Categories
Formula 1 McLaren

Button fastest on Day 1 in Jerez

Jenson Button, McLaren MP4-18, Jerez

Jenson Button (McLaren MP4-28) has set the fastest time on day one of pre-season testing in Jerez overnight. He put early fuel pump issues behind him to set a time of 1:18.861 late in the day. It’s an impressive result, as well, some eight tenths quicker than Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9) who was second quickest.

Speaking after practice had finished for the day Webber said, “It was pretty good. As Adrian said at the launch, there haven’t been big changes to the regulations this year and the car is an evolution of the one we finished with last season, so there were no big surprises. I think most of the drivers will sit back tonight and think today’s times were pretty competitive.”

2013 F1 pre-season testing – Jerez (Day 1)

  1. Jenson Button McLaren – 1:18.861 (37 laps)
  2. Mark Webber Red Bull – 1:19.709s +0.848 (73laps)
  3. Romain Grosjean Lotus – 1:19.796s +0.935 (54laps)
  4. Paul di Resta Force India – 1:20.343s +1.482 (89laps)
  5. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso – 1:20.401s +1.540 (70laps)
  6. Felipe Massa Ferrari – 1:20.536s +1.675 (64laps)
  7. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber – 1:20.699s +1.838 (79laps)
  8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes – 1:20.846s +1.985 (14laps)
  9. Pastor Maldonado Williams – 1:20.864s +2.003 (84laps)*
  10. Giedo van der Garde Caterham – 1:21.915s +3.054 (64laps)
  11. Max Chilton Marussia – 1:24.176s +5.315 (29laps)

All timing unofficial
*2012 car

[Pic: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]

Categories
Formula 1

Marussia unveils 2013 F1 car

Marussia F1 Team MR02

After almost five years I still get a kick when logging into the Ferrari media portal. Little old me, in my humble lounge room in Canberra, with access to all the new and historical press information from one of the world’s most iconic and desirable manufacturers.

It doesn’t matter if it’s photos from Ferrari’s F1 archives or the latest info on their newest road car; it’s mine whenever I want it.

Marussia, though, they just won’t answer my emails for access to their press section. That’s why you never see their cars in the AUSmotive F1 in pictures galleries.

Worse, when Virgin was involved I did have press access. But now I don’t and I’ve been trying for two years.

Caterham, Ferrari, Lotus, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Williams: all yes. Even HRT, remember them? But, Marussia: no.

In other news, the team expected to be the sport’s highest achieving backmarkers in 2013 revealed the MR02 a few hours ago.

[Source: Marussia F1 Team]

Continue reading “Marussia unveils 2013 F1 car”
Categories
Caterham Formula 1

Caterham unveils 2013 F1 car

Caterham CT03

The good news is Caterham has provided a great number of studio shots of their new CT03 Formula 1 car. The bad news is it still has the ugly stepped nose we saw in 2012.

What is new, though, is Caterham’s driving line up. Charles Pic was confirmed late last year, but it was only last Friday that 27-year-old Dutchman Giedo van der Garde was confirmed as Caterham’s second driver, leaving the likeable Heikki Kovalainen out in the cold.

Mark Smith, Technical Director, gives us a run down on the CT03: “We have made a number of significant changes to the car that takes it from the package that gained us 10th place in the championship in Brazil in 2012 into CT03. Among the most obvious are around the lower chassis where the sidepods have been significantly undercut to improve airflow to the rear of the car.

“The diffuser, engine cover and cooling exits have also seen major changes and there are more subtle improvements to other areas of the car, such as the sidepod turning vanes and the lower tea-tray area.

“This is the package we will take to race one in Australia and as part of the 2013 upgrade program we will then bring new front and rear wings and a new diffuser soon after the start of the season.”

More from Caterham after the break.

Continue reading “Caterham unveils 2013 F1 car”
Categories
Formula 1 Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso unveils 2013 F1 car

Toro Rosso STR8

This is the STR8 which was revealed by Toro Rosso overnight. The two young lads Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are under pressure to perform in 2013 so they’ll be hoping the car will help them achieve their goals.

Again we see the stepped nose has been disguised by revised bodywork and Toro Rosso say as much as 97% of the car is new.

Most judges would agree that Daniel Ricciardo had the better year compared with Jean-Eric Vergne in 2012, and yet Vergne finished higher in the world championship. Both know that there’s a big chance of a seat at Red Bull in 2014, assuming Mark Webber moves on or retires. It will be a fascinating battle in the STR garage this year.

Daniel Ricciardo says he’s ready for the task at hand. “The 2013 version of me is a more confident person and driver, with more self-belief than last year,” he said. “I spent most of the winter Down Under and when I came back into the factory in Faenza, I could feel a very positive atmosphere with everyone excited about the new car. The target for us this year is very simple: to improve on last year.”

Meanwhile, Jean-Eric Vergne is ready to build on his rookie season. “Going into this season is a completely different experience to this time last year, when I had to deal with a lot of unknowns,” he said. “I had to learn the majority of tracks, understand so many details about Formula 1 and adapt to working with the team. This year, I will still be learning – you never stop in Formula 1 – but the basics are there and I will be able to focus on more important aspects of the job.”

