As expected we have the third fin on the block, better said above the engine block .

Scuderia Toro Rosso revealed today in Barcelona their new car - STR03. Judge for yourself but I only see 3 differences between STR03 and RB4:

- Ferrari engine instead of Renault
- different paint job
- different guy driving the car

But no, this is not a customer car

More photos inside the article.

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F1Wolf

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The day 2 in Barcelona felt a bit like deja vu. First either Adrian Newey did some freelancing for Renault, or Red Bull showed some aero love to their engine supplier, or Renault simply copied what they have seen in the next garage. Well, I though that the Renault car can’t get any more ugly that it already was. I was wrong apparently .

It looks like in Honda they not only decided not to do much upgrading this year. They took it one step further, they are going retro . The Dumbo ears back almost exactly a year after their premiere in Barcelona in 2007. Honda never used them in a race, but at least we had some Dumbo jokes :-) …

The only other obvious new develpment I spotted on Tuesday was what looks like a new front wing for Ferrari.

Let’s see what today will bring besides Michael Schumacher … Toro Rosso are to test their new car so we may see yet another ugly fin covering the F1 engine …

For an in-depth report on all that has been tested in Barcelona so far I recommend checking out the comment from Kotenok below the previous post.

Just for the record, below are the times from day 2 of Barcelona tests. But as teams are testing very different packages, the times are of no significance. But it has been a while since Barrichello and Fisichella were on top of the timesheets.

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F1Wolf

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It looks like the first day day of Barcelona testing was all about the new Ferrari hole. The fact that the combination of the new hole in the nose part of Ferrari car and the slick tyres resulted in 3 seconds gap between Massa and the second fastest car, Honda of Alex Wurz, is one of the reasons the expected hole got so much attention.

McLaren slow times should not be taken too seriously though. If you look carefully at the pictures from Barcelona, you can see the tiny almost Monza like rear wing on de la Rosa’s car. McLaren obviously spent the day focusing on 2009 season rather than updates for the next race. BMW Sauber did not run on slicks yesterday, so Heidfeld’s times can’t be compared to Massa either …

One thing remains fact nevertheless, the Ferrari was scary quick on Monday in Barcelona.

While browsing the pictures from yesterday’s test, the only other ineteresting thing I spotted were the front wheel covers on Renault. If I am not wrong, that is new.

There is a nice picture gallery from Barcelona here. The site is in Spanish.

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F1Wolf

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I will close this series with a look at Kazuki Nakajima (almost rookie), Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Rookie no 3 - Kazuki Nakajima

Still can consider him a rookie after only one race in 2007 season What to say … Can be quick in free practice but can’t get the best out of the car in qualifying. He pretty much ruins his races on Saturdays already. Kind of like Alex Wurz last year or kind of like Kazuki Nakajima in Brazil 2007 … It may be way too early to judge him, remember Kovalainen and 2007 season. But if he does not want Williams to keep him only because of his Toyota connection, he needs to start thinking more about how to get his car into Q3 rather than how to get his helmet paint job on AirAsia plane …

Veteran no 3 - Rubens Barrichello

Rubens Barrichello is on track to become the most experienced F1 driver later this year (number of races he participated in). No one, even he himself does not know what race exactly will be the record breaking one, but some time this season he will break the 256 races mark set by Riccardo Patrese.

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F1Wolf

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The break between races may be a good time to return the F1 liveries series of posts. Two weeks ago I made an overview of all 2008 liveries but it has been more than half a year since the 2004 liveries post … Here is the look back to 2003 - all ten teams, some alternative tobacco free liveries are also featured. For more F1 liveries of the past check the F1 Liveries History tag.

Ferrari

McLaren Mercedes

McLaren Mercedes (no tobacco)

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F1Wolf

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I found this ITV video today and what has been said there is pretty much how I felt when I walked the track back in December (check the Part 1 and Part 2 post on my walk around Singapore track).

It is going to be great, can’t wait .

F1Wolf

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After Part 1 it is time for part 2 - Sebastien Bourdais and Jarno Trulli

Rookie no 2 - Sebastien Bourdais

Bourdais may be a F1 rookie but he ain’t no rookie driver. The F3000 title (2002), 4 consecutive Champ Car titles (2004 - 2007) is probably the best he could achieve in open wheel racing outside Formula 1. Few people can understand why it took so long for someone in F1 to bring him in…He himself was quite confident before the season about his racing abilities but expressed worries about qualifying form. The first couple of races pretty much confirmed that. He was outqualified by Vettel in Melbourne and in Malaysia. In Melbourne however his smooth drive, keeping out of trouble and great thinking (his and his pitwall crew) during the final safety car period elevated him as high up as 4th. Only a late engine failure meant DNF, but still 2 points for 7th place. Bahrain saw him for the first time to outqualify his team mate Sebastain Vettel. The new Toro Rosso car is due to arrive in Turkey and if it is as quick as the current Red Bull we may see some more points next to Bourdais’ name before the season comes to a close. Bourdais seems to be the quiet achiever next to a highly rated team mate … I did not know what to expect from Bourdais this season but I must say he has been quite impressive so far …

Veteran no 2 - Jarno Trulli

Jarno Trulli is one of the few drivers with no contract for 2009. His performances this season may well determine whether we will see him on the grid next year or not.

