I realized I haven’t come up yet with the overview of all the 2008 liveries, so here they are. At the bottom of the article are links to liveries from 2004 to 2007.

Ferrari

McLaren

BMW Sauber

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F1Wolf

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If anyone thought this year will be without controversy in F1, well it was not to be. Only 2 weeks into the season and the new “gate” is on horizon. And it involves none other than Max Mosley himself.

The British paper The News Of The World ran this story yesterday. If the link does not work, then a video from the story is on YouTube and attracted well over 100,000 view in few hours only … No wonder …

Some European papers picked up the story (like Gazetta dello Sport in Italy), but not even a mention yet on any major Formula 1 websites. It looks like everybody is waiting what Max Mosley has to say … The F1 Forums however have been flooded with the Mosley discussions for whole Sunday …

Update: There is an article in Times Online available now, click here

It is hard to tell from the photos and video if the man described as Max Mosley is really Max Mosley. But the silence from him and from all F1 sites may suggest that he may be. If the story was a total fabrication I would expect Mosley to deny it right away and strongly.

So what now ? Will he resign ? Should he ? Will he be forced to ? Or will this just go away ?

Here are few links to other blogs reporting on this story:

Times Online Formula One Blog
F1Fanatic
BlogF1

F1Wolf

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Mika Hakkinen was in Singapore today driving a McLaren F1 car on the street that is part of the F1 street track in the Lion City. Here are few videos:

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F1Wolf

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Yesterday (Saturday) the tests of the lighting system for the Formula 1 night race began in Singapore. There is an interesting video available, you can follow this link to watch.

Singapore lighting test video

I am not sure how long will this link be live, so better watch it now…

Thanks to fatfish for the alert and the link !

Mika Hakkinen is expected to run in McLaren car on the streets of Singapore today, but I in the daylight .

F1Wolf

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It has been a while since the last Spotted by Wolf post. Travelling and following the first 2 races of the season caused few weeks gap, but now the 7th edition is here.

Malaysian Grand Prix organizers managed to keep the rain away, but the storm hit from somewhere else. The official Malaysian GP website was hacked only few days before the race.

The 2008 driver helmets preview is a popular feature of this web. Daniel at F1Bloggen went a step further and compiled photos of team overalls. Nice one !

F1 Pitlane is nice new project of several F1 enthusiasts and I am glad F1Wolf got mentioned there . They were not the only site that featured F1Wolf last week - Sidepodcast selected F1Wolf as the featured site of the week in their F1 Rewind episode #2.

David Coulthard’s RB3 was sold on eBay for a neat amount.

In Singapore the F1 track lighting system tests have began. Also in Singapore … well, just listen to the podcast .

Over here at F1Wolf the engine and gearbox statistics proved to be extremely popular. To make it easy to find them I moved all the 2008 statisctics to one place. Simply click on the 2008 Season tab just below the header of this site, or follow this link. I am also placing a button on the left sidebar for easier navigation.

F1Wolf

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Formula One qualifying will be modified to prevent the danger of drivers suddenly slowing to save fuel after their final quick laps while others are still at full speed, the governing FIA said on Friday.

A FIA spokesman confirmed the change is likely to come to effect before next week’s Bahrain Grand Prix. As expected the FIA will set a maximum time for drivers to return to pits after completing their qualifying run.

“Our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time that we will set. This could be approximately 120 percent of the normal time as we do to prevent drivers going very slowly to the grid (on the pre-race formation lap) to save fuel.”

The calls for modification came after Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso had to navigate between several slow moving cars (including both McLarens) on their flying lap during Malaysian GP qualifying session.

The qualifying has not been modified yet … FIA only stated the intention to do it and presented the media with some hints of what to expect. We still need to wait for official decision.

F1Wolf

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Last night and today 2 sorts of news popped up. Felipe Massa and David Coulthard joined Martin Whitmarsh and others in calls for changes to Q3 format or rules. Then Bridgestone announced they will evaluate 3 different types of slick tyre compounds in April test in Barcelona. It is all about the same issue - having at the same time on track cars with big difference in speed.

We all still remember last weekend and the super slow return of some cars to pits at the end of Q3 while Heidfeld, Alonso were still on their flying lap. Place few snails into the racing line (let’s call them for example Hamilton and Kovalainen) and we have recipe for disaster.

Coulthard’s big mouth made news recently, here is nice summary if you like to read it, but he also has a valid point on this issue (last sentence, in bold):

“In my view a rule change is the easiest way to make sure this problem doesn’t keep occurring. I like the suggestion that drivers will be penalised unless their in-lap is within a certain percentage of their best time. It’s clear-cut, and there would be no grounds for a stewards’ enquiry. If you’re one-tenth slower than the time you’re supposed to do then you’ll get a penalty. People won’t do it then - simple as that. But give them the opportunity to try and save fuel and they will.“

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F1Wolf

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The eBay auction of David Coulthard’s RB3 with the ‘Faces for Charity’ livery used at Silversone 2007 has been announced quite a while ago. The online auction was held by Red Bull on Sunday night.

It does not happen that often that barely a year old F1 car is auctioned on eBay. There were bids and the lucky winner has bought himself a neat piece of F1 memorabilia for 210,050 Euro. It did not come cheap but it is money spent for a good cause. The proceeds are to go to the Wings for Life charity that funds research into spinal injuries. The identity of the new owner has not been made public, yet. I can exclusively reveal that it is not me .

F1Wolf

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What do Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli and F1Wolf have in common ? Well all these important Formula 1 figures feature in the same show on Sidepodcast.tv

Thanks to Sidepodcast for nice review !

After you finish watching the great show about planes, wine, Formula 1 and F1Wolf see the rest of the post for few more photos of the Air Asia Airbus painted in Williams colours with Nico Rosberg’s helmet all over the nose of the plane. (all photos courtesy of AT&T Williams Team):

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First two races, more than 10% of the season are behind us. Ron Dennis may claim that only Spanish GP will show the true form of the teams but why wait. Let’s look at who has been good and who has not so far.

The Good

BMW Sauber – They had worrying start to their winter tests with their new car but how they turned things around. Fernando Alonso considered them to be the dark horses of the 2008 season and it looks like he has been right. The team may not be yet ready to mount the title challenge. But they are surprisingly close to the pace of McLarens. It may not be impossible to score a race win on merit later on this season. And with the current reliability and Massa woes Ferrari are experiencing, the maiden win may not be too far.

Toyota – Surprise surprise. But looking back to team’s performance in the last winter test it perhaps should not be that unexpected. Jarno Trulli claims they are now 4th best team (same claim Rosberg has about Williams). I would not probably say that. But Toyota firmly claimed their place in stronger end of the midfield, along with Williams and Red Bull.

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F1Wolf

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