Is Williams trying to do a Brawn GP and sell the team to a manufacturer? Well, according to Autocar, which quotes German publication Bild, boss Frank Williams is dangling his F1 team in front of the Volkswagen Group, which is expected to enter the pinnacle of motor racing from 2013. Williams used to partner BMW before Munich bought into Sauber and currently uses Cosworth engines.

“We are stronger with a manufacturer than as a private team,” Williams told Bild. “No question. And of course we have an affinity with Germany. I remember well, quite early on, we went to the races with VW buses – we sometimes even slept in them. German cars are great. With Mercedes, Brawn won the title last year, and with McLaren in the previous year. And now they are up there with their own team.”

According to Bild, Williams, who sold a 20% stake in his team to Austrian investor and race driver Toto Wolff late last year, could sell his remaining stake to VW if Wolfsburg decides to enter the sport. VW’s motorsport chief Kris Nissen is said to want F1 to improve its image, drive down costs and improve its stability before the group commits itself. He was also quoted before saying that VW will continue to concentrate on its successful Dakar Rally programme for at least two more years. VW is currently the team to beat in Dakar after winning back-to-back editions since the race moved to South America.

VW’s involvement in single seater racing is currently limited to Formula 3 racing. It supplies 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines to teams in the Formula 3 Euro Series, ATS Formula 3 Cup and the British Formula 3 Championship.

Source

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Ferrari’s highest profile employee, two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, has chosen a Maserati GranCabrio as his company car. The Scuderia’s race winner at the season opening Bahrain GP “collected” his new car at the Fiorano track. The fact that he picked Maserati’s big drop top over something from Ferrari’s road car range shows that the ex-Renault man prefers a relaxed driving experience off the track.

Alonso’s stealthy GranCabrio is in “Grigio Granito” body colour, while the Maser’s two-tone cabin upholstery is a combination of Pearl Beige and Bordeaux leather. The car’s canvas top is in the same dark red hue. Alonso, whose wife is a Spanish pop star, was said to be particularly impressed by the space offered by the GranCabrio, which has plush seating for four adults.

Based on the Trident brand’s GranTurismo coupe, the Pininfarina penned cabriolet is powered by a 4.7-litre V8 with 440 bhp/490 Nm mated to a ZF 6-speed automatic gearbox. Its canvas top folds up in only 20 seconds, and is available in six colours. Naza Italia, official importer of Ferrari and Maserati in Malaysia, should be importing this model in the near future. Both the GranTurismo and Quattroporte limo are currently available at the company’s Petaling Jaya showroom.

More images after the jump.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

The Honda NSX is a legend, and owners can always boast that another legend, Formula 1 great Ayrton Senna, had a hand in the mid-engined sportscar’s development. Now, future owners of the McLaren MP4-12C can claim that their 600 bhp supercar is endorsed by not one, but two Formula 1 champs! Well, almost. With the two most recent F1 champions racing under its name, McLaren couldn’t resist letting Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton have a go at the “XP Beta phase” prototypes of the MP4-12C, although testing road cars isn’t part of their official job scope.

The two British champs tried out XP8 and XP10 at Goodwood Motor Circuit earlier this month. Being self confessed ‘petrolheads’ and having seen the 12C at the McLaren Technology Centre in February, they were keen to get behind the wheel and share some views. Their time on the tight and fast circuit in southern England returned feedback on the 12C’s launch control, Brake-Steer application and threshold levels of the electronic stability control programmes, as well as driver comfort at speed.

Good comments are expected from the two well-paid employees, but we believe that the MP4-12C is truly a cracking car to drive coming from the people who brought us the McLaren F1. Read what Jenson and Lewis have to say after the jump. Images and video of the MP4-12C are available here.

Jenson Button commented, “The 12C is so easy to drive. Its cockpit is a nice place to be and really makes you feel at one with the car. The driving seat is very comfortable and the layout of the controls is completely logical. I like the fact that there’s no switchgear on the steering wheel. You simply select the mode you want before you begin driving and after that there’s no need to concentrate on anything but the driving itself.

“It was clear when meeting the Automotive test team that they share the same competitive focus as our race team. We’re obsessed with winning and we’ll do all we can to make sure that happens. If the 12C team say they are aiming to make the best performance car on the market, then I’m convinced that is what they will do.”

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Petrobras does not confirm this, saying that the deal is still in negotiations, but I think there won’t be smoke without fire! The deal is said to be worth US$9 million and Petrobras logos are expected to debut at the Spanish GP. Petrobras is not new to F1 sponsorship – they were a sponsor of Williams in the past.

Being the only new team that finished the race with both cars, I suppose the team’s Bahrain results has worked in the Malaysian-backed team’s favor in terms of potential sponsor confidence!

