Formula1 Season 2008

[jaydeep]

First official testing for Season 2008 will begin at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya from November 13th to 15th, 2007.

These testing will be very valuable for all teams as traction control and electronic aids r banned from 2008 Formula One racing.

Michael Schumacher will test for 2 days with Ferrari F2007 as part of helping the team’s 2008 preparations considering his experience in driving cars with no traction control and no electronic aids.

Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and Austrian Christian Klien would join German driver Adrian Sutil for testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on November 14 and 15 for the Force India F1 Team.

[jaydeep]

Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima r confirm for Williams 2008 line-up ...  Nakajima covered more than 7,000 kilometres for Williams during testing and also represented the team for several Friday practice sessions at Grands Prix ... Nakajima made his competitive Formula One debut in the FW29 at last month’s 2007 season finale in Brazil.

[vijay-krishnan]

and don't forget...India's very own Karun Chandhok tests with Red Bull racing in place of Mark Webber.....him and Schumacher on the same track.....GREAT 

[jaydeep]

In interesting development former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn has joined Honda as team principal, he would have full responsibility for designing, manufacturing, engineering and racing. ... Brawn helped Michael Schumacher to win seven world championships with Benetton and Ferrari, has been on time off from the Italian team since Schumacher retired at the end of 2006.

Also Ferrari Formula One team boss, Jean Todt,  taking new role in Ferrari as chief executive of the overall company, including the commercial car business ... And his replacement for Ferrari Formula One team boss will be Stefano Domenicali, who will take charge from January ... Domenicali will head the Gestione Sportiva, Ferrari's racing department, having served as sporting director.

Jaydeep.

[jaydeep]

Check Karun and Michael's photos from Circuit de Catalunya pit lane with their respective, Redbull and Ferrari, outfit.

Karun Chandok tests for Red Bull

[jaydeep]

At Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya - Test Times 13/11/2007

  Name          Team      Laps  Time     Gap
M Schumacher    Ferrari      64  01:21.9  126.570 mph
Badoer          Ferrari      76  01:22.1  0.207
de la Rosa      McLaren      63  01:22.7  0.765
Kovalainen      Renault      81  01:22.8  0.880
Kubica          BMW          55  01:22.9  0.961
Paffett        McLaren      46  01:23.0  1.086
Coulthard      Red Bull    55  01:23.2  1.237
Nakajima        WilliamsF1  66  01:23.2  1.265
Trulli          Toyota      46  01:23.6  1.702
Heidfeld        BMW          75  01:23.7  1.749
Rosberg        WilliamsF1  58  01:23.8  1.925
Montagny        Toyota      61  01:23.9  1.939
Vettel          Toro Rosso  77  01:24.0  2.126
Zuber          Honda        77  01:24.1  2.143
Bourdais        Toro Rosso  51  01:24.2  2.271
Davidson        Super Aguri  70  01:24.2  2.324
Rossiter        Honda        69  01:24.5  2.558
Chandhok        Red Bull    39  01:24.9  2.974
van der Garde  Force India  84  01:25.3  3.395
Rodriguez      Force India  87  01:26.3  4.375

As expected Michael dominated first day's test at Barcelona ... Karun take first experiance of Redbull F1 car ... But he completed less laps than others, may be he didn't complete more due to some problem with his car ... Hopefully Karun get more opportunity today.

Karun's fastest lap was more than 2.9+ secs slower than Michael Schumacher and 1.7+ secs slower than his team mate David Coulthard.

[Dhruv]

Also some cars were running with traction control and others not. So that would make the times different.  As next year driver aids like traction control are banned the cars are all over the place a bit.

