Schumacher backtracks on earlier comments
Michael Schumacher has been asked by Ross Brawn to clarified his earlier comments made on Friday in which he claimed that Mercedes GP would not be in a position to challenge for wins in the first flyaway rounds of the season.
Schumacher made these comments after only being ranked as the seventh-quickest driver on Friday.
“Yesterday, I was a little bit pessimistic before studying the data,” he said.
"I mentioned it before I’d studied the data – afterwards it looked much more reasonable than I first thought. It looks like we were actually maybe running more fuel than others and that’s why the time didn’t look so good (seventh on the timesheets).
"Looking at the results and the data, it looks very reasonable…not too bad."
And is this you saying this, or the team management telling you to?
[Original image via GP Update]
Stefan GP confirms merger talks with USF1 failed
With USF1 now mired in a much-publicised battle to make the 2010 grid at Bahrain (let alone at all), Stefan GP team boss Zoran Stefanovic confirmed that he attempted talks with USF1 co-founders Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, but that these talks proved unsuccessful.
“We had some discussions stretching over many days, but these broke down completely on Thursday afternoon due to the inflexibility of certain players," Stefanovic told AUTOSPORT.
"I stress it was not Chad Hurley [YouTube founder and a major investor in US F1], who was open to discussions with us, but some of the other stakeholders who sabotaged the talks."
Perhaps this may have something to do with their latest website rant about not being able to (as yet) achieve an entry on the 2010 grid?
Trulli admits the established teams are out of Lotus’ reach
Jarno Trulli has admitted that Lotus has a long road ahead of it if it wants to compete with the established F1 teams on the grid in the first four flyaway races of the season.
Jarno completed his final pre-season outing for the team at Barcelona, ending the day ninth-quickest but some 4.3 seconds slower than the leading time of Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes GP.
It’s Mario Andretti’s 70th birthday!
One of the true greats of motorsport reached a special milestone this weekend, with Mario Andretti celebrating his 70th birthday!
Born in Montona, Italy, Andretti’s family migrated to the United States. Andretti is widely regarded as one of the United States’ greatest racing drivers, winning twelve Grands Prix between 1968 and 1982, in addition to the 1978 Championship title.
Barcelona Day 3: Rosberg quickest before rain hits
After Michael Schumacher had talked down Mercedes GP’s prospects in the opening rounds of the 2010 championship, team-mate Nico Rosberg has delivered more encouraging news with the fastest time on the penultimate day of pre-season testing.
The German set the quickest time of the session at the Circuit de Catalunya – a 1:20.686 – early in the day’s running before a series of showers lashed the circuit, much to the frustration of the teams present.
When conditions eased and the track dried out, Nico managed to get close to his quickest time, but not beat it.
Branson unimpressed with Ferrari’s ‘holy war’ stance
Virgin Racing’s principal owner Richard Branson has come out firing and dismissed Ferrari’s recent attack on the participation of the new teams in the 2010 championship.
A column on the official Ferrari website attacked the mandate pushed by then-FIA President Max Mosley to introduce new teams into the sport, and likened it to a “holy war” against the manufacturers. With the departures of BMW and Toyota at the end of the 2009 season, coupled with the struggles being evidenced by Campos and USF1, Ferrari questioned if such change was beneficial for the sport.
Branson’s Virgin Racing team is one of the four new teams signed to challenge in this year’s championship, and was very disappointed at Ferrari’s stance – especially given that Ferrari was one of the established teams that blocked the budget cap rules that were touted to help the new teams be more competitive in the championship.
Stefan GP tightens the screws on USF1
Stefan GP has taken its opportunity to apply even more pressure on the floundering USF1 operation. Not only did the Belgrade-based team confirm the arrival of its equipment in Bahrain, but it also publicly stated via its website that the uncertainty surrounding the American team’s participation in 2010 was damaging for the sport.
Currently, Stefan GP cannot participate in the championship unless another team withdraws from contention. With Campos’ future looking much more assured following its management buyout, that leaves USF1 with its head on the proverbial chopping block.
“Stefan GP would like to inform the public that the containers we sent in the beginning of February have arrived in Bahrain,” says a statement on the Stefan GP website. “During next week we will show our Stefan Formula 1 car to the press as final evidence that should put us on the grid in Bahrain.
“If [in] case we don’t receive the chance to compete in Bahrain, and also when some of the teams fail to show up, somebody should be in a trouble and explaining (sic) what is happening to all of us.
“And dreamers from the USA will have to explain their actions, because they are deliberately weakening F1 with dreaming of a perfect world and fairytales about success. And success doesn’t come by talking, but with hard work and lot of guts.”
Meow!
Schumacher: Mercedes GP won’t challenge for wins straight away
Mercedes GP won’t be a race-winning challenger from the start of the season – at least that’s the opinion of Michael Schumacher.
The seven-time world champion was the seventh-quickest driver on the second day of the pre-season test at Barcelona, and conceded the team would not be challenging for race victories in the opening rounds of the 2010 season.
"I can’t make judgements about other teams at the moment but I do know that we’re not in the position we want to be to be challenging for wins straight away,” Schumacher said. “We are working hard and the season is long – the main aim at the moment is not to be too far off."
Barcelona Day 2: Hülkenberg quickest for Williams
Nico Hülkenberg topped the pre-season test timesheets for the first time when he took his Williams Cosworth around the Circuit de Catalunya just 0.023s quicker than Fernando Alonso managed in his Ferrari.
While the comparative fuel loads being run by the other teams is always the unknown factor during test sessions – thus making any true form analysis near impossible – this result will provide both team and driver with a great confidence boost, with Bahrain just two weeks’ away.
Those of you may recall that Williams frequently topped the free practice timesheets on many Grand Prix weekends in the 2009 season, but that rarely translated to front-running pace during qualifying or the race proper.
Chandhok in talks with Campos
Both Karun Chandhok and Campos have confirmed – as suspected – that they are in talks with each other about the sole available driver’s seat at the team.
Should he be successful in achieving the drive, Chandhok will be the second Indian to drive in Formula 1 after Narian Kathikeyan.
"We have been very impressed with Karun’s money performance in GP2 and are close to finalising a deal with him," Campos’ dentist Team Principal Colin Kolles explained. "India is a great country and it would be great for our budget the sport to have an Indian driver on the grid.
"However, we will be in a better position to comment on this over the next few days."
[Original image via GP Update]
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