Monday 24th August 2009

Red Bull to not run KERS at Spa– Well there isn’t a big surprise they haven’t run it so far and it seems a bit of a stretch to just bolt it on in the 2 day turnaround between back to back GP’s. They might still run it at Monza hough where I expect the long straights and lare braking zones make it perhaps the best circuit for the system.

Bridgestone announce tyre compounds for the remaining races of the year- Some of them are consecutive compunds some of them have the wider spread we saw at the beginning of the year. To be honest I am not all theat bothered. I think the mandatory running of two compounds rule is completely silly, and I hope it is ditched sooner or later. Formula one is about teams optimising their equipment to the absoloute peak of technology, using unsuitable tyres because of a illy rule makes no sense at all. It doesn’t help Bridgestone either as more often than not their tyres are seen to be not working properly.

Badoer set to keep seat at Spa- Despite the fact that everyone who has ever seen as much as a photograph of an F1 car believing they could do a better job, it looks like Ferrari will persist with the veteran Italian Tester. It doesn’t make sense to me, and the lap times cant make sense to Ferrari either. The only theory is it is one massive retirement present for the guy who did make a largely unsung contribution to Ferrari’s dominance under Schumacher. How long they continue with the theory is another matter.

Gene is not the happiest guy around-Well hes been overlooked for his home GP and too really rub the salt in the guy who has replaced him has perhaps the most disappointing race in a Ferrari for a long time. To make matters worse Luca’s performance has been so bad it may mean that Ferrari go to a driver like the underrated Nelson Piquet as he is up to speed with modern F1 cars and has been racing for Renault. Gene could argue that winning Le Mans proves he has raced enough, but the lack of testing in the current car may purseude Ferrari to look externally.

Valencia and Suzuka sign race deals- We are going back to Valencia for 5 more years which is a disaster, it is a terrible circuit. If I had to say something good about it the bridge is lovely and its nice to see the cars by the water. Unfortunatly in terms of racing it has little to offer, I don’t think there has been a significant overtake in the two GP’s it has hosted, and there are no corners of note. But alas, the bad news does come with a spoonful of good as Suzuka have signed up to run the Japanese GP in 2010 to fill the gap between the 09’ and 11’ races which was to be run at Fuji before the dropped out. Its great news, Suzuka is one of the best circuits in F1 in my opinion, and if we have to put up with the tedium of Valencia in order to race their then so be it.

Thats todays rundown What do you all think?

Saturday August 22nd 2009

Williams to run KERS next year? Well the agreement not to rn it was decided by FOTA, and since FOTA have expelled Williams they are free to use it I guess. Its quite surprising they wish to run it next year after not utilising it this year, but perhaps they feel confident it will be developed sufficiently by then. The team have a unique flywheel system which they hope to sell on for use in busses and trains so I guess they want the publicity. On the other hand they still haven’t been invited back into FOTA so they may be out to cause as much trouble as they can. It will certainly disrupt the grouping. It will be interesting to see what Toyota do. They need Williams to run Kaz Nakajima as much as Williams need the engines, and the arrival of Cosworth next year wil offer new options to the team.

Free Practice 3- I missed watching this myself this morning, but a bit of reading later and I have caught up. Force India will have been very pleased to have topped the time sheets. They have nee under a bit of pressure this weekend with the team owner (Vijay Mallya) allegedly putting pressure on the team (and presumably team principle Vijay Mallya). Good luck to them, but if they cant raise their game I would rather see someone who can take their slot on the grid who can. Vettel delayed the session for half an hour after his engine sprung a leak and he drove a long way leaving oil all over the track and the racing line. This is dangerous and I am very surprised he hasn’t been punished. Although Its not too hard to see why he hasn’t been with the way the championship is set up at the moment.  Nakajima and Kubica also put in quick times which is good for the future of the former and a big come and get me advert for the latter.

Michael Schumacher is incredibly frustrated- apparently the fact he cant comeback has hit the former racer hard. If that’s the case I am not sure attending this weekends race was the best thing to be doing.

