2010 Launches
Karun Chandhok to partner Senna at HRT
Mar 5th
The newly renamed Hispania Racing Team or HRT (formerly Campos Meta) announced their second driver as Karun Chandhok as the revealed their 2010 car on Thursday in Spain.
The 26 year old from India will partner Bruno Senna at HRT. Chad has had a lot of experience racing in GP2 and has shown some respectable form throughout the last few years.
HRT Team Principal Colin Kolles who spoke at the PR event said: “I am very pleased to use the Murcia site to officially unveil our car livery today. We also complete the driver’s team line-up with the Indian Karun Chandhok at the wheel of the car for our first ever season.”.
The Cosworth powered, Lola built HRT will have it’s first ever run during Friday free practice in Bahrain for the start of the 2010 season.
Lotus T127 officially breaks cover
Feb 13th
The dark green and yellow T127 which was revealed in London on Friday night made Lotus’s return to Formula1 official.
The team is being very realistic about their goals this year and they concentrated more on the importance of a long-term return to the sport and the herritage of Lotus and the passion that the brand evokes.
They made special mention to the Chapman family who founded lotus. Hazel Chapmam, the wife of Lotus founder Colin Chapman was present at the launch, as well as their son Clive. It was mentioned that the team had their blessing and that the family fully supported the team and the move back into F1.
Mike Gascoyne has a good, strong technical team behind him, many of them are from the ex Toyota F1 team and some from the Renault team. He said that the car had a very good base to build on for the future. Hinting that they are concentrating on just finishing races and reliability this year and maybe go for some points.
“The launch of the car is a very proud moment for the design team and the whole team,” said Gascoyne. “This one is very special for me personally for two reasons. Firstly the Lotus name coming back into F1 is something very special. I grew up in Norfolk, went to school five miles down the road from the original factory. I grew up in an era when Lotus was winning races and championships, so the opportunity to work with this team is very special. But also it is the challenge of bringing a new team and a new car into F1 in such a short space of time. We have a fantastic driver line-up who have put their faith in the whole design team.”
When asked about the car and it’s prospects in 2010, he said: “I think we’ve designed a very contemporary 2010-spec car. It’s not out of date, it’s very well designed, so I’m not worried – I think we’ve got a very solid base to build on”.
“We will be a very solid professional team. We’ll score some points and we’ll spring some surprises towards the end of the year.”
Lotus also have a good driver pairing this year. They have signed Ex-Toyota driver Jarno Trulli and ex-McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen. Lotus are the only of the ‘new’ teams to have signed such experienced high-profile drivers, no doubt with the expertise of Gascoyne, this team will surely be the most successful ‘newcomer’.
The lotus name will be allowed to carry on in F1 as a historic name, which, according to Mike Gascoyne, means that a win would be counted as Lotus’s 80th in F1, not the new team’s first. This obviously is not their goal, nor their focus for 2010, but it does appear if the team can build on such a strong foundation, then an 80th win for Lotus would be sometime in the not too distant future.
A Cleary extactic Tony Fernandes summed up his feelings by simply saying “Words can’t express how I feel today.”
The team on Thursday took the car out for a very brief straight-line test. Apparently the car performed well and they gathered valuable aero data from the short run.
Tony Fernandes has a bet running with Richard Branson, if Lotus finish ahead of Virgin in the points in 2010, Branson most don’t a pair of stockings and be a stewardess for a flight on one of Tony’s airline, AirAsia. If you ask my opinion, Richard should be worried, so far it seems like a safe bet by Tony based on Virgins performance so far in pre-season testing. I guess the proof will be in the pudding, but things don’t look too bad for Lotus.
The Lotus-Cosworth will be present at next weeks tests in Jerez, with both drivers swapping driving duties over the course of the week. There might be a lot of nostalgic Formula1 fans come out of the woodwork to see the Lotus return to the track again.
It’s another good news story for Formula1 this season. It’s going to be a cracker of a season!
Webber and Vettel unveil the RB6
Feb 10th
RedBull released images of it’s new car on Wednesday morning via it’s website, about an hour ahead of the official launch at Jerez where drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were on hand to pull back the covers on what they hope will be a championship winning car in 2010.
Adrian Newey has said the RB6 is a progression of last years car, however it has been designed from the outset with a double diffuser in mind and RedBull believe they will be successful this year with their new interpritation of the rear diffuser.
