Are BMW-Sauber and McLaren Mercedes evenly matched? That depends on who you talk to I guess.
4 races down and the drivers championship standings Ferrari, McLaren, and BMW-Sauber look like this

1. Kimi Raikkonen 29
2. Lewis Hamilton 20
3. Robert Kubica 19

5. Nick Heidfeld 16
6. Heikki Kovalainen 14

In Australia Lewis Hamilton dominated with Heikki Kovalainen finishing 5th 18 seconds back of Hamilton and set the fastest lap of the race. Nick Heidfeld finished second 5.4 seconds back of Hamilton and Robert Kubica finished 9th with a retirement.

In Malaysia, Raikkonen was dominant winning the race easily, but second belonged to Robert Kubica 19.5 secs back and quite a bit ahead of Kovalainen who was third and 38.4 secs back. Lewis Hamilton qualified poorly in 9th and finished 5th 46.5 secs back. Nick Heidfeld finished 6th 49.8 secs back of Raikkonen, but set the fastest lap of the race.

On to Bahrain. Again, Ferrari dominated this race with Massa winning and Raikkonen 2nd. 3rd place was Robert Kubica 4.9 secs back of Raikkonen and 4th place to Nick Heidfeld who was 8.4 secs back. Heikki Kovalainen, the best of McLaren once again finished 5th behind both BMW-Saubers a full 26.7 secs back of Raikkonen. We can safely say that Lewis Hamilton didn’t figure in any leader stats in this race.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton bounced back finishing 3rd behind both Ferraris 4.1 secs back of Kimi Raikkonen, but only 1.5 secs behind Felipe Massa. Unfortunately Kovalainen had a bad crash, but until then was keeping good pace with a fastest lap time of 1:22.453 and was in 6th place at the time of his crash ahead of Nick Heidfeld.
Robert Kubica finished the race in 4th after starting 4th only 5.6 secs back of Raikkonen. Robert Kubica was pushing Hamilton and both cars pitted together and came out the same way. In this race it was pretty clear that as the race progressed BMW-Sauber and McLaren Mercedes were running pretty much the same pace as the gaps didn’t change through to the end.

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McLaren will definitely be hard in the fight this year. The fact that they have been able to put aside the embarrassment of last year and get to where they are now after testing is a testament to the McLaren Mercedes organization.

Spain has been good to McLaren, or should I say McLaren has been good to Spain. From the first day when they found themselves with a large deficit to Ferrari, they have worked the kinks out of the MP4-23 and are now right up them. The only thing left from 2007 to get over is the fine of 100 million dollars. So far so good, but later on when financing turns to development on the 2009 car and the rule changes beginning that year. We’ll see what kind of a cushion McLaren has at that time.

In contrast, their immediate rivals Ferrari have no financial issues to worry about and their drivers have much more experience. With only one year of F1 each, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovallainen may have to cuddle up to Pedro de la Rosa for his knowledge and experience in setting up and improving the car. This isn’t a bad thing as Lewis did alright last season with Fernando Alonso’s expertise.

As far as the car goes, the MP4-23 has been solid as a rock in the reliability category all throughout testing with only the expected minor problems. One other question looms and that is how will the car be with the tires. Will it be hard on them or easy. We really don’t know that until the hard on track racing begins in Australia. Lewis Hamilton isn’t the easiest on tires either.

Technorati Tags: McLaren, McLaren Mercedes, MP4-23, Ferrari, F1, Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovallainen, Pedro de la Rosa, Fernando Alonso

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What I posted earlier about rumors of McLaren getting 5th pit box now appear to be true. Reports from Melbourne’s Albert Park have McLaren arriving for next weeks race and setting up in the 5th box in preparation for the arrival of their cars.

Following last seasons banishment from the constructors championship, it was assumed that Mclaren would occupy the last pit box for effectively finishing last. It was rumored in early February with no confirmation that McLaren would not be relegated to the end of pit lane, but instead given the 5th box.

As is stands now, Williams will be in the 4th pit box, McLaren in the 5th, and Red Bull pushed to the 6th pit box.

Reports are that McLaren needed a better place to house their large motor home in the paddocks and that is why they were given 5th.

I still haven’t been able to find out what rules govern pit box allocation, but now maybe I don’t have to. All a team has to do is have the biggest motor home and they move up.

Cheers from Fosters to you Bernie.

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Technorati Tags: McLaren, Albert Park, Williams, Red Bull

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Two interesting stories have come to light in the last couple of days surrounding Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Back in 2004, Lewis Hamilton and his father had a falling out with McLaren and threatened to leave. When that happened, where did they come looking for backing? Williams.

