Daily Update Formula1 News

The Scuderia show their class..
The full provisional grid is as follows (the final grid will be published as usual by the FIA on Sunday morning - we will bring you details of any additional changes):

1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
3. Jarno Trulli, Toyota
4. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber
5. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber
6. Mark Webber, Red Bull
7. Fernando Alonso, Renault
8. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren
9. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
10. Timo Glock, Toyota
11. Jenson Button, Honda
12. David Coulthard, Red Bull
13. Nelson Piquet, Renault
14. Rubens Barrichello, Honda
15. Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso
16. Nico Rosberg, Williams
17. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India
18. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso
19. Takuma Sato, Super Aguri
20. Adrian Sutil, Force India
21. Anthony Davidson, Super Aguri
22. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams

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A lot incident in qualified GP sepang, The FIA gift punish for Mclaren cause zigzag when Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld for create best time in qualified, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen give punish the pole back five grid.

There is complent from Heidfeld and Alonso to steward it's be the start of punist. Heidfeld and Alonso think duo McLaren make their change for create best time cause the duo run slow in track, Sunday (22/3/2008).
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Don’t for a moment imagine after the Australian Grand Prix that McLaren are going to get complacent, or that Ferrari have let their heads drop. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo might have said, after engine failures stymied Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in Melbourne: "It was a healthy dose of humility." But, he also said: "I'm looking forward to Malaysia when I expect to see the real Ferrari."

And new team principal Stefano Domenicali added: "The result speaks for itself. Unfortunately it was a dreadful weekend. Nothing went as planned, so it was difficult. But if you remember, in 2006 we had a similar start with the two non-finishes and we were able to catch up again.

"We weren't phenomenal guys before this race and we are not stupid after it, so we really need to analyse in all the details what has happened. And of course the main concern is to understand the reliability problems. We had two engines fail so this is the main issue to understand. But we need to stay cool, calm and concentrated. We need not be too emotional now because it's very easy to go down that route. We need to stay very rational."

McLaren never underestimate Ferrari, and are not expecting another relatively easy run in Sepang this weekend.

"Every Grand Prix team experiences difficult weekends," said team principal Ron Dennis, who will miss this race because of family commitments in England. "They have got a lot of depth and we are under no illusions that they will come back and will be very competitive in Malaysia and for the rest of the season. All we can do is try and stay focused on our own efforts and that is what we will do.”

The indications in Melbourne were that the two top teams have similar pace. What was also exciting, however, is that Nick Heidfeld’s best race lap for BMW Sauber, who finished second in Albert Park, was only three-tenths of a second off McLaren, and the same as Ferrari.

“We were very pleased with the way things went,” admits technical director Willy Rampf with a big smile. “We did not get the best from the cars on Friday, but we were happy with the set-ups on Saturday and I think that showed in our performance then, and in the race. But we are cautious. Sepang is a different kind of track to Melbourne, so we must wait and see how well it suits our cars.”

Nevertheless, don’t write off the chances of Heidfeld and front-row starting team-mate Robert Kubica, in their F1.08s.

Likewise, Williams are feeling very chipper after Nico Rosberg’s strong performance won him his first F1 podium. The FW30 looked very impressive last weekend, and Kazuki Nakajima also earned points to place the team second overall ahead of BMW Sauber. On the downside, Nakajima will be hamstrung by an automatic ten-place grid demotion at Sepang, a penalty for the Japanese driver colliding with another car in Melbourne.

Then there is Red Bull. Mark Webber got no chance to show what the RB4 could do in the race, and is hungry to correct that this weekend. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is also out for further points. The Renault R28 may not yet be a front-runner that can challenge McLaren and Ferrari, but the Spaniard’s driving in Australia, especially when he overtook Raikkonen and Kovalainen in one swoop, served as a reminder that he has lost none of his skill or motivation.

“Sepang really is my favourite track,” the former champion says. “I took my first pole position there in 2003 with Renault, and I have won this race twice. It’s a circuit that I enjoy and I always tend to attack a little bit more.”

Renault’s executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, is not alone in believing that it will take the next two races before the true picture of 2008’s pecking order emerges in Spain.

The challenge of Sepang lies in its fast sweeping turns, especially Turns 4 through to 8, which demand a well-balanced chassis. Good traction is also important, especially on the exit of Turn 9, the tight left hander. The opening combination of Turns 1 and 2 is also a difficult challenge for the drivers, but they get compensated by Turn 14 which demands genuine skill with its tightening entry which is approached under braking.

The high ambient temperatures also place a premium on adequate cooling, and the track is tougher on tyres than Melbourne. Bridgestone’s offering in Malaysia will be the medium and hard compounds, as opposed to the soft and medium used in Australia. That, and the ban on traction control, will force drivers to look after their rear tyres, which already tend to wear quickly here. Throw in the changes to the electronic engine braking systems, which have tended to make the cars trickier to handle under braking, and we could have another race like Melbourne with drivers getting caught out by mistakes.

