In the round-up: HRT plan to run their new F1 car for the first time today in a filming day.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
“HRT say the F112 will appear for the first tomorrow tomorrow with Narain Karthikeyan at the wheel at the Circuit de Catalunya.”
Asked, “What tyres are HRT using tomorrow for the new F112?”: “No idea… from annual allocation, did not know they were running.”
Fry realistic: "We are disappointed with the performance" (Ferrari)
“In the hunt for the podium in Melbourne? At the moment I’d say no. We are disappointed with the performance level seen at these tests and I think we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Mercedes boss Ross Brawn predicts ‘tightest season for years’ (BBC)
“But there are five or six teams that are a much closer grouping than we have seen for a number of years. I have a feeling it is going to be quite close when we get to the first few races.”
Comment of the day
James suspects Ferrari aren’t in as much trouble as some have claimed:
I wonder if Ferrari’s issues and blunders are a little overplayed? Their times haven’t been too concerning.
I’d say they’re sandbagging a little bit (yes, cue the “it’s testing, what’s the pointing sandbagging?” counter-arguement) and just generally playing their cards close to their chest. Perhaps cancelling the press conferences yesterday and today with Massa & Alonso respectively was just a ploy. Maybe Ferrari want to get feedback from them in as much detail while it’s fresh in their minds?
Let’s not forget that Ferrari don’t really give much away to the media anyway unless they can help it.
On a different note, great outing by Lotus today, I would expect them to be the outside bets for the first few races before the teams return to Europe.
James
From the forum
Two of our online racing leagues had the final rounds of their latest seasons yesterday.
First up was the Collantine Cup which was won by iamsa8. See the final standings here.
However the F1F PS3 Winter Series Championship had a slightly anti-climactic ending, as bradley13 explained:
“Unfortunately neither Championship contender (Moss-611 and Brooksy007) made the race and so MoSs-611 was handed the Championship. Abboracing picked up his second ever pole position but after a very intense race JamieFranklinF1 came out as the winner, his first victory of the season.”
Congratulations to all our winners!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to IDR, Jarred Walmsley, TommyB and Jake!
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
Niki Lauda scored his first win for Ferrari, following his fiery Nurburgring crash the year before, on this day in 1977.
But the race was marred by another crash which claimed the lives of Tom Pryce and marshal Jansen van Vuuren.
To find out more about Pryce, I recommend David Tremayne’s excellent book The Lost Generation.
This video shows the grid, formation lap and the start of the race (and not Pryce’s crash):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eca21aLxw1M
Image © HRT
BasCB (@bascb)
5th March 2012, 21:03
Well @idr, @tommyb89, @jarred-walmsley and Jake, I would just like to congratulate all of you with your birthday.
Now you share it with both the HRT and the Marussia cars, isn’t that a treat :-)
IDR (@idr)
5th March 2012, 22:41
Thanks so much. I’m afraid I’m the senior guy here…
F1 Fanatic Grandfather!!!!!
jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
5th March 2012, 21:31
thanks @BasCB It sure is a fantastic treat, the Hispania more so than the Marussia, @Ned_Flanders I use the full name instead of HRT too.
sozavele (@formula-1)
5th March 2012, 22:03
Even though, since the buyout it is only HRT no Hispania check f1.com
UKFan (@)
5th March 2012, 22:34
Ferrari never hides their pace therefore they are in trouble because I bet they went all in on testing.
UKFan (@)
5th March 2012, 22:37
Still Pat Fry has an horrible poker face…
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
5th March 2012, 22:41
Two great quotes today, the first from Paul Hempbrey, brilliant!
HRT are so good they should just be given free tyres. I have a real soft spot for them.
Oh and Fry.
This doesn’t sound good if I’m honest. I’m surprised though that he can get away with saying it, given that Ferrari canceled their media day with Alonso and Massa.
Strangs things are afoot in Maranello.
@HoHum (@hohum)
5th March 2012, 23:06
How long before Ferrari decide F1 is no longer worth the expense of competing when the regulations prevent them from doing what they excel at.
verstappen (@verstappen)
5th March 2012, 23:20
Maybe Fry wants to keep expectations in check; underpromise and overdeliver… Where overdeliver in this case probably isn’t fighting for wins from the start, but better than 5th.
But maybe they do what McLaren did last year. It’s always related to the other teams, of course. Red Bull have some problems, Mercedes also with graining and Lotus with lack of milage. So anything can happen.
By the way can Lotus exchange missed tracktime with windtunneltesting under the RRA?