Marussia to miss opening test at Jerez

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Marussia will be absent from the start of F1 testing in Jerez.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Marussia to miss first pre-season test (Reuters)

“Marussia said on Tuesday their revised plan was to run last year’s car at the second test in Barcelona from February 21st and then the new car at the same circuit from March 1st.”

De la Rosa calm over new HRT car (Autosport)

“The plan is to test with the old car at Jerez, and then run the new car in the Barcelona test on February 21st. That’s the plan.”

Heikki Kovalainen on Twitter

“Back home, really good days in UK, the car is being built and all in schedule to hit the track on the 7th of February… Can’t wait!”

Seat fitting for Alonso and Massa (Ferrari)

“Today, for the first time, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso made actual contact with the car they will drive in the 2012 world championship.”

US shifts embassy staff to avoid Bahrain clashes (The Washington Post)

“The US State Department says it is moving American Embassy employees to safer locations in Bahrain after ongoing political unrest elevated security worries in the strategic Gulf kingdom.”

Watson – F1 more entertaining (Sky)

“That in itself provided a lot of overtaking, not necessarily what I would call motor racing, but it provided a lot of entertainment and for the audience they saw racing cars doing something they hadn’t seen them do in quite a while and that was passing one another.”

F1 driver to help Scottish caravan show celebrate 25th birthday (Caravan Times)

“The Scottish Caravan and Outdoor Leisure Show gets underway next week and cutting the ribbon to help the renowned event celebrate its 25th anniversary will be Formula One driver Paul di Resta.”

Webber reveals details of 2012 Tasmania Challenge (F1)

“The gruelling event sees adventure-loving competitors enjoying the chance to trek, mountain bike, climb and kayak at stunning locations across the Australian state.”

Formula 1 sponsorship survey

If you have a few minutes to spare, please help out Pierre Maupilier who is looking for response to this survey to help with his dissertation.

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

Another of those “you know you’re an F1 Fanatic when…” comments, this one from Kristian:

I’m in the process of converting all my VHS F1 season reviews from 1981 to 2002 to DVD. As I am worried that the quality will deteriorate over time. Just got 1981-1983 to go. They are fantastic to watch!
Kristian

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Mouse_Nightshirt and Taimur!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

Preparing for their first season of F1, Toyota completed a three-day test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France on this day ten years ago.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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80 comments on “Marussia to miss opening test at Jerez”

  1. I’m going to go hunting for the Caterham CT-01 today. I know the next issue of F1 Racing doesn’t come out until tomorrow, but tomorrow is a public holiday – Australia Day – down here, so there’s a chance it might be released a day early, since it won’t be distributed tomorrow.

    Or it could be distributed a day late, of course … but I’ve got nothing better to do with my day.

    1. This is a turn up, A Monkey hunting a Cat :)

      1. As observed by a hare.

        Anyway, no joy. I tried all ten news agencies in my town and in the next two over. There’s been no early release.

    2. I’m waiting for digital issue of F1 Racing…it’s a bit late than paper one.

      1. We can always go on the F1 Racing website and see the cover there though. I hate how the digital version comes later.

    3. I’ve always heard about that – what exactly do you do on Australia Day? What’s it commemorate?

      1. @raymondu999 – We celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet. Australia was originally a penal colony of England; when England’s prisons were overflowing, they did what any sensible nation would do and deported the convicts to the opposite side of the world. The voyage that transported them here was known as the First Fleet, and they arrived at Port Jackson on January 26, 1788.

        1. Don’t they call it Invasion Day, in celebration of when the British invaded Aboriginal land, that’s just what I was told by an aussie chic.

          1. Some do, yes. But officially, January 26 is Australia Day, celebrating the day the First Fleet arrived in Port Jackson in 1788. “Invasion Day” has been less of an issue since 2008, when the government formally apologised to the aboriginal nations for the stolen generations and various government politicies. It’s very difficult to explain without writing thousands of words.

