[F1] F1 nieuwtjes topic deel 53; Waar Ferrari laatste is

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Williams seeks early end to Toyota deal

Williams has requested a release from its engine contract with Toyota for 2010, AUTOSPORT has learned, with the team now weighing up its options about which power-unit to run next year.

Although Williams has another year to run in its partnership with the Japanese manufacturer, moves are now being made for the deal to finish at the end of this year.

It is understood that Williams has already held talks with several car manufacturers about a supply for 2010 - with Renault emerging as favourites for a new partnership, although Mercedes-Benz could also be a possibility.

Team boss Frank Williams told AUTOSPORT that he expected a decision about the identity of the engine partner to be made imminently.

"It will be quite soon," he said. "We have got to find a way to put it into a car, haven't we?"

Although AUTOSPORT understands that talks have already opened with Renault about a potential supply deal for next year, Williams declined to comment on who was favourite if the team's deal with Toyota comes to an end.

"The paddock is full of gossip," he said when asked if Renault was his preferred option. "Tomorrow it might be Mercedes-Benz, and then the next day Ferrari – and I get a free car with it!"

Toyota has confirmed that it is 'flexible' to the possibility of Williams ending its deal early – providing it was not hurt financially by the move.

"It is a slightly complex situation," team president John Howett told AUTOSPORT. "The original document we gave the right for Williams to seek an alternative engine. The basis was that should they get a free engine in the future, perhaps from a new entrant manufacturer, then we would not be there to damage Williams in any way with purely contractual relations.

"Earlier this year they pushed us to sign an extension agreement covering specifically next year, which we have concluded, but they are asking, or seeking, to find an alternative supplier.

"Toyota's position is normally flexible. If they do not wish to take our engine, I don't really feel materially, provided we can reduce the stock and are not left with any liability, that we hold them to the contract."

Renault has been pushing hard to keep its customer supply operation in place for next year, and AUTOSPORT understands it has upped its efforts to try to convince current partner Red Bull Racing to extend its successful partnership.

Red Bull Racing is seriously considering a switch to Mercedes-Benz for next year, but a hard push from Renault chiefs to show its commitment to helping the Milton Keynes-based outfit appears to have put the French car manufacturer back in the frame again.

Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, said his outfit would take its time before deciding what it would do.

"We have still got time on our hands," Horner told AUTOSPORT. "Renault is doing a great job for us, showing great support, but we are not in any rush."

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Toyota unlikely to retain Trulli

Toyota team president John Howett says the Japanese squad is unlikely to renew Jarno Trulli's contract after not reaching an agreement following initial talks.

"We are in negotiation (with Trulli) and we haven't reached an agreement and there is a possibility that we won't close the gap," Howett told Reuters after qualifying for the European Grand Prix.

"At the moment the gap is reasonably large. We have to say there is a very strong probability not (to renew)."

Howett, whose team has an option on Timo Glock, made it clear that Toyota is ready to wait for the driver market to move before making any decisions.

"To be honest it looks like the driver market will be opened up quite significantly," he said.

"It was said by three or four teams in the press conference and we are waiting to see if the rumours are correct of Alonso [to Ferrari] and how that affects the current line-up, and what the position will be for the BMW drivers, etc, everybody will wait to see and we will see quite a lot of movement."

Trulli said after qualifying in Valencia that money was not an issue in the negotiations, although at the same time he suggested the team was looking at cutting costs.

"Money has never been an issue," he said. "I understand the position of the team, on many things. At the moment there is a lot of cost-cutting.

"I do believe the driver has to play his role in this and I am more than happy to... for me this is not only a team but a family. So I understand that we need to save the team and save the people who work in it."

"So a cut in the budget and, let's say a cut in my budget, this is not a problem. I need to understand what the team wants."

When asked if the number of drivers available made things harder for him, he said: "It depends what the Toyota team wants to do. It is not really in my hands. All I can do is my best, which is what I have always done.

