Several current as well as hopeful Formula 1 tracks made the news these few days, here is a recap:

Bahrain - The organizers rubbished the reports they are planning to stage the GP as a night race in the future. One wonders where these reports came from. Why would they need to run the race in the night with only 2 (or 3? ) hours time difference from most of the European tracks ?

Sepang - The Malaysian organizers however confirmed they are considering night race - Dato Mokhzani Mahatir, chairman of the Sepang circuit:

“We have actually been talking aboug a night race with Bernie Ecclestone since September 2006. Since then he has spoken with Singapore and Melbourne as he’d like to see the F1 broadcast from here in Europe at a more decent hour. Having a race in Asia at night makes sense for that. Singapore and Melbourne are temporary street circuits whereas we are a permanent facility. Putting up lighting systems would allow us to hire the circuit out more.”

Melbourne - Here it looks unlikely the night race will happen, although Mark Webber has been quoted saying this to Adelaide’s Sunday Mail:

“We should try to make night work. It could be exactly what the event needs — who knows? We should fight to have a night race.”

and on Bernie Ecclestone hard line attitude:

“You can’t constantly keep having the same toys in the sand pit. He’s (Ecclestone) certainly got his head screwed on and he will do what is best for the sport.”

In the meantime there has been slight change in the time schedule for the 2008 Australian GP - The race in Melbourne will start at 3:30pm local time.

Silverstone - This is a week old news already… Although the development plans seem to be on the right track, the negotiations over new contract with CVC and Bernie Ecclestone will not be easy. Ecclestone (in his own words) will not hesitate to cut the British GP off the F1 calendar …

St. Petersburg - While slamming Melbourne (and Sydney) and Silverstone, Bernie Ecclestone is on his way to Russia to yet again discuss possible Russian Grand Prix, this time in St. Petersburg.

Algarve - Meanwhile in Portugal … A new F1 style track is nearing completion in the south of the country. The reports say that one team has already booked the facility for testing next January. The ultimate goal however is to return Formula 1 race back to Portugal. The last one was held in Estoril back in 1996 and won by Jacques Villeneuve.

Alcaniz - Amid all the bad publicity Spain received in past week or so, there are reports about another Spanish F1 venue springing up. Barcelona (Montmelo) and Valencia (street track) will host the F1 races this year. The permanent circuits in Valencia and Jerez are popular venues for F1 test. “La Ciudad del Motor de Alcaniz” is to become yet another test facility. It is designed by Hermann Tilke with advice from Pedro de la Rosa and due for completion in 2009.

A1 Ring - The attempts to revive former F1 track in Austria seem to have come to end. The track held its last GP in 2003. It was later bought by Red Bull and set for major redevelopment. The protests from ever present Austrian enviromentalists and failed talks with local authorities lead Dietrich Mateschitz to stop the project aimed at winning back the Austrian GP.

Williams - No, this is not another city but the Williams F1 team … Williams have announced plans to establish a permanent base for its test team in Spain. This is where all the Spanish (and Portuguese) test tracks may come handy .

Continue below to see La Ciudad del Motor de Alcaniz video.

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F1Wolf

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It is a pity we did not have chance to compare the pace of Ferrari with McLaren last weekend in Barcelona. Ferrari chose to test in Bahrain this week and along with them came Toyota.

Without comparison with other teams it is difficult to judge where these 2 teams stand. But the gap between Ferrari and Toyota on day 1 and day 2 of the Bahrain test is scary …

Bahrain - Day 1, February 4, 2008
1) K. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 01:32.079
2) L. Badoer - Ferrari - 01:33.323
3) T. Glock - Toyota - 01:33.418
4) K. Kobayashi - Toyota - 01:33.656

Gap Raikkonen to Glock + 1:339s

Bahrain - Day 2, February 5, 2008
1) K. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 01:30.595
2) L. Badoer - Ferrari - 01:32.230
3) T. Glock - Toyota - 01:32.889
4) J. Trulli - Toyota - 01:33.379

Gap Raikkonen to Glock + 2:294s

Yes, I am comparing Ferrari and Toyota and F1 champion with GP2 champion. Also both teams may be on totally different test programs. But still, almost 2.3 second gap is either sign of seriously slow Toyota or very formidable F2008 …

For comparison, the gap between fastest Mark Webber and slowest Jenson Button on Sunday in Barcelona was 1:423 second (on about 10 sec a lap shorter track).

While Ferrari are clearly set for another year at the sharp end of the grid, Toyota seems to be heading in Honda’s direction …

F1Wolf

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Eight teams have finished their weekend of testing in Barcelona. Three days and three different cars on the top. Hamilton (McLaren) on Friday, Vettel (Toro Rosso) on Saturday and Mark Webber (Red Bull) on Sunday.

In absence of Ferrari it was expected that the McLarens will be topping or be very very close to the top. Hamilton topped the sheets on Friday. On Saturday however Toro Rosso’s were both quicker than both McLarens and on Sunday Mark Webber managed to beat the silver cars. Overall the McLarens look good.

Toro Rosso team will not introduce their new car until few races into the 2008 season, so what they test now is an updated version of their 2007 car. Their Saturday impressive run might a bit misleading, as they an the car very light. However they did not do too bad also on Friday and Sunday. This definitelly was an encouraging weekend for the team.

Red Bull came up with a revolutionary design - implementing an ugly fin on the engine cover. And unfortunatelly it seems to be working Mark Webber’s fastest time on Sunday shows. If other teams get the hint, we may see more cars getting ugly.

BMW seem to have overcome the problems they experienced last week and they seem to be around 0.3 off the McLaren pace now. Renault is also clawing back, either the car has seen quite an improvement from last year or Fernando Alonso brought his famous 0.6 second with him. They do not seem to be 1 second behind McLaren any more. It looks pretty even between them and BMW Sauber.

Giancarlo Fisichella impressed o Friday with the 4th fastest time. Force India only tested with 1 car and neither Liuzzi nor Sutil were able to get anywhere near the time Fisi posted on Friday.

Williams did not do much in Barcelona. After Kazuki Nakajima’s crash the team did not continue on Friday. And when they realized the problems with their front wing mounting need more thorough fix, they decided to abandon the Barcelona test completely. A bit of a turn in their fortunes after the excelent form in Valencia. But one of the purposes of the tests is also to find out what does not work.

Photo: HondaRacingF1

And this leaves the poor Honda. The car simply is not good enough yet and the team has lots of job ahead to move up from the back of the field to midfield at least. According to Jenson Button the car “lacks the driveability” and the new ECU and the fact that the car is brand new are mentioned as the main reasons. The gap between Honda and the top is 1 and half second at the moment. If I was to bet on who will copy the ugly fin from Red Bull first, Honda would be my candidate.

On Sunday there were 7 teams within 1 second and if ad the impresive run of Fisi in Force India on Friday we can say the field is very tight at the moment. The only team visibly lagging behind right now is Honda. We have no comparison with Ferrari and Toyota this time, these 2 will be testing this week in Bahrain. The lack of news (other than takeover and driver rumours) from Super Aguri is a bit worrying.

Unfortunatelly it will not be the racing that will be making the headlines after the Barcelona test but the racist behaviour of some Spanish fans towards Lewis Hamilton …

F1Wolf

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