F1 and all kinds of Auto Racing

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Toro Rosso in final discussions with its drivers

Scuderia Toro Rosso is the only Formula 1 team who has yet to announce its drivers for the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship. Many would expect to see the team's 2006 drivers, Liuzzi and Speed, again in Melbourne but there are still rumours that they could be replaced.

Drivers such as Narain Karthikyan and Tiago Monteiro were mentioned as a possible replacement for Liuzzi or Speed. But team boss Gerhard Berger has said his 2006 duo is in pole position for the race seat in the upcoming year. "I think our two '06 drivers are in pole position. Most likely we are going this route, but it is not done yet," Berger told F1.com. "We are still working on our driver side. So far it was not the right time to make any announcement as we are in final discussions with our drivers. The moment we are ready, we will make it public."

Berger furthermore wanted to state that the driver deal has nothing to do with the budget they could bring (or not). "Money is not an issue," Berger said. "We are trying to get the best guys in our cars. We are looking for performance. Money is more than welcomed, but on the other side we are totally performance orientated and it is the performance that will get a driver a cockpit and not a hand waving a cheque. If our main criteria were money, we would have done this already."

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Allianz extends Williams engagement

Allianz has extended its Formula One sponsorship. This renewed engagement originating in 2000 is the eighth consecutive season Allianz will be involved in Formula One and with AT&T Williams.

"The affiliation between Allianz and Formula One has proven its worth over the years," says Steven Althaus, responsible for Marketing Communications at Allianz. "Heading into 2007, the Allianz F1 strategy will consist of three main elements. These include our on-track and pitlane branding at eight key races which will continue to drive the brand presence across Allianz's strategic and emerging markets. Also, the renewed association with long-standing partners, AT&T Williams, allows us to bring our F1 engagement to life via a tangible team connection whilst our activation strategy will continue to focus on road safety."

"We are delighted to extend our important association with Allianz and assist them in their engagement with Formula One as a whole." Says Frank Williams, Team Principal of AT&T Williams. "We value our longstanding partnership with this truly global financial services company and are looking forward rewarding their support on the race track."

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Renault takes step forward at Barcelona

The Renault F1 team completed a three-day test programme at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday evening happy that it had made another step forward in the development of its 2007 car.

The final day was not without drama. Giancarlo Fisichella suffered a mechanical failure towards the end of the morning, and was only able to begin the major part of his programme in the afternoon.

Heikki Kovalainen was scheduled to complete a major set-up development programme, but his day was cut short by mechanical problem that proved to be minor, but required lengthy work on his car.

"This was once again a very busy test for the team, with race and qualifying simulations on the first day, followed by set-up programmes on the next two," explained Renault's chief test engineer Christian Silk. "We got through a lot of the programme and made some good progress, but we still have some unanswered questions - which is why we are looking forward to testing in Bahrain next week. We are taking a step forward at each test, we are feeling more confident about our package, and that was the case again this week. We will use the data collected this week in Barcelona as the starting point for our work next week. Conditions will be the hottest we have encountered so far, and we will be able to focus on doing plenty of set-up work with the car. The first race is approaching quickly, so there's no time to lose!"

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Toyota has plenty to do in Bahrain

The Toyota team is next scheduled to have two weeks of testing at Bahrain beginning on February 22. This will be the first time that Toyota has tested at the circuit in the Middle East and it should give the team valuable warm weather data as it continues its preparations for the 2007 season.

The team completed its test at Barcelona on Wednesday with Ralf Schumacher and Franck Montagny at the wheel. On Ralf's first visit to the modified version of the Circuit de Catalunya, he tried out the new seamless shift gearbox for the first time and worked on set up for most of his day. Franck spent the morning doing long runs to check the car's behaviour with different solutions. Late in the morning he stopped out on the track due to a gearbox control problem. The team took the chance to carry out a routine engine change and he returned to the track shortly after lunch.

"For Ralf this was the first chance to run with the new gearbox and to see the new modified circuit here in Barcelona," said chief engineer Dieter Gass. "Because he only had one day of running here, he was focusing mainly on set-up work and not doing too many long runs. Franck suffered a gearbox control problem this morning so that meant he didn't do all the running that we had planned. He was doing long runs and had already been interrupted by quite a few red flags, which was a pity. But then we created one of our own so we can't really complain. Still, we will get some data from the interrupted long runs that he did."

