[F1] F1 nieuwtjes topic deel 58 - Seizoensfinale 2009!

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Second thought: Heikki Kovalainen claims he would have had more pole positions this season if Lewis Hamilton had not been shown preferential treatment Photo: REUTERS
The Finn is expected to depart McLaren after this weekend's inaugural race in Abu Dhabi, and like his predecessor Fernando Alonso, he will leave angry at the preferential treatment shown to co-driver Hamilton.
"It was always difficult to accept that Lewis was always the first to receive the new parts," Kovalainen was quoted as saying in Finnish newspaper Helsingen Sanomat. "I have never wanted to make a big deal about it, but it would have been nice to just once had the new parts on my car, particularly after we lost the chance of winning the championship."


Kovalainen has 22 points this season compared to Hamilton's 49, but felt that difference would have been much smaller had the team been more even-handed in its alternate strategies.
"Every time this season, when Hamilton and I are in the third part of qualifying, I had to do it with more fuel. If you take into account the quantities of fuel, I would have had pole position several times."
Nick Heidfeld is the latest driver to be linked to McLaren. The German is on the lookout for a drive next season following the withdrawal of BMW from the sport and doubts as to whether the remnant Sauber team will get a place on the grid in 2010.
"Nick's qualities are well known to us, but still nothing is decided," Mercedes Motorsport president Norbert Haug was quoted as saying in the German media.
Heidfeld was supported by Mercedes in his pre-F1 career and was previously a McLaren test driver. Mercedes is the engine supplier to McLaren, Brawn GP and Force India and was thought likely to step up its involvement with Brawn next season.
Kimi Raikkonen, who is leaving Ferrari, and Jenson Button, who is in the midst of contract negotiations with Brawn, have also been linked to McLaren for next season.

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Op zondag 1 november 2009 17:13 schreef Tarado het volgende:
Dit is eigenlijk geen nieuwtje


Heikki Kovalainen warns of favouritism towards Lewis Hamilton at McLaren
Heikki Kovalainen has a issued a warning for whoever takes his seat at McLaren next season to get used to being an afterthought to Lewis Hamilton.

By Telegraph staff and agencies
Published: 1:21PM GMT 31 Oct 2009
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Op zondag 1 november 2009 17:21 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:

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En nu?

Grosjean warns of favouritism at Renault?
Fisichella warns of favouritism at Ferrari?

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Op zondag 1 november 2009 17:39 schreef Ermanon het volgende:

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Niks, maar het is wel een duidelijk signaal, dat Hamilton wel wordt voorgetrokken, terwijl Mclaren juist altijd zegt dat beide rijders gelijk worden behandelt.

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Op zondag 1 november 2009 13:55 schreef LeXX het volgende:
Persoonlijk is hij voor mij de man die zijn protege en vriend Roger Williamson zag verbranden op Zandvoort, en daar helemaal kapot van was.
RIP

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Op zondag 1 november 2009 18:55 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:

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Dus jij gelooft Kovalainen zonder McLaren's repliek gelezen te hebben?

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Op zondag 1 november 2009 22:59 schreef Ermanon het volgende:

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Nee, maar heb de reactie van Mclaren nog niet gezien dus

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Nelson Piquet back in business?
Uitgegeven door Casper Bekking 1 november 2009 21:05 - Print artikel

Kort nadat het nieuwe Campos Meta F1 Team haar eerste rijder bekendmaakte is ook duidelijk wie de grootste kanshebber voor het tweede zitje is. Het Spaanse team bevestigde zaterdag het grote talent Bruno Senna, en naar alle waarschijnlijkheid wordt Nelson Piquet zijn teamgenoot. Twee historische, grote namen uit de geschiedenis van de sport vormen samen een koppel in 2010. Dat liet Formule 1- baas Bernie Ecclestone in Abu Dhabi doorschemeren.

"Het zou goed zijn voor de sport, twee goede namen", liet Ecclestone tegenover The Daily Telegraph weten. "Hier zijn ze nu mee bezig." Lange tijd gingen de geruchten dat het team graag met een Spanjaard aan de start wilde verschijnen, en er zijn diverse gesprekken gevoerd met Pedro de la Rosa. Dit is echter op niets uitgelopen. Teambaas Rodriguez de Castro gaf afgelopen weekend dan ook aan niet per definitie het eerste Spaanse team te willen zijn, maar we het eerste Spaans - Zuid-Amerikaanse team.

