Räikkönen's car was fixed quickly

The hydraulics flaw in the differential of Kimi Räikkönen's E20 car, which disturbed his qualification performance, was fixed promptly.


- It wasn't a great problem, and the car was repaired by five o'clock on Saturday afternoon, Lotus team principal Eric Boullier told to Turun Sanomat.

Differential controls slipping of the tyres. Once it has broken down, the slip is not in balance, when the other half works differently than the other.

Räikkönen was praised by the team for his will to fight, but when Finnish driver fell marginally from Q3 stage, starting place is now the 12th, second lowest of the season.

- Differential was not working as it should. It made the qualification so difficult, when lap times are so close to each other. The car was ok, but due to the defect it was difficult to push hard enough. Certainly, time was lost, but it happens. However, I am confident that in the race all is okay, Räikkönen said.

- During the whole season we have in every track been stronger in the race than in qualification and practice. It will be a little warmer in the race than in qualification and it should fit to our car even better. Zero points has yet been lost, but not won either. We try to get a good start, avoid all the hassles at the first cornerss and then see what we can do.

Villeneuve's argument garbage

Jacques Villeneuve, who won the world championship in 1997 with Renault, blamed in Sky TV's interview Lotus' current drivers and profusely praised the car.

- If Lotus had in this car, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel, they would have won all races of the season, breezed Villeneuve.

Boullier snorted to the claim.

- Villeneuve talks to keep warm, what happens when no one else is interested in him anymore, Lotus team boss acknowledged.

Turun Sanomat, Montreal

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: reppo

Räikkönen: I'll put a flag of this country to my car

Kimi Räikkönen's Lotus race car may soon be decorated with a new flag

Kimi Räikkönen and staff from Lotus team visited in Lebanon doing public relations after Malaysia race. Räikkönen met on his visit Lebanon's president Michel Suleiman.

According Lebanese President's Office website, Räikkönen said, among other things, his willingness to put a small Lebanese flag into his cars. People of Lotus team agreed to do so.

Lotus staff and Suleiman also discussed inter alia about possibility of building F1 track into Beirut.

IL

Courtesy: reppo

Lotus keeps it's balance even with heavy loads

Kimi Räikkönen has now driven his first race without refueling Formula 1 car. The new experience in Australia did not much amaze Kimi in any way.

- I have driven a race before with more than a hundred kilograms of gasoline load - at least for McLaren in 2005 at Monza. In addition, I had time to experiment with heavy car in tests and practice. It really doesn't change anything, whether there is a hundred or 150 kilograms of fuel in the tank. You don't feel a greater difference until you have ten or a hundred kilos in your car.

- This car works well on heavy load, and does not change much according to the amount of gasoline. Of course, with full tank of fuel, it is slower, and some things go differently, but otherwise the balance will remain the same, compared Räikkönen.

Permane explains that, in Valencia in January familiarization tests Räikkönen started with 30 kilos and went to 160 kilos. The team calculated what kind of times with various weights could driven with the car and Räikkönen reached the expected lap times instantly.

Turun Sanomat, Kuala Lumpur

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: reppo

Kimi losing 1-0

The inner hierarchy in Lotus team is up side down

In Melbourne Romain Grosjean made a qualification of his life time, driving to P3 on the grid. Kimi Räikkönen blundered himself out in the first qualification section.

The situation is thus 1-0 to Swiss-French driver.

- I knew that he is a fast guy. If he is here faster than I am, then he'll be. Of course, I'm trying to win. In the last race we didn't even give ourselves the opportunity to win him, Räikkönen said in the paddock.

- Of course in qualification I will try to win all, but it does not mean as much as the race. Only that matters.

In championship points Räikkönen leads Grosjean 6-0.

- The feeling of driving is very much the same as last time when I drove F1. Downforce is the same, or perhaps it is a bit more now. Car handling is the same, the Finn granted to compare.

Janne Palomäki
Sepang

Source: Iltalehti
Courtesy: reppo

The new name for Sebastian Vettel’s car

Sebastian Vettel has revealed the name of the RB8 he will pilot at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. She’s called Abbey after the defending world champion ruled out ‘Everybody’s Wife’ on the grounds of good taste…

Vettel was speaking at the team’s season-opening Beach Barbie bash in the seafront district of St Kilda in Melbourne but offered no explanation as to why he picked the name Abbey (or is it Abby?), other than he liked the name.

“We thought of ‘Everybody’s Wife’,” he grinned after revealing the identity of the successor to last year’s Kinky Kylie. “But we binned it because questions come..."

