Alguersuari To Compete In World Karting Series

New rookie F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari has confirmed that he wil be in attendance at the World Karting Championships in September.

Alguersuari, who is just 19, will add this duty to his racing with Scuderia Toro Rosso and in World Series Renault.

He was recruited to the Toro’s after Sebastien Bourdais’ untimely and public exit from the team.  Despite just straightline testing the 2009 car he made a solid debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix.  He will be hoping for more in Valencia, a race staged in his own country.

Not content with 2 race drives and now the karting, he was seen DJ’ing in central Barcelona recently to many thousands who were partying in the streets.

“I will be competing in the KZI World Karting Championship in Sarno, Naples in September,” he told the official F1 website.

“I am only interested in learning and learning to compete against the best. Portimao (the latest World Series round) and Sarno mean the same to me – pitting myself against the best drivers right now.”

In these tough times, it’s good to know he will have many skills!

Who Could Replace Felipe Massa At Ferrari?

Although Felipe Massa’s condition is said to be “improving” there are underlying doubts that the Brazilian will compete in the European Grand Prix at Valencia in 4 weeks time.  There are some doubts to when he will return, and if he will during the entireity of 2009.  This has sparked a huge debate on who could race for Ferrari, and here I take a look at some of the possibilities Stefano Domenicali and Luca di Montezemolo could be assessing in the next few weeks.  Get well soon Felipe!

Luca Badoer

Luca Badoer is Ferrari’s main test driver and has been with the team for sometime.  The Italian also drove for Minardi, Scuderia Italia and Forti throughout the early 1990’s, and despite competing in many races he failed to score a point.  His last appearance in a race 10 years ago with Minardi could mean he is out of form and fitness, but he has done plenty of testing especially with the KERS system.

 

Marc Gene

Marc Gene is Ferrari’s “other” test driver, and works a lot on straightline speed testing.  He drove for Minardi in 1999 and 2000, before moving to test with Williams where he was a substitute driver for 3 races.  He is also a factory team Le Mans driver for Peugeot meaning he is fit and healthy enough to haul an F1 car around for 2 hours.  Scoring points on his substitution for Williams in 2003 is impressive, and he would be my choice of the two test drivers.

 

Michael Schumacher

The most successful F1 driver ever, and Ferrari’s darling looks like the obvious choice on paper.  Indeed he has everything going for him, and keeping his hand in with occasional testing he should have no problems with the F2009.  However his manager has cast doubts on his return, and Schuey has always denied wanting to drive again.  Could he be the one to help them out of a rut? I’d like to think so, and so would Bernie Ecclestone who must be rubbing his hands with glee at the chance of getting Schu back in a car.

 

Fernando Alonso

A bit of an “off-the-wall” choice, but it does make some sense.  Rumour says Alonso has signed a contract for 2010 with Ferrari, and with Renault being suspended from the next GP there is a slim chance Alonso could make his Ferrari debut some 8 months earlier than expected at another ‘home’ GP of Valencia.  It would be quite interesting to see the Spaniard alongside Raikkonen.

 

Bruno Senna

No-one has really considered Senna’s impressive nephew Bruno, but he has no race seat and is a proven fast driver.  He also drove at the Ferrari anniversary celebrations at Silverstone a few years back.  He’s young, fast and this could be a perfect break for him.

 

Selected Others:

Sebastien Bourdais – About as likely as me to get the drive

Niki Lauda  -I think he was joking

Takuma Sato – Probably more likely than Bourdais

Alguersuari On Verge Of Toro Seat, Bringing In Spanish Cash

Jaime Alguersuari is on the verge of being confirmed as Sebastien Bourdais’s successor to the Toro Rosso race seat today, after straight line speed testing in Italy.

The 19 year old Spaniard will become the youngest F1 driver in history if he takes the wheel of the STR4 at the Hungaoring next weekend, trying to bring some good fortune and points to the Faenza based team.

He has hardly done any testing with the team, and close friend Ferrari tester and former Minardi driver Marc Gene says will mean he is going to have a hard debut.