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Fernando Alonso geeft steek onder water: "Slechste auto ooit..."
Uitgegeven door Casper Bekking 1 november 2009 18:37 - Print artikel

ABU DHABI - Fernando Alonso heeft zijn carrière bij het Renault F1 Team afgesloten met een kleurloze veertiende positie. De Spanjaard verkast in de winter naar Ferrari, alwaar hij Kimi Raikkonen vervangt. In 2005 en 2006 won Alonso de wereldtitel bij het Franse team en keerde in 2008, na een mislukt avontuur bij McLaren, terug naar zijn oude werkgever. Dit seizoen kende weinig hoogtepunten voor de Spanjaard, maar hij is blij komend jaar voor Ferrari uit te mogen komen en gaf Renault nog een steek onder water.

"Tijdens de laatste races van het jaar hadden we een van de slechtste auto's van het veld", begon de Spanjaard. "Of zelfs de aller-slechtste, want hier in Abu Dhabi staat Toro Rosso voor ons, net als Force India, Williams en Toyota." Alonso gaf echter wel aan dat zijn beide teamgenoten van dit jaar, Nelson Piquet en Romain Grosjean, nog niet afgeschreven moeten worden: "Ik weet dat mensen denken dat het eenvoudig is mijn teamgenoot te verslaan, maar zij hebben in de GP2 gewonnen en in andere klassen ook kampioenschappen binnengehaald. Ik denk dat Piquet en Grosjean supergoed werk verricht hebben. Ze hadden zeker, als ze in een Toyota hadden gezeten zoals Kobayashi, voor het podium mee kunnen strijden."

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Main news today should be Williams's driver announcement - with Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg set to be confirmed.
12 minutes ago from web

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Formula 1 is on the hunt for a new tyre supplier from 2011, after Bridgestone announced it would be pulling out at the end of next year

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Bridgestone will withdraw from Formula 1 at the end of the 2010 season.

The Japanese tyre manufacturer announced its decision not to renew its F1 contract early on Monday morning.

Bridgestone Motorsport director Hiroshi Yasukawa said in a statement: "The decision made by the board of directors comes after considerable and lengthy evaluations and has been based on the company's need to redirect its resources towards further intensive development of innovative technologies."

Bridgestone had been a tyre supplier in Formula 1 since 1997 and had been the sole supplier since the beginning of the 2008 season, following Michelin's departure, winning 156 of the 223 grands prix it entered.

"Our sincere appreciation is extended to Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management, the Formula 1 teams with whom it has been an honour to work alongside and the many F1 fans who have followed our activities over the past 13 years," added Yasukawa.

Bridgestone will continue in its role as partner and tyre supplier to the GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series, and will also continue as the sole supplier in MotoGP until at least 2011.

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Op zondag 1 november 2009 17:39 schreef Ermanon het volgende:

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Niks, maar het is wel een duidelijk signaal, dat Hamilton wel wordt voorgetrokken, terwijl Mclaren juist altijd zegt dat beide rijders gelijk worden behandelt.

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Op maandag 2 november 2009 09:57 schreef sasquatsch het volgende:

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Kovalainen zei vorig jaar precies hetzelfde. Maar Hamilton was beide seizoenen de beste. Dat komt niet alleen doordat Kovalainen met meer benzine moet kwalificeren of eerder nieuwere onderdelen krijgt. Op de momenten dat ze met dezelfde onderdelen reden was Hamilton ook de betere.

Kovalainen probeert hiermee zijn marktwaarde voor andere teams te vergroten door te zeggen dat hij achtergesteld is en het dus niet aan hem ligt dat hij Hamilton niet kon verslaan. Alleen is hij gewoon niet goed genoeg om Hamilton te verslaan.

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Op maandag 2 november 2009 09:46 schreef sanger het volgende:
Pirelli? Die wordt nog weleens gelinkt aan een rentree in de sport volgens mij.

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Op maandag 2 november 2009 10:05 schreef Tarado het volgende:

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Ik ben het met je eens, Hamilton is enkele klassen beter, ik denk ook niet dat met een "gelijkere' behandeling Kovolainen Hamilton had kunnen verslaan maar dat neemt niet weg dat Hamilton duidelijk de nr 1 is en degene die gaat komen van hele goede huize moet komen om die hiërarchie om te draaien

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Op maandag 2 november 2009 10:19 schreef ArcticBlizzard het volgende:

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Volgens mij wilde Pirelli alleen instappen wanneer de bandenmaat minimaalvan 14" naar 15" ging (17" was de idealte grootte).

Of ze rijden straks op vredestein banden

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Op maandag 2 november 2009 10:30 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:

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Nee ... Hamilton heeft niet per definitie de #1 status binnen het team. Wanneer er een coureur komt die 'm in de eerste helft van het seizoen weg rijdt dan draaien de rollen gewoon om, ongeacht wat Alonso / Kovalainen ook zegt.

