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Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car | 2012 F1 cars

Keith Collantine — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:41:49 +0000

The Williams-Renault FW34 has been revealed for the first time at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

After a very poor 2011, in which the team scored just five points and finished ninth in the world championship, Williams are hoping for a changes in fortunes in 2012.

The team have switched engine suppliers from Cosworth to Renault and Bruno Senna joins the team in place of Rubens Barrichello. Pastor Maldonado remains at Williams for a second season.

Team principal Frank Williams said: “One could say that looking at the Williams F1 Team today we are off to a truly fresh start. We have a new car, new driver line up, new engine and new senior personnel.

“We also have a number of new partners who have joined the team in the past few months. I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome them formally and sincerely wish that they have an enjoyable and, most importantly, a valuable experience with us. The team has had a good winter at the factory and we feel ready and strong for the fight.”

Williams FW34 pictures

See more pictures of the Williams FW34 in today’s test.

2012 F1 cars

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Image © Williams/LAT

Toro Rosso STR7 – first pictures and video of Toro Rosso’s 2012 F1 car | 2012 F1 cars

Keith Collantine — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:48:59 +0000

Toro Rosso revealed their 2012 F1 car, the STR7, in Jerez today.

Toro Rosso have an all-new driver line-up for 2012, with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne taking over from Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

Toro Rosso STR7 pictures

More images will be added here

2012 F1 cars

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Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Webber: Tyres are “old news” in 2012 | 2012 F1 season

Keith Collantine — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:34:47 +0000

Mark Webber, 2012

Mark Webber says the teams expect few surprises from the changed tyre compounds in 2012.

Speaking following the launch of the Red Bull RB8, Webber said: “They’ve changed the tyres a little bit this year but I think it’s pretty much old news.

“The tyres have been around for a while now, the teams get on top of that stuff reasonably quickly, and the drivers. I’m talking in the space of a few months to half a year which is pretty quick. The teams know what we’re in for this year and we can get stuck into the races.”

Webber echoed team mate Sebastian Vettel’s view that the changes to the exhaust-blown diffuser rules will have a significant effect on the cars:

“The characteristics of the RB8, we’re looking for a car that’s very drive-able, which means not only from an engine side – Renault do a good job there – but also aerodynamically, we need to have a car that’s functional on all circuits in all temperatures.

“Clearly we need to get the most out of the tyres which was a huge thing last year for everybody. That’s pretty much done now, everyone knows how the tyres behave, that’s old news, we need to move on and develop the car as best we can.

“Without the exhaust effect into the blown diffuser, which was a very powerful thing the teams had last year, this year that’s changed, so that’s going to be a key area trying to understand the losses we’ve had there.”

He added that continuity was a key reason for the team’s strong performance in recent years:

“The success of the team in the last few years has been exceptional. So every time we launch a new car there is a lot of anticipation and excitement.

“But some nerves and also some expectations: the bar is very high, we have cleaned up in the last few years, the constructors’ championship was very dominant. So both drivers have been performing towards the front and the team has been very reliable.

“We know that we have to keep working very hard and continuity has been a key factor in that. All of our partners have been great for us. There’s no reason in 2012 we can’t be challenging for top results again.”

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Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Vettel expects rules changes to close up field | 2012 F1 season

Keith Collantine — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:36:46 +0000

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2012

Sebastian Vettel says he expects a “very tight” battle in 2012, unlike his dominant championship victory last year.

Speaking following the launch of the Red Bull RB8 he said: “It would be wrong to go into this season and expect 2011 to happen again. As in, getting into the lead early and having a big gap to the competitors in the championship.

“I think it will be very, very tight this year, and everything else will be a surprise to be honest.”

Vettel said the lack of room for innovation will level the playing field:

“Looking at the cars, there is not much room we have left to play for designers to find something extra. The last two years we had two big things taken away: the double-diffusers plus, for this year, the system around the blown exhaust.

“We’re missing that, so therefore I think it’s difficult to create a difference. We’ll see, obviously we hope that our car is better than all the others. But it will be difficult and I think the cars will be fairly similar, as in, I think the gaps will be even closer than they have been.”