As a subtle warning to the opposition Dennis added, in reference to Lewis Hamilton after Australia: “He was very fresh, and he was very comfortable. And he was saving the engine. It was very easy! I think we have shown we have a very competitive car, so we will go to Malaysia with a very positive mood.”

reference :
formula1.com
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MARANELLO - A big change in HeadQuater of scuderia,but a big decision is fired Mr. Jean Todt, The french man replace by Amadeo Felisa.

It's very suprice Todt has in CEO is new but why he fired?. Todt be CEO Ferrari in Oktober 2006, after he succes in Principal Team Ferrari.

Now ferrari structure is Luca di Montezemolo, Piero Ferrari, Jean Todt, Amedeo Felisa, Alfredo Altavilla, Diego della Valle, Christopher Gent, Enrico Lippi, Sergio Marchionne, Paolo Monferino, Lindsay Owen-Jones, Marco Piccinini dan Sergio Pininfarina.
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The first time is always special, especially your first Grand Prix as a team owner. For Force India’s maiden race, Dr Vijay Mallya’s only wish was to avoid the back row of the grid. With that mission accomplished, the Australian weekend was a winner before the race had even begun.

And while that race could have gone better, there were plenty of more experienced teams also left with double DNFs, and Mallya came away feeling quietly confident about the team’s future…

Q: Vijay, Melbourne marked your first race as a team co-owner. Were you satisfied with the team’s performance?
Vijay Mallya: I am both satisfied and excited. Excited because this is the debut of the Force India Formula One Team, and satisfied because I think that we have proved this weekend that we are a much-improved team. Our practice time clearly put us amongst the top 15, although the qualifying timing was disappointing. This resulted also because of a little bad luck, with the yellow flag and making a mistake in choosing the tyres. We have learned from these mistakes, which are normal, but it is very satisfying to get acknowledgement of the progress the team has made, because many people came to me and congratulated me on the early progress that we have achieved.

Q: Over the winter, you were present at many tests where the team’s times looked quite competitive. Has the development of the team met with your approval?
VM: Absolutely. Otherwise, we would not have made such an improvement. It is my job to be with the team, to properly lead and direct the team and show that I am involved with them, which is very important for motivation and encouragement. As you can see around us the team is energised and excited, and therefore the people are making their best effort. We invested a lot of money in the right direction, for what I call quick wins of low hanging fruits. First we had to identify what would bring us quick results, and on that we did a very good job, we dedicated sufficient budget to these results. We were able to address those specific issues, so we saw immediate improvement in performance. We have some more aerodynamic improvements to do in Malaysia, which hopefully will further improve performance. Once we are well into the European season, there will be one major step of improvement also. So in the second half of the season we should be truly very competitive, and definitely make it into the top of Q2.

Q: You said that you didn’t expect your drivers to end up on the back row of the grid, and they didn’t - but beating a team that hadn’t tested since December and two rookies, who were unfamiliar with the track, cannot possibly satisfy your ambitions…
VM: If you see the sector time of Giancarlo’s (Fisichella) qualifying lap, he did his personal best time ever in Sector 1 and 2, and in Sector 3 he lost out immediately because of Adrian’s (Sutil) spin and the yellow flag. If there had not been so many interruptions we clearly would have been in Q2. If we could have achieved this, I truly believe that we could have made it up to position 13 or 14. So this was a good start for the first race and we have achieved what we had hoped for.

Q: You’ve long been sponsor in Formula One, but have never had much influence on a team’s development. Now you have every opportunity to mould a team to your liking. What is the most difficult challenge?
VM: There are two challenges. Number one is, as a leader of the team, I am ultimately responsible for the performance of the team. So this is a big level of responsibility that I have to take. You cannot just blame the drivers, engineers or anybody. At the end of the day, the leader has to take the responsibility. Let me give you an example. Yesterday I had a big decision - to change the gearbox. We are probably one of the few teams that do not have a seamless gearbox, so once we introduce the seamless one, we will be even more competitive. So the decision was to buy the seamless gearbox from another team or develop it ourselves. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. We have now decided to do it ourselves, which I hope was the right decision, and I have to accept the responsibility of that decision.

The second challenge is to find sponsors. It is easy to sit on the other side of the fence, but when you are sitting on this side of it, you have to convince a sponsor to sponsor the team. With the performance during the tests in the winter, we were able to demonstrate that we are certainly moving forward. Also the achievements here in Melbourne will further underline this. We have already got top quality sponsors on board, and all of them expect me to deliver all of the benefits to them, as they know I have been a sponsor before. But still all of this is fun and part of the business which I am enjoying as I love challenges.