"The rest I think we can always talk with the team and understand what they want, because eventually maybe they are not happy about me, I have no idea. I don't know. We didn't talk about money."

The Italian veteran also dismissed suggestions that the key to the market was Fernando Alonso's rumoured move to Ferrari.

"I don't think Fernando is the key," he said. "I think that the teams in general are looking at the economics problem. They are all waiting to understand what they can do for next year, what their budgets are, whether they will make a move. At the moment it is hard."

Trulli still admitted he remains hopeful he will be in Formula 1 next year.

"I hope so, but in confident in this economic crisis... nothing is sure. If you look back over the last year it is a disaster. Honda has pulled out, BMW has pulled out, and probably they will not be the only one."

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2009 12:41 schreef ElmarO het volgende:

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 03:04 schreef Gauner het volgende:
Tvp

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 08:34 schreef Automatic_Rock het volgende:

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ik ook

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'Bekendmaking Ferrari-deal Alonso uitgesteld'
24 augustus 2009

De geruchten over Fernando Alonso en Ferrari blijven maar doorgaan. Aanvankelijk was het de verwachting dat in Monza bekend zou worden gemaakt dat de Spanjaard naar het Italiaanse team zou vertrekken, meer het online magazine GPWeek meldt dat de bekendmaking is uitgesteld.

Ferrari zou uit respect voor Felipe Massa nog geen coureurs voor 2010 willen bekendmaken. De Braziliaan is namelijk nog altijd herstellende van de verwondingen die hij in Hongarije opliep en het is nog onzeker of hij voldoende zal herstellen om volgend jaar weer mee te racen.

Een bron dicht bij Alonso en Ferrari vertelde aan GPWeek: "In Monza zou de deal worden bekendgemaakt, maar het team heeft dat moeten uitstellen wegens de onzekerheid over Massa. Fernando zal echter in 2010 een Ferrari-coureur zijn. Dat contract is getekend. De vraag is alleen wie zijn teamgenoot zal zijn, en uit respect voor Felipe zal Ferrari pas iets bekendmaken wanneer duidelijk is of hij kan terugkeren."

Mocht Massa niet in staat zijn om volgend jaar voor Ferrari te racen zouden Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher en Robert Kubica de belangrijkste kandidaten zijn om zijn plaats in te nemen.

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Ferrari vervangt Badoer mogelijk na België
24 augustus 2009

Teambaas Stefano Domenicali gaf op zondag aan dat Luca Badoer in België waarschijnlijk nog wel in de Ferrari zal zitten. Of de Italiaan ook daarna zal blijven racen voor het Italiaanse team, is echter nog maar de vraag.

"We verwachten een grote stap voorwaarts van Luca, en daarna zien we verder", vertelde Domenicali. "We moeten er goed over nadenken. We kunnen wel een jonge coureur in de auto zetten, maar vanwege het testverbod is dat misschien niet zo goed voor de veiligheid."

Badoer kende een moeilijke eerste race voor Ferrari. De Italiaan kwalificeerde zich als laatste in Valencia en finishte de race, mede door twee spins, ook als zeventiende en laatste.

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Bridgestone reveals final allocations

By Pablo Elizalde Monday, August 24th 2009, 09:27 GMT

Formula 1's tyre supplier Bridgestone has announced the final final compound allocations of tyres for the last four rounds of the championship.

The Japanese company said it will return to the philosophy of leaving a rubber stiffness gap between the two tyre compounds for the Japanese and Brazilian Grands Prix.

The Super Soft and Soft compounds will be used at the Singapore Grand Prix, while the Soft and the Hard compounds will be taken to Japan.

Super Soft and Medium tyres will be used in Brazil, while the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will see the teams using the Soft and Medium compounds.

"We are pleased to release our final allocations," said Bridgestone's Hirohide Hamashima. "Singapore is a street course and based on our experience there last year we feel the soft and super soft is the best choice. For Suzuka we will have a gap in compound hardness.

