F1 News thread! - 2009

[El Gordo]

I bet Eddie Irvine is applying for a job of chief wardrobe assistant as we speak.

[El Gordo]

Following on from the F1 launch thread, where it was pointed out that engine rules would allow teams to run a different motor in quali to the race - comes this news:


The 2009 engine rules will be tweaked so that teams cannot use different powerplants in qualifying and the race, it has emerged.

The current wording of the new regulations allows teams to utilise its eight engines for the entire season in any configuration or order.

But the website of the British magazine Autosport said the rules will be adapted so that engine changes after the start of Saturday morning practice can only be made if the existing 2.4 litre V8 unit is damaged or develops a problem.

It is said that some teams, including Renault, requested the change because it might have become commonplace for engines to be changed prior to qualifying, requiring more staff at grands prix.

The clarification will be ratified during this week's meeting of the Sporting Working Group in Nice.

[El Gordo]

Honda/Unnamed team news:

After an entire winter of uncertainty, Rubens Barrichello's name is now strongly linked to not one formula one team, but two.

With the Ross Brawn-led management buyout of the Honda team set to be announced, the latest speculation is that the Brackley camp would prefer the unmatched experience of Barrichello alongside Jenson Button in 2009.

Previously, the 36-year-old's rookie countryman Bruno Senna was linked most strongly to the team, but it now appears that his sponsorship ties to Brazilian sponsors were not as lucrative as earlier was reported.

Meanwhile, just as Barrichello's Honda chances re-emerge, a principal of the new USF1 team for 2010 has confirmed reports the veteran of more than 270 grands prix is a leading candidate for a drive.

"We need someone experienced who in the first two years can give us as much information as possible.

"One name is Rubens Barrichello, certainly," the team's British sporting director Peter Windsor is quoted as saying by RTL.

With a blank livery and Jenson Button at the wheel, the team currently known as Honda will return to action at a Silverstone shakedown of its 2009 car next Thursday, sources from inside the Brackley factory are reporting.

With the Ross Brawn-led management buyout now approved - but not officially announced - by Honda Motor Co.'s Tokyo board, information is leaking from the outfit that had until recently looked likely to be wound up ahead of the 2009 season.

Now, however, suggestions of at least one (and possibly two) full tests at Spanish circuits in March are gaining credence, and one source told us that these will be preceded by a run-out with Mercedes power at Silverstone late next week.

With the Honda board also insisting upon a name change, the frontrunner at present is 'Brackley F1', but a final decision on this has not been taken.

Also likely - but not confirmed - is the identity of Button's teammate. Bruno Senna has all winter been named as the frontrunner, but given the nature of the challenge faced for 2009, it is believed the veteran Rubens Barrichello is now favourite to retain his seat.

Under Brawn's leadership, the funds for the team this year will come from increased and advanced FOM income, commercial sponsors, and Honda itself, who have concluded that it is cheaper to offload the squad as a going concern rather than fund the closure and compensate contracted staff, including the very highly paid Button.

The Swiss newspaper Blick said of rookie Senna: "The young Brazilian will drive in the DTM championship (in 2009)."

[El Gordo]

And news from the F1 minnows:

Ahead of its official debut on Sunday, Force India's new formula one car on Wednesday made its first appearance at a circuit.

The Mercedes-Benz powered VJM02 was shaken down at a private session at Silverstone (UK), before it is immediately transferred to Jerez for next week's group test.

Giancarlo Fisichella will drive the car initially in southwestern Spain, before handing over for the remainder of the test to his 2009 teammate Adrian Sutil.

"I'm itching to drive it," said Roman Fisichella, the 36-year-old veteran of 214 grands prix and three wins.

The pair admitted to the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times that the 2009 car's late debut is not ideal.

"Obviously, it does (make me nervous)," Fisichella said. "We are late and I am a little bit worried."

Sutil added: "We have just eight days to test the car, four in Jerez and four in Barcelona. We will try and make the most of it."

Toro Rosso's 2009 car will be given its circuit debut next Wednesday, according to a report in the German specialist press.

Auto Motor und Sport claims the STR4, a Ferrari-powered version of the Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull car, is to be shaken down at the Adria circuit in northern Italy on March 4, with Sebastien Buemi at the wheel.

Team boss Franz Tost confirmed that the first single seater is nearing completion in the Faenza factory, with only the "upper arm of the rear suspension" held up due to a "problem with production".

On Thursday at Toro Rosso's Italian base, the Ferrari engine in the rear of the STR4 will be fired up for the first time.

Tost said he is happy with how the Newey chassis performed in Red Bull Racing's hands recently. "It looks good," he said.

"I am very satisfied with what has been done so far. We must be optimistic, but we will get a better idea at Barcelona (for the forthcoming test)."

Red Bull Racing's team boss Christian Horner confirmed that the car was debuted successfully. "Compared with our rollouts of previous years, (this) was our best.

"There we no disasters," the Briton added.

[murcan]

I will be watching but probably not commenting as I have been so far out of the loop lately regarding F1. Thanks for the thread.
Now to see if I can get BBC Sport online or if it will be "not available in this area" like everything else.

The Fuckin' US is useless in it's lack of support for anything F1.

[El Gordo]

Originally Posted by murcan

I will be watching but probably not commenting as I have been so far out of the loop lately regarding F1. Thanks for the thread.
Now to see if I can get BBC Sport online or if it will be "not available in this area" like everything else.

The Fuckin' US is useless in it's lack of support for anything F1.