“One of the guys gave the explanation that it (the car) might not be too sexy because it has a bit of a beak and it needs a nose job, but it runs like a train!”

So Vettel settled on Abbey/Abby/Abi, but unlike previous cars, such as Luscious Liz and Kate’s Dirty Sister, he's going to find out what makes her tick before he adds any more description about the RB8’s unique attributes. “Let’s see how she behaves," he said.

Vettel was joined at the beach party by team-mate Mark Webber and Australian cricketers Peter Siddle and Brad Hodge, who, as luck would have it, happened to bring along a set of stumps for an impromptu game of beach cricket.

Vettel got a little coaching from Webber, who played in the same youth team as Aussie international Brad Haddin back in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. He was soon up to speed, and quickly got into the swing of things with the bat.

But when the German made an uncharacteristic error Webber was quick to seize the opportunity and ran the champion out.

A confident Webber said the team can't wait to get to the season started: “Yep, we're in good shape,” he said. “We believe it’s going in the right direction, but it only takes two or three tenths of a second and we need to do more. Let’s see when the gloves are off over the weekend. And then, we still need to go to Malaysia to see a slightly different track as well, because Melbourne is a specific place."

“But the guys have done a good job and we are looking forward to seeing if those upgrades are good. We will have on the car what we had in Barcelona. It is something that worked for us so we will keep it on the car.

“We have a sensational season ahead of us,” he added. “There is no guarantee, but I feel there are going to be some really, really good moments this year."

“I am bloody excited about the whole season and looking forward to some fantastic results.”

Source: Red Bull

Video: Top Gear: Behind The Scenes With Kimi Räikkönen

Courtesy: kimiisland

Räikkönen was implied a wild inducement

Kimi Raikkonen is about to get a nice incentive from sponsor of Lotus F1 team

Lotus F1 team's sponsos, automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars promises Räikkönen, Evora GTE-car's new carbon fiber version, if the Finn is successful in winning during the season.

- Kimi wants this car. If he wins this year, he could get it, company's official Facebook page states.

The new Lotus car was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The price of the car has not yet been published.

MTV3

Courtesy: reppo

Räikkönen was wondering: Car broke down on walking pace

Kimi Räikkönen's car suffered a rare damage in Jerez on Wednesday at the beginning of the test.

- The floor of the car broke down in the morning. I went to the sand and drove back to the track at walking pace. The edge of the track was so high that the floor hit it. It took a little time to repair, Raikkonen told MTV3.

Regarless of the floor damage Raikkonen was drive staggering 117 rounds on Wednesday. He was fifth fastest in the day's results.

- The car does not have any special problems, of course there are some small jobs, but they more or less standard things, which may occur anytime. Even the floor problem was not a tecnical defect but my own fault. In first tests the most important thing is to get a lots of laps, Raikkonen said.

Räikkönen has one improvement in mind for the E20 car.

- Steering needs to be improved. I think we get it fixed before the season starts.

Getting used to Pirelli tyres has gone well to Finnish driver.

- I do not think the tyres will cause any problems. Today some of the compounds were better than others. It certainly depends on weather. Soft tyres did not work on so cold. Even Pirelli said that the hard tyres were the best of all. There is not any problems with the tyres when they work properly, Kimi stated.

MTV3, Jani Merimaa, Jerez

Courtesy: reppo

Engine-inspection decides whether Kimi continues or not

– It got some error. The engine took a bit of fire, we stopped and extinguised it but then it stopped 500 meters later, Räikkönen told TS.

Kaj Lindström explained that all of a sudden smoke was coming under the hood and then the flames took off.

The car was in the furthest possible place from the service park. Räikkönen was picked up by a helicopter.

Räikkönen isn't throwing in the towel right away. They will inspect the engine and depending on the damages he knows whether he can continue the rally on Saturday or not. He has a huge urge to finally get on Spain's tarmac.

Turun Sanomat, Salou

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi's Column: Refreshed to France

It was a six weeks’ break for me. It was a really refreshing time. Obviously six weeks without driving gives you such a desire to come back to the car and really go for it again.

I have such a relaxed and nice feeling to have this rally. Let’s hope this feeling helps us to a good result, too.

Last week we tested the car with Kaj Lindström in France. It was one day without any problems. Everything went well and it was just great to go fast with WRC car on those roads.

Obviously, I’ve got the proper touch to the car on tarmac. Most of all I enjoyed the nice feeling I’ve got in the car. More or less we are ready for the tricky challenge this weekend offers.

