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

Autosport's technical analysis: Diffuser debacle

This week a row has erupted over the design of two teams' diffusers, after the new Williams and Toyota emerged sporting radically different diffuser designs to the other cars launched so far.
Williams came up with a 'double decker' diffuser design, while Toyota initially tested an extension to the middle of their diffuser, and then later added a double decker section of their own. Both these designs raised eyebrows up and down the pitlane, as they appear to stretch the wording of the new rules.

Having spoken to both teams' technical directors at the Portimao test, neither feels their designs are that different to their rivals' and clearly both are confident that they are not contravening the regulations.

As part of the 2009 package of aerodynamic rule changes designed to reduce downforce and increase overtaking, the FIA mandated a smaller diffuser in a more rearward position.
With the shock of losing 50 per cent of their downforce because of these changes, teams have been working hard to get the bodywork shaped to the new rules to regain the lost downforce.
One of the critical elements in making a diffuser work is internal volume, so the new regulations now limit the main part of the diffuser to a width of 1000mm, a length of 350mm and a height of 175mm - as seen on the McLaren in the picture. However the diffuser rules are simply a section of the wider bodywork regulations, which also include sections which allow bodywork in areas not intended for the diffuser. Williams and Toyota have exploited these areas with their new cars. No doubt other teams know of these loopholes, but have yet to run their interpretations.

There are two interpretations of the regulations being exploited with these diffusers. 1) Both cars appear to use the same loophole that allowed the teams to run an extra channel above their diffuser under the outgoing rules.
Although the rules now demand a diffuser height of 175mm above the reference plane, this is measured from below - using the 'bodywork facing the ground' articles in the rules. Therefore the actual diffuser can be taller, if they can get around the second paragraph of the article 3.12.7 that demands a continuous line where it meets the flat floor at the axle line.

This is an ambiguous rule which appears to allow more than one surface to exist in this area. Thus both teams have been able to create a double decker diffuser, their main diffuser (highlighted in yellow) is as long, wide and tall as the rules allow (the red line), but they have made the middle section stop short of meeting the flat floor - instead the floor extends into the upper diffuser (shown in green).

This is a creative way of interpreting the F1's Technical Regulations as outlined below:
Article 3.5.2: The width of bodywork behind the rear wheel centre line and more than 200mm above the reference plane must not exceed 750mm.

Article 3.12.7: No bodywork which is visible from beneath the car and which lies between the rear wheel centre line and a point 350mm rearward of it may be more than 175mm above the reference plane. Any intersection of the surfaces in this area with a lateral or longitudinal vertical plane should form one continuous line which is visible from beneath the car.

Williams and Toyota's interpretation has a precedent, as it was exploited by most teams last year. The area above the lower diffuser is covered in article 3.5.2, which allows bodywork to be up to 200mm above the reference plane (25mm higher than the lower diffuser) and as wide as 750mm.

This can create about 10 per cent more diffuser exit area, and the higher expansion of the flow through the diffuser creates more downforce. A couple of teams have questioned whether this interpretation is allowed under the current rules, although it is not thought any has lodged a formal question with the FIA.

2) Toyota have an additional diffuser aft of the main diffuser (shown in blue). This sits in a 150mm wide area that is intended for the rear crash structure and rear wing mounts. The same area has been exploited in recent years with small winglets mounted atop the rear crash structure. Although the rules demand no bodywork above 175mm, this only applies to the area between the rear axle line and point 350mm behind it: article 3.10.4 creates a void between 350mm and 500mm behind the axle.

This extra 150mm x 150mm area can be up to 400mm high, some 225mm taller than intended for the diffuser, and it is this area that Toyota have taken advantage of. Again the taller exit creates more potential for downforce.

In addition, the rule also allows this part to extend beyond 500mm (behind the axle line) as long as it sits alongside the rear impact structure (200mm and 400mm above the reference plane). This is an area yet to be exploited by any team's diffuser:

Article 3.10.5 states: Any parts of the car less than 75mm from the car centre line and more than 500mm behind the rear wheel centre line must be situated between 200mm and 400mm above the reference plane.

Teams often approach the FIA during the design process to clarify whether their interpretations of grey areas are within the regulations, although in this instance sources have informed autosport.com that neither Williams nor Toyota submitted their design to the governing body - although Toyota are believed to have exchanged correspondence with the governing body regarding diffusers. Interestingly, FIA sources have revealed that a diffuser design related to the current intrigue has been approved - although it has not been confirmed whether this is one used by Williams or Toyota.

Testing is not bound by the technical regulations, so the issue could continue to be debated until the opening race. Melbourne is the first time that the cars are formally scrutineered, and the first opportunity for any protest to be lodged - although it is possible that the FIA could clarify its view of the rules in question before Melbourne.

Source: autosport.com

Teddy Mayer 1935-2009

Edward Everett "Teddy" Mayer died at his home in England on Friday, at the age of 73. He is survived by a son, Tim, and a daughter, Anne Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Mayer attended Yale University and then studied law at Cornell, graduating in 1962. During his time at Cornell he became involved with running Rev-Em Racing, a Formula Junior team for his brother Timmy and a college friend Peter Revson. In 1963 the Mayers and Revson went to Europe to take part in Formula Junior races and the following year Mayer helped Bruce McLaren to establish Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd. Although Timmy was killed racing at Longford in Tasmania in 1965, Teddy continued in the sport and after McLaren's death became the force behind the Team McLaren. The organization enjoyed great success in CanAm, CART and Formula 1, winning World Championships with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1974 and James Hunt in 1976.

In the late 1970s, however, the team began to struggle and in 1980 sponsor Marlboro insisted that McLaren go into partnership with Ron Dennis's Project 4 Racing. Mayer stayed on as joint managing-director until 1982 when he sold his shares in the team and departed, establishing Mayer Motor Racing with Tyler Alexander for the 1984 CART Championship. Running Tom Sneva and Howdy Holmes the team was an immediate success. In the autumn of that year, however, Carl Haas convinced Beatrice Companies Inc. - a massive American consumer conglomerate - to finance a Formula 1 team, Haas/FORCE. Haas negotiated an exclusive three-year deal to use Ford V6 turbo engines and hired Mayer and Alexander to run operations. A change of management at Beatrice resulted in the program being canceled and at the end of 1986 the team was closed. Mayer then joined Roger Penske as vice-president of Penske Racing and deputy chairman of Penske Cars Ltd. in Poole, Dorset. He continued as a consultant to Penske until 2007.

Source: grandprix.com