NewsOnF1 - 1 - 7 April News

7-Apr: McLaren's boss Ron Dennis believes that they can bridge the gap to Ferrari this season despite the large gap between the two teams. He said "The lesson we take to Imola is to work harder. It is the only thing that fixes things.
I think we have a competitive chassis and the lap times show that. There is a gap to the Ferrari but we are working on changing that.
I think the new Ferrari is beatable. Some people have been portraying it as unbeatable but it's not. Time will tell."
It is believed that the McLaren chassis is competitive but the Mercedes engine is still down on power compared to Ferrari and Williams. So far McLaren have managed 2 third place finishes from 3 starts but had 4 retirements, 2 of which were engine related.

Ralf Schumacher who won at Imola last year is confident that he could repeat that performance but is wary of the new Ferrari and said "To be perfectly honest, I would like to claim a victory that I missed in Brazil. The San Marino track suits me, with lots of fast parts, and of course last season I achieved my first victory there, so there is no reason why we shouldn't be very competitive again. In any case, Ferrari showed at Interlagos that their new car is quicker than the old one, so we must do our best and work hard for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team to be successful in Imola."
His team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya is also confident and is hoping for a better result than last year when he retired with a mechanical problem and said "San Marino is a good track. I was quite unlucky last year, as I could have done better I think, but it was a wet weekend and I lost a lot of track time. After the first three races of this season, we are quite confident we can continue our positive run in Imola, as the track, and hopefully the weather conditions, should suit our package."

6-Apr: Ferrari concluded testing at both Fiorano and Mugello today.
At Fiorano, Luca Badoer returned to the track and continued the tyre development program. He drove in both dry and artificially wet conditions covering a total of 120 laps with a best time of 59.535.

Click here for the test times from Fiorano

At Mugello, Michael Schumacher took over the testing from Rubens Barrichello. He concentrated on set-up work and completed 48 laps under wet conditions with a best time of 1:28.289.

Click here for the test times from Mugello

5-Apr: Michael Schumacher continued testing for Ferrari at Fiorano. Under artificially wet conditions, he conducted wet tyre testing in the F2001 completing 39 laps with a best time of 1:07.372.
Luca Badoer takes over tomorrow while Michael moves to Mugello taking over from Rubens Barrichello.

Click here for the test times from Fiorano

At Mugello, Rubens Barrichello completed a long run test in the F2002. He covered a total of 91 laps with a best time of 1:23.959. Barrichello was pleased with the progress made and looks forward to racing in the F2002 and said "I am very happy with the work we have done today," said Barrichello when the work was over. "Everything went well. I can say that I am definitely keen to tackle a grand prix with the F2002."
Michael Schumacher takes over tomorrow.

Click here for the test times from Mugello

Testing at Valencia concluded yesterday. It was believed that Williams will continue for a 4th day but that was not the case.

5-Apr: After successfully testing the latest Honda engine specification at Valencia, Honda announced their plans to introduce the new unit at the upcoming San Marino Grand Prix. The new spec revs higher and includes modifications to reduce internal friction. Honda's Race and Test Team Manager Shuhei Nakamoto said "Although we've had a tough start to the season we're determined to keep fighting. We're introducing a new evolution of the engine for Imola, which, although it isn't a huge step, is a definite step in the right direction. Our aim is to produce the best engine in Formula One and ultimately win the world championship and I am confident that we are taking the first steps to achieve our goal."
Honda supplies the Jordan and BAR Formula 1 teams with engines. Neither team managed to score any points from the first 3 rounds of the Championship.

4-Apr: On the third day of testing at Valencia, Kimi Raikkonen was once again the fastest man on the track ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz.
8 teams were present with 11 drivers setting lap times. Alexander Wurz covered the most number of laps with 88 in the hybrid MP4-16. He was followed by Pedro de la Rosa with 84 laps and Antonio Pizzonia with 83.
Fernando Alonso covered the least number of laps with 24 as he took over from Jarno Trulli in the afternoon.
There were several incidents on the track today with both Fernando Alonso and Anthony Davidson suffering from spins.
McLaren, Williams, Renault and the two Honda powered teams concentrated on testing their latest engine specs expected to be introduced at Imola as well as tyre testing.
Only Williams are expected to continue testing in Valencia tomorrow.

Click here for the test times from Valencia

At Fiorano, Michael Schumacher took over from Luca Badoer. Michael drove the F2001 and continued the program of tyre testing. He completed a total of 118 laps with a best time of 58.665. That is only 3 tenths slower than the lap record set by Michael in the F2002 in February.
Michael continues testing at Fiorano tomorrow.