Well, I had a break, but it didn’t mean just chilling out. I’ve done consistent physical training in the meanwhile and I really feel good.

Last year back in Rallye de France it was wet and dirty most of the time. It didn’t feel that much like a tarmac challenge. It was more like a question to survive and keep the car safely on those roads. Cutting the corners was happening all over the place. Doing that made the roads very, very slippery.

We have managed to improve our performances in every rally this season compared to our debut year. Obviously, that is the target in Rallye de France, too. While it goes according to our plan, we should get a fistful of some nice points again.

Now we’ve done the pace notes. It’s time start. The target is the same like always: to get quickly to the good rhytm and then try to get every stage right without any major mistakes. By clinching it, you finish this rally with a good result as well, I presume.

The car is now at its best. This is now the start for the last period of this season. There are three rallies left to get the job done well.

So far the season has been ok. The rally is difficult, but every time you gain some more experience. for sure, we have not been going backwards!

Source: KIMIRAIKKONEN.COM
Courtesy: _TaniaS_

Sebastian Vettel to receive ‘Kinky Kylie’ as title gift

Red Bull Racing insists the champagne is not yet on ice, but the team’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz has already decided what present he will be giving Sebastian Vettel for winning the 2011 world championship.

“The same as last year,” Mateschitz said in an interview this week with the German news agency DPA. “His championship-winning car.”

In 2010, when German Vettel became F1′s youngest ever title winner, Mateschitz delivered the Adrian Newey-inked RB6 to his home in Switzerland.

Red Bull’s team management are coy over the 24-year-old’s chances of wrapping up a second consecutive championship in Singapore this weekend, but billionaire Mateschitz is more honest.

“We anticipate that, once again, we will achieve both of the titles this year”, said the famously low-profile Austrian, 67.

He has high praise for Vettel, who enters this weekend’s Singapore night race with a lead so big that his only championship rivals have already given up the fight.

“The fact that Sebastian is highly capable, we knew,” said Mateschitz. “That he would be able to deliver it so consistently over a long time has surprised many people.”

Bild newspaper said Vettel’s championship present, the RB7 chassis that he has unofficially dubbed ‘Kinky Kylie’ – but minus a EUR 200,000 Renault engine – is worth almost a million euros.

“Slowly, his garage in Switzerland is becoming too small,” confirmed Red Bull driver manager Dr Helmut Marko.

So what does Vettel think about his championship present?

“I am not thinking about that because I haven’t won anything yet,” said the driver at Zurich airport before boarding a flight to Singapore.

Vettel told the German-language Eurosport that he is not counting on celebrating his second title this weekend.

“When it happens does not matter. As long as we are still first after the final race, that will be ok,” he said.

The RB7′s designer Newey insisted that Vettel will not be playing a points-counting game under the Singapore lights.

“Seb doesn’t want to cruise to the world championship, he really wants to earn it,” the Briton told The Sun newspaper.

Source:YallaF1

Alonso dreams of Newey designed Ferrari

Fernando Alonso has stated that he would welcome Sebastian Vettel to his Ferrari team provided the world champion brought along design guru Adrian Newey who has been responsible for penning some of the successful race cars in Formula 1 history, including the currently dominant Red Bull RB7.

Immediately after the Belgian GP, where Red Bull scored a 1-2, Alonso acknowledged, “At the moment, we must congratulate our opponents, who are doing a fantastic job.”

The Spaniard told AutoBild, “Adrian Newey is certainly the man for the decisive success.”

“My dream is to win for Ferrari. I’m sure a lot of engineers want to work for Ferrari, Newey could thus come to Ferrari,” said the Spaniard who won two world titles with Renault.

“Many drivers want to race for Ferrari, Sebastian [Vettel] is definitely welcome,” added Alonso. “If you’ve not driven for Ferrari, your career is incomplete.”

Alonso trails Vettel in the championship points standing by 102 points with seven grands prix left to run this season.

Source: YallaF1

Video: Tom Cruise test drives Red Bull Racing F1 car

Red Bull invited Tom Cruise to take a break from production of his new movie, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, to pilot the Red Bull Racing F1 car through Southern California's 2.5-mile (4km) Willow Springs circuit.
 
