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The new Marussia finally appeared on track today

The Marussia MR01 has been shaken down at Silverstone today after the team failed to make the Barcelona test.

The car failed the 18^th and final FIA crash test, which forced the team to skip Spain and instead run it on a filming or promotional day, and on demo tyres.

The car has been designed by a revamped team after the departure of Nick Wirth last summer. It has also benefited from the team’s technical relationship with McLaren.

“We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning,” said team principal John Booth. “It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team but we can now get back on track – literally – and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.

“Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won’t be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne. Nevertheless, this is an important day for us and we’ll enjoy every minute on track with the new car.”

HRT has confirmed that it will shakedown its new F112 in a filming day at Barcelona on Monday.

The team said: “The F112 will see then the light and will cover its first kilometres during this promotional filming session. Narain Karthikeyan will be the driver in the cockpit on this occasion. Pedro de la Rosa and Dani Clos will also be present to see how the new car evolves.”

Given that it has had all winter to get itself organised – and could have done some proper testing on race tyres if it had readied the car even a day earlier – the schedule does not bode well for the team’s prospects.

Tavo Hellmund, the man who kickstarted the US GP in Austin, is suing his partners in the project.

Hellmund was marginalised last year when he failed the meet his obligations with Bernie Ecclestone and the contract for the race was cancelled. A new one had to be negotiated by his fellow partners, in other words the actual investors in the project, led by businessman Bobby Epstein.

The suit suggests that the original contract could not be fulfilled because the other partners withheld the required funding.

Hellmund has not been involved on a day-to-day basis for some time.

However, his suit indicates that he still owns just over 20% of the project – and claims that he was due a $500,000 salary over 10 years.

More on the story from my Autoweek colleagues: 120309942

Ferrari technical director Pat Fry admits that the Italian team still has a lot of work to do, but the Brit is bullish about the overall prospects of the F2012.

Felipe Massa drove at Barcelona yesterday and Fernando Alonso today, both men logging a lot of miles as the car performed reliably and allowed the team to complete some race simulation work.

“I think we can say we are in reasonable shape,” said Fry. “Sure, you always try and be half a second quicker than everyone, knowing you are lapping constantly with 60 kilos of fuel on board. Clearly, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but all we can do is keep pushing on this front.

“We ran a mix of used softs and mediums for the simulation and now we must analyse the data in detail to understand where we are compared to the others. Initial impressions suggest the difference between one stint and another can be put down to the normal difference between tyres that have done different mileages. Some show significant degradation, others less.

“There will be other new components coming on the car for the final two days and then we will try and put together the best from every configuration for the first race.”

Ferrari has been running with a different exhaust spec, and Fry admitted that the original version needed some work.

“We started off with an exhaust system configuration that was particularly aggressive, but after last week’s test, it was clear this solution still required a lot of development before it could be used in a race. We opted for a more conventional configuration.

“Obviously, having developed the car to suit this innovative exhaust concept, now we must re-optimise everything in just the few days left before Australia. There aren’t major differences between the two systems in terms of performance, but we really need to analyse everything in detail.”

In his 70th year Frank Williams will make a first small move towards eventual retirement by giving up his place on the board of Williams Grand Prix Holdings.

However his family will still be represented as his daughter Claire has been promoted to the board as Director of Marketing and Communications. She will take up the role on April 1, replacing Dominic Reilly, who is leaving the team.

“It is no secret that Claire is my daughter,” said Sir Frank. “But I am proud to say that she has fought hard to earn this appointment and of all the battles she has had to fight, the prejudices of her father were not the least challenging. Dominic Reilly has proven a unique talent in the field of sports marketing and filling the gap he leaves was daunting. But I have come to the view that Claire, with her profound love and knowledge of the sport and the team, can do so and I am proud and delighted that the Board has given her this opportunity.

“This is an opportune moment, also, for me to consider my own role in the team. I turn 70 in April and I have decided to signal the next stage in the gradual but inevitable process of handing over the reins to the next generation by stepping down from the Board at the end of this month. This is not as dramatic a move as it may appear: I shall continue to work full-time as Team Principal and I shall continue to attend all Board meetings as observer.

“I also remain the majority shareholder of Williams Grand Prix Holdings PLC. Nonetheless, I shall be looking to Claire to represent the Williams family on the Board and I know that she will work tirelessly alongside Adam to make the Group and the team just as successful as we can be.”

Williams chairman Adam Parr added:  “Claire has worked at Williams for 10 years, taking on increasingly demanding positions and demonstrating throughout all of the qualities needed in this critical role.