            Today, the term “Invasion Day” is mostly used by younger Australians who are, well, hipsters. They’re the kind of people who value cynicism, seem to think that they’re the only ones who are capable of original thought and are under the mistaken impression that they are the leaders of some kind of generational revolution (that mostly involves doing what they had always been doing, but claiming they were the first to do it). I’m not denying that aboriginal land rights are an issue here, but the term “Invasion Day” has acquired a new meaning post-reconciliation.

          2. I’m not really going to discuss it, because I’m not fully aware of all the detail’s, but, to me, PM, this look’s like a case of spin doctoring.

            Briton invaded Aboriginal land. That’s what happened. It’s very simple. And I know, some people like to write 5000 word story’s to explain away what “really happened”

            I was’nt aware the government took OVER 200 YEARS to apologize to the Aborigine’s, I think that’s pretty poor form. There’s a lot more work to be done toward’s reconciling with the Indiginious people, I think.

            Also, PM, I’m not a “Hipster” lol, nor was the aussie chic who made me aware of this stuff. “Hipster’s” lol are irrelevant to the entire disscusion.

            Like I said, I can’t really discuss it, I’m not fully aware of the situation, only what the aussie chic told me.

          3. @mattynotwo @prisoner-monkeys It’s not as black and white as you make out, Matty. The First Fleet may have been an expedition to establish a colony in a land already populated by others (although that in itself wasn’t anything out of the ordinary — this was the 18th century), but it was also the establishment of the modern Australian nation.

            I can’t speak for PM as I don’t know his ethnic background, but I could safely hazard a guess that at least some part of his family are originally from the British Isles. Australia started life as a colony of Britons — to speak of an “Invasion Day” makes it sound like white Australians were already there when a foreign invasion force turned up, when in fact that invasion force contained what would eventually become “Australians”.

          4. to me, PM, this look’s like a case of spin doctoring.

            Not at all. Raymond asked what Australia Day is. I told him. We officially celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet.

            Briton invaded Aboriginal land. That’s what happened.

            The aboriginal concept of land ownership is very different to the European concept.

            I was’nt aware the government took OVER 200 YEARS to apologize to the Aborigine’s, I think that’s pretty poor form.

            It wasn’t just an apology for “invading” the land. It was an apology for some of the government policies that were established, like the stolen generations.

            I’m not a “Hipster” lol, nor was the aussie chic who made me aware of this stuff. “Hipster’s” lol are irrelevant to the entire disscusion.

            I’m simply pointing out that most of the people who use the term “Invasion Day” these days come from a particular subculture.

            I’m not fully aware of the situation, only what the aussie chic told me.

            Then I have to ask – why are you passing judgement if you don’t full understand? After all, it was you who said this:

            I was’nt aware the government took OVER 200 YEARS to apologize to the Aborigine’s, I think that’s pretty poor form.

          5. PM, I,ll get back to your comment later if I get a chance, I just don’t have time at the moment, tho you do seem to be clutching at straws at the moment.

            Like I said, I don’t really even want to discuss it.

            @jonchuckle I’m not sure if you were aware but the Aborigine’s populated Australia & lived peacefully for 1000’s of years before the British invaded on January 26 1788. That’s what people are talking about when they say “Invasion day”.

          6. :D This is silly. PM. Maybe that’s why it was officially introduced. But really can’t it just be a day for people here to celebrate who we are? and our culture?

            (And by culture I mean the culture of everyone in Australia, not just us Paul Hogan BBQ shrimp clan.)

            Also, Part of being Australian is being able to take it as good as you give it.
            @Invasion day, Lol!

          7. Yes, that famous day when the Brit on a boat was looking through his telescope, and the Aborigione on the shore said “look – he can’t even play the thing”!

          8. @PrisonerMonkeys Just had a chance to have quick look at your comment PM

            “The aboriginal concept of land ownership is very different to the European concept.”

            Are you implying that the European concept of land ownership is superior to the Aboriginal concept because that’s racisim.

            Racism /// a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others

            @MattB Yes, that famous day when the Brit on a boat was looking through his telescope, and the Aborigione on the shore said “look – he can’t even play the thing”!

            I don’t get it, could you elaborate?

