Renault F1 Techical Chief Demands Major Changes

Renault’s chief technician Bob Wells has said that he wants major changes to the Renault formula 1 racing car.  His aim is to bring the Renault R28 in line with other competitors by the end of the season, he wants major improvements on the car to give Renault back the competitive edge it enjoyed three season ago with Fernando Alonso.

“I think just needing to improve is a bit of an understatement,” Bell said. “We need a tidal wave of change to move us back where we want to be, but that’s what we’re here to do.”

“Our biggest issue is the car’s aerodynamics, but there are also mechanical improvements we can make,” he added.

Renault are addressing the aerodynamics issue with a new aero package for Barcelona, they will be testing the new package over the next two weeks that could give the car .5 of a second extra. This will be the first step in improving the R28, Bell added Renault that the aero package is only the first stage of improvements and promised more will follow after Barcelona.

Michael Schumacher to Test Slicks In Barcelona

Michael Schumacher is set to return next week to test slick tyres on the Ferrari F2008 at Catalunya.  The German driver was invited to test the returning Bridgestone slicks next week on the Barcelona racing circuit.

A Ferrari representative said “Michael Schumacher will be testing with our team on Wednesday. He will mainly focus on the development of slick tyres – the tyres that will be used in 2009. Felipe Massa will be testing on Monday and Tuesday while Kimi Raikkonen will be in the car on Thursday.”

Ferrari have already used Schumacher for testing during pre season and I feel it is good that they have not forgotten the skills that he has, they can obviously see the benefit of having a racing veteran on the team.

Bahrain Finishes With A Ferrari 1 And 2 | See Results Here

Felipe Massa gained a much needed 10 points by recording his first win (and finish) of the 2008 formula 1 racing season. Felipe stormed off the line to overtake Robert Kubica and lead from the front for the entire race – this really was his race.

BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica lost second place to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the third lap.  He also had an excellent race and finished in third place behind Raikkonen.

The start of the race did not go well for Lewis Hamilton who had a slow start off of the line and lost seven places on the run up to the first corner.  Things went from bad to worse when Hamilton collided into the back of rival Fernando Alonso’s Renault causing major damage to his front wing.  When Hamilton emerged from the pits he was in 17 th place and after a hard fought race finished out of the points in 13 th place.

Alonso finished in 10th place after a hard fought battle with Rubens Barrichello who finished in 11th. Here are the full results from today’s race:

1  Felipe Massa
    
2  Kimi Räikkönen
    
3  Robert Kubica
    
4  Nick Heidfeld
    
5  Heikki Kovalainen
    
6  Jarno Trulli
    
7  Mark Webber
    
8  Nico Rosberg
    
9  Timo Glock
    
10  Fernando Alonso
    
11  Rubens Barrichello
    
12  Giancarlo Fisichella
    
13  Lewis Hamilton
    
14  Kazuki Nakajima
    
15  Sebastien Bourdais
    
16  Anthony Davidson
    
17  Takuma Sato
    
18  David Coulthard
    
19  Adrian Sutil
    
Ret  Nelsinho Piquet
    
Ret  Jenson Button
    
Ret  Sebastian Vettel
    

Lewis Hamilton Has A Nightmare In Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton will be glad that today’s race is over after a nightmare race that resulted in him gaining zero points.  The race started badly with Lewis getting an extremely slow start off of the line, drivers overtook and swerved to avoid Hamilton which resulted in him dropping to tenth place behind arch rival Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton fought frantically to try and regain places and pushed hard until he crashed into the back of an unusually slow Fernando Alonso.  The crash resulted in Lewis losing his front wing which meant he had to nurse his Mclaren back to the pits for a new one.  Unfortunately by the time he had rejoined the race he was in 17 th place.

To make matters worse Hamilton’s car seemed to have taken on damage as he fought to control a slow Mclaren for the remainder of the race. Hamilton eventually finished in 13th place which is a far cry from the podium he was hoping for.  Mclaren will be working hard with Hamilton and his car to make sure he is right back on form for Barcelona in three weeks time.

One question that many people are asking is: Did Alonso break or slow down to cause the accident in lap 2?  We will keep you posted on that!