“Jaime is ready, but there are lot of factors playing against him,” the 2009 Le Mans winner told Diario Sport.

“No testing, and Hungary is a tough track” he added

Alguersuari has another bonus for Toro Rosso, sponsorship.  In a move which will remind older viewers of the Minardi days, he is backed by various Spanish companies including Repsol, who have sent around $2million to Italy trying t guarantee the seat for their man.

Fortunately for the 19 year old, he is a good driver too – unlike some of those who have in the past bought their seats…

Bourdais Sacked – It’s Official!

Sebastien Bourdais has officially been fired from his seat at Scuderia Toro Rosso.

The French driver, who is one of the most successful ChampCar drivers of all time, never really fired up in Formula One during his one and a half seasons with the former Minardi team.

In 2008, Bourdais came on the scene with great expectations and he had a good debut.  However further on into the season, he was involved in various calamities, and became totally outclassed by German team-mate Sebastian Vettel who took Toro Rosso’s first ever win at the Italian Grand Prix.

He was retained for 2009, but became an accident waiting to happen.  His incident with Heikki Kovalainen at the British Grand Prix looked the final straw, and after retirement from the German GP, emotional good-byes from Bourdais a man who often bursts into tears looked like the partnership was over.

“In Sebastien’s second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the world championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix,” said Franz Tost, team manager.

Whose waiting in the wings? Well, the number 1 most likely replacement for Bourdais is Jaime Alguersuari who has been told to go testing this week with the 2009 car.  Bruno Senna, the popular GP2 driver; Nelson Piquet Jr [if he has been sacked] and Takuma Sato [who tested for Toro Rosso during the winter] are all likely candidates for the challenge too.  Only time will tell…

Au Revoir Bourdais!

German GP 2009: Webber Takes Maiden Victory

Mark Webber took his first ever win in Formula One today at the German Grand Prix, after 8 years of Grand Prix racing.

The former Minardi, Jaguar and Williams man stood on top of the podium for Red Bull racing capping off another 1-2 despite a penalty.  Felipe Massa took Ferrari’s first podium of the year.

Race Review

Webber didn’t get a great start from pole position, with Rubens Barrichello and KERS runners like Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa getting the run on the Australian he was swallowed.  In attempts to stop Barrichello, he swung to the right and hit the Brazilian drivers Brawn – an event to which he would later be penalised.

Hamilton went through the gap created by Webber using his KERS system to full effect, but braking early into T1 his rear tyre was tagged by an off balance Webber leading to a puncture for the British racer.

Towards the back there were a few other incidents, Jarno Trulli getting held back in an incident he described as ruining his race.

There were few overtakes in the race, mostly around Lewis Hamilton who was a lap down having to crawl around the 3 mile Nurburgring GP track back to the pits.

Massa got ahead of Button and Vettel from the start, with Raikkonen just behind dropping off Adrian Sutil who drove fantastically well in the Force India.

On lap 2 Button managed to but the superior Brawn car down the inside of Massa, Massa driving a fantastic race today holding off Vettel for a long period of time.

Webber got a drive through penalty and completed it on lap 14 when Rubens Barrichello, his sparring partner at the front took his first of three stops.  Damage limitation working a treat in the end for Red Bull.

Kovalainen and Massa had held up the bunch so Webber got out in front.  Kovalainen slipped back on a lighter strategy to eventually finish the race in 8th place after a long tustle for the final points including drivers right down to Nakajima (12th).

Massa stayed out until lap 25, and with both Brawn’s being on 3 stop strategies he was in with a good chance of a podium.  Vettel was released in front of Massa and never looked like catching Webber but ran much better than he was behind Felipe.

Kimi Raikkonen looked slow, and for a reason.  He had a power shortage which eventually led to smoke coming from the back of the Ferrari and a retirement on lap 35.  It could have been a high double point finish for the Scuderia.

At Rubens Barrichello’s second stop the fuel rig broke and the team had to use the spare, putting less fuel than they wanted to – they had planned to move him onto a competitive 2 stop strategy.  By the end Button was ahead of the Brazilian, and Rubens has claimed the team are favouring Jenson not using the original rig deliberately.  Whether this is true or not is unknown, but Ross Brawn does have a history of team orders….