"This will be an interesting return to this great circuit as half of the circuit has a new surface, so tyre usage considerations could be challenging. In Brazil we also stay with the stiffness gap. It can get very hot in Sao Paulo and we usually see a good race there, although I think we will struggle to have a race as exciting as the one we had last season.

"Abu Dhabi is a new destination for us. Although it is technically a street course, we are bringing harder compounds than we use at the other street courses. We feel that the hard compound would be too stiff for this new circuit, so we are bringing the consecutive soft and medium compounds."

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 11:03 schreef bodylotion het volgende:

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Is Schumacher nou serieus aan het overwegen om een volledige comeback te maken??

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Op zondag 23 augustus 2009 16:43 schreef Sinister-D- het volgende:

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En als je die 2 berichten combineert lees je eigenlijk: Totyota zit niets meer in Trulli en willen hem kwijt, hij wordt vervangen door Nakajima die mooi klaar gestoomd is bij Williams -maar alsnog niets presteerd-. Williams zou dan de motoren moeten kopen van Toyota omdat ze al een andere vervanger in gedachte hebben voor Nakajima dan weer een Japanner, en dus geen wederdienst wil leveren aan Toyota in de vorm van opleiding voor een van hun protege's. Maar Toyota vraagt teveel geld voor hun motoren en dus wil Williams ervanaf.

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 13:16 schreef voyeur het volgende:

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Of je leest dat Toyota mogelijk de F1 gaat verlaten. Dat zou veel van het wispelturig gedrag verklaren. Het F1 team heeft nog geen budget voor volgend jaar. Dat zal geloof ik in November bepaald worden afhankelijk van de situatie waarin de autofabrikant zich dan bevindt. Het zou dus kunnen dat het rijtje Honda, BMW nog aangevuld wordt!

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 13:33 schreef sasquatsch het volgende:

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Dat gaat ze dan veel geld kosten omdat ze het Concorde Agreement hebben getekend. Ook BMW zal 50 miljoen dollar moeten betalen omdat ze uit de FOTA stappen, maar die hoeven de FOM niet af te kopen. Toyota zal dat wel moeten en dat zal meer zijn dan die 50 miljoen dollar.

Wel duidelijk is dat het budget van Toyota volgend jaar veel minder zal zijn dan de afgelopen jaren, maar dat moest vanwege de afgesproken kostenbesparing toch al.

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 13:55 schreef Gauner het volgende:
Schumacher en Alonso samen bij Ferrari..
Wat een droom.

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Marc Gené heeft toegegeven niet zo blij te zijn met de beslissing van Ferrari om Luca Badoer in de auto te zetten als vervanger van Felipe Massa. De Spanjaard was wel aanwezig in Valencia als reservecoureur van het Italiaanse team.

"De afgelopen weken zijn voor mij niet makkelijk geweest. Het is moeilijk te verwerken dat ik niet mijn thuisrace heb mogen rijden, nadat ik de 24 uur van Le Mans heb weten te winnen", schreef Gené in zijn column voor de Spaanse krant El Mundo. Wat Ferrari ook beslist voor België, ik zal het accepteren en me erbij neerleggen. Als ik mag rijden is het fantastisch, en als ik niet rijd, gedraag ik me zoals altijd."

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 14:55 schreef CloseToTheEdge het volgende:
Ik begin te denken dat Ferrari de loyaliteit/trouw van Badoer beloont met een paar races en ik hoop dat ze na Belgie sterk overwegen een andere coureur in te zetten. Gene lijkt me, ook al heeft hij in een formule 1-auto nooit veel laten zien, een veel betere keuze (vooral omdat hij naast het testwerk bij Ferrari ook "echt" racewerk verricht).

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'Bekendmaking Ferrari-deal Alonso uitgesteld'

De geruchten over Fernando Alonso en Ferrari blijven maar doorgaan. Aanvankelijk was het de verwachting dat in Monza bekend zou worden gemaakt dat de Spanjaard naar het Italiaanse team zou vertrekken, meer het online magazine GPWeek meldt dat de bekendmaking is uitgesteld.