He reached a top speed of 181 mph (291 km/h) - just 4 mph off the top speed of his instructor and 13-time Grand Prix winner, David Coulthard



Source: RedBull

German GP - Alonso: “very, very confident in the car”

With the rain beating down on the roof of the Scuderia Ferrari Media Hospitality unit, Fernando Alonso’s German Grand Prix weekend started in the usual way, answering questions from the media. Performance in Silverstone was the main topic and one journalist asked if the good top speed seen in England had come at a price, compromising the car in slow sections. “No, that was not the case,” began the Spaniard. “We have been working very hard in the past two weeks since Silverstone to bring some extra parts to the Nurburgring and we expect to have some in Hungary next week. But at Silverstone we did not need to compromise ourselves in the slow speed corners, because all the aero updates we brought there improved the car in the high speed corners and when you also bring some new mechanical updates, you improve the performance in slow corners as well.”

Fernando, like everyone at Ferrari, was delighted with the British Grand Prix victory, but he is still realistic about what it means in terms of the World Championship titles. “We face difficulties in terms of the championship this year because of the points lost earlier, but we will not give up,” he said. “We will try and win races and wait for some mistakes from Red Bull and when we reach the key point of the championship, we will see if we are still too far behind. We are having a good championship now and we will try to keep doing the same. We have, I think, 32 points more than last year from these same nine races, so we are definitely improving our results, always trying to do our best. But we have to accept that Red Bull was very, very dominant in the first half. There is nothing we can do about that now except work hard and keep enjoying every Sunday. Then, at the end we will see where we are.”

As to where the improvement came from that delivered the much needed win, Fernando was clear that the credit should go to everyone within the company that had worked so hard, without giving up. “Silverstone was an important boost for the team after difficult times,” he said. “Prior to that, we had brought a lot of new parts, some of which worked and others that did not. Then in the last four or five races, every new part we brought has worked fine, which is definitely good news, not just for this year but for future development for next year. I am very, very confident in the car, the engine and all our designers are very motivated now, knowing that everything they did, working day and night is producing good results on Sunday.”

Source: Ferrari.com

Massa's Blog: A good car now is a good step for 2012

On Wednesday I fly to England for the British Grand Prix which is more or less the halfway point in the championship and for Ferrari it will be a case of seeing if it can also be a turning point, after a tough first half of 2011.

Immediately after the race in Valencia, I flew home to Monaco and then, at the end of last week, I went to Maranello for a couple of days of meetings with the engineers and work in the simulator to prepare for the next series of races. In the simulator we were working on many different elements, looking at both the Silverstone and Barcelona circuits, including the new engine maps that are now needed to fit the regulations and other areas on the car, including evaluating new components we hope to run at Silverstone this weekend. The reason we also ran a simulation using the Barcelona circuit is that the Spanish track is the “baseline” track for all our work in the simulator. We nearly always run the Catalunya track when we want to try something new.

I like coming to Silverstone which I know well, but this year it will be a bit different as they have completely relocated the paddock to another part of the track. At the most basic level, it means we are at least going to have to learn new corner numbers to use when talking to the engineers! On a more fundamental level, this change might slightly affect strategy because, depending on the length of pit lane, it might alter the overall time, either up or down, for a pit stop. We have looked at it on the simulator, but we need to experience it for real on Friday before we can be sure. Silverstone is a very famous circuit and the British Grand Prix is always an important appointment on the calendar. It has a unique atmosphere, always with a very big and happy crowd that really loves motor racing. It is always a pleasure to see the packed grandstands and, even though I am not British, I feel motivated and get a good feeling there.

The important question is how well the 150º Italia will perform here. It is true, as many people have said, that the last three circuits suited our car well, but I expect it to also perform well at Silverstone thanks to developments we have introduced, although of course the other teams will probably have done the same. I expect we will be competitive, but we must wait and see how the car works at a type of track where, earlier in the year, we were not so competitive. The reason this is important is that, if we are competitive in England, then it confirms we have improved a lot and have reduced the gap to the other teams. We will also see how much we have improved our performance with the Hard Pirelli tyres, which we have not used them since Barcelona. We will also have the Soft tyre in Silverstone as the Option and that is a good thing, because it means we have a tyre that suits us well for qualifying and maybe for a major part of the race as well. Unless we get some typical British weather and it rains, in which case I believe we can also be in good shape, as we were quick in those conditions in Canada.

There has been a lot of discussion about whether Ferrari’s championship chances are already over this early in the season. I don’t know the answer to that, but will still tackle every race in the same way, trying to win it. Getting the first win of the season is our immediate task and then trying to win more. Only at the end of the year, should we look at the championship situation. Realistically, Sebastian Vettel would need to do a really crazy job to lose the title. But we cannot give up and this situation changes nothing in our approach, because a victory is already a very nice thing to have and some wins this year would show we have done a good job. We must not forget that improving the car and its performance can also be important for 2012, because there are not so many rule changes coming which means that the car will not change completely compared to this year. A good car now and at the final race of 2011 is already a good step forward for 2012.