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Abu Dhabi is slowly but surely catching up with its showy sister emirate Dubai. It’s already a Formula 1 host, and later this year we’ll see the world’s largest indoor theme park and the first ever Ferrari theme park open its gates at Yas Island. The mega development covers the already in use racetrack, shops, hotels, thrill rides and everything else that will make it a “Disneyland” for the car enthusiast.

Unsurprisingly, everything here is the biggest or the fastest. The theme park’s red roof, which is supposed to be inspired by the side profile of the Ferrari car, shades over 2.15 million square feet and is imprinted with the largest Prancing Horse emblem ever made (66-metre diameter).

The star ride at Ferrari World will be the world’s fastest rollercoaster. Travelling at speeds “in excess of 200 km/h”, one doesn’t need to be in Alonso’s car to feel extreme G-force and wind on the face at 200 km/h. Passengers can expect to be launched over 62 m through the roof and back down again to replicate the F1 G-force experience. Another rollercoaster ride is the GT Racing Coaster which will have two “competing” cars racing along parallel tracks to the “finish line”. As you can see here, the car is a replica of a Ferrari F430 Spider with a cabin for four – another world’s first?

Those who attend the Abu Dhabi GP this year are bound to have a blast! More pics after the jump.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

We have managed to get hold of some high-res images of yesterday’s Bahrain Grand Prix which served as the 2010 season opener. Fernando Alonso was the first driver to cross the finish line in his scarlet Ferrari followed by his Brazilian teammte Felipe Massa making it a 1-2 victory for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was the other driver who made it onto the podium as Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel suffered from a spark plug problem which forced the pole-sitter to finish in fourth place.

Apart from familiar faces, the Grand Prix also featured new faces on the grid including Virgin, Hispania and Lotus Racing. Among these three teams, Lotus emerged on top as both of its drivers managed to finish the 49-lap race. Virgin and Hispania did not enjoy the same as they were part of a retirement sandstorm.

The race also marked the return of 7-times World Champion Michael Schumacher to the sport since 2006 with the Mercedes GP Petronas outfit. Although I was looking forward to the race, I am disspointed with the lack of entertainment as overtaking was very minimal. Despite having more teams the race was quite boring. I believe the race would have been better off without the mid-race refueling ban.

Nevertheless continue reading to view the image gallery.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Lotus Racing fared the best among the rookie teams in yesterday’s Bahrain GP, with both Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli classified as finishers (15th and 17th). In contrast, the two Virgin and two HRT cars retired, so the team’s stated mission is firmly on track.

Team Principal Tony Fernandes was delighted at the result. “I’m completely over the moon! I cannot describe the feeling. Six months of work and to have both cars finish is just unbelievable. We’re thrilled, we’re happy and the spirit in the team is fantastic. I’m really proud of Jarno and of Heikki and everyone here. It’s a great start and better than I could have dreamt of. We wanted to finish the race and to do so ahead of established teams is fantastic.

“From here we keep going. Before the race Clive Chapman gave me Colin Chapman’s old Lotus cap and said ‘when you win the first race you’ll be the man to throw this up in the air like my Dad used to.’ That meant a lot to me, it was a wonderful gesture and it’s like handing over the mantle of one of motor racing’s great dynasties”

Tech chief Mike Gascoyne was also contented. “I have to say thank you to both drivers. They drove great races – Jarno struggled early on but when he changed to the soft tyre he was much more competitive. Apologies to Heikki because he may have suffered from the strategy, and apologies to Jarno because he had a hydraulics problem and he had to slow down to get the car to the finish, but overall a great result.”

The Lotus Racing pit box and hospitality area saw former stars Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell dropping by. Perhaps they were drawn in by the fragrance of the nasi lemak served by the Malaysian owned team!

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Talking to BBC, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said that Formula 1 needs to consider immediate rules tweaks to make it more spectacle than processional. “Today was not the best show, we know that and we have all got to work together to improve it.

“I personally believe that more challenging tyres will help the spectacle of the show. I also personally believe that we should have two stops mandated because we want to stop this. Today, if we had had a safety car on lap five, we’d have all piled in (to the pits) and we’d have all gone on the prime tyre and run to lap 49 without a stop. That was a real danger.

“I think that the tyres are allowing you to do that, I’m not trying to pass the blame (on to Bridgestone). We are all in this together. We do need to look at mandatings stops, we do need to look at the tyres and make them more fragile, and we do need to work on making the cars capable of racing close together and easier to overtake,” he said.

The lack of overtaking is an issue, and the Brit has this to say: “Unfortunately the double diffuser, and we have all got them, has really worked against that in the last two years, we have got rid of it for next year but that is arguably a year too late. What can we do this year? It’s go to be work with Bridgestone and potentially mandating more stops in the race.”

