Entries in Williams (53)
Williams
Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 11:49AM
Just when I am saying that Williams should be worried about a lack of pace and reliability Barrichello goes and bangs in the quickest time of the test session. So we may as well wait till the first race to find out anything useful. Only 28 days. McLaren has everyone tricked about where the exhaust exits, the poor photographers are going mad trying to get a shot of it. Senna is in the Renault doing respectable times, but not matching Heidfeld and spinning it. Alonso and Massa have put the most miles on a car so the Ferrari looks pretty bullet proof, and close to the pace.
NASCAR's season kicked off last night with the Bud Shoot Out, and we saw in practice and the race what to expect from the repaved track. It has given a new dimension to team orders as cars ran in pairs like two love bugs tied together. If you don't know what love bugs are then you are lucky. They invade parts of the southern US and once mated cannot uncouple, so fly around like a "push me, pull you" until they die. Odd thing was that the motors did not die with the high revs and overheating from running so close, but it will be interesting how long they can sustain it in a 500 mile race. Makes for weird racing though, not sure that this was what NASCAR wanted. And who decides which driver is going to sacrifice himself to push his team mate over the line? Yes we've seen that before, but this was something different.
Christian Horner says that a budget cap is back on the table in F1. This time as a true overall amount by the sound of it, "We agree with restricting activity but don't cherry-pick ... let's do a transparent once-and-for-all deal with this," he said. I still cannot see the big teams cutting back to the level of the small teams, so the level is going to be set above what the small teams can raise anyway. Is this about "fairness?" Are we trying to "level the playing field?" I know the NFL does this stuff, not sure that it works though. This sport is about competition, both on and off the track. By all means stop teams spending more money than they have so they are stopped from going broke, but if they can raise it why should they not spend it? Perhaps there should be controls on excesses like the crazy "motor homes" that add nothing to the racing, but you could argue add to the spectacle. It would probably be cheaper if the teams funded the building of permanent structures like we see at overseas tracks, rather than pay for the cost of transport and erection, for what is now less than half the season anyway. Has anyone suggested Peugeot and Audi should be limited on what they spend on sporstcars?
Talking of fairness, Flavio's mate Pat Symonds is OK to be a consultant to Virgin. Now I am a consultant, and the only difference to being an employee is how you get paid and benefits, so let's cut the BS and hypocrisy.
NASCAR's season kicked off last night with the Bud Shoot Out, and we saw in practice and the race what to expect from the repaved track. It has given a new dimension to team orders as cars ran in pairs like two love bugs tied together. If you don't know what love bugs are then you are lucky. They invade parts of the southern US and once mated cannot uncouple, so fly around like a "push me, pull you" until they die. Odd thing was that the motors did not die with the high revs and overheating from running so close, but it will be interesting how long they can sustain it in a 500 mile race. Makes for weird racing though, not sure that this was what NASCAR wanted. And who decides which driver is going to sacrifice himself to push his team mate over the line? Yes we've seen that before, but this was something different.
Christian Horner says that a budget cap is back on the table in F1. This time as a true overall amount by the sound of it, "We agree with restricting activity but don't cherry-pick ... let's do a transparent once-and-for-all deal with this," he said. I still cannot see the big teams cutting back to the level of the small teams, so the level is going to be set above what the small teams can raise anyway. Is this about "fairness?" Are we trying to "level the playing field?" I know the NFL does this stuff, not sure that it works though. This sport is about competition, both on and off the track. By all means stop teams spending more money than they have so they are stopped from going broke, but if they can raise it why should they not spend it? Perhaps there should be controls on excesses like the crazy "motor homes" that add nothing to the racing, but you could argue add to the spectacle. It would probably be cheaper if the teams funded the building of permanent structures like we see at overseas tracks, rather than pay for the cost of transport and erection, for what is now less than half the season anyway. Has anyone suggested Peugeot and Audi should be limited on what they spend on sporstcars?
Talking of fairness, Flavio's mate Pat Symonds is OK to be a consultant to Virgin. Now I am a consultant, and the only difference to being an employee is how you get paid and benefits, so let's cut the BS and hypocrisy.