Asked about Bernie Ecclestone’s remarks that it would be good if Vettel didn’t dominate in 2012, the world champion said: “I hope he’s wrong, obviously!

“It’s difficult to say, every season we start from zero again.

“Everyone has the same chance. We are all building our new cars and until we put them on the track to race each other we don’t really know, so we’ll see.

“I’m as confident as I can be at this point and hopefully we’ll have a good couple of days testing to prepare the season well.”

Vettel also said he hadn’t come up with a pet name for his new car yet: “To be honest last year we found a name for the car I think Wedneday before the first race. We might be a bit earlier this year but so far no names. We have a couple of candidates, top candidates, but nothing is decided yet.”

2012 F1 season

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Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Red Bull RB8 launch – first pictures and video of Red Bull’s 2012 F1 car | 2012 F1 cars

Keith Collantine — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:09:04 +0000

The Red Bull RB8, the car the team aim to defend their championship titles with, was revealed today in Jerez.

Its predecessors the RB7 and RB6 won two constructors’ championships and took Sebastian Vettel to a pair of drivers’ titles. Red Bull will be hoping the RB8 can make it three in a row.

There is little change at the team which has been the dominant force in F1 for the last two-and-a-half years. Vettel and Mark Webber form the driving line-up, and Adrian Newey remains at the head of the technical team.

Red Bull RB8 pictures

More images will be added here

Red Bull RB8 launch video

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Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Sauber C31 launch – first pictures and video of Sauber’s 2012 F1 car | 2012 F1 cars

Keith Collantine — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:02:59 +0000

Sauber have unveiled their contender for the 2012 F1 championship.

The C31 was revealed today in Jerez and will be driven by Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez this season.

Sauber finished seventh in the championship last year. However just days before the launch of their new car the team announce technical director James Key, who had been with them since 2010, was leaving the squad.

Sauber C31, 2012

Chief designer Matt Morris says the team’s 2012 F1 car is a combination of new ideas and concepts developed from its predecessor.

Following the launch of the Sauber C31 in Jerez, Morris said: “The C31 is revolutionary where we had fresh ideas, particularly at the rear of the car, and it is an evolution where we knew we could carry over certain approaches. We had to improve on the weaknesses we identified on the C30, but at the same time we wanted to maintain its strengths.

“We had established some good directions to go in towards the end of last year with the C30 which we wanted to continue with, particularly some of our DRS developments, and some of the ways we were opting for with the car’s set up in order to improve our qualifying performance without compromising our race pace.”

Morris added he expects the ban on exhaust-blown diffusers to help the team: “Because of the new definition in the rules we know that the disadvantages we had last year with a lack of the strong exhaust effect will be less of an issue for us now. As a result we evolved further our directions from C30 regarding the overall aero development of the car.”

He added the car “will look quite different in Melbourne” once further upgrades are added to it.

Sauber C31 pictures

Kamui Kobayashi driving the Sauber C31

2012 F1 cars

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Image © Sauber F1 Team

‘More mature’ Grosjean looking forward to F1 return | 2012 F1 season

Keith Collantine — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:51:38 +0000

Romain Grosjean, Renault, Interlagos, 2011

Romain Grosjean says his brief experience of F1 in 2009 will stand him in good stead on his return this year.

Speaking as the Lotus E20 was launched Grosjean said: “It’s difficult to say how I should view this season.

“For sure I did seven Grands Prix alongside Fernando [Alonso] and the experience I gained from that was helpful – and is still helpful today.

“On the other hand there are still some circuits that I don’t know. But I don’t think we can say I’m a rookie, just because of the experience I have. Let’s say that I am a young driver who still has plenty of things to learn in Formula One, but we are all expecting a good season.”

Groejean added: “I don’t know Albert Park, I don’t know Shanghai, I don’t know Canada, America nobody knows, India I don’t know and Korea I don’t know. So in the early stages of the season I know all the tracks except Albert Park and Shanghai. I know Sepang and Bahrain. We will see what happens.