The RB6 has a scooped-out nose or chasis top, similar to last years car, however it is even more pronounced and dramatic on the RB6.
Last years car made use of the double diffuser part way through the season once they were deamed legal by the FIA, however RedBull were never able to full capitalise on the potential of the diffuser on the RB5 due to other mechanical parts of the car such as it’s rear suspension. Whilst the RB5 was successful and was able to put a huge dent into the lead the Brawns had made early on in the season, the team knows if the car was designed from the outset with a double diffuser in mind, they would have experience their success from the start of the season and could have won the 2009 championship as a result.
The RB6 is out on track today at the hands of Mark Webber. Many teams are treating today as a as a shakedown. RedBull should be out to prove their car is fast however after missing the first round of official tests due to spending some more time developing the car at their factory.
Below is a shot of Webber out on track this morning on his installation laps, this is the first glimpse the world has been able to get of the new dramatic double deck diffuser which was covered up and concealed from the press when the covers were pulled off the car:
Webber in the RB6 showing off the diffuser at Jerez
Webber will also test the car on Thursday before handing it over to 2009 runner-up Sebastian Vettel who will take over for Friday and Saturday.
There will be a lot of interest to see how the 2009 runner’s up compare to the current front runners in testing, the Ferrari F10.
Force India launches VJM03
Feb 9th
Force India on Tuesday revealed the 2010 VJM03 to the world via their website and social media streams.
Team Boss Vijay Mallya is clearly excited after a very successful 2009 season for the team and expects 2010 to be more of the same. Mallya says his team is aiming to score “more points and more podiums” in the 2010
“Our goal is to continue on the same path of performance improvement that we had at the end of 2009,” said Mallya.
“I don’t think I am being over-proud when I say 2009 was an exceptional year for us. The bare statistics say it all: one podium, one pole position, one fastest lap, a further five top 10 starts and 13 points.”
Mark Smith, the designer of the VJM03 also expects that Force India this year will be a solid points competitor.
“From the very beginning we designed the VJM03 in full knowledge of the engine and gearbox that we would be using for 2010, which gave us a significant advantage by comparison with respect to the same point in design time for VJM02″ he said.
Smith also claimed that Force India has not seen anything in rival cars to make the team worried. He admitted that they have concentrated on refining elements of the 2009 car that made it successful and more work has been done on the rear end of the car such as the double diffuser.
Force India will run the VJM03 for the first time on Wednesday at Jerez. They opted to miss the tests last week at Valencia to concentrate on more development time with the car. We will get to see the car in “the flesh” on Wednesday moring rather then via the teams website. RedBull will also be launching their much anticipated 2010 challenger on the same day.
A video stream of the VJM03 launch from Force India website is below:
Virgin Racing reveal the VR-01
Feb 3rd
Virgin racing today revealed it’s first ever Formula one car, the VR-01. We finally have a car on the grid in 2010 that hasn’t decided to copy the nose of the 2009 RedBull. Whether or not this is a good thing for the team is yet to be seen, however it might have something to do with the decission that the car was to be built soley using CFD or Computational Fluid Dynamics. Nick Wirth, the designer of the VR-01 believes that CFD is the future of formula1 and as a result the VR-01 has never seen a wind tunnel in it’s design process.
Nick Wirth might be on to something too, as we speak Day3 tests are taking place with the absence of last years runners up, RedBull Racing. Instead Adrian Newey has opted to do further development on the car using CFD, surely he’s knows what he’s talking about, he is widely regarded as the best aerodynamicist in the business.
Nick Wirth returns to formula1 from his days as Aerodynamicist and Chief Designer at Benetton during the glory days of Michael Schumacher winning the championship for the team just prior to switching to Ferrari.
The team might be new, but it has some good experience with Nick Wirth at the helm as Technical Director. “Today is a very proud day for everyone involved with Virgin Racing,…However on this occasion, where the car is the star, I want to pay tribute to all the amazing people at Wirth Research who deserve so much of the credit for the VR-01.” he stated.
In regards to the use of CFD, he commented: “I have absolute belief in the digital design process and the opportunity to put the all-CFD approach to the test at the highest level – to demonstrate that this could be the way for the future of F1 – is very, very exciting”
The team principal, John Booth went on to state: “Not only do we have a great bunch of people at Virgin Racing, we also have a great-looking car. We are delighted with our fantastic new livery which provides a fitting integration of our racing brand with our important commercial partnerships. All in all, we have a lot to look forward to as we progress towards our racing debut in Bahrain next month.”
Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi will be steering the VR-01 this season. Timo secured his drive after being left high and dry when Toyota pulled out of Formula1 at the end of last season and Lucas Di Grassi is one of a handful of drivers making their F1 debut this season.
It will be very intersting to see how the VR-01 compares to the other teams in testing. With virgin being the first of the “new teams” to launch their car, there will be much interest in their testing pace and it will certainly start debate on the importance of CFD vs. conventional wind tunnels.
Valencia: Day1 Testing Wrap-up
Feb 2nd
It was a busy day on Monday in Valencia with many 2010 cars breaking cover for the first time and the drivers stepping into their 2010 title contenders for the first time.
It was the first time the world got to have a look at the 2010 Toro Rosso, Williams and Mercedes W01.
RedBull and Force India were not present, instead opting to further develop their cars, also none of the ‘new’ teams on the grid this year were present.
Michael Schumacher finally stepped into the W01 after much anticipating. He was on the pace and very quickly bettered his team mate, Nico Roseberg’s, times. Schumacher was lapping in the mid 1:13.5′s before breaking into the low 1:13′s and even a very high 1:12.
The nose on the Mercedes W01 is a radical slopped nose similar to last years RedBull’s nose and the new Torro Rosso STR5 is and even more radical looking variation of the design.
Mercedes were the only team on the day run both their drivers on the day.
When asked about how he enjoyed his first day at the wheel of the W01, Schumacher responded: “It was a perfect roll-out for the new car today,” Schumacher commented. “I felt totally comfortable and really had a feeling that everything was very natural. It felt just like at the very beginning of my career in 1991 – when on the first lap, I thought, ‘Wow, that was really fast!’ and then on the second lap I was just extremely excited!
Schumacher “I feel like a young boy again and really enjoyed myself out there. We did a good job today, just making a few control checks, and the most important thing was that the car ran reliably. With Nico and I covering 79 laps between us, it was a superb job by the team.”
The big news of the day however was Filipe Massa’s successful return to Formula1 at the wheel of the new F10. He was on the pace from start to finish on the day. Ferrari’s F10 is already to be proving a far better package then lasts years car. Massa topped the morning sessions in the mid 1:13.5′s but then bettered his morning times to record a 1:12.574 which was not beaten. Massa however did record more laps then any other driver.
It was a dream start to the new season for Ferrari who’s reputation took a battering last year due to a very poor performance during the season and the loss of Filipe due to injury and lack of good reserve driver talent.
When massa stepped out of his car after his dream run, he said he felt “zero fear” he went on to say he was “happy to be back after such a long time watching the race on television and sometimes on the track,” he also said he felt very physically fit and could have easily done many more laps then he did.
A surprise pace-setter of the day was Pedro De la Rosa who managed to set the second fastest time of the day int he BMW-Sauber. He edged out both Rosberg and Schumacher in the Mercedes and Paffet in the McLaren to finish just two-tenths of a second of Massa’s fastest lap of the day.
Without getting too carried away, it is very hard to judge teams true pace this year during the pre-season testing, due to the large fuel tanks. The discrepency that is now possible between fuel loads means some cars could be running extremely heavy to do long distance runs and other teams could be cheating by only putting a small number of laps worth of fuel in their cars to impress the time sheets.
Williams seemed to struggle a little bit, with Rubins bringing out the red flag for a short time while his car was stopped out on track, however he managed to do over 70 laps in the car and set respectable pace ahead of the Torro Rosso and Renault team.
Renault were the slowest team of the day with Robert Kubica only managed a best time of 1:15 flat, however they managed to put in some decent track time with 69 laps.
On Tuesday we will see Hamilton step into the McLaren for the first time, with Jensen button taking over on the final day.
The times at the end of day 1 are as follows:
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:12.574, 102 Laps
2. Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber, 1:12.784, 74 Laps
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:12.947, 40 Laps
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:13.543, 39 Laps
5. Gary Paffett, McLaren, 1:13.846, 86 Laps
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:14.449, 75 Laps
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:14.762, 18 Laps
8. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:15.000, 69 Laps
Radical Renault R30 Revealed
Feb 1st
Renault on Sunday at Velencia revealed the R30 to the world with aggressive yellow and black livery, free from it’s previous sponsor, ING.
