Ross Brawn - Brawn GP Team

Jenson Button was at the wheel of the brand new ‘Brawn GP Team‘ today at the Silverstone circuit giving the Mercedes-engine Honda it’s track debut after the saving of the Honda F1 team.

A statement released today confirmed the continuation of the Honda Formula One team with Ross Brawn as it’s Team Principal.  The statement from Ross Brawn read;

“The past few months have been extremely challenging for the team but today’s announcement is the very pleasing conclusion to the strenuous efforts that have been made to secure it’s future.

Firstly, it is a great shame that having worked with Honda Motor Company for so long we can no longer continue together.  I would like to thank Honda for the fantastic co-0peration and support we have received throughout this process, particularly those members of the senior management who were closely involved with concluding our agreement, and for the faith they have demonstrated in myself and our team.

I would also like to take this opportunity to pay due credit to our staff at Brackley.  The levels of motivation and commitment that I have witnessed at the factory deserve the highest praise.

I am delighted that Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will form our race driver line-up for the 2009 season.  The vast experience and knowledge that both drivers bring to our team will prove invaluable as we aim to get up to speed in the shortest possible time to be ready for the first race of the season in Melbourne on the 29th March.  In what will be fourth season together their experience with out team in Brackley, our systems and our engineers, will prove a real asset.

It would be impossible to mention all of the people without whom today’s announcement may not have been possible, however I would like to express particular appreciation for the support we have received from Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de L’Automobile), FOM (Formula One Management), BERR (the UK’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), Bridgestone, our other team partners and our many fans the world over.  The journey ahead will be challenging but exciting and we know we can count on their continued enthusiasm for our team and its ambition.”

Within hours of the statement, the Mercedes-powered BGP 001 was on the track on a private test session with both drivers.  It is believed that the team will travel to Spain after this test to join the other drivers in Barcelona for the four day test session taking place from Monday.

Jenson Button & Rubens Barrichello

The Honda F1 team could be racing in the 2009 season if rumours prove to be true, after it was revealed last week that a management buyout would take place headed by Ross Brawn, which has allegedly been given approval.

After reports that up to 300 of the Brackley based Honda staff were to lose their jobs, Jensen Button has said to have agreed to a 50% pay-cut for the season as the team battle with a drastically reduced budget.

There is still no firm confirmation on the Honda team although it is believed that the Honda Tokyo board has given the green light.  It was suggested that the team may attend the penultimate testing session at Jerez this week, but there was no sight yesterday as the other teams took to the track.

It is thought that an announcement will be forthcoming this week after the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) press conference in Geneva.

The Honda team were also rumoured to have been attending Silverstone later this week before going on to join the other teams in the official test session in Barcelona.

The season gets underway on March 29th in Australia but all the cars need to be in Melbourne a week before the event in preparation for scrutineering on the eve of the first practice.  Not much time for the team given that they have not tested the car powered by an alleged Mercedes engine so far this year.

As for the drivers, there is still no word here either apart from Jenson which is still to be confirmed.  Bruno Senna or Rubens Barrichello?  The young Brazilian rookie, nephew of the great Ayrton, could bring a huge amount of funding to the team but Barrichello has the experience.  My money would be on Barrichello, who is not only the most experienced driver in Formula One but would surely be the best bet for an as yet untested car.

Mallya has suggested that any recommendations made by McLaren will be taken seriously, saying  he would be hard pressed to ignore their advice. Force India currently have drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil under contract, but have not ruled out other drivers being tested.

McLaren and Mercedes have several drivers on their books including 22year old Scot Paul de Resta as well as the more experienced Spanish test driver Pedro de la Rosa and the recent agreement between the two teams has already led to speculation that the current Force India drivers will be under extreme pressure to prove themselves.

The Formula 1 news of the partnership between McLaren and Force India led to Mallya restructuring the management team at Force India, with former team principal Colin Kolles and technical head Mike Gascoyne being ousted and the supply of Ferrari engines being terminated a year early.