Ferrari zou uit respect voor Felipe Massa nog geen coureurs voor 2010 willen bekendmaken. De Braziliaan is namelijk nog altijd herstellende van de verwondingen die hij in Hongarije opliep en het is nog onzeker of hij voldoende zal herstellen om volgend jaar weer mee te racen.

Een bron dicht bij Alonso en Ferrari vertelde aan GPWeek: "In Monza zou de deal worden bekendgemaakt, maar het team heeft dat moeten uitstellen wegens de onzekerheid over Massa. Fernando zal echter in 2010 een Ferrari-coureur zijn. Dat contract is getekend. De vraag is alleen wie zijn teamgenoot zal zijn, en uit respect voor Felipe zal Ferrari pas iets bekendmaken wanneer duidelijk is of hij kan terugkeren."

Mocht Massa niet in staat zijn om volgend jaar voor Ferrari te racen zouden Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher en Robert Kubica de belangrijkste kandidaten zijn om zijn plaats in te nemen.

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 13:55 schreef Gauner het volgende:
Schumacher en Alonso samen bij Ferrari..
Wat een droom.

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 13:55 schreef Gauner het volgende:
Schumacher en Alonso samen bij Ferrari..
Wat een droom.

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Brawn unsure if tyre issues will return
Monday, 24 August 2009 19:02

Ross Brawn admits he is unsure whether or not the BGP 001 will experience the same tyre temperature struggle in Belgium that had began to derail its championship push before Valencia.

The championship-leading outfit, having opened up huge title leads following the first seven races, struggled to get its tyres into their correct operating range in Britain, Germany and Hungary – three races in which the team scored just a single podium finish.

However, the 30C plus air temperatures that were a constant throughout the European Grand Prix weekend meant the team had no such issues, which allowed Rubens Barrichello to claim its seventh win of the year.

But with far cooler conditions expected in the Ardennes region of Belgium, as is usually case, for this weekend’s race, Brawn said he couldn’t be sure the tyre issues wouldn’t return given it has had no running in such weather since Hungary.

Asked if there was a risk its situation could revert to how it had been before the summer break, he said: “Yeah, we have got to try [and resolve it].

“It’s a paradox isn’t it: you work most of your time to try and produce a car that’s easy on tyres, makes them last and can do all the normal things.

“And we’ve now got a situation where it’s hurting us and with no testing to go out and scan things, check things, do things, to see what happens in a range of tyre pressures, settings and downforce.

“So there is any number of things in testing you can evaluate and look at, but it’s so difficult over a race weekend.”
While the team had fallen well short of its early-season form in the three races before last weekend, Brawn believes the tyre problems masked the improvements it had been making to the BGP 001 through aerodynamic revisions.

He says further upgrades packages will be introduced for Belgium and Singapore next month; where it will hope low temperatures don’t restrict its car’s potential.

“Well I think they were all pretty good,” he said.

“That again was the frustration that, hidden behind this problem we had, there were some quite useful upgrades to the car.

“New floor, new wings, you’ve seen the bits on the sidepods – and they all got lost in the problems we were having.

“But now we have got the tyres working they have come back again.

“So we’re quite pleased on all the numbers, all has stacked up on the aerodynamic side, when we put the changes on we saw the improvement, but with the overriding issue of tyre temperature it didn’t come through.

“We have got some more modifications for Spa, we have got an update for Singapore, so it is all coming along.”

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 21:03 schreef Tarado het volgende:

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www.itv-f1.com

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After a fourth consecutive poor result for Jenson Button at the European Grand Prix, the world championship leader is clearly feeling the pressure.
When the title is at stake you often see drivers raise their performance to a higher plane. Mika Hakkinen and Damon Hill did it when they closed in on their championships, and last year Felipe Massa raised his game even though he ended up just losing out on the title.
Button, who eventually finished seventh despite being the fastest man on the track for much of the second half of the race, holds an 18-point lead in the championship. He has been really lucky because his main rivals - Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel along with Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello - have not consistently seized the opportunities Button has offered them.