By the flag, Webber took a comfortable win ahead of Vettel and Massa.  Rosberg worked his way up the field well to take 4th ahead of the 2 Brawn’s and a brilliant Fernando Alonso who worked his way through the field with massively fast laps all this despite a spin on the parade lap.

Sebastien Bourdais retired early on in what could be his final ever F1 race.  The rumour mill circulates he is on his way out of the Toro Rosso team for poor performance.   Jaime Alguersari and Bruno Senna are top of the list to replace the Frenchman, but one newspaper reckoned Sebastian Loeb could be in with a chance of finishing the season with the Faenza based outfit.

Classified Results Standing:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	M. Webber	Red Bull Renault	1.36.43.310
2	S. Vettel	Red Bull Renault	+9.252
3	F. Massa	Ferrari	+15.906
4	N. Rosberg	Williams Toyota	+21.099
5	J. Button	Brawn Mercedes	+23.609
6	R. Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	+24.468
7	F. Alonso	Renault	+24.888
8	H. Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	+58.692
9	T. Glock	Toyota	+1.01.452
10	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+1.01.925
11	G. Fisichella	Force India Merc	+1.02.327
12	K. Nakajima	Williams Toyota	+1.02.876
13	N. Piquet	Renault	+1.08.328
14	R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	+1.09.555
15	A. Sutil	Force India Merc	+1.11.941
16	S. Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari	+1.30.225
17	J. Trulli	Toyota	+1.30.970
18	L. Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	+1 lap

Fastest Lap: F. Alonso, Renault: 1.33.365

Retirements

Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	35	Engine
S. Bourdais	Toro Rosso Ferrari	19	Mechanical

Toro Rosso Awaiting Red Bull Aero Updates

Toro Rosso, the feeder and sister team to Red Bull Racing have admitted they expect progress to be slow until they recieve the aerodynamic upgrades which powered the RB5 to victory at the hands of Sebastian Vettel last weekend at the British Grand Prix.

The new aerodynamic updates included a new front wing and nose section, new diffuser, floor and rear wing.

Toro Rosso were formed in 2006 after Red Bull admitted desire for a second team, and with one owner not being allowed to own two teams Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost were co-owners with exclusive Red Bull support and sponsorship.  The team are still based in Faenza, Italy and scored their first win last season in Monza.

“We suffer from the lack of new specification aero parts,” Franz Tost told F1Live.

“We will have these for Hungary, when I expect and hope that this will bring us back to the front end of the midfield.”

Scuderia Toro Rosso Launch The STR4

Scuderia Toro Rosso have launched their 2009 challenger the STR4 at Jerez, Spain.

The new car is very similar to the Red Bull Racing RB5, but Giorgio Ascanelli has denied that it is a simple rebadging process for the machine.

It will be powered by Ferrari engines.

The drivers for this season are Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais.  Confidence is high for the team, which was once Minardi, because of their amazing race victory at Monza last season.

“The 2008 season was good in terms of our on-track performance, which, it’s fair to say, exceeded our expectations, with our biggest ever haul of points, a pole position and a win. It’s going to be tough to live up to that this year,” team boss Franz Tost said

“Therefore our target has to be to leave every race track on a Sunday night, knowing we have done the best job we could. The results will then depend on how everyone else has done.”

Ascanelli claims that the car is indeed different to the RB5;

“Red Bull Technology does extremely significant work in defining the essential characteristics of the new car: its length, wheelbase, weight distribution, its basic metric characteristics,” said Ascanelli.

“However, with any F1 car, the packaging revolves around an engine and peculiarities from the drivers and, as we run a different engine to our sister team, it involves a different fuel system and fuel tank. Therefore, ours is completely different to the Red Bull Racing car and is designed here by us.”

STR4

Front end

Side view

Buemi and Bourdais with the new car

Bourdais takes the STR4 on its first public shakedown

Buemi Confirms Toro Rosso Launch Next Monday

Sebastien Buemi has confirmed that the Scuderia Toro Rosso car for the 2009 season will be launched on Monday.