"Overall in these three days we have worked very efficiently on the reliability of the car and we've gained some useful information on the car set-up," he added. "On the other hand we've also seen that we have a lot of work to do before Melbourne so we will continue to push hard."

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Toro Rosso manages shakedown

On Tuesday, the Scuderia Toro Rosso crew was robbed of the chance of seeing its new car make its track debut, when a red flag stopped the session with just five minutes of test time remaining.

But on Wednesday, Tonio Liuzzi was able to reward them with the perfect Valentine's Day gift of 43 relatively trouble-free shakedown laps.

"The last few weeks have been a real rush for all of us," said Chief Engineer, Laurent Mekies. "So it was great to see our new car finally running and completing a respectable 43 laps. This was very much a shakedown and systems check, with no thought of setting quick lap times."

"Now, we must push very hard over the coming weeks to make up for the fact we have only started running quite late," he added. "Like everyone else, our next step is the test at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, starting on 22 February."

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Fisichella: Ferrari is ahead of us

The Renault team busied themselves with Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen in Spain. The team is currently getting ready for the opening race of the 2007 Formula 1 season. Giancarlo Fisichella believes the team is well underway, but the Italian believes the team is not running with the best package just yet.

Speaking about this week's test programme Fisichella told GPUpdate.net: "The reliability is quite good. We need a bit more speed, but we're moving in the right direction. It's difficult to find a good balance, because the grip of the tyres is quite low. We still have work to do, but we're moving in the right direction."

Fisichella believes there are three teams to keep an eye on in Renault's race for the championship. "I think Ferrari looks very good on the long runs. BMW looks good, just like McLaren. I expect to see McLaren much quicker than they were last year," said Fisichella. "In Barcelona, McLaren look similar to our pace, Ferrari seems very good on the race distance, especially in the first laps. I'm sure they did a good job and they have good data from the past, even if the tyre is different. It's Bridgestone, so it's more or less the same. I think they (Ferrari) have an advantage. I think we're al little bit down on Ferrari, but we have great potential."

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Red Bull hopeful of pace

It is an often cited statement that setting quick lap times in winter testing means nothing at all come the start of the season, but the Red Bull Racing team was hopeful that David Coulthard's leading pace on the final day of the Barcelona test was a sign of things to come.

"We are very pleased with the way this three day test has gone," said head of race and test engineering, Paul Monaghan. "And yes, it's nice to see David is quickest, at least for today, but more impressive is the fact he completed 116 laps."

"We can be happy with the mileage we have completed over the three days and also with the fact that our relationship with Renault and Bridgestone continues to improve, as has the overall performance and reliability of the car," he added. "Now we look forward to more work on both these parameters when we head off for hotter conditions at the Bahrain test, starting on 22 February."

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Ralf upbeat on new gearbox

Ralf Schumacher had plenty of praise for Toyota's new seamless shift gearbox after he tried it for the first time at Barcelona on Wednesday. He completed 86 reliable laps at the wheel.

"We went through pretty much everything we had planned so that was a productive day for us," Ralf said. "I also tried the new seamless shift gearbox for the first time. It is definitely a step forward and it worked well so we did a good job there. Now we have to keep pushing over the last few tests before the new season."

Ralf was also upbeat about the changes to the Barcelona circuit, "This was my first visit to the Barcelona track in its new format with the additional chicane in the final section," he added. "For sure it's safer so they have achieved that objective very well but it's very tight so it makes it a bit more difficult to drive the circuit. Today the conditions were very slippery due to the wind so it was a bit harder for the drivers."

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Doornbos splits with manager

Red Bull Racing test driver Robert Doornbos will not continue to work with his manager Marco Zecchi. Zecchi was Doornbos' manager since 2003 when the Dutchman was racing in the F3000 series. The duo ended their contract this month.

Doornbos has ended his contract with Zecchi as he wants to race in the American ChampCar series this season. Doornbos was in Houston this week for a two-day test with ChampCar team Minardi Team USA.