Button is now tightening up in the car. His first lap in Valencia was rather clumsy
Martin Brundle
The drives he put in earlier in the season were some of the finest I have commentated on. They were champion's performances without doubt. His easy command of the Monaco circuit was a pleasure to witness and he was utterly peerless in Turkey.
Up to now he has massively impressed me with his calmness, the way he has attacked qualifying, and the great overtaking moves we have seen in early laps.
But now Button is tightening up in the car.
His first lap in Valencia was rather clumsy, and he overreacted to an inevitable chop off the line from Vettel. Clearly off balance he then ran across the 'no man's land' at Turn Four, meaning he had to yield to Webber before he finally settled down in an initial ninth place from fifth on the grid.
Can he lose the championship from here? Of course he can.
Button himself was saying before the weekend: "I've lost 15 points in the last three races to Webber and I can't lose five points a race or I'm in trouble."
He got lucky in Valencia as Webber was off the pace and he was able to get ahead of the Australian during the pits stops with some fine pace on his in and out laps.
There are still 60 points remaining, and he is 18 ahead of second-placed Barrichello, but Button has to stop finishing in the tail end of the points. That is a double whammy because it would be wholly unreasonable to now expect Barrichello to support his championship crusade.

I don't believe Rubens can outscore Jenson by 18 points on pace alone in the same car, but reliability and incidents can soon change that.
In the past, we've seen these championship fights played out between say Ferrari and McLaren when it was a foregone conclusion that the two teams would be out front hoovering up the big points positions and race victories.
This championship run-in is different because the relative performances of several teams are very close and unpredictable with McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams, Brawn, and Renault regularly in the points and even the podium.
This helps Button providing the other teams are not between him and Red Bull. Or his team-mate, as happened in Valencia.
Button has not had a reliability issue yet this season, whereas some of his rivals have - most significantly Vettel, who may well have to take a grid drop in the closing stages should he take a ninth engine.
It would also be so easy for Jenson to tangle at La Source hairpin in Spa this coming weekend, or get caught out by a rainstorm at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. But so could the others.
It will be interesting to see which teams can create a good aero package for the one-off high-speed Monza layout too. That race will be very important.
The one confidence booster that Button can take home from the European GP is his race pace - he's still fundamentally one of the very fastest drivers on the grid. He can still win the drivers' championship comfortably if he keeps his head and can sort out his qualifying pace.
It would have been painful for him to take part in the team post-race photo shoot on Sunday to celebrate a jubilant victory for Barrichello. But will that represent a powerful motivation tool or just more pressure?
The victory will boost the Brazilian; he is right back in contention for the championship. Had the result been reversed, Barrichello would surely have been duty bound to offer his support to Button for the remainder of the year.
Instead he is now the main enemy from within, which will take some handling with the inter-team politics. As Red Bull boss Christian Horner pointed out, even more pressure has been added to Brawn's equation.
It was a dark day for Red Bull, the championship's other main protagonists.
Brawn won 12 points in the constructors' race and Barrichello leap-frogged Webber for second in the driver standings.
To make matters worse for the Australian, who very honestly said that given his pace he got the result he deserved, he didn't score any points to cement his gap over his team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
The worrying thing about Webber is why was he so far off the pace? He was never properly fast at any point and I heard that he was so disappointed and angry after the race that he could hardly speak.
This week we move on to the Belgian GP. There's lots of surmising about which track suits which car, but I don't buy into all that because the key teams are relentlessly developing their packages and they are so close anyway.
What is clear is that Brawn has rediscovered its speed from earlier in the year, which is significant.

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2009 20:50 schreef Trystar het volgende:

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Dan krijg je een Hamilton, Alonso situatie zoals in 2007 bij McLaren.
Als Alonso echt naar Ferrari gaat dan moet er een duidelijke tweede rijder zijn, die zie ik in Massa en Raikkonen niet.