Patrick Head revealed that they could have signed Lewis Hamilton in 2004 while racing in the F3 Euroseries, but weren’t able to. It was actually engine supplier BMW who said no.

What happened at McLaren was that Lewis wanted to move up a series for 2005, but Ron Dennis said no and to stay in F3 for another year. After some discussion about this, Lewis and his father Anthony went looking elsewhere, in particular Williams BMW, but had no luck there.

“They rang up and said ‘can we come and see you?’,” Head recalled. “And they came in and said ‘Ron Dennis has dropped us’.

“We were with BMW at the time and I think Sir Frank Williams rang BMW’s motorsport director Mario Theissen and said ‘look, this guy looks as if he could be pretty good and whatever and he has come to us saying can we help him’.

“And I think Mario said they weren’t prepared to provide any support and we weren’t in a position financially where we could finance his racing.”

In retrospect, it was a good idea for Lewis to remain in F3 for the next year as he in fact won the F3 Euroseries title in 2005.

Apparently Frank Williams, seeing how good Lewis is, is a bit annoyed at not being able to sign Lewis Hamilton. Maybe so, but he did end up signing Nico Rosberg and has him in his pocket and I wouldn’t complain about that Frank.

Technorati Tags: Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, McLaren, Patrick Head, F3 Euroseries, BMW, Ron Dennis, Williams BMW, Frank Williams

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

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

I’m not sure Ferrari is really in front of McLaren 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.

BMW-Sauber 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 Renault. I think there will be a pretty good battle between Renault and BMW-Sauber with Williams in there too.

Originally I would have put Toyota 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.

Technorati Tags: F1 drivers championship predictions, Honda, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Williams, Force India, Super Aguri, Ferrari, McLaren, BMW-Sauber, Renault, Toyota

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Bloggers always have unique opinions on different topics so I’m now featuring popular F1 blogger posts in the right sidebar delivered daily. Spreading the links around can only be a good thing.

Testing is fast coming to a close and although a lot of progress has been made, Timo Glock is not Confident Toyota have achieved their goal of Closing Gaps. Since this post, he may have had to eat his words a little as Toyota have begun to show more improvement than originally thought.

Bernie Ecclestone is at it again, playing musical chairs with F1 circuits. The British Grand Prix, and Australian Grand Prix are targets while Russia and Portugal are looking for openings by 2010 or 2011.

Meanwhile in Australia, they aren’t crying yet about the future loss of their grand prix, instead they are opening the grid to Grid Boys. Yes, guys will be prancing around the grid side by side with the girls at this year’s Australian Grand Prix.

Day 2 Testing at Jerez showed McLaren fighting hard to close the gaps between them and Ferrari while BMW-Sauber have finally, but maybe too late come to grips with the F1.08.
Williams are also showing good form this pre-season while Honda, what can I say, are just not moving anywhere yet.

In a strange move, Bernie Ecclestone has granted McLaren the 5th pit garage instead of their previously designated las pit garage. At this time it hasn’t been confirmed and I wait to see if indeed it is true and why.

After I posted this story, a reader commented that there is nowhere in the FIA Sporting Regulations that explain how pit garages are designated. After some research, I cannot come up with that answer.

Technorati Tags: F1 blogger, Timo Glock, Toyota, Bernie Ecclestone, F1 circuits, British Grand Prix, Australian Grand Prix, Grid Boys, Day 2 Testing at Jerez, McLaren, Ferrari, BMW-Sauber, F1.08, FIA Sporting Regulations

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Just recently a comment was posted about the pit box allocation rules (or lack of). On Feb 13, I posted the story that it had been reported that Bernie Ecclestone had secured the 5th pit garage for McLaren. Originally McLaren were reported to have been relegated to the last pit garage because of being stripped of their 2007 constructors points, effectively finishing last.

My post read that ‘the regulations’ state that by finishing last, you get the last pit box. This I have found in quite a few of the same reports. However, quite a few also say that ‘usually’ last place gets you the last pit garage and after searching for quite a while yesterday, I could not confirm either way.

DailyF1News says ‘usually’
Crash.net says ‘regulations’
f1fanatic.co.uk says: They have to line up in the order in which they finished in the previous season’s constructors’ championship

According to the FIA Sporting Regulations 23.1 b, The FIA will designate an area in the pit lane where each team may work and one place where pit stops may be carried out.

That certainly doesn’t clear things up.

