[anachronix]

Originally Posted by raj.barcode

Renault is in talks to replace the outgoing title sponsor ING with an Indian multinational, an official has told the Indian news agency PTI.

In the wake of the Dutch bank ING's decision to withdraw from the sport at the end of the season, a senior official of Renault India said negotiations for its replacement are already taking place.

PTI said a possible visit by Fernando Alonso to India this year would be indicative of Renault's desire to widen its fan base in the populous country.

"Currently, talks are on with a major Indian multinational for sponsorship," the Renault India official is quoted as saying.


He did not go into details beyond saying the talks ‘are ongoing’.

The most prominent Indian sponsor already involved with F1 is Tata, currently with Ferrari but previously affiliated with Narain Karthikeyan at Jordan and Williams.


Source: F1 : Renault in talks with Indian sponsor - RENAULT - F1-Live.com

Its only Mahindra that comes to my mind!

[Ash_vtec]

YouTube - Sebastian Vettel explains 2009 F1 rule changes

nice video. all the F1 fans take a look.

[raj.barcode]

Originally Posted by Ash_vtec

YouTube - Sebastian Vettel explains 2009 F1 rule changes

nice video. all the F1 fans take a look.

Already posted earlier in the thread


Ferrari appears on schedule to bring back its controversial 'traffic lights' pitstop system for the 2009 season. The Italian team abandoned the unique automated system late last season following several incidents, including at the Singapore Grand Prix where Felipe Massa dragged the fuel hose down the pitlane. Apparently team tested this system in Bahrain testing with improvements

[raj.barcode]

I was wondering if there is failure of KERS and leakage of power when it rains wont the whole track be wired because of the rain water, only rubber gloves wont help i guess. Any thoughts on the same

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by raj.barcode

I was wondering if there is failure of KERS and leakage of power when it rains wont the whole track be wired because of the rain water, only rubber gloves wont help i guess. Any thoughts on the same

With the KERS its a tricky situation. There are lot of hidden dangers which will be more visible only when a real crisis arises.

I had a chance to look at a forum where track marshals of the BritishGP get together. They have been discussing the dangers of KERS and they look really worried about this.

So far the KERS is not dangerous at all for Mad Max & his gang of clowns!

Lets see how this season goes!

[raj.barcode]

Hopefully they will fare better this time

Force India's 2009 challenger will make its track debut at the Jerez circuit in Spain this weekend, the team announced on Monday.
The VJM02 will take to the Spanish track for the first time on Sunday, before beginning its development programme ahead of the start of the season in Melbourne.
The new car, to be driven by Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, will be powered by Mercedes-Benz engines following a deal with the German car maker.

SOURCE : Force India Formula One Team

[anachronix]

Formula 1 complete - all access F1 - McLaren title sponsor sheds jobs

Now its Vodafone that is cutting jobs! They haven't commented on their sponsorship programs though!

Not so many good news these days

[anachronix]

Source: AFCA @ AtlasF1

In an internal analyses Ferrari has come to the following conclusion: the speed of the car is fine, as are the long runs. Work is still to be done on heating up the tyres. Despite the change to slick tyres it still takes Ferrari too long heating them up.

But experts say the results in Bahrain shouldn't be overrated. The track characteristics are hardly demanding for the tyres and the temperatures were in a range that helped the tyres. The engineers say: ''The tyre wear was less than the weight advantage of the decreasing fuel level. Therefore the times kept getting better the longer you stayed out on track.'' A proper assesment on the tyre usage can be made in Jerez and Barcelona.

Ferrari is satisfied with the reliability, Colajanni: ''There's no problem that we cannot solve quickly.'' Two times the electronics hampered the work of the Scuderia, one of the failures was a copy of the problem that caused Raikkonen to DNF during the Spanish GP in 2007.

The fear that with all the new regulations the team would go the wrong way or that a competitor would get things spot on turns out to be unjustified. ''Neither is the case. We're on the right way. We're up there.''

Wie immer, wenn ein neues Reglement die Uhren auf Null stellt, ging auch bei Ferrari die Angst um, dass man entweder selbst in die falsche Richtung gegangen ist, oder dass ein anderer den Königsweg gefunden hat. "Beides ist nicht der Fall. Wir sind auf dem richtigen Weg."

On engine, being connected to KERS, did 2,400 km. Another engine, not being connected to KERS, covered the same distance.

Raikkonen has lost weight over the winter, he now weighs 66 kg. The new aerodynamics and the slicks suit Raikkonen's driving style. The Finn has a greater feeling for the car when he steers into a corner. The F60 apperantly is a rather neutral car, it any case doesn't over- or understeer excessively.

