Friday, April 24, 2009

Button - This time will be very close

The Brawn Mercedes team has become used to topping the timesheets on a regular basis this year, but today in Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello had to be satisfied with the sixth and ninth fastest times. Button for one however was not concerned.

"A pretty standard programme for us today on what has been a very hot Friday in Bahrain," the championship leader began. "We have successfully completed our scheduled test items and evaluated a number of set-up options to find the best balance for our car around this track."

"The pace looks good from our initial evaluations and I am sure it will be a closely fought battle in qualifying tomorrow," he added.

Barrichello was not quite as content in the sister BGP 001 as he looks to finder a better general balance.

"It was quite difficult to find a good balance today," the Brazilian veteran explained. "But overall I am comfortable with the work that we have achieved. We are running quite competitively but have further work to do before qualifying tomorrow as other cars around us were also quick."

Team Principal Ross Brawn explained that due to the lack of pre-season testing, the team focused solely tyres today whilst also keeping an eye on temperatures.

Rosberg aims strong resulted

The development race is well and truly on with a number of teams flying in new aero components to fit to the cars. Williams Toyota is no exception as Nico Rosberg’s FW31 featured developments for the opening day of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, something team-mate Kazuki Nakajima has to wait until the Spanish Grand Prix for.

Rosberg topped the timesheets in the second practice session this afternoon with a best time of 1:33.339 seconds, two-tenths clear of his nearest challenger.

"You can only ever compare your performance to other race weekends so, relatively, I think we are looking okay," the German racer said. "We’ve done a lot of set-up work today and I am quite happy with everything so we’ve made good progress."

“The team brought some new parts to Bahrain and they seem to be working well so thanks to our aero guys for their continuing hard work in developing the car."

Topping the timesheets is nothing new for Rosberg this year, but to date the race results have been harder to come by. This is something that he feels will change this weekend.

"I am really convinced that we will be able to do something positive at this race," he continued, "and to get the points that the car is worth."

Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima lapped just over half a second shy of Rosberg and will be looking at the data to see where he can make gain tomorrow.

"Today didn’t go too badly but we are lacking some pace compared to Nico," the Japanese racer admitted. "I’ll now de-brief with my engineers to try to find out where I’m losing that time so I can make it up in tomorrow’s qualifying."

Bahrain GP Free Practice 2 - Rosberg set the pace

Nico Rosberg returned to familiar territory this afternoon in sizzling Sakhir, as the German racer topped the timesheets in the second practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

Rosberg is no stranger to showing the undoubted pace of the Williams Toyota FW31 package in practice and like his rivals, the switch from the medium prime tyre to the super soft option tyre brought big gains as he stopped the clocks in 1:33.339s.

As ever, we do not know exactly what fuel levels the teams opted to run this afternoon, but there can’t be a great deal in it as the entire 20 car field is covered by just 1.451 seconds.

Renault looked to be struggling for pace for much of the 90 minute session as Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet lapped well off the pace and propped up the rear of the timesheets. The team however later took some fuel out of the R29 challenger and armed with the option tyre, Alonso was able to vault up the order ending the session just two tenths shy of pace-setter Rosberg.

Toyota really picked up the pace this afternoon with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock recording the third and eighth fastest times respectively. Red Bull Renault continued to show well with Chinese Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel fourth fastest, a hundredth of a second quicker than team-mate Mark Webber.

Championship leader Jenson Button was sixth fastest, and as ever, the Brawn Mercedes package looked very well balanced. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was ninth fastest.

Adrian Sutil was a surprise seventh fastest in his much updated Force India Mercedes ahead of Glock.

The Silverstone-based team has an extensively revised aerodynamic package on the VJM02 this weekend and ran well throughout the afternoon session. Italian veteran Giancarlo Fisichella was 12th fastest, making gains as the chequered flag flew. Kazuki Nakajima rounded out the top ten in the second Williams ahead of some of the big names.