What do you think of Formula 1 in its current form?

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Ferrari is officially the team to beat as the Prancing Horse scored a 1-2 victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Double World Champion Fernando Alonso was the leading Ferrari as he crossed the line about 16 seconds ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel who started from pole and who was leading halfway through the race suffered from a mechanical issue which forced him to let go of his lead. He managed to keep on racing but had to settle for fourth.

Third place was taken up by Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. Fifth and sixth spots were filled by both the Mercedes GP Petronas cars led by Nico Rosberg. Michael Schumacher showed that he still has what it takes to race in Formula 1 as at times the German was pressured by reigning World Champion Jenson Button in his McLaren and Mark Webber in the other Red Bull.

Button and Webber finished in seventh and eight positions respectively. Force India managed to make it into the top ten as Vitantonio Liuzzi finished in ninth. His teammate who started from tenth was part of an incident on Lap 1 which pushed him out of the top ten. The final point paying position was taken up Rubens Barrichello in his Cosworth-powered Williams.

Lotus Racing was definitely the top team among the rookies. Both Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli made clean starts and Kovailanen finished the team’s first ever Grand Prix in 15th place. Both Virgin and Hispania failed to finish the race as all four cars went into retirement due to mechanical issues. Karun Chandhok of HRT was the first to retire followed by Lucas Di Grassi of Virgin. The Timo Glock and Bruno Senna joined the list later on. However before Glock retired he was exchanging positions with Kovalainan which was quite interesting to look at.

Jarno Trulli almost crossed the finish line but his car came to a stop at the final moments, most probably due to lack of fuel. Nevertheless he was classified in the finish list and took 17th position. A total of seven drivers retired today.

Lap 1 wasn’t really incident free as Mark Webber’s Red Bull produced a cloud of smoke and Adrian Sutil along with Robert Kubica in his Renault spun after Turn 1. Vettel led Alonso, Massa Rosberg, Hamilton, Schumacher, Webber, Button, Liuzzi and Barrichello at the beginning part of the event. Refueling mid-way through the race is banned this year and all cars ran on a one-stop strategy strictly for changing tires.

There were only few incidents and highlights were made up by Nico Hulkenberg’s spin at the beginning part of the race and Vettel’s mechanical problem that cost him the victory. Unfortunately, there weren’t many overtaking moves despite the FIA’s actions to make Formula 1 more entertaining.

Schumacher spent the entire day behind his younger teammate but as mentioned he managed to keep his nose clean and crossed the line about 4 seconds behind Rosberg. Under the new points system, Alonso scored 25 points and Massa bagged 18. Hamilton scored 15, Vettel with 12, Rosberg with 10, Schumacher with 7, Webber with 4, Liuzzi with 2 and Barrichello with 1. Next stop: The Australian Grand Prix on March 28th!

Please click here to view the full results.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Red Bull, the team that gave Brawn GP a good fight last year has started the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship with a bang! The team clinched pole position for the season-opening race in Bahrain with a lap time of 1:54.101 set by Sebastian Vettel.

The German will start tomorrow’s Middle Eastern event ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa who makes his return after a horrific crash last year. Massa was just about 0.1 seconds slower.

Although losing the pole position battle, the Prancing Horse is set to go head to head with Vettel’s Red Bull as Fernando Alonso secured third place. The double World Champion who wears red overalls this year was about 0.5 seconds behind Vettel’s lap time.

2008 Champion Lewis Hamilton will start from fourth place ahead of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. The other Red Bull settled for sixth place with Mark Webber behind the wheel. 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher who makes a sensational return with the “Shining Silver Star” outfit will start in seventh in front of reigning World Champion Jenson Button of McLaren and Robert Kubica of Renault. Force India is set to impress the paddock again this year with Adrian Sutil’s tenth place.

All rookie teams managed to qualify their cars for the Bahrain Grand Prix. However as most of us expected all three teams filled up the final six spots. Both Lotus Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen were sandwiched by the Virgin Racing drivers. Virgin’s Timo Glock secured 19th place with Trulli and Kovalainen in 20th and 21st positions respectively.

Lucas Di Grassi in the other Virgin positioned himself in 22nd place. Hispania Racing also known as HRT will start the Grand Prix from the very back. This is not surprising as the team which was formerly known as Campos missed crucial pre-season tests. As a result, Bruno Senna who brings back the legendary Senna surname to Formula 1 only managed 23rd. His Indian teammate Karun Chandhok was about 1.7 seconds slower putting him in the final grid position.