Felipe Massa Wins At Bahrain Grand Prix

Felipe Massa has answered his critics by recording his first win of the 2008 formula 1 racing season in a race that never looked in any doubt.  Felipe started in second place on the grid behind Robert Kubica but got a good start off the line and charged ahead by the time he had reached the first corner.  After that he dominated the race and lead from the front chased by team mate Kimi Raikkonen and BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica who also had a great weekend gaining his second podium finish in as many races.

There has been huge speculation surrounding Felipe Massa over the last two weeks after his failure to finish in the first two races of 2008.  The media has criticised Massa and has hinted he may be on his way out of Ferrari at the end of this season to make way for rival Fernando Alonso who has also made suggestions that he would be joining Ferrari at some stage. Today’s victory has certainly answered the critics and will hopefully see Felipe challenging more during future races.

Post Qualifying Press Conference Bahrain Grand Prix

Drivers: 1st place  Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), 1m33.096s; 2nd place Felipe Massa (Ferrari), 1m33.123s; 3rd place Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 1m33.292s.

Q: Congratulations, a fantastic day for you and quick too in Q2, third fastest without fuel on board, so a great day for you.
Robert Kubica: Yeah, I think after yesterday’s good work in free practice two we have developed quite a lot. Qualifying went pretty well: Q1 and Q2 but Q3 I managed to do quite a good lap and got on pole position for the first time.

Q: I’m sure it was more than quite a good lap. Let’s talk about that lap and also your emotions as you heard it was your first pole.
RK: Well, I started the lap pretty well, then in corner nine I locked the front wheels and unfortunately I flat-spotted the tyres, so it was not easy. I had a very big vibration and in the last three corners which are right-handers, it was very difficult but I managed not to make a mistake. The car was pulling to one side under braking but still it was enough for pole and I’m very happy.

Q: It’s as if you now have to patent your Robert Kubica weight-loss diet. You lost six kilos before the season started, how much of a factor is that in your performance this year?
RK: I don’t know. It’s difficult to say but we have seen that with lighter drivers, if I was lighter, I would go a bit quicker, so I decided with my engineer to make a maximum effort to reduce weight from the car and from myself and I worked hard and this is the kind of result we can get from it. It was maximum effort, very hard for myself, but still I managed it.

Q: Felipe, on the front row of the grid, you’ve been sensationally quick all weekend, very very fast in Q2, it looks as if you lost a little bit of time towards the end of sector two on your final qualifying run.
Felipe Massa: Yeah, I definitely lost… I did incredible laps during the whole weekend and the car was just perfect all the time, and just in Q3 was the only time that I was behind cars all the time. The first attempt, when I still set a good lap time, I was behind Nico the whole lap which was a shame because I managed to pull out a good gap and even braking for him to pass me, and then I did the whole lap behind him and it was already enough to maybe be close to pole, and the second try I was also held up by traffic. Fernando made a small mistake and let me by but it wasn’t a perfect lap. It’s a shame but in a way I think we have a great car, we’ve shown great performance and I think we can be very strong tomorrow.

Q: Lewis, a spectacular accident yesterday, we all saw that, but a great recovery today to be third but I guess the Ferrari speed this morning and in Q2 was very impressive from your point of view.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, definitely, they seem to have outstanding pace at the moment, but going into qualifying I was quite happy with the balance that I had and I knew that we would be able to challenge at least for the front row. We’re third, very very happy with that. I think it was a reasonably decent lap. For sure, as always, there’s time to gain and I think inevitably if it was a perfect lap, we probably could have had pole but I’ll go back and I’ll study it and look forward to the race but I think we have a good strategy and I think tomorrow will be quite interesting.