Source: Ferrari.com

Famous Hunt car set for Silverstone sale

James Hunt's Hesketh F1 car to go up for sale at Silverstone Classic

The car in which James Hunt secured his maiden F1 victory is to be sold at auction later this year at Silverstone.

Hunt, who went on to win the 1976 title with McLaren, secured his maiden F1 victory the previous year at the wheel of Hesketh Racing's 308/2 chassis, which ran in a white livery with red and blue stripes and a famous teddy bear logo.

It was to be the only victory for the Hesketh team, which competed in F1 with its own cars from 1974 to 1978 – its debut having come in 1973 with a car purchased from March.

The 308/2, designed by Harvey Postlethwaite, carried Hunt to victory in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, while he also finished on the podium in both France and Austria.

The car had been part of Lord Hesketh's private collection until 2007 but will now be sold at Silverstone Auctions' sale during the Silverstone Classic weekend, on Saturday, July 23.

“This is an incredibly exciting car, that carried one of the most well-known and loved British Formula 1 drivers to his first victory,” Silverstone Auctions' managing director Nick Whale told the Northampton Chronicle. “It is a very important part of Formula 1 history that continues to be successfully raced.

“We are very proud to offer it for sale during the Silverstone Classic. It seems fitting a car developed so nearby to Silverstone, at Lord Hesketh's Northamptonshire estate, should be returning here to be sold with Silverstone Auctions.”

The car has been used in recent years by Hunt's son James for a number of events, such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Silverstone Classic.

Source: Crash.net

Harsh critic in Italy over Ferrari's anemic car

Italian Auto Sprint put thoroughly down all Maranello's accomplishments in their issue on Tuesday.

According to the paper 150 Italia -car's anemic aerodynamics is of such class that Ferrari only has two choices out of which one is hidious and the other one is horrible.

The hidious option is to try and catch up with the car's three months belated car project and develop it into more competitive. They say that Ferrari still only analyses their mistakes while their competitors are working fulltime making new updates to their cars.

The horrible option again would be to do what they did two years ago: stop the current car's development work and invest everything into next year. According to the paper this would be horrible for both the drivers as for the sponsors who have invested so much especially in Fernando Alonso.

– Although Red Bull would retire in the next races McLaren is also too far away to be reached by Ferrari. Ferrari has to battle with Mercedes and pray that Renault won't come cruising past them from behind, the verdict says about the current car.

Their attempt to improve their competitiveness in China didn't bring any results. Auto Sprint describes Ferrari as the red crab going backwards while the lead is improving.

As basis they compared the China-qualification from last year: Red Bull was now 0,85 and McLaren 0,55 seconds faster while the 'red crab' was 0,2 seconds slower than last year.

The magazine accuses Ferrari of making two basic mistakes. One is failing in estimation and the other one is arrogance.

The estimation went wrong when Ferrari abandoned the elastic front wing they had developed. Technical Manager Aldo Costa had admitted that they had worked with a front wing that bended more closer to the track but they gave it up because they didn't think it would have passed FIA's strictest test.

Now they are working long days in Maranello so that they could get as soon as possible a front wing that works the same way Red Bull's wing works. Yet it requires a lot of time to get it to function in a similar way because the wing changes all air flows in the car, which again requires in practice re-development of the whole chassis.

The accusation of arrogance again comes from Ferrari's decision to continue with the traditional suspension while seven other teams followed Red Bull's suspension-idea. Auto Sprint lists that the only teams who are in the same camp with Ferrari when it comes to their thinking are Hispania, Virgin and Sauber, who has to use the rear end inherited from Ferrari.

– When has some other team used Ferrari's development work the last time? It was in 2008 when Ferrari had the hole in the nose. After that nobody has even tried to copy Ferrari's ideas, Auto Sprint shoots.

According to the paper Ferrari sank down in the problems starting from year 2009 when testing was limited with a harsh hand and banned altogether during the season.

Also the problems in the windtunnel from 1988 are only highlighted. According to the paper Maranello's windtunnel is too short and everytime they test a car there they have to make artificial corrections to their calculations.

However KERS worked well in Ferrari. The paper reminds that it was KERS, which put Ferrari back in the winning strike when Räikkönen made the victoriuos pass with additional powers in Spa in 2009.

