Alonso interview for Australian Grand Prix

The 2009 Formula 1 championship will hold its first round of the season in Melbourne this week-end, and double World Champion Fernando Alonso is eager to begin. Although his Renault R29 got off to a slow start during winter testing, recent improvements have brought the car up among the leading teams.

With the new regulations and technical modifications surely tightening up the field, Alonso believes the Australian Grand Prix might be an opportunity to start off his campaign by claiming good points.

Fernando, you ended the 2008 season strongly. Can you carry that form into 2009?

"That is certainly our intention! We finished in a strong position last year and this year our goal is to fight for the championship. But we have lots of new regulations this year and nobody really knows what will happen when we get to Melbourne. From what we have seen in testing it seems all the teams are very close and so we will certainly have a fight on our hands."

There has been less testing available this season, but are you pleased with the progress of the R29?

"The first test in Portimao was tough as we had some bad luck with the weather, but when we introduced updates at the later tests we quickly improved the car. We've learnt how to optimise the set-up and we now have a car that is easy to drive and consistent. What is important now is that we keep improving and developing the car throughout the year."

Are you excited about the new regulations introduced this season?

"Yes, with the KERS and moveable wings the drivers now have more work to do inside the cockpit. During testing I have been working hard to adapt to these new systems so that I can get the most from them in Melbourne. I'm really pleased with the KERS system that we have developed and hopefully this will give us an advantage at the start of the season. I'm not sure if it will make overtaking easier, but it will certainly improve lap times.

What are your expectations for Melbourne?

"In the past Albert Park has been a good track for Renault and so I hope we can have a strong weekend. I think the order of the teams will probably be different from the last few years as we have got used to Ferrari and McLaren dominating, but with the new rules I think there will be lots of cars fighting for the win. Hopefully we will be in that fight."

Australian GP - Renault - Preview

The Renault F1 Team gears up for the start of the new season which begins this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park, a stop-start mixture of temporary street course and a purpose-built track.

This means the circuit includes an interesting variety of corners with unusual geometry and a constantly evolving track surface. Setting up the car is therefore a challenge, which is further complicated by the fact that most of the sixteen corners are really quite different with each one presenting a different sort of challenge for the cars and drivers.

Aerodynamics
Melbourne is on a par with the aerodynamic demands of Silverstone or Sepang and therefore requires a medium to high downforce set-up. With the introduction of moveable front wings, the drivers will be able to change the angle of their front wing by six degrees twice per lap (once to change to the new angle, and the second time to return to the original setting) which could be used to help balance the car between two corners or to aid following another car closely.

The circuit features a few critical high-speed corners, such as the fast fourth gear open chicane that forms Turns 11 and 12, which is perhaps the most challenging part of the lap, as Fernando Alonso explains: "You have to be so precise through this section. We take these corners at over 200 km/h and the approach to turn 11 is tough as your view is channelled by the concrete walls and you don't see the apex until late.
If you make a mistake in turn 11, you lose position for turn 12 and that can ruin your lap time."

By using a higher downforce set-up, the drivers will hope to get good traction on the exit of the slower corners, which is important for carrying good speed onto the straights.

Suspension
Melbourne has a number of chicanes where a responsive car with a good change of direction is critical. The suspension therefore has to be relatively stiff to achieve this, but at the same time the car needs to be soft enough to use the curbs and have good stability under braking. An optimum set-up therefore demands a compromise, dovetailing hard and soft settings accordingly.

Brakes
Albert Park is a demanding circuit on brakes with six major braking zones demanding stops from over 300 km/h. It is not the severity of the braking, but the frequency that makes an efficient brake cooling solution a priority during the race. The track surface can be bumpy in the braking zones, but nothing too significant and a soft enough car should be able to ride the bumps without locking up under braking.

Tyres
The temporary nature of Albert Park means the track is 'green' and dusty at first and gradually improves over the weekend. With the re-introduction of slicks this year, the team will pay careful attention during free practice to the behaviour of the super-soft and medium compounds that Bridgestone will bring to this race – both of which must be used during the race. The high track temperatures usually experienced in Melbourne will play a role in determining which compound is preferred by the drivers.