Renault announced their second driver (as expected) to be Russian Vitaly Petrov, who will partner Robert Kubica in their 2010 title campaign.
The Livery is a bit of a hark back to the similar paint job of the late 1970s and early 1980s which made Renault famous in Formula1.
Total oil seems to have a similar sponsorship deal again this year, with Renault making up the majority of the livery on the car previously occupied by ING.
Once again, like all this years cars, the R30 has a longer wheel base to last years Renault and is wider to accomodate it’s larger fuel tank.
Rookie, Petrov, was runner up in GP2 last season and is as the first Russian driver in Formula1. “The new car looks stunning and the colours remind everybody of Renault’s great history in the sport. I can’t wait to drive the car for the first time and start working with the team.” – He stated.
New Renault team boss Eric Boullier was present and admitted he was full of anticipation prior to the start of the new Formula1 season. He went on to say: “For Renault, this is particularly true of the 2010 season as we begin a new era for the team.”.
“We’ve been working flat-out during the winter to ensure that we begin the new season in the best shape possible. The R30 should be a competitive, strong and reliable car, and we’ve opted for an aggressive development strategy throughout the season. Now we’re here ready for the first test, and we’re all excited to see if the car performs as we think it will.”
Robert Kubica said: “The team has been working on the new car for a long time and it’s clear that we are moving in the right direction. Now we need to maximize the winter tests to keep up this momentum and continue improving the car. Our priority is to make the car easy to drive because the new rules favor cars that are not too sensitive; we need a car that behaves consistently in a wide range of conditions.”
Testing will start on Monday 1st February at Valencia where will will see the majority of the 2010 challengers on track, including the new R30 and Sauber which were both revealed on Sunday.
BMW Sauber C29 released
Feb 1st
Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi were on hand to pull back the covers on this years BMW Sauber C29. The word BMW is still in the teams name, however BMW are just getting free advertising since they no longer support the team, the model disgnation has been dropped and the car is now powered by a Ferrari engine and even uses other Ferrari components such as it’s gearbox.
This years Sauer, like other 2010 cars, has a longer wheel base and is also wider then last years car to accomodate that larger fuel tanks. It also sports a new Dorsal or ‘shark fin’ similar to that seen on the 2010 McLaren.
Technical director Willy Rampf described some of the changes to the car:
“The increased length of the fuel tank means the car has grown longer overall. And because they are slimmer, the front tyres will be more heavily worked, requiring weight to be shifted further towards the rear of the car.
An eye-catching feature of the C29 is its highly intricate raised nose. Also very distinctive is an extremely long undercut at the transition from chassis into underbody. These and other aerodynamic measures also help to ensure optimum airflow to the double diffuser. Further changes were required to integrate the Ferrari engine and, in particular, the Ferrari gearbox.”.
Technical specs of the c29 are as follows:
Chassis: Carbon-fibre monocoque
Suspension: Upper and lower wishbones (front and rear), inboard springs and dampers, actuated by pushrods (Sachs Race Engineering)
Brakes: Six-piston brake callipers (Brembo), carbon pads and discs (Brembo, Carbon Industries)
Transmission: Ferrari Seven-speed quick shift gearbox, carbon, longitudinally mounted, carbon-fibre clutch
Chassis electronics: MES
Steering wheel: BMW Sauber F1 Team
Tyres: Bridgestone Potenza
Wheels: OZ
Length: 4,940 mm
Width: 1,800 mm
Height: 1,000 mm
Track width, front: 1,495 mm
Track width, rear: 1,410 mm
Weight: 620 kg (including driver, tank empty)
Hamilton and Button take the covers off the MP4-25
Jan 30th
2008 World champion Lewis Hamilton and 2009 World champion Jensen button pulled back the covers on McLarens 2010 Formula1 challenger the MP4-25 today at the Vodafone (the teams main sponsor) headquarters in Newbury.
Jensen button admitted he hadn’t had a chance to really look at the new car and couldn’t wait to step off that stage and inspect it more closely. Besides testing the 2010 car in McLarens simulator, he has had next to no contact with the car in the metal.