The 25-year-old showed his form as he set the fourth fastest time on the clocks in his first day of testing in Houston.

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Raikkonen: No problem racing with Schumi

Kimi Raikkonen will be starting his first season with Ferrari in 2007 and says that it would not have made any difference to his decision to join the team if Michael Schumacher had not retired.

"They are free to choose whoever they want as my team colleagues," the Finn told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I never asked the team who would be racing next to me," reiterating that at the time of signing his contract he did not know the futures of either Schumacher or Ross Brawn.

The 27-year-old also admitted that he does not take much notice of what the Italian press writes.

"I have no time to read that. I surf on the internet a lot and check out the kart races. I like Italy; I already spent a lot of time here during my karting days when I was young. The mentality is something quite different from Finland. I find it pretty funny," he added.

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Tilke wants more street circuits

Formula One track-designer Herman Tilke is backing the introduction of more street circuits. He believes that they will bring fans closer to the action than out of city tracks, built on vast plots.

"I think, there is a trend to get the tracks to the fans and not the other way around, and closer to the fans naturally suggests racing in the cities," Tilke told autosport.com.

"And for obvious reasons you can hardly build permanent racetracks in the middle of a town, so you then come logically to street circuits. The second reason, and Monte Carlo is the best example, is that a street circuit creates a very special atmosphere," he said.

However, Tilke did admit that this is easier said than done

"Then again, street circuits also create a great deal of trouble, even more so when a race has not grown over the years such as the Monaco Grand Prix has," Tilke added.

"Everyone in Monte Carlo is aware, than once a year they cannot move as they want, they might be handicapped in parking their cars, in getting to their apartment, opening their store and so on.

"Reasons like that make it very difficult to adapt a town to a new race. And that might be ultimately the reason why we had so few street races in the younger history of Grand Prix racing.

"If, however, you have an area that is new anyway - as it is the case both in Abu-Dhabi and in South Korea - then you can build everything with all that in your mind.

"Straight away you can tell future owners of the flats or the houses that once a year there might be trouble, but that racing brings has also some advantages," he added.

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Barcelona pace important - de la Rosa

McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa has tried to play down his team's pace during testing at Barcelona this week saying you can't really read much into testing times. However he insisted that times at Barcelona were usually the best indicator of true pace.

"I often say that the times in testing are not that important," de la Rosa commented. "However in Barcelona it's slightly different because if you can be fast at this track there is a likelihood that you will be quick on the other tracks as well. As a result this is a great circuit for testing and for that reason it's good to be fast here."

"However as always it's difficult to predict where you are compared to the competition as we are all running different programmes," he added. "All I can say is that we are comfortable with our testing and where we are with the different fuel loads."

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Bridgestone confident on tyres for Barcelona

The Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona has traditionally been tough on tyre wear and with modifications made over the winter, Bridgestone was keen to get a sense of how the demands might have changed during this week's major test at the circuit.

"We have learnt that the Hard compound specification is, in our opinion, a correct choice for this circuit," revealed Bridgestone's Kees van de Grint. "Positively, it was proven by some teams that you can run with the tyre for a full stint with good degradation results. It was nice to see that the tyre was capable of setting the quickest lap time at the end of the stint."

"The new corner has not provided any surprises from a tyre point of view," he added. "That part of the circuit, especially on Monday, was quite slippery but that is normal and is what you would expect from new tarmac. Other than that it was no issue for us concerning the tyres."

"From what we have seen so far in testing there is no reason to change the specification of the tyres we have produced, we have produced a good tyre for the teams to race on for this season," he went on. "It was not a surprise that teams could run for so long on one set of tyres. We think we did our homework quite well in the winter and I think the tyres are quite suitable. Having said that, we need to bear in mind that we will go to a much hotter climate in the future."

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Willis eyeing F1 return

Former Honda Racing technical director Geoff Willis wants to return to Formula One when the right opportunity arises. Willis left Honda Racing after Shuhei Nakamoto was promoted above him last season but now he feels he is ready for the next challenge.

"It's too early to start making approaches to teams at the moment," Willis told Autosport magazine. "But I am keen to work with a team that has got the proper resources to get the job done.

