Vettel positive after first RB5 test

Sebastian Vettel described his impression of the new Red Bull-Renault RB5 as 'positive' after his first full day of testing in the car at Jerez yesterday. Vettel, who managed only 14 laps in Monday's shakedown before stopping with a gearbox problem, completed 61 laps on Tuesday.
He was fastest of the four 2009-specification cars running, ending up second on the timesheets behind Sebastien Buemi's 2008 Scuderia Toro Rosso, despite missing the last half-hour after a problem with a gearbox sensor forced him to stop on track.

"The first impression is positive," he said when asked by autosport.com what he thought of the car. "We made big progress, we did a lot of laps taking into consideration that the car just finished its build on Monday morning. "Unfortunately we had to stop before the end of the session, but so far the feeling is good in the car."

Despite being impressed by the RB5, Vettel believes it is too early to make any performance comparisons with his rivals.

"It's the first day, so let's keep our feet on the ground," he said. "It's difficult to say where we will be. The other teams are starting to find their way, but for us it's a long way. "It was important to have some laps and collect some data, but after one day it's way too early to judge."

Source: autosport.com

Red Bull RB5 Pictures

Alonso expecting Renault to run KERS

Alonso confident in Renault's KERS programmeRenault will probably begin the 2009 world championship with a functioning Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) aboard the R29, according to the team's Spanish race driver Fernando Alonso. The French team has been a vocal opponent of the energy re-use technology's introduction this year, and has developed its system in collaboration with Magneti-Marelli, who are believed to have struggled with its battery-based units. Renault is even yet to fully turn on its KERS at a winter test track, but Alonso told Eurosport: "Our system is truly competitive, it is working well with no problems. I think we will start the championship with it and without many concerns, but we have to test it first. I hope ours is better than the others.

” Red Bull Racing will also use Renault's KERS as part of its customer engine package in 2009, but the drinks company's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko would not confirm if the debut of the system will be made in Melbourne. He told Austria's laola1.at: "As soon as it is reliable and offers a competitive advantage, we will use it."

Source: GMM

New Red Bull to look different? Stay tuned!

Expectations about the appearance of Red Bull's 2009 car are rising, as the team prepares to launch the RB5 next Monday. Despite the questionable aesthetics of this year's bodywork regulations, Australian driver Mark Webber recently said the Milton Keynes-based squad is to buck the trend by revealing a 'beautiful' car."(The RB5 is) perhaps the most beautiful of the 2009 class, which under the new regulations was pretty difficult," he said. Helmut Marko, the motor racing advisor to Red Bull chief Dietrich Mateschitz, confirmed Webber's claim about the shape of the Adrian Newey-penned single seater.

He is quoted as saying by the Austrian news agency APA: "Our car will look different to the majority of the others that have been presented so far."Ahead of the last major technical changes in 1998, Newey designed the championship-winning McLaren.Marko admits that fundamental rule changes can be an opportunity for unusual shifts of performance in F1. "We are relatively confident," he added.

Source: GMM

FOTA contemplate a refuelling ban from 2010

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) has put forward a plan whereby refuelling will be scrapped in 2010 and all teams will have an enforced two-week break. FOTA, like the FIA, is looking for ways to cut the costs of competing in Formula One with some teams believed to have spent over €200 million on last year's Championship.

During a meeting earlier this week FOTA proposed a few ideas that would help teams and manufacturer keep their heads above water in the middle of the world's economic crisis.

According to Autosport, not only did FOTA reaffirm its commitment to supply independent outfits with cheap engines and gearboxes from 2010, but also proposed scrapping refuelling.
Discussions were also had about the introduction of standard telementry as well as a two-week break whereby teams would not be allowed to do any work, even at their factories. FOTA is also keen to implement ideas put forward by fans of Formula One with the teams expressing their desire to improve grand prix racing for the spectators.

Source: planetf1.com

Controversial Williams and Toyota diffusers cleared?

Following the debate over the legality or otherwise of the – subsequently modified – exhaust outlets on Ferrari's F60, the similarly contentious diffuser designs on Williams and Toyota's new challengers have reportedly been ratified by the FIA.The rear diffusers on Toyota's TF109 and Williams' FW31 are markedly different to those on the other 2009 Formula 1 cars to have thus far seen the light of day, which prompted some rivals to request clarification from the sport's governing body regarding their legitimacy.

Whilst both cars are Toyota-powered, it is unclear as to whether there was any collaboration between the two teams on the matter.According to the new aerodynamic regulations, the rear diffuser must not exceed 175mm in height, but it has been contended that the sculpting of the rear crash structure on both cars has been shaped in such a way as to make the diffusers more than 175mm tall, UpdateF1.com reports.'Toyota's diffuser makes a very interesting interpretation of the revised 2009 rules (and one that has already prompted speculation regarding its legality),' reads a technical analysis on the official F1 website.

'By exploiting regulations that allow extra bodywork within a 150mm zone in the centre of the car, the team appear to have cleverly shaped the TF109's rear crash structure so that it effectively lengthens and heightens the diffuser's central section, which also features a very low splitter at its base.'Like engine supplier Toyota's, Williams' interpretation of the revised diffuser regulations is highly innovative. Much of the diffuser's central section is actually lower than the outer sections.

However, clever shaping of the rear crash structure immediately below the rear light effectively creates a second central section. In combination, the result is a central section that exceeds the 175mm height allowance that applies to the diffuser alone.'Whilst the FIA has not commented publicly on the issue, Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell claims that both designs have been approved as meeting with the letter of the law, with Williams and Toyota having separately been told by the governing body that there is no problem.

The two teams are understood to have taken advantage of a loophole in the regulations regarding extra bodywork not intended for diffusers.Any official protest cannot be lodged until the cars are presented for scrutineering for the curtain-raising Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne at the end of March.

Source: crash.net

American team planning F1 entry?

An American group is looking at putting together a team to enter Formula One in 2010, sources have confirmed to autosport.com.

The team, which is set to be called USF1, will be fronted by American design engineer Ken Anderson and former Williams team manager Peter Windsor. Although there has been no official announcement about the plans yet, nor an official entry lodged, sources suggest that their bid has been approved by rival Formula One bosses and that they are currently attempting to raise sponsorship funding for the project in America.

An official USF1 website has already been produced. Investigations by autosport.com have revealed that the website is owned by Anderson, although at this stage it only has a logo.
Anderson was technical director of Ligier in 1988 and also worked for the Onyx F1 team before moving back to America. He was technical director of both Chip Ganassi Racing and AJ Foyt Racing before designing the G-Force IRL car in 1996 - which went on to win the 1997 Indy 500 with Arie Luyendyk - and the next generation chassis in 2000. Anderson then became technical director of NASCAR team Haas CNC Racing in 2003.

He is also the part owner of the Wind Shear Inc. full scale, 180mph rolling road wind tunnel in North Carolina which has been used by F1 and NASCAR teams.

Sources indicate that USF1 plan to construct their own chassis at their North Carolina base, with the ban on in-season testing making it more feasible for an F1 team to be based outside of Europe for all but the stretch of European races between May and September.

The Formula One Teams' Association's (FOTA) recent confirmation that each manufacturer is willing to supply customer engines for 5 million Euros per season and gearboxes for 1.5 million Euros now make it more feasible than it has been for years for an independent team to enter F1 in 2010.

Source: autosport.com