Some photos taken on one of the F1 promotion event in Malaysia. Air Asia, official sponsor for Team Williams were also there. Purchase a Williams' cap and you get to drive the F1 simulator...
There was the competition which giving away tickets, but the rule is you must hold an actual F1 wheel for 2 minutes. Two grandstand tickets will be given to the person that able to do so...
I was there and I was thinking, how often would be able to feel and hold the F1 wheel? If I can do it, I win tickets, otherwise nothing to lose..
Honestly, I was quite confident on myself. "Most probably I can do it...", I keep telling myself.
And that was what happen, I only lasted for 50 seconds... But I've learned something, the F1 wheel is really really light, it weights less than 3KG, according to the host of the show...
After awhile, there was a senior citizen entered the contest, and the crowd goes wild (by the way, he is 60 years old).
The host promised to give him a ticket if he able to hold it for 1 minute...
At the end he failed, 50 seconds was his time (same as mine, what a shame!), but the host (in red) gave him a hill stand ticket, for his participation..
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Malaysian GP Promotion Event
Sunday, March 9, 2008
New in 2008 Season - Summary
Let's glance through one by one:
- The infamous Saturday "fuel burning" round in qualifying reduce from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, and there will be no refueling. It will be all out to create more excitement.
- Rookies get extra "young driver training days" if they not raced a Formula One car in the preceding two years or tested a car for more than four days in that period. These training will fall outside the Friday and Saturday practice limitation.
- Electronic driver aids such as traction control and braking assistants will be banned. The drivers are on their own rather than relying on the technology.
- A standard Electronic Control Unit (ECU) supplied by Microsoft and McLaren will be used by all teams.
- Teams will be allowed to go unpenalised on their first engine change of the season. This is intended to ensure that a minor glitch doesn’t compromise a championship campaign. All subsequent engine failures will receive the usual 10 grid-place penalty.
- Gearboxes must now last four races (calculated as the Saturday and Sunday of a Grand Prix), and failures will result in five grid-place penalty.
- T-Car (spare car) banned, teams are now rely on two cars per race.
- All cars now have the sides of their cockpits raised 20 mm and lengthened in order to improve drivers’ head protection. (thanks to the 2007 Albert's Park incident between David Coulthard and Alexander Wurz)
- There are further restrictions on parts that teams are allowed to develop under the current engine freeze, which will help to switch development programmes towards the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) that will come into effect in 2009 under the FIA’s long-term plan to make the sport more eco-relevant. Hand-in-hand with this, teams must use fuels which have a minimum of 5.75 per cent content from biological sources.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Alonso's seat filler or another flying finn?
This time last year, Heikki Kovalainen was preparing to make his Formula One race debut after taking up Fernando Alonso’s vacant seat at Renault. Twelve months later it seems to be a case of history repeating itself as Kovalainen adjusts to another seat left empty by Alonso - this time at McLaren.
While McLaren’s engine partner Mercedes would undoubtedly have liked a German in the empty MP4-23 (Nico Rosberg was touted as a replacement), the British team’s long standing tradition of Finnish drivers seems to have played right into Kovalainen’s hands. He was signed up to a long-term contract in December, but will it prove the right move for the 26 year-old - and for McLaren?
At first glance the affable Finn may seem to lack the ice-cool composure of McLaren forebears Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen, but he has already proved he has just as much speed flowing through his veins. He has impressed in early tests with the team, even topping one recent Jerez session, and arrives having learnt some valuable lessons from his maiden season - one which featured a steeper than expected learning curve.
Over the opening five races of 2007, Renault’s bright young hope looked out of his depth. A similarly shaky start this year could spell disaster for McLaren’s title aspirations, but that looks decidedly unlikely, given that by the middle of ’07 Kovalainen was enjoying a much firmer footing. He went on to clinch the French team’s only podium, eclipsed veteran team mate Giancarlo Fisichella, and finished seventh in the driver standings, scoring 30 of Renault’s 51 points - a great end to his debut season.
With his speed and ambition not in doubt, much of how Kovalainen builds on that debut could depend on McLaren’s 2008 form. The team were championship runners-up in all but name last year, and before the Ferrari ‘spy scandal’ were in prime place to take a historic ninth constructors’ title. But in Formula One racing performance one season is no guarantee of a similar level the next - a maxim the Finn knows better than most, having experienced Renault’s fall from grace in 2007. And there is always a chance that McLaren’s promise to suspend development on certain parts, in the aftermath of the ‘Spygate’ scandal, could put the MP4-23 at a disadvantage.
