Wurz and de La Rosa Considered For USF1 Seat

Alexander Wurz and Pedro de La Rosa have been considered for a race seat with the new USF1 team it was revealed today.

Wurz retired from racing in 2007, and has driven & tested for multiple teams including Benetton, Williams and McLaren.  Most recently he tested with Honda before they withdrew from Formula One at the end of 2008.

Wurz claims that USF1 bosses are interested in securing his services due to his experience and the lack of testing opportunities ahead of and during the 2010 season while making a new and competitive car.

Wurz said: “Peter Windsor [US F1 sporting director] talked to me about the possibility of driving for them as they have limited time for testing and would need an experienced driver.

“I know their first priority is US drivers but if they really want me I would be interested in this task to build a new franchise from scratch and help them with my input.”

McLaren tester Pedro de La Rosa is allegedly being spoken with for similar reasons, although the Spaniard was unavailable for comment.  Jacques Villeneuve claimed a few weeks ago that he had definite confirmation of a race seat for 2010, and it was supposed to be with USF1.

When they applied to F1, the USF1 bosses said they wanted to use American drivers, andit is believed Jonathan Summerton of Formula Atlantic could be given a test to see if he was suitable for a race seat.  Danica Patrick has already declined to drive for the Charlotte NC based outfit.

Wurz Claims He Is Brawn 3rd Driver NOT Davidson

Alexander Wurz, the well spoken Austrian driver, has told German motorsport presses that he is indeed the 3rd driver (i.e. backup) for the Brawn GP team continuing his role from Honda.

Wurz has been the subject of some rumour with newspapers and magazines claiming that Super Aguri refugee, and former Honda test driver Anthony Davidson was racing for the team, and would deputise.

Davidson has been seen at both races so far, but claims it is only within his role as a commentator for BBC 5Live radio.

Wurz is sure his position is stll valid.

“I am the third driver.” He told Sport Bild “If one of the drivers cannot for any reason drive, I will substitute him,”

“In addition I am a sort of connection between the drivers and the team,” said Wurz.

Brawn and Wurz Unconcerned About Their Future

Ross Brawn and Alex Wurz have both claimed they are unconcerned about their futures in the wake of the Honda F1 Teams demise.

While Nick Fry is furiously searching for a buyer, who we believe will be David Richards using an Arabian backer, Ross BRawn is much more chilled out about the whole matter.  He is very disappointed to have lost the team, a team he only joined 12 months ago after very successful times in F1 with Ferrari and Benetton, and also in sportscar racing, but if he doesn’t get another job he is going to go and enjoy himself.

Ross told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “If the team has to close, I’ll just go fishing for a year, which is my hobby anyway.”

MEanwhile test driver Alex Wurz, himself now 37 and having had a fairly successful racing career which ended with Williams last season, taking home a podium in the process admits he isn’t going to furiously search for a job.

” I will look for another seat for sure, probably test not race, but I will probably not seek it with full power.” Wurz told APA

Pedro de La Rosa Fastest On Jerez Final Day

The final day of the official f1 test at Jerez saw Pedro de La Rosa take his McLaren to the top of the timesheets.

The test driver was evaluating KERS systems, and developing the aerodynamics for the final section of the season.

Nick Heidfeld finds himself 2nd once again, after a very productive week for the BMW team.

Lucas di Grassi had another fantastic day with the Renault, thriving in the better weather and finishing 3rd and doing plenty of work with the car.

“It was another hot day, but it was much better than yesterday and we were able to do lots of laps,” said di Grassi. “I felt even more comfortable with the car and we have definitely improved it a lot during the week.

“We worked on lots of different things, including some set- up work and new tyre runs in the morning, and in the afternoon we evaluated some parts to be used in the last few races.”

Sebastian Vettel was back with Scuderia Toro Rosso and finished 4th, just ahead of Buemi who was now back on official test duties with Red Bull, and Timo Glock who was 6th for Toyota.

Alex Wurz only completed 51 laps, as he continued with KERS development, and a poor week all round for Williams as Nico Rosberg was 8th.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1	P. de La Rosa	McLaren	1.18.992	90
2	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1.19.250	98
3	L. di Grassi	Renault	1.19.280	102
4	S. Vettel	Toro Rosso	1.19.470	93
5	S. Buemi	Red Bull	1.20.005	84
6	T. Glock	Toyota	1.20.482	111
7	A. Wurz	Honda	1.22.658	51
8	N. Rosberg	Williams	1.22.806	102

Wurz Believes KERS Is Safe After Test

Alex Wurz, Honda Racing F1’s test driver believes KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) is completly safe after succesful track testing at the Jerez tests this week.

The Austrian jeoked around about the safety beforehand, but was completly sure it was safe.

“I went to the hairdressers beforehand so my hair could not catch fire!” Wurz told autosport.com. “No, seriously, it is quite safe. Honda has an enormous amount of know how with the battery system and we have some security checks all the time going on, so we are very confident that we won’t be electrocuted.”

The safety of the device was called into question after earlier in the year a BMW Sauber mechanic was electrocuted and needed hospital treatment after a shock from the device.

Honda had done some small testing of the device at Silverstone and Santa Pod but this was the first time it had been properly on track, and Wurz reckoned it made a noticable difference.

“Yes [I feel the difference in power]. Thank god I feel it! If I wouldn’t feel the 60 kilowatts, then I should not be a test driver!” Wurz commented,

“I have driven it before in a shakedown, the very first time the KERS was in the car at Santa Pod, and now it is interesting to drive it on the track. It has different effects on the car, and feeling how power output is interesting. It is all good.

“It is not that extreme, but you do feel it and it is quite nice. It works and, in the end, it is not rocket science. The car companies already have KERS in road cars, but the difficulty for F1 is getting it packaged.”