Both Virgin and Lotus were about 6 seconds slower than the pole sitter’s lap time. HRT is further down with a gap of about 10 seconds behind Vettel’s time. With such a gap the front running teams should be able to lap these slower cars after about 20 laps. These Cosworth-powered cars are clearly much behind in terms of pace which is probably due to the lack of preparation compared to other teams. Williams is also using Cosworth engines but the team’s lead driver Rubens Barrichello finished in 11th and his team mate Nico Hulkenberg managed 13th. As always tomorrow should be an interesting 49-lap race at the Sakhir race track and dry weather is predicted.

To view the full results please click here.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

I was browsing through the papers when I stumbled on an article about the return of the Formula 1 season in yesterday’s business section of The Star (12 March). In the piece, the writer expressed his hopes that Malaysian owned Lotus Racing “may just spoil it for the big boys”. He also mentioned “podium finish” and “national anthem” in the following paragraph. Well, let’s hope that Malaysians tuning in this weekend won’t have the same expectations, because they will be sorely disappointed. Take this not from us, but Lotus T127 pilot Jarno Trulli.

The Italian, in an interview with Autosport, shared about the ups, downs and burdens driving for Lotus. When asked if there’s any possible strategic move to get ahead of the established teams given the lack of outright pace, Trulli answered: “No. We will be four seconds off the top, and we will be three seconds off the last car from the top group which is too much. The aim is to finish the race with both cars and to get experience.”

When quizzed whether Lotus is “expecting” to finish the race or merely “hoping” to do so, he chose the former. “We are expecting to finish the race. But in Formula 1 even top teams can stop because of little gremlins and a team like ours has more chance to stop especially as at the moment we haven’t had the chance to design every little bit on the car. This is our biggest issue. We are looking to change it, but at the moment the team is not running fully in every area. We are working on many things, but we have to take things step by step”.

The ex-Toyota driver also gave insight on the differences between driving for an established team and a start up, explaining that he’s happy with the high level of driver influence on the technical direction of the car as opposed to merely turning up to drive. “I jump in the car, say this is right, this is wrong and then in one day we gain a second. It is kind of satisfying to work in this way, even though it is not satisfying being four seconds off”.

I enjoyed reading the interview as Trulli came off as honest, as opposed to merely repeating the official PR script. Read it in full by heading to the source link below!

Source

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

After an off-season full of drama, Formula 1 is back this weekend with the Bahrain GP. Supported by Petronas, which is also the title sponsor of Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes GP works team, broadcast of “the pinnacle of motorsports” returns with live coverage of all 19 races. In addition to covering Formula 1 across its TV, online and mobile platforms throughout the region, viewers can tune into the new ESPN HD channel.

STAR Sports will broadcast more than 600 hours of F1 content in 2010 including pre and post-race shows Race Day and Chequered Flag hosted by Paula Malai Ali and Steve Dawson. STAR Sports’ coverage will also be bolstered with the addition of former Jordan chief designer and technical director Gary Anderson, who will add technical expertise to the live commentary team comprising veteran commentator Steve Slater. For the first time ever in Asia, F1 live broadcasts will also be shown in High-Definition on ESPN HD.

Online content at ESPN Star’s website includes Live Race Centre featuring lap-by-lap live race coverage and commentary, online video highlights, insightful columns by Steve Slater, the F1 Fantasy game and a new winner prediction game sponsored by Petronas. Autographed helmet by Schumi anyone?

We can’t wait! Let the racing start!

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

We only have a few days more before one of the most anticpated seasons in Formula 1 kicks off in Bahrain, and while the returning Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes GP Petronas will conquer the headlines alongside two-time champion Fernando Alonso (now in Schumi’s old seat in Ferrari) and the all-British world champion pairing of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, most of us will spare some attention for the Malaysian backed Lotus Racing, which has Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen as pilots. But what can we expect from the team in green at Sakhir?

Looking at the timing sheets from the official test sessions, we should be able to expect a “best of the newcomers” showing at Bahrain. At the final session in Barcelona last week, Lotus consistently put in more laps and faster times than “archrivals” Virgin Racing, which had seen a troubled start for its virtually designed VR-01. Campos, which has been renamed HRT, will not have a single lap of testing under its belt before Bahrain while USF1 is set to be a no-show.

“We have far exceeded the mileage that we thought we would do and, starting the project five months ago, the aim was to have a neat simple car that would be reliable for the first four races. It was a pretty tall order, and we’ve achieved it probably better than we expected we could.

“Three and a half seconds off the pace – that’s where we said we’d be six months ago and I think that’s where we are. We always said that the first four races were about being respectable, that level of performance and being reliable. We’ve done everything we’ve said we were going to do,” technical chief Mike Gascoyne told Autosport.