Q: Your diverse, global business interests demand a lot of your time, but you are very much hands on at Force India too. Has there ever been a moment of doubt over your commitment to Formula One racing?
VM: No. I knew it from the very beginning, as I have been involved in F1 for so many years. I was prepared for this, even before we bought the team.

Q: You do a lot to make Formula One popular in India, but how is Indians’ support for their ‘own’ team growing? What about in terms of sponsorship…
VM: People in India are very excited, and F1 is certainly growing in popularity. Especially young people love the competitiveness and the glamour of F1. Force India already has a lot of fans and they add to it, but it is not only Force India. Formula One itself has a lot of momentum in India, and it will be very interesting to go back and see how many people have watched this race. This is not only good for us, but also for all other teams and their sponsors, as we have a rapidly growing following. Sponsorship of Formula One is expensive, and you have to write big cheques. So the challenge is to increase the team’s performance to raise the team’s exposure, so the sponsors realise the marketing value of this platform. We hope that even more Indian sponsors will follow the ones we already have.
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MARANELLO - Tim Formula One (F1) Ferarri will use a new nose in Grand Prix Bahrain, next month. The new desain may be will help the bad result in GP Australia.

F2008 single-seater will interduce in open of GP Bahrain. "this chage will make good efect in midle part of front wing" Red Bull Geoff Willis to eurosport, Thursday (18/3/2008).

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Lewis Hamilton’s win for McLaren at the Australian Grand Prix almost went unnoticed in Albert Park this afternoon - and that tells you just what sort of race it was. The 23 year-old Briton dominated an event characterised by safety car interventions following a series of dramatic incidents that all happened behind him.

Hamilton would build a lead, lose it behind the safety car, build it again, lose it again. You get the picture. But if he was impressive here a year ago, he was even better on Sunday, never losing his composure as he took the lead of the world championship with almost insouciant ease.

If it was a great day for McLaren, it was a disaster for Ferrari. Felipe Massa spun on the first lap and was then involved in an incident with Red Bull’s David Coulthard before retiring, and Kimi Raikkonen, having benefited from the second safety car intervention, slid off the road trying to pass McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and undid all that work. Then his Ferrari let him down when he was running seventh with three laps to go.

Indeed, McLaren should have had a one-two, but a third safety car intervention following a heavy accident for Toyota’s Timo Glock badly hurt Kovalainen’s chances as he had to pit when everyone had closed up. He dropped way back, was passed by Raikkonen, repassed him, then found himself overtaken by Renault’s Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard overtook both of his rivals in a wonderful move.

After fighting back, Kovalainen repassed the Renault with two laps to go, only to have his car falter momentarily as they crossed the line for the 57th time. As he wiped oil off his visor he accidentally triggered the pit-lane speed limiter and a relieved Alonso pounced to head his former team mate home in fourth place.

Ahead of them, Nick Heidfeld brought his BMW Sauber home an excellent second, chased by Nico Rosberg, whose Toyota-engined Williams was the fastest car on the track in the closing stages. It was the young German’s first podium.

The race began with drama as an incident in the first corner involved Honda’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, and led directly or indirectly to their retirements.

Jarno Trulli looked set for good points until his Toyota let him down, and Nelson Piquet’s debut for Renault was little short of disastrous as he trailed at the back and failed to make it home.

Sebastien Bourdais and his Toro Rosso crew made a great call on strategy and were running fourth, ahead of Alonso and Kovalainen with three laps to go, but were stymied by engine failure. Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato similarly failed to make the finish.

“The team did a fantastic job as always, and the car was phenomenal, a complete dream to drive compared to last year,” a delighted Hamilton said. “They pulled me in early on both stops and that kept us out of trouble. Physically the race was a breeze, and great preparation for Malaysia, so bring it on, I’m really looking forward to it.”

result of ausie GP:
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:34:50.616
2. Nick Heidfeld BMW +5.478
3. Nico Rosberg Williams +8.163
4. Fernando Alonso Renault +17.181
5. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren +18.014
6. Rubens Barrichello Honda +52.453
7. Kazuki Nakajima Williams at 1 lap
8. Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso out
9. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari out
10. Robert Kubica BMW out
11. Timo Glock Toyota out
12. Takuma Sato Super Aguri out
13. Nelsinho Piquet Jr Renault out
14. Felipe Massa Ferrari out
15. David Coulthard Red Bull out
16. Jarno Trulli Toyota out
17. Adrian Sutil Force India out
18. Mark Webber Red Bull out
19. Jenson Button Honda out
20. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri out
21. Sebastien Vettel Toro Rosso out
22. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India out
reference :
formula1.com
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