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Testing Roundup 16/2    

Will the new regulations make  
a difference - Have Your Say  
The 2001 Season Preview  
Issue 2 - The Heretic  

Feb 21 - 24 News

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24-Feb: Niki Lauda has slammed the FIA's decision to allow the return of driver aids to Formula 1 and described driving a modern Formula 1 car as a joke. He called for the evolution of cars and circuits in order to produce good racing and said "I could drive the cars today. Seriously, anybody could, even in the wet. I think it’s a joke. If you make the cars any easier to drive, there will be no overtaking. As you will make the car mechanically so easy to drive, the only thing you will have to worry about is braking. Gearshift is no problem any longer. In the old days, if you missed a gear then you broke the engine, or somebody passed you. Now nobody overtakes as the gear changes are automatic. At Monaco, when I was racing, you had to make 3000 gear changes during the race. If you missed a gear, you slid into a barrier. That showed the real difference between the drivers.
Do we want technology, or do we want proper racing? The real thing over the next five years is to evolve cars and circuits that produce good racing.”

David Coulthard has once again claimed that he is ready to win his first title this year and indicated that he has stepped up a level since winning the French Grand Prix in 2000. He has admitted his frustration at not being able to win the title yet said "It is frustrating to me not to have achieved my goal even though most of my career has been spent in cars capable of winning world championships. But I am still determined to win the title. My hunger to win races and the championship is still there and will be as long as I am in the sport."
Coulthard expects Ferrari and McLaren to dominate this season once again but expects a few shock results due to the return of Michelin and said "We are going to have a tyre war in Formula One this year because of Michelin coming into the sport and I think that is going to create a few shocks. But most of the time it will probably still be Ferrari and McLaren who have the edge so I know that whatever happens I will still have Mika and Michael to beat."

23-Feb: The McLaren have concluded their 3 day test at Barcelona with Alexander Wurz setting a slightly faster time that Mika Hakkinen. Both drivers managed to complete more than 75 laps but still suffered engine and gearbox problems during their runs. Mika Hakkinen was not so concerned though and said "I was more concerned yesterday, but today the car was good. I am very positive and will fly out to Australia tomorrow." 
This is the third year in a rows that McLaren heads to Melbourne with seemingly unsorted reliability problems. Neither car failed to finish in the last 2 years. 

Click here for the timed results

23-Feb: The FIA have issued the following press release regarding the regulation changes to Formula One:

"With the unanimous agreement of the competing teams, the World Motor Sport Council approved the following changes to the Formula One Technical and Sporting Regulations.

With effect from 16 April 2001 ( for Spanish Grand Prix):

22-Feb: The McLaren team had a better day on the track today with Mika Hakkinen covering more than 80 laps and setting the fastest time of the day slightly ahead of test driver Alexander Wurz. Mika Hakkinen suffered an engine failure on his last scheduled lap causing him into a spin. Juan Pablo Montoya was third over 1.5 seconds behind.

Click here for the timed results

The European Minardi shook down their first AP01 chassis. Both Fernando Alonso and newly signed Tarso Marques drove the new car. They covered over 30 laps with no reported problems. The team is now busy preparing the second chassis in preparation for shipping to Melbourne.
Team owner Paul Stoddard was pleased with the successful shakedown and said "It has all been a bit of a blur, but to see the car running for the first time was quite an emotional moment and definitely brought things into sharp focus. This simply wouldn’t have happened without a massive collective effort from everyone on the team, both at Faenza and Ledbury, and I’m grateful to each and every one of them for the hard work and long hours they have put in over the last four weeks. It has been a huge mountain to climb to ensure we would be there next Friday, in Melbourne, for the start of practice, but we have made it. I would particularly like to single out the efforts of the Technical Department here in Faenza. They have done an almost unbelievable job to re-engineer the chassis so quickly to accept the European V10 power unit we will be using this year and still come up with a car that looks wonderful and ran without a hitch in its first test. It really is an incredible achievement."