[vijay-krishnan]

At Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya - Test Times 14/11/2007

   Name           Team       Laps   Time     Gap
M Schumacher     Ferrari      90   01:21.5   127.783 mph
de la Rosa       McLaren      60   01:21.9   0.368
Kovalainen       Renault      65   01:21.9   0.405
Massa            Ferrari      56   01:22.0   0.555
Paffett          McLaren      57   01:22.3   0.804
Rosberg          WilliamsF1   64   01:22.3   0.844
Coulthard        Red Bull     74   01:22.6   1.066
Heidfeld         BMW          102  01:22.9   1.457
Nakajima         WilliamsF1   77   01:23.0   1.542
Vettel           Toro Rosso   74   01:23.2   1.698
Chandhok         Red Bull     57   01:23.3   1.766
Button           Honda        79   01:23.4   1.869
Trulli           Toyota       54   01:23.5   1.976
Kubica           BMW          37   01:23.5   1.991
Davidson         Super Aguri  80   01:23.5   2.058
Bourdais         Toro Rosso   74   01:23.6   2.107
Filippi          Honda        72   01:23.8   2.264
Montagny         Toyota       45   01:24.0   2.488
Klien            Force India  56   01:24.4   2.957
Sutil            Force India  105  01:24.5   3.048
Liuzzi           Force India  55   01:24.6   3.066


Karun 11th fastest in just his second outing in an F1 car.....Seems to have adapted REALLY well....Only 0.7 off his teammate who has been in F1 for 13 years.....Great show once again Karun !!

[jaydeep]

Thanks Vijay for posting test timings.

Impressive performance by Karun on his last day of testing ... I m happy to see that he got chance of spending more time on the track and in that he drive 1.6 secs faster than his first day timing.

On second day Karun was 1.7+ secs slower than Michael Schumacher and 0.7 secs slower than his team mate David Coulthard.

Great going Karun.

[jaydeep]

Very good column by Karun Chandhok on Rediff ... Where he discussed about his 2 days experiance on F1 track.

'First F1 test was a positive experience'

The F1 car itself is actually a bit smaller than the GP2 car in size. Although the power is more and the brakes are better, to be honest they weren't anything that I didn't expect and really not too much of a step from GP2. What was really different was the aerodynamics -- the sheer amount of grip and speed that you can carry in a fast corner is something incredible. The style you need for an F1 car is slightly different to a GP2 one but with the new rules about no traction control and the standard ECU's, the changes in style is actually less than it would've been otherwise.

Physically also I felt pretty good and only started to suffer with my neck a little bit towards the end of day 2 which is quite normal for anyone in their first test. I have been in Italy for the last one month training with my new trainer Giuseppe Sebastiani and this has been invaluable I think.

Also check report of Karun's Formula One testing.

Testing alongside Schumacher was special: Chandhok

Jaydeep.

[jaydeep]

Next season Germany's Timo Glock will race for Toyota F1 team with Italian Jarno Trulli, replacing Ralf Schumacher.

[jaydeep]

Finland's Heikki Kovalainen will race with Lewis Hamilton at Formula1 team McLaren from next season ... Kovalainen, who was with Renault last season, replaces Fernando Alonso, who left McLaren last month and joined Renault.

[jaydeep]

The FIA has released details of the entry list for the 2008 Formula One World Championship ... Only Force India team still to decide their second race driver as all other teams r ready with their line-up.


No  Entrant                    Constructor         Driver

1   Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro  Ferrari             Kimi Raikkonen
2   Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro  Ferrari             Felipe Massa
3   BMW Sauber F1 Team         BMW                 Nick Heidfeld
4   BMW Sauber F1 Team         BMW                 Robert Kubica
5   ING Renault F1 Team        Renault             Fernando Alonso
6   ING Renault F1 Team        Renault             Nelson Piquet Jr
7   AT&T Williams              WilliamsF1-Toyota   Nico Rosberg
8   AT&T Williams              WilliamsF1-Toyota   Kazuki Nakajima
9   Red Bull Racing            Red Bull-Renault    David Coulthard
10  Red Bull Racing            Red Bull-Renault    Mark Webber
11  Panasonic Toyota Racing    Toyota              Jarno Trulli
12  Panasonic Toyota Racing    Toyota              Timo Glock
13  Scuderia Toro Rosso        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  Sebastien Bourdais
14  Scuderia Toro Rosso        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  Sebastian Vettel
15  Honda Racing F1 Team       Honda               Jenson Button
16  Honda Racing F1 Team       Honda               Rubens Barrichello
17  Super Aguri F1 Team        Super Aguri-Honda   Takuma Sato
18  Super Aguri F1 Team        Super Aguri-Honda   Anthony Davidson
19  Force India F1 Team        Force India-Ferrari Adrian Sutil
20  Force India F1 Team        Force India-Ferrari Giancarlo
                                                  Fisichella
21  Vodafone McLaren Mercedes  McLaren-Mercedes    Lewis Hamilton
22  Vodafone McLaren Mercedes  McLaren-Mercedes    Heikki Kovalainen