"I think I've got a broad experience across a number of disciplines and I've been successful in getting disparate groups of people to work together," he added.

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Renault and McLaren ahead of rest - Symonds

Renault engineering director Pat Symonds says McLaren is the only team that is rivalling his in terms of reliability in winter testing.

"Our main objective was to complete as many kilometres before the opening race this year, as we did last," Symonds said. "Given that we are on track fewer days, that means we have had to push pretty hard on reliability to get where we want to be. The forthcoming tests in Bahrain are an added motivation, because when you are running so far from home, you want the car running as well as possible."

"Looking at the numbers, though, we seem to be achieving our goals: our mileage, along with that of McLaren, is well ahead of the rest of our competitors," he added. "And that's gratifying to see."

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Renault exits GPMA

The RenaultF1 team today informed the GPMA that it has left the organisation with immediate effect. The French team believes that in order to achieve constructive dialogue with the FIA on the future direction of the sport, it is important to work in consultation with all manufacturers participating in Formula 1, including Ferrari and Toyota.

A Renault statement that was released today furthermore said: Renault has reinforced its long-term commitment to the sport through an engine supply deal with Red Bull Racing beginning in 2007, and looks forward to collaborating with its fellow manufacturers and the FIA on a future vision for the sport that will produce an improved on-track show; and generate meaningful cost reductions for the long-term sustainability of the sport.

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Renault struggling for single-lap pace

Renault engineering director Pat Symonds says that while his team has enjoyed one of the most reliable winter testing periods of all and that the long-run pace of his cars is good, the R27 is still struggling to get the most out of the Bridgestone tyre over one lap.

"Back in November, we said that our objective was to learn our lessons by the time we reached Melbourne," Symonds said. "We are not in Australia yet, and we haven't learned all our lessons either! I think we are in a good position in terms of tyre degradation, but we have not yet unlocked the secret of getting performance out of the tyres on the first lap."

"Ideally, you would throw lots of sets of new tyres at the problem - but under the new tyre allocations for testing, that's not really an option," he added. "This is all part of the learning process you go through when you change tyre supplier, and we are discussing the matter with Bridgestone, and learning with them as well."

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Heidfeld plays down expectations

Nick Heidfeld has played down many of the comments going around recently that the BMW Sauber car is currently the quickest out there. Heidfeld's comments come after both Felipe Massa and Gerhard Berger singled out the Hinwil-based team's performance in winter testing.

"It's nice to hear other people saying how quick we are but we still don't really know," Heidfeld insisted. "Until we get to Melbourne no one really knows what the other teams are doing"

"We have the pace but we still need to work on reliability," he added. "I know its easier to work on the reliability of a fast car than improving the pace of a reliable one."

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Bridgestone happy with 2007 tyre

Bridgestone is happy with the way the harder tyre for 2007 has worked out. Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone's head of track engineering operations said that progress has been very positive.

"From what we have seen so far in testing there is no reason to change the specification of the tyres we have produced, we have produced a good tyre for the teams to race on for this season," de Grint said. "It was not a surprise that teams could run for so long on one set of tyres. We think we did our homework quite well in the winter and I think the tyres are quite suitable. Having said that, we need to bear in mind that we will go to a much hotter climate in the future."

"The tyres are a number of steps harder than we would use at the same circuit in a competitive environment but we have to remember that these tyres are still very high performance tyres," he added.

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Symonds sees four-way fight

Renault engineering director Pat Symonds expects a four-way fight for the championship this season. The F1 veteran sees McLaren, Ferrari and BMW as Renault's main challengers for the championship.

"To be honest, it has been quite hard to judge because things have been a bit up and down, but I would say that on balance, McLaren and Ferrari have been pretty equal at the front, and BMW are right up there too," Symonds said. "But all the usual caveats apply - this is winter testing, and you cannot be sure of the fuel loads other people are running. It is still too early to work out an exact classification."

Back at Renault Symonds is happy with the way things are going since Alonso left.

"I think everything seems to be gelling very nicely," he added. "We spent Monday in Barcelona working on the race team procedures, and preparing for the key moments of the weekend such as qualifying. We know that things are going to be very tight this season, and that all the small details will make a real difference. The team is in a strong position in that respect."