The BAR Honda team have announced that they have passed the FIA safety tests on the 20th of February. BAR's Technical Director Malcolm Oastler said "This has been a significant challenge for the team which they have risen to admirably and we look forward to starting the season in Australia with cars which fully realise the FIA's outstanding safety objectives."

The Prost team have announced that the Ferrari engines they will run this year will be rebadged Acer and the official name for the team will be Prost Acer. 
Alain Prost commented on the announcement by saying "I am proud to have brought into Formula One, once again, a new brand name, leading technology company Acer.  Acer’s fresh enthusiasm and determination match perfectly the feelings of our renewed and remotivated team. Our fields share the same philosophy and objectives: a drive for excellence and achievement. Together we look forward to a long-term successful partnership".
Gianfranco Lanci, the President of Acer Europe said "Innovation and Technology have always characterized both worlds of Formula One and Information Technology, and have led to the development of technologies that are found in day-to-day appliances. We are confident that our sponsorship with a promising team such as Prost Grand Prix will boost the visibility of the Acer Brand, and will strengthen our position as one of the leaders of the Personal Computer market."

The Ferrari team have announced that they have renewed their agreement with Philip Morris the owner of the Marlboro trademark until the end of the 2006. That is when the full tobacco ban takes effect. The Ferrari team have also decided not to shake down the cars on Saturday as previously planned and will be instead delivered to the airport for shipping on Saturday the 24th of February.

22-Feb: Following Eddie Irvine's remarks that the new Jaguar R2 was "too slow" (story), Jaguar CEO Bobby Rahal hit back at Irvine's comments and indicated that criticising for the sake of motivation is not very positive and said "There may be some question as to the overall performance level, but it is my belief that we're probably not as bad as we've been portrayed. I don't know whether these criticisms are Eddie's ways of motivating people. I think it tends to be. In the past, with other teams, I've seen other drivers do that. But I've never felt that it was a very positive way of motivating people. Eddie just wants to win, and it's right that he should push us, just like we should push him."

Conducting Williams' final test at Barcelona before Melbourne, Juan Pablo Montoya has indicated that the Melbourne Grand Prix can't come soon enough and said "This is my last chance with the car before my debut race for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team. We are fine-tuning the package and using this test for last minute checks and adjustments. The car feels well balanced and the team’s hard effort over the winter months is paying dividends. Michelin also deserve credit for the rate at which they are developing the tyres and I have little doubt in their ability to be on par with Bridgestone in the not too distant future. Melbourne is only ten days away, I know, but it still seems a long way off for me. It will only hit me when I arrive in Albert Park next Thursday and begin experiencing the build-up; something that can’t come soon enough."

21-Feb: Alexander Wurz set the fastest time on the first day of testing at Barcelona. He was almost 1.5 seconds faster than Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams. David Coulthard appeared on the track for 4 laps early in the morning but suffered a gearbox failure which ended his run. Wurz covered 78 laps while Montoya covered 67.

Click here for the timed results

Heinz Harald Frentzen continues to set the pace at Silverstone. After setting the fastest time this year yesterday he bettered that today and set the fastest time at the track since 98'. He was 0.8 seconds ahead of Jarno Trulli. Jos Verstappen was third ahead of his team-mate Enrique Bernoldi who shook down the second A22. Jenson Button was again the slowest of all over 4 seconds off the pace although he managed to cover the most number of laps with 48 laps. Heinz Harald Frentzen did the least number of laps with 19.

Click here for the timed results

Michael Schumacher returned to Fiorano following an extensive test at Mugello. Michael Schumacher carried out tests with the F1-2000 concentrating on practice starts and pits stops. He covered a total of 82 laps with a best time of 1:00.518.

Click here for the timed results

Following recent reports indicating that Benetton have failed the FIA safety tests, the team issued a statement denying the allegations and confirming that they have passed the tests last week on their first attempt. The statement said "Contrary to reports in the media on Wednesday, the Mild Seven Benetton Renault Sport team would like to clarify that not only did the B201 pass the side-impact chassis crash test last week at the first attempt, but that all necessary crash tests have also been passed.
The team is therefore fully prepared to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship that begins next weekend in Australia."

