Winter Updates 4

Greetings Internet,

Here I am once more with another batch of details from that little corner of the universe where people drive around really quickly in expensive machines - none of that sort of thing happens here in blog HQ, life is at a much slower pace here. This edition comes a week after the team of theatrical folk who somehow manage to put up with me release that should thoroughly crush anything that the rivals can up with. If the bonus points tally was still in operation when that show aired then Jenson Button would have been usurped from the title because they did a bloody good job and it was an honour to share the stage with them all. Made even more impressive by the how the rehearsals were going on before hand - so from me here at blog HQ major congratulations are in order and immense praise for a job well done.

Now that's taken care of back to the more relevant business of what this part of the internet is actually aimed at, and since the last time out there have been some changes in the driver line ups for the approaching season leaving only one remaining seat yet to be claimed at the very back of the grid. This week also saw the release of the first new car of the season and while progress is being made, elsewhere misfortune is never too far away and made a little comeback this month (I know updates have been a little sparse but the show was the main priority - have to make sure the other teams in the area know who is best, nothing wrong with a little bit of megalomania competition).

F1 Total SP3 at Monza in rFactor.

One spot remaining 


Today I shall start proceedings looking at the fluctuation in the driver market - as another seat was claimed, when two spaces rapidly dissolved into one. The penultimate drive to be confirmed was the second seat at Williams, the one formerly occupied by Rubens Barrichello a veteran of 19 seasons will now be filled by a second Brazilian. This time in the form of escapee from the team formerly known as Renault Squadron Bruno Senna, a throwback almost to the early nineties when anther man by the name of Senna - lets hope this time things work out a lot better.

So there is only one space left now in the back row HRT machine to partner another of the field's older participants Pedro De La Rosa. The previous holder of the seat Vitantonio Liuzzi has stated there is a chance the place he used to call home may be taken by a pay driver - someone brought in because of the sponsorship money they bring to the team rather than any ability. That's how the world of formula one still has Maldonado when Buemi, Alquersuari, Sutil and Petrov have no race seat for the season. At a team like HRT sponsorship money is very well needed to cover the funding deficit a smaller team has.

In other driver signing news Ferrari's development driver Jules Bianchi has been given a reserve driver role within the Force India team which does possible start the ball rolling for another major team line-up decision at the end of the season where three strong drivers won't fit into two race positions. The same situation which saw Adrian Sutil left without a racing seat so far.

Dun Da Dada Da - (well writing a drumroll doesn't work)


The first of the 2012 contenders has been unveiled as the picture of what we expect to see on the starting line in Melbourne - for those who have Sky anyway but I'll not go down that route for fear of unleashing profanities. The opening challenger to be revealed is the team formerly known as Lotus but now known as Caterham Racing and their new machine - having already seem this image I can officially warn you before focussing on the green machine pictured below.

From F1 racing magazine

Here you can see the problem the nose of the car has gained a forehead... not entirely sure if that's a good look for a racing car to be honest. I know when we first saw the odd angled sidepods of the McLaren last year they took some getting used to but this just looks wrong. Of course this is just one image, the others that the team released on the internet are more dignified, looking from the side of the car. Those shots do make it look more of what we expect from an F1 entry in under the current technical regulations, with the tapering sidepods and the wide flat front wing. 

Only time will tell if the other teams will be as eccentric as this with their concepts, and features like the wings and the engine cover are subject to development during the season, even development before the season in terms of the official test days. But despite all those component changes I still think the Team Caterham forehead will be with us until Brazil in November. 

Broken laws and bones

Away from the development race rushing to get the new cars up and running, and away from the constant scramble to fill that final HRT position, life has become a lot slower for our absent driver Robert Kubica. The Pole, famous for being really quick in uncompetitive cars and for managing to rapidly convert a BMW Sauber into a million shards of shattered carbon fibre in Canada, has has a little setback. While being in recovery for another major accident in a rally in the pre-season, Robert has fallen over. One of the fastest drivers in the world felled by a patch of ice, probably the same one that wiped me out last Friday, when I only lost some skin one one hand, (which was then further damaged by an incident with a giant yellow duck named Quackers) Kubica on the other hand suffered a suspected fractured tibia in his right leg. This pushes his recover process further away now - and with both seats in Renault (now Lotus) filled there is nowhere for him to return to. Even though there are still rumours of him ending up in a Ferrari at the expense of Felipe Massa at some point.

A long time ago, back around the time of the Chinese GP, Adrian Sutil was involved in some form of violence in a nightclub - the specific details remain a mystery. Perhaps if I did some googling more answers may pop up but there is a chocolate cake staring at me right now and I'm hungry. But the case and it's enigmatic specifics is scheduled to go on trial at the beginning of next week, on the 30th and 31st of January. However this is when things get a little more complex, because Lewis Hamilton has been called as witness, either on account of being there at the time or as a character witness as Sutil's friend, and Hamilton is contracted to work with McLaren on those trial dates prior to their car release. So of course the trial will either continue, without Lewis as a witness or be postponed until all parties are available, where the prosecution is hoping for a year suspended sentence. How it will actually play out is anyone's guess, and how many of those details will end up in the public eye would be more difficult to predict.

From broken laws and broken rules we head on now to broken schedules, once more taking place down in the off pace world of HRT. A scenario we saw unfold in the last season where the car was only released and performed it's first laps in the practice sessions for the first race of the season, cursed with a lack of speed comparable to continental drift. This time around the team say they have encountered a critical delay in their preparations, to the point where the team will be taking part in the opening test sessions with the 2011 car rather than the new version. Despite the shadows of the last season sliding back into focus - HRT claim that a 2012 car will be completed in time to run the second test in early March. How those ideas actually turn out will only be revealed in due course. 

With a fortnight rife with new car releases from Mclaren, Ferrari, Force India, Lotus-Renault, Mercedes and Red Bull from the 1st to the 6th of February, there is plenty more of updates on the horizon before the flag drops in Australia. So until the next time, this is farewell for now.