Gascoyne also revealed that the Lotus T127 will sport a major aerodynamic upgrade in time for the start of the European leg in Spain (fifth race of the season), which should bring big improvements. “Normally you are chipping away and finding tenths, but now we are looking at updates that will bring us a second,” he said. Driver Kovalainen was previously quoted as saying that aerodynamics is the T127’s biggest problem.

With the award of points now being extended to 10th place, there could be a tiny chance of Lotus snatching a point or two should a major incident happen up front or if the weather decides to play kingmaker, but for now, let’s just target seeing Sir Richard Branson serving Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak onboard AirAsia as the main prize.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Italian Jarno Trulli took over testing duties from Lotus Racing’s test and reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy for the team’s second test day at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Trulli who is best known for his one-lap wonders finished the session after completing 70 laps. A best time of 1:25.524 was set and it was the 10th quickest time. It was also almost half a second quicker than the time set by Timo Glock in his Virgin Racing contender.

“It was a productive day in terms of set up direction with Jarno. We were able to identify some problems with the set up in the car and establish clear direction to improve it. We still have a long way to go, and a lot of time to come from the car,” said chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne. “We had a couple of minor hydraulics issues which stopped the car on track, but nothing major so all in all it was a productive day and we’re aiming to continue in the same vein tomorrow,” he added.

The fastest driver of the day was Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg with a 1:20.614 lap time closely followed by Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari with 1:20.637. The Spaniard clocked in a total of 134 laps. Pedro de la Rosa and his Sauber racer was third with 1:20.973.

7-times World Champion Michael Schumacher who makes a sensational come back with the Mercedes GP Petronas team was seventh fastest with a time of 1:21.689. The German also expressed that he does not believe the team will be able to score victories at the beginning of the season. He said the team’s main aim is not to be too far off from the top-running teams. However lets wait for the season-opening race in Bahrain.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Fairuz Fauzy has added more laps to his Formula 1 portfolio this time at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Fauzy was part 11 drivers from 11 different teams. Both USF1 and Campos have yet to be part of the test list as the former is negotiating with the FIA to enable it to miss the first few races of the season.

Fauzy managed to register a total of 76 laps and his personal best time was 1:28.002 putting him in the final position. The team revealed that it was a very productive day as the team managed to conduct some engine Lambda running tests as well as evaluated various control systems on the car.

The fastest time was set by Red Bull’s Mark Webber with 1:21.487. The Australian was ahead of Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg and Mercedes GP Petronas’ Nico Rosberg. Virgin Racing’s Lucas di Grassi finished ahead of Fauzy by almost a second. Jarno Trulli will take over the driver’s seat for the next test session later today. Continue reading to view some high-res images of the test session.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

The Formula 1 circus has just wrapped its official test sessions at the Jerez circuit in Spain. On Lotus Racing’s first official outing reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy settled for 11th place with 1:31.848. The only driver who was slower than that time was Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock. The next day the steering wheel was handed over to Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn only managed to complete 30 laps before crashing out after exiting Turn 2 and 3.

No parts where available at the time so the team had to concentrate on other aspects of the car which did not require driving. Luckily for the team parts arrived in time for the team’s third official test day. Kovalainen managed 1:33.554 which put him in 12th, slowest of all. The former McLaren driver also revealed that the Lotus Cosworth T127 car is suffering from downforce issues.

“I think the main issue is the downforce. We have not been able to develop the aero package as we should have. We had five months to build the car and everything’s been a bit conservative. Before they started to design the car, they had no information about the engine, so cooling and everything is quite conservative,” said Kovalainen. He also added that the team should be able to rectify the issue.

On the final day of testing in Spain Jarno Trulli stepped in. The Italian clocked in a total of 141 laps, the most Lotus Racing has accomplished since it started the tests in Jerez. The lap time dropped to 1:23.470 but that was the slowest time of the day and it was almost five seconds behind the fastest time set by Jenson Button in his McLaren.

All Formula 1 teams (the ones that have launched their cars that is) are still in the testing phase and cars should be improved further. The teams will now head to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona to continue testing on February 25th.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

American team USF1 was missing at the Jerez test this week and rumors are saying that they are pretty much on the verge of just quitting F1. If this happens, it would hopefully give Serbian team Stefan GP an entry in the grid. They are ready as they bought Toyota’s car and renamed it the Stefan S-01.

There have been plenty of word being exchanged about USF1 – including a rumor that YouTube would be backing out of their sponsorship and moving the money to another team. “The bottom line is really simple: sponsor money didn’t come through the way it was supposed to and it has grinded down the company to a halt. They’re having trouble making payroll, they’re having trouble paying suppliers and that’s the situation they find themselves in,” said an anonymous source in news reports. USF1 Team Principal Ken Anderson admitted with a rather ‘glass half full’ view that “a couple of sponsors have let us down a little but, but we’re on track.”