“Claire will be accountable for acquiring new partners for the Williams F1 Team as well as continuing to be responsible for ensuring effective communication about the team and the Group as a whole. The Board concluded that Claire’s appointment would further strengthen its quality, diversity and effectiveness.”

The big story of the last Barcelona test was the disappearance of the Lotus team after a chassis issue put a stop to running. The team has now confirmed suspicions that the problem was related to the front suspension mounting, which has now be modified, allowing the team to run in Spain tomorrow. Technical director James Allison explains the situation in a Q&A issued by the team.

Q: What happened to the E20 in Barcelona last week?

We arrived in Barcelona with a brand new chassis, the E20-02. We completed installation laps on Tuesday morning then Romain left the pits for his first run of the day. As soon as he touched the brakes before turn 1 on his first flying lap, he felt that something was wrong. He told us on the radio that he was aborting that run and returning straight to the pits.

Q: What did you discover when the car got back to the garage?

We saw immediately that we had a problem with the mounting of the upper front wishbone rear arm.

Q: What were your thoughts at that time?

We were using chassis 02 for the first time, so our initial reaction was to consider the possibility of a manufacturing issue affecting that particular chassis. We made the decision to take chassis 01 – which had run successfully in Jerez – from the UK to Barcelona. Before we sent it, we launched an investigation programme at Enstone to ensure there was no risk of a similar issue. Unfortunately, our investigations concluded that there was a possibility of the same problem reoccurring. We then decided, quite reluctantly, to cancel the test and make the necessary changes to both our chassis before running again.

Q: How did the factory react?

It’s been an intense few days, but I have to say that everybody has completed their tasks in tremendous fashion. On the first day back at the factory, I spoke to the entire Enstone personnel and clearly explained what happened. Everybody understood that the situation was unfortunate, but under control. We designed the new parts, manufactured them, and fitted them to the chassis. We then completed the necessary tests satisfactorily and the chassis left for Spain.

Q: Are you confident about the repair?

Yes

Q: Does it mean that the chassis is now heavier than before?

Yes, but we’re only talking about 1kg, which is manageable. It won’t have any significant impact on handling or performance.

Q: Did the chassis have to pass a new crash test?

No. It wasn’t necessary.

Q: Which chassis will the team use this week?

We’ll use chassis 01 this week, while chassis 02 will be used as a spare from now on. We’re currently finishing chassis 03, with the new design implemented.

Q: The team missed four days of testing. Is it a big setback?

Of course, missing four days of testing is not ideal. We need mileage at this stage of the year, as does any other team. That said, there are reasons to remain optimistic. First of all, we completed many troublefree laps in Jerez and gained a good understanding of the car. Also, some of the small issues we identified in Jerez needed to be fixed, and the parts were not available last week. On Thursday, the car will run with all the required redesigned parts. We’re looking forward to being back on track.

Marussia has been forced to skip the forthcoming Barcelona test after the new car failed an FIA crash test.

It means that the team may end up going to Australia without running the car unless it can fit in a shakedown somewhere – and that is assuming that it eventually does pass the test in time to be able to compete in Melbourne.

The news comes as a big blow to Charles Pic, who needs all the mileage he can get.

A statement said: “The Marussia F1 Team is disappointed to confirm that the planned first test of its 2012 race car – the MR01 – has been delayed as a consequence of not passing the final FIA crash test.

“All cars are required to pass 18 FIA-observed tests for homologation to be granted. Despite the fact that the MR01 has passed all 17 of the preceding tests, the regulations require the car to have completed all of the tests before running commences.

“The team will now not take part in the final pre-season test in Barcelona later this week (1-4 March) and will instead focus its efforts on repeating the crash test at the end of the week.”

As testing progresses in Barcelona this week no one can be quite sure how the teams stack up, but it’s all too clear that Ferrari is still struggling to come to terms with its new F2012.

Fernando Alonso made some interesting comments tonight, admitting that the team has a lot of catching up to do before Australia as it learns about the radical machine.

Alonso completed two days of running in Barcelona today, before handing the car to Felipe Massa for tomorrow.

“We are trying different components on the exhausts and other areas,” said Fernando. “Then on the track and back in Maranello, everyone is working hard on analysing the data in order to improve the performance, a job that takes time.

“In Jerez, we said that we would start from a more solid base in Barcelona and that has been the case and we hope it will be the same next week at the final session. Then, we are trying to put everything together to be as well prepared as possible for Melbourne, when we will really understand where we are.

