Posts tagged Vodafone
Whincup and Button swap cars
Mar 23rd
It was a very special moment for reigning V8 Super Car Champion Jamie Whincup when he and reigning Formula1 world champion, Jensen button swapped car today in Melbourne as part of a promotion for Vodafone.
Button got to hop into the Team Vodafone reserve/passenger v8 Supercar while Jamie got to drive the 2008 McLaren that Lewis won the world championship in.
Jamie only had one word to describe the experience “unbelievable”. Jamie has not driven an open wheelers since 2002 when he raced formula fords. No doubt the McLaren MP4-23 was very different to anything he experienced in the Formula1 ford.
Due to works still being completed on the main straight, the drivers had to use there speed limiters as they passed the pits, however the could go full pace for the rest of the lap. Each driver did around 4 laps each.
For Jamie, his biggest concern was being able to successfully launch the F1 car without stalling it. A little push from the team assisted him in this feat. Jamie said taking off was the hardest part, but the F1 car did a lot of the work for him.
“It’s great that I knew the track and I’d done a few miles around here in the race car, but it gripped unbelievable. I was probably only using half of the brakes capacity. I should have been braking at the 100 metre mark, but I was braking at the 200 mark. I think I grained the tyre up a little bit, so I’m pretty proud of that! “ said Whincup
For Button who is a fan of the V8 Supercar series it was a great opportunity to sample the TeamVodoafone v8 supercar.
Jensen was surprised with the speed able to be carried through the corners in the V8 supercar “You can use more of the road! On the way into the fast left right, you can carry a lot of speed, but there’s not a lot of downforce. I ran off the tarmac and onto the astro turf,” he said.
Jamie however noted that it was very different using your right foot to brake in the VE Commodore. He went on to say “I’ll have to strengthen my right leg if I ever want to drive these again, or get the chance to drive these again. In the V8, you brake with your right leg, where as in our cars, it’s with your left. It’s quite difficult to get used to”.
Both drivers said that it was a great experience for them. Jensen was not dispelling rumours of an opportunity for him to race at Bathurst in the future. He noted that once he retires from Formula1, driving in a race such as Bathurst will hopefully be a possibility for him.
Photos courtesy of Australian GrandPrix Corporation
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.
UBS Chinese Grand Prix