Red Bull to Run KERS?- Well this is interesting, a few races back the teams couldn’t get rid of their systems quickly enough! Following Lewis’ win in Hungary which owed a considerable part to KERS, the system appears to be back in vogue. Monza and Spa should be good for the system with long straights and large topographical changes which will see extra horsepower being especially useful. With the team lagging behind in the championship they have an incredibly good chance to win it although they are running out of races and a resurgent McLaren provides another obstacle. They need to gamble, and they can’t afford to be blown away off the line by KERS cars and sit behind them to pick up the smaller points. Brawn can do this on the other hand, so it makes sense for Red Bull to roll the dice and give it a go, but they will need to be careful not to upset the balance of the car.

Badoer’s cap says it all- If making your Debut in F1 is difficult, then jumping into a Ferrari alongside a former world champion over 10 years since your last race must be a daunting prospect. The Italian had managed to lower expectations with convincingly slow performances in the practice sessions. He managed to maintain these standards in Q1 with his best time being two and a half seconds slower than Raikonnen. Its just not good enough, I feel for the guy, but you cant keep someone that slow in the car. The lack of race experience in 09 F1 may also hamper Gene’s chances of getting in the car. If it was down to me I would love to see Nelson Piquet have a go in the Ferrari and show what he is really made of. He has an impressive race history, and although he didn’t show this at Renault, another team could be just what he needs to shine in F1.

Qualifying- Q1 saw a disappointing performance from Nakajima who had done well in FP3, Joining Badoer new boy Jaimie was unable to make it out the first session, if he is still learning but I wonder how long he will get in the car before they decide Hartley might deserve a go? Specialist qualifier Trulli also disappointed going out early. Q2 saw the exit of new boy Grosjean who I think can be pleased to have gotten that far. Sutil wasn’t able to convert his FP3 pace into a Q3 slot, Kubica did well to drag the BMW up into the top 10 shootout, Webber will be disappointed with only getting to ninth, whilst teammate Vettel will be pleased to be ahead of Button in 4^th.. Heikki was very unlucky with a small mistake costing him pole which went to his teammate. McLaren are defiantly back, and look like they will be fighting for wins for the rest of the season.

Weights- Heikki’s lap was perhaps even more impressive as it has been seen to be done with an extra 2KG fuel in the car. It looks like Jenson and Rubens will be able to go a couple of laps longer which should be useful to Button if he gets stuck behind Vettel’s Red Bull. Something else to watch for is Trulli appears to be fuelled to go to the moon so expect a Trulli train behind him if he is given the chance to develop one.

That’s today’s rundown. What do you all think?

Friday August 21st 2009

Free Practice 1– The F1 cars are back! it was great to see them back in anger after (an unnecessary) few weeks away. The session ends up looking good for McLaren with their cars 1^st and second, and pretty good for brawn too with Ruben’s topping the sheets. Looks like the sweltering temps got them some heat into the tyres. What this tells us though is another matter, as we don’t know what the teams have been running in terms of fuel loads and what their goals for the session were.

Whitmarsh tells us Alonso is off to Ferrari. FOTA unity taken to the next level? Now McLaren are announcing Ferrari’s future driver line ups! Possibly a slip of the tongue, but as the McLaren boss was questioned over his future line up he cited Alonso’s move as shuffling up the driver market. I have no doubt he knows things we don’t, but was this more than just paddock gossip? It certainly won’t please Ferrari to hear what he said, but it does give the rumours a new level of credibility.

Free Practice 2: It began with reports of no screens working in media centre at the beginging of the session which isnt great after the debarcle in Hungary. Rosberg hit a bug live on onboard his onboard camera which gave us a sniff of drama as the director stuck with him and the bug for a few corners. Badoer appears to be cruising around like it really is a test session at one point he was 5 seconds off the pace. If he doesn’t pick the pace up over the weekend he will be gone before Spa. Looked good for Brawn against Button and Barrichello traded fastest laps during the seesion, and they will be pleased to have finished 2nd and 3rd. McLaren had a new front wing: Heikki took it 2^nd quickest in FP1, Lewis took it sideways and although he managed to avoid a major meeting with the wall in FP2, he did enough damage to not go out again. Alonso put in a good showing on the timing sheets as he topped the session; they did look good in Hungary until the wheel fell off. It did make Grosjean look particularly bad though as he languished in 17^th. Alonso had a big incident with Nick Heidfeldtoward the end of the session. Locking up into the last corner, before loosing his front wing and sending the BMW flying in the process…. This amused Schumacher.

