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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
Ferrari's 2011 challenger has once again undergone a name change so that even the "thickest of people" don't mistake it for a Ford
Ferrari initially named their 2011 car the F150 but in the wake of legal action by Ford, who have a popular truck called the F-150, the Scuderia changed the car's name to the F150th Italia.
And although on Friday it was confirmed that Ford had dropped their legal action against Ferrari, the Italian outfit has still opted to tweak the name of the car in order to avoid confusion.
"It might seem like a Kafkaesque scenario, but the affair relating to the name of the car with which Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will tackle this year's Formula 1 World Championship saw its final and decisive episode played out these past few days with the concomitant withdrawal by Ford of the summons. Therefore common sense has prevailed," Ferrari wrote in the 'Horse Whisperer' column.
"In order to avoid the slightest risk of anyone confusing a Formula 1 car with a pick-up truck, for their part, the men from Maranello have decided that the car will lose the F that precedes the number 150 and which stands for Ferrari, as it has done on numerous occasions when it's come to giving a car a code name, be it for the race track or the road.
"It appears that this could have caused so much confusion in the minds of the consumer across the Pond that, at the same time as losing the F, the name will be completely Italianised, replacing the English "th" with the equivalent Italian symbol.
"Therefore the name will now read as the Ferrari 150° Italia, which should make it clear even to the thickest of people that the name of the car is a tribute to the anniversary of the unification of our country. Let's hope the matter is now definitely closed and that we can concentrate on more serious matters, namely ensuring that our car that already seems to be pretty good out of the box, becomes a real winner."
Source: Planet-F1
Ford is suing Ferrari after the famous Italian formula one team decided to call its 2011 car F150.
Ferrari had said the single seater is named in tribute of the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
But F150 is a model of Ford’s famous series of full-size pickup trucks. Ford Motor Co. owns the trademark to F150 and is suing Ferrari in Detroit Federal Court.
The Ford lawsuit filed on Wednesday, claiming damage to the brand and unspecified damages, also refers to Ferrari’s creation of the ferrari150.com website.
Reports said Ferrari’s F150 logo, which can be seen at the aforementioned website, is similar to the Ford F-150 logo.
$100,000 in damages are therefore being claimed pursuant to the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, relating to internet domains that confuse the public.
Ford said it is seeking to prevent Ferrari from using the trademark in the US.
“Ferrari has misappropriated the F-150 trademark … in order to capitalise on and profit from the substantial goodwill that Ford has developed,” Ford said in its lawsuit.
Maranello based Ferrari is yet to comment.
“This is an important trademark for us and we’ve spent many years and lots of advertising resources on establishing this name and getting the trademark,” Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari is quoted by the Detroit News. “It’s one we take very very seriously. It’s one of our flagship vehicles.”
Source: YallaF1
Sebastian Vettel has revealed that he is yet to think up a name for his new formula one car.
Last year, the 23-year-old won his first title at the wheel of Randy Mandy, after the original RB6 named Luscious Liz was replaced due to damage after Monaco.
The giving of an amorous female name has become one of the Red Bull driver’s several F1-related superstitions, including the sliding of a lucky coin behind his boot laces.
When asked about his new RB7 wearing the coveted number 1 as it was launched at Valencia on Tuesday, Vettel told Welt newspaper: “The number looks good. I saw the car in one piece for the first time this morning. So I haven’t got a name for her yet,” he revealed.
Vettel was also asked about reports that his friend Michael Schumacher suffers from motion sickness at the wheel of driver simulators.
As for whether he has also been sick in a sim, he smiled: “Once, but only very briefly. I think it’s an important tool with testing so limited, especially with regards to (learning) the tracks.”
Source: YallaF1
A High Court judge has set a March 21 trial date for the Lotus naming dispute, meaning two teams will start the season using the historic name.
Group Lotus had applied for a summary judgement on Monday in the hope its side of the argument would be so conclusive that a decision would be made immediately. However, Mr Justice Peter Smith said all the claims would be settled at a hearing at London's High Court in eight weeks time, the earliest possible date both sides could agree on.
The trial will start on the second Monday after the Bahrain Grand Prix, meaning both teams will turn up at the season opener under Lotus signage and one may have to change its identity midway through the season.
Monday's hearing focused on Group Lotus' decision to withdraw Team Lotus' naming rights, but the full trial will deal with further issues of breach of contract and Group Lotus' use of Lotus' F1 history, which Team Lotus' says it owns.
The whole issue stems from Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar's decision to end his company's naming rights deal with Tony Fenrandes' Team Lotus (which was in place before Bahar joined in 2009) and sponsor a more established team instead. That prompted Fernandes to buy the naming rights to the original Team Lotus, which had been dormant since 1994 and were owned by David Hunt.
Group Lotus believes it has the sole right to use the Lotus brand in Formula One, while Fernandes is confident he has bought the separate Team Lotus brand from Hunt. Due to the complexities of the case it is very difficult to predict when a final decision will be reached, and if there are grounds for appeal it is almost certain it will rumble on.
Source: ESPNF1
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.
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.
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."
