Daily Update Formula1 News

Kimi Raikkonen isn't ready to rule out McLaren as Ferrari's main rival this season, despite BMW being his closest challenger in the last two races.
BMW have finished on the podium at every race this season and had both cars ahead of the two McLarens at Bahrain two weeks ago.
But the reigning champion thinks their positions could easily be reversed during the next three races at very different circuits.
"Barcelona is one of the most difficult circuits for cars, then after here it's Turkey and then Monaco, and it can be a different story again," he said.

"Hopefully we can keep the upper hand we've had in the last two races, and BMW were stronger than McLaren at the previous race, so you never know. But we'll have to see what they've done here in testing."
Raikkonen also believes Lewis Hamilton's poor form at the last two races is a result of the McLaren slipping back into the clutches of BMW.
"If you don't have as a good a package as you had last year, then it is harder not to make a mistake," he added. "This is what happens."
He is also looking out for Renault to be able to join the battle at the front of the grid after Fernando Alonso set the quickest time of Wednesday's test at Barcelona.
"I don't have any idea what the other teams did on the other days (this week), but I heard that Renault have made a step," he said. "You presume that if they make a step it is a step forwards."
Raikkonen also sampled Ferrari's new nose cone for the first time at Barcelona yesterday, but the rain that affected the test prevented him from evaluating it fully.
"I only did one run with it and that was in the rain. We tried some little things but in these conditions you don't really feel exactly the best picture.
"But they tested it during the week and it seems to be positive. It is a little step forward so that is good."
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As well as making history as Formula One racing’s first-ever night race, the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix will also mark the introduction of electronic flag displays to the sport. The new technology, developed by lighting consultants Valerio Maioli S.p.A for the Singapore event, will be used in conjunction with the traditional flag signals waved by marshals.

The innovative system, which meets the FIA’s stringent requirements, is the result of more than a decade of development at the Barcelona, Imola and Monza racing circuits. Similar to units used to guide pilots at the runways of major airports, these ‘DigiFlags’ will convey the different flag colours in a more visible way during the night race.

Thirty five display panels will be situated around the Singapore track, each controlled by handheld panels operated by officials at each marshals’ post. In addition to improved visibility, the new system will also provide the race director with an overview of every flag display around the circuit, thereby ensuring the more efficient communication of warnings.

With less than six months to go before the inaugural Singapore event takes place on September 28, the race organisers have been hard work preparing the new street circuit. A week-long demonstration of the lighting system was held from March 29, with a 64-metre stretch lit up with 16 projectors, ahead of its complete installation in August.
ref [formula1.cm]

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Bridgestone used this week’s Barcelona test to complete their second major evaluation of the 2009-specification slick tyres which could be adopted next season in place of the current grooved rubber. It follows their first test in Jerez last December.

Bridgestone brought three slick compounds to the Circuit de Catalunya, each team receiving a total of nine sets. In line with proposed 2009 regulations, the tyres were used without tyre warmers and, for the most part, on cars running reduced downforce levels.

“Running with the slick tyres has been interesting and we are also happy with their performance,” reported Tetsuro Kobayashi, Bridgestone Motorsport’s technical manager. "We have accumulated good data for analysis from the four days here. This data will be processed and investigated carefully to evaluate our next steps.”

Kobayashi also played down fears that getting the cold slicks up to temperature without tyre warmers could present a safety issue. “The situation of warm-up with these tyres is much improved as we look to the future with no tyre blankets," he said.

The teams will get their next chance to sample Bridgestone’s latest slick developments in around three months’ time, but Kobayashi believes the men at the wheel have already had a pretty good glimpse of the future.

“The drivers now have a greater understanding of driving Formula One cars with slick tyres to the 2009 regulations with lower levels of downforce and no tyre blankets,” he added. “We should all expect to see more progress next time we test slicks, which is planned for the Jerez test in July.”
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Fernando Alonso believes his Renault team have not made enough progress to leave the midfield group despite several updates being introduced in their R28 car this week.
The two-time champion and his team admitted before the Barcelona test that they were pinning their hopes for a better season on the developments tested this week at the Spanish track.
Alonso topped the times with the revised car in yesterday's session and confessed the upgrades were a step forward after a poor start to the season.
But the Spaniard reckons Renault have not progressed enough to be ahead of the midfield pack.
"The car is better, that's true, but we haven't made so much progress," Alonso was quoted as saying by AS newspaper. "We still haven't managed to escape the midfield group.

"It's very close. Things haven't changed so much because the others have evolved too. We are still more or less in the same place as before this test.
"We are in a group where, if everything goes well, you qualify eighth on the grid, but if you fail, then you have Red Bull, the Toyota and Williams ahead of you and you are 14th and outside of Q3."
Alonso, however, said it was not easy to judge where Renault stand ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix next week.
"The day was good and I'm happy with the developments, but we need to continue improving because the rest have done that too. It's hard to say where we are compared to the rest. We will only know next week."
ref [AS]
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Nelsinho Piquet is cautious about how much Renault can improve thanks to the new updates to be introduced this week, although the the Brazilian admitted the car is already better.
Renault, who have endured a difficult start to the season, are pinning their hopes for the year on all the improvements they will introduce in this week's test at Barcelona.
The team already tested a new front wing and other updates yesterday, and introduced a new engine cover fin in today's session.
Piquet reckons the car is already a step forward, although he says it's hard to judge by how much.

"I think the car is better everywhere," Piquet told reporters after the test.
"Obviously it's difficult to calculate how much better the track is since the last time we were here because they had an LMS race and then BMW drove here yesterday and cleaned up the track a little bit, so it's difficult to say if the track is much better or if the car improved a lot.
"Obviously set-up wise we have improved throughout the three races, so coming back after two months obviously we would have a gain. When you gain on aero you gain everywhere.
"You gain on braking, you gain on speed on the corner, on the straights. So I think we gained a little bit everywhere."
The Brazilian said Renault are doing things step by step in order to see what works and what doesn't.
"Obviously we have four days of testing so we are going to test things step by step every day," he said. "But obviously it's not a case of putting them on the car and making them work straight away. You need to put them on the car and develop them slowly.
"So I think the good thing of having these new bits is that you have more doors for improvement; you can improve in different ways. So at the moment we didn't find a one-second gain, but we found some doors to improve.
"It will be four days of data collection and a lot of experiments but I'm sure it will open a lot of doors for improvement for the car."
Despite his caution, Piquet reckons the updated car will allow Renault to get both cars into Q3 in the Spanish Grand Prix next week.
"I thought the car was very good today and we have another three days of testing and there's margin to improve. I think I'm optimistic that we can put both cars in the top ten in qualifying."

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