But even if one assumes the ’08 McLaren will be quick and reliable, will it be enough to make Kovalainen a genuine title contender? He is still learning and unlike his world championship-winning predecessor, Alonso, he has yet to prove he is the complete package. Likewise, however, new team mate Lewis Hamilton, who also debuted at last season’s Australian Grand Prix. In combination, the duo is one of the least experienced on the grid and how they work together will be crucial for both men. After the disaster that was last year’s Hamilton-Alonso rivalry, McLaren will move heaven and earth to avoid a repeat and Kovalainen has to be both competitive and cooperative. Challenging Hamilton will not only be a real test of the Finn’s driving talent, but also his diplomacy.
Will he be quick enough to challenge his team mate? As de facto number one at McLaren, Hamilton will be under intense pressure this season. But so will Kovalainen, as he attempts to adjust to his surroundings and integrate himself into a team that counts Hamilton as its most prized possession. The British driver, with a year’s experience of racing a McLaren under his belt, will be faster - at least at first - and will certainly not be as easily overhauled as Fisichella was at Renault. Kovalainen knows, however, that Hamilton is far from unbeatable.
Having witnessed from afar Alonso’s McLaren experience last year, Kovalainen will be all too aware of the pros and cons of driving for the team. One suspects he has the talent. If he can harness the assets available to him - and avoid the potential pitfalls - then he has his best chance yet to prove just how good he really is.
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2008/3/7424.html
Q & A - Williams' Patrick Head
Front row (from left) - Patrick Head, Frank Williams and Nico Rosberg
Williams' director of engineering Patrick Head is feeling pretty confident about the season ahead. Not only does his driver line-up include a quick rookie (Kazuki Nakajima) and an established talent (Nico Rosberg), but the team’s FW30 is showing enough potential to make Head believe the British squad could well be celebrating some podiums this season…
Q: The team seems to have faired well in winter testing. What are your expectations for the season ahead?
PH: We want to continue our progress back, from a very low point of 2006, to being a leading team, always in a position to challenge for race wins and the championship.
Q: The media are speculating that Williams could be the leading team behind Ferrari and McLaren this year, is this realistic?
PH: It is too early to say where we will be in the pecking order. It looks as if Ferrari and McLaren have made strong progress from 2007, BMW have a car that seems quick and Renault have made progress, I am sure some of which is coming from the cockpit with Alonso back at the helm. Red Bull are beginning to look stronger and Toro Rosso are making the best of a car that they are familiar with, they certainly cannot be dismissed. We have certainly made progress, but we will not see where we stand until after the season starts.
Q: What improvements have been brought to the FW30 over the FW29 and how is it technically different to its predecessor?
PH: The FW30 is a progression along the theme of the FW29, although the cooling installations are quite different. Obviously it has benefited from nearly nine months' of aero development from the original FW29, although some of the changes have been applied during the FW29's development through 2007.
Q: The team finished last year's championship in fourth place, a major step up from 2006. Could a fight for the championship be on the cards in two or three seasons' time?
PH: We never design a new car to be fourth! Obviously we are always designing for the highest possible position, so the result depends upon our relative capability at the time. Although Nico will be starting his third season in F1, Kazuki will be starting his first, so the driver line-up will not be as experienced as might be expected for a team competing for a championship. However, we intend to be regular podium visitors in 2008. The reliability of current Formula One cars means that this can only be achieved with a car that is close to front running performance.
Q: Nico enters his third season as a race driver for the team and Kazuki is making his debut. Are they working well together?
PH: Yes, they are. Kazuki is steadily increasing his speed, particularly with qualifying simulation of a single lap on new tyres. We expect Nico to be our lead driver, but Kazuki will give a good account of himself.
Q: 2008 is a celebratory year for Williams in which 500 Grand Prixs and 50,000 racing laps will be reached. Did you foresee such longevity when you started the team?
PH: I don't think either Frank (Williams) or I thought about it. Formula One teams in those days tended to come and go. In our first five years or so it was a financial struggle to survive, but luckily we started winning races and then championships quite early, so this made the financial side stronger.
Q: What has been the biggest change in Formula One racing you've witnessed during your tenure?
PH: The scale of the activity has changed enormously with the level of coverage. Now some teams have well above 100 personnel that they take to each race, many of whom have no operational connection to the running of the cars, but are from marketing or the logistics-support side.
Q: Your relationship with Frank has endured for over 30 years. What is the key to its success?
PH: Fundamentally, Frank and I have a similar view about the joys of motor racing and we both look after different parts of the challenge; myself on the technical side and Frank on marketing and finance, as well as relationships with our senior partners, so we do not trip over each other too much.
Q: Did you envisage you would achieve 16 world championships when you set up Williams F1?
PH: No, not at all, but we both wanted to achieve as much as possible.
Q: If you could pinpoint one overriding element to the team's success, what would it be?