McLaren will supply Force India with the complete drive chain for their race car, engine, gearbox as well as KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) and have also moved Simon Roberts from McLaren Applied Technologies into Force India as chief operating officer.

McLaren have made it clear that they will offer whatever is needed to make the Force India team a viable proposition on the track, with McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh saying “We will make proposals and recommendations that we think are enhancing the prospect of good performance from this team.”

Whether that results in a change of drivers for Force India remains to be seen, but Fisichella and Sutil will face a nail biting few months before any announcement is made.

Other seats up for grabs in the F1 news this week, are those at Toro Rosso, where three drivers are to be evaluated at Spains Catalunya circuit next week. Sebastien Bourdais the 2008 driver will be assessed alongside Red Bull test driver Sebastian Buemi and former Honda and Jordan driver Takuma Sato.

Brazilian drivers Rubens Barrichello and Bruno Senna are also rumoured to be in the frame for the Toro Rosso team who have two seats up for grabs after Sebastian Vettel joined Red Bull. Toro Rosso finished the season five points ahead of their senior team Red Bull, using the same car fitted with a Ferrari engine rather than the Renault engine used by Red Bull.

David Coulthard 2008

This weekend is the final Grand Prix of 2008 at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil and it will also be the final race of David Coulthard who will retire at the end of the race.

Coulthard will be supporting a very special cause this weekend, and is dedicating the final race of his career to the ‘Wings For Life’ charity, who’s aim is to make spinal paralysis curable.

The Red Bull Racing Formula 1 car of Coulthard will be given worldwide coverage with it’s special livery and will help raise much needed funding for spinal cord research.

Coulthard said;

“I dedicate my last race to the vision of making paraplegia curable.  In Formula One, success is determined by a few seconds, in medicine people think in terms of years.  But in both disciplines, ambition and commitment are crucial factors that are needed in order to reach the finishing line as soon as possible.  Wings for Life helps to accelerate the breakthrough in spinal cord research.”

Rubens Barrichello will be racing on his home circuit in front of his home fans with the Brazilian born just 100 metres away from the track.

Barrichello has still not signed to race in Formula One for the 2009 season but has made it clear he does not want to stop racing.

The veteran driver has said that Honda intend to test other drivers in Barcelona, so at the moment his job is on hold, although he feels that his experience and qualities are what the team need but admitted to talking with other teams as well.

Of course, this Grand Prix will decide who will be the Champion of 2008, will it be Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren or Felipe Massa in the Ferrari.  Hamilton and Massa are facing the finale as just another race and will give it their best shot as always.

On a more light-hearted note, this is one of the best advertisements for Bridgestone Tyres I’ve seen, take a look;

The Toro Rosso were not going to test today after Sebastien Bourdais , yesterday, in the brand new STR3, crashed dramatically into the tyre barriers on the outside of turn nine and badly damaged the car, fortunately he was unhurt.  Force India took no part either in the final day of testing at the circuit.

The eight teams remaining at the track were hoping to put in some more laps today but just minutes after the pit lane opened, then the rain began.

Mark Webber had been out in the morning ahead of the rain and set the fastest time of the day for the Red Bull Renault team.

Heikki Kovalainen took over the testing for the final day and set the second fastest time for McLaren Mercedes while Kimi Raikkonen took over his Ferrari testing duties and took third position.

The BMW Sauber driver, Robert Kubica was fourth ahead of Jenson Button in the Honda and Kazuki Nakajima, back in the Williams Toyota.

In seventh place was Nelson Piquet in the modified Renault with Jarno Trulli, once again at the bottom of the timesheets in the Toyota.

Felipe Massa set a time of 1:18.339 on Monday and it remained the fastest time of the week for the Ferrari team. All the teams will now be preparing for the Spanish Grand Prix, which is a week on Sunday.

David Coulthard was back in action after sitting out testing on Tuesday to rest his neck. Everything seemed back to normal for the Red Bull driver who had a much needed boost by claiming second fastest on the time-sheets.

