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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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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F1Wolf

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Thanks to some interesting races and rather even midfield most of the drivers and most of the teams have some points to their names already. Only few zeros still remain (not including Super Aguri):

Drivers: Nelson Piquet, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella
Teams: Force India

Sutil came close, very close in Monaco. Fisichella’s best is 10th place in Spain. Nelson Piquet in clearly better car than Force India has only finished 2 races so far, with 11th place in Malaysia being his best.

Will they be able to break their scoring duck in France ? Looking at the predictions so far not too many people think so. But it may rain on Sunday

Photo: Force India F1

F1Wolf

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Looks like Sonia Irvine’s Amber Lounge parties have serious competition from Vijay Mallya . Here are some photos from Fly Kingfisher Party in Monaco 2008, including again DJ Sakon Yamamoto (after his success in Istanbul).

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F1Wolf

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Rubens Barrichello celebrated his 257th F1 race in Turkey. Giancarlo Fisichella will celebrate his 200th Grand Prix start in Monaco. He is only the ninth driver in history to reach that milestone. His total does not include the 2005 US GP, when along with the other Michelin runners he withdrew on the formation lap. It also does not include France 2002, when he had a major crash in practice and did not take part in qualifying.

Here are few photos (courtesy of Force India F1) including the photo of his special Arai Helmet bearing ‘200′ logo (more pictures in the article):

Giancarlo Fisichella 200 Anniversary Helmet

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F1Wolf

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A bit of refreshment before the Turkish GP Formula 1 race. Vijay Mallya has been known for his lavish parties and his Kingfisher party last year in Monaco was said to be The party to attend. There are still 2 weeks to go before Monaco but the European Party season has already began for Force India boss. Here are few photos from the party on board Mallya’s yacht in Istanbul, on Friday before Turkish GP. He looks to have stolen Sakon Yamamoto from Renault and turned him into a DJ (All photos courtesy of Force India F1):

(more photos inside the article)

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I was quite surprised when I read Tony Teixeira’s (A1 GP boss) outburst aimed at Vijay Mallya, the Force India F1 boss. I was also quite impressed by the strong and well aimed reply Mr. Mallya sent back. Here is quick summary just in case you missed out:

Tony Teixeira to Reuters:

“It’s the wrong message. I think Vijay is trying to set something up which is a long-term plan but it’s not the right message having Force India and non-Indian drivers. I think India wants to see India with Indian drivers. And India wants to see Indian drivers winning. Karthikeyan has proven that. I don’t see Force India winning a race in F1 for the next five years.”

“I think A1 for all intents and purposes brings through the right messages into India by saying that India, although not a motor sport racing nation, can win the World Cup and can beat the rest of the world.”

Vijay Mallya in response to Tony Teixeira:

“I am amused by the comments of Mr Teixeira, promoter of the A1GP series, on how Indians should view motorsport in general and Force India’s participation in the FIA Formula One World Championship in particular. Mr Teixeira is better advised to comment on his native South Africa and his self-styled World Cup of Motorsport that is nothing more than a standard single seater series. Trying to reach out to India’s youth by encouraging participation in and the temptation of winning a title in a series that does not even begin to compare with GP2 or F1 is just promoting mediocrity amongst young Indians who aspire to be World Class. This, indeed, is a wrong message which seems to be an act of desperation given the huge and growing support for Formula One and the Force India Formula One team.”

I am totally on Mallya’s side. And reading what other bloggers have to say it looks like I am not alone. I have nothing against A1 series. If people are willing to pay for it, participate in it and someone will actually watch it, then it is all good. To Teixeira’s credit he (and earlier his partner from Dubai) did manage to start a racing series that still survives. The teams fielded several F1 wannabies, F1 test drivers, former F1 drivers (Verstappen and Karthikeyan). One of the A1 GP race winners, Nelson Piquet jr. is racing in F1 this year. But, A1 si no World Cup of motorsport and giving it this ridiculous name will not make it one. The cars may be relatively powerful, but winning an A1 GP race is in my opinion on or perhaps even below par with winning any lower tier Formula race. I would rate Macau Formula 3 race way above the whole A1 GP championship any time you ask me …

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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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The Force India vacant seat alongside Adrian Sutil was the target of several drivers. I was not too surprised when they decided to hire Giancarlo Fisichella.

