It’s finally done – after persistent and intense rumours over the past few days Toyota has officially released a statement saying they would be withdrawing from F1 at the end of the 2009 season, which is basically right now with immediate effect. Click here to read the rest of Toyota officially announces F1 departure
Toyota F1’s race at the Abu Dhabi GP is apparently their last, as strong and intense rumours point to a Toyota board meeting to be held on the 15th of November to come to a conclusion that the company should leave the sport. We could actually know the outcome as early as 8th November 2009.
If Toyota really leaves the sport, this would open a grid position for then new Qadbak Sauber team, the team that used to be the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Toyota was supplying F1 engines to Williams this year but Williams will go with Cosworth engines next year.
Another Japanese company also announced it would be leaving F1 recently. Tyre supplier Bridgestone has announced it will leave at the end of next year’s season to focus its resources on other development. Bridgestone has been the sole supplier of F1 tyres for the past 2 years, and have been a supplier since 1997.
As for Kobayashi who was standing in for Timo Glock who has a back injury, the promising driver says he would most probably have to go back to Japan to work for his father’s sushi restaurant. Maybe he can build the business and then recruit all the chop shop owners here that will be out of a job soon.
If you were able to catch the final two rounds of the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship then you should be familiar with a Japanese driver by the name of Kamui Kobayashi. Kobayashi has been serving as the third driver at Toyota’s Formula 1 outfit since November 2007, after replacing Franck Montagny. The Toyota F1 driver is also competing in the GP2 series which is another feeder series for Formula 1.
Kobayashi’s non-testing driving role in the Toyota F1 team actually started at this year’s Japanese Grand Prix when he replaced Timo Glock for the first two practice sessions, following Glock’s health-related issues. Glock then had a crash during qualifying and did not compete in the race the next day.
Glock’s health advisers then recommended the German not to take part in the remaining two races of the season. Glock’s misfortune was a blessing for Kobayashi as he was then summoned to race in Brazil and in last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In his first qualifying session, he managed to secure 11th place although his team mate Jarno Trulli was fourth fastest.
During the race at the Interlagos track in Sao Paulo, he drove a clean race most of the time and spectators started to notice more of him when the Japanese driver performed some gutsy wheel to wheel racing with his competitors on track.
Kobayashi successfully defended against championship contenders Jenson Button from Brawn and Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull during race. Button even labeled the Japanese driver ‘crazy’. The highlight of his race debut was the battle he had with fellow Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima from Williams. Kobayashi was exiting the pits following a routine pit stop and came out right in front of the Williams driver.
Kobayashi was so determined not to give the position away that Nakajima hit the back of Kobayashi’s car and subsequently lost front wing and eventually hit a tire barrier at Turn 4. Kobayashi managed to finish in ninth place, just a place away from a point finish.
At the season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he managed to qualify in 12th place and it was later revealed that he did so with a very heavy fuel load. During the race, he was running based on a one stop strategy. He started to shine when everyone else who were running on two stop strategies made their first pit stops. With a lighter car, Kobayashi was charging forward and even made a successful, sensational pass on newly-crowned World Champion Jenson Button.
Although he had a lighter car underneath him, Kobayashi’s aggressive driving style and raw talent were evident. He kept his nose clean through out the race and managed to cross the finish line in sixth place and earned three valuable points. He even finished ahead of his more experienced team mate Jarno Trulli.
I have been following Formula 1 for the past decade and only a handful of drivers managed to push me to the edge of my seat with ballsy moves while being able to keep on racing till the checkered flag is waived. Those few include Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen as well as Fernando Alonso. I must admit that Kobayashi is looking good to be included in that list. With just two races, he has quickly became the talk of town. Furthermore, it is very likely that he will be named as one of the 2010 drivers for Toyota.
I hope he manages to secure a race seat as I would love to see him more in action. Its about time that Japan gets its first Formula 1 World Champion. Recent Formula 1 drivers from the Land of Rising Sun have failed to really shine, but that may change with Kobayashi. So will he be considered as the next Schumacher from Japan? Judging from his performance so far, my answer is: Most likely!
