Archive for category: F1

The Drivers line-up has been replaced at Caterham. Pic and Van Der Garde have been replaced by Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson.

After spending a year as a GT driver for Ferrari, the former Japanese Sauber team driver re-joins the top series alongside the Tony Fernandez-owned F1 team. He will partner the 23-year-old Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson, who steps up to Grand Prix racing from GP2 and Formula 3.

With today’s announcement, the Formula 1 World Championship drivers line-up is completed. The Championship will start next week by a-three-day collective test session to take place at Jerez circuit.

After exiting from Caterham, Giedo Van Der Garde will join Sauber as a test and reserve driver and will theoretically partner Sergey Sirotkin.

This is a crucial week for Formula 1. Next Wednesday, all F.1 Team Principals will meet the President of the FIA Jean Todt to discuss future and present decisions. On the same day, some single-seaters will be virtually revealed, as well as the first session of collective testing scheduled at the Spanish circuit of Jerez starting from January 28^th.

The Salary Cap, which is expected to be introduced in 2015, is a fundamental subject for the survival of the circus, however, F1 current issues should be at the top of the meeting schedule, despite the statements made by the people concerned.

In this moment, several teams are dealing with the increase in costs, which is caused by the important technological upgrades which have been introduced this year and by the lack of sponsorship. Except for the two or three top teams, all other teams are in a quite bad situation. In the past, the ordinary matter was the survival or the closure of small teams such as the Minardi, while now we see Lotus, the fourth team in the standing, undergoing a financial crisis and McLaren failing FIA crash tests.

Formula 1 has always represented the highest expression in terms of technology and all the technological upgrades introduced for the 2014 season will be also applied to standard cars: energy recovery, restrictions on fuel and the introduction of turbos to replace aspirated engines. Only car racing can foster technological research, however I think that this is not the right moment to embark on such a demanding adventure. The worldwide financial crisis has not been seriously taken into account. We don’t have to forget that the Formula 1 Championship is the most followed media event after the Olympic Games and the World Cup, with the last two events being held every 4 years, while F1 GP are held every 15 days. Therefore the Circus can’t afford to take choices which are not sufficiently though out, such as points doubling, in order to make the Championship more attractive. In my opinion this is an illogic decision. In my opinion the current regulations is too severe. The number of engine units available per driver was significantly reduced as well as test days; I think this is a too radical reduction, especially if we consider that several changes have been introduced and teams have to deal with a larger number of issues. Delays on the schedule are clear and this will influence cars’ reliability, performance and safety.

The first half of January has passed and the first session of collective tests will be shortly held on the track of Jerez. Who will take part in that? What will be their technical features? How will they face up to the first race events? I get the impression that the World Championship won’t be won by those teams who will have the best technical features, but by those teams who will manage to cross the line. Reliability will be the winning feature. In a highly competitive and technological framework such as F1, economic issues have a deep influence not only on technological research, but also on the reliability of the different parts.

F1 is going through a critical moment and has to deal with the lack of a real leader. Mr. Ecclestone’s issues have repercussions on the F1 environment; despite he stated he can rely on the support of all teams.

I hope that F1 issues will be seriously considered with regards to the 2014 season, so that the highest level of competitiveness is ensured for this sport.

FIA has officially announced the 2014 drivers’ line-up. It immediately stands out that Max Chilton has been retained as a Marussia team driver and he will partner the FDA French member Jules Bianchi for the second season.

At the same time the Federation has revealed the race number each driver will use for the remain of their career into F1. Starting from the 2014 season, numbers will not be awarded according to the constructors’ standing, but each driver will have his own personal number.

Red Bull’s World Champion will run with number #1 being displayed on his car, while his partner will run with number #3. Sebastian Vettel also chose number #5 as his race number in the case he loose the world title. At Ferrari, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen will run with number #14 and #7.

Number #44 and number #6 for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, number #8 and number #13 for the Lotus pair Grosjean and Maldonado, number #22 and number #20 for Jenson Button (the number with which he won the world title) and Magnussen (the number with which he won the WSR 3.5 title in 2013).

Max Chilton hasn’t chosen his race number yet, as well as the two Caterhams; the team drivers’ line-up still has to be announced.

1* Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

3 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull

44 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

6 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

14 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

7 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari

8 Romain Grosjean, Lotus

13 Pastor Maldonado, Lotus

22 Jenson Button, McLaren

20 Kevin Magnussen, McLaren

27 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India

11 Sergio Perez, Force India

99 Adrian Sutil, Sauber

21 Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber

25 Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso

26 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso

19 Felipe Massa, Williams

77 Valtteri Bottas, Williams

17 Jules Bianchi, Marussia

TBA Max Chilton, Marussia

TBA, Caterham

TBA, Caterham

Double points, new penalties, pole Trophy…Is this really the right way to make the F.1 Championship more engaging? It looks like some innovations have to be necessarily introduced to make the Championship more and more attractive, but I don’t think the result achieved will be as good as expected. In my opinion, what is necessary to do is to introduce more understandable regulations, rather than making use of those stopgap measures. A marketing strategy should be carried out to attract race enthusiasts, instead of shutting oneself up in one’s own motorhome, which is locked down more than a fortress.

