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Formula 1 news, results and statistics when you need it |
7 - 18 April News News Archive |
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Formula 1 news, results and statistics when you need it |
7 - 18 April News News Archive |
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Download the NewsOnF1.com |
18-Apr: With just a few days to the start of the British Grand Prix weekend, Rubens Barrichello has yet again indicated that he will not settle for second in the Ferrari team. Barrichello indicated that Michael Schumacher was the toughest team-mate he has ever had and he would like to return the favour back. He would like to see how both will perform under wet conditions as the possibility of a wet race is high this time of the year at Silverstone. Olivier Panis has indicated that he turned down offers to drive for Williams and Arrows in 2000 and decided to take a test driver role with McLaren in the hope of securing a drive with the McLaren team in 2001. The pressure will be on David Coulthard to perform this year or risk being replaced by Olivier Panis. The new Pit lane speed limiter regulations being introduced at Silverstone that are designed to stop teams from using them as traction control devices could be the cause of a few reliability problems for the teams as they have rushed to get them implemented in time. They could also be the cause for a team or two receiving speeding penalties and even disqualification if they don't get them right!. 16-Apr: With Michael Schumacher confident of Pole position and winning the race, we take a more detailed look at the upcoming event with the British GP Preview. 15-Apr: Luca Badoer shook down 2 of the 3 Ferrari's (Michael
Schumacher's and Rubens Barrichello's) which will be used for the British GP next weekend.
He completed 20 laps (10 laps each) with a best time of 1:01.378. Badoer also practiced a
few pit stops testing the new modified pit lane speed limiter. 14-Apr: Michael Schumacher has turned up the heat on main rivals McLaren by stating that he will be aiming for 1st place on the grid and the race after successfully carrying out a full race simulation and setting the fastest time of the day. Pedro de la Rosa, Giancarlo Fisichella, Olivier Panis, Eddie Irvine and Jos Verstappen make the top 6. Today was the first fully dry testing session and that helped all the teams present to test dry settings after testing mainly wet setup during the first 3 days of the test. 16 drivers were present today with BAR cancelling testing today as they continue investigating the crash that occurred to Ricardo Zonta yesterday, Jordan only tested with Jarno Trulli and Minardi only tested with Gaston Mazzacane. Ferrari also continued testing with Michael Schumacher only and Prost only managed to get Alesi out but did not manage to record a fast time. All other teams were present with both cars. Giancarlo Fisichella concentrated on testing Benetton's new aerodynamic package and has indicated that he was pleased with it. Eddie Irvine continued testing the new engine software for Jaguar and in particular the new front wheel based speed limiter. Johnny Herbert ran into a few technical problems. Jarno Trulli continues facing problems with his Jordan as this time he suffered electrical problems ... Timed Results At Vairano, Luca Badoer continued testing the new aerodynamic package for the Ferrari F1-2000. He completed a total of 52 laps. The goal of these tests is to verify the tests carried out at the wind tunnel. In other news, Toyota have announced that they have signed Scotsman Allan McNish the former LeMans winner as their test driver for their Formula 1 program. Toyota will start testing this year with their LeMans car in preparation for testing their prototype F1 car during the 2001 season. Toyota have indicated that they will be aiming at entering F1 in 2002 at the latest. 13-Apr: Despite crashing and breaking his leg here last year, Michael Schumacher on his first time at the Silverstone track since his accident set the fastest time of the session. He was followed by Heinz Harald Frentzen and Mika Hakkinen. Ralf Schumacher, Pedro de la Rosa and Jenson Button make the top 6. The session started wet but started to dry later during the day. There were 20 drivers present today, Jean Alesi, Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard were not present (Olivier Panis was testing the 2nd McLaren) The BAR team decided to halt the testing on both their cars after Ricardo Zonta suffered a massive crash at Stowe, the same corner where Michael Schumacher crashed last year. Zonta's car flipped and crashed into a concrete wall landing upside down. Zonta was very lucky to escape with only a small cut to his finger. BAR suspects a problem with the suspension on the car. They will not continue testing until the cause is determined and fixed. They reported to have had good progress with the new specification Honda engine before the crash occurred. Jarno Trulli continues to suffer problems with his Jordan as his gearbox failed today. Eddie Irvine was testing the new engine software on the Jaguar. When asked about how he felt returning to Silverstone after his crash last year, Michael Schumacher replied by saying that Zonta's accident had more of an effect on him and he called for the Silverstone organisers to improve the safety of the track before the upcoming British GP. Tomorrow is the final day of testing at Silverstone ... Timed Results At Vairano, Luca Badoer started a 2 day aerodynamic testing program on the Ferrari F1-2000. He completed a total of 55 laps. In other news, Paul Stewart, the chief operating officer of Jaguar Racing has stepped down after being diagnosed with Colon Cancer. He is undergoing chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. 