2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 20 Jul 2009, 09:38

Well, Buemi was pretty bad in Melbourne until the race...and that was with 20000k of testing


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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 20 Jul 2009, 11:33

Alguersuari to continue in WSR
Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari plans to continue racing in the World Series by Renault championship despite his move to Formula 1, according to team boss Trevor Carlin.

Alguersuari, who has been racing with Carlin in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship this year, will become the youngest driver to race in Formula 1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend after being confirmed at Toro Rosso.

The 19-year-old will step up to grand prix racing after having finished fourth and third in last weekend's races at Le Mans.

Carlin said he was proud to see Alguersuari graduating to F1, and the team boss revealed the Spaniard intends to continue racing in the World Series when possible.

"We're very proud to see another one of our Red Bull drivers make the step up to Formula 1, and Jaime is following in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel, who also made the transition from our World Series team to a race seat at Toro Rosso," said Carlin.

"It was clear for all to see in British F3 last year that Jaime is a great talent - and it says a lot about the quality of the series that the current British F3 champion is already making his F1 debut.

"It will be a tough learning curve for Jaime this year, but he is mature enough to learn quickly and make the most of this great opportunity. Jaime intends to continue racing with us in World Series this year, but obviously his F1 commitments will take priority."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77098

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by Ali » 22 Jul 2009, 10:41

Aerodynamics chief leaves Ferrari
John Iley, the chief of aerodynamics at Ferrari, has left the team according to reports in the Italian media on Wednesday. After a first half to a season which has yielded no wins for the reigning Constructors' World Champions, caught out by this season's regulation changes, the Englishman leaves during his sixth season with the team.

Having joined in 2004, Iley's career has took him through the Jordan and Renault teams before arriving at Maranello. Italian publication Gazetta dello Sport reports that the 41-year-old, who concentrates on the likes of windtunnel development, came to an agreement to leave Ferrari with immediate affect at the end of last week.

It is reported that, after a distinct lack of success with this year's F60 car, Ferrari elected not to assign Iley to the task of developing what is hoped to be a championship-challenging 2010 contender. The aerodynamicist, meantime, will have time to scout for a new position with just under half of the 2009 campaign still to run.

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http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/07/22/aerodynamics-chief-leaves-ferrari/
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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 22 Jul 2009, 10:45

Teams to enter period of inactivity
Formula one will enter a rare two-week period of total inactivity in August, as part of the teams association's efforts to cut costs.

There is an unusual three-weekend gap between the forthcoming Hungarian grand prix and the subsequent race in Valencia, and FOTA has decided to take advantage of the lull so that all the teams can not only take a genuine break but also save some money.

All the teams, including the non-FOTA outfits Williams and Force India, have agreed to completely shut down their factories between August 3 to 16.

The timescale of the two-week shutdown gives the teams a week on either side of the summer calendar break to both recover from and prepare for the adjacent grands prix.

Force India confirmed on Tuesday: "All production, design and build will cease and, aside from security and maintenance, the factory will be shut."

The 10 teams' unanimous agreement to shut down their factories was confirmed with an exchange of letters last month.

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 23 Jul 2009, 12:27

Heidfeld pins hopes on Singapore upgrade
Nick Heidfeld believes he and BMW Sauber team-mate Robert Kubica are going to have to wait until the Singapore Grand Prix before seeing a major upturn in the pace of their car.

The F1.09 has failed to live up to pre-season expectations of being a world championship contender, with Heidfeld and Kubica only able to score eight points so far this year.

And although the team has vowed to keep pushing on with the development of the car, rather than switch the focus onto its 2010 challenger, Heidfeld thinks there is little chance of a return to front-running form for a few races yet.

Speaking at the Hungaroring on Thursday, Heidfeld said he did not expect BMW Sauber to follow the lead set by Ferrari and McLaren, who appear to have recovered from their early season troubles.

"It looks like McLaren has made a big step, especially judging by the last race," said Heidfeld. "Ferrari had made a big step a couple of races ago. We made a big step at Barcelona, and since then it is a bit up and down.

"I hope that we will get to a stage where we also made a big leap forward. And I hope this might be the case in Singapore, where we expect a lot of new things - and I hope that will move us forward. But until then, we have another package in Valencia, but my hopes are more for Singapore."