Giancarlo Fisichella - Italy
Born: 14 January 1973
In F1 since 1996 - Minardi, 1997 - Jordan, 1998 - 2001 Benetton, 2002 - 2003 Jordan, 2004 Sauber, 2005 - 2007 Renault, 2008 Force India
Best Result: 4th in 2006
Career wins: 3
Pole positions: 3
Podium Finishes: 18

After departure of Fernando Alonso from Renault to McLaren, Fisichella probably thought his chance to fight for the has finally come. Unfortunately for him Renault did not have the best of seasons in 2007 and at the end Fisi finished the season even behind his rookie team mate Heikki Kovalainen. Few were surprised Renault did not retain him for 2008 season. The move to Force India may look as a step back for Fisichella. He is returning to a team he raced for twice already while it was still known as Jordan. He may now forget about his dream to win the F1 title. He however seems to be enjoying his time in the Indian team. He was quite impressive during winter tests, clearly faster than both Sutil and Liuzzi (the 3rd driver). He is out to prove his critics wrong and his selection by Vijay Mallya right.

Adrian Sutil - Germany
Born: 11 January 1983
In F1 since 2007 - Spyker, 2008 Force India (tested for Midland/Spyker in 2006)
Best result: 4th in 2006
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Podium finishes: 0
Best finish: 8th

Adrian Sutil has been mentioned often in connection with the vacant seat in McLaren, but frankly speaking, I somehow do not see why. He was not bad, but he also was not exactly spectacular during 2007 season. Yes, he was the fastest guy in Saturday practice in Monaco, but it was cold windy and wet and who knows who was testing what time. He has a talent but he will definitely benefit from another season with former Spyker now Force India. That is however if he does get too humiliated by Giancarlo Fisichella. If many around the F1 paddock consider Fisi to be a spent force, what would they thing about a young talent who can’t beat Fisichella… And Liuzzi is around and waiting for his chance …

F1Wolf’s prediction for Force India drivers in 2008:
Unfortunately for Sutil I expect Fisichella to dominate here. Liuzzi may get his chance…

2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Ferrari
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - McLaren
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - BMW Sauber
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Renault
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Williams
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Red Bull
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Toyota
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Honda
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Toro Rosso

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Some teams will continue testing in private tests next week. Barcelona however was the last major test involving most of the teams. The results and times do not tell much. Few would conclude that Toyota is the fastest car just because Trulli clocked the the fastest lap yesterday . So what Formula 1 drivers and team bosses think after the last test of the season:

Ferrari:
Jean Todt:

“We have two excellent drivers and it looks like the car is good too. We are satisfied and the situation is encouraging. But we need to wait for the races, let’s hope for the best.”

Kimi Raikkonen:

“I think we have a strong package, but we don’t know how fast the others are. We will only see that in the race. We are quite happy with what we have done over the winter so we will see in Melbourne. I think we have good reliability. We had some small things last year that unfortunately stopped the car in the race but it can always happen. We have done everything we can and it will be nice to get back racing again. In Melbourne we will see who is fast or not, because you cannot say from the tests. The times look close. Somebody goes fast one day and another guy another day. We will wait for a couple of weeks and we will know in qualifying. But I think McLaren are for sure strong, so we need to see how good they are in the race.”

Felipe Massa:

“I feel really powerful this year. If we are lucky, we will have a stronger start of the season than last year’s. This year we aim for the same situation we had in 2007, Ferrari was the best team and both drivers were in equal positive conditions. I feel strong to fight for the championship.”

Sam Michael (Williams):

“Ferrari are about three of four tenths ahead of them (McLaren), and seven or eight tenths before the group including BMW, Renault, Red Bull and us.”

Fernando Alonso (Renault) on Kimi Raikkonen

“He has the self confidence and he is obviously very quick, so he has put himself in a very strong position.”

McLaren:
Lewis Hamilton:

“Winter testing has gone really smoothly. We have had steady reliability and the car is feeling good. We have had some great testing days, easily covering the mileage and getting confidence in the car. It has been a good week, in addition to the test development programme we have been working with the race team on getting back up to speed with activities such as pitstops. As I just said, the car is feeling good, but as always we still have work to do. A Formula One car is under continuous evolution, and when you look back at how far we have come since the MP4-23 first hit the track in January, it is encouraging. The work doesn’t stop for anyone just because testing has concluded.”

Heikki Kovalainen:

“We have improved the car, I have improved myself and I have gotten to know the team better. Everything has just very positive; there haven’t been any negative moments. Of course some days are more difficult than others but we are making progress all the time. So overall a very good winter and we have the pace to have a strong year.”

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F1Wolf

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