Heidfeld
Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 11:41AM
Well, either the Renault is very good this year or Nick Heidfeld has never shown us his best, but here he is, first day sitting in the car and sets fast time of the day and is currently second on the overall time sheet behind Michael Schumacher. So much for just settling himself in as he said. It is perhaps a bit of both, so I'd say he has won himself the seat. Times are actually closing up today, with Kovalainen only 1.36 seconds off the fast time, but Williams have to be a bit concerned with their lack of pace, unless they are having ongoing issues with the car, which is just as worrying. Apparently the Mercedes set the quick time yesterday on the super soft compounds, but it is still up there today, so they must be doing something right. Ferrari continue with their consistent fast pace and McLaren is around the place, but Red Bull seem to be not quite up to speed, both Vettel and Webber slower than Kobayashi in the Sauber, but who really knows?
The second GP2 Asia race has been run and won. The inversion of the front of the grid for the second race makes for different winners, which shows just how close these cars and drivers are on performance.
NASCAR has announced that McLaren Electronics has won the bid to supply the common ECU and fuel injection to be used from 2012. Welcome to the 20th Century. It is no secret McLaren have been pursuing this bigger role in racing, with Ron Dennis visiting a race last year, but what about Steve Hallam? Steve came over a few years ago to work for Toyota and Michael Waltrip's team. My suspicious mind wondered back then if there were some ulterior motive. A Trojan Horse?
The IMS Commentator Tom Carnegie has just passed away at the age of 91, and his passing earned him many accolades for being responsible for the growth of the Indy 500. On a similar note British commentator Chris Carter has lost his regular job running a radio show at the Daytona 200 Motorcycle event, much to the dismay of riders and spectators. Isn't it interesting how someone who has no actual involvement in the event can make such a difference to how we fans enjoy it. You know if you read this regularly that I am not a fan of certain commentators, and will actually turn the sound off rather than listen to them. Who can forget Murray Walker who commentated for many, many years on F1, and his legendary "If I'm not very much mistaken," and he usually was, but we loved him for being human and his passion. More TV channels need to take the time to find that special person who can bring their sport to life, without the need to self promote or prattle on for the sake of it. What would the Tour de France be without Phil Ligget?
The second GP2 Asia race has been run and won. The inversion of the front of the grid for the second race makes for different winners, which shows just how close these cars and drivers are on performance.
NASCAR has announced that McLaren Electronics has won the bid to supply the common ECU and fuel injection to be used from 2012. Welcome to the 20th Century. It is no secret McLaren have been pursuing this bigger role in racing, with Ron Dennis visiting a race last year, but what about Steve Hallam? Steve came over a few years ago to work for Toyota and Michael Waltrip's team. My suspicious mind wondered back then if there were some ulterior motive. A Trojan Horse?
The IMS Commentator Tom Carnegie has just passed away at the age of 91, and his passing earned him many accolades for being responsible for the growth of the Indy 500. On a similar note British commentator Chris Carter has lost his regular job running a radio show at the Daytona 200 Motorcycle event, much to the dismay of riders and spectators. Isn't it interesting how someone who has no actual involvement in the event can make such a difference to how we fans enjoy it. You know if you read this regularly that I am not a fan of certain commentators, and will actually turn the sound off rather than listen to them. Who can forget Murray Walker who commentated for many, many years on F1, and his legendary "If I'm not very much mistaken," and he usually was, but we loved him for being human and his passion. More TV channels need to take the time to find that special person who can bring their sport to life, without the need to self promote or prattle on for the sake of it. What would the Tour de France be without Phil Ligget?
What a Difference a Day Makes
Friday, February 11, 2011 at 12:27PM
Yesterday Nico Rosberg was concerned about the lack of pace with the Mercedes, and today Michael tops the timesheets at Jerez, go figure. It seems he had no less fuel than Massa when he did his quick time, so did they find something in the car or is Michael back? Two of the new boys had big offs and bent their toys. Perez and Maldonado both hit something hard, so Maldonado in particular is having a baptism of fire. Alguersuari took note of Helmut Marko's comments that Torro Rosso was not a boarding school, whatever that means, and he is more than ready to replace one or both of the current drivers. Strangely it is not Ricciardo he is favoring but Vergne, but most of what Helmut does is strange. No one answered my question about two Australian drivers by the way.