When suggested that would mean quite a lot of waiting, Heidfeld said: "Yes, it is too long. But there is nothing we can do now. So there is no more to say."

BMW Sauber is running a new front wing in Hungary this weekend, and Heidfeld is hoping that the warmer temperatures will help the team's performance.

"I think from a tyre perspective it should suit the car better. Sometimes we are in a similar condition to the Brawn – just with the fact that the car is slower anyway. So we hope we will get the tyres working here.

"The circuit itself doesn't suit the car ideally, if we look back to where we were at some other slow tracks. But on the other side since then, the car has changed quite a lot. I hope it suits the car for the tyres, and for the rest we will see.

"As we knew already a couple of weeks ago, we don't have a lot of updates here. The next big one is planned for Valencia, but we have a new front wing here – which is good as it was not planned. We also have some other minor updates."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77139

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 27 Jul 2009, 11:11

Hamilton: More to come from McLaren
Lewis Hamilton is convinced there is more to come from his McLaren team after scoring its first win of the season in Hungary.

The British squad completed a sensational turnaround after a dismal first half of the season, with Hamilton taking a commanding win at Hungaroring.

Now the world champion reckons McLaren will only continue to improve.

"Things can only get better for us, I think," said Hamilton on his website. "The updates we've introduced have made a huge difference and we've now got a massive downforce improvement and the car is a pleasure to drive.

"We've still got quite a few improvements to make to the car - there are still areas that we haven't yet explored and we've got some more changes coming for Valencia that will hopefully move us even closer to the front. We're going to continue to try and push - but let's not get ahead of ourselves - it would be fantastic to get to Q3 again in the next race.

"But this is a great reward for everybody back at Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart. I know they're all completely knackered and I hope they get a good break over the next couple of weeks so we can be ready to come back and get some more podiums!"

He added: "It's been a huge turnaround. At the start of the season, I said that if anybody could do this it would be Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

"And you've seen ourselves and Ferrari stepping up our game - and, for sure, if we'd had this car at the beginning of the season I reckon we'd have won more races. But we always said we were six months behind the top guys and, sure enough, six months later we're back at the front."

Hamilton admitted he was missing stepping on the top step of the podium, having not won since last year's Chinese GP.

"It's been almost a year - such a long time that it felt surreal to win again. I'd been waiting a long time for this day and I couldn't believe how well it all went.

"I was able to control the pace at the front. It's normally very hard to achieve that, but on Sunday I was able to use my tyres, fuel and engine perfectly. I felt like we balanced everything and I felt really comfortable in the car. But I was still being pushed by Kimi - and made sure I could never back off."

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 27 Jul 2009, 17:58

BBC pre-season interview with Piquet
How would you like to be remembered as an F1 driver?
As a world champion like my father.
:rofl:

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 28 Jul 2009, 09:52

Brabham says Webber can win title
Three-time world champion Jack Brabham believes Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber can win this year's championship.

Webber has moved into second place in the standings after finishing in third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend.

The Australian is now 18.5 points behind Jenson Button, having reduced the gap to the Briton by 15 points in the last three races.

Brabham reckons Webber can now go all the way and clinch the title.

"I certainly believe that Mark Webber can go all the way and win the world championship - providing the car holds up," Brabham told the Associated Press.

"It's fantastic to see Webber up there, he's doing a great job.

"You know, we've given Mark as much encouragement as we could as he's come along and it's lovely to see him doing well."

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autosport.com
Barrichello: Brawn can still win titles
Rubens Barrichello says he has confidence his Brawn team can still win this year's championships despite its lack of form in recent races.

Barrichello's team has seen rival Red Bull Racing close in significantly in the last three races, and Brawn is now just 15.5 points behind in the constructors' championship.

In the drivers' standings, Mark Webber is 18.5 points behind Jenson Button, having reduced the gap to the Briton by 15 points as Button has managed a fifth place as his best result in the last three outings.

But Barrichello reckons that Button has nothing to worry about yet, and the Brazilian is optimistic Brawn can return to its early-season form.

"If I was Jenson, 18.5 points ahead, I would still be very comfortable," Barrichello said. "While you are in front it's very comfortable. When you lose the lead is when it doesn't feel like that anymore.

"We don't have a good momentum going on, but the team is very united. We built a really good gap at the beginning so it's up to us to prove things again. I think we can do it."

