Posts for 'Formula One Cars' Category

The Texas state capital Austin will host Formula One’s return to the United States in 2012, the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced on Tuesday. "For the first time in the history of Formula One in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the event," the Briton told the official formula1.com website. The website said Austin would serve as host city until 2021.

Now where have we heard this before? Oh, that’s right. Max Mosely, Todt’s predecessor as head of auto racing’s sanctioning body. He was fanatical about cutting costs and emissions and firmly believed Formula 1 ought to lead the way to a cleaner, greener motoring future. He wasn’t afraid to be dictatorial about it, either.

Although it might seem Todt is simply continuing what could be called the Mosely Doctrine, it doesn’t mean that what Todt is trying to accomplish isn’t the smart move. As much as we love F1, it isn’t the most environmentally friendly endeavor. With governments around the world at least paying lip service to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, how long do you think it will be before someone looks at motorsports and decides to start regulating it heavily?

Besides  F1 is the pinnacle of automotive engineering, the place where new technology can be developed quickly. We’re already seeing this in endurance racing, particularly the American Le Mans Series, which is embracing everything from algal fuel to hybrid drivetrains. F1 should do the same.

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Formula One racing is a difficult beast to master, with team, car and driver all striving in unison to deliver the best possible performance. There’s no doubt that collectively the package is greater than the sum of its parts, but if we’re dealing in cliches, then it’s important to remember that winning is in the detail, and in F1 racing there is nothing more important than details.

The ultimate representation of this is the car itself. From nose to tail, the design of a car embodies a team’s pursuit of perfection. Any element, however small, can make or break a race, even a season, and within every car, every part has been honed (and honed some more) to ensure it won’t let the team down.

Easy to overlook, and often overshadowed by those much-talked-about tyres that surround them, wheels are an interesting case in point. An insignificant, homogenous chunk of metal that all teams run they are not. In fact, the rivalry between the sport’s wheel manufacturers is just as fierce as that between engine suppliers and the work that goes into a team’s wheels easily rivals that for any other component.

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Although he is scheduled to get back behind the wheel of a 2007-spec Formula One car at Fiorano on Monday morning, Ferrari have confirmed that driver Felipe Massa will not return to competition this season.

Massa, who fractured his skull in a qualifying crash at July’s Hungarian Grand Prix, underwent a medical in Paris on Friday and Saturday, which established that he is fit enough to return to the test track. However, the Italian team don’t want to rush the Brazilian’s return to the Formula One grid.

“At the Fiorano track, Felipe Massa will get back behind the wheel of a Formula One car,” said a statement released by Ferrari. “This is in no way a proper test session and looking at the stopwatch will not be on the agenda.

There will be plenty of time for that in 2010, when, alongside Fernando Alonso, he will begin development work of the new single-seater. It is simply an opportunity for Felipe to renew his acquaintance with his natural environment, namely the race track.

“It is significant but in no way does it signify a return to competition in the near future. In fact, based on a previously taken decision and after an informal medical examination in Paris a few days ago.

Which proved rather positive, but not enough to endorse a return to competition in the next two months, Felipe and the team want to proceed gradually and without any hurry to recover as well as possible from the effects of the accident.

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After announcing last month that it wouldn't compete in Formula One next season, BMW said Tuesday it has found a buyer for its racing team. Qadbak Investments, the Swiss-based foundation that ... 

Roma, 24 Giugno - I bookmaker non hanno dubbi: il prossimo circuito metropolitano della Formula 1 sarà quello di Roma. Il progetto di Maurizio Flammini, che vuole portare nel 2012 un Gran Premio nella capitale,è un'ipotesi che ha trovato l'iniziale entusiasmo di Bernie Ecclestone, ma anche dei bookmaker esteri che, già a febbraio - quando venne presentata l'idea - ritenevano probabilissima, a 1,80, l'eventualità di un Gp nella capitale. Altre novità metropolitane nel calendario dei circuiti? Parigi è a 4,30 e Londra a 12,00.

When the FIA’s planned budget cap was announced it quickly became a lightning rod for controversy amongst the established teams. For others, however, the cost cuts meant some long-held Formula One dreams were given a potential green light. The FIA is due to release the 2010 entry list on Friday and it could include up to 13 names. We run down the main contenders hoping to join (or in some cases, rejoin) the Formula One paddock next season…

Long before the entry period opened, F1 veterans Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson made public their plans to launch a US-based Formula One team, to prove ‘that American technology, American drivers and the American competitive spirit can compete and win on the F1 global stage’. The pair are ambitious and experienced. British-born Windsor is a former Williams team manager and is best known as an F1 commentator on US television, while American engineer Anderson, recently responsible for the Windshear wind tunnel facility, reprises the technical director role he held with the Ligier F1 team back in the ‘80s. They have already moved into a base in Charlotte, North Carolina, and have started to hire key personnel ahead of a bigger recruitment push in the autumn. They have also begun drawing up a shortlist of prospective American drivers.

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The struggling squad will introduce a new rear diffuser, similar to that run by pacesetters Brawn, for the first time.

BMW had hoped to fight for the title this year after a brilliant 2008 season when they nearly got on terms with F1 giants McLaren and Ferrari.But so far it has been an utter disaster.

Polish ace Robert Kubica - a championship contender this time last year - has yet to score a single point.

Team-mate Nick Heidfeld has only picked up six points and the well-funded Swiss-based squad are an embarrassing eighth in the team standings.

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Timo Glock and Toyota were fastest during the seventh and penultimate day of Formula One's marathon Bahrain test.Windy conditions made it difficult for the drivers but did not stop them from running.

Glock logged 132 laps as once again Toyota ran without major drama."That was another good day for us," Glock said.

"We didn't have any major problems and we again made it through a lot of work. We concentrated on setup and went through our program smoothly.

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The Ferrari F60 is the first F1 car to be unveiled that conforms in full to the radical new design regulations – that will apply this season  to the most prestigious motor racing championship in the world.The good news is that it is not quite as hideous as many had been anticipating.

The bad news is that it is still pretty ghastly.But Ferrari's designers cannot be blamed for the most unappealing aspects of the car, the dodgem-style extensive front wing and the narrow, high rear wing, as the dimensions of these elements are stipulated in the regulations in an attempt to promote ease of overtaking.

These eyesores are mitigated by the swoop of the long, eagle-like nose, and the overall impression is aided, as ever, by Ferrari's traditional scarlet hue.All the same, this must be one of the least visually appealing cars that has ever emerged from the factory at Maranello, right up there with the squat, barn-door winged monstrosities of the 1980s.

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