Vergne’s final comment is quite interesting too, “I sense a new philosophy within Toro Rosso: I wouldn’t say people are working harder, but maybe they are going in a better direction.”

Not too sure what to read into that comment from JEV, but if one was being mischievous you could draw the conclusion that there was some behind the scenes tension at times last year.

Let’s wait and see what 2013 brings for the junior Red Bull outfit.

[Pics: Toro Rosso/Getty Images]

Continue reading “Toro Rosso unveils 2013 F1 car”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes AMG F1 W04 v F1 W03

Mercedes AMG F1 W04 v F1 W03

Not the greatest of angles to compare the new Mercedes F1 W04 (top) against last year’s F1 W03, but for now it’s the best we’ve got.

If nothing else we must be thankful for the vanity panel covering the visually appalling stepped nose from 2012. Beneath the skin they’ve also fiddled about with the exhaust, reinstating a Coanda effect system after scrapping such a similar setup towards the end of last season.

Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes AMG unveils 2013 F1 car

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W04

This is the Mercedes F1 W04, the car Lewis Hamilton hopes won’t leave him looking like a fool after his highly publicised switch from the vastly more successful (in recent years) McLaren team.

It took a while for us to get a decent look at the car as well, following some rather pointless teasing from Mercedes via social media. Kids these days would have called that exercise a fail. Never mind all that though, the F1 W04 is before us now and after the W03 featured one of the less fortunate stepped noses in 2012 it’s nice to see the modesty panel has been applied to save further embarrassment in 2013.

Also joining Hamilton as high profile recruits are triple world champion Niki Lauda (Non-Executive Chairman) and Williams investor Toto Wolff (Executive Director). According to some reports that has left Ross Brawn clinging on to his role as Team Principal by the skin of his teeth. You sense that Brawn understands that too.

“2013 marks the start of a second era for our Silver Arrows works team,” said Brawn. “The restructuring we undertook at the team over the past 18 months are now growing in maturity and this is reflected in the F1 W04, which is a clear step forward in design and detail sophistication over its predecessor.

“Many thousands of hours of work have been invested by our technical teams in Brackley and Brixworth to ensure that the new car delivers a step change in performance compared to last season.

“We are also hugely proud to welcome Lewis to the team as a works Mercedes-Benz driver. With Lewis and Nico, we have what I believe to be the strongest driver line-up in Formula One and I know that a healthy level of competition between them both will help drive the team forward.”

More from Mercedes after the break, including pictures, video and the team’s full press pack.

Continue reading “Mercedes AMG unveils 2013 F1 car”
Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing RB9 v RB8

Red Bull Racing RB9 v RB8

We bring you another new versus old F1 comparison for you, this time it’s the 2013 RB9 shown alongside the dual championship winning RB8.

The only catch is Red Bull doesn’t really provide too many suitable images for side by side comparisons. The top image is quite good, even though the differences are virtually impossible to spot, paint scheme aside. However, the two images after the break aren’t from the same angle, so your mileage may vary on whether you get anything meaningful from those.

While Adrian Newey is renowned for being a wily old fox when it comes to interpreting F1 regulations, he’s trying to fool us that not a lot has really changed this year. “It was difficult trying to continue development of last year’s car while also doing research into the RB9.” Newey said. Obviously it worked for us, but it gave us a very tight timeframe to design and manufacture this car.

“RB9 is an evolutionary car,” he added. “Probably the most significant change is not the regulations, but the new Pirelli tyres. We had a quick test with those in practice ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix but in truth we didn’t learn a lot because of the conditions. Pirelli have supplied us data about how the new tyres behave but past experience tells us that it’s only when we go testing that we really find out.”

As always, the proof will be in the pudding, which we shall taste during pre-season testing later this week.

Continue reading “Red Bull Racing RB9 v RB8”
Categories
Formula 1 Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing unveils 2013 F1 car

Red Bull Racing RB9

Red Bull Racing has taken to YouTube to launch its RB9, via a three minute teaser video. More will be coming, they promise. Although, unfairly, I’ll be in bed and ready to hit the high-res pics in the morning. For now I leave you with the teaser clip which is quite funky it must be said.

Interesting to note the RB9 keeps the stepped nose from last year’s car, although it looks as though the slot has been covered over this time around.

And you’ll also notice the addition of purple paint, to reflect the increased presence of Infiniti in 2013.

UPDATE: Images from the launch event and official press text from Infiniti Red Bull Racing have been added below. Studio shots of the RB9 will follow soon.

It’s also interesting to note that Mark Webber will again be given the first two days in the new car. This is a recurring theme at Red Bull and tends to support the theory that one of Webber’s strengths is his ability to provide valuable feedback to the team’s engineers.

UPDATE #2: Studio shots of the RB9 in 4000px mega image sizing have been added at the end of this article.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Continue reading “Red Bull Racing unveils 2013 F1 car”
Categories
Formula 1

Sauber unveils 2013 F1 car

Sauber C32-Ferrari

Sauber has released images of its new C32-Ferrari, the car it hopes will build on the highly encouraging results from last year’s C31.

