In the new world of fins, Toyota have jumped aboard and fitted their version of the engine cover fin. If you can’t beat them, join them I guess. The new protrusion will be tested by Timo Glock.

So now who has a fin? McLaren, Renault, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, and Force India are all using this creation and all have data saying it really works. McLaren have dominated the time charts in testing at Hockenheim this week and maybe this is what they’ve been looking for, but how much can you really trust testing times.

With 5 teams with data to prove positive results when using the ‘fin’, who will be the next team to try it. Ferrari maybe? Will BMW-Sauber try it? By the end of the season we may have a very expensive aquarium out there.

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They’re on their way back to Catalunya (if some even left) and this time, let’s race. I don’t know about you, but this little early season break of 3 weeks seems like the off season again. Wondering if Alonso will bail on Renault, if DC will retire, Massa gone from Ferrari…ok, ok enough of that. On to the circuit.

The Catalunya circuit is so well known to F1 drivers because of it’s history and popularity in testing. The circuit is so popular because it offers just about everything a team would want to test on. Long straights, medium and high speed turns, and a few low speed turns ask a lot of the F1 car and driver as well. Not surprising a lot of testing is done here. Some cars will have a new look with horns and fins and holes in the nose etc. This is the race featuring the biggest upgrades.

Aerodynamics, tires, and suspension are the keys to Catalunya giving the engines a bit of a break. Aerodynamics is a key with high downforce. I still think it is a bit unfortunate the chicane was added, lessening the importance of the once demanding high speed sections of the circuit.

The removal of traction control has added a little extra in suspension set up. The cars usually run with stiff front suspension for quick maneuvering and a softer rear end for optimum traction when accelerating out of the slow corners. Given the removal of traction control, suspension set up is even more critical for the geat balance they need.

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This past 4 day test session at Catalunya was the second in a series of 2009 slick tire test sessions and so far so good. Speeds and handling haven’t been much of an issue for any team on sicks and times have been good to say the least. Giancarlo Fisichella and Rubens Barrichello posted very good times and had no complaints.

Not only that, but they also ran slicks without tire warmers which of course are banned for next year. This issue has and to be expected, met with some resistance through the paddock with Pedro de la Rosa, Michael Schumacher, and the most critical of them all, Nico Rosberg.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Rosberg. “Running out of the pits it’s ridiculous. It’s not racing, it’s survival. It’s just survival out there, and that’s ridiculous.”

On the other hand, Tetsuro Kobayashi, Technical Manager at Bridgesone Motorsport was pleased with the testing and is happy with the outcome. He also says that the issue of tire warm up has improved since the first testing.

Honda Racing is backing the tire warmer ban and Engineering Chief Steve Clark hints that with warm conditions (most races are) that there shouldn’t be any issue. Honda themselves had no problem in the warm conditions in Barcelona and are looking forward to next season without them.

Opposition to this has to be expected, but Nico, don’t you think you are just a little overboard?

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What’s happening at Force India these days? A lot.

The team is doing far better than anyone thought and there are plenty of signs they are about to progress even quicker. Early this week it was announced that a group of engineers from his Kingfisher Airlines have been recruited to help the team with it’s computational fluid dynamics programs. Basically this will allow them to simulate different aerodynamic ideas without the need for 100 percent reliability on wind tunnels.

In July now, Force India is hoping to introduce their new car to replace the existing VJM01.

Not only that, but it’s almost certain that they will be using Ferrari’s KERS energy-recovery system next year.

This is the future of Force India over the next year and it’s very exciting for the team. All of this on the heals of tremendous testing this week in Barcelona where Giancarlo Fisichella recorded extremely fast times with the new 2009 slicks. Without these tires, Fisichella ran a time of 1min 20.7, 1.5 seconds faster than the last time through Barcelona where he did a 1min 22.3.

Things are looking good for The Force!