        2. Aha. Cheers. Thanks PM

    4. First photo of the CT01. Sorry for the poor quality – I picked it up from another website, and it appears to have been taken with a mobile phone.

      1. Craig Scarborough did a first analyses of it based on the pictures available, like the one you posted, or this one also copied from the latest issue of F1Racing magazine

    5. In fact, it is also Republic Day here in India.

  2. When I subscribed it always came early, so I bet the Caterham pics will be online by the end of the day, somebody is bound to scan pictures from their magazine as soon as it arrives in their mail!

    1. @calum I think F1 Racing also shows their latest magazine cover on their website; so that should be available.

      1. Nah. The front cover of our mag always goes onto the web site first to show people what’s in the issue – to get them to buy it as soonas its available. Then the paper version goes on sale, people buy it. And long after that we release the digital version, otherwise people wouldn’t buy the paper version

  3. With regards to COTD, Kristian is a serious F1-Fanatic! 81 to 02, over two decades of reviews!!!
    I’m re-watching the entire 1991 season right now all converted from VHS to .avi files. I’m watching The British GP – Prost is attacking Berger as I type this!

    My wife doesn’t refer to me as a Fanatic though – she calls me an F1-Freak,
    I say the two terms are interchangeable.

    1. Ahhh, Ayrton just ran out of fuel on the last lap.
      I forgot that happened before watching so it was a surprise (again).

      1. YouFreak Fanatic!

  4. Both Marussia & HRT still taking their steps backwards.

    1. I don’t see how it’s a step backwards.

      HRT still exist, that’s more than most would have bet on. (And did in the pre season predictions.)

      And Virgin have built their third car, an ambitious car that they hope will move them closer to the midfield.

      Honestly. I think both of them have done well this past year.

    2. @wasif1 Well, last year HRT didn’t test their new car before the start of the season at all. Virgin did but their cars still turned out to be only slightly quicker than HRTs. I think we have to wait at least until Australia to be able to judge their progress (or lack of it) properly. If HRTs are comfortably within 107% in Q1 and if Virgin are where Lotus were last year or thereabouts then both teams will have made steps forwards.

      1. I think that’s a realistic target for Virgin.

    3. @wasif1 backwards compared to their initial plans for this year. But I would guess its mainly because of the new rules for crash tests. Don’t forget, that HRT only appeared with their 2010 nosecone on the car in Australia last season!

      A setback for Marussia, no doubt. But I would say they still have every chane of doing better than last year once the season gets going!

      1. @BasCB @Mike @Girts Both the team until now didn’t anything great but look at Lotus (Catherham) they have some solid race last year. They should have had their car prepared by the first test,with starting late they will have less chance of correcting the car.

        1. Many teams start later, including Mercedes.

          In Virgin’s defense, Lotus has a budget $20m higher.

  5. @keithcollantine the f1fanaic google calendar is very useful but I find it odd how there is no direct link to it from the home page…

    1. @sato113, if you look at the dark grey menue bar at the top of the page, the first item is F1 2012. If you hover over it with your mouse, you get two options, the first being the overview of teams and drivers, the second the calendar!

      1. @bascb that’s the f1 season calendar. not keith’s google calendar.

        (ok there is a link to it within that page, but it should be easier to find from the front page for everyone.)

        1. Ah, now I get what you mean @sato113

    1. I’ve heard mumblings that they’ve developed a surface cooling floor (similar to the Brabham BT46 surface cooled bodywork). It’s a little unbelievable for me, but would be awesome if true. The Artists rendering may be close to the real thing but I’m not believing anything until I see it in about a weeks time.

      1. similar to the Brabham BT46 surface cooled bodywork

        The surface cooled BT46 overheated on its first run – at Donington Park in the middle of winter – and the concept was abandoned, so let’s hope Ferrari make a better go of it.

    2. Yeah, I saw that a couple of days ago. It seems to happen every year, but I can’t recall the images ever being 100% accurate.

      1. Indeed. Last year drawings came out which showed that the car had some sort of strange wing attached to the engine cover. Can’t find the images now unfortunately.