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F1Wolf

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Before the season resumes in Spain in about 3 weeks time I want to look at how the 2008 rookies and the F1 veterans have been doing so far this season.

Rookie no 1 - Nelson Piquet Jr.

Many people say that Piquet has yet to prove he deserves a seat in F1. Well, he did not show much in F1 so far, but to be fair to him he did not have much chance yet …

The season did not start very well for him. The Melbourne opener was just a disaster. While Alonso scored points, Piquet had difficulties to keep the car on the track. It would not however be fair to compare his performances with those of Fernando Alonso … Yes, Hamilton was also a rookie last year and managed to regularly beat Alonso from the beginning of the season. But the big difference was, the 2007 McLaren was a good car. Renault 2008 car seems to be a real dog so far. Even Alonso himself considers the R28 to be only 8th best on the grid at the moment.

One can understand that Alonso with his experience can get more out of the bad car than a F1 rookie. Piquet hasn’t set F1 on fire yet but when comparing his times to Alonso’s during Bahrain practice sessions it is quite clear that his pace is not that bad. What he is lacking is the F1 racing experience and that is situation similar to Heikki Kovalainen in 2007. The attitude of Renault towards him seems to be very different then their attitude towards Heikki last year. Piquet Jr has full suport from the team (at least it looks that way). Pat Symonds even goes as far as saying “he has had a damn good start“. Hmm… I can understand if he argues that it “is nothing to be ashamed of” if Alonso outqualifies him. But rating his F1 start as “damn good” is bit too much. Sounds like words Piquet’s sponsors would like to hear … I would say that so far he hasn’t been disapointing but he did not impress either. Let’s see what next few races will bring.

Veteran no 1 - David Coulthard

David Coulthard is one of the most experienced drivers in Formula 1 history. As of today (after 2008 Bahrain GP) he has 231 race starts to his name (source Forix). Only Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Riccardo Patrese are above him in this table. But when wacthing and listening to him this season sometimes it looks like he is the rookie …

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F1Wolf

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And now it is time for a very biased post

Remember this ?

3 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 3 – 3

These are the first nine races of 2007 season (and Hamilton’s F1 career) - 9 podiums, 70 points

Now compare with this:

5 – 2 – 4 – 1 – DNF – 7 – 1 – 5 – 13

These are the results of Lewis Hamilton in last 9 F1 races - 3 podiums, 43 points.

The F1 Racing magazine had an article with title like this in their last issue:

“Lewis set to be champ after Australia win”

I could not believe they actually wrote that. To sum up the article, because most of the Australian GP winners in past years went on to win the title, Hamilton now must win the title. If this is the fact I do not see why we need 18 races, but whatever …

Now compare Hamilton’s stats with this:

1 – DNF – 2 – 6 – 3 – 2 – DNF – DNF – 1

Last 9 races, 5 podiums, 45 points

Not great either, but better than Hamilton’s last 9. Who is that? Well, Felipe Massa… More podiums and more points in last 9 races than Hamilton.

Hamilton has been already crowned 2008 F1 champion by some, Massa has been already replaced by Vettel or Alonso in Ferrari by many … Well different drivers get different treatment …

I admit these stats are rather twisted but if others can fool around with numbers why can’t I . I decided to use 9 races statistics for 2 reasons:

a) The 9 consecutive podiums for Hamilton would make a nice benchmark
b) Nine races makes pretty much half of a season …

Just for the record, no, I do not think Hamilton should be dropped …

F1Wolf

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Two drivers started this race with new gearboxes, 14 drivers had new engines in the backs of their cars. Felipe Massa at the end seems to have kept his engine from Malaysia and clearly it did not do him any harm…

Many expected Ferrari to dominate this race, thanks also to their winter test on Bahrain track. Well, this is exactly what has happened. Since Friday Ferraris were the quickest cars, Felipe Massa looked like the man to beat. It did not go all to well for him in qualifying and he had to start from P2. He however took an advantage of problems Kubica was experiencing and lead the race from the start. Kimi Raikkonen lost his position briefly to Heikki Kovalainen. He claimed it back quickly and overtaking of Kubica followed shortly.

Raikkonen lost some time during his first pit stop and from there it was clear that bar some technical problems or accident Ferrari were going to score 1-2 finish and Massa his first win of the season. None of the drivers did anything silly and Ferrari 1-2 it was.

Kubica complained about lots of wheel spin at the race start he lost his P1 quickly to Massa. Nobody apparently told him about oil on the track on lap 2. The whole situation lead to Kimi overtaking him. From then on however Kubica matched the pace of the leading Ferraris for pretty much the rest of the race. Nick Heidfeld overtook Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli and gained to places to finish 4th. This was a very impressive showing from BMW Sauber team. Pole position, third podium in the row and importantly outpacing McLaren … BMW Sauber now lead the constructors table and Nick Heidfeld sits in the 2nd position of drivers standings. It is hard to consider them just lucky after 3 races like this…

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F1Wolf

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