Click here for the test times from Fiorano

At Mugello, Rubens Barrichello commenced testing in the F2002 for the first time on the Mugello track. He concentrated on set-up work for the upcoming San Marino GP. He covered 44 laps as his session was interrupted by an engine problem. He set a best time of 1:24.141. Rubens continues testing at Mugello tomorrow

Click here for the test times from Mugello

4-Apr: Juan Pablo Montoya has called on the FIA to appoint an experienced racing driver to judge on racing incidents and said "I think the time has come for the FIA to put someone with previous racing experience up in race control to be able to judge on incidents like these. He needs to be someone who is brave enough to punish every driver the same - no matter who they are or which team they drive for. And the punishments need to be handed out equally to all drivers for similar mistakes so there is some consistency in what happens."
In his weekly column for Autosport, Juan Pablo also indicated that the only thing he'll change for Imola is that he'll race with Michael in Michael's way and said "As far as my approach to racing goes, the only thing that will probably change from Imola is how I go wheel to wheel with Michael. I thought after the first corner in Brazil that we were going to have a fair fight, but it is obvious from what he did to me that we can't. If Michael is allowed to race the way we saw in Brazil then I will race in the same way from now on. I only like to race fair with people who race fair as well."

3-Apr: On the second day of testing at Valencia, McLaren topped the timesheets with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Olivier Panis.
Weather conditions were dry allowing the teams to concentrate on their scheduled programs.
8 teams were present with 12 drivers setting lap times. Juan Pablo Montoya testing the latest specification BMW engine covered the most number of laps with 102. He was followed by Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia in the hybrid FW-23 with 90 laps as he was testing tyres for Michelin. Giancarlo Fisichella covered the least number of laps with 6 as he took over from Takuma Sato in the afternoon while BAR's test driver Anthony Davidson only managed 12 laps after his car suffered a gearbox failure as well as an engine failure.
A number of teams conclude the test tomorrow.

Click here for the test times from Valencia

At Fiorano, Luca Badoer continued testing the F2002. tested for Ferrari in the F2002. He covered 108 laps testing tyres with a best time of 58.998. Michael Schumacher takes over tomorrow at Fiorano while Rubens Barrichello heads to Mugello

Click here for the test times from Fiorano

3-Apr: "Was Michael trying ?" is the title of the 7th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2002 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the aftermath of the Brazilian Grand Prix - Issue 7

3-Apr: Following incidents at the start of the first 3 races of the season primarily involving a Ferrari and a Williams, Ferrari's Technical Director Ross Brawn is appealing for calm at the start of a race and said "Everyone needs to calm down a little for the first few corners and get the race started. We have had too many incidents at the start of races at the moment. The race is more than the first few corners and drivers need to understand that."
Speaking specifically on the 2 clashes between Michael and Juan Pablo, Ross Brawn is confident that things won't go out of hand from their side and said "Things won't get out hand from our side. Michael is very relaxed about it. He recognises Juan Pablo is a very good driver and a very competitive driver. Michael doesn't have any problem with Juan Pablo. It just needs a bit of reflection on what happened to avoid it destroying races in the future. We lost our race in Malaysia because of it and they have lost their race because of it here. It doesn't help anyone in the long run. I guess if you get the same two drivers at the front of the grid all the time it is inevitable they are the two that are going to have a hard battle."
As for his thoughts on the incident between the two, he said "I didn't see anything that Michael did wrong although I can understand Montoya saying something differently."

Williams Technical Director Patrick Head has admitted that Juan Pablo Montoya was 'too close' to Michael Schumacher but didn't blame either driver for the incident. Speaking to Autosport, he said "We'll have to look at the film and make a judgement. But he was he car behind, and it was Juan that was moving across to the right, but I think he was just too close. We need to look and see if there's some film from the top or something. But whatever it was, it destroyed his race for big points."
He had a bit of advise to his Colombian driver and said "If you're going to win a championship you don't bump into other cars, that's all there is to it."

2-Apr: Most of the Formula 1 teams returned to the test track today in preparation for the upcoming San Marino Grand Prix on the 14th of April.
At Valencia, 8 of the Formula 1 teams were present on the first day with Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber topping the timesheets under wet track conditions. Takuma Sato in the Jordan and Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar were second and third.
9 drivers were present with Takuma Sato covering the most number of laps with 69 followed by Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia with 58 laps. Fernando Alonso managed the least number of laps with 18 after he spun the car and hit the barrier causing some damage to the car.
In addition to Alonso, there were numerous spins on the track causing a number of red flags through the session.
The wet conditions forced the teams to alter their programs concentrating on electronics testing as well as wet weather tyre testing.
Testing continues tomorrow with more regular drivers taking part.

Click here for the test times from Valencia

At Fiorano, Luca Badoer tested for Ferrari in the F2002. He covered 37 laps with a best time of 59.480 concentrating on electronics testing. Testing continues tomorrow.

Click here for the test times from Fiorano

2-Apr: Pauline Wallace alone in the lead after round 3 of the 6 'n' Pole Competition ... Overall Results ... Brazil Results ... Popular Picks ... Register

1-Apr: "Your thoughts on the Brazilian Grand Prix" - Topic of the week - Have Your Say