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Motorsport Store | | Will
the new regulations make February 6 - 11 2001News | ||
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Motorsport Store | | Will
the new regulations make February 6 - 11 2001News | ||
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Download the NewsOnF1.com | 11-Feb:
Jacques Villeneuve appears to have found the setup he was looking for on the BAR as he sets the fastest at Kyalami. He was three
tenths of a second faster than Juan Pablo Montoya who for the first time manages to better his team-mate Ralf Schumacher in the 2001
Williams. Click here for the timed results At Estoril it was a Prost day with both regular drivers Gaston Mazzacane and Jean
Alesi topping the timesheets as well as test driver Pedro de la Rosa. Jenson Button was the only other driver testing at Estoril for
Benetton. Click here for the timed results 11-Feb: Following two days
of testing on a damp track, Rubens Barrichello has finally managed to test the F2001 in the dry. He successfully completed 63
laps with no technical problems. He set a best time of 1:25.739. Click here for the timed results At
Valencia, Mika Hakkinen continues to set the pace setting a time below the 1:14 mark. McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz was
second with Jos Verstappen third over 1.5 seconds off the pace. Click here for the timed results 11-Feb: NewsOnF1.com is pleased to announce 6 'n' Pole. An exciting new competition that challenges your powers of prediction. Take the challenge. 10-Feb: Jean Alesi continues the
impressive form that the new Prost AP04 is showing. Once again he set the fastest time ahead of Jenson Button in the B200 and
team-mate Gaston Mazzacane. Giancarlo Fisichella was 4th in the new Benetton B201 just under a second off the pace.. Click here for the timed results The
times continue to drop at Kyalami as Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time ahead of team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya. Jacques
Villeneuve was third in the sole BAR. Click here for the timed results 10-Feb: A mainly wet track
has forced Ferrari to delay their intended long run in the F2001 with Rubens Barrichello driving. Instead, Barrichello
concentrated on setup. He completed a total of 25 laps with a best time of 1:31.665. Click here for the timed results McLaren have setup camp at Valencia arriving 2 days prior to
the launch of their car on the 7th of February and remaining at the track until the 14th. Today, Jaguar have started testing
here as well as Arrows who left Estoril due to bad weather. Click here for the timed results 9-Feb:
Rubens Barrichello got his first taste of the F2001 today. It was a rainy day at Mugello so Barrichello tested wet and
intermediate tyres. He covered a total of 44 laps with a best time of 1:32.656. Olivier
Panis was fastest on the second day of testing at Kyalami ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. Panis set a time that
is the fastest since testing at this track resumed in February 99. Click here for the timed results Bad weather has forced the cancellation of testing at Estoril on day 3. Low cloud and rain prevented the safety helicopter from flying resulting in the cancellation of the test for today. The Arrows team have decided to move to Valencia due to the continuing bad weather conditions at Estoril. They will start testing on Sunday joining McLaren with Jaguar joining in as well. Click here for the timed results 9-Feb: The European Minardi F1
team shookdown their 2001 contender at the Vairano track in Italy. The team also presented the European Minardi F3000 as well as the
2 seater European Minardi F1. While newly signed Spaniard Fernando Alonso drove the F1 car, Dutchman Christian Albers drove
the F3000 and team owner Paul Stoddart himself drove the 2 seater. The Jaguar team did not set quick times in the recent tests with the new R2 but Bobby Rahal is not concerned. He indicated that they haven't gone for lap times and are mainly concentrating on reliability and hopes to pick up points by just being there at the end. Rahal added "The first thing as I say is to have the reliability, and really make sure the thing is going to run and finish the race. All the speed in the world doesn’t matter if you’re not out there at the end. You can never feel 100 per cent confident, but I feel fairly comfortable with where we are on the reliability standpoint." As for where Michelin stands against Bridgestone, Rahal believes that they will be very close and said "I just get a sneaking feeling that we’re going to be closer than everybody is trying to make out. I have no illusion that there are going to be good days and bad days. Our race is with Williams and Benetton, and if it’s a good tyre on a given weekend that means we’re up front.”
8-Feb:
Michael Schumacher concluded his testing at Mugello setting a time of 1:24.660 covering only 35 laps after his car suffered an
oil leak forcing an engine change. At the end of the session he was happy with the way things were and also hinted that he may
extend his contract beyond 2002 after Ferrari confirmed that Todt, Brawn, Martinelli and Byrne will remain until the end of 2004.
