Category Archives: Grand Prix News

February 5, 2015 · 8:20 pm

F1 Strategy Group rejects Marussia bid to use old car

The F1 Strategy Group has rejected Marussia’s request to use its 2014 chassis this season, sources have confirmed.

Changes to the regulations related to front chassis height for 2015 mean that most of last season’s chassis are now illegal, including the Marussia.

Given the financial problems that forced the team into administration the team’s only chance to carry on in its current form would be to utilise last year’s chassis, which used a Ferrari power unit and gearbox. Even if Marussia had got permission today, one assumes that the £16m debt to Ferrari would have to be addressed before anything was supplied for 2015.

The Strategy Group includes Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams on a permanent basis, as well as the next best placed constructor, which this year is Force India. Each team has a vote, while the FIA has six votes and Formula One Management (in other words Bernie Ecclestone) has six votes.

In theory only proposals that emerge intact from the Strategy Group can go onto the F1 Commission, and then to the World Motor Sport Council for final approval.

It was announced earlier this week that Marussia had apparently found a way forward and that it was exiting administration as of February 19, but options now appear to be limited for John Booth and his colleagues.

By co-incidence the Caterham administrator announced today that the team’s cars and other assets are going to be auctioned, in effect confirming that the attempt to keep the team running as a going concern had been abandoned.

It remains to be seen whether or not this really is the end of the story for the two teams that both made their debuts at the start of 2010.

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February 5, 2015 · 1:39 pm

No hope for Caterham rescue as team assets go to auction

The Caterham administrators have announced that the assets of the team will be put up for sale – meaning in effect that attempts to revive the whole operation as a going concern appear to have been abandoned.

A statement said: “Acting for the Joint Administrators Finbarr O’Connell, Henry Shinners and Anthony Spicer of Smith & Williamson, Wyles Hardy & Co have been instructed to realise the assets of the Caterham F1 race team.

“A series of on-line timed auction sales will be held covering the race equipment, engineering facility, F1 memorabilia, IT and communications, office furniture and as well as private treaty sales for the Race Trailer Fleet, the state of the art Race Simulator, Dell HPC super computer and Autoclaves.

“The first Auction will focus on the race support and pit lane equipment including the 2014 chassis’ and show cars and is scheduled for early March.”

Details of the auction can be found here: http://www.wyleshardy.com/caterhamf1/

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February 4, 2015 · 9:57 am

Marussia aiming for 2015 grid and “long-term viable solution”

Against the odds Marussia has taken the first steps towards being on the grid in 2015, and the team is set to come out of administration later this month.

It’s understood that confirmation that the team will receive its payment for finishing ninth in the World Championship has been the key factor.

The World Motor Sport Council is set to confirm that the team can use its 2014 chassis, after the FIA said last year that it would allow the two struggling teams to do so, despite rule changes.

One of the keys of course is that the team has a power unit – it currently owes over £16m to Ferrari. In the past ‘Bernie money’ has often been diverted straight to engine suppliers to cover the bills of struggling teams, but in this case there is obviously a legal process to be adhered to.

Administrator Geoff Rowley of FRP Advisory said: “Since the appointment of administrators negotiations have taken place with a number of parties to try and secure a long term solution for the team.

“We can confirm that negotiations continue towards a longer term viable solution for the business and participation of a team in the 2015 season.

“It is envisaged that, prior to the commencement of the first race of the 2015 season, investment into the business will be made upon the Company exiting from administration via a Company Voluntary Arrangement (“CVA”), which is planned for 19 February 2015. A CVA is a restructuring process agreed with the Company’s creditors which allows for a turnaround of the business and the creation of a longer term viable solution for the team. Given the confidential nature of the negotiations underway we are unable to provide further details.

“The joint administrators would like on behalf of Marussia F1 Team to thank all involved with the team for their support during this process.”

The Banbury factory, which was not actually owned by the team, has been acquired by Haas, so Marussia is likely to use its original base.

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February 3, 2015 · 7:17 pm

Boullier: McLaren and Honda still opening a “Pandora’s Box”

McLaren team boss Eric Boullier is adamant that the major electronic problem that cost the team the first two days in Jerez has been resolved.

Fernando Alonso ran 32 laps today, before he was sidelined by a completely different issue.

“After the last laps of Jenson [yesterday] we believed we had fixed the issues,” he said. “But sometimes you just open the Pandora’s box and you pick up one [problem], and then another one is coming. This morning it was just a relief to see the car getting out of the garage at 9am and running actually faultlessly for a few hours.