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal said, “Two thousand and twelve was a very successful year for us. We not only moved up from seventh to sixth place in the constructors’ standings, but also improved our points total from 44 in 2011 to 126 last season. We have a strong platform in place now, on which we are aiming to build and continue our upward curve.”

One of the key points of difference with the C32 is its slim sidepods. Matt Morris, Chief Designer, explains, “The C31 was an extremely competitive car with many strengths Our aim was to further improve these strengths and eliminate its few weaknesses.

“The airflow in this area [sidepods] has a major influence over everything that happens at the rear of the car.”

Sauber will have an all-new driver line up this year and will be lead by 25-year-old German driver Nico Hulkenberg. He’s joined by 21-year-old Mexican rookie Esteban Gutiérrez.

“We have had our eye on Nico Hülkenberg for some time and have been impressed by his performances,” said Monisha Kaltenborn. “He is very quick, but, most importantly, he’s also very efficient. He understands how to pick up as many points as possible from a particular race situation.

“Esteban Gutiérrez is a driver we know very well as a result of a relationship with the team going back several years, and he has already had a number of opportunities to test with our car. Plus, he has always stayed in close contact with our engineers, which has allowed him to learn a lot about Formula One. I’m in no doubt he is now ready to take the final step and put his outstanding talent on display.”

There’s more from Sauber after the break, although only two more pics, which are complemented by an official team video and a 43 page presskit.

Continue reading “Sauber unveils 2013 F1 car”
Categories
Formula 1

Force India unveils 2013 F1 car

Force India VJM06

Force India revealed their 2013 VJM06 F1 car at Silverstone overnight. As with the other teams to show their cars already this year, aside from the modesty panel hiding the ugly stepped nose, the new car looks a lot like last year’s VJM05.

Despite the relatively familiar looks Andy Green, Technical Director, says it’s a totally new car.

“It’s a brand new car from the ground-up—everything is new,” said Green. “We discussed carrying over big chunks of last year’s car, including the chassis, but decided not to. There were still some gains to be had with the chassis, so we elected to take the performance benefits. The biggest change that everybody is going to notice this year is the fairing on top of the nose to hide the ‘step’. It’s neutral as far as the car’s performance is concerned but tidies up the flow over the top of the chassis.”

Following the departure of Nico Hulkenberg to Sauber, Force India is yet to name its second driver. That meant Paul di Resta looked a bit lonely while posing with the VJM06 at the car’s launch. Although it did mean he got first drive of the car, completing some installation laps around Silverstone.

They may only have one driver for now, but Force India has provided heaps of pics and there’s another 20 for you after the break. There’s also the now mandatory Peter Windsor/Craig Scarborough video, which includes further discussion with Andy Green.

Continue reading “Force India unveils 2013 F1 car”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1

Ferrari F138 v F2012

Ferrari F138 v F2012

Last year’s Ferrari was a bit of a mess. Awful to look at, even by the team’s own admission, and inconsistent on the track. Yet, somehow, Fernando Alonso very nearly won the major prize. No doubt Maranello is hoping for bigger and better things from their 2013 machine.

If nothing else, the F138 is much better to look at, even though it will never rank highly on the list of the most beautiful F1 cars ever made.

There’s four more images for you below, along with the expert analysis on the F138 from Craig Scarborough.

Continue reading “Ferrari F138 v F2012”
Categories
Ferrari Formula 1

Ferrari unveils 2013 F1 car

2013 Ferrari F138

Here’s the new Ferrari F138, the car they hope will propel Fernando Alonso to the 2013 world championship. Once you discount this year’s latest fad, the modesty panel hiding the god awful noses we saw last year, then this Ferrari is not terribly different to look at compared with the F2012.

Simone Resta, Deputy Chief Designer, explains they have made significant changes to the F138’s suspension. “There were very few changes to the regulations, but nevertheless we chose to work on and modify all aspects of the car, trying to move forward in every area, because we felt there was a significant amount of performance that could be gained with this new car,” he said.

“I would say the biggest changes relate to the front suspension, which has an improved layout, while at the rear, the suspension is completely new. We also have a revised sidepod design, aimed at improving the aerodynamics in this area, as well as a completely new layout for the exhaust system.”

You sense that Ferrari had a bit of a love hate relationship with last year’s car and they hope they have put things right, even if there’s still some changes to come before the season starts in Australia.

“The car we will race in Melbourne will be quite different to the one seen at the launch and the first test,” continues Resta. “In the past few weeks we have improved and indeed in those ahead of us now, we can improve further, the performance of the car, which guarantees that the F138 in Melbourne will be significantly different to the F138 at Test 1…and hopefully quicker.

“I am reasonably happy with the car so far as there was a significant performance gap to be closed, something which we cannot deny, but I think we have done a good job in all areas, trying to cover all the weak points of its predecessor.”

There’s more photos after the break, along with Ferrari’s full press blurb and more insightful commentary from Craig Scarborough.

Continue reading “Ferrari unveils 2013 F1 car”