Renault loves the environment too

Not to be outdone by Honda F1, Renault have announced today that they have also picked up new title sponsor Mother Nature and gone with the eco-themed livery. However, unlike Honda, Flavio has worked out a deal with all existing sponsorship on the car which allows the team to run coexisting sponsorship on the vehicle.

Public spokesperson at Renault F1 was quoted saying, "We can be just as 'green' as Honda, and we've found a way to promote eco-friendliness without compromising our advertising revenues. In fact, we've been doing the eco-theme since 2002 so I guess some could say we're the original pioneers of the 'Earth Dream'..."


Who will be next to jump on the eco-bandwagon? Rumor in the paddock is that Red Bull is currently leading the charge in development of alternative energy engines in preparations for the rule changes of 2009. Here's what it might look like...

Honda's return to form?

Today Honda revealed their new car and with it, a new strategy for the beleaguered team.

After last years poor performance, visually with their atrocious livery, and on the track with their staggeringly poor performance, the Honda team decided it was time for a complete revamp. Honda has one of the biggest budgets in F1, but has seen little success in return. Last season, the Honda team had been embarrassed by the comparative success of their B-team Super Aguri... along with just about every other team, big and small. With Brawn behind the proverbial wheel, however, Honda is bound to become a force with which to be reckoned.

"We have decided to follow the lead of McLaren and simply copy Ferrari." said new team principal Ross Brawn, "But since my expertise pertains to the older Ferraris, the team has deemed it most efficient to copy the F2002."

"As for that terrible livery last year," continued Brawn, "Honda has given up on obtaining sponsorship and has copied Ferrari's in the hope they will eventually pay us."

Elsewhere around the paddock, former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello seems most pleased with the new Honda effort.

"It feel good to be in a car I'm so familiar with. I believe this to be the right approach for our team. However, my bigger concern is the team's decision to copy Vettal's haircut. We look like a freakish German chia pets." said Barrichello after testing.

Stephney gets a fresh start

Ex-Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stephney has announced that he has taken a role of "Director of Race Technologies" in Gigawave Ltd. following the spy scandal in Formula 1.

Gigawave Ltd. are manufacturers of on-board cameras for various motorsporting categories and also intend on running an Aston Martin Vantage GT2 for the 2008 FIA GT championship.

The press release read: "We are excited to have Nigel on board and are well aware of his capabilities in other categories of motor racing. We hope he exceeds our expectations and brings more than the promised 780 pages of documentation of our main rival, the Ferrari F430 GT2."

Whitmarsh happy with productive start

With more rain falling at the circuit in southern Spain today, wet track conditions meant that, on top of the continuing development programme, the McLaren team took the opportunity to look into improving engine drivability and car handling with wet settings.


In addition the MP4-23 has been running with the new FIA ECU codes and development of this was also a focus.

Lewis Hamilton had a couple of minor off track excursions during the day due to an unexpected ECU reboot. His car was not damaged and he was able to complete the test plan for the day, with the second fastest time.


Heikki Kovalainen was sixth fastest in the second MP4-23.

Martin Whitmarsh
"We have now completed six full track days with two MP4-23’s and already clocked up approximately 4193km’s on our 2008 challenger, 1,000kms of which were covered last year by Ferrari alone, and we are only halfway through the third week in January."

"It has been an immensely productive start to our pre-season test programme and is a strong motivation for the team to keep pushing. Although it is far too early in the development stage of the car to be predicting how competitive it will be, last year's feedback from Kimi, Massa, and the team has been positive and we have a huge amount of Ferrari's data on which to base the continuing development programme around."

Mad Max confirms budget cap?

Rumor has it that Max Mosley has confirmed that a budget cap is to be introduced in Formula One starting from 2009.

In related news, Jean Todt has crossed Max off his Christmas card list.

Is there equality in the Renault camp?

On the subject of equal driver status, Nelsinho had this to say about his new role as a race driver in the Renault F1 team: "In Formula One there is no number one and number two. Both the cars are equal and here it will be the same way,"

However he seems to have forgotten what team principal Flavor Flav said last year when trying to lure back double world champion Alonso: "It's important that the roles, number one and two, are clear, otherwise you risk to destabilise the team. If you hire a World Champion, then you must give him the number one status."

Lets see how things play out in the upcoming season...

Glock puts Toyota top at Jerez

Toyota new boy Timo Glock ended the first major test of 2008 on top of the timesheet on a rain-interrupted day at Jerez.