“The reason we didn’t run this afternoon was different, it was a component which created a water cooling leak, we had to take the engine off, open everything to change it, because it’s in the middle. We could have run maybe half an hour at the end, but we decided to stop the day and make it properly for tomorrow. But the main issues are now away.

Asked how much of the planned programme had been completed he said: “Not enough, obviously we are maybe less than 50%. It’s better than nothing, but operationally we have covered everything that we wanted. The good thing is that the car is running as you saw this morning, 10 laps in a row, so we have no design concept or conceptual issues or architectural issues. Cooling is working, everything is fine.”

Although Alonso ran only in the damp the team learned a lot.

“The driver comments were very, very positive. Fernando said the car is really reacting well, the car is really stable, and you could see a couple of times on the pitwall checking in Turn One, with Mercedes driving at the same time, and you could see the car was really stable on the entry, and this is just a sign.”

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February 3, 2015 · 5:15 pm

Kimi Raikkonen: “A positive start and we have something to work with”

Kimi Raikkonen says that the new Ferrari is a big step forward from the car with which the team finished last season.

The Finn was second fastest today after running a reliable 92 laps.

“It was a positive first day, a lot of improvements in areas where we had difficulties,” he said. “And obviously it’s just a first day, and unfortunately the weather was pretty bad today. Somehow the circuit stayed damp for most of the day, but I think we had good running and we got some mileage. A big thanks to the team who built us a reasonably good starting point. It was a good first day.

“The whole package is quite a bit better than how we finished last year. Now we’ve improved in all areas. It’s just the first day, the first day, and there are a lot of things to do, and a lot of things to try and improve, but it’s definitely a positive start and we have something to work with.

“It’s too early to speak about results. Like I said we had a good, positive first day, and Sebastian had a good couple of days. There’s a good team. We;ll try to do our best, and I’m sure if we keep doing our work as a team we’ll push forward as a team with two cars, improving things, we can get some good results. What it will be, time will tell. We definitely going in the right direction, for sure, that’s the good thing. We’ll have to wait and see in the races.”

Asked by this writer about having close pal Vettel as a team mate he said: “We have a good relationship and I think we can push the team forward, and obviously try to beat each other on the circuit. I’m sure we”ll have some fun. The atmosphere in the team is already very good, and hopefully we’ll get some good results this year that will help the situation. So far, so good, but it’s early days.”

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February 2, 2015 · 6:57 pm

Pastor Maldonado: “A bit late, but we are here!”

The Lotus hit the track today - and it looks great

The Lotus hit the track today – and it looks great

The Lotus E23 took to the track for the first time in Jerez this morning after the team missed the first day of running.

The car was built up overnight and Pastor Maldonado was able to run 41 laps before he was stopped by a transmission problem on a day that was mainly about getting used to Mercedes power.

“A bit late, but we are here!,” he said. “The new car is looking good. It’s difficult to say something because we’ve only done a few laps today. It’s quite positive. It’s looking probably different to what we had last year in terms of reliability, and how the entire package is working. So quite a positive day.

“Maybe we were expecting to run a bit more, but we had a small issue in the car, which is normal, because as you know we changed a lot. We have a new engine, we have a big revolution in the car, it’s another car, it’s not a continuation of what we had last year. But it’s quite positive.

“We had a problem somewhere in the gearbox. We are trying to discover, we are working on it. It’s not a serious problem that we cannot solve.”

Maldonado said it was too early to make any comparison with the Renault he had last year: “It’s different, it’s just different. It’s difficult to compare then because we were more focussed on mileage than performance, you know. We’re still looking for some problems and taking some aero data as well, so it’s not the moment to release something about the engine performance. But for sure it is completely different, we are working in different ways.

“We are happy, we’ve been working in the simulator as well, together with Mercedes, so we are very happy in the way they are working. As a team we are very positive and pushing very hard to be in the best position with them.”

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February 2, 2015 · 6:12 pm

Jenson Button: “Obviously not the easiest start to the season…”

McLaren endured another difficult day in Jerez as the Jenson Button failed to complete a flying lap on his first outing in the MP4-30, but the former World Champion says he’s not concerned about the teething problems with the package.

The car spent most of the day in the garage after running five stop-start laps early in the day, before Jenson re-emerged for a single lap on a damp track at the end of the day.