Button had his go in the new McLaren, but they are still basically doing systems checks, albeit fast ones. Lewis declared he found the car better, which you would hope he would say after all the time and effort gone into it. Lotus had another troubled day, but at the moment the field is covered by just over two seconds, so better than last year. Way too early to judge anything though. Heidfeld gets to drive tomorrow, and Boullier says if he is quick he will sign him. He needs to do something, Petrov is not setting the world alight at the moment. The news on Kubica continues to be encouraging, with Robert vowing to be back before the end of the season, but you would have to wonder why, unless his replacement is not doing well.
Ron Walker, the Australian GP boss is softening everyone up for Melbourne losing the race. Bernie is apparently upset by the remarks of the Mayor. A man not easily upset by personal comments I would have thought. Now Ron did throw in a more telling line that Bernie is concerned that for the first time in 40 years someone is questioning the value of his product. The King's new clothes comes to mind.
Over in Abu Dhabi Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi beat Grosjean off the line in the Asia GP2 race, and kept him there for a maiden GP2 win. He beat a class field, so despite being the winter series this is for real. That other series, Superleague, the one with the soccer team cars, says that it is the best alternative to F1 because it has so many ex F1 stars. Narain Karthikeyan, Sebastien Bourdais, Antonio Pizzonia and Robert Doornbos? Not exactly a stellar cast, and all cast offs. Yes they can drive much better than I, but that is not the point. Let's see someone come through this series to F1, not from it.
Button had his go in the new McLaren, but they are still basically doing systems checks, albeit fast ones. Lewis declared he found the car better, which you would hope he would say after all the time and effort gone into it. Lotus had another troubled day, but at the moment the field is covered by just over two seconds, so better than last year. Way too early to judge anything though. Heidfeld gets to drive tomorrow, and Boullier says if he is quick he will sign him. He needs to do something, Petrov is not setting the world alight at the moment. The news on Kubica continues to be encouraging, with Robert vowing to be back before the end of the season, but you would have to wonder why, unless his replacement is not doing well.
Ron Walker, the Australian GP boss is softening everyone up for Melbourne losing the race. Bernie is apparently upset by the remarks of the Mayor. A man not easily upset by personal comments I would have thought. Now Ron did throw in a more telling line that Bernie is concerned that for the first time in 40 years someone is questioning the value of his product. The King's new clothes comes to mind.
Over in Abu Dhabi Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi beat Grosjean off the line in the Asia GP2 race, and kept him there for a maiden GP2 win. He beat a class field, so despite being the winter series this is for real. That other series, Superleague, the one with the soccer team cars, says that it is the best alternative to F1 because it has so many ex F1 stars. Narain Karthikeyan, Sebastien Bourdais, Antonio Pizzonia and Robert Doornbos? Not exactly a stellar cast, and all cast offs. Yes they can drive much better than I, but that is not the point. Let's see someone come through this series to F1, not from it.
Seriously!
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 12:02PM
Are you kidding? Ford is suing Ferrari over the use of the F150 name. Is this a publicity stunt? I know protecting your logos and trade names are serious business but this is just making Ford look foolish. They would be better off making a commercial with an F1 Ferrari morphing into a fast red pick up.
The new Ferrari 458 made it's debut at the Sebring test yesterday prepared by the Risi team who arguably ran the best 430, at least of the ones allowed to race. Most of the big hitters are absent from the test, but there are still enough interesting cars out there with the Muscle Milk Aston quickest at the moment. Duncan Dayton seems likely to finalise the deal to run the HPD LMP1 both here at Sebring and at Le Mans and so give David Brabham a ride for this year. The 24 hour entry list was published yesterday and a great field it is too, quality all the way through.
There is actually a fair bit going on this weekend with Sebring, Jerez, and GP2 Asia kicking off in Abu Dhabi. Renault reserve driver Roman Grosjean is on pole for that event with another strong field of drivers. His compatriot at Renault, Fauzy, is not doing so well though down in 23rd. It is a very even grid though with the top 14 separated by less than a second, and the field by less than 1.7 seconds. Should make for good racing and a lot of action given the desperadoes in the field.
