Alonso: 'Ferrari are only 20 percent ready'

Fernando Alonso reckons Ferrari still have a lot of work to do before Melbourne, saying they are only "20 percent" there with their new F2012

Ferrari's first pre-season test got off to a subdued start with the Italian stable failing to match the lap times set by Red Bull, McLaren and even Lotus.

That changed on the final day when Alonso clocked a 1:18.877 to finish Friday's running at the very top of the timesheets and second overall, his time only slower than Romain Grosjean's from Day three.

"It is still early and there is much work still to do to understand the many changes to the car compared to last season," he told Spanish daily AS.

"We are maybe at 20 percent of what we need to know but in the next test we will try to achieve the rest."

The one aspect, though, where Alonso is confident Ferrari have improved and have a great understand is with regard to the Pirelli tyres.

Last season the Italian stable struggled in qualifying as they were not able to get heat into the rubber, especially with the harder compounds.

This year Alonso reckons Ferrari, who hired Bridgestone's former F1 chief Hirohide Hamashim early in January, are on the right road to resolving that issue.

"I think we've managed to make better use of the tyres right from the first lap, which we could not do a year ago," he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"What definitely needs improving is the aerodynamics and the reliability.

"To do only 40 laps in eight hours is a bit little, in Barcelona we must succeed in covering at least a hundred a day."

As for predictions for the upcoming season, the Spaniard said: "Where will I be in Melbourne? No idea but then I really do not know where I am here (Jerez), what position we are in."

Source: Planet-F1

Räikkönen gets a big window in Lotus' development work

The new year has begun - and I'm sure Kimi Räikkönen who is coming back to F1-circles feels his withdrawal symptoms get less and the challenges piling up in the familiar Grand Prix -stars' style.

Lotus-Renault's team manager Eric Boullier summarized last season's downhill telling that the biggest reason was top driver Robert Kubica's injury in a rally accident in the middle of winter testing.

They saw in Renault how big the impact of a leading driver like Kubica was when the team lacked a mentally top tough doer like him who was irreplacable with his commitment. They badly needed Kubica's experience and attitude in R31-car's development work.

It's not difficult to make the conclusion that last season's experiences had a substantial influence when the team owner Gerard Lopez and team manager Boullier sealed so quickly the deal with Räikkönen.

Räikkönen's negotiations with Williams toppled and the Finn turned to Renault before the GP-weekend in Abu Dhabi. The contract was published three weeks later.

– Kimi is a world champion and they expect him to take the team forward with his own input and by the challenge of young Romain Grosjean, Steve Robertson said.

The ability to strike was maintained during season 2010

In 2010 season's second race in Australia Kubica came in 2nd and he was 3rd in Belgium and 5th in Abu Dhabi.

Last season Vitali Petrov and Nick Heidfeld snatched podium positions in the season's two first races but after that came a steep fall and for the rest of the season Renault was then racing with Lotus who had no points.

If the design department in Enstone factory led by manager James Allison will once again bring a competitive car on the track, then it's on Räikkönen's shoulders to see that the development work goes more positively than it did last season. If the car is slow, then even Midas couldn't turn it's competitiveness into gold.

Räikkönen is ouzing enthusiasm for work. According to himself his motivations is higher than ever before.

– I am happy when an opportunity like this happened. Kimi really wanted to come back. When you are away for a while you notice how much you miss back. Kimi still has a lot to give to this sport, Robertson says.

Räikkönen's WDC is from year 2007. His latest victory is from Belgium in 2009. Next season they will have three tracks - Korea, India and Austin - where Kimi has never drove. Mostly he needs to get used to Pirelli's tyres which are completely different from those Michelins and Bridgestones he knows most about.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

WRC RALLY OF GREAT BRITAIN | KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: ICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT

Kimi Räikkönen, who made the move to world rallying with Red Bull last year, has finally admitted that he’s been in discussions with Williams about a return to Formula One. In the meantime, he’s got a rally to finish. In fact, the Rally GB could be the most important one of the year – because it might be the last one he ever does

Currently the ‘Iceman’, who should be particularly well-suited to the freezing conditions of deepest Wales, is battling for a top-eight position with Ford driver Matthew Wilson: a man with plenty of experience of rallying in Britain.