“It’s nice to be a part of the new era of McLaren-Honda,” he said. “I think it has a very exciting future, but as we all know things take a little bit of time. I feel that the atmosphere in the team is very good, and I when I say team, I mean McLaren-Honda. I think that it’s key for everyone to remember that it’s not McLaren with an engine manufacturer, it is one team, with one goal. It’s a good atmosphere.

“Obviously not the easiest start to the season, but as we know it’s a very complicated power unit. We will get our heads around it, and in terms of the problems we had today we had our head around it and understand the issue, and that’s what the last run of the day was in the wet, to really understand it, and I think we do now, which is good. So we’re hoping for a much more productive day three and day four.”

Button cited Red Bull’s 2014 testing problems as an example of a team turning things around: “You look at where the Red Bull was at the first couple of tests, and even the last test in Bahrain – obviously they got the result taken away from them, but they finished second at the first Grand Prix. So a lot can happen.

“And we always knew the first test was going to be difficult, it always is, it’s not as straightforward as it used to be with sticking an engine in the car and trying to power round. It’s a very complex system, the power unit. We’ve had a few little niggling things that we’ve been able to solve now. As I said tomorrow we’ll see where we stand.”

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February 2, 2015 · 1:06 pm

Symonds cautions against rush to 1000bhp engines

Williams technical boss Pat Symonds has cautioned against a rush towards new regulations for 2017 – and says that the priority should be to ensure that the sport’s teams are in a healthy state.

Discussions are underway about more powerful engines and ways of making the cars look spectacular.

“I like the idea of 1000bhp engines, I like the idea of spectacular cars,” said Symonds today. “I also like the idea of having a lot more cars on the grid, and that’s what I think should be our prime concern at the moment, to have a good business, and something that spectators also want to watch. They can at times be mutually exclusive unfortunately, but I think there is a lot that we can do within the framework that we have, and particularly to improve our engagement with the public.

“I think that we are much too early into a new set of rules to start radical change, but we should never be afraid of change, either.”

Meanwhile regarding the potential of the FW37 he said: “Competitiveness is a relative thing. We’ve certainly taken steps that I hope will move us forward, but I don’t know yet what our competitors have done. I hope that at least we start where we finished.

“Our development rate last year was one of the things I’m particularly proud of, we really did add a lot of performance to the car relative to our competitors last season. We’re applying all of the same sort of philosophies to doing that. We want to get in there and be fighting.”

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February 2, 2015 · 11:31 am

Fans won’t be disappointed by Red Bull’s race livery, says Horner

Christian Horner has hinted that Red Bull could have another unusual livery planned for the start of the racing season.

The team is running in camouflage livery in Jerez, in part because it genuinely serves to make it harder for rivals to analyse the car.

“The camouflage livery actually came out of a helmet that Sebastian ran last year.” said Horner. “It was quite fun. We thought it would be interesting to extend that concept to the entire car, and Dietrich [Mateschitz] liked it when he saw it. I think it epitomises Red Bull, really.

“We’re not afraid to do things a bit differently, and so to run in a different livery and see a Red Bull in a different livery is quite striking, and it makes it difficult to get detailed photographs of the car at a time of year when we’re all trying to be as secretive as we possibly can.”

Asked if fans will be disappointed when the camouflage livery is dropped he said: “They won’t be disappointed because the livery will be even stronger. It’s great to so something different, it’s been extremely well received. It’s difficult to get detailed shots because obviously it confuses your eye-line. It certainly seems to have had a great reaction.

Regarding what will be on the car in Australia, he said: “Wait and see.”

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February 2, 2015 · 11:16 am

Kvyat shunt forces Red Bull to test with no front wing

Dany Kvyat has been lapping Jerez with no front wing on the RB11 after he damaged the only example of it in contact with the barrier this morning.

New parts are on their way but the team opted to continue to run a few laps for ongoing systems checks and so on.

“Dany had a very slight off on an install lap this morning, on cold track,” said Christian Horner. “He was just changing something on the steering wheel between Turns Two and Three very lightly touched the tyre wall with the front wing. That’s damaged the front wing.

“It’s the only front wing assembly that we have in Jerez at the moment, which is relatively usual for when you’re not abundant with spare parts. That’s why we’re running without the main plane at the moment. Obviously more components coming down later this afternoon and this evening and during the next few days.

He added: “What I should really be telling you is that we have so much front downforce we don’t need the front wing, and we’re just trying to balance the car.”

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