I’m Now Settled At Honda – Rubens
Rubens Barrichello has told of how he is now settled and enjoying being at the Honda team. Just a week before the Australian Grand Prix, the Brazillian thinks he is much better prepared than he was last year and is more comfortable beause he knows his way around the team and car. “The Australian Grand Prix is always one of my favourite races on the calendar and I enjoy spending time in Melbourne where there is a great atmosphere over the race weekend,” Barrichello said.”I feel totally at home with the Honda team this year so I really expect a better season and I am so motivated to start racing again.
“I’m also looking forward to being back on Bridgestone tyres for this season, which should be a good thing for me as I have so much experience with Bridgestone.”
Aerodynamic Changes For Spyker at Sepang GP
Spyker, the fledgling team are not just changing their livery it seems, the team want to make some Aerodynamic changes very early on in the season. Mike Gascoyne said “After a long winter of testing and development, it’s always exciting to be get out again at the first Grand Prix of the season. From our point of view, testing went very well, the car is reliable and did not demonstrate any mechanical problems, the cooling is well under control and we really can be optimistic about the coming year. Performance-wise, we’ve always said we were going to be at the back of the grid, but we feel we’ll be pretty close to the group in front of us now. “ It is unclear what will be changed but early reports says the front and rear wings will be adjusted and also there are to be changes to winglest around the engine bay.
“For Malaysia too we’re expecting a significant aero update, so for Australia the goal is to get both cars to the finish and to be as close to the pack in front as possible. With the new developments, hopefully by Malaysia we’ll be racing them.”
“Good Luck Ferrari” – Schumacher
Michael Schumacher has wished Ferrari the best of luck for the forthcoming season. Speaking to reporters at Ferrari’s final test in Maranello, Schumacher said “I have the feeling that we are very well prepared for the first race and that we should do well. I cannot wait for the championship to begin as I think it will be very close and exciting.”
New Ferrari CEO, Jean Todt added “Melbourne will mark a new chapter in the extraordinary history of the Scuderia. After eleven years, Michael Schumacher will not be behind the wheel. Now it is the turn of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to fly the flag. We have been working as hard as ever over the past few months but we will only know what condition we are in after Saturday’s qualifying session.”
Ferrari mechanics seemed confident with the car before Australia, now that the testing season is over.
Toyota Making Some Progress With New Aero Parts
Toyota have declared themselves satisfied with their performance during the final pre-season test session. The Japanese team have been running an updated aerodynamic package on the TF107 at Jerez, which is set for its race debut at Melbourne. The drivers completed nearly 200 laps. Jarno Trulli set a best time of 1m19.710s after 112 laps, and said that he was “happy wih performance and reliability”. Not long after the Bahrain test there were some severe worries over reliability on this car and also Ralf Schumacher shocked the team by coming out to the press and stating that the team “had no chance”.
Photo: Toyota Press Release
Final Shakedown For Ferrari
Luca Badoer, Ferrari Test Driver has taken the final versions of the F2007, that will be raced at the Australian Grand Prix, out for a short shekdown session. The driver completed 20 laps of the Fiorano Circuit. His best time was 1.00.007.
Spyker Tones Down Its Orange
Spyker F1 have toned down the orange colour on their cars and instead used grey for the most part because it did not “transfer well onto television”. At a Silverstone test yesterday, the team showed off their new colours, which do still have some orange on them but there is also a lot of grey. We were told - ”We trialled the very bright colour in the first three tests of the year. Whilst the bright orange was a very distinctive colour when you saw it in front of you in the garage or on the track, the colour didn’t transfer well when filmed. It’s important for the Spyker brand that the colour is uniformly represented by all media and we’re confident this will be the case with the new colour scheme.”
Jensen’s Nearly Passed It – Hill
Ex World Champion, Damon Hill has come out and said that the “clock is ticking” for Jensen Button. The former racer believes that because Button has not shown his promise earlier on in his career that he has wasted a lot of time and oppotunities during the BAR days. Hill reckons that the Brit needs to shine now, or else!