Nico Rosberg in the Williams Toyota was yet again up at the front with a third place followed by Heikki Kovalainen in fourth, just a tenth of a second behind.

Fifth place man was Mark Webber in the second Red Bull Renault five-tenths of a second behind his team-mate with Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso in the Renualt R28 ’s takin sixth and seventh places.

In eighth place was the second Williams driver, Kazuki Nakajima, ninth was Kimi Raikkonen and the final top ten runner was Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren.

The rest of the time-sheet was as follows; Timo Glock(Toyota), Giancarlo Fishichella(Force India), Felipe Massa(Ferrari), Robert Kubica(BMW Sauber), Sebastien Bourdais(Toro Rosso), Adrian Sutil(Force India), Nick Heidfeld(BMW Sauber), Jenson Button(Honda), Alex Wurz(Honda).

The Teams will now be preparing to move the cars and equipment to Melbourne with the official Formula 1 Management where their journey will begin on Thursday next week.

The Ferrari team will be making their own way from Italy and the McLaren are due to do more aerodynamic testing on the runway of Menorca next week but will make the deadline of March 6th.

Honda will have two cars flying to Australia next week while their others will be doing exclusive testing at the Jerez track.

The McLaren driver, Lewis Hamilton set the pace with a lap time of 1:21.234 which was two-tenths of a second faster than his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.

In third place was Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari with the impressive Nico Rosberg in the Williams FW30 in fourth spot.

The second Ferrari of Felipe Massa took the fifth slot ahead of another impressive drive from the Force India team with driver Giancarlo Fisichella at the wheel taking sixth place.

In seventh place was the temporary replacement driver for David Coulthard who was resting a neck injury, Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull Renault and he completed 109 laps throughout the day.

Robert Kubica was in eighth in the BMW Sauber followed by Jenson Button in the Honda, giving some hope to the Honda team.  Vitantonio Liuzzi in the second Force India rounded off the top ten drivers of the day.

The drivers outside the top ten were in the following order;  Nakajima(Williams), Trulli (Toyota), Alonso(Renualt), Barrichello(Honda), Heidfeld(BMW Sauber), Boudais(Toro Rosso), Webber(Red Bull), Piquet(Renault), Glock(Toyota)

Nico Rosberg’s first race in formula 1 was in 2006 at the Bahrain Grand Prix at the age of 21 with the Williams team and he has so far raced in 35 Grand Prix. His father Keke Rosberg actually won the World Championship back in 1982 with the Williams team.

Although the Williams FW30 is still far from being a match with the Ferrari or McLaren, Nico now has some experience of the cars potential and it is looking good on the whole and all things being equal it is far easier being in a quicker car than an average or bad one.

On the second of a three day test at the Circuit de Catalunya, the 36 year old Scottish driver had to pull-out of testing after tweaking a muscle in his neck. He was said to be receiving treatment today in hope that he will be fit enough to continue with the final day of testing tomorrow.

Sebastian Vettel will be racing for the Red Bull’s sister outfit, Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2008 season, but as the team will only be running one car on Tuesday it will be driven by Sébastien Bourdais solely.

Coulthard was the slowest runner in yesterday’s testing only managing 25 laps of the circuit, add to that the technical problems and now injury, not a good start to the season for the veteran driver, let’s hope his luck improves soon.

Lewis Hamilton topped the time-sheets with a time of 1:22.276 in the McLaren but all eyes were on the Ferrari team who had Michael Schumacher testing the car for them alongside Kimi Raikkonen.  Raikkonen was the faster of the two and came in second with Schumacher just over a tenth of a second behind him.

The Williams driver, Kazuki Nakajima was in fourth place just ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren and Nico Rosberg in the second Williams Toyota.

Fernando Alonso was a disappointing seventh place with Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber in eighth but an impressive ninth place for the new Force India car and driver Adrian Sutil.

Mark Webber in the Red bull Renault finished off the top ten drivers but poor old David Coulthard was the slowest man on the track and only managed only 25 complete laps.