Grosjean described how he got himself in a position to get back into F1:

“The process for getting the 2012 drive really began with GP2, where my goal was to bring DAMS back to the top and show that I can be a team leader. For sure winning the title was something that we all wanted, but championships can depend on many things.

“Then there were the two Friday morning sessions in Formula One, which were a real test in terms of seeing if I had the speed, feedback and everything the team was looking for. I knew it was very important and it went well, but then you just have to wait.

“That was the most difficult part, but I knew I’d done everything – the best I could do – so I had no regrets. I was waiting and just trying to read the faces of the people in the team to imagine what the decision would be! That’s always part of this job. You get used to it year after year.”

He added: “Compared with 2009 I am two years older! No big difference, just an improvement in terms of many small things, including maturity.

“The 2009 experience was very helpful for me to understand things and grow up from that point. So it was difficult, but very good as well. The 2012 Romain Grosjean sees life a little bit different. My aim is to enjoy my number one passion, Formula One.”

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Lotus E20 launch – first pictures of Lotus’s 2012 F1 car | 2012 F1 cars

Keith Collantine — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:12:39 +0000

The Lotus E20, the team’s 2012 F1 challenger, has been revealed today. See the video above for the first images of the car.

The team which competed as Renault in 2011 has changed identities and has an all-new driver line-up for this season.

The E20 will be raced by Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. Raikkonen will be first to drive the car in testing at Jerez in the coming week.

Lotus were known to have been working on a reactive ride height system for the E20, which they tested on its predecessor in Abu Dhabi last year. However the system was banned by the FIA last month.

Lotus E20 pictures

More images wlll be added here shortly

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Caterham announce Giedo van der Garde as third driver | 2012 F1 season

Keith Collantine — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:33:17 +0000

Dutchman Giedo van der Garde has been announced as Caterham’s third driver.

Van der Garde finished fifth in GP2 last year, his best result in three years of competing in the category.

The 26-year-old said: “I’m very happy to become a part of the Caterham F1 Team family today and I’m very excited about the next step in my career within Formula 1.

“The team is fresh, with some fantastic people here. Tony Fernandes is extremely ambitious and he has brought in a lot of very good people in to help grow this team for future success. I’m looking forward to learning and moving forward with the team in and out of the car.

“It’s great for Holland that we again have a Dutch driver who is connected to Formula 1. Being the only Dutch driver now is very good for the sport in Holland, as the interest was perhaps on the decline since the [Jos] Verstappen years, however I hope to generate the same excitement for my country and really bring Formula 1 to them.”

Team principal Tony Fernandes called van der Garde a “very exciting prospect”.

He added: “His performances in GP2, particularly in 2011, mark Giedo out as one of motorsport’s brightest prospects, and securing him as reserve driver is a real coup for our team. I am sure he will flourish on and off track, and we wish him all the best as he takes the next step into Formula 1 with us.”

According to the team, van der Garde’s duties will include some appearances in first practice sessions during the season.

View the updated list of 2012 F1 drivers and teams

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Sauber technical director James Key leaves the team | 2012 F1 season

Keith Collantine — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:40:59 +0000

Sergio Perez, Sauber, Interlagos, 2011

Sauber have lost technical director James Key just days before the launch of their new car.

In a statement issued by the team Key said: “I’ve enjoyed the past two years working at the Sauber F1 Team.

“It has been a very intense and interesting time, in which we had to manage the transition from a much larger team to a smaller one, and everybody handled that very well. I think the team is now well set for the future and I wish it the very best. I have been offered a new role back in the UK, which I decided to accept.”

Team principal Peter Sauber added: “A qualified team shares the overall technical responsibility. This structure has proved to work well at other racing outfits.

“Over a period of almost two years, James has accomplished a lot for our team. Especially in the difficult transition period from a manufacturer team into a private enterprise, he contributed significantly to ensure the team regained stability. We would like to thank him for his efforts and wish him all the best for his future.”

Key joined Sauber in 2010 having previously worked for Force India.

The Sauber C31 is due to be launched on Monday in Jerez.

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