In fact, yesterday the US F1 Team website went down, and many took it as a signal that the team had finally folded. But the team’s Twitter account posted a message saying “The US F1 Team web server is down and is being repaired as this is written. We are not gone, as many have reported. More news soon.” We’re definitely waiting for more news!

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

After Fairuz Fauzy clocked in about 334 kilometres on the first day of testing in Jerez, earning himself a Superlicense in the process, the Lotus Cosworth T127 was passed to Heikki Kovalainen for the second day.

Wet conditions greeted the team as they arrived on track. First out at exactly 9am, Heikki completed about 30 laps before a small mistake saw the Finn hit the barriers, bringing the team’s day to an early close, but not before useful data had been accumulated.

“It’s lacking grip, it hasn’t got enough grip. And in the high-speed I think we lose quite a lot of time, partly because of the set-up problems as well. The car is a little bit heavy still and we need to make it lighter, then we can move the balance around and all these things,” Heikki told Autosport, but added that “my initial feeling from the car is good – it fundamentally feels right.”

“Unfortunately a small off and a lack of spare parts curtailed the amount of laps we were able to do today, but fortunately we’ve got spare parts arriving this evening. Up to that point we had got on top of some reliability issues from the previous day and the car was running very smoothly. Although we have lost some track time, the changing conditions made it very difficult, so we haven’t lost too much and we’ll be ready to continue with Heikki in the morning,” Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne clarified.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. Its the most expensive and technical of them all. Only few are lucky enough to race in Formula 1 and most of the time these drivers are the crème de la crème, although some circumstances have proved us otherwise. Now what is Formula 1 without a strict license requirement that is the ‘king’ of motor racing licenses? The answer is: Superlicense.

Anyone who wishes to race in Formula 1 needs a Superlicense from the FIA. To qualify for the license one needs a ‘decorated’ experience in motor sport. On top of that one has to cover 300 kilometers with a current Formula 1 car. Following yesterday’s official test session in Jerez, Fairuz Fauzy has qualified for a Superlicense as he clocked in about 334 kilometers.

This means that if Kovalainen or Trulli is unable to race anytime during the season, Fauzy can step in. The test session in Jerez continues later today with Heikki Kovalainen behind the wheel of the Lotus Cosworth T127. Force India’s Paul di Resta also qualified for the license as well.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Today the 2010 Formula 1 circus had its busiest official test session at the Jerez circuit. A total of 12 drivers from 11 teams clocked crucial laps at the Spanish race track. All teams were present except for USF1 and Campos, the only two teams that have yet to launch their 2010 contenders.

Today was also Lotus Racing’s first official test session and the team’s third and reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy was behind the wheel. He completed a total of 76 laps and managed to set a personal best lap time of 1:31.848. That lap time put him in 11th place but he was more than 2 seconds quicker than Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock who set a lap time of 1:34.453.

The fastest driver was Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull who set 1:22.593. The German was quicker than Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa from McLaren and Ferrari respectively while Michael Schumacher from Mercedes GP Petronas completed 111 laps and managed to set 1:23.803 which put him in sixth.

However its very hard to use these lap times as an accurate performance indicator. During such tests sessions, different cars may run on different fuel levels, tires and other settings such as aerodynamics. Teams are still developing their cars hence a more accurate indicator will be the performance during the season-opening race in Bahrain which will happen next month.

At the same time Virgin Racing has been spending a lot of time at the bottom end of the time sheets for the past five test sessions. This may be a sign that Lotus Racing’s ‘rival’ is struggling with its car. Nevertheless lets catch the first race on March 14th and find out!

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

This is an interesting piece of news. When a driver wins a Formula 1 race, the national anthem of the country his team represents will be played during the podium ceremony along with the national anthem of the driver’s home country. So which anthem will be played if Lotus Racing wins a race in 2010? As the title suggests its Negaraku, according to our source that is.

You see Lotus is based in the UK so one might assume that it will represent the country hence God Save The Queen will be played. But Lotus is first of all owned by Malaysian auto maker Proton and the Formula 1 team is also backed by Malaysian companies so it only makes sense for the team to represent Malaysia and the Negaraku to be played.

Source

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

The Lotus Racing team has just launched its 2010 contender and will make its official test debut on February 17th which is this Wednesday. According to some reports on the internet Fairuz Fauzy will be the first to test the Lotus Cosworth T127 in Jerez, Spain. Fauzy was also behind the wheel when the team had its private test session prior to the launch in London. He will then pass the duty to Heikki Kovalainen and the Finn will then hand the steering wheel over to Jarno Trulli. Fauzy’s last official test was back in 2007 when he was the test driver for the Spyker team.

