Adam Cooper F1

Sebastian Vettel was one of the few leading race drivers to attend the recent Silverstone tyre test, and he now admits that he didn’t learn very much.

Race drivers were only allowed to try the new tyres, and not work on car developments.

“I think testing is always useful,” he said today. “Obviously the test last week was very limited in what we could do with the cars, so we probably didn’t learn that much – we couldn’t really change anything on the car, it was all about tyres. I think the circumstances were quite special in Silverstone, usually it’s never that hot. But it was still interesting.

“As I said we couldn’t do that many adjustments. We basically just put new tyres and fuel!”

Vettel doesn’t expect to see too many changes to the status quo this weekend.

“I think it was just to get a first feeling. The tyres don’t seem to be that different, which is good, because we haven’t asked for different tyres, we have asked for tyres that are safe.

“Therefore it’s difficult to know what to expect here, but I don’t expect it to be a massive change. I would be surprised if all of a sudden teams are struggling that didn’t struggle before, or the other way around.”

Lewis Hamilton expects Mercedes will have a difficult weekend in Hungary as the team could suffer more than rivals in the extremely hot conditions.

In addition the team has yet to test the latest Pirelli tyres, after being banned from the Silverstone test.

“It’s going to be tough this weekend definitely – the conditions will not help,” said Hamilton. “Plus, we haven’t driven the tyres as everyone else has. We’ve got a bit of catching up to do, but that’s what we do best and we just have to work as hard as we can this weekend to try to understand the tyres and put ourselves in the best position possible. We have a lot of work to do to continue to improve our race pace, but I anticipate it will be a difficult weekend.”

Hamilton expects teams to suffer aerodynamically as they create extra cooling.

“I’m sure everyone is going to have to open up their cars, so everyone is in the same boat in terms of car packaging and the heat that the cars are absorbing. Tyre-wise, of course there are teams that will deal with it slightly better than us, just naturally, and there are some people that will deal with it the same as us.”

Despite his reservations about the new tyres, Hamilton insisted he wasn’t worried about missing the Pirelli testing at Silverstone.

“To be honest, it doesn’t really faze me. I think it would have definitely helped if we were there and we have an understanding of how to set up the car with the new tyres and to see what kind of characteristics they have and how they behave on long runs and all those kind of things but we will try and find that out this weekend. At the end of the day, it is what it is and we will just try to do the best with what we’ve got. It’s a great team, I have no doubt that we will make up for the lost time.”

Jenson Button says he hasn’t ruled out McLaren winning a race this year – and expects the MP4-28 to be good enough to fight for the podium in the next race at Spa.

The Belgian track obviously favours good straightline speed, and ultimate downforce levels are not significant.

“We still want to win a race, and I think we still can win a race,” Button said in Hungary today. “It’s not going to be a complete bad year. I think we started the season and it was a tough few races. Sometimes that’s good for a team. I think the last race for us was a good step forward, and the morale is high after that race, which is good to see.

“Obviously we’re still not going to be happy with finishing sixth or fifth, we want to be fighting for wins. But I think for us to see a definite step forward in terms of performance was very positive in Nurburgring. And here we have some more parts, which should help us get close to the front. I don’t know what we’re going to do here in terms of where we’re going to finish, I don’t think anyone knows with these high temperatures.

“But Spa is a race that I’m really interested in and excited about fighting for a podium. I think that has to be our aim, and I think we can. It’s definitely moving forward. As I said the main aim is to win a Grand Prix this year, and Spa is at the moment probably the best race to go and look for that.

Asked why he thought Belgium would be good for the car, he added: “We understand that circuit, we understand what we should bring for that circuit in terms of aero, and also I think we’re chipping away with the car the whole time, finding things.

“One thing helps many different things on the car. It’s going in the right direction. And as a team maybe it’s a good thing that we’ve had issues. You start looking at every tiny detail and when you put it all together it can make a big difference.”

Red Bull has announced that the Austrian GP will return to the F1 calendar next year, with a provisional date of July 6.

The drinks company had made a late bid to host a race this season at the Red Bull Ring – formerly the A1 Ring – but it was unable to conclude a deal with Bernie Ecclestone.

The race was last held on the shortened version of the Osterreichring between 1997 and 2003, before it was dropped.

The CVC Group has responded to today’s news of Bernie Ecclestone’s indictment in Germany over the Gribkowsky affair.

Tonight it issued a short statement in essence acknowledging that the process is underway. It also made it clear that Ecclestone has six weeks to respond – the implication being that while it will “monitor” the situation, it won’t be taking any short term action.

The statement read as follows:

The Board of Formula One Group notes the following developments in Munich:

Mr Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Group has now received a bill of indictment, in English, from the Munich Regional Court.

Mr Ecclestone has 6 weeks to provide a response to this bill of indictment, prior to a decision being made by the Court on opening proceedings.

The Board will continue to monitor developments in this situation accordingly.

Pat Symonds has left Marussia to take up a new role as chief technical officer of Williams, commencing on August 19.

Meanwhile Williams has confirmed that technical director Mike Coughlan has parted company with the team.

Symonds had spent two and half years with Marussia, in effect rehabilitating his reputation after the Crashgate scandal at Renault left him on the sidelines.

Williams was in dire need of a new technical chief, having missed out on the opportunity to take Paddy Lowe.