However, Kimi is not really loving the Welsh experience. Last year he finished eighth, but with this year’s Rally GB using plenty of brand-new stages (or to be completely accurate, stages that haven’t been used since the 1990s) Kimi hasn’t been able to capitalise on the experience he gained from the past.

Welsh mud and gravel – which tends to be more slippery than a Vaseline-coated mackerel – isn’t the easiest surface to drive on either when you’re accustomed to the smooth asphalt of the world’s grand prix circuits.

“I wasn't happy with my driving this morning,” said Kimi. The car has been okay but it’s really slippery out there. It’s difficult to know where the grip is and where it is slippery. I think to be in this position is not too bad though. We’ve not been on gravel for some months now and it’s not easy to come here when the conditions are like they are.”

How difficult would it be though to come back to Formula One? Michael Schumacher, whose own comeback was the subject of plenty of speculation a year ago, reckons that the 2007 grand prix champion wouldn’t struggle too much. And even Kimi himself reckons that it would probably be easier than the decision to go rallying.

“It’s what I’ve been doing all of my life,” said the Iceman when questioned about a return to circuit racing. “What would be more difficult would be to do something completely different…”

Naturally enough, he’s keeping pretty schtum when it comes to revealing his plans for next year, for the main reason that nothing is yet finalised. His co-driver Kaj Lindström says he always told Kimi that rallying was a four-year project if he was serious about it. Kimi’s not too sure however. “If I don’t want to carry on, then I can just stop tomorrow,” he said with a shrug. Which is pretty much his view of most things.

Source: Red Bull

Button reaping the rewards of hard work

Jenson Button says the constant speculation about his F1 future shows that he is in "a privileged position" for the first time in his career

Although the 2009 World Champion's dismal record in the British Grand Prix continued on Sunday, it cannot detract from what has in general been a positive season.

Button already has an option on his McLaren contract for next year, and it is likely that will be taken up - the 31-year-old having already said that he would like to end his career with the Woking team.

Despite his apparent contentedness, though, Button's name has still been linked to Ferrari, whilst Red Bull was mentioned for the first time at the weekend.

After many years of struggle with a number of midfield teams, even wondering if he had a future in F1 on occasion, Button would appear to be in a favourable situation.

"I've been through a lot of crap times in my career, so it's nice to be in this position that I feel I've worked hard to get to," he said.

"I'm think I'm all right speed wise, I'm naturally talented, lucky in a way you could say, but I've also worked hard as well in my career in many different areas.

"Yeah, I've worked hard to get where I am and for what I've achieved, and I feel there is a lot more I can achieve in Formula One.

"That's probably one of the reasons why I'm being linked with other people, so it's nice to have positive comments written about you, and they're all exciting prospects.

"You could say I do feel in a privileged position. It's nice to be in that position."

Any switch to Ferrari would be in place of Felipe Massa, who has generally struggled to match Fernando Alonso since the double world champion arrived last season.

Moving to Ferrari is a scenario Button cannot entirely dismiss, saying: "As a kid growing up there were three teams that really excited me, and they were the three fighting for the world title in Williams, McLaren and Ferrari.

"I've driven for Williams and McLaren, one at the start of my career and one now, but your dreams as a kid don't always come true.

"I don't know where my future is, other than in a car that is definitely fighting for victories, which is exactly what I want at this moment in time after what I've achieved.

"So it's a case of never say never. You've got to keep your options open, never burn any bridges.

"But I don't think you want to look too far in the future either.

"You have to live the moment and enjoy what you're doing, and I don't know what's going to happen in the future at the moment."

Button is adamant he would have no problems working with Alonso, despite the Spaniard's problems alongside Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in 2007.

Alonso also replaced Button at Renault at the end of the 2002, with the latter then joining Jacques Villeneuve at BAR.

"I'm pretty strong in the head when it comes to team-mates - I've worked with Jacques Villeneuve," added Button.

"He made a lot of comments, mostly not to my face but to the media, but halfway through the season we became good friends.

"I think he realised it was wrong of him to make the comments he did. I think he was upset because a new guy was coming into his team.

"But I've no worries being anyone's team-mate. I relish racing for a team that has a competitive driver. I enjoy the fight."