McLaren has further aerodynamic modifications to the MP4-24 package this weekend as they look to close the gap to the front-runners. Lewis Hamilton lapped just over half a second off the ultimate pace to set the 11th best time while Heikki Kovalainen was eight-tenths off his team-mate and just 19th.

The Toro Rosso Ferrari duo of Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais were 13th and 14th respectively behind Fisichella and ahead of Nelson Piquet in the second Renault. The Ferrari struggle continued again today with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen just 16th and 18th while it was another tough day for BMW Sauber with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld 17th and 20th.

Clearly Ferrari and BMW Sauber are struggling, but it is still a surprise to see such quality teams so far down the timesheets. Today of course counts for nothing however as it is tomorrow that the serious business gets underway in Bahrain.

Diffuser modified looking good for McLaren

McLaren is using another development of its modified Shanghai-spec diffuser in Bahrain.

"We have an adaptation of our conventional diffuser," Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh is quoted as confirming to Auto Motor und Sport.

The changes, as in China, are based on the Court of Appeal ruling, where the controversial Brawn, Toyota and Williams-style diffusers were deemed fully legal.

While those teams are thought to be benefiting to the tune of several tenths per lap, however, those needing to adapt can expect less advantage.

Whitmarsh said of McLaren's Bahrain update: "It brings a bit more downforce but is not a giant step."

He said aerodynamicists in the wind tunnel are yet to unlock the full potential of the 'double-decker' concept.

"It is a difficult area," Whitmarsh continued.

"If we had begun with it a year ago, the whole car would have been conceived on that basis."

This morning at the Sakhir circuit, Heikki Kovalainen’s MP4-24 featured the now familiar flow-visualisation paint on the left hand side of the diffuser.

Ferrari is also working on a new diffuser, that should be ready by the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix.

But Stefano Domenicali warned: "It depends on what our people in the wind tunnel find. It will be no 'F61'. There will no new car because it would be finished too late."

Bahrain GP Free Practice 1 - Hamilton fastest

The opening practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend saw Lewis Hamilton return to the top of the timesheets for the second time this year. The McLaren Mercedes driver set the best time of 1:33.647s mid-session and until the closing moments, was an impressive seven-tenths clear of the field.

Practice times are always hard to read as we don’t know what relative fuel levels the teams are running, but as the Woking-based squad continue to evaluate aero enhancements to the MP4-24 package they will be encouraged by the early pace at Sakhir.

While the majority of the field completed the session on the harder prime tyre, BMW Sauber opted to run both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica on the softer option tyre. The result was immediate with Heidfeld finding 1.2 seconds to vault second fastest while Kubica also found time to record the third best time. Prior to the switch in tyre, Heidfeld and Kubica were 14th and seventh fastest respectively with both running KERS today.

Nico Rosberg was again impressive in his Williams Toyota as he set the fourth fastest time. Rosberg has run well in most of the practice sessions so far this year and generally it seems the team opt to run with slightly less fuel on board than its rivals.

Championship leader Jenson button was fifth fastest in his Brawn Mercedes with team-mate Rubens Barrichello a tenth slower in seventh position. Button only completed 15 laps however as his BGP 001 suffered from a minor gearbox problem.

Heikki Kovalainen split the Brawn duo in the second McLaren while Felipe Massa led the Ferrari challenge with the eighth fastest time in his KERS-equipped F60.

Mark Webber was ninth in the leading Red Bull Renault while Kimi Raikkonen ran without KERS on his Ferrari and was tenth fastest. It was largely an uneventful session, but Raikkonen did suffer a high speed spin exiting turn two early on and very nearly made contact with the unforgiving tyre wall.

Kazuki Nakajima was 11th best in the second Williams Toyota while Shanghai winner Sebastian Vettel was just 12th this morning in the second Red Bull Renault.

The under pressure Nelson Piquet will be mildly encouraged by his 13th fastest time in the updated Renault but the session was a difficult one for team-mate Fernando Alonso as he struggled to 18th as he evaluated KERS on the R29.