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First test session out of the way and second under way. Some new and interesting changes are being tried out as we thought might be the case and the new nose from Ferrari is the first to catch the eye of everyone. A nose with one hole is better than a nose with no hole is the thinking I guess and if this new nose had anything to do with their times yesterday, watch out. Yesterday it was Felipe Massa who was testing for Ferrari and indeed he was fast.

Today, in an effort to bring their car up to par, Renault are looking strangely like Red Bull by sporting their version of the Red Bull fin over the engine cover which is designed to improve stability under breaking. As of yet, no results on how this improved handling, but we’ll know shortly. If you can’t beat them, join them as they say.

Times on the day (Monday April 14th)

Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m18.613 67
Alex Wurz Honda Racing 1m21.059 70
Pedro de la Rosa McLaren 1m21.566 103
Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1m22.109 93
David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1m22.193 59
Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m22.431 72
Timo Glock Toyota 1m22.590 85
Nelson Piquet Renault 1m22.629 78
Tonio Liuzzi Force India 1m22.846 79

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As we get closer to the new season, some drivers are begining to make their own predictions or maybe just testing reactions.

First to [tag]Fernando Alonso[/tag] who says [tag]BMW-Sauber[/tag] may actually be closer to [tag]McLaren[/tag] then everyone thinks they are. He also goes on to say [tag]Renault[/tag] will have no chance of a podium in Australia and may not even make Q3.

“Just two or three weeks ago BMW was a little further back, we were near them. Now they are quite close to McLaren.”

“They are very fast.” “They always use full tanks and record very good times.”

[tag]Jarno Trulli[/tag] came out by predicting a Ferrari dominance when he suggested the [tag]F2008[/tag] is so quick that officials could hand the team the championship before the season even starts.

“If you have an advantage of five tenths already at the beginning, and then you continue to build on that, it will be very difficult for the others.”

Since then he has tempered his prediction a little but still says [tag]Ferrari[/tag] are the dominant team.

[tag]Pedro de la Rosa[/tag] doesn’t think Ferrari are as good as everyone thinks they are, but is a bit reluctant to get into the prediction frenzy.

“As for Ferrari, I don’t see them as good as everyone says, and I believe that Renault is not as far behind as Fernando says.”

Now [tag]Michael Schumacher[/tag] has weighted in with his thoughts by first saying the obvious that there are the usual 2 front runners, but suggesting we should watch for [tag]Nico Rosberg[/tag] and [tag]Williams[/tag] for the 3rd place team.

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After the circuit dried out, [tag]Honda[/tag] took advantage and ran full race distance testing, but ended up with the usual results.

[tag]McLaren[/tag] opted for practicing pit stop procedures during wet track times in the morning and in the afternoon made final evaluations of new components and fine tune set ups in anticipation of the start of the season.

[tag]Red Bull Racing[/tag] drivers [tag]David Coulthard[/tag] and [tag]Mark Webber[/tag] focused on their mechanical setup, brake development, and general pre-race work. More new parts will be added for testing tomorrow.

[tag]Sebastian Vettel[/tag] was the lone [tag]Toro Rosso[/tag] driver doing some long runs on extreme wet tires and standard wet tires. In the afternoon he attempted a complete race simulation but a mechanical problem ended that.

[tag]Force India[/tag] debuted 2 of their [tag]VJM01[/tag] cars today with [tag]Tonio Liuzzi[/tag] and [tag]Adrian Sutil[/tag] driving. Shakedown was the main focus with understanding the behavior of the new aero package.

Both Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil posted pretty respectable times in the new car today with Sutil 9th and Liuzzi 12th. Tomorrow it will be Liuzzi and [tag]Giancarlo Fisichella[/tag].

Renault’s focus like McLaren was on pit stops and a full race simulation. The race simulation was done in the wet in the morning with over 20 pit stops practiced in the afternoon.

[tag]BMW-Sauber[/tag] elected to wait until the afternoon for a dry track before [tag]Nick Heidfeld[/tag] and [tag]Christian Klien[/tag] went to work. Focus continued on race set-up of the [tag]F1.08[/tag], data collection and a few new parts testing. Christian spent time familiarizing himself even more with the car.