To make things a little more confusing, the Concorde Agreement states this:

So how are pit garages allocated?

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Technorati Tags: pit box allocation, Bernie Ecclestone, McLaren, FIA Sporting Regulations, Concorde Agreement

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Yesterday, the second last test session closed out leaving just Barcelona left before the start of the 2008 season. It is now pretty clear where teams will stack up come the season start and despite hours and hours of work some teams just haven’t accomplished their goals while others like say Ferrari have caused frustration for just about everyone.

Giancarlo Fisichella echoes this with his stunning statement that Ferrari are the best and probably will dominate through the early part of the season with McLaren close behind, and then the rest.

He is pleased with the progress and performance of his car and is predicting a faster car after a new update in Barcelona.

“At the beginning of the season it will be hard to stay out of the bottom (of the field), but we hope that we can gradually improve.”

Toyota sat near the bottom of time sheets through most of testing, but pulled out something good in the last week with some pretty respectable times and are one of the few that have closed gaps to teams previously ahead of them. Their senior general chassis manager is now predicting serious gains between now and season start.

David Coulthard has decided to lift spirits of Red Bull fans by telling them not to believe too much in the test times Red Bull are pulling off. He says not to expect Red Bull to be front runners just yet.

Jenson Button, up and down with his feelings on his car says Honda made ‘good progress’ in Jerez, but more work is still needed and they are moving in the right direction.

Over 2 seconds off the pace with only a month to go? Yes, a lot more work is needed.

Technorati Tags: Giancarlo Fisichella, McLaren, Toyota, David Coulthard, Red Bull, Jenson Button

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3 posts in one day is a little off for me, but today, well…it happened.

Another good weather day at Jerez except for the wind. 16 driver were out today and some because of wind ended their day early not expecting to get the data they needed. Lewis Hamilton was one of them, quiting early at 15:00.

Even though wind was a factor, Mark Webber in the Red Bull came out on top with a 1:18.628 in 72 laps and had both Williams right behind. Fuel loads were probably pretty good to achieve those times and clearly Williams has solved their wing mounting problem. Honda continue to struggle with not much difference in their time from yesterday, but at least they weren’t last.
BMW-Sauber with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica piled on the laps today, but initially had long runs scheduled, but again, wind prevented any clear results and they abandoned that idea.

A few incidents on trace disrupted things a little. Coulthard parked unexpectedly on track and Nelson Piquet jr. copied later with an engine failure, and then Sebastien Bourdais caused a stoppage right near the end of the session.

1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1min 18.628secs 72 laps
2. Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1min 19.091secs 98 laps
3. Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1min 19.215secs 91 laps
4. Fernando Alonso Renault 1min 19.710secs 104 laps
5. Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber 1min 19.829secs 116 laps
6. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1min 19.857secs 68 laps
7. David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1min 19.883secs 97 laps
8. Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1min 19.889secs 114 laps
9. Nelson Piquet Renault 1min 20.014secs 110 laps
10. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1min 20.152secs 84 laps
11. Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1min 20.201secs 109 laps
12. Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1min 20.536secs 76 laps
13. Jenson Button Honda 1min 21.147secs 85 laps
14. Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1min 21.376secs 101 laps
15. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1min 21.710secs 58 laps
16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1min 22.244secs 86 laps

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Technorati Tags: Jerez, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Red Bull, Williams, Honda, BMW-Sauber, Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica

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I guess a 100m dollar fine and banishment from last years constructors championship was enough punishment for McLaren and they don’t have to move in to the last and smallest pit garage in pit-lane. This is an indignity I’m sure McLaren didn’t want to endure all season.

The regulations state that by finishing last in the constructors points, you get the last pit box all year. However, Bernie Ecclestone has (what is reported) managed to get them the 5th pit box.

What we hear is that Ecclestone ordered McLaren into the 5th pit box, the spot originally reserved for Red Bull. After all penalties given to McLaren, it is believed this is to allow McLaren access to the better facilities.

In discussions about this, Ecclestone originally wanted to give the 3rd pit garage to McLaren, but that one is reserved for Renault and they obviously objected. The first 3 pit boxes have much better facilities for team members and special guests.

Although not a major issue, it could cause a problem or 2. Instead of having a clear path in front of them when leaving pit lane, they could get caught up in traffic. The other is that they might end up having to pass back markers they were stuck behind in pit lane.

So I’ve taken this opportunity to include the latest photo taken in Bahrain of the Ferrari pit garage.

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Technorati Tags: McLaren, Bernie Ecclestone, McLaren into the 5th pit box

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