“Our targets are ambitious, which they have to be given we are Ferrari and they remain unaltered. We want to be in good enough shape to win right from the very first race. I think we are probably not the quickest today, but neither are we the slowest. In Australia, when the temperatures should be very different, we will know where we are compared to the others.”

Alonso conceded that the team has a long way to go to be on the frontrunning pace, and that the huge changes relative to last year have complicated the process of understanding it.

“At the moment, we are not where we want to be, nor where we want to be in Australia, but I remain optimistic. We still have six days of testing and we will see how it goes. It’s also hard to say how the others are doing: Red Bull is definitely very strong, as is normal in fact, given how they have gone over the past three years, but you can’t say that McLaren or Mercedes for example, who seem to be behind, are not strong themselves, maybe even more so than Red Bull.

“This has been a more laborious winter for us than in the past because we have a more complex car, which features very innovative ideas but that requires greater effort from everyone, from the drivers who drive it, the engineers who run and develop it and the mechanics who have to put in over twenty hour days. It’s always nice to have a car that is immediately ready, quick and reliable, but that is not always synonymous with winning. Last year, we did a race simulation at the end of the first test and then in Melbourne we were a second and a half off pole position.”

Alonso pointed out that the tyre warm-up problem that has long plagued Ferrari has evidently been resolved.

“It’s true that from what we have seen so far, we have always done a good job of warming up the tyres and getting the most out of them immediately. This year, the performance between the different types of tyre is much closer and there is not the big difference between one compound and another that we saw in 2011.”

Alonso added that the car had some obvious aero weaknesses: “We definitely need to make progress on the aerodynamic front, especially at the exit of corners. Every driver always wants more grip and more downforce, but one cannot judge the performance of the others from the outside.

“Maybe we would have wanted to have a complete picture of the car from the very start, but I prefer to have a quick car and then make it reliable, rather than have one that is strong but slow.”

Lotus has pulled out of the rest of the  Barcelona test after a chassis issue materialised this morning.

Romain Grosjean had problems during the first laps with the new 02 chassis, and initially the team decided to stop for today while chassis 01 was flown over.

Further investigations revealed a more serious problem, and the team has decided to resolve it before running again.

It means that both Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen have lost priceless track time this week, although it remains to be seen whether the team can trade the lost days for some extra track time, as Mercedes did with Sunday’s private test.

James Allison said: “Before we were due to fly chassis E20-01 out to Barcelona in replacement of chassis E20-02 – damaged this morning – we ran a series of simulations at the factory based on the data provided by our brief running on track today.

“As a result, we were able to identify an area which requires some additional work. It will be more productive for us to carry out these modifications to both chassis at Enstone rather than send E20-01 out to this week’s test. We’ll put the right measures in place and we will be able to fix the problem before next week.”

“Not running this week has been a tough decision to take, but we feel that our choice is the right one,” said team boss Eric Boullier. “On the positive side, we have quickly identified the issue with the chassis and our design office has already devised a solution.

“We will be present at next week’s test in Barcelona. We draw faith from the fact that the E20 was quick out of the box in Jerez and showed its reliability there. We have a lot of work ahead of us over the next week but everyone at Enstone is ready for this challenge.”

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg are both in upbeat mood regarding the prospects of the new Mercedes W03

The drivers are in the unusual position of already having run a shakedown day and a  full day at Barcelona that saw 354kms of proper testing before commenting.

“I have done quite a few roll-outs and launches of new cars, but even after all these years, I must say it still feels special,” said Schumacher. “Days like this are precious moments, as they are always filled with hope and anticipation. Already last week, when we were driving the F1 W03 for the very first time, it instantly gave us good feedback and sensations.

“Starting today, we will work intensively to make it a competitive runner. Obviously, we will only see over the next couple of weeks how big the step is that we have made, but I can say already that the guys and girls back in the factories at Brackley and Brixworth were brilliant in putting in so much effort, and we can only say a big thank you them.

“I know which reward they would like, and we will definitely try to deliver it. For my part, I am eager to fight again, looking forward to the new season, and I can’t wait for it to begin.”

Rosberg commented: “We have had a good start to our 2012 testing programme, and it was a great feeling to drive the first laps in the new F1 W03.

“The car looks good, and is very nicely packaged under the bodywork – all the parts are in harmony, which reflects how well the different departments of our team are working together. From the beginning of our running, we have been able to focus on understanding the car and making good progress with our test programme. It will be very interesting to learn more about where we stand in the next few weeks.”