Adrian Sutil was 14th best in his Force India Mercedes with team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella 16th but it was a surprise to see Toyota seemingly struggling for pace with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock just 15th and 17th respectively.

Toro Rosso Ferrari brought up the bottom of the timesheets with Sebastien Bourdais two-hundredths of a second clear of Sebastien Buemi who was forced to pull his STR4 to a halt late in the session with a mechanical fault.

1.7 seconds cover the entire field as the teams now prepare for the afternoon practice session.

Ferrari - Bahrain GP Preview - Low expectation for Bahrain

The start to the new season has been a nightmare for defending champions Ferrari. After three races they have yet to score largely due to poor tactical decisions and reliability issues with the F60 challenger.

The Italian team head to Bahrain last in the constructors’ championship and are, as yet, undecided whether to reintroduce KERS this weekend and the F60 remains unchanged with the team targeting a new aero package for the Spanish Grand Prix next month.

“We have endured a very difficult start to the season,” admitted Team Principal Stefano Domenicali. “We knew we would suffer in China and in all probability, we will be suffering again here this weekend.”

“After that, it is to be hoped that we will make a step forward as from the Spanish Grand Prix, even allowing for the fact that we cannot expect those teams currently ahead of us to wait for us to catch up and they too will be developing their cars further,” Domenicali continued. “However, the most important point is that the entire team and everyone at Maranello, is working very hard to extricate itself from this situation as soon as possible.”

Domenicali went on to point out that there are still 252 points up for grabs over the remainder of the season and vowed that Ferrari would not ‘give up’ as they play catch-up to the front runners.

Felipe Massa ran in the points in China last Sunday before his F60 ground to a halt on the back straight.
“The electrical fault that forced me to stop at the side of the track was, once again, a failure we had never seen before,” Massa admitted and went on to describe the failure as ‘small and stupid’.

“I have always gone well at the Sakhir circuit, winning for the last two years, so I hope this is a good sign,” Massa continued. “In more practical terms, we tested here during the winter and the car was not too bad to be honest and the tyres seemed to suit the package we have.”

Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is also enduring a tough start to the season and was out of the points last time out thanks to the team switching him to a one stop strategy. Like Massa, Raikkonen is keen to see the team run KERS this weekend in Bahrain but admits that the Italian team are unlikely to emerge victorious this year at Sakhir.

“The car’s set up was not bad, but we simply didn’t have enough downforce compared to the others,” he began. “Ferrari has won the races in the last two years here at the Sakhir circuit, but honestly I don’t think it’s possible this time,” the 2007 champion said. “If we manage to have a flawless weekend this time, we can gain points and maybe even a place on the podium.”

Massa safer future with his performance under pressure

A year ago, Felipe Massa also arrived in Bahrain without having opened his championship points account.

The Ferrari driver won the 2008 event, as he did the season before, but this time around he will not tackle the Sakhir curves amid a points crisis with a top car at his disposal.

If the Italian team departs the island Kingdom still pointless, it will be Ferrari's worst opening four races in the history of the Scuderia.

But Massa, 27, told reporters on Thursday that the pressure is not mounting on his own shoulders if he compares the situation to last year.

Bahrain was round three of the championship in 2008, and Massa's outings in Malaysia and Australia had been littered with driving errors.

"Nobody is talking about my future (now), that's the only difference," the Brazilian admitted in Bahrain, comparing his current situation to a year ago.

"But the pressure is there," he added. "We need to get away from this difficult moment."

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen agrees that the situation is dire.

"We don't have the speed right now in the car unfortunately," said the Finn on Thursday. "We are going to get some new parts at the next race but this race probably can be a bit difficult."

Nonetheless, Raikkonen is holding on to a bit of optimism ahead of this Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

"Of course we are not in the position we were the last few years right now, but I still think we should have a better chance here than maybe at some previous races," he expected.