Meanwhile at the F1 test at Jerez it is still way too early to judge anything. Massa is fastest, with Perez in the Sauber next quickest. So it is not just the Mexican sponsorship, he can drive. Meanwhile Maldonado is way off the pace in the Williams, but he did have problems with the movable wing, and as I said it is early days. Hamilton has the new McLaren out and yes it has forward exiting exhausts. Lewis is presumably just doing shake down laps but is fifth so far behind Webber and young Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the Torro Rosso. If I were Buemi or Alguersuari I would be looking over my shoulder right now. How long since Australia had two drivers in F1, if ever? Schenken and Jones? No. I'm sure one of my readers knows the answer.
Petrov dumped the Renault in the gravel trap, not enhancing his claim to the number one seat, which seems to be headed Heidfeld's way. Despite saying they had plenty of time to fill the seat they have Heidfeld testing later this weekend. Nick has had a lot of experience and is a good driver, but is he really good enough? As someone pointed out the other day, when the two Williams drivers both retired in the early eighties a guy called Rosberg filled in after a less than stellar career, and we know how that worked out, so let's see if Nick can do the same.
It now seems that the money from the Williams float is not going to keep the team afloat but to the Patrick Head retirement fund, and presumably Sir Frank's. Not sure I would buy shares on that basis. Not saying they are not entitled to a return on all their years of hard work, but if I buy shares then I would want to know the business I have a piece of is going to survive. It also seems that the float was part of the agreement when the other partner, Toto Wolffe, bought his 10%, so is he looking to get out at some stage?
The new Ferrari 458 made it's debut at the Sebring test yesterday prepared by the Risi team who arguably ran the best 430, at least of the ones allowed to race. Most of the big hitters are absent from the test, but there are still enough interesting cars out there with the Muscle Milk Aston quickest at the moment. Duncan Dayton seems likely to finalise the deal to run the HPD LMP1 both here at Sebring and at Le Mans and so give David Brabham a ride for this year. The 24 hour entry list was published yesterday and a great field it is too, quality all the way through.
There is actually a fair bit going on this weekend with Sebring, Jerez, and GP2 Asia kicking off in Abu Dhabi. Renault reserve driver Roman Grosjean is on pole for that event with another strong field of drivers. His compatriot at Renault, Fauzy, is not doing so well though down in 23rd. It is a very even grid though with the top 14 separated by less than a second, and the field by less than 1.7 seconds. Should make for good racing and a lot of action given the desperadoes in the field.
Meanwhile at the F1 test at Jerez it is still way too early to judge anything. Massa is fastest, with Perez in the Sauber next quickest. So it is not just the Mexican sponsorship, he can drive. Meanwhile Maldonado is way off the pace in the Williams, but he did have problems with the movable wing, and as I said it is early days. Hamilton has the new McLaren out and yes it has forward exiting exhausts. Lewis is presumably just doing shake down laps but is fifth so far behind Webber and young Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the Torro Rosso. If I were Buemi or Alguersuari I would be looking over my shoulder right now. How long since Australia had two drivers in F1, if ever? Schenken and Jones? No. I'm sure one of my readers knows the answer.
Petrov dumped the Renault in the gravel trap, not enhancing his claim to the number one seat, which seems to be headed Heidfeld's way. Despite saying they had plenty of time to fill the seat they have Heidfeld testing later this weekend. Nick has had a lot of experience and is a good driver, but is he really good enough? As someone pointed out the other day, when the two Williams drivers both retired in the early eighties a guy called Rosberg filled in after a less than stellar career, and we know how that worked out, so let's see if Nick can do the same.
It now seems that the money from the Williams float is not going to keep the team afloat but to the Patrick Head retirement fund, and presumably Sir Frank's. Not sure I would buy shares on that basis. Not saying they are not entitled to a return on all their years of hard work, but if I buy shares then I would want to know the business I have a piece of is going to survive. It also seems that the float was part of the agreement when the other partner, Toto Wolffe, bought his 10%, so is he looking to get out at some stage?
Overtaking, What Overtaking?