PH: Consistent guidance from the top, an understanding that F1 is essentially a technical and organisational problem as well as an appreciation of how much we rely upon the skills and enthusiasm of our employees.
Q: Out of 500 races, which has been your most satisfying?
PH: Winning races is satisfying, but it is what we set out to do, so not winning is failing in that task. Once the race is over, both Frank and I tend to be thinking about the future.
Q: And lastly, what are your predictions for the 2008 season as a whole?
PH: That the races will be contested mostly between Ferrari and McLaren, as in 2007, that at least one race will be won by a third team and that Williams will make progress from 2007.
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2008/3/7418.html
Vijay Mallya on Force India
Force India’s F1 team chairman Vijay Mallya (centre) poses with Bollywood actresses Lara Dutta (left), Sameera Reddy (2nd left), Shilpa Shetty (2nd right) and Shamita Shetty during the launch function for the team’s new car for 2008 in Mumbai.
Not even the drivers expect to win race this season but the new Force India team will not be lacking in support when the Formula One season opens in Melbourne next week.
Millions of Indians, home and abroad, will cheer Force India’s gold, tungsten and white cars race past the chequered flag at Albert Park, judging by the media build up in the run up to its debut season.
Bankrolled by beer-to-airlines tycoon Vijay Mallya, this repackaged version of the Ferrari-powered former Spyker team is injecting patriotism to fire up India’s cricket-obsessed public in an unfamiliar sport.
“No one believed India would have a Formula One team but we are there,” the flamboyant billionaire Mallya said during the team’s launch in January.
“I feel proud that an Indian has put its flag on the F1 circuit,” Mallya added, pointing to the white, saffron and green of the Indian tricolour in the team’s logo.
India became hooked on Formula One when home-grown Narain Karthikeyan raced for Jordan in 2005 and test drove with Williams over the past two years. Compatriat Karun Chandhok test drove with Red Bull.
The sport’s commercial rights’ owner Bernie Ecclestone is convinced Formula One’s fi nancial future lies in India and China in the form of untapped advertising revenues from large TV audiences.
India has been provisionally granted a race in 2010 provided the promoters, the Indian Olympic Association, meet the stuatory requirements – like building an expensive race track. Television currently reaches around 110 million Indian homes. While cable and satellite are quickly adding to the number, half of India’s population is under 25, a goldmine for advertisers.
And Mallya has set a target of 2012 for an Indian Formula One driver to be spraying champagne after a race and is identifying talent in India to be handpicked for training in Malaysia and France.
An Indian driver would clearly help further Mallya’s and Ecclestone’s cause. “No Indian fi ts the bill yet,” Mallya said, explaining why he hired Italian Giancarlo Fisichella – a veteran of 196 Grand Prix – and German rookie Adrian Sutil to power his US$120 million adventure this season. – AFP
Source: The Sun 06 March 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Singapore - Getting ready for the first F1 Night Race
A worker puts up a mock Formula One racing car on a bus stop roof in Singapore.
In this coming September (2008), new pages will be added in Formula 1 history book. Singapore GP will be the first Asia street circuit, and the first ever circuit to held a F1 night race.
Using public road snaking around the Marina Bay area, organisers say the track will be almost four times brighter than a typical stadium. Nearly 1,500 projectors linked by 108km of cabling will produce enough light to meet High Definition television broadcast standards.
Tickets to Singapore GP are selling like hot cakes, and it will definitely be one of the highlight of the 18-round season that will start in Australia next week.
Google Map View - Singapore F1 Street Circuit Layout
Previous related post:
http://bcosurich.blogspot.com/2008/01/first-ever-f1-night-race.html
http://bcosurich.blogspot.com/2008/01/singapore-f1-street-circuit-layout.html
Lewis Hamilton - 2008 season will be easier!
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton expects to have an easier time fighting for the Formula One title this season than in his extraordinary 2007 rookie year.
“Perhaps there is more pressure but I feel there is less,“ the 23-year-old told British reporters during a training workout in the gym at McLaren’s Wokingfactory, 90km south-west of London yesterday.
“Last year I had so much to prove. There was the press asking ‘can he do it or not?’ I’m sure even people in the team were wondering. I was quick in testing but racing is a different thing. People wait for you to fail.
“I think this year is slightly easier. People know how well I can drive. I’m not going into an unknown world.
“I don’t have any doubts that I will do a job this year but that means somethingdifferent now. It means I want to win the world championship.
“Last year Ferrari were ahead by maybe three or four tenths of a second,“he said. “They have a very good car again but now we are in equal cars.
“I thought it was strange that they were not at some of the tests with the other teams and I think Barcelona is a very accurate measure. It will be a lot closer than last time.“ – Reuters