Jean Todt has been elected as the President of the FIA which is the world’s motorsport governing body. The Frenchman was contesting against Finland’s Ari Vatanen who is a former world rally champion. Todt replaces Max Mosley and won the elections by 86 votes from a total of 184. Jean Todt was the executive director for the Ferrari Formula 1 team before serving as Ferrari’s CEO until 2008.
He then remained with the company with a “special appointment” and left a year later. Todt will be joined by Nick Craw who will serve as the President of the Senate and Brian Gibbons, Deputy President Automobile Mobility & Tourism. Malaysia’s Tunku Mudzaffar bin Tunku Mustapha who is the chairman of the AAM will serve as a Senate Member.
It was revealed that national auto maker Proton will finalise the brand licensing of Lotus for the Lotus F1 team sometime next month. The auto maker received a draft agreement from the Tune Group over the matter last Friday. Proton Holdings will now go over the agreement before finalising it next month.
Managing Director of Proton Holdings Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir told Bernama, “We are studying the draft and hope to finalise it next month.” Datuk Syed gave the statement at Proton’s Hari Raya open house event at the auto maker’s Centre of Excellence in Shah Alam yesterday. Also to be confirmed next month is the driver line-up.
According to a recent report by Malaysian news agency Bernama, Lotus F1 has shortlisted six drivers where two will be officially announced sometime next month. Team principal Tony Fernandes further revealed that Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy is one of them.
“What I can say is, Fairuz Fauzy is on the list. We will announce the line-up in November. I hope the Malaysian driver will be selected as either the second driver or third driver for the team,” Fernandes said.
Jarno Trulli who is racing for Toyota is also rumored to be selected, although when asked about the Italian, the man behind AirAsia remained tight-lipped. There is a high possibility that the Malaysian-owned team will select a fresh face like Fauzy and a more experienced Formula 1 driver. Looks like we have got wait for the official announcement!
Brit Jenson Button from Brawn GP picked up his first Driver’s Championship earlier today in Brazil. 29-year old Button arrived at Interlagos with a comfortable lead but if he failed to score a single point in the two remaining races (Brazil and Abu Dhabi) the crown could go to his team mate Rubens Barrichello or Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull.
With his fifth place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Brit sealed the championship. Even if the Button fails to finish the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi he will still walk away as the 2009 Champion. During yesterday’s qualifying Button only managed 14th place. His team mate who was also contending for the title grabbed pole position. Vettel on the other hand started the race right behind Button following Vitantonio Liuzzi’s 5-place grid penalty.
As the race progressed the three championship rivals managed to have a clean race despite what happened around them. On the first lap itself two major incidents took place. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) spun his car at Turn 2 and nearly collected Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari). A couple of corners later Jarno Trulli (Toyota) put a wheel on the grass and spun into Adrian Sutil (Force India). The latter also took Fernando Alonso (Renault) out of the race. Both Trulli and and Sutil were seen arguing after the incident.
Kovalainen made a pit stop for repairs and a re-fuel. Unfortunately the Finn drove off with the fuel rig intact. Fuel was then sprayed on Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari which came in for a new front wing. A dramatic fireball developed at the back of the Ferrari. Raikkonen nearly ended his race and was complaining about burning eyes (sensation felt after getting in contact with petrol) even after the race.
After 71 laps, Mark Webber from Red Bull emerged victorious. BMW’s Robert Kubica and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton joined the podium as well. Vettel managed fourth place while Button settled with fifth. Rubens Barrichello who started from pole only managed to finish in eight place following a puncture that forced the Brazilian to pit with just a couple of laps remaining.
Along with the Driver’s Championship, Button’s British-based Brawn GP team that took over operations from Honda at the beginning of year also secured the Constructor’s Championship. The Formula 1 circus now heads to the United Arab Emirates for the season finale on November 1st.