Source

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Lotus F1 has officially launched its 2010 challenger at the Royal Horticultural Hall in London. The Lotus Cosworth T127 Formula 1 car is finished in Lotus’ yellow-green colour scheme and I must say that it looks pretty good! Apart from the “Lotus Racing” logo on the engine cover the car also has familiar terms and logos such as “Tune Group”, “1 Malaysia”, “Naza Group” and last but not least “Proton”.

Team principal Tony Fernandes said during the launch, “I am extremely proud to be here today and to be able to show the world the fruits of the team’s hard work over the last five months. It’s humbling for me and my fellow shareholders, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin to see how a team that five months ago didn’t even exist is now a thriving workforce, full of enthusiasm and passion for Lotus Racing and the challenges ahead and capable of producing such a beautiful machine in such a short time.”

“Now we’ve achieved two major milestones; confirming our entry and unveiling our car, but now the real work starts. Next we move on to testing and the season ahead and I’m confident that the team will exceed expectations wherever we go, and will do so on a wave of support around the world that has been growing daily since we first unleashed Lotus Racing back in September ’09,” he added.

“The last few months have been some of the most challenging of my career, but it’s been a challenge the whole team and I have thrived on since we first started work on the car up in Norfolk. I’m delighted that we’ve reached this point, and now we have a beautiful car that gives us a great base to work from for the season ahead and a fighting chance of going racing in the right way, with a winning mentality. The hard part starts now, and I know everyone in the team and I are up for whatever lies ahead,” said the team’s technical chief Mike Gascoyne.

The Lotus Cosworth T127 which made its track debut on Tuesday will be raced by former Toyota driver Jarno Trulli and ex-McLaren man Heikki Kovalainen. Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy has been appointed as the team’s third and reserve driver. Continue reading to view a high-res image gallery as well as to watch a video of the T127 in action on track.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

The German was linked with a drive at Mercedes before Silver Arrows opted for the returning Michael Schumacher. When that happened, “Quick Nick” was reported to be in talks with Renault and Lotus but none materialised.

“I am very pleased to be joining the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 Team. It’s the team which has attracted the most interest in the close season, not only because of the comeback of Michael Schumacher, but also because this season sees the return of the Silver Arrows cars as a Mercedes-Benz works team for the first time in over 50 years

“While I would of course have preferred a seat as an active driver, I am really proud to be part of the new Silver Arrows team. I have seen how committed everyone at the team is and I feel the same. I will be doing my very best to support Michael and Nico this year,” Heidfeld said.

With Heidfeld on board, Mercedes GP Petronas now has three German drivers!

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Virgin Racing Formula One team, one of the sport’s four new entrants for the 2010 season, has unveiled its VR-01 race car. Virgin says that the VR-01 “is the first of a new breed of race car designed entirely in the digital domain using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)”, which means there were no scalemodel and no wind tunnel testing to bring this car to life. The digital launch happenned on VR’s website and the VR-01 was taken directly to Silverstone where it will undergo a two-day shakedown prior to its first scheduled test in Jerez next week.

When “virgins” Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi start testing, the VR-01 should feel very similar to the car they “drove” on the Wirth Research simulator, said Technical Director, Nick Wirth. The team that was originally named Manor Motorsport are using Cosworth’s CA2010 V8 engines this year.

“I’m sure we will be measured by how fast the car is on the track in Jerez next week, but I hope that doesn’t overshadow the far bigger achievement of pulling an entire racing team together and taking a brave step that defies convention. In many ways this is an exploration, but given the absolute self-belief we have seen, I can’t help but feel very excited about what we can go on to achieve in the years ahead,” said Sir Richard Branson, Virgin’s chairman.

Cool logo, cool livery (check out the “tribal tattoo” design!) and a cool boss – Virgin could well take over from the Red Bull contingent as the fun guys of the paddock!

More pics after the jump.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Heard of Stefan GP? A Serbian based team named after founder Zoran Stefanovic, Stefan GP failed to gain a ticket to enter the 2010 Formula 1 season, but will still go ahead in launching its car and testing it. The car in question is actually a Toyota in disguise, as Stefan GP managed to buy the Japanese team’s chassis, gearbox and 2010 spec engine. The renamed Stefan S-01 chassis and Stefan RG-01 engine will be serviced by Toyota.

The team is unrelenting in its pursuit of an F1 slot, and has announced that it will test its car later this month in Portugal with two drivers. Despite not having an entry, Stefan GP is sending equipment to Bahrain for the 2010 F1 season opener! Now, Mr Stefanovic is either a loony or very confident that one of the new teams will fail to make the grid, allowing his team to take over the spot.