Button has won once this season in Canada, but in general he, Hamilton and McLaren have fought a losing battle with Red Bull and now Ferrari.

A botched pit stop forced Button into retirement at Silverstone, leaving him 95 points adrift of Sebastian Vettel with 10 races remaining.

Button is no longer considering the title picture, adding: "The most important thing to think about is race wins now.

"You never know what is going to happen to Seb, but I think you have to take every race as it comes and not think about the Championship."

Source: Planet-F1

Mark Webber: 'KERS worked well'

Mark Webber has confirmed Red Bull's KERS worked well during free practice for the Turkish Grand Prix on Friday.

Red Bull has struggled with its KERS reliablility this season and Webber's car has borne the brunt of the teething problems. After working tirelessly on the problems over the Easter break however, Webber reported that the team had made progress.

"KERS worked pretty well this afternoon - each time we use it we get more experience so, so far so good," he said.

His team-mate Sebastian Vettel crashed heavily during the wet first practice session, meaning Webber had to carry out the team's development and set-up work alone in the afternoon. The Australian said the session had gone well and the data he gathered would be shared with Vettel.

"We learned quite a lot today," Webber said. "It's a pretty challenging venue here with the new regulations - so it was tricky for us all with the weather this morning. We had to fit a lot of our planned work in to this afternoon, but it went smoothly. Sebastian had an issue this morning which could happen to any of us; it just shows you can lose a session very easily. The team will share the data that we gathered this afternoon."

Source: ESPNF1

Webber: Wing will work in Sepang

Mark Webber believes F1 will see the full capabilities of the new adjustable rear wings at this weekend's Malaysian GP

Although the wing, officially called the Drag Reduction System (DRS), made its debut in Australia, the layout of the Albert Park circuit meant it couldn't be used to its full effect.

However, this weekend's grand prix takes place at the Sepang circuit with its long start-finish straight.

The FIA has confirmed that the DRS detection zone will be situated 207 metres before the track's final corner while drivers may activate the wing five metres after the final corner and use it for the entire length of the start-finish straight.

And Webber believes this weekend's race will give F1 the first idea of how successful the wing can be.

"I got pretty close to Fernando (Alonso) a few times (in Australia) and only once with Lewis on Lap Three," the Aussie told Autosport. "Fernando was someone I expected to put more pressure on.

"But it was a characteristic of the corner onto the start-finish - it was too quick. And the entry to Turn 1, even if you got close, it was easy for the guy to manipulate the line for you, and give you a different trajectory into the corner.

"Here will be a completely different story - if you are within the zone on the Apex of Turn 15.

"If it doesn't work here I don't know where it will work. You have a slow corner to open the lap, a slow corner at the braking point, and Heathrow airport in between as well in terms of options, so it should work."

Source: Planet-F1

Valentine day acting for Ferrari F1 drivers

Valentine’s day was a working one for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers, albeit a rather different one to usual.

After four days of testing from Thursday to Sunday, developing the Ferrari F150th Italia, today, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were back at work at the Jerez circuit, in southern Spain, shooting a series of promotional films for the Scuderia and its partners.

The work behind the wheel could hardly be compared to the past few days, given that it only required fifty kilometres. However, it was a nice opportunity for the drivers to spend time with the team in a rather more relaxed atmosphere, far removed from the usual frenetic activity of a test.

It meant that Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro was therefore the last team to leave the Andalusian track to head north for the Catalunya Circuit, where the third test session prior to the start of the 2011 Championship gets underway on Friday.

Fernando will be the first to drive, with Felipe replacing him in the cockpit of the new car as from Sunday.

Source: YallaF1

Two days of work at Maranello for Massa

Maranello, 18 January – Felipe Massa has been very busy working at Maranello for the past two days.

On Monday, the Brazilian was tackling a session in the simulator, also meeting Aldo Costa and Nikolas Tombazis, who brought him right up to date with the latest developments on the new car.

This afternoon, Felipe was in the Assembly Area, to work with engineers and mechanics on his seating in the cockpit, after which he had a long discussion with his race engineer, Rob Smedley.