        1. No, there were two sets of drawings. One done by Italian tech journo Piola, as is this one, that was quite accurate on almost all details.

          And a second one done by some other magazine that had the freaky wing attached to a sharkfin and the rear wing that was completely amiss.

          1. Ah yes, I remember that now. Thanks Bas.

      2. besides, ferrari said their 2012 car was ugly. that car look ok to me. nothing extreme.

  6. Happy Birthday Mouse Nightshirt and Taimur!

    1. Yeah, Happy Birthday to both of you, @Mouse_Nightshirt and Taimur

  7. Rumours are coming out that Vitaly Petrov will be Pirelli’s test driver in 2012, after Petrov appeared at a Pirelli event in Abu Dhabi today.

    1. Picking a driver who has an opinion of dilettante as far as testing and development are concerned seems to be… interesting. Especially having Barrichello available.

      1. Its confirmed that Petrov will test with Pirelli and do an event with them, but it seems its not completely clear what it means about potentially getting a race seat this year – look at this comment below the post from a Dimitri who seems to have found some info in Russian

  8. Interestingly; Petrov was making a stage appearance at a Pirelli press conference. I wonder if he’ll be taking the Pirelli test gig; rather than the Caterham job as @prisoner-monkeys says

    1. Whoops – PM beat me to it. JUST! I didn’t see his comment as I was typing mine

    2. I’ll be very disappointed if this is true. Bruno Senna gets a race seat, but Petrov doesn’t? Especially when Jarno Trulli is wasting a seat by insisting that he is still relevant to Formula 1.

      Although Joe Saward’s article on the subject points out that Petrov is still believed to be talking to Caterham, and I have heard that Pirelli still need a car for 2012 because the TF109 is outdated.

      It may be that this is some kind of misdirection from Caterham. Their car launches tomorrow, and they may use the opportunity to announced a change in their driver line-up. In which case planting Petrov at the Pirelli gig would be a neat little red herring to up the surprise when the car is launched. But I think it’s unlikely.

      1. Yep Pirelli still need a test car. One with DRS and KERS too presumably; as that would impact on the vertical and longitudinal loadings on the tyres.

        I’m not sure I buy that they’ll be making driver announcements tomorrow though – are you saying they’re actually using F1 Racing mag as an avenue of announcing a driver?

        I agree that it’s likely Petrov is still talking to Caterham; but I don’t buy that Caterham planted him at Pirelli – why would Pirelli say yes?

        1. Why would Pirelli know Petrov was there? I can’t really nail down any reports on where Petrov actually wan during the event, whether he was on-stage or not. He is not, after all, in this photo. and if he is joining Pirelli in 2012, why wasn’t he confirmed at the media event? It would be the perfect opportunity to make an announcement.

          If he appeared on-stage, then maybe Caterham have agreed to lend their 2011 car to Pirelli, and just asked them to let Petrov show up and be non-committal about his role. For all we know, Paul Hembrey might really enjoy such a surprise.

          However, I get the distinct impression that some time in the next few hours, we’ll be hearing an Italian-accented voice calling out “SEE? I TOLD YOU I WAS STILL RELEVANT!”

          1. @prisoner-monkeys sorry about the last comment. This pic

          2. He was on stage, apparently. Though it is strange nothing has been announced about that.
            https://twitter.com/#!/Pirelli_Media/status/162071489611436033/photo/1

      2. I think he’ll be the test driver, nothing official yet but Pirelli tweeted that:
        https://twitter.com/#!/Pirelli_Media/status/162067037458399232

        1. But why wouldn’t they make it official?

          1. It’s still early days.

            Trulli has a contract with Caterham, I doubt Petrov will take the seat. Next year however…

            Hulkenburg had to wait a year, maybe Petrov will follow his lead.

          2. Trulli has a contract with Caterham, I doubt Petrov will take the seat.

            Petrov had a contract with Lotus for this year.

          3. @Prisoner-monkeys I agree with @Mike in a way.