Saturday, February 5, 2011 at 11:49AM
A good friend, Allen Petrich, wrote a send up of the goings on in F1 like a French farce. As we say, who would believe it. Following my explanation of the rules for using the movable wings he added that we should make it a Monty Python script. We devise a movable wing to aid overtaking, the teams spend millions to put it on the car, and then we constrain its use inside painted boxes so overtaking is almost impossible. There are definitely mixed feeling about it and as Mike Gascoyne comments we would have missed that incredible race at Jarama when Villeneuve Senior held off all comers for the whole race. Yes we want overtaking, but not some video game, we want Hakkinen and Schumacher at Spa. Lewis says that the extra buttons will be more of a problem in practice and qualifying, when they have no restrictions on using it. That is really going to make qualifying a bit of a mystery for us spectators, almost like having qualifying engines again.
Hamilton also said he is not changing his driving style to suit different cars or tracks, this is who he is and that's how he is going to drive. Good on him, I for one enjoy watching him. Overtaking for Lewis and Kobayashi seems all too easy. Perhaps they could give lessons, or some "brave pills" for the others. Lewis stirred the pot in Berlin when asked if he thought Schumacher would be better this year. He said he thought Michael would not be much different, but he was welcome to prove him wrong.
Bernie is apparently winging his way to Melbourne for the race this year with his daughters, girlfriend and entourage, to bring some "global prestige" to the event. If this is an unusual occurrence then it just shows how Bernie feels about the event.
Lotus, the green and yellow one, completed an untroubled private test yesterday at Valencia and ended up 18th and 20th on the time sheets in the 1 minute 15's. Not too bad, about two seconds off the quick times, so a big leap forward, and they say they had no time to set the car up. Glock in the Virgin was even faster, so just maybe we will see those teams up amongst the second tier this season. Will make for more interesting racing. Jerez will tell us more, I hope.
Nice to see young American Alexander Rossi moving up to FR3.5 with a top team, Fortec. He finished fifth at a one off outing in Monaco last year and has gone well in testing, so go get 'em Alexander. Bernie or Tavo should pay for a top notch publicist to get his name better known in the US. Then we might see the public wake up, like with Lance Armstrong.
Williams are to proceed with a stock flotation on the Frankfurt exchange. I think it was Joe Saward who suggested that this may not be such a good move. Stockholders care about returns, like CVC, and not results. I think the Washington Redskins are the most profitable NFL team, and this clearly is not related to on-field performance. Managing expectations could be a hard balancing act for Sir Frank.
Hamilton also said he is not changing his driving style to suit different cars or tracks, this is who he is and that's how he is going to drive. Good on him, I for one enjoy watching him. Overtaking for Lewis and Kobayashi seems all too easy. Perhaps they could give lessons, or some "brave pills" for the others. Lewis stirred the pot in Berlin when asked if he thought Schumacher would be better this year. He said he thought Michael would not be much different, but he was welcome to prove him wrong.
Bernie is apparently winging his way to Melbourne for the race this year with his daughters, girlfriend and entourage, to bring some "global prestige" to the event. If this is an unusual occurrence then it just shows how Bernie feels about the event.
Lotus, the green and yellow one, completed an untroubled private test yesterday at Valencia and ended up 18th and 20th on the time sheets in the 1 minute 15's. Not too bad, about two seconds off the quick times, so a big leap forward, and they say they had no time to set the car up. Glock in the Virgin was even faster, so just maybe we will see those teams up amongst the second tier this season. Will make for more interesting racing. Jerez will tell us more, I hope.
Nice to see young American Alexander Rossi moving up to FR3.5 with a top team, Fortec. He finished fifth at a one off outing in Monaco last year and has gone well in testing, so go get 'em Alexander. Bernie or Tavo should pay for a top notch publicist to get his name better known in the US. Then we might see the public wake up, like with Lance Armstrong.
Williams are to proceed with a stock flotation on the Frankfurt exchange. I think it was Joe Saward who suggested that this may not be such a good move. Stockholders care about returns, like CVC, and not results. I think the Washington Redskins are the most profitable NFL team, and this clearly is not related to on-field performance. Managing expectations could be a hard balancing act for Sir Frank.