Ferrari is looking good so far! I hope they have a great season 2009!

[sujaylahiri]

Originally Posted by rranjith_kum

Well while we were all worried about the Honda, we do have a good news a new team from United states by name USF1 (now thats the trend in naming teams) is all set to join the most expensive sport by 2010.
details regarding the management and further news is available in this link
'Feb 24th launch for new team USF1' - Planet-F1 News - from planet-f1.com

Here's the official announcement of the US F1 team shown on Speed Channel in North America. There are 4 sections in total on youtube.

YouTube - The Official Announcement of USF1 driving in F1 2010 (Part 1/4)

I'm all excited!!

[anachronix]

Rescued Honda to be called 'Brackley F1'


Feb.27 (GMM) With a blank livery and Jenson Button at the wheel, the team currently known as Honda will return to action at a Silverstone shakedown of its 2009 car next Thursday, sources from inside the Brackley factory are reporting.
With the Ross Brawn-led management buyout now approved - but not officially announced - by Honda Motor Co.'s Tokyo board, information is leaking from the outfit that had until recently looked likely to be wound up ahead of the 2009 season.

Now, however, suggestions of at least one (and possibly two) full tests at Spanish circuits in March are gaining credence, and one source told us that these will be preceded by a run-out with Mercedes power at Silverstone late next week.

With the Honda board also insisting upon a name change, the frontrunner at present is 'Brackley F1', but a final decision on this has not been taken.

Also likely - but not confirmed - is the identity of Button's teammate. Bruno Senna has all winter been named as the frontrunner, but given the nature of the challenge faced for 2009, it is believed the veteran Rubens Barrichello is now favourite to retain his seat.

Under Brawn's leadership, the funds for the team this year will come from increased and advanced FOM income, commercial sponsors, and Honda itself, who have concluded that it is cheaper to offload the squad as a going concern rather than fund the closure and compensate contracted staff, including the very highly paid Button.

The Swiss newspaper Blick said of rookie Senna: "The young Brazilian will drive in the DTM championship (in 2009)."

Great News!

Formula 1 complete - all access F1 - Rescued Honda to be called 'Brackley F1'

[raj.barcode]

Indian Challenger , i like the color combination

[raj.barcode]

Monday First day Testing times at jerez

1 S. Vettel Red Bull Bridgestone 01:19.05
2 F. Massa Ferrari Bridgestone 01:20.33
3 K. Kobayashi Toyota Bridgestone 01:20.69
4 N. Rosberg Williams Bridgestone 01:21.17
5 R. Kubica BMW Bridgestone 01:21.29
6 G. Fisichella Force India F1 Bridgestone01:21.58
7 P. de la Rosa McLaren Bridgestone 01:21.83
8 N. Piquet jr. Renault Bridgestone 01:22.01

Not a bad start for VJM 02 i guess

[PAVAN KADAM]

Found this Rediff link, the new car looks very competitive.

rediff.com: Force India look forward to F1 season

If only it had an Indian driver........!

[raj.barcode]

Heikki Kovalainen continued his test programme with McLaren Mercedes.
Not for the first time in the pre-season testing, the team used a flow visualisation paint to monitor the airflow on the new MP4-24, this time on the 2009-specification rear wing.

However, Kovalainen ran towards the tail of the timesheets with the device before reverting to the 2008 specification wing late in the day to post the fourth fastest time, seven-tenths off the ultimate pace.

Source: Formula 1 : F1 Live, with F1-Live.com

Timesheet:

Jerez - 03/03/2009
1 . T. Glock - Toyota TF109 - 1:19.814 (+ 0.000 - 142 laps
2 . F. Massa - Ferrari F60 - 1:20.238 (+ 0.424 - 135 laps
3 . F. Alonso - Renault R29 - 1:20.296 (+ 0.482 - 152 laps
4 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 1:20.535 (+ 0.721 85laps
5 . A. Sutil - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 1:20.621 (+ 0.807 - 63 laps
6 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 1:21.021 (+ 1.207 - 98 laps
7 . R. Kubica - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 1:21.069 (+ 1.255 - 98 laps
8 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW31 - 1:21.412 (+ 1.598 - 125 laps.

Interesting to Toyota Topping twice in two days

[anachronix]

Yesterday Massa was doing race simulation and he did a longer stint of more than 16 Laps which is longer than anyone did and the times were in the low 1:20s.

Ferrari has the usual problem of getting the heat into tyres and it means that its again kind to the tyres! Ferrrai will have a very good race pace in this case.

This time around the F60 is more oversteer by nature compare to the understeery cars built earlier.