Sounds like they'll be picking up the slack a bit ready for the USF1 assault in 2010.
Televising the whole design process, it seems. Think docu-style stuff like the OCC Teuttles (sp) without the gnarly 'taches.

[El Gordo]

Jenson Button has agreed to cut his 2009 retainer in half as the Honda team survives the withdrawal of the Japanese manufacturer.

A management buyout headed by Ross Brawn has apparently been green-lighted by the carmaker's Tokyo board, but it will mean a drastically reduced budget this season.

The Daily Telegraph in Britain claims up to 300 of the 700 Brackley based staff will be shed, while 29-year-old Button voluntarily cuts his contracted $15m salary for this season in two.

Some of the Brackley staff, however, are reportedly unhappy with the Brawn buyout and prepared to strike.

If Honda had folded the team, the manufacturer would have dished out healthy severance packages, while under the Brawn deal, many staff will still be shed but not compensated as handsomely.

Those surviving the job cuts face pay cuts, the Telegraph added.

and...

With the Ross Brawn-led management buyout said to have been approved by Honda's Tokyo board, speculation about the Brackley based team's new name is now rife.

We reported last week that the neutral 'Brackley F1' was a frontrunner, but another likely alternative has now emerged.

Although reference to a specific individual was thought unlikely, due to the several officials (and therefore shareholders) involved in the buyout, the team may in fact use principal Ross Brawn's name, rumours suggest.

The internet domain brawnracing.com and similar iterations have reportedly been registered in recent days by Caroline McGrory, who has been the Honda team's legal counsel for some years.

The latest rumours, meanwhile, suggest that the airline Emirates may be lined up as a 2009 title sponsor.

Also whispered is that while former chief executive Nick Fry is no longer leading the buyout, he may still be involved in the team's new guise, although not as chief executive.

There had been suggestions that the team might make it to Jerez this week for the penultimate group test of the pre-season, but the session kicked off on Sunday without Honda.

At a recent media gathering, however, Williams' Adam Parr indicated he believes the team's survival is likely.

"The fact that they are still talking is important because if Honda wasn't faced with any serious opportunity then they would have called it a day," the Grove team's chief executive said, referring to recent events.

Parr added: "So the fact that we are four weeks away from the start of the season and they are still making kit must mean that Honda are taking the proposals very seriously."

then finally some testing news:

The opening day of this week�s five day test at Jerez saw Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull RB5 lead the field in some style. The young Germans time of 1:19.055s was easily the fastest of the day as the teams went about their work, with Felipe Massa in the Ferrari F60 next, some 1.3 seconds down on Vettel.

A number of teams, Ferrari, BMW and Mclaren included, focused on tyre evaluation as the sport heads into a new era of slicks, and this should explain the relative lack of pace from these teams with Robert Kubica lining up only fifth in the BMW f1.09 and the McLaren M P4-24 of Pedro de la Rosa faster only than the Renault R29 of Nelson Piquet, the latter confessing to a few reliability problems with the car.

Kamui Kobayashi ran well to third in the Toyota TF109, and the interest of the day came in the shape of the track debut of the new Force India VJM02, the first Mercedes customer car to run. Giancarlo Fisichella took the car around in a promising 1:21.584, and professed himself happy with the first run of the new machine.

Testing continues at Jerez for the next four days, with only one more test to come before the Australian Grand Prix at the end of the month. Only the STR team and the resurrected Honda outfit were not present.

[El Gordo]

It is being widely reported that Rubens Barrichello, veteran of the F1 world, has been signed to continue as a driver with the soon to be relaunched team that was formerly Honda.

Ross Brawn, believed to be the new owner of the outfit, is an avowed fan of Barrichello, having worked closely with the Brazilian at Ferrari, and it has been said in the past few days that the team would opt for his experience rather than the attention-grabbing rumoured appointment of Bruno Senna, nephew of the late legendary Ayrton.

The team will race what would have been the 2009 Honda chassis, but with Mercedes engines in an agreement that has recieved the full backing and consent of Mercedes' other customer team, Force India.

No official announcements regarding either the team or Barrichello are as yet forthcomong, but with just days to go until the first race of the season it will surely be soon.

[El Gordo]

Latest tests sees Renault bouncing back from earlier poor test performances as Alonso tops the time sheets, with kimi 2nd.

The renault looks proper lardy. The tyres balling up looks cool though.

[Uncle Fester]

I'm really trying to keep out of this thread and car threads. If you have any specific questions about GP, PM me and i'll ask the F1 guru.

[El Gordo]

Originally Posted by Mr Jon

I'm really trying to keep out of this thread and car threads. If you have any specific questions about GP, PM me and i'll ask the F1 guru.

Why keep out? Dive in

[windychris]

Originally Posted by El Gordo

Latest tests sees Renault bouncing back from earlier poor test performances as Alonso tops the time sheets, with kimi 2nd.

The renault looks proper lardy. The tyres balling up looks cool though.

Might look cool but it's not what they need from a performance point of view! Lots more to come from the Renault apparently - Alonso could be worth a sneaky bet for the championship if the odds are good.

[El Gordo]

£10 on Vettel for a top 3 title finish wouldn't be too daft either.

[windychris]

Originally Posted by El Gordo

£10 on Vettel for a top 3 title finish wouldn't be too daft either.

Agreed but the odds have really shortened on him since the first couple of group tests. A couple of weeks ago you could get 25:1 on him - should have put a bet on then. Now he's between 12 and 16:1.

[Mr. Dazzle]

T'was thinking a couple of bets of Vettel for the early races might be a better idea, he's more likely to keep pace with the top two teams in the early part of the season surely?

Is anyone offering odds on specific races yet?