Catch-up Session – Week #3
In this month of January, F1 news intensifies with the approach of car launches and the first official tests. Motorsinside.com is once again present to provide you with a summary article of the past week. On today’s agenda, presentations of the new cars from the teams. Many of them have announced their launch dates in […]
In this month of January, F1 news intensifies with the approach of car launches and the first official tests. Motorsinside.com is once again present to provide you with a summary article of the past week. On today’s agenda, presentations of the new cars from the teams. Many of them have announced their launch dates in the press. We will therefore provide a chronological overview of each team’s events, as well as the arrival of several of them in official tests in February. Michael Schumacher was back on track last week at the wheel of a GP2. Motorsinside.com will provide a full report on these tests day by day, knowing that the German stayed three days in the south of Spain on the Jerez track. Finally, after the Flavio Briatore sensation of two weeks ago, the FIA is counterattacking and appealing the latest verdict that partially acquitted the Italian.
Update on the launches
The past week and this week represent the last days of a quiet news period because starting January 25th, it’s time for the launch of the single-seaters! Indeed, many teams have revealed in recent days their official launch dates as well as whether they will participate in the first preseason tests in February. In chronological order, Mercedes GP and USF1 will be the first to lift the curtain, the former from Germany, the latter from the United States. This will be next Monday, followed by Ferrari and its F281 on Thursday (January 28th). Finally, the next day, it will be McLaren’s turn to unveil its MP4/25. The week isn’t over because on Sunday, January 31st, two teams will present their cars. These are BMW-Sauber and Renault with its R30, while Campos will do the same on February 1st, the day of the first official tests from the Valencia circuit in Spain. Many teams will participate in these three days of testing. Others will only arrive in Jerez a few days later to have more time for the design of their single-seaters. This is the case, for example, of Red Bull, Force India, Virgin, or Lotus, which will miss the Valencia tests. USF1 will only arrive in Europe in February as the team has been granted additional tests on American soil. Williams and Toro Rosso have not yet revealed any information.
The announcement of the presentation of the new Ferrari
The announcement of the presentation of the new Renault
L’annonce de la présentation de la nouvelle McLaren
The announcement of the presentation of the new Lotus
The announcement of the presentation of the new Mercedes GP
L’annonce des premiers essais de Virgin
Announcement of the first tests for Red Bull and Force India
Schumacher’s Tests in Jerez, Spain
The former world champion, Michael Schumacher, returned to the cockpit of a racing car last week, completing a three-day program aboard a GP2. The German headed to the Jerez track and completed the first laps at the wheel of a development car used in the GP2 Series before the season. The Mercedes GP driver evaluated a number of suspension configurations to define a new one for this year’s race weekends. It is, in any case, the first time Schumacher has driven a single-seater since he attempted an F1 comeback last year to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari. At that time, he was unable to do so due to neck problems. In detail, his first two days of testing were heavily disrupted by rain. The track never dried up enough to achieve completely competitive times. The second day’s session even had to be stopped an hour early, but Schumacher still felt he was much more productive than on Tuesday. Finally, on the last day, the seven-time world champion had to drive with rain tires in the morning, but was able to use slicks for the remainder of the session. He covered a total of 1151 km over the three-day test. Schumacher’s best lap was 1:24.621s, four-tenths slower than the record set by Kamui Kobayashi on the Spanish track in October 2008.
The announcement of Schumacher’s GP2 testing program
FIA/Briatore, the standoff continues!
At the beginning of January, the Paris Court of First Instance ruled in favor of Flavio Briatore by lifting the lifetime ban from all motorsports that had been imposed on him after he was found guilty in the ‘crashgate’ scandal. The Italian then responded, and the Court of Paris ultimately cleared him. But the matter doesn’t end there, as the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, which initiated the initial sanction, has appealed the decision made by the Paris Court. Jean Todt and the governing body cannot tolerate this decision and are entering into a new standoff with Briatore. This appeal keeps the bans on Briatore and Symonds from participating in motorsports valid. Nearly a year and a half after the Singapore incident in 2008, the controversy continues…