BMW was withdrawn diffuser protest

BMW Sauber on Thursday finally announced it has formally dropped its protest against the legality of the rear diffusers used by the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams.

Prior to last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, the FIA's Court of Appeal said the controversial aerodynamic concepts were fully legal following the protest and appeals of the Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull teams filed during the season-opening week-end in Australia.

BMW's similar protest, also lodged in Australia, was thrown out on a technicality; the German team therefore protested again in Malaysia.

It meant the Swiss-based camp could theoretically have requested another hearing of the Court of Appeal in order to present its case, despite other previously anti-diffuser teams including Renault and McLaren now using and developing their own diffuser concepts at races.

"We withdrew the protest yesterday," BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen is quoted by the German press as having said in Bahrain on Thursday.

"We do not believe the result would be different if we had another appeal," he added.

Last week-end, the Williams team's Technical Director Sam Michael considered the possibility of BMW Sauber returning to the Court of Appeal in order to essentially repeat what had been said before might simply result in a waste of time for all concerned, as well as angering the FIA.

"I would say that if they wanted to take that protest again they would run a very high risk of getting charged with being frivolous," Michael had said in Shanghai.

Kubica realistic expectation in Bahrain Grand Prix

BMW Sauber's start to the season has certainly not gone as well as hoped. Nick Heidfeld secured a lucky second position in Malaysia as the team gambled on leaving the German veteran on a single set of wet weather tyres, but apart from that, the team has struggled to be competitive.

While McLaren Mercedes and Renault introduced major aero updates last time out in China and Force India Mercedes have a similar package for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, BMW Sauber - like Ferrari - continues with the standard package and await updates next time out in Spain.

"This is the reality, that we didn’t get any big upgrades until now and we will not get any here as well, just a few really small ones," the realistic Robert Kubica stated today at the Sakhir circuit.

"It’s not really frustration, this is the situation," he continued.
"We are waiting for the Barcelona package which will probably be a big step forward, we hope so, but as you know, everybody else is working as well. Everybody is expecting to move forward in Barcelona with their new aero packages, everyone is working, so we have to see how we will be compared to them in Barcelona."

Kubica's best result from the opening three rounds of the championship is 13th secured in Shanghai.

Seven F1 cars will run KERS in Bahrain Grand Prix

It is believed that up to seven Formula One cars will be fitted with active Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

A dwindling three drivers took to the Shanghai grid a week ago with the controversial energy re-use technology, as the benefits of the 82 bhp power bursts comes under scrutiny.

McLaren's duo Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have used Mercedes' KERS consistently this year.

"This is one of the circuits where KERS can give you the most time, because there are three very long straights," Spanish test driver Pedro de la Rosa said.

Ferrari took KERS off both cars in China for reliability and safety reasons, but will reinstate the system on Felipe Massa's F60 in Shanghai.

"I don’t use it tomorrow," Kimi Raikkonen said. "The other car (Massa) will run it and then we will make the decision which way we go. We either take it and use it if we don’t have any issues with it and we will put it also in my car but really we want to look a little bit and compare the two cars with and without and see a little difference. That’s our main thing tomorrow."

Due to Raikkonen's additional weight, Ferrari's KERS is seemingly of less value to the Finn.

"It should be a significant advantage here.

A great deal of work at the factory has gone into working on the KERS system since Sepang so I am hopeful it can help us," said Massa.

Nick Heidfeld has used KERS all season so far, but his much heavier BMW Sauber team-mate Robert Kubica - although sometimes testing the system in practices - has not. The Pole, who qualified a dismal 18th in qualifying in China, will again test KERS on Friday in Bahrain. "Yeah, I will use KERS tomorrow," Kubica confirmed at the circuit today. "The plan is to run it through all the weekend."

It is clear that Renault is also assessing KERS on a circuit-by-circuit basis, with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet's cars likely to test the system on Friday.