Photo: LAT (archived)
Jensen in his first season with BAR, 2003
Bridgestone’s Are Good For BMW
BMW’s number 1 driver, Nick Heidfeld, has revealed that the new Bridgestone Tires suit the new F1.07 brilliantly. BMW have been the shining stars of the winter season and are looking a good match for the likes of Renault, and are looking for race wins. They already cite themselves as being the third best team in F1. Heidfeld told F1Fanatics Blog “The tyres clearly provide less grip therefore everyone will be slower and sliding a lot more with them. When it comes to the car, however, they seem to suit the F1.07 rather well. The car was clearly developed in the right direction.”
Good luck to them, i think they performed brilliantly last year and their car looks amazing. Go BMW Sauber!
Photo: Reuters
Kartikeyan – “I’ll Be Back”
Narain Kartikeyan, India’s first ever F1 driver has said that he believes soon enough he will be back racing in F1. He was last seen in a permanent race seat with Jordan Grand Prix in 2005 but the team became no-more at the end of the season and he moved to Williams as the test driver. However, despite the gap he believes that Alex Wurz’s rise up through various testing roles and back into the race seat gives him renewed hope “You need to see your options and wait for your turn. That’s how Formula One is at the moment” he told the press. He did though defend that he was enjoying his A1GP Racing with team India.
I think, that F1 at the moment is bursting at the seams with quality young drivers and if you get pushed to the back of the queue then theere is little chance of getting back. Wurz has been witing since the end of the 2000 season for a race seat.
Williams Ready To Win Again
Frank Williams believes that his team are ready to get back up the grid in 2007. The Grove based squad had an appalling 2006 season, mainly being dogged with Cosworth engine failures amoungst other problems. To make matters worse, the promising youngster Nico Rosberg managed to crash into team mate Mark Webber on the first lap of the final grand prix in 2006, which pretty much smmed up the season. Williams said himself that he was “ashamed” of their performances. However, he believes that they are not being warded off and that now with new cars, engines and a new driver, highly experienced ace Alexander Wurz the team can mount a solid challenge similar to that of 2003 and of course 1996-1997. Only a decade ago was Jacques Villeneuve winning the world championship for Williams F1, it seems like a lifetime for the team. Can they ever get back to winning ways??
Williams’ new challenger the FW29
The World Championship win of 97 couldn;t be further away from Williams.
Gene Entertains Fans In Melbourne
Mark Gene has kicked off celebrations of Ferrari’s 60th Anniversary down under after driving a F248 through the streets of Melbourne. The Ferrari test driver drove the 248 F1 down Lygon Street, in the heart of the city’s ‘Little Italy’ district, during the event which was a joint initiative between the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Ferrari and the city of Melbourne. “Today was a unique opportunity for Melburnians to get up close and personal with a magnificent Ferrari Formula 1 car right in the heart of the city’s iconic. It was brilliant to see so many families enjoying an entire day of free entertainment with the main attraction of course being the low-speed demonstration drive of the very same car driven by the sport’s most prolific driver, Michael Schumacher, in last year’s Formula 1 world championship season.” said Tim Bamford, CEO of the Australian Grand Prix.
I Played Playstation To Be An F1 Driver – Davidson
Anthony Davidson, Super Aguri driver has admitted that he used the playstaion F1 games before the start of the 2004 season when he was a test driver for BAR Honda so that he could learn the tracks. He said that by playing the game and driving all of the different tracks he could visualize them so he did not have to waste time learning the basic layout as he already knew it.
Davidson told F1Fanatics Blog “In Formula One we also deal in corner numbers rather than names. So if I was told ‘there’s a bump in turn three’ I knew the corner they were talking about before I’d even walked the circuit or seen any on-board footage.
“When I then got out there sometimes I was smiling because I was thinking it was exactly what I was doing in my living room.
Picture: Eurosport
Davidson getting ready for another PS2 Race! 
Brake Light Testing Confirmed
Top team Ferrari have confirmed the use of brake lights at Bahrain. The team said “They are just for the future”. Some people believed that they would be brought in by Melbourne but so far only a few teams have used it. My belief is that the 2010 rules will state that all cars will have brake lights. Renault have also been using the lights. Their spokesman told us on Monday “I spoke to the engineers, and yes Renault F1 Team have been testing the new lights”.