Schumacher said "At the moment I am reasonably happy with the way the development of the car is progressing. Even today,
despite the odd hiccup, we have accumulated further information on its handling. The fact Jean Todt and the engineers have extended
their contract? It is an important decision for the whole team, because it guarantees stability for several years and that is
fundamental if we are to start a new era. It might have an influence over a possible lengthening of my own contract with the
Scuderia, but it is too early to talk about that." Click here for the timed results For the third year in a row, Williams and BAR have moved to South Africa
for a 6 day test session. With 40 degree temperatures, it is the ideal location to test ahead of the Australian GP. On the first day
of testing Ralf Schumacher was fastest ahead of Montoya and Panis. All driver were running 2001 specification cars. Juan
Pablo Montoya managed cover the most number of laps with 47 followed by Ralf Schumacher with 40 and Olivier Panis with 29. Click here for the timed results Jean
Alesi has broken the lap record at the Estoril circuit since testing resumed at the track in 2000. He slashed over a second off
the fastest lap in 2000 set by Jenson Button in the Williams. Enrique Bernoldi was second while Benetton's test driver Mark Webber
was third. Both Bernoldi and Webber were testing 2000 specification cars. Click here for the timed results The McLaren team continues to test privately at Valencia with no test times available while the Jordan team has concluded a 2 test session at Silverstone on the 7th and 8th. Ricardo Zonta tested both EJ11 cars however on both days the testing was limited to a few laps mainly due to the bad weather conditions. No time were available from the test. The Jordan team move to Valencia starting Monday (12/2) 7-Feb:
Michael Schumacher continued testing the F2001 at the Mugello track. He covered a total of 56 laps with a best time of 1:24.579
which is slightly faster than yesterday's time. The team concentrated on the car development. Click here for the timed results Ferrari have confirmed that Director of the Gestione Sportiva Jean Todt will remain with the team until the end of 2004. The team also confirmed that Technical Director Ross Brawn, Director of the Engine department Paolo Martinelli and Chief Designer Rory Byrne will remain at Ferrari until the end of 2004 Following the launch of the new car, David Coulthard drove the car at the Valencia circuit however due to a clutch problem his running was limited to just 10 laps. During the launch, Ron Dennis indicated that the car had run 500 kilometres in the last 2 days prior to the launch trouble free. On
the first day of testing at Estoril, Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi set the fastest time of the day ahead of Jean
Alesi, Jos Verstappen and Giancarlo Fisichella. Click here for the timed results 7-Feb: The McLaren
Mercedes team has become the latest to launch their 2001 contender. The MP4/16 powered by an all new Mercedes engine was
unveiled at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia. The team had finished work on the car early and brought it to the track on
Sunday. David Coulthard covered over 100 laps on Monday and Tuesday without any problems. European Minardi F1 have announced their first driver for the 2001 season. As expected, Spaniard Fernando Alonso will be the team's first driver. Alonso finished 4th in last year's F3000 series and won at Spa. European Minardi F1 boss Paul Stoddart said "We've had our eye on Fernando for some time, and we are delighted to have signed him. Any driver who can come into the ultra-competitive world of Formula 3000 and, in only his second season of single seater racing, win at a circuit like Spa, is clearly a bit special. He is going to be a great addition to the team, and I know he will help us hit some of the ambitious targets we are setting for European Minardi F1." Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA
are in dispute over Ecclestone payment of TV rights to the FIA. Bernie Ecclestone accused Max Mosley and the FIA of trying to extort
money from him and said "Max likes to argue more than I do. These reports are anything but true. Max has been trying to do some
extortion. He wants the money to be paid immediately, but he has no right to do that." 6-Feb: Michael Schumacher continued testing today
at the Mugello circuit today driving the F2001. Following a troubled day yesterday, Schumacher managed to complete 74 laps on the
circuit setting a best time of 1:24.657. This time is over half a second slower than the best time set by Schumacher last year but
Schumacher commented that they concentrating on setup rather than speed and said "Today, we tried different set-ups in order to
gather data on how the car reacts. We were not trying to set quick times. Our main aim was data acquisition. Yesterday we had some
problems with the fuel feed system, which have now been resolved, these things happen at this point in the season." Click here for the timed results After being replaced by Enrique Bernoldi at the Arrows team, Pedro de la Rosa has joined the Prost team as a reserve and test driver. Alain Prost was delighted with the announcement and said "I am delighted to welcome Pedro to our team at the eve of a very promising season. I am confident that his experience in Formula One, as well as the talent he has already shown in the past, will be an important support to Jean and Gaston, and will contribute to the achievement of the team’s ambitions. 6-Feb:
Benetton have launched their 2001 challenger, the B201 at St. Mark's Square in Venice.
The car was presented to the media in spectacular fashion from behind a wall of water, then the wall of water descended showing the
new Benetton B201. The
Chairman of Jaguar, Wolfgang Reitzle announced today that Niki Lauda will head the Premier Performance Division which
groups Jaguar Racing, Cosworth Racing and Pi Electronics. Neil Ressler, the Chairman of Jaguar Racing is retiring due to personal
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