Vettel Fastest On Jerez Day 3

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in testing at Jerez on Day 3 of the final test of the 2008 season.

The German driver was at the wheel of a Red Bull, the car he will be racing in next season.

He covered just 37 laps, because the team had to change the engine after it developed a fault.

Nick Heidfeld was 2nd fastest, the BMW team had set the best times over the previous 2 days.

Lucas di Grassi had a good day with Renault, carrying out development work on the R28.

“It was quite cool today but the track conditions were good in the morning and there was definitely better grip than yesterday,” said di Grassi.

“I’m also getting used to the car and the more laps I do, the more confident I feel. We didn’t do any running in the wet, but we were able to test a few more parts this morning that the team will be taking to the race next week.”

Pedro de La Rosa and Alex Wurz came in 4th and 5th, both testing KERS systems.

Takuma Sato was 6th, the Japanese driver taking to the wheel of an F1 car for the first time since the demise of Super Aguri.  He is fighting it out for a seat in the Toro Rosso team.

Kobayashi was 7th, and Nakajima was slowest once again.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1	S. Vettel	Red Bull	1.18.001	37
2	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1.18.167	70
3	L. di Grassi	Renault	1.18.999	36
4	P. de La Rosa	McLaren	1.19.291	39
5	A. Wurz	Honda	1.19.499	79
6	T. Sato	Toro Rosso	1.19.574	49
7	K. Kobayashi	Toyota	1.19.863	47
8	K. Nakajima	Williams	1.21.892	60

Massa Fastest On Slicks In Barca Tests

Felipe Massa was on fire around the Catalunya circuit today in the first test day since the season began.

The Brazilian was driving the Ferrari with its brand new nosecone and slick tyres.

The time was over 3 seconds faster than the McLaren of Pedro de La Rosa who was 3rd.

Alexander Wurz showed Honda’s progress by slotting the Earthcar into 2nd position, although he was around 3 seconds off the Ferrari’s stonking pace!

Heidfeld did a solid running for BMW Sauber as they tried some minor updates to their pole position winning machine.  The car completed 105 laps of Catalunya.

Piquet in the Renault was 5th, less than 70 laps completed but they were trying a range of new aerodynamic parts designed to thrust them up the field.

The other teams were all present except for Super Aguri and Toro Rosso.  They ran 1 driver each with a varied range of upgrades.

Timo Glock, who was 8th for Toyota commented “Today was a productive day and the team and mechanics did a good job.  Everybody was focused on the new bits and pieces that we have brought and trying to find the right way forward.”

There were a total of 4 red flags during the day from Nakajima, Glock, Piquet and Heidfeld.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1	F. Massa	Ferrari	1.18.339	77
2	A. Wurz	Honda	1.21.059	75
3	P. La Rosa	McLaren	1.21.566	113
4	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1.21.679	105
5	N. Piquet	Renault	1.22.125	69
6	D. Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	1.22.197	59
7	K. Nakajima	Williams	1.22.431	72
8	T. Glock	Toyota	1.22.590	92
9	V. Liuzzi	Force India	1.22.846	91

Honda Complete Their Final Tests

Honda F1 Team had some spare testing mileage before the new season starts, and the Japanese based team decided to use them, solo testing in Jerez.

All 3 drivers, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button and Alex Wurz tested the Honda RA108 in various aerodynamic states, and in various conditions such as qualifying and race.

The car completed 2670 kilometers, but there were no times issued.

Rubens Barrichello admitted that he was upbeat after this test;

“I drove the car in the launch specification and with the new aero package this week, which was very useful to provide a direct performance comparison.

“Today I completed a lot of running with the new developments which was very beneficial. It is difficult to know where we are compared to the competition as we were testing privately, but I definitely feel we have taken a step in the right direction.

“We have improved the car and I feel comfortable that we are well prepared for the start of the season.”

Wurz Eyeing LMS Series Race Drives

Alex Wurz, the Honda test driver and reserve driver for 2008 has admitted he is hoping for more drives with the Peugeot LMS team during the season before Le Mans.

Austrian Wurz, is to be racing with the team at Le Mans 24hrs in 2008.  He previously did well there in 1996 with the Joest Team.

He would like to drive a few races to get him used to the car, and to understand how it operates under race conditions.

He denied that he was persuing the drive because he failed to get an F1 race seat for this season.

“Being back to Le Mans was something I already had in my mind anyway, even before finding an agreement with Peugeot. The desire came back to me very strongly as soon as I saw the 908,” Wurz told Autosprint magazine.

“Now I’m not thinking of just a sporadic effort in the 24 Hours, but I’m also interested in a wider and longer-term programme in the Le Mans Series.

“I’ve just got back to this series and I’ve already found the same enthusiasm I had when I raced at Le Mans for the first time, in 1996 with Team Joest.

“It was an exceptional race and for me it remains the best race of my sporting career, the one I’m attached to the most. I think it will be really tough this year against Team Joest, but now, as a Peugeot driver, I hope to make their life just as hard.”

Honda Ready To Sort Out Problems

Honda’s mechanics hae admitted thanks to recent testing they are now able to sort out the problems with the RA108 so that it will be all okay for the start of the season.

The team have been hard at work over the recent month’s Spanish tests, with Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button and Alexander Wurz all working hard with the new car.

Steve Clark, the engineering chief reckons that the new parts for the upcoming tests will sort identified issues.

“After this week’s test in Jerez, we now have a full understanding of the issues which have been affecting the handling of the car,” said Clark.

“The new components to address these issues will be ready in time for our next test in Barcelona.

“With this in mind, the focus was to sign off the race distance reliability of the car with Jenson and Alex completing full race distances.

“We also made steady progress with improving the engine driveability and chassis controls which will give us a good starting point for the next test when we will be in a position to implement the new updates.”