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The presence of a lot of heavy-hitters from Stuttgart was noted in Abu Dhabi with the whole board of Daimler AG rumoured to have been present, in addition to Manfred Bischoff, the head of the company’s supervisory board. There were also a lot of lawyers. This was not a tea party. Although everyone was wandering around smiling like game show hosts, it is clear that there some serious meetings going on about the future relationship between Mercedes-Benz and McLaren and my sources tell me that the purpose of all of this was to terminate the special relationship as quickly as possible so that Mercedes-Benz can paint the Brawns silver and take a more important role in the team. The word is that they are fed up being junior partners in McLaren. This all makes sense, given that McLaren blocked Mercedes-Benz from advertising Brawn’s success this year – and launched a supercar straight into one of the major Mercedes markets. A supercar with a McLaren-branded engine. Some of my German colleagues have come up with figures being asked for a settlement with McLaren hoping to recover its 40% stake for free, be paid something in the region of $300m and be given free engines for two years. This may sound wildly expensive for Daimler AG but these are the kind of figures that one would expect given the company’s apparent desire to get out of the arrangement.

The financial windfall for McLaren would give the team the money it needs to invest in its own engine programme so that it can continue with its strategy of becoming a totally independent car manufacturer, promoting its products in Formula 1.

I would not expect anyone involved to say anything at all until the deal is done but my German colleagues say that this is now close and that we may be getting an announcement by December 1. They are generally pretty good at sourcing information so watch out for that happening.

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There is a worrying feeling in Formula 1 circles that there could be bad news from Toyota when the main board meets to discuss the company’s F1 programme in Japan on November 15. The team management in Europe says that it has had assurances that the operation will continue, but no-one seems very reassured by that. Why? Because the team is sending out all the wrong messages.

For a start, Toyota has no drivers signed for next year, and with Williams jumping ship into the HMS Cosworth there are no engine customers either. Worse still, there seems to be no urgency at all to sign anything and the team seems to be quite willing to see Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock – both decent drivers – going off to other jobs. Admittedly, Trulli and Glock both have flaws: Jarno qualifies brilliantly but rarely races as well, while Glock qualifies badly but races like a tiger. If the two men had their talents combined Toyota would have a mega-star.

The smoke and mirror men are no doubt telling the big wigs in Japan that all is well with the car and that the drivers are no good and that what is really needed now are new stars – like Kamui Kobayashi and Adrian Sutil. Such an idea could get the Japanese execs in Toyota Town in the mood for cheque-signing, but will that really win races? Anyone can create rumours of Kimi Raikkonen or Jenson Button moving to Toyota, but no-one has yet come up with a good reason as to why either man would actually do this.

Kobayashi has done well thus far but it is hard to say with any certainty whether he will be a race winner. And Glock is wandering around the paddock in fairly rude good health so his supposed sniffles and scrunched vertebrae sound like very hollow tales which merely suggest that one cannot trust everything the corporate little wigs in the racing team say. There are a bunch of folk in the F1 paddock who feel that the team will never be a success because the chief goal of some of those involved appears to be to keep their jobs rather than being committed to winning.

In the final analysis, the team has been a money-burning furnace on wheels in recent years and the cynics (of which I am one) sometimes get the impression that the machine lumbers onwards with everyone shovelling money into the fire while trying to figure out how to steer in the right direction…

Back home in Japan, where the frugal folk live and where Toyota is a paragon of careful management and efficiency, they are looking at the numbers and gulping quietly. They need to cut budgets by 40% and yet the team has a vast staff, built up because the money-shovellers have looked in every corner for excuses and created new departments to solve problems that are not the reason for the failures.

This year Toyota has outrun customer Williams in the World Championship but probably did not deserve to do so. Firstly, Williams did not deliver the points that it should have done early in the year (there must be some reason that Williams did not fight very hard to keep Nico Rosberg) and secondly it was, in effect, a one-car team because Toyota suggested (with a cheque) that Kazuki Nakajima was the answer to Team Willy’s problems. Kazuki is a very lovely bloke and he looked like a decent compromise between speed and cash, but alas he ends the year looking like a man with a big future in Japanese GT racing.

The problem for Toyota is that they have created a very expensive factory in a country where laying people off is very tough. Toyota’s investment in the Cologne facility is such that it makes more sense to redeploy people and resources rather than firing them. In order to justify this there would need to be a new goal for the company. A hybrid sports car campaign to win the Le Mans 24 Hours might solve the problem as such publicity would be terrific for the company, which is already the market leader in hybrid technologies and has terrific products. So shifting half the staff and half the equipment on to such a project is an option as they downsize the F1 team to meet the agreed FOTA limits. But is it a good idea to have two high profile motorsport projects at the same time? And that is forgetting also that Toyota has a big old NASCAR programme going on as well.

These are the questions that the board has to consider in mid-November and why people in the team are feeling just a little uncomfortable at the moment… The good news for F1 is that if Toyota does decide to throw the money-shovellers into the furnace, a place will miraculously open up for Sauber and the 14th Entry Crisis will be over.