"I think it will a decision we will make race by race and at the last moment, maybe on Friday night," Alonso told reporters.

Finally, the new F1 game is on the way

The first Formula One video games since 2006 will be released later this year, software developers Codemasters said on Thursday.

Having secured the official licence from F1 at the conclusion of the exclusive Sony deal, it was announced that games will be produced for the PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Wii.

Games for the Wii and PSP (PlayStation Portable) will be released this year, with ‘next generation’ versions to appear in 2010 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

"We're working very closely together on the upcoming Formula One titles and are very impressed with what we have seen," Bernie Ecclestone stated.

Donington Park in new doubt to host F1 for 2010

New doubt on Thursday fell on Donington's ability to host the British Grand Prix beginning in 2010.

It emerged that the circuit's owners, Wheatcroft and Son Ltd, launched legal action over $3.6m in unpaid rent.

The lawsuit filed with Derby County Court is also calling for the termination of the 150 year lease held by track boss Simon Gillett, who last year secured a ten-year contract to see the Formula One race move from Silverstone to the Leicestershire venue.

"Despite receiving numerous reassurances over a number of months they have consistently failed to meet their financial obligations under the terms of the lease," owner Kevin Wheatcroft said in a statement issued by his lawyers.

"We have held off taking legal action for as long as possible but have been left with no choice but to commence proceedings to recover the outstanding rent and forfeit the lease," he added.

Rossi - WRC is an option while F1 too late for now

Reigning and multiple MotoGP champion Valentino Rosso has reiterated that he will no longer attempt to switch to Formula One.

The renegotiation of his Yamaha contract is looming, and he told Italy's Tuttosport that he sees his post-motorcycling future on four wheels.

"When I stop with motorbikes, it would appeal to me to go four wheels for many years. But for Formula One it is much too late," said Rossi, who in February turned 30.

Three years ago, he came close to switching to F1 with Ferrari.

"We had long negotiations, there was a serious plan for me to be the test driver in 2007 and then to race in 2008.
But in the end I decided to stay in motorbikes and now there is no time to look back," said Rossi.

He said he will consider his next step in the summer of 2010, with a switch to the World Rally Championship his 'main option'.

KERS is not working well for BMW and McLaren

BMW Sauber's Kinetic Energy Recovery System is not living up to the Swiss-based squad's expectations, the publication Motorsport Aktuell claims.

The German-owned team has had a poor start to the season, despite championing the energy re-use technology and marking the words 'Active Hybrid' on the rear wing of the F1.09.

Only Nick Heidfeld has consistently used the system so far, reportedly because BMW's system is much heavier than for example the leading McLaren Mercedes KERS package.

"I don't know whether the systems of our competitors are heavier," Mercedes' Norbert Haug is quoted as saying by spox.com, "but if ours weighed 10 kilos more, we probably would not use it."

It is also believed that while the 82hp power bursts are available to McLaren drivers for the full allowed 6.
6 seconds per lap, the same is not always true of the BMW KERS.

BMW team boss Mario Theissen acknowledged to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport: "It depends on how many braking zones there are, in terms of charging the batteries.”

"With our system, we are on the limit with certain circuits," he added.

Mike Gascoyne is looking F1 return with Ferrari

Mike Gascoyne is looking to return to Formula One and told the Italian media that Ferrari would certainly be of interest.

Formerly perhaps the highest paid engineer in the sport, the 46-year-old Briton was ousted by Force India at the end of last season.

He acted as an expert pundit for Britain's TV coverage of the recent Chinese Grand Prix, and at the same time is believed to have spoken with teams about his desire to return to F1.

"I'm not looking for a fixed role," Gascoyne told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport, "but I could carry out a consultant's role in the aero field, in the wind tunnel."

He said his talents and working method would gel with Ferrari.

"Ferrari would enrich my career, I live between Switzerland and Germany with my girlfriend Silvia so to go to Maranello wouldn't be a problem," said Gascoyne.