Source: Ferrari.com

Back to work from Ferrari 2011

Maranello, 3 January – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro is fully back to work today. Over the festive period, some areas continued work on the design of the new car and on parts production and in fact, in the days immediately leading up to Christmas the first 2011 car chassis underwent and passed a series of crash tests. However, only today is the full workforce back at their posts. The new season beckons, with the launch of the new car planned for the final week of this month, while testing gets underway on 1st February at Cheste’s “Ricardo Tormo” circuit near Valencia.

Next Monday sees the start of the twenty first running of “Wrooom,” the event that has traditionally brought together the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers and their two-wheeled counterparts from the Ducati Marlboro Team, as well as members of the specialist media on the snow-capped mountains of Madonna di Campiglio. For Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa it will be a chance to take up the reins once more in a relaxed environment and informal setting, as well as tackling some winter sports before taking on the usual challenge that brings the week to a close, when they get behind the wheel on the frozen lake in the Trentina region on Friday 14 January.

Source: Ferrari.com

Red Bull Racing get back to work

After the summer break Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are looking forward to taking on one of the most famous tracks in the world: Spa-Francorchamps at this weekend's Formula One Grand Prix of Belgium

So what did they do during their holidays? “The most important thing for me during the break is to stay away from planes and hotels,” said Mark. “The last part of the championship includes plenty of those. The break helps the drivers get refreshed, away from the travel and the hotels – it’s not the driving that makes us tired.”

Sebastian Vettel divided his fortnight in two: “The long break allows you to do more scheduled training, as when there are races every other week it’s difficult to improve your level of fitness. I tried to switch off for the first part of the holiday, and then did some more intensive training in the second half, in order to be well prepared for the reminder of the season.”

After their two weeks away from F1, the Red Bull Racing drivers are looking forward to circuit which most drivers relish as Seb explained: “I love Spa, it has some of the best corner sections in Formula One, they’re long, fast-flowing and suit our car. We were very competitive in the race there last year, but we lost out in qualifying a bit. Our weakness will be the long straights and, with uphill sections too, we know it won’t be easy for us, but I am optimistic for the race.”

It also gets the thumbs up from his Aussie team-mate: “I don’t think there is a driver on the grid that doesn’t look forward to Spa, it’s an incredible circuit to drive on. I expect we can do well there, whether it’s as well as I did in Budapest is a question for everyone, but I know our team is ready.”

Source: Redbull.com

Hard work for repairing Kimi's C4!

Source: Citroën WRC

Kimi Räikkönen: Rally vs. F1, which one is better for the Iceman?

Képes Sport is comparing Rally-Kimi to F1-Kimi

Here’s a competition, the winner, we know already. Despite this fact the competition is not over yet because we compare the past and the future. Though to choose between F1 and rally is not easy we still try to compare the 2 Kimis.

Excitement

Rally-Kimi: 1 point

There’s no secret in it, Kimi was bored in F1. After 9 years of racing he didn’t like it that much towards the end, like he used to dig it in the beginning. The rally though is completely different: the natural surrounding, the challenge on the more longer weekends, the diversity of the grounds and the absolutely new technical challenges are all there to cheer Kimi up, who, at the age of 30, would feel happy about working again. But, let’s not feel sorry for him for his past…

F1-Kimi: 0 point

Going flat out with a couple of hundred horse powered car doesn’t belong to the boring things. Overtaking at 280 km/h isn’t depressant, fight for hundreds of a second during qualifying on Saturday afternoons surely is not an unstressful relaxation. Despite of all these F1 is too sterile, too sacred compared to rally, everything is foreseeable and the laboratory circumstance is not so exciting for the pilots.

Money

Rally-Kimi: 1 point

Let’s admit, nobody would ever think even for a second that this valiant Finn multimillionaire has switched one sport for the other because of the money. First at McLaren later at Ferrari he had earned sidereal amount of money, he has been in the close elite group of the most richest sportsmen for years, he has been given 10 million euros for the early exit from the Italians so earning 3,5 million euros for rallying doesn’t lift his estimated 100 million euros possessions that much.

F1-Kimi: 1 point

You can earn royal amount of money in the pinnacle of motorsport, especially in the „dominant categories” that Kimi had been the part of from the very beginning of his career. Moreover, he had belonged to the part of the most privileged. In the group with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who could get what they wanted. But as we know it, at this level the money is not the most dominant factor.