If the latter situation comes true, Stefan GP will be relatively well prepared to race – it has a potential points scoring machine in the “Toyota TF110″ that never was, testing under its belt, and former Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima as one of the team’s drivers, according to an Autosport report. Another man under Stefanovic’s payroll is former McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, who was fired for his part in the Spygate scandal.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

A few of the established Formula 1 teams are testing their 2010 machines at Valencia now, but we’ll have to wait a little longer to see the much anticipated Lotus F1 car. However, that’s fully expected and not due to any trouble in the car’s development. Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne earlier revealed that the Malaysian-backed outfit will only join the final two test sessions before the 2010 season starts in Bahrain.

Lotus has confirmed that its official launch will take place on the 12th of February at London’s Royal Horticultural Hall, where we’ll get to see the car’s livery for the first time. It was speculated that the car will then run on track for the first time in Silverstone the following day, but reports say that the Lotus could see some action on the British track this week. Gascoyne earlier mentioned that the car will be fired up on February 5, so it is a possibility.

Interestingly, if that comes true, Lotus could “bump into” friendly rivals Virgin F1, which is set to shakedown their 2010 car at the same time and place. An early stage for the battle of the newcomers?

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Schumi, who has signed a three-year contract to drive for Mercedes GP Petronas, told German newspaper Bild: “I started to dye parts of my hair in, I think, 2005.” He also revealed he’d had his eyes tested (“I don’t need glasses!”) and had lost the five kilograms gained since retiring back in 2006. Michael now tips the scales at 74kg, which he describes as his ideal racing weight.

Schumacher’s fitness regime involved playing football and swimming. “I jog very little because I’ve had back and knee problems since the age of 14 but what is strange is that I can play three hours of football without a problem but can’t jog for 45 minutes,” he said. “I now swim a lot. Half an hour of breaststroke a day makes an incredible difference.”

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

This is the C29, BMW Sauber’s 2010 challenger, and the picture above shows team owner Peter Sauber and his two drivers – Pedro de la Rosa, a long time McLaren test driver, and Kamui Kobayashi, the young Japanese driver who impressed in a Toyota last season. The striking thing about the C29 is that it comes without any sponsor logos, although the drivers will rope in their personal sponsors. Scalp-D, a Japanese shampoo, and Kubica endorsed watch brand Certina are set to come in.

Some of you might wonder why we still use the name BMW Sauber when the Munich based carmaker has left the sport. Well, this team registered its name before BMW exited the sport, and there’s plenty of red tape involved in name changing, so the team is likely to retain the official BMW Sauber name for this season, even though the C29 is powered by Ferrari. The “C” model designation was used by the Sauber team until 2005, before BMW came into play. The last “C” car was the Sauber Petronas C24 of 2005 piloted by Jacques Villeneuve and Felipe Massa.

“An eye-catching feature of the C29 is its highly intricate raised nose. Also very distinctive is an extremely long undercut at the transition from chassis into underbody. These and other aerodynamic measures also help to ensure optimum airflow to the double diffuser. Further changes were required to integrate the Ferrari engine and, in particular, the Ferrari gearbox,” said technical director Willy Rampf.

More pictures after the jump.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.

Renault F1 Team has unveiled its 2010 challenger, the R30, at the Valencia circuit. With the departure of title sponsor ING, Renault was free to choose a colour scheme, and has opted for yellow-black “Bumblebee” style livery that recalls the firm’s F1 cars from the 80s. Reminds us a little of the Jordan team too!

Main driver Robert Kubica was on hand to unveil the R30 with Team Principal Eric Boullier. Renault also presented Vitaly Petrov as Kubica’s teammate for the 2010 season. The 25-year-old finished as runner-up in the GP2 Series last year and becomes the first Russian driver to race in Formula 1. Also present were the team’s third driver, Ho-Pin Tung and reserve driver, Jérôme d’Ambrosio. Another reserve driver, Jan Charouz from Czech Republic, was unable to attend the ceremony.

The R30’s rear end has been reworked to allow the car to make the most of the ‘double-decker’ diffusers that were first seen last year. Changes have also been made to the architecture of the chassis to adapt to the refuelling ban, which requires a much larger fuel tank.

“We’ve been working flat-out during the winter to ensure that we begin the new season in the best shape possible. The R30 should be a competitive, strong and reliable car, and we’ve opted for an aggressive development strategy throughout the season. Now we’re here ready for the first test and we’re all excited to see if the car performs as we think it will,” Boullier said.

Renault will remain in Valencia until Wednesday evening to complete the first pre-season test session. More pictures and a video after the jump.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Mon, 22 Mar 10 13:16:26 +0000.