It would be nice that enthusiasts could live the paddock’s atmosphere and see with their own eyes the race week end, have an autograph signed by their idol and a picture taken with him. I’ve got the feeling that many people cannot even recognize drivers, instead (apart from those who got onto the podium).

I think that the rule according to which drivers will be awarded double points at the last race, it’s simply ridiculous. A driver runs the risk to see all his work being ruined by only one race. It’s the same for third-tier teams. Marussia got the tenth place in the constructors’ championship, thanks to a 13^th-place-finish (the team’s best result), one position ahead of the Caterham team. It’s a –one-position-gap which is worth at least 10 million dollars. The Russian-English team fought tooth and nail throughout the season. Next year, it could take only one race week end to ruin all the work done. This could be done more by the luck of rivals, than by their skills…..

In these days FIA has announced it wants to add a new team to the list of the teams which have been taking part in the World Championship for years. Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi have already declined the invitation, as they’ve been already engaged in some covered-wheel-Championships such as Le Mans and other World Championships. The causes of that can be many: car companies consider endurance competitions as a better way to promote their image and devolve technology to standard cars. Another reason is that nowadays it’s so difficult for car companies to partner with a chassis manufacturer who can ensure good results in F.1. At the beginning of the year Porsche was very close to close an agreement with Red Bull, but, due to some reasons, the agreement was never closed. The point is that next year the Le Mans competition will be very interesting, as important car companies the likes of Toyota, Audi and Porsche will take part in that. They’ll show us a breathtaking challenge. The participation of those big companies will make those Championships more and more interesting. Ferrari, through President Montezemolo’s statement, announced to be interested in those Championships. After all, a constructor such as Ferrari, who won the GT2 World Championship, cannot ignore these scenes.

After being replaced by Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez in the Force India Team, Adrian Sutil joins Sauber for the 2014 F.1 World Championship.

The German driver joins the Hinwil-based team after being a Force India’s driver for 6 seasons: “I’m really happy to race alongside Sauber team. Transaction spun out more than expected, but Sauber has always been my first choice. I was a Force India’s driver for 6 seasons, so it was time to take on a new challenge. It’s a team with a long-standing experience in F.1. The factory is really amazing and the wind tunnel is one of the most state-of-the-art facilities in the field. I want to say thank you to Peter Sauber and Monisha Kalternborn for giving me this great opportunity”, says the Sauber team’s new driver Adrian Sutil.

“The new season is taking shape and each piece of the puzzle is taking its place. I’m very pleased with the agreement between Sutil and Sauber, as it means that the team is quickly solving all its problems. He’s a good driver, with a 6-year-long-experience in F.1. Peter Sauber will surely take advantage of the driver’s long-standing experience. Now, we’re waiting to see who’s going to be his team mate”, says Gian Carlo Minardi.

Now, all we can do is to see who is going to partner the German driver. Sergey Sirotkin is the favorite one to partner the German driver, but he hasn’t got the Superlicence yet.

On the occasion of the “Fernando Alonso Collection”, which was inaugurated on Monday at the Madrid-based Centro de Exposiciones Arte Canal, Gian Carlo Minardi was a Spanish Champion’s guest and had the chance to re-experience the beginning of the Spaniard’s bright career into F.1, which was promoted by the Faenza-born manager and his team in 2001.

It’s an amazing exhibition where all the cars, trophies and memorabilia concerning the Spanish driver’s career, are put on display and visitors have also the opportunity to take an “interactive trip” into Fernando’s story. The exhibition is divided into 6 thematic areas: the first one is called “o km” and it’s the area dedicated to Alonso’s first steps into the world of motorsport; the second area is called “la collecciớn” and it’s the area where all the single-seaters Fernando has driven to take part not only in the F.1 Championship but also in lower Formula Championships, are put on display; the third section is named “Circuito Alo”, here visitors can take an “interactive trip” through Fernando’s motorsport career and private life; another section is called “Start your engines!”. Visitors can have an audio-visual experience relating F.1 and can share the passion the Asturias-born driver has for this sport; “Formula 1 Experiences”, where all secrets about the technological innovations which mark the top series can be discovered; “275.000 km de emociớn”, it’s a video where the Ferrari’s driver goes back over his career. The Exhibition, which was organized by the Fernando Alonso Foundation in cooperation with the Canal de Isabel II Gestiớn, is only the embryo of what will be the Fernando Alonso Museum, to be established in Oviedo.

“It’s a beautiful exhibition and an amazing collection. Fernando parents’ idea to collect all their son’s sport equipment was great. There you can find his first go-karts, racesuits, gloves and trophies. Even the 2001 Minardi car is put on display, along with the racesuit Fernando wore in his debut year into F.1. All that brought pleasant memories to my mind. I want to extend my congratulations to everybody for arranging such an amazing exhibition. It was also a good opportunity to see some friends like Flavio and Stefano, again”, says Gian Carlo Minardi.

On the exhibition’s opening day, Fernando wanted not only his family and friends next to him; he also invited all the team principals he dealt with throughout his career into F.1: Gian Carlo Minardi, Flavio Briatore, Martin Withmarsh and Stefano Domenicali.