Engine Performance
Melbourne offers a good test for engines with the V8s operating at full throttle for 66% of the lap. However, the secret of a good lap time depends not on peak power, but on good torque to help launch the car out of the slow corners that connect the succession of straights.

This is particularly true of turns 14, 15 and 16, which are all tight, tricky corners, as Nelson Piquet explains: "The car wants to understeer in the final part of the lap and so that can make it difficult to get on the power early. Having KERS this year might make a difference as we may be able to use it to help our acceleration out of these low-speed corners or if we are trying to gain or defend a position. Either way it should help improve our lap times."

Q&A with Pat Symonds, Renault's Executive Director of Engineering:

Pat, it has been a busy winter at the test track - do you feel the team is fully prepared for Melbourne?

"I think we're as prepared as we can be, but with the new testing regime we will arrive in Melbourne with fewer kilometres on the car than we would normally have achieved in previous seasons. The weather has also been quite poor during pre-season testing, which has held us back a little, but when the car has been running it has been working well and I'm not too worried."

What about the drivability of the car? Are the drivers happy with it?

"At our first test in Portugal we only had one dry day and initially the car was quite difficult to drive, especially as we were getting used to the new aerodynamic characteristics. But as we've introduced the updates in preparation for Melbourne, we've moved towards a pretty driveable car that both Fernando and Nelson are comfortable with and it's now behaving much more as we want it to."

We have some radical new regulations this season – do you enjoy the challenge this represents?

"I certainly enjoy the challenge and I think it's great to have change reasonably regularly - I wouldn't want to rip up the rule book every year, but the regulations had been quite stable for a while so it was time for a change. There are a lot of things to get used to: new aerodynamics, operational restrictions in testing and of course KERS, which is a technology that we've had to learn from scratch. Initially we may have been sceptical about the ability to get KERS on the car in such a short space of time, but we've managed to get our system working well and that's a credit to all the guys who have worked on our system at Renault."

Is the Australian Grand Prix a popular race with the team?

"I enjoy it and I think the whole team does as it's when we get back to racing, which is ultimately what we're all here for. Melbourne is a great city and everybody looks forward to going there, although I suspect we will end up seeing a lot more of the garages in Albert Park than the city itself!"

Have you set a target you would like to see the team achieve in the first race?

"The target I set at the beginning of the season is always the same: to be winning races and challenging for the championship – it would be wrong to have any other intention. However, when you start tempering your expectations with reality, you may moderate that target a little bit. Nonetheless, I do believe that we've got a car that is good enough to challenge for wins and when you combine that with our drivers and the team's ability to go racing, I'm fairly confident we can deliver a strong start to the season."

Australian GP - Toyota - Preview

Toyota heads down under this weekend for the Australian Grand Prix on the street circuit at Albert Park; the first round of the season.

The new TF109 car has completed 21 test days and around 10,000km kilometres since its first official test on 19 January, including a four-day test with the Australian Grand Prix aerodynamic package in Barcelona earlier this month. These tests produced promising results so the team makes the 16,000km journey from Germany to Australia full of optimism.

Jarno Trulli made his Formula One debut at Albert Park in 1997 while Timo Glock's first race with Toyota was in Melbourne last year, the fifth Grand Prix of his career. In 2008 neither driver finished the Australian Grand Prix so a significant improvement is expected this time around.

Jarno Trulli
"Melbourne is a great place to visit and the Australian Grand Prix is always good fun. As a Formula One driver you really want to race so I am pleased the season is starting and we can get on with the competition. I am totally fired up for this season and I am feeling very positive about our chances. The TF109 is the best Toyota I have driven in pre-season testing; it feels stable and gives the driver confidence but more importantly it seems to be pretty quick, even though it's hard to make too many judgements based on testing.
We made a big step last year, proving we can fight for podiums and finish regularly in the top six so I am hoping for another step forward this year. We have more experience now and the team has worked really hard for a long time on the TF109 - we are ready for the season and I am raring to go."