13-Apr: The FIA have changed their position from totally banning the pit lane speed limiter to allowing a revised version on the limiter that is hard-coded to 80 km/H. The speed sensors can now only be allowed to be mounted on the front wheels. Further changes and clarifications include engine speed sensing which will now only be determined from one sensor on the crankshaft and the signal coming out will be filtered at an FIA approved frequency. The FIA have also put a limit on one new software version per event for each team for the rest of the season. There were also other restrictions covering engine braking and idle control. 12-Apr: On the second day of testing at Silverstone, all the teams were present and apart for Michael Schumacher, Jean Alesi and Gaston Mazzacane, all the drivers were present. The track was wet in the morning but dried later in the day allowing the teams to conduct some testing under dry conditions. Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the day ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Alexander Wurz. Jacques Villeneuve, Ricardo Zonta and Giancarlo Fisichella make the top 6 ... Timed Results Most of the teams concentrated on testing new engine software that complies with the new FIA regulations. The BAR team are testing a new specification Honda engine which they are hoping to use at the British GP. The Jordan team continue to suffer reliability problems with Jarno Trulli retiring after 43 laps due to electrical problems. A dramatic incident in the morning stopped the session when Jacques Villeneuve hit a fox on the circuit. Jacques was fine but the fox wasn't. Some of the times between drivers were extremely close and since each team uses their own timing system, there were a few discrepancies in reporting the times between the different teams ... Timed Results At Fiorano, Luca Badoer completed a 2 day test session for Ferrari. Badoer tested the F1-2000 with a best time of 1:02.469. Badoer now moves to Vairano for more testing ... Timed Results 12-Apr: "How are you going to do it, David" is the title of the 7th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2000 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at what happened at the San Marino GP - Check it out here !! 11-Apr: The first day of testing at Silverstone in preparation for the British GP was a wet one. In fact, rain was heavy in the morning but it eased in the afternoon and that is when most drivers set their fastest laps. This is typical Silverstone weather at this time of the year and chances are that we will see this repeated over the course of the testing session and during the race weekend. It was Rubens Barrichello who set the
fastest time ahead of Jarno Trulli and Olivier Panis. Alexander Wurz, Jenson Button and
Ricardo Zonta make the top 6. 10-Apr: With the exception of Minardi, all the Formula 1
teams will be taking part in a 4 day testing session at Silverstone this week starting
from Tuesday in preparation for the British GP on the 23rd of April. 10-Apr: Starting from Silverstone, pitlane speed limiters are to be banned. The FIA believes that some of the teams are using these devices not only for controlling the speed in the pitlane but also as a traction control device during the race. Therefore they have decided to ban these limiters and let the driver ensure that he maintains the 80 km/H speed limit in the pitlane. Both Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard expressed their concern that it is dangerous as the driver will now have to concentrate on his speed rather than the other cars in the pitlane and that it will become so easy to get a 10 second penalty for speeding which could mean the difference between winning the race and finishing outside the points making the race decided by the stewards. 9-Apr: Michael Schumacher makes it 3 out of 3 as he wins the San Marino GP ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Rubens Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Salo make the top 6 ... Full Report ... Timed Results 9-Apr: Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest time in the warm-up session today ahead of team-mate David Coulthard and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher. Rubens Barrichello, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli make the top 6. Fisichella was an impressive 7th compared with his qualifying position of 19th while his team-mate Wurz was way back in 21st position possibly reflecting a different race strategy for each. Marc Gene was equally impressive setting the 8th fastest time while his team-mate was 22nd, again possibly different race strategies. One second separates 5th to 21st so apart from the super 2 teams, everyone else is very close ... Timed Results 8-Apr: Mika Hakkinen makes it 3 out of 3 this season as he grabs Pole position for the San Marino GP ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard ... Full Report ... Timed Results 7-Apr: It is a Ferrari 1 - 2 on the first day of practice at Imola with Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello topping the times... Full Report ... Timed Results |
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