Q: Talk us through the effects of an accident like that. You said you’re fine and probably there are no effects from your point of view, but what is the impact in terms of actual qualifying performance and indeed the race?
LH: For me, it makes absolutely no difference. I get back in the car and I go faster. I think today I actually went quicker through that corner than I did yesterday, the first lap I did. I think that’s important to really knock down that barrier and bounce back. I never have problems with that. I’ve had plenty of experiences in my career.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Robert, congratulations, it was interesting to see you being congratulated by all the other drivers when you were weighing in downstairs. What does it mean to you to be on pole for the first time?
RK: Well, of course, after missing the opportunity in Australia I’m very happy not to have to wait too long for another one and we’ve got it here. I think a very important job was done yesterday in free practice developing the set-up. Q1 and Q2 were so-so but Q3 runs were already good. Already the first run in Q3 was very good but I made a mistake in the last corner and the second run was much better but I had a small flat spot in corner nine, braking into corner ten and there was quite a lot of vibration from the tyre, the car was pulling to one side, and I was not expecting to be on pole after this mistake but of course I’m very happy.

Q: How much have you expected this kind of performance this year?
RK: We were all expecting to be strong. Looking at the numbers in the wind tunnel during the winter and simulations of the new car, I was expecting it to be a very strong car but at the beginning of the winter testing we faced some problems but the guys worked very hard and I think this is an example of never giving up, even if there are problems, pushing as hard as possible and we managed to be ready in Australia with what was nearly the full potential of the car but of course there is still work to do. We will try to do our best and improve the car even more.

Q: Last year’s pole man, Felipe Massa, sitting alongside. You’ve been so quick all weekend, you were fastest this morning by over 0.7s, were you a bit disappointed to be second on the grid?
FM: Well, in a way I’m happy with second, looking at how we look in the race, but for sure, I think even in Q3, looking at what we did in Q2, it was really possible to be in front. I was a little bit unlucky with traffic in Q3, I was always behind cars and I couldn’t do very clean laps but it’s good to be second, good to start in the front and I think we can be very strong tomorrow as we have shown all weekend.

Q: What was the tyre choice like? It was interesting in qualifying that most drivers seemed to go out on mediums and then on softs at the end?
FM: Well, for sure soft in qualifying is always the best and for the race we need to analyse tonight the best situation, how the track is going to be, how the grid is going to be, even taking the data from today but I don’t think we have a lot of problems with the tyres here. Both seem pretty reasonable.

Q: Lewis, disappointed to be third after second last year?
LH: No, I wouldn’t say it’s disappointing but for sure we would prefer to be on pole, but I still think we… The team have done a great job to recover from the accident I had yesterday, the team stayed up all night, so a big thank you to them for preparing the car. It was great today. As Robert was saying, we all knew we were going to be very close this weekend. Felipe was extremely quick, but we knew that we would be competing for a top three place for sure and I think these guys both did a great job. I was quite happy with my lap but there are always improvements that you can make but we’re in a good position for the start tomorrow, so I am quite happy.

Q: Both of the Finns including your team-mate behind you, of course.
LH: Yes. What can I say really? It’s good for me and I just need to make sure we get off to a good start tomorrow and we can try and pace ourselves from there.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Panos Seitanidis – Drive Magazine) Question for Robert. First of all, do you think there’s going to be a big party back home in Poland, and secondly, do you think that BMW has the race pace to have the same position tomorrow?
RK: I think that after the second place in Malaysia there were high expectations in Poland and I’m confident about the race as well. Yesterday we did some long runs and they went pretty OK and I think Ferrari was clearly the fastest but in the race anything can happen and we will now try to analyse the data and prepare for tomorrow’s race as much as possible.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Felipe, you had been the fastest all the time in the first sector but it seemed that you lost time in Q3 in the second sector in both outings. Any problem there?
FM: No, no problem. I think on the first attempt I was pretty slow in the second and third sector because I was behind Rosberg during the whole lap, and on the last attempt I passed Fernando just before turn nine, but I don’t think he held me up. I don’t think there was any problem.

Q: (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) Robert, you undertook a slimming programme before the start of the season. Why did you decide to go on a diet and what kind of diet did you do?
LH: Stop having KFC and everything.
RK: We decided for some technical reasons to reduce the weight as much as possible and I tried to do my best in February and March and it was not easy because in the end, now I think I am weighing much less than normal, even for the average of 1.85m driver but still, it produces quite a good gain in the performance and I think this was in some way also the key to be so strong at the beginning of the season.

Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) Question for all of you: is it a big advantage to start on the clean side of the track here?
RK: This year it’s more difficult to get a perfect start because without all the electronic systems there is more benefit to do everything perfectly than from side to side. Even if you are on the clean side, if something goes wrong, you lose much more than someone who is on the dirty side and makes a good start.
FM: Well, it depends what sort of start you can make. For sure, if I need to chose, I always prefer the clean side but if you look at last year, I think you can see a good start as well. He (Lewis) almost passed me in turn one but I think you can also be strong on the dirty side, so let’s wait and see tomorrow.
LH: For me I think last year starting second I got a slightly worse start than Felipe but I think it’s going to be quite equal but I’m happy with being on the clean side, that’s for sure.

Hamilton Crashes Out Of Bahrain Practice

Lewis Hamilton ended today’s practice session in dramatic fashion when he lost control of his mclaren f1 racing car and crashed it into a barrier.

Lewis lost control coming out of the fast chicane at the seventh corner of the course, just when it looked like he might regain control he ran out of room and hit the barrier with enough force to dislodge both front wheels. 

Hamilton still managed to place in fourth place for todays practice session with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikonnen and Felipe Massa leading the way with the two fastest times of the day. Heikki Kovalainen came in third with a time of 1m 32.752s seconds. The BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica came in a close fith place and Nick Heidfeld drove well and deserved the sixth fastest time.

All in all Friday’s practice day was promising and this weekend’s race should prove to be a close battle between a few teams. Not just Mclaren and Ferrari.

Qualifying Rule Changes Announced By FIA

The FIA have announced that they have changed the rules that govern driver in laps at the end of qualifying.  The change has been made after the last grand prix in malaysia which sore the two mclaren cars impede the final qualifying lap of Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso.  This was deemed to be unfair and also extremely dangerous.

After completing their final qualifying lap the two Mclarens drove slowly back to the pit lane in the racing line of the track, this resulted in Heidfeld having to quickly alter his path to avoid a nasty accident.

“Our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time that we will set,” an FIA spokesman confirmed to Reuters.

“This could be approximately 120 percent of the normal time as we do to prevent drivers going very slowly to the grid (on the pre-race formation lap) to save fuel.”

This change will greatly improve safely but will mean that cars start with less fuel for the main race, we think the rule is a good addition as it ensures safety for all drivers and also prohibits drivers impeding each other. The new rules will come in to use during the next grand prix in Bahrain.

Kimi Raikkonen Wins Malaysian Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen started on the front of the grid in second place along side team mate Felipe Massa.  Both ferrari’s started strongly with the two men in fine form setting the pace at the front.  Then disaster struck for Felipe Massa when he spun off the track and got stuck in the gravel trap. This strange moment gave Kimi the invite he needed to dominate the race from then on.

Robert Kubica came in second and thouroughly deserved it after a solid drive that kept the ferraris honest. Heikki Kovalainen came in third ahead of Jarno Trulli and team mate Lewis Hamilton. 

The race result means that Lewis Hamilton remains ahead in the drivers championship by three points ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. The next race in Bahrain is set to be a corker – we can’t wait!

Lewis Hamilton Has A Nightmare In Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton had a flyer last week in Australia and did not encounter any problems, this week was a complete contrast as Lewis seemed to have a complete nightmare in Sepang.

Hamilton’s woes began on Saturday when he and team mate Heikki Kovalainen were dropped five places on the grid for impeding Nick Heidfeld’s last qualifying lap. All seemed to be going well when Lewis managed to gain five places on the opening lap to claw his way back to fith place, he was then kept at bay by Red bulls Mark Webber. 

“I got a really good start and was pretty happy as we jumped five positions from ninth to fifth,” Said Hamilton. “I was pushing Mark for a very long time, but being behind someone, no matter how quick you are, it is really difficult to get past. We were in a good position for a shot at third place at least.”

Lewis went in for his first pit stop when disaster struck. The pitstop was supposed to get Hamilton back out on to the track into clear air for his middle stint but instead the front right wheel gun had some kind of malfunction that resulted in a loss of around 14 seconds which dropped him back to 11th place.

From this moment on the race was an uphil battle but Lewis continued to fight his way up the field to fith place. The afternoon could have been a lot worse and Lewis has gained four points from this weekend. Both he and Mclaren can now worry about Bahrain in two weeks time.

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