the car are very positive. It’s amazing what the team has achieved in such a short space of time. I think we have a strong car and a great team to get things started in Jerez. It was important for me to learn as much as possible here so I can start to put some real mileage on the car next week.”

Lucas di Grassi

Nick Wirth, Virgin Racing’s Technical Director, said:

“I am delighted that we have successfully shaken down the VR-01. To achieve 100km of running out of the box is a great achievement with only a few minor issues along the way. We have acquired some good information to feed straight back into design for the development of new parts, which we may even be testing next week. All in all this is a very pleasing conclusion to a memorable week for Virgin Racing.”

Nick Wirth

Team Principal John Booth paid due credit to his brand new race team:

“Our shakedown provided our very first opportunity to work together as a trackside operation and it couldn’t have gone any better. The way the team has come together to achieve such a successful shakedown has been commendable. I’m very proud of what we have achieved and we’re looking forward to taking our place alongside the other F1 teams in the pitlane next week.”

John Booth

Virgin Racing will join up with the other teams at the Jerez test which starts on Wednesday.

Gallery


Images (C) Virgin Racing

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F1 links 05/02/10

Published on 05/02/2010 by Jack Sargeant

This is the first in our new daily post series titled F1 links. This series will feature links to the best motorsport articles I have read on the internet, as well as features such as pics of the day, and my favourite forum posts and comments. So, lets get started!

Links

Autosport: Turvey scores maiden GP2 win

A report on Autosport of Britain’s hot prospect Oliver Turvey winning his maiden GP2 win in Abu Dhabi today.

BBC Press release: 2010 Formula 1 on the BBC

A press release on the BBC site, covering all the F1 features on the BBC in 2010.

Comment

Today’s comment of the day is courtesy of steph90 on the article on Nick Heidfeld being given the test seat at Mercedes.

I really don’t mean to be lazy but I am lol I posted a long comment on f1f and my opinion hasn’t changed at all so here it is.

This isn’t surprising but I think it is a shame.

I couldn’t see Nick at a new team; he’s never been very warm about them and previously said he wasn’t even looking at them. It would mean he would have to swallow his pride if he did sign for them and also be a sort of self demotion, he clearly feels he can do better than a new team.

Sauber was supposed to be the best bet but it felt like he wasn’t top of the list. It was more that assumptions were made that because he raced for BMW Sauber last year he would again this year but there was never much movement on that front.

He took a gamble and wanted the big drive with Merc. I wonder if he ever really believed in Schumi’s return. If he didn’t (which wouldn’t be surprising) then the gamble didn’t pay off but if he did maybe it was his plan all along and Renault was never a serious option.

I can’t really blame him for going for a third driver role with Merc. Schumi is a driving master but he’s 41, retired once and the FIA may have given him the all clear with his neck but doubts will still linger. A three year contract is quite a long one and it looks like the grid will be extremely competitive so Michael could get frustrated. It’s a long shot but it is a shot. Nick clearly wants a go at a big team after so long in F1 and settling for a smaller team would confirm his career is in decline, Renault are unsteady and have a bad few years so maybe this was worth the risk.

The other point of interest is Renault. Nick and the team were linked for a while so who turned their backs on a potential deal first? Petrov’s money would certainly be a factor and he would be a breath of fresh airn for the team. But Renault have gone through a tough time so maybe experience and someone to really push Kubica would have been very appealing also.

This will influence how we rate Kubica too. I think Petrov will be good but with limited testing and him being a rookie he has a job on his hand coming close to Kubica. It could end up like the Williams 09 situation-we knew Rosberg was good because Nakajima really struggled but because Nico was never pushed we never knew if he got everything out the car he could so he always looked good but it was hard to tell how good he really was.

I liked Nick I thought he was hugely underrated although he does seem to have a lot of fans on this site. He pushed Kubica hard and I know he won the team mate battle overall but Kubica was a rookie when he was first against Heidfeld. What really impressed me was after 08 Kubica was the one who won the most respect out of all the grid (despite a mistake at Bahrain and Nick letting him through at Canada) because he kept fighting on despite BMW’s development freeze. Maybe a bit of it was heightened sympathy for Kubica’s plight but he was the rated star coming into 09 and had experience but Heidfeld beat him. He didn’t do it in spectacular style but he got his head down, got the first podium and did the job.

Nick may be the quiet one of the paddock but he showed he had talent. I think he should have a race seat but it’s his own fault and at least he took a gamble.
Anyway he’s some good footage of Nick in action. He had some good times with Alonso and Cooulthard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ho4y6NDE8g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc_ChrDgF3M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXXAPKPFP1w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYTT9I73QXw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHMyKUrs1XQ

steph90

Top comment Steph! I agree that Nick is a very talented driver and is a personal favourite of mine. He is 0nly 32 and potentially has a number of years left in the tank. The whispers have already started about Schumi’s neck playing up, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we do see Nick in another Grand Prix, be it this year, or in 3 years when Schumi retires, and god, I hope ‘quick Nick’ wins a Grand Prix!