Updated list with last mssing Force India F1 team driver. - Jaydeep.

[Dhruv]

I thought someone would have posted this already but I guess not.....

10 January 2008 - The Force India Formula One Team is delighted to announce that Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will lead the team for its debut 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship campaign. To further strengthen resources, Vitantonio Liuzzi will fulfil a test and reserve driver role for Force India.

Thirty-four-year-old Giancarlo, from Rome, Italy, impressed the team with his strong contribution during Force India's four-day test in Jerez, Spain, at the end of 2007, while Tonio Liuzzi's solid feedback and insight stood out over the two days of testing he completed in November and December. Adrian is retained for a second season with the team on the back of his solid 2007 form.

New recruit Giancarlo will bring 12 years of F1 experience to the team following stints at Minardi, Force India's predecessors Jordan, Benetton, Sauber and most recently Renault. With three wins, three pole positions and 267 points to his credit, he is one of the most successful drivers on the current F1 grid.

Adrian will contest his second year of the FIA Formula One World Championship. In the latter half of 2007 he was regularly pushing more established drivers, which culminated in his, and the team's, first championship point in the Japanese Grand Prix. Adrian joined the team as the 2006 Japanese F3 champion, and runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the 2005 F3 EuroSeries.

Tonio joins the Force India Formula One Team with three years F1 experience following campaigns with Red Bull and Toro Rosso. The 27-year-old Italian also has a strong background in the junior formulae, with a dominant victory in 2004 FIA Formula 3000 championship and the CIK Karting title to his name.

Giancarlo said, "I am looking forward to joining Force India for the coming season. At the test in Jerez, I was very impressed with the team's professionalism and commitment to move forward and I hope that my experience will help them achieve these goals. Contrary to what people may think, this was not my only opportunity, it was the best one: with new owners and a competitive budget, I really think we can shake things up next year. I feel motivated and ready to help Force India get points on a regular basis."

Adrian commented, "I am very happy to stay with Force India for another season. There was interest from other teams, but the opportunity to stay with a growing team that has strong ambitions is very positive for me at this stage in my career. I am also very excited about the opportunity to work with Giancarlo. He is very experienced and has driven for a World Championship winning team, which can only help both myself and Force India learn and move forward."

Tonio added, "I am very pleased to be able to help Force India in their testing and development programme this year. With increased resources there will be much more input and emphasis into the team's testing, and the test driver's role will be crucial to helping progress. I know I can play a big part in the team as it grows, which is a good opportunity for me going forward."

Dr. Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director of Force India F1 Team commented, "The Force India Formula One Team is a serious project and we wanted to make a statement to this effect with our driver line-up. Money is not the issue now: we need drivers who will push the team and give us direction. The race line-up of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil is a very good one, balancing both speed and experience, and Tonio will provide the team with solid support in his testing programme. I think we have a very strong driver line-up for 2008."

I have added a couple of photos from the event to the gallery.  I will add more photos there throughout the season as they are made available to Sports-India by the team.

[jaydeep]

Here r photos of the event of announcing driver lineup for the all-new Force India F1 team in Mumbai on 10th January.

Force India unveiled