The Litespeed-managed Lotus F1 Racing team has released two photos of a scale model of its first Formula 1 racer that’s currently being used for windtunnel testing. There is no name for the new car yet, but more details about the team were revealed in an interview with technical director Mike Gascoyne provided along with the press release.
According to Gascoyne, development has already been on-going for a few months before the team entry was confirmed in mid-September 2009. Gascoyne is currently in Malaysia interviewing potential employees for technical roles. They are also recruiting various other personnel in the fields of admin, marketing and PR. A full list was published as a full page ad in the papers recently.
The team will be based in the RTN facility in UK initially but as previously mentioned the ultimate goal is to have a full technical facility at the Sepang circuit. However, when that happens a small UK base will still be kept to give the team a logistical advantage when the team is racing in Europe.
Lotus F1 aims to get the car up and running for a roll-out by mid-February 2010 in prepration for the Bahrain race in mid-March. The car is currently being developed with a few technical partners including Fondtech for aerodynamics, Xtrac for transmissions, and Cosworth for engines. Malaysian companies are involved in certain areas including some aspects of engineering as well as composites (very likely to be Composites Technology Research Malaysia).
There are rumours currently afloat about Toyota’s Jarno Trulli joining the new team. Trulli will likely take the senior role and be complemented by a more junior driver, possibly a Malaysian. Everyone seems to be looking at Fairuz Fauzy right now.
Alot are of the opinion that F1 technology rarely makes it into road cars because of the completely different way of doing things when it comes to racecars, but with F1’s budget cuts forcing components to last longer (i.e. more than just one race), R&D to improve durability can definitely benefit road car usage, or at least transmission maker Xtrac strongly thinks so.
Xtrac is a name that alot of you will probably be familiar with. They make the 4WD gearbox that goes into our Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 rally car. According to Xtrac’s chief metallurgist Steve Vanes, the latest specification of steel being required to significantly extend the life of a Formula One gearbox could be broadly applied to a wide range of vehicles to improve their driveline reliability and efficiency.
“From a cultural point of view the world of motorsport has changed considerably, and the costs and relevance of its technology to wider consumer markets has become more important. For example, the trend towards engine downsizing in road vehicles to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions can be complemented by the downsizing of transmissions, requiring the intervention of new technologies and manufacturing processes for stronger and more lightweight components,” says Vanes.
According to Vanes, the recent cost-cutting measures in F1 have lead to the development of a brand new specification of steel necessary to extend the service life of gears, shafts, bearings, dog rings, hubs, selector forks, final drives and other highly stressed driveline components. Vanes claims that until recently the typical life of a set of gears for a main shaft was approximately 350,000 cycles. To quantify the improvement that this new Xtrac steel development as the result of F1 R&D is an extension of typical service life to more than 2.5 million cycles.
Renault has quickly found a replacement for Fernando Alonso, who will be moving to Ferrari next year. Filling Alonso’s seat will be Robert Kubica, who will be leaving his current BMW Sauber F1 Team.
“I am very happy I will be joining Renault in the 2010 season. I feel I have a special connection with this team because in 2005 I won the World Series by Renault. This gave me the chance to test with the team in Barcelona, which led to my debut in Formula One,” said Kubica. He was testing for the team back in 2005.
“We are very excited to have signed Robert with the Renault F1 Team starting next season. Ever since Robert made his Grand Prix debut in 2006, he has been on our radar as one of the most naturally talented drivers of his generation and he has delivered on that promise so it’s great to have secured him in one of our cars next season,” said Renault’s new team principal Bob Bell.
BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: “Robert played an important role for us – and certainly we did the same for him. He joined us in 2006 as a test driver with no Formula One experience, and then we promoted him to be one of our team’s drivers during that season. He never let us down and, with our first pole position in 2008 in Bahrain and first victory the same year in Canada, he set milestones in the history of our team. We are grateful for his strong and constant performances and wish him all the best for his future.“