The most obvious change, besides the narrow front wheels and longer wheel base which will be a trait of every 2010 challenger, is that the the MP4-25 has a dramatic shark fin or dorsal fin running from the top airbox and roll over bar back to the rear spoiler. The nose of the McLaren is also similar to the 2009 RedBull, just like Ferrari’s F10 which was revealed yesterday.
Lewis Hamilton said that the team had been pushing like crazy to get on the podium last year and that same push has driven them to produce a radical new design for the 2010 car…”We’ve been pushing like crazy to find the performance and the result is something that looks very special and very uncompromising.” he stated.
Team principal, Martin Whitmarsh was far from humble when he said that the MP4-25 was the most developed car McLaren had ever produced. He said that “Our goal is clear, we aim to win”.
The team clearly plan on taking the title fight to Ferrari, with Italian news sources today reporting that the 2010 title will be a battle between Alonso and Hamilton, riding on the back of the Ferrari F10 launch hype.
The tone at McLaren is that of harmony and team work. Button and Hamilton didn’t come across at all as bitter rivals, but quite the opposite, both drivers praising each other and sticking up for each other when the questions from the press gallery got a little below the belt.
Lewis Hamilton was diplomatic when he said “Both Jenson and I are world champions, and we both want to add to the team’s incredible winning legacy,” he went on to say: “I think a strong driver line-up will be very important this year as there are a lot of very competitive teams and drivers – and the stronger we can be, the better chance we’ll have of winning races. We all understand that.”
It is important to race as a team rather then having two drivers who are bitter rivals trying to beat each other race in and race out, that is because racing this way is high risk and as a result it can cost you points and cost your team the contructors title. The theme of todays reveal was that Jensen and Lewis are both comited to winning McLaren the 2010 contructors title.
Ferrari vow to return to the top with the F10
Jan 28th
Ferrari unveiled their 2010 challenger to the world today. The Maranello based outfit were the first of all the teams to launch their car for the 2010 Formula1 season.
After a dismal 2009 season Ferrari are keen to re-invent their image to their previous Glory. The new Ferrari F10 is the product of many months of development due to Ferrari’s decision to focus most of their energy developing the F10 only part way into the 2009 season due to their lack of success with the F60 (their 2009 contender).
A noticable difference between the F10 and last years F60 is that the 2010 car has a much longer wheel base, this is of course to accomodate the larger fuel tank. The F10 also has a narrower nose and the sidepods are also smaller on the F10 compared to last years car. The F10 is also sporting the new 2010 specification Bridgestone tyres which are narrower then last years. Ferrari have used a very similar nose on the F10 to RedBull’s 2009 contender that came close to winning last years championship.
The previously red front and rear wings that we have been used to seeing for many years now as part of Ferrari’s livery have been painted white with the red Santander logo popping out of the white background.
Ferrari have completely re-invented their image with a new driver line-up, new sponsors and a new outlook on Formula1. The team clearly wants to succeed this year and they are determined to restore their image as being ‘the’ team to beat in Formula1. Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo described Ferrari as a ‘renewed team’ with new members comming in to re-invigorate the team. “This championship will be very important for us,” he stated. “The last championship, for different reasons, was not very positive, that is why we are dealing with this one looking to be competitive – and this is what Ferrari deserves to have.”
Luca went on to state that the team was in a way having “two new drivers”; ”We have two new drivers, why two new drivers? Fernando Alonso, is a twice World Champion and we will say after the second one he will have a third one. He already appears among the big champions in F1, it is the right moment for him, for us, he wants to be successful and we want to repeat what the team concept is in our group…Felipe; we are talking of a new version of Felipe, but after such a dramatic Championship like last year with the accident in Hungary and such a fantastic season, Felipe has all the assets to prove that he is a very successful one, he can prove that he wants to restart his pathway that destiny interrupted it in Hungary. Good luck to both of them.”
Felipe Massa will drive the F10 at the Fiorano test track for a very brief shakedown late today which in reality will be more of a photo opportunity then a test.
The real test of the F10 will be next week when the car is sent to Spain for the first of the official 2010 pre-season tests at Valencia.
Massa will be the first man to drive the F10 at Valencia, after which he will hand the car over to Fernando Alonso for the following two days of tests.
Ferrari have also revealed the Technical specs’ of the F10, which are as follows:
Here is a recorded video stream of the launch ceremony:
UBS Chinese Grand Prix