            Generally contracts are good for at least a year; or at least half a year; anyways. Heidfeld 2011 and de la Rosa 2010 aside; barring any force majeure; I don’t think we’ve seen a driver that was contracted; not fulfill his first year of the contract.

          4. I think Trulli is on the second year of his contract – an option left over from 2011.

          5. My point was that he was announced mid-2011. Drivers usually fill out at least the first year of the announced obligation.

            For example, if a team says, “Driver X will drive for us in 2011 and 2012,” I’d believe 2011, but not 2012.

          6. @prisoner-monkeys it’s official now. Oksana has confirmed that Petrov will be testing for Pirelli.

          7. @raymondu999 – that’s at odds with this report where Petrov makes it pretty clear that he is still exploring options, and it appears that his appearance with Pirelli was his first contact with them.

    3. Turns out his appearance in Abu Dhabi was a guest spot, but if he doesn’t land a race seat, Pirelli are looking at taking him on as test driver:

      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97168

  9. Some promising stuff from Pirelli:

    For 2012, Pirelli is upping access for FOM to the race data feeds that engineers have at events – with the hope being that this, which includes information like how old a tyre is, can then be shown on TV.

    “They [FOM] have been working to see how they can use the data and put it on the screen,” said Hembery. “We have more meetings planned about it. Bernie [Ecclestone] has recognised it, and got his people working on it. Everything is in place to make it happen, but we need to talk to FOM to make sure it happens.”

    http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97170

  10. Petrov at Abu Dahbi wore plain and casual clothes.
    For someone who is heavily backed by all kinds of sponsors I find that telling.

    My 2 cents are: Petrov was invited by Pirelli, they want him, but he hasn’t / hadn’t decided yet. Now they’re making all kinds of jokes around him being testdriver, to gently put some pressure at him.

    If he already signed, he would wear some kind of Pirelli clothing, but he chose not to. Also he doesn’t wear anything relating to any sponsor or team. So there’s probably still no formal relation.

    Time will tell. I think he should go for Pirelli’s bait…

  11. I hope this team will grow this year because since its beginnings in the discipline, it proved nothing. The car is nice but not everything. Moreover, it shows the track : http://www.wallpapersf1.com/Virgin-Racing?wallpaper=564

  12. the audience they saw racing cars doing something they hadn’t seen them do in quite a while and that was passing one another

    So basically this is a cry for DRS to not get baked into F1 and for a real solution for the overtaking problem to be found (build in really, the solution is already there!). Because now the DRS passes are new and entertaining, but after a while they get boring even for the casual fans. Sadly with the 2014 rule changes ahead, which will probably give us a different running order this negative effect won’t get noticed for a couple years I guess.

  13. Marussia to miss opening test at Jerez.

    Sure I won’t miss them.

  14. DRS is possibly the greatest thing to happen to F1. Ever. It allows driver’s to breeze past each other on the straights, get the pass done before the braking zone, and hopefully prevent’s any negative effect on all important lap times, potentially they might even have better lap times using DRS.

    1. The fact that drivers breeze past with DRS is the problem. The lap times are important in practice and qualifying, in the race it’s about track position. I don’t want to see a 65 lap time trial, I want to see a 65 lap race. However I do think that refuelling should be reintroduced to make the cars go faster at the start of races, I don’t like how slow the cars are during the opening laps.

      1. @Slr I know, totally agree on refueling, I think refueling is one of the most road relevant aspects to motorsport, I mean, everybody has to stop to put fuel in there car once, twice a week, don’t they? most people don’t change there tyre’s once a year. I hope refueling return’s in 2014.

  15. Hmm..I am confident Marussia will have a highly improved car(Mclaren helping and all) but just one test for the new car before it races certainly isn’t a good thing. They would barely manage to confirm that all main systems work(if they work) and nothing else.

  16. Only Ferrari…

    “Today, for the first time, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso made actual contact with the car they will drive in the 2012 world championship.”

    …would structure a sentence like that.

    ACTUAL CONTACT. WOW.

    I can only assume that the new car is on the moon to warrant such ground-breaking terminology.

    1. I personally would of hugged it if no one was looking.

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