Turun Sanomat, Rooma

PERTTI LEPISTÖ

Courtesy: Nicole

Alonso: Car is just too slow

Fernando Alonso insists he wasn't undone by his strategy in China. Rather, he was undone by his slow car

The Spaniard started the Chinese GP fifth on the grid but lost out to his team-mate Felipe Massa off the line. And by the end of the 56 laps, during which Ferrari deployed a two-stop strategy for both drivers, he was down in P7, one place behind his team-mate.

However, the Spaniard says it wasn't Ferrari's decision to go with a two-stopper, when a three-stop proved to be the better option, that cost him.

"We'll see now which one was the best," he told Autosport.

"It's very easy to choose the strategy when you have the fastest car and it's very hard when you are slow. (Mark) Webber today showed qualifying is not very important.

"The most important thing is to have a good tyre degradation and a good strategy, and this year we can overtake. As I say, the easiest thing is to have a quick car, like Red Bull, you pit three, two, one times and you end up on the podium.

"We need to improve the car above everything. I don't think it would have changed much. We were much slower than the cars we had in front so we would ended up with a similar result."

The double World Champ also denied that he had a problem with his car in the closing stages of the race, saying once again the only problem is that the car is too slow.

"No, we didn't have any particular problems. We just weren't fast at any point during the race and we kept on losing positions little by little.

"Then we opted to go for two stops so it looked like we were in a good position during some points of the race and others where they were flying like bullets from behind. We had to try to hold on and finish the race in whatever position."

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso: Best car, not strategy, will win

Fernando Alonso is adamant that the "quickest or best car" will win this year's Championship and not the best thinkers on the pit wall

Strategy looks set to play a huge role in this year's Championship as the new Pirelli tyres, which have high wear, could see drivers needing three or even four pit stops during a grand prix.

But despite this, Alonso is confident the best car will be the one that emerges victorious at the end of the season.

"As usual in F1, the quickest or best car will win the Championship in the end," the Ferrari driver told Autosport.

"Strategy is important, maybe one or two races will be decided by a very good strategy or someone very quick can have a mistake in a strategy point of view and lose that victory.

"But over 20 races or 19 races you can make mistakes one time in strategy or you can do a very good strategy one time but not every race, so in the end the most important thing will be to have the quickest car and we are working for that."

Added to that the Spaniard, who lost out on last year's World title due to a botched call from his pit wall in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, says teams will need to be flexible in their strategies.

"There are many possibilities this year. It is not like last year so that will be the most important thing.

"Sometimes it is better to sacrifice some laps that you know you are very slow at the end of the run, but maybe you make one stop less.

"It is a difficult call and a difficult judgement that we will need to make. We will need to be very open and very flexible in every race."

Source: Planet-F1

Ferrari with most reliable 2011 car so far

Ferrari’s new car has been the most reliable of the 2011 pre-season, according to an analysis by Auto Motor und Sport.

The German report said that the F150 already has 800 more kilometres on its odometer than its nearest competitor, Red Bull’s RB7.

"From what we have seen so far, we are in a good position," admitted Fernando Alonso, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

But Red Bull is also happy. "We have never had such a trouble-free testing season," said team boss Christian Horner.

Just 100 kilometres behind Red Bull in the pre-season reliability stakes is Mercedes, followed by Sauber and Williams.

With 1,500kms fewer than Ferrari’s 5,200km is Renault, but Nick Heidfeld is impressed with the innovative R31, particularly the KERS system.

"It’s better than with BMW," said the German, referring to his former team, "particularly with regard to the impact during braking."

Also with quite an impressive winter behind it is the Red Bull ’B’ team, Toro Rosso, ranking just seventh in the reliability ranking but crucially ahead of McLaren.

"Considering that we are still a young team, we have done a very good job with reliability," agreed Sebastien Buemi. "We have had only minor problems, and quite often it was just stoppages to be on the safe side."

In ninth place out of F1’s 12 teams is Virgin. "Compared to 2010, there is no comparison," said a satisfied Timo Glock, before joking: "We can’t have any problems with KERS because we haven’t got one!"

Force India is just tenth, ahead of Team Lotus, whose reliability was better only than the unranked HRT, who have not yet launched a 2011 car.

Lotus has switched since 2010 to Renault power and a Red Bull rear end, but Heikki Kovalainen said the biggest problem has been the diffuser.

"When you first have a blown diffuser, you pay dearly," said the Finn. "Even the bigger teams found this out last year."

Source: Nextgen