Barrichello admits, however, there is more pressure on his team now, and he insists Brawn must remain calm and analyse the reasons for its drop in performance.

"I think there's a bit more pressure right now on the team," he added. "For me, I'm 26 points behind Jenson, so I think it's fairly open. To be very honest with you, having more teams to fight with ourselves is good for myself because we could have some differences.

"The whole team needs to keep it cool and work on it. We have a really good bunch of people. There is something that didn't go right in the last three races. We just need to visit every little thing that we've done on the car. If there was any little change.. anything that could prove wrong or right."

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by phil1993 » 28 Jul 2009, 19:26

I heard a few months ago that changes were being made to the Singapore track: to Turn 1, Turn 10 and Turn 12: anyone know any updates of this???

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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by Zack » 28 Jul 2009, 20:22

"Fans of Kimi Räikkönen, rejoice! The dreaded Turn 10 of the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore will be changed following feedback from the drivers, along with a list of changes to be made to the circuit in time for the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix.

Turn 10, famously known for the killer closely-spaced left-right-left combination turns, acted as a launching ramp for the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen and Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella in the race and practice session 3 respectively. Both were unable to continue after hitting the barriers, and criticisms for changes to be made to the turn were loud for the exceptionally high kerbs which will be reduced. Other changes include modifications to Turns 1, 2 and 3, which were expected to provide some thrills on the track during the start of the race but nothing happened.

The track will also be made smoother and less bumpy. Drivers have commented that the track is the bumpiest in the 08 Season and sparks can be seen from the underside of the cars as they ran over some parts of the circuit. "

Turn 1

* Track to be made sharper by relocating the corner apex
* To have more overtaking
* Will be a slower corner
* Kerbs to be installed, to prevent wide turn by drivers

Turn 5

* Road surfacing work to be carried out to reduce excessive bumps

Turn 6

* Road surfacing work to be carried out to reduce excessive bumps

Turn 7

* Road surfacing work to be carried out to reduce excessive bumps
* The bump smoothed out

Turn 13

* Will be a faster turn
* To have more overtaking
* Car expected to reach speed of 275km/h now

Turns 14

* Braking zone to be enlarged
* Reducing corner radius, thus reducing cornering speed
* Turn will be slower than previously
* To have more overtaking

Turn 22

* The runoff to be reduced for spectator sake
* New spectator facilities to be added here
* Better spectator circulation

Pitlane Entry/Exit

* To be revised. F1 car has problem and confusion with the line marker margins
* A dedicated pitlane entry to be built to reduced the risk of inteference by pitting vehicles for those lapping the track
* The exit moved at Turn 2
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Re: 2009 Season Discussions: Line-ups, News and Miscellaneous

Post by Ali » 28 Jul 2009, 21:46

Jon Noble, Autosport: "It looks like BMW could be out of F1 at the end of the year, after the company called an emergency press conference for tomorrow morning"

Edit: http://www.f1zone.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4734
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Re: F1 News

Post by phil1993 » 30 Jul 2009, 11:34

Grosjean conducts straight line testing
Romain Grosjean appears to have moved another step closer to securing his grand prix debut.

Amid reports of a terminal falling-out between Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet, the French-Swiss reserve driver Grosjean was this week asked by Renault to conduct driving duties at a straight-line test.

The session took place on the runaway of the Imperial War Museum in Cambridgeshire (UK).
I went there in January :) cool place

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Re: F1 News

Post by hannibal_rising » 30 Jul 2009, 11:40

phil1993 wrote:Grosjean conducts straight line testing
Romain Grosjean appears to have moved another step closer to securing his grand prix debut.

Amid reports of a terminal falling-out between Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet, the French-Swiss reserve driver Grosjean was this week asked by Renault to conduct driving duties at a straight-line test.

The session took place on the runaway of the Imperial War Museum in Cambridgeshire (UK).
I went there in January :) cool place

Then Piquet should start testing in a Taxi.... his next job.. :lol: :lol: :wave:

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Re: F1 News

Post by JoostLamers » 04 Aug 2009, 17:53

James Allen (twitter): Bernie Ecclestone has said, "We will return to Canada in 2010. I know everyone connected with F1 loves this Grand Prix." True. Hooray!

!yahoo:
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