Back to the F1 liveries history - now with look back to season 2001. This was the last year for Benneton (entered next season as Renault) and Prost (went bankrupt before 2002). It also interesting to see how the Formula 1 sponsors have changed since 2001. Some moved from team to team (Vodafone, Red Bull, FedEx), some have disapeared (Tic-Tac, Orange, HSBC, MasterCard, Deutsche Post / DHL, Parmalat, Acer, Korean Air, Beck’s, Veltlins, and the tobacco …). Only 3 teams from 2001 line up are still on grid today - Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, although Williams have changed their engine suppliers since then (from BMW to Cosworth in 2006 and to Toyota in 2007). How will the grid look 7 years from now …

Ferrari

Ferrari (no tobacco)

McLaren

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F1Wolf

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Kotenok has posted several videos from 2008 Red Bull and Toro Rosso Bull Run in Pamplona. Here is one as a teaser.

Find more videos like this on F1Wolf Club

… and one more from the arena:

Find more videos like this on F1Wolf Club

You can view several more videos from Pamplona at the F1 Wolf Club page.

Photo gallery inside this post !

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F1Wolf

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It has been a bit quiet on the rumour front since the third edition but but still not a total radio silence. And surprise surprise, Sato has been talked about again.

This time not in connection with the “future Honda North America Team” but an existing one - Force India. The rumour has it, as Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell reports, Force India F1 may be thinking about changing their engine supplier. Some meetings are reported to have taken place in Montreal between Force India and Honda. While Force India have a contract with Ferrari at the moment, the sweetener that allegedly makes Honda deal more attractive is inclusion of Honda’s KERS system in the package. After collapse of Super Aguri Honda currently do not not supply customer engines to another F1 team. The Honda engine / KERS package would come at a discount (the rumoured sum is EUR10 mil a year less than what Force India pays to Ferrari) under condition that Force India would also take care of Honda’s headache and give a race seat to ex-Jordan/Honda, ex-BAR/Honda and ex-Super Aguri/Honda driver Takuma Sato. Sounds to me like pay driver deal on offer … I do not know why but this does not feel like a deal Mallya would do …

The other rumour connects Bruno Senna (currently 2nd in GP2) with BMW Sauber.
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F1Wolf

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Qualifying performance is one of the important benchmarks used to evaluate relative performance of team mates. Here is an overview of qualifying results in 2008 Formula 1 season. The table displays the results as achieved in qualifying, not the final position on the starting grid - grid penalties are not reflected in this table. I included this table also in the 2008 season stats.

2008 Formula 1 Qualifying - Team Mates Head to Head

Please do let me know if you spot any errors.

F1Wolf

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First came Red Bull, then Renault, then Toro Rosso, now after 2 days of waiting, here comes Force India and their version of shark fin engine cover:

More pictures inside the post.

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The FIA published yesterday the provisional 2009 F1 calendar. The most important facts are that French GP is still on calendar, US GP will not return for 2009 and Abu Dhabi will make the debut.

The US GP missing again is a hot topic of the moment. But when looking at the 2009 calendar I am already wondering what other track(s) will we loose in 2010 …

The sudden appearance of Valencia and Singapore street tracks was kind of unexpected. None of these venues were talked about much prior to their inclusion in the 2008 calendar. The rumours appeared and in matter of weeks the races were confirmed. As a result, although we lost the US GP, the 2008 season features one more race than last year - 18 compared to 17 in 2007. With Abu Dhabi the 2009 season will have 19 races. That is 2 more than what is believed to be agreed on in the existing (expired) Concorde Agreement. Judging from recent opinions of some team principals it is hard to see more than 20 races on the F1 calendar - “My firm belief is the season should expand to not more than 20 Grand Prix.” (Ron Dennis), “Twenty is about the right number.” (Nick Fry), “Twenty is a big number, but it’s a sensible number.” (Christian Horner).

For 2010 season however 2 new races are lining up - India and Korea. That would require at least one existing F1 venue to loose the race. If US GP was to return, it would require 2 races to go. And that only and only if the F1 teams agree to race 20 times a year … What race(s) are we not going to see in 2010 ?

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F1Wolf

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One of the decisions taken today in Paris by the World Motorsport Council is this:

The FIA will invite tenders for a new feeder series for Formula One. This championship, called Formula Two, would be launched in 2009 and used as an inexpensive platform to develop emerging driver talent for Formula One. It is hoped this can be achieved within a budget of around €200,000 a car per season.

The purpose of the new Formula Two series does not seem to be very different from the purpose of GP2. So one can make a conclusion - 2008 season is the last one GP2 as we know it. Or is the Formula 2 going to exist alongside GP2 ?

Will the new series be brand new with new chassis, engines, format or are will the new name be pretty much the only change ? One thing we can almost take for granted. With the budget only €200,000 a car per season the Formula Two would very likely have to be spec series, as GP2 currently is.

I must admit I do like the idea of Formula 1 having again, after 25 year absence, its feeder series called Formula 2. Now let’s hope that some good racing would come with it.

F1Wolf

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As expected FIA unveiled today the provisional 2009 calendar that stretches from late March to mid November. The 19 races calendar includes French GP but there is no sign of United States Grand Prix returning. After being the 5th race this year Turkish GP will return back to its usual summer slot. British GP is to take part before the French race. The new Abu Dhabi GP will close the calendar. Japanese GP will return to Suzuka in 2009 and German GP to Nurburgring. It however remains to be seen if German GP will be called German GP in that venue …

2009 Provisional F1 calendar:

29 March - Australia
5 April - Malaysia
19 April - Bahrain
10 May - Spain
24 May - Monaco
7 June - Canada
21 June - Great Britain
28 June - France
12 July - Germany (Nurburgring)
26 July - Hungary
9 August - Turkey
23 August - Europe (Valencia)
6 September - Italy
13 September - Belgium
27 September - Singapore
11 October - Japan (Suzuka)
18 October - China
1 November - Brazil
15 November - Abu Dhabi

F1Wolf

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The events of last weekend in France brought out suggestions someone is out there to get McLaren. On one hand string of penalties to Hamilton and Kovalainen on the other hand not even an investigation into Trulli’s defending 3rd position from Heikki, no action taken against unsafe Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

So are McLaren hard done ? The following photos (inside the post) may provide some answer:

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F1Wolf

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McLaren Mercedes team are currently at worst the 2nd best team on the grid. The last French GP did nothing to make me feel otherwise. Heikki Kovalainen finished 4th after starting from 10th (following his 5 place grid penalty). Without the drive through penatly Lewis Hamilton would not have finished too far from podium either despite starting from P13…

But yet despite their strength the team lies at 3rd place in constructor standings, 16 points behind 2nd BMW Sauber and 33 points behind Ferrari. Their drivers are currently at 4th and 6th place. Compare it with their standings after 8 races last year. Top 2 drivers at the table, the team leading the constructors table by 25 points ahead of Ferrari…

The car is good, the car is reliable (only 2 retirements, both due to accidents, see the 2008 season stats here), so where is the problem ?

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F1Wolf

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