On the forum

Recently on the forum we have been talking about what is the worst F1 driver of all time? Register and join in the conversation!

Pics of the day

Proof, (as if it was needed) that the Virgin Racing VR-01 looks as good on the track as it does in the studio shots. This pic was taken at the Virgin Racing Silverstone shakedown. (More here)

A blast from the past

Yesterday was Giorgio Pantano’s birthday! Pantano competed in 14 races for the Jordan team in 2004, not scoring a single point in his F1 career.

However, the Italian showed his potential in 2008 and won the F1 feeder series GP2. He competed in the Superleague Formula in 2009 and finished 7th.

Above is a cool photo of Pantano driving for Jordan.

Have you got a cool story you want to feature in our F1 links section, or some pics to share? Leave a comment!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81312
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Raikkonen believes he is ready for WRC debut

Published on 05/02/2010 by MikeGriffin

2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen remains confident ahead of his World Rally Championship campaign despite crashing his Citroen C4 WRC during last week’s Arctic Rally.

The Rovaniemi-based event was the Iceman’s competitive debut in a WRC spec car, but it appeared to be all over after just two stages when the Finn went off the road in a high-speed section of the course. Spectators spent 31 long minutes helping the Red Bull-sponsored car back onto the road to allow Raikkonen to continue in the rally.

Raikkonen said:

“We achieved everything that we wanted to get out of this weekend. It was really positive. I’ve got a bit more knowledge of the car now and I’m getting a bit more of a feeling all the time as to how to drive it in the most effective way. Of course, there is still a lot for me to learn – particularly when it comes to understanding the parameters of the car and how to drive to pace-notes – but we’re definitely getting there.”

Kimi Raikkonen

Raikkonen’s C4 was amazing left relatively undamaged after his accident, with the team changing the oil cooler and the radiator at the next service area. The next time the Finn sits in his car will be next Thursday at the official shakedown for the Rally Sweden, the opening round of the 2010 World Rally Championship.

Citroen Junior Team principal Benoit Nogier said he was quite impressed by Raikkonen and his pace in Finland. Competing against Citroen World Rally Team driver Dani Sordo, who took victory in a C4, Raikkonen was approximately a second per kilometre off the pace.

Nogier said:

“From start to finish Kimi did exactly what we asked of him and brought the car home with some more experience under his belt, which was the most crucial thing here. We definitely accomplished our mission with him this weekend. He had a problem early in the rally, but it was good that he was able to put it behind him straight away and complete the rally, which is what we wanted most of all.”

Benoit Nogier

Raikkonen’s co-driver Kaj Lindstrom added:

“It’s really coming together now: we’re getting it right with the pace notes and Kimi is more and more on top of the car. He’s been asking for adjustments as the rally went on, which goes to show how much more confident he is feeling.”

Kaj Lindstrom

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Jean Todt: No rushed decisions over WRC future

Published on 05/02/2010 by MikeGriffin

FIA President Jean Todt has insisted that he wll not be rushed into making important decisions about the future of rallying, but has admitted that the sport faces a number of challenges in the coming years.

Todt talked about the sport for the first time publicly this week at the launch of the World Rally Championship earlier this week, and he warned the media about the current crisis in the sport and revealed his fears that making hasty decisions under pressure could make the situation far worse.

The veteran Frenchman, WRC co-driver of 1981 runner-up Guy Frequelin when they lost out to, of all people, Ari Vatenen, refused to be drawn on the calendar, beyond stating that he wanted to see the sport going to countries with bigger car markets relevant to the manufacturers competing in WRC. He also declined to comment on reports that a decision was taken at the meeting of the WRC working group on Monday to commit the future of WRC to a 1.6-litre turbo engine, although it is the understanding of this correspondent that that will be ratified at the World Motor Sport Council meeting in March.

Todt said:

“We must be unsatisfied about the present situation: we have certain rallies as part of a championship distributed around the world where there are limited numbers of manufacturers. This needs to be addressed. I won’t make any rushed decisions. It’s not good to decide something now and then in one or two years you ask if this was the right decision. I’m not going to talk solely about the WRC, either. I have a responsibility for all of the sport of rallying. I’ve been elected for 100 days and I’m not a magician.”

Jean Todt

Citroen team principal Olivier Quensel said that he fully believed that the 1.6-litre engine would be used next season, and also confirmed that Citroen had already started working on the new specification power-plant. The finished Citroen DS3 WRC, fitted with that 1.6-litre engine, will start its testing in September.

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