Last but not least, [tag]Michael Schumacher[/tag] completed 83 laps in the [tag]F2008[/tag] and finished with the 3rd best time of the day with a 1;22.428.

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The week started with more bad news for struggling [tag]Super Aguri[/tag]. After pulling out of this past weeks test session, instead scheduling a Q&A for media with [tag]Aguri Suzuki[/tag] and tech director [tag]Mark Preston[/tag], This was even canceled.

Now, in a bid to save his team Aguri Suzuki has flown to Tokyo for discussions with potential investors and senior executives from Honda. Some sources say Honda have put forward a ‘rescue package’ believed to involve an investor taking over equity in team.
If Suzuki does not agree, it would be doubtful the team could make the grid in Australia.

In a ‘am I bluffing’ or not, [tag]Fernando Alonso[/tag] suggests that [tag]Renault[/tag] are not good enough yet to podium in Australia. Not only that, he states they may not even be able to make it into Q3 of qualifying. He goes on to say that [tag]BMW-Sauber[/tag] are the clear 3rd place team and are very close to McLaren.

Neither BMW-Sauber or Renault have given any response to those remarks. We’ll just have to wait until the [tag]Australian Grand Prix[/tag] to find out.

After taking my time through most of pre-season testing, I finally came out with my [tag]2008 F1 championship predictions[/tag]. Not much different from other predictions I have seen, but of course they are the best out there :).

The last piece of interesting news to come out of F1 this week is that [tag]Michael Schumacher[/tag] will climb into the new [tag]Ferrari F2008[/tag] on Monday for a testing session. On track with him will be no other than [tag]Kimi Raikkonen[/tag] in the exact same car.

This is a test day I would love to see.

That wraps up a fairly quiet week in F1, but things will pick up really soon as the season is just about ready to start.

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[tag]Michael Schumacher[/tag] and [tag]Kimi Raikkonen[/tag] will be together on the same track driving the same car. Won’t that be something and it will be sure to draw a crowd.

The story is that Michael Schumacher will test the [tag]F2008[/tag] at the final pre-season test session in Spain. He is apparently scheduled to drive on Monday with Kimi Raikkonen before handing it over to [tag]Felipe Massa[/tag] for the other two days of testing.

Will there be some showmanship? I hope so.

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Ok, now that testing is just about over, I can make my [tag]F1 drivers championship predictions[/tag]. Testing has been pretty informative, a little surprising, but not too surprising.

Originally I had thought [tag]Honda[/tag] would show better, but they haven’t given me any reason to keep that prediction. [tag]Red Bull[/tag] and [tag]Toro Rosso[/tag] are just about the same as last year, but [tag]Williams[/tag] have improved like I thought they would. I’ve been more than impressed with [tag]Force India[/tag], but the learning curve is pretty steep so the rear of the train in front of [tag]Super Aguri[/tag] is where I place them.

I’m not sure [tag]Ferrari[/tag] is really in front of [tag]McLaren[/tag] as much as testing has shown. They have been quick out of the box, but McLaren have tweaked their car enough for me to put them right up there. I anticipate a good battle there.

[tag]BMW-Sauber[/tag] has had issues with their car that certainly weren’t expected and despite what Fernando Alonso says, I don’t believe they are as close to McLaren as he suggests they are, but I will go out and put them ahead of [tag]Renault[/tag]. I think there will be a pretty good battle between Renault and BMW-Sauber with Williams in there too.

Originally I would have put [tag]Toyota[/tag] up a place, but after erratic testing, NOT.

1. Ferrari
2. McLaren
3. BMW-Sauber
4. Renault
5. Williams
6. Red Bull
7. Toyota
8. Honda
9. Toro Rosso
10. Force India
11. Super Aguri (if they show up)

My predictions are not that far off many others I’ve seen. I would like to see Honda in 6th position and Force India in 9th position, but that isn’t a prediction.
I do think there will be a great battle between Ferrari and McLaren, and a good battle between BMW-Sauber and Renault.

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