Catastrophic Pre-Season For Toyota – Ralf
Ralf Schumacher has emerged saying that Toyota’s pre-season has been “a catastrophic disaster”. With the new season not far away, the team that has always promised so much looks like they will be having another terrible season, much in the same way as 2006. It all seems such a long way from the podiums and points from 2005. The car itself does not look good. The TF107 was an early launcher but it appears to be losing out to other manufacturer based teams in the speed traps and it also looks to be having grip troubles in the corners. Toyota, who have arguably the highest budget in F1 at the current time, are not generating enough ideas and solutions with the money.
Schumacher also went on to admit “The Melbourne pace of the TF107 is likely to be quicker only than backmarkers Super Aguri, Toro Rosso and Spyker” All of those teams are seen as minnows in the sport and have in comparison less that 1/2 the facilities Toyota use.
I don’t think the smile will be on his face for much longer…
Brake Lights In F1?
This is breaking news, straight from Bahrain. Several formula one teams tested the use of brake lights at the Bahrain test last week.
Sources report that runners for Super Aguri, Toyota, McLaren, Renault and Ferrari – and possibly others – trialled the innovation at the Sakhir circuit. The news is sure to spark speculation that the governing body could implement brake lights on the grounds of safety.
Further information is not available at this time, but it is clear that the single rain light below the rear wing glowed red when the drivers braked into corners.
When More information is available you will be the first to know!!
Malaysian GP Tickets Sales Slump
Tickets to see the Malaysian Grand Prix have slumped to an all time low, F1Fanatics blog can reveal. The organisers have admitted that only around 11,000 tickets have been sold. The projected figure was 120,000. With the GP’s future in doubt after 2010 a problem such as this will not help the track to secure it survival. The orgnaisers have said they expect the sales to increase as the GP nears, and they are also targetting audiences from places such as South Africa who themselves would like to host a Grand Prix. The track also had a stand at the Autosport International Show at the NEC [11th-14th Jan 07]. The track which opened in 1999 is a firm favourite and has produced some very interesting races in the past. It was one of the newer complexes of its day paving the way for newer tracks including Shanghai and Bahrain. Despite this the track is undergoing some facilities improvements as it tries to keep its place on the calendar and not fall by the wayside. “Its easier to do it in stages, rather than let it go down and then have to invest huge sums of money” one person told me. If only Silverstone had tought of that 
!
Photo: F1Country
Late Launch Will Cost Toro Rosso – Liuzzi
Vitantonio Liuzzi, STR’s No1 driver has come out today with the shock statement that he believes Toro Rosso’s late launch of the 2007 car will cost them greatly. The Italian believes that because all of the other teams have had track time and had time to get used to the cars, STR are on the back foot. Only Super Aguri are let to launch. Tonio also thought that there would still be some teething problems with the car as they go into the first round at Melbourne [18th March]. Speaking in a interview today he said “We will certainly struggle at the beginning of the season, as we try to find all the best solutions for the car that we should have searched for during the pre-season tests. Starting so late we will have to do it at the races. I’m not scared anyway and I’m really positive. I think there is the possibility of more points finishes.”
Despite his worries, in early testing it would appear that the STR02 is faster than the RBR3, Toro Rosso are using Ferrari engines this year and it will be interesting to see if these work better for the team than they did with Red Bull last year. RedBull themselves have gone to Renault engines for this season.
Picture from www.liuzzi.com
Bridgestone Tests “Exceeding Expectations”
Bridgestone has said they are “Very Happy” with their 2007 spec tires performance in hot weather at the recent Bahrain testing. Bridgestone are now F1′s sole tire supplier. They were very keen to get some warm weather tesing done as the European testing has been hampered by some appalling weather conditions. Bridgestone said “We have seen much more progress that we orginially expected. It was the hottest testing we have completed and the tires had no problems coping.” The spokesperson later added that Bridgestone were “looking forward” to the Malaysian testing which will be taking place from 27th March until 29th March.