Hype

Rally-Kimi: 1 point

Rally has giant fanbase. Let’s lay it down because people would think that it’s just a tolerated little brother compared to F1, at least in Hungary. But at a rally event there are a couple of 100.000 spectators and a former F1 world champion’s switch to rally surely can raise the interest. Just an example: the Finnish MTV3, that broadcasted Kimi’s first WRC event, could produce its history’s 3rd biggest attendence during the rally weekend, while the championship’s official homepage has reached a record-braking amount of 8 million viewers.

F1-Kimi: 2 points

Nice, nice but despite of all our good intentions we cannot say that the two sports are in the same level at least if we are talking about media interest. The „Flat-out circus” is worthy of its nickname because the participants surely can count on the constant and searching attention. So the point is here, though we would inaudibly like to mention that this is a positive thing in Kimi Räikkönen’s case.

Work

Rally-Kimi: 2 points

To specify, the plus work that comes with the driving. From that, the rally drivers have more than enough because while driving in the beautiful nature you can easily mess up a corner or after a bad flying you have to turn around the car on the road by hand or get it out of a hole. Besides the danger is constant, if you have a puncture there’s no external help, on the track the driver and the co-driver have to grab the lever or use the wheel nut key.

F1 Kimi: 2 points

At the beginning it must have been quite strange that if something went wrong on the track you just had to drive into the box and dosens of mechanics started to work on your car. In F1 pilots have nothing to do but driving the car (it’s not slim though), in rally the challenge is much more complex.

Chance

Rally-Kimi: 0% (2 points)

"As a sportsman this has to be my biggest challenge, I have to learn everything from the very beginning. I know that the 4 best pilots’ pace is unattainable, but no one would think that Sebastien Loeb could beat Sebastian Vettel right away in F1." Well, if the concerned himself is thinking about it this way then why should we argue with him? Knowing the fact that at his 2 WRC races so far (Sweden and Mexico) he couldn’t get any points.

F1-Kimi: 3 points

Had he stayed in F1 he could have had the chance to finish in the points at every race – and not just because of the reform of the point system. Kimi was doing his job at a half-mind throughout the season last year but without a doubt he belonged to the probable winners every time. During his 9 years' career in F1 18 wins, 579 points and one world championship in 2007 has not been achieved by accident so these facts could be a good starting point for the experts to count him among the probable winners in every year. If the „if” wouldn’t be there…

Supporters

Rally-Kimi: 3 points

One certain point at the previous chapter, one certain point here. It’s fair this way. And it’s rightful because competing with the rally fans is not easy. In snow (Finland or Sweden), in hot weather (Mexico), in the mountains (New Zealand) or in the dust (almost everywhere) – they are everywhere near the tracks. Even at the very hardly accesable points, with hours of tough walking, even in the mountains they are near the tracks, sometimes too near. Bravery, fanaticism, tenacity – they can get a point for this.

F1-Kimi: 3 points

The F1 supporters are spoilt „English Ladies” compared to the rally fans, if we may say so. Though they can be ready for a couple of hours walking through the fields in the hot weather (Hungaroring), soaking in the rain (Sepang) or brave the elements in Bahrein in the middle of a sandstorm but it is much more comfortable and safe to sit on grandstands and support the drivers from there throughout the race weekends.

Pleasure

Rally-Kimi: 4 points

We could tell at the beginning that drawing a conclusion won’t be easy. Mainly because this category is here to decide between rally and F1. Well, in our opinion and especially in this case the rallying could get more points: the new tracks, the new challenges, the new oponents are bigger challenges for Kimi than he had stayed in F1. And for a sportsman a bigger challenge is the pleasure itself.

F1-Kimi: 3 points

Well, the decision was not that obvious because competing with the world’s fastest pilots with the world’s fastest cars can’t be named as a boring activity. Going flat out at the first incisive corner after the starting line at 300 km/h, to endure the G forces during 1,5 hours of racing, to reckon where to brake or where to overtake, these are certainly can raise one’s adrenaline level. We still think that rallying gives Räikkönen much more pleasure than F1 so with a big finish the rallying is the winner.

Source: Képes Sport

Courtesy: Kinga Planet-F1