The German driver set a best time in the new TF108 of 1m19.779s after a 96 lap run to outpace Black Jesus in the McFerrari MP4-23 by three tenths of a second.

Drivers were confronted with a damp track at the start of the session after overnight rain and Glock showed how tricky the conditions were by spinning into the gravel just before lunch.

But as the Spanish circuit dried in the afternoon, Glock racked up the miles to end the test on a promising note for the under-pressure Japanese squad.

“I am pleased with our progress today and I believe we have made some significant improvements to the new car, including ditching Ralf and running with 2 pints of fuel.” Glock said.

“It is encouraging to see us end the day with the fastest lap and I think we made a step forward.

“Once again the car was extremely reliable and that allowed us to complete 3 hot laps and gather plenty of information.

“This is a completely different car compared to the TF107, as we copied McLaren's copy of Ferrari instead of Ferrari directly, but it is a good step forward and we know what we need to work on to improve.”

Fernando Alonso slipped back to third on his second day back in a Renault, but continued to acclimatise himself to driving without traction control after almost three months away from the track.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais was a strong fourth fastest, a tenth of a second clear of the first Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

The Scuderia continued to find out more about its new F2008 car, with world champion drinker Kimi Raikkonen back in eighth.

Heikki Kovalainen was sixth in the second McLaren to end the test ahead of Toyota tester Kamui Kobayashi, Raikkonen and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima.

Red Bull unveiled its brand new RB4 car in the Jerez pit lane at the start of the day and David Coulthard completed 54 laps in it as the team gave the car its first run out.

And although team-mate Mark Webber finished ahead of it on the times in last year’s RB3, the man behind the latest design was pleased with the maiden shakedown.

“Today was all about giving the new car a good shakedown and getting some miles on it,” Adrian Newey said.

“Now we hope to settle down to proper performance testing, starting in Valencia next week.

“The car's potential? Far too small to say!"

Sebastian Vettel finished bottom of the order and over four seconds off his team-mate Bourdais’ pace after spinning out with an hour of the session still remaining.

Meanwhile further north in Valencia, BMW was unable to carry out any meaningful running with its F1.08 sailnose design as strong winds swept around the circuit all day.

This left Robert Kubica to carry out systems checks over long runs. Nick Heidfeld will take over in the car tomorrow.

Testing times from Jerez (January 16)

1. GLOCK Toyota 1m19.799s*
2. BLACK JESUS McLaren 1m20.099s*
3. EMONSO Renault 1m20.363s
4. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m20.407s
5. MASSA Ferrari 1m20.500s*
6. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m20.535s*
7. KOBAYASHI Toyota 1m20.577s
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m20.646s*
9. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m20.758s
10. SUTIL Force India 1m21.705s
11. WEBBER Red Bull 1m22.275s
12. THEJAW Red Bull 1m22.581s*
13. HULKENBERG Williams 1m24.023s
14. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m24.873s

* 2008 car

TF108 Aims For The Stars

Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina words of praise for the new challenger should give Toyota F1 drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock some confidence for the upcoming season: "We expect to have a truly competitive car so our drivers should be aiming to finish in the points regularly and challenging for the podium."

And let's look back at what has been said about previous Toyota F1 cars:
(2007) "I’m very, very positive about this, and I personally think we should attack from round one." - 6th place in the Constructors

(2006) "We enjoyed such a successful year in 2005 and I am sure this trend will continue." - 6th place in the Constructors

(2005) "I now feel that we are in a much stronger position compared to our rivals given the number of regulation changes that we have had to take into consideration for 2005." - 4th place in the Constructors

(2004) "On occasions in 2003, we showed what Toyota is capable of. Our race result in Hockenheim and our top three qualifying performances in Indianapolis and Suzuka proved that we could do the job. In 2004, we have to use these achievements as a springboard, to focus on reliability and get the results we deserve. That means plenty of points and a constant progression during the year." - 8th place in the Constructors

(2003) "All the basic ingredients are in place for the team to make a big jump up the grid in 2003" - 8th place in the Constructors

Good luck Toyota... on achieving yet another sub-par performance with the biggest budget on the grid.

Renault R28 does not like MES ECUs

Initial reports from testing are showing that the R28 is having difficulties with the MES-supplied ECUs.

Senior engineer Bob Bell was less than impressed with the mandatory ECU for 2008: "We haven't figured out where the fuck to plug the ECU into, and every time we try to put it anywhere, the R28 protests violently."

Re-acquired Renault driver Fernando Alonso tests the new R28 at an undisclosed location