21-Feb: The European Minardi team have announced that Brazilian Tarso Marques will be their second driver for 2001. Marques drove for Minardi during the 96' and 97' seasons before competing in the CART series where last year he drove for the Panasonic Ford Swift team and finished 25th overall with a best result of 7th at Fontana. Tarso Marques said “I am very pleased to be returning to Formula One, particularly as it is with European Minardi. I know many of the people here from my races with the team in 1996 and 1997, so it is a little like coming home. At the same time, there is also a different feeling at the factory since the team now has a new owner, Paul Stoddart. There is a lot happening and it all seems very exciting, so I think this is a good place to be. I am really looking forward to driving in the World Championship again and helping the team to be as competitive as possible.”
Paul Stoddart commented on the appointment by saying “After considerable deliberation on the issue of European Minardi’s second driver, we have decided that Tarso best fulfils our requirement to have a pair of young drivers, one preferably with Formula One experience. There is the added benefit that he has driven for Minardi in the recent past, and therefore knows the team well. I think he and Fernando will form a strong driver pairing, so I’m very pleased with our 2001 line-up."

Click here of the 2001 Line-up & Launch Dates  

Following the comments made by the FIA president that a number of teams have failed the safety tests, there are rumours that BAR, Benetton and Ferrari had problems passing their cars. Reports indicate that Benetton are the worse affected as they have lightened the chassis to a degree that it is failing the side impact test.
The crash test regulations are the toughest ever but despite that it is believed that all the teams will pass the safety tests in time for Melbourne. However, Max Mosley was adamant that if a team fails the tests they will not be allowed to race and said "I do expect them all to pass in time for the first race but if they do not we shall pull them out. It is not an empty threat. If we bend the rules on this we open the doors to everyone in future."

21-Feb: At a media conference in London, FIA President Max Mosley spoke about a number of topics relating to Formula 1. Here are the highlights:
Regulation changes: Starting from 2002, the yellow flag system will be replaced by an electronic speed limiting device fitted on each car. The race director will dictate the speed limit depending on the situation and will communicate the speed limit to all the cars electronically. Cars exceeding the speed limit imposed will be penalised.
Power steering and brake balance assistance will be banned from 2002. This is a direct result of the re-introduction of traction control.
From 2003, the safety car will no longer be used as the FIA will introduce a "speed profile system" that electronically maintains the speed of all the cars on the track and ensures a constant gap between the cars. Cars will also be fitted with a collision avoidance system in the case of poor visibility.

Safety Tests: Max Mosley indicated that a number of Formula 1 teams have failed the required safety tests for this season and said "By no means have all the teams passed the safety tests. The biggest problem has been the side impact tests. Some people have failed that and other tests as well. But I feel they are likely to have that sorted by Melbourne."

EM.TV - Kirch deal: Max Mosley voiced his disapproval of this deal which if approved will give them 75% of SLEC (Bernie Ecclestone's family trust that controls the commercial interests of Formula 1). Mosley indicated that a media company controlling the commercial interests of Formula 1 is bad for the sport and he prefers a consortium of auto manufacturers to buy into SLEC. He also warned that the FIA assembly can terminate the contract between the FIA and SLEC and said "The manufacturers would be positive, they would bring stability, and they are easier to deal with from the FIA's point of view because they are looking at the bigger picture. EM.TV is not good, I hope we can get it sorted. We have to be satisfied, and if we are not satisfied then we can terminate the contract. That is the bottom line. The general assembly has 60 days in which to say whether they are satisfied."

Silverstone: Max Mosley once again warned the Silverstone organisers that if a repeat of the problems experienced in 2000 occurs, they face being dropped from the World Championship and said "If we see the same scenes this year as last year it will be difficult to keep the race on the calendar. We have said to Silverstone that we cannot have something on a par with the Olympic Games and the football World Cup being held down the end of a lane in a muddy field. But they recognize this. If they want to be part of the World Championship, then they know they have to up their game."

The FIA Presidency: Max Mosley has confirmed that he will be running for a third 4-year term and if he is re-elected, it will be his last. The World Motorsport Council will elect the FIA President in October.