Sebastian Vettel Extends his Red Bull Deal– Having bought the youngster up into F1 (although admittedly not giving him his first drive) Red Bull have signed the young German up until the end of 2011 with the option of another year. Good news for Red Bull as he is there star. It’s a bit of a risk for Vettel as he will obviously be on the big bucks, but will he have a car under him to win with for the next few years. I have no doubts about his speed, but I do still question his overtaking ability, and being stuck in the midfield will put this under a big microscope.

Fisi to be a Ferrari a test driver in 2010? Despite the fact he told AUTOSPORT he wasn’t going to, and the testing ban effectively meaning he would be retired, it must be an attractive option for the aging Italian racer to go to what is effectively the Italian national team. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I don’t see what he is achieving back there on the grid. It may be time for some younger blood to come in and show what they can do.

Webber says Red Bull below par at this stage- They have had a couple of great races since Silverstone, but they still lag in the championship. They cant afford to lag behind the brawns anywhere, especially where they will be strong given the higher temperatures. Vettel might have been unlucky not to finish in Hungary, but Its only Friday so don’t write them off just yet, as there is plenty of time before the points and prizes are handed out

Could Bernie pull the plug on Valencia and send the European GP to Silverstone? – Well its certainly an interesting idea. Valencia looked poor on TV today. The best scenes were of the people having fun on the beach, hardly any pictures of the grandstands suggest no one was watching the racing. The circuit is an ugly procession though concrete barriers going part such highlights as the container port and a dull old fish market. Going over the bridge is the only real highlight on a circuit which appears to be to be near on impossible to overtake at due to having go many corners and minimal straights. Silverstone on the other hand has been packed of late if the British GP does go to Donnington, it would be great to keep it on the calendar. It would certainly be a turnaround from speculation earlier this year that there could be no races in Britain.

Renault let off again as driver’s miss autograph session– Not a lot to say here really. It was a good initiative, and I am glad they have just been reminded of it. But it does strike me that the whole race is here for Fernando Alonso. It seems ironic that he was the one that missed the autograph signing. I hope his fans don’t feel too let down; hopefully Renault can sort out another session.

Badoer gets fined for speeding– Well who can blame him, its his first real race weekend so he needs time to get to terms with the limiter. But then he did it again. Which was clumsy but forgivable. Then a third, which was just reckless. Then a fourth… WHATS WRONG WITH YOU MAN?

Todt shows off– What’s the best way to counter your opponents manifesto? In the world according to Todt it’s to shower yourself in praise from important motorsport people from all over the world. Its certainly an impressive list even if it perhaps wasn’t the classiest move. More on Ari and Jean in a post this weekend.

That’s today’s rundown. What do you all think?

Tuesday August 18th 2009

Grosjean to Replace Piquet- No suprises there then, the rumours of the Frenchman jumping into PK’s seat have been floating around for most of the season. Its announcement seemed just a formality after Nelson sensationally announced his departure, but Renault had delayed making it public until they knew the result of their hearing in Paris. I don’t know a lot about the guy, apparently he has underperformed from his potential in GP2, and spends a lot of time off the racing line. Some drivers suit different cars more than others so it will be interesting to see how he goes in F1, especially with Nelson’s stark warning about his new boss undoubtedly ringing in his ears. Renault have apparently been keen to have a Frenchman in the car for a while, it will be interesting to see if this has an impact on whether they stay in the sport, and the possible return of the French Grand Prix

Toyota to keep focus on 2009 car- Not too sure about this. They made a big step forward this year, unfortunately both Brawn and Red Bull made bigger strides. I cant really see them winning a race in 09’ so perhaps they should start to work on next years car. The fact they aren’t looking at next year might raise some alarm bells about their future in the sport, but they did sign the Concorde agreement, and given the entry of new teams and the difficulty BMW are having getting any return on their investment in Sauber I would expect them to be around next year

Badoer says he will treat the European GP like a test session- Well I know he has spent years and years testing the cars, but is that really what he wants to do? If someone gave me the chance to race a Ferrari in a GP the last thing I would be thinking about is plodding round as if it was a test session. Perhaps he is concerned for his job, Marc Gene is immediately available as Ferrari’s second tester to step in the car if Badoer doesn’t impress. To be fair he is looking at it as a warm up which suggests he expects to be in the car for every race untill Felipe comes back.

That’s today’s rundown. What do you all think?