Timo Glock
"It's very exciting to be going to the first race this year because the big changes to the technical regulations for 2009 give Toyota a good opportunity to fight at the front. It's really hard to predict because you don't know what other teams are working on in testing but I know our programme and the results we have seen are very encouraging. Testing has gone really well and I have a good feeling for the new car. It's a different emotion to be starting my second year with Toyota compared to 2008 because now I am much more familiar with the team and I feel I can really start the season strongly. Last year it took a few races to find the right direction for me in terms of set-up but I don't expect that to be a problem this season. Australia is anyway one of my favourite places to visit so I can't wait to get to Melbourne and get the season started."

John Howett, President
"This is a big season for our team and we have set ourselves high targets. We exist to win so that is clearly the aim this season and we have every reason to be optimistic after our extremely positive testing results. This is our eighth season in Formula One and we have learnt a lot in that time; we are leaner, more experienced and better equipped to succeed. Our drivers are a great asset to us this season; Jarno has huge experience and everyone knows he is tremendously fast while Timo is an explosive young driver who showed his great potential last year. So 2009 is a big opportunity for our team and we are determined to make the most of it. We have been on the podium in the past in Australia and I would like to see us there again this weekend."

Barrichello expecting to challenge for victory

Rubens Barrichello insists he has travelled to Melbourne with a realistic chance of victory.

The Brazilian driver, who in 2009 will continue to extend the all-time record for the longevity of a Grand Prix career, has sprung from the verge of enforced retirement to become one of the bookies' favourites to take his Brawn to Sunday's Melbourne win.

Some observers have expressed astonishment that, despite the BGP 001 being a re-badged 2009 works Honda effort, the Mercedes-powered car was clearly the pacesetter of the winter field.

The Spanish sports newspaper Marca asked Barrichello if it is ‘madness’ to consider that he is widely tipped to fight for Australian GP victory against his team-mate Jenson Button.

"No, it is not madness," he replied, insisting that despite noises from his rivals, the chassis is fully legal. "I have waited a long time to find a team that gives me the conditions of Ferrari but the freedom to not have to race only for Schumacher.”

"This is the first time I have had what I have always wanted, it's a little bit of pressure but I am right where I want to be," he insisted.

Barrichello said he would not voluntarily swap places with F1's reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, despite McLaren's big budget and status and the works backing of Mercedes-Benz.

"No, it is Brawn that has given me a very good machine so why would I want to change?" he enquired rhetorically.

He said that, despite the pre-season uncertainty about the Brackley-based team's survival and speculation linking Bruno Senna with his seat, he put his head down over the winter to prepare for 2009.

"They were difficult months, but they are the moments in which you learn about how to be a better person," Barrichello told Marca.

"I knew there was a chance, so I maintained my physical condition and I even lost five kilos. Everything was fine and luckily, in the end, I signed the contract," he added.

Vijay Mallya supports the winners takes all proposal

Force India head Vijay Mallya has revealed that although he thinks the move was too late for 2009, he supports the 'winner takes all' scoring system for Formula One.

Baulking at the apparently flouted rules for late regulation changes by the FIA, the Formula One Teams' Association objected to the introduction for 2009.

The FIA had to yield to the teams' position, but Bernie Ecclestone is adamant his concept will finally get a green-light for 2010.

Flavio Briatore insists the episode demonstrates the strength of the teams' voice when they are united, but only days earlier heralded the rejected system as "excellent motivation for drivers to win."

"I don't have any problem with the gold medals," he added.

Dr Mallya, owner and Team Principal of the Silverstone-based privateers Force India, has a similar view, clarifying that his objection was only to the attempted introduction so close to the start of the season.

"The move to give the championship to the driver who wins the most races is great, as it will motivate the drivers to win more, but there has to be a procedure to make a rule," he told the Asian Age newspaper.

"I agree that the FIA is trying to make it (more) exciting but the timing of the rule change hampers the preparation for the season," Mallya added.

Valentino Rossi only regret

In an interview, MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi has named not taking on Formula One as his only regret at the age of 30.

After a spate of test drives, the Italian came close to becoming Michael Schumacher's team-mate in 2006, but ultimately decided to stick to two wheels.

According to the ANSA news agency, when asked in a television interview to reveal his biggest regret, Rossi said he has only one: "Not to have switched to Formula One and raced with Ferrari.”

"But now I'm 30 and I made my choice then.
And while Ferrari is still in my heart, I don't think I'll ever race one."