Sir Frank Williams said: “I’m delighted that Pat is joining the team. His technical capabilities and sporting successes speak for themselves and I’m sure that his knowledge and leadership will contribute considerably to the success that all of us at Williams are working hard to achieve.”

Pat Symonds said: “Williams is a team steeped in success and engineering excellence and I’m honoured to be asked to play a role in returning the team to its rightful place at the pinnacle of Formula One. Sir Frank, Mike and Claire have put in place the foundations for success and I’m immensely excited to begin this new challenge.”

Regarding Coughlan Williams said he “…has stepped down from his position as Technical Director and will leave the team with immediate effect. The team thanks him for the significant contribution he has made since 2011 and wishes him well in his future endeavours.”

Earlier a statement from Marussia said:  “The Marussia F1 Team and its Technical Consultant Pat Symonds have reached an agreement for Pat to relinquish his responsibilities to the Team with immediate effect,” adding “with Pat moving on to explore new opportunities, the Marussia F1 Team looks forward to announcing its own plans for the continued development of its growing technical operation in due course.”

John Booth said: “We have some very talented design and engineering groups in place who have achieved great things over the past few seasons and who are excited about maintaining our current positive trajectory, boosted of course by our new powertrain partnership with Scuderia Ferrari. We would like to thank Pat for the contribution he has made to the development of that structure. We look forward to announcing plans for our continued growth when it is appropriate to do so.”

News of Pat’s return to F1 with the then Virgin team was first broken by this blog in February 2011: https://adamcooperf1.com/2011/02/11/pat-symonds-back-in-f1-with-virgin/

Marussia will use a Ferrari powertrain and gearbox from 2014, the team confirmed this morning.

Ferrari has been looking for a new customer since it became clear some time ago that Toro Rosso was moving to Renault. Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi’s presence at Marussia clearly didn’t hurt the team’s prospects of negotiating a deal.

From the outside the fact that Marussia is a supercar maker appeared to be a potetial stumbling block, but clearly that situation has been resolved.

Marussia F1 CEO Andy Webb said: “The importance of this development to our Team cannot be overstated. Not only will we benefit from a customer supply from the most successful engine manufacturer in Formula One’s history, but this also provides further confirmation, if it were needed, of our commitment to the sport and determination to maintain our progression towards our long-term ambitions.

“We look forward to working with Scuderia Ferrari during this exciting new era of Formula One competition. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Cosworth, with whom we have partnered since our debut season in 2010. We have shared an important part of our Team’s journey together and Cosworth have been an integral part of our clear progression. We will continue to work together during the latter half of the season to ensure we all achieve our combined objectives before Cosworth leave the sport.”

Sauber has announced new partnerships with three Russian entities and says it will employ Sergey Sirotkin as a race driver in 2014.

The Swiss team has been under severe financial pressure in recent months and was in dire need of some new funding.

The three organisations involved are the Investment Cooperation International Fund, the State Fund of Development of North-West Russian Federation and the National Institute of Aviation Technologies. The head of the last-named is Sirotkin’s father.

Teenager Sirotkin finished third in Auto GP last year and currently lies eighth in the Renault 3.5 series. The fact that the team has in effect announced him for next season suggests that Nico Hulkenberg will be released to go elsewhere, assuming that the team retains its Mexican support and Esteban Gutierrez.

The team says that Sirotkin will benefit from a development programme, so one might guess that he will be doing some FP1 sessions, given that it has already announced its line-up for the Young Driver test.

A Sauber statement said: “With the National Institute of Aviation Technologies, one of the leading scientific research institutions in Russia, the Sauber F1 team will benefit from the advanced know-how of the front-end Russian scientists and engineers. The objective of the partnership is to open up new perspectives and revenue streams by commercialising jointly developed technologies.

“The partnership includes further activities for the promotion of the inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix in Sochi in 2014 and attracting the talented young Russian generation towards motorsport. In particular, a development programme will be set up for the Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin to prepare him as a racing driver for the team in 2014.

“This extensive co-operation will showcase Russian innovation at the pinnacle of motorsport. At the same time, the Sauber F1 Team will have a solid foundation to increase its competitiveness on a long-term basis.”

Kimi Raikkonen will drive for Lotus on the third day of the ‘Young Driver’ test, which has now of course been turned into a Pirelli test open to race drivers.

The car will be driven on the first and second days by Nicolas Prost and David Valsecchi, the latter having already sampled the E21 in pre-season testing.

“It’s great timing for us to have this season’s Young Driver Test scheduled in the middle of the year as it allows us to evaluate more of the new parts we have for the E21 as the championship battle intensifies,” said Eric Boullier.

“Remarkably, the UK has been having some notably good weather recently so we’re looking forward to getting some good running across the three days. By running Nicolas and Davide we are giving them both invaluable experience and also gaining great feedback, as we’ve previously seen what they can do in the car and appreciate the valuable information they give us.”

“This will be an interesting test and we have a lot planned across the three days,” said trackside operations director Alan Permane. “Obviously we want to give all three drivers the maximum track time possible as well as assessing the latest upgrades to the car. Our aim on the third day will be to help Pirelli understand the latest changes to their tyres at the same venue where they most notably had issues this season.

“For Nico and Davide it’s an opportunity to learn and improve, while for the team it is a great opportunity to try to refine some of the latest developments we have for the E21. Kimi is also allowed to run, enabling him and other race drivers to test tyres for Pirelli. This will benefit both him and Romain by granting us a better understanding of these tyres before we head to the next event in Hungary.”