The car, named the STR4 will share a lot of similarities with the Red Bull Racing RB5.  The similarity is hardly suprising given two things; firstly the link between the Red Bull team and Toro Rosso and secondly the fact that all of the Toro Rosso’s have been Red Bull’s so far:

- 2006 STR1 was a 2005 Red Bull RB1, indeed it still had the Cosworth V10’s even though everyone else had V8’s

- 2007 STR2 was 2006 RB2, but had a few parts from the 2007 car later in the season.

2008 STR3 was a 2008 Red Bull RB4, park them next to each other and they’re the same.

Indeed the only difference between the RB5 and the STR4 will be the engines, Red Bull run Renault units but Toro Rosso continue their partnership with Ferrari which last season was to their advnatage finishing higher than Red Bull and also scoring a victory with Sebastian Vettel at the Italian Grand Prix.

“It’s like the Red Bull, only in our colours!” Buemi told Swiss newspaper Blick

Bourdais Fastest At Jerez Test

Sebastien Bourdais was the fastest driver of the day at Jerez, but Lewis Hamilton was the fastest of the 2009 car runners at the circuit.

While Ferrari and Toyota were not running in Bahrain, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Red Bull amongst other teams were present in Europe for one of the first dry tests of the season.

Bourdais was clearly fastest, but mainly because the 2008 cars on slick tyres are just so much faster than 2009 cars.

While Hamilton was fastest of the 2009 bunch, the McLaren team are still running a 2008 rear wing on the MP4-24 so the times are not 100% accurate to the new regulations.

Sebastian Vettel was kicking at the World Champions heels in the new Red Bull RB5, with a time just 0.001 of a second slower.  That Red Bull has the potential to be one of the best this season.

Nakajima and Fernando Alonso followed in 4th and 5th places.

“Today was all about getting mileage on the car, especially with the new KERS system,” said Alonso.

“It was my first full dry day in the car and so I was able to learn a lot. We completed lots of laps, which is encouraging and now we will start working on the set-up of the car so that I can get more comfortable with it.”

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)   1:18.493  128
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)   1:20.737   93
 3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)   1:20.738   92
 4.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)   1:20.898   92
 5.  Alonso        Renault              (B)   1:21.307  133

Kazuki Nakajima under the bridge across the main straight

Hamilton was the fastest 2009 car, but they were using an '08 rear wing

Fernando Alonso

Vettel was fast again in the promising RB5

Meanwhile in Bahrain….

Testing might as well be abandoned as a major sandstorm has hit the Sakhir circuit again

Sato Very Disappointed To Miss Out On Toro Drive

Takuma Sato has declared himself incredibly disappointed to have missed on a drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso as the Italian team announced Sebastien Bourdais had taken the second seat.

The Japanese driver has shown significant talent within F1, and was doing very well with the tiny Super Aguri team before they folded in early 2008.

He entered into F1 with Jordan in 2002, and continued to race with BAR and Aguri.

“I am not sure what my future holds, I will be discussing with my Manager what our next steps should be. However, I strongly feel that I have unfinished business in F1 and that I still have a lot to give. I am determined to stay in top level motorsport and I will be fully focused on making a return to F1 as long as any opportunity is there.” Sato told ESPN F1-Live

“I want to thank all my supporters who have been absolutely fantastic with their loyalty, I will always remember these fantastic relationships we have built and hope we can one day repay this support.”

Meanwhile, Sato’s manager declared himself deeply upset with the decision.  He is certain that Sato was faster, and Bourdais only has the seat because of better sponsorship.
“I am extremely disappointed that Scuderia Toro Rosso has not chosen Takuma to race for them in 2009. Taku had showed tremendous speed and commitment during the three tests he did for the team and I believe he proved to be the faster driver.” Andrew Gilbert Scott, Sato’s manager told ESPN F1-Live

“Unfortunately however the team made no secret about the fact that they would need the drive to bring a substantial amount of funding to the team to secure the drive.”