Renault Lagging Behind Ferrari and McLaren
Giancarlo Fisichella has taken the shock move of admitting that despite major progress in the team’s testing that they are still a fair way behind the pace of Ferrari and McLaren. Speaking to the press he said “There was a big step forward with the balance and set-up, and I think we look more competitive now. For sure, we are still behind Ferrari in particular, they looked very strong this week. McLaren are a little bit ahead too, and BMW are competitive as well, but I think we have made a good step forward.” This incinuates that the team are also losing ground to BMW who have been the shock runners during this pre-season and look favourite to get on the podium and even a race win.
The twice world champions in my opinion are lacking 2 major things. Firstly, the money that they used to recieve from title sponsor “Mild Seven” before they packed up and left, ING give only 1/2 what Mild Seven used to. Secondly, a leader. Fisichella is a consistent points driver but he has never had the ability to lead a team by example and really mould it around himself like Michael Schumacher did with Ferrari. Lets hope that new boy Kovalieunen manages some good race finishes eh?!
Honda Admit “The Car’s Rubbish”
After much expectation and hopes of Jensen Button winning the world championship were dashed after the Honda RA107 had fallen short of expectations in testing, Honda admit the car “is poor” and that a “major revamp” will be ready for the Malaysian GP. Button and Barrichello have both exhuberated their belief that the car is not good enough, and the time sheets are certainly agreeing with them. Button, who last year clinched his first win after 6 years of racing was going to “contend for the title in 2007″ but that looks to be in doubt.
The Team’s technical department are seeking mechanical and aerodynamic upgrades. Shuhei Nakamoto told F1Fanatics Blog “”At the moment we are ahead of Red Bull and Toyota, but behind the rest,” he said. “I know BMW have been using a non-2007 wing (in testing) so they lose one or two tenths, but we will still be behind. Although struggling both drivers have managed to find a setup that in the long term will be good for them. Nick Fry also said ”I am not promising we will win in Melbourne, far from it, I think we will be in a points scoring position.; But as we go through the season this car has the ability to get stronger and stronger, and it will be a race winner.” The only question is, will that be too late?
Nice Livery, but i think the designer spent too much time painting and not enough time in the wind tunnel…
Final Day Of Testing At Baharain
As the final day of testing at Bahrain has been and gone, we can see that Ferrari and Felipe Massa were once again the fastest of the day. Ferrari were using a slightly updated version of the F2007 and was evaluating the new aerodynamic package. The fastest time was set on a brand new set of Bridgestones, but, he was not using a qualifying fuel-load.
Today’s closest contender was Heikki Kovalainen who managed to end the testing happy, after Tuesday’s enourmous shunt at turn 7 in which he wrote off a brand new Renault R27. Barrichello managed 6th place in the new Honda, which both drivers have been struggling with just pipping Pedro De La Rosa, McLaren’s test driver. Scott Speed also have Scuderia Toro Rosso something to smile about, managing an pretty good 8th place, 1 ahead of Coulthard in the sister team’s Redbull RBR3.
On the reliability front, BMW Sauber were still struggling despite having an amazingly quick car, very reminisscent of McLaren’s in past years. Super Aguri had problems after Takuma Sato ended their testing when he damaged the monocoque of the new SA06 when he bounced over a kerb at the Sakhir circuit.
Pos Driver Car Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari 1:29.989 45
2. Kovalainen Renault 1:30.384 61
3. Fisichella Renault 1:30.498 64
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:30.534 77
5. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:30.564 113
6. Barrichello Honda 1:31.067 118
7. De la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.354 90
8. Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.500 124
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:31.589 66
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:31.720 83
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:31.742 92
12. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:31.751 98
13. R.Schumacher Toyota 1:31.791 81
14. Button Honda 1:31.837 97
15. Montagny Toyota 1:32.264 119
16. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:33.357 53
Hello world!
Hi Everyone and welcome to the latest F1 blog on the scene. At F1Fanatics, i am an F1 fan just like yourself and sit down in front of the television each weekend and watch the race shouting, disgareeing, laughing, crying and experiencing all of the emotions that you also go through.
My aim at this blog is to provide a base for news, views and lots of insider information if i can lay my hands on it.
Just keep visiting as the page will be updated all of the time!!!
