All we need is 2 weeks break between races and the rumour floodgates open. Let’s have a look what’s new since the second edition.

Robert Kubica has been doing well and so it comes as no surprise his future has been talked about quite a bit. Few innocent remarks to Italian paper La Stampa created two contradictory rumours. First linking Rosberg with BMW Sauber (as Kubica’s team mate) and then linking Kubica with a move to Ferrari. Sounds interesting but whom would Kubica replace ? Massa is under contract till 2010 and doing well right now (after shaky start to the season). There has been lots of talking about Raikkonen’s retirement but if I am not wrong that is part of the post 2009 future. All I can say about Kubica and Ferrari is that Kubica’s helmet matches the Ferrari colour scheme quite well as the picture above shows .

Fernando Alonso has dismissed the rumours about him signing for Ferrari, so now it is time to link him to BMW Sauber, now also a race winning car. It may help that Robert Kubica does not seem to mind having Alonso as a team mate. The question for me however is if Alonso would be OK with Kubica in the other car. At the moment all that is sure about Alonso’s future is that he has not made any decision on it, at least that is what he says.

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Danica Patrick is making F1 headlines. Rumours about her Formula 1 test with Honda spread much faster than the following Nick Fry’s denial about any contact between Honda F1 and Patrick. Nick Fry however does not seem to be entirely opposed to the idea:

“But if Danica did want to test one of our cars, we would be more than happy to speak to her about it.”

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Mike Conway did not do himself any harm by winning his first GP2 in Monaco last weekend. The tabloid talk about Conway and F1 has already begun. Does he have realistic chance to race in Formula 1 anytime soon ?

Conway’s current F1 connection is with Honda. He is part of the Honda Young Driver programme, he tested Honda F1 car last year and he does not seem to be unhappy there:

“Honda is a good place to be. They are starting to get results and next year they will be even stronger.”

But can Honda be his ticket to F1 racing ? Anthony Davidson has been part of Honda programme for quite some time. All he got out of it was 1 year and 4 races with Honda funded Super Aguri team (and 1 lap in Sepang standing in for sick Takuma Sato). What will happen with Rubens Barrichello’s seat next year remains to be seen, but it looks very likely that Jenson Button will stay with Honda. Even if there is vacancy next to Button, would Honda fill it up with another British driver ? (The last time I remember 2 drivers from same country in one team were Albers and Doornbos with Minardi, but both of them as paid drivers.) If Button signs new contract with Honda it will probably be for few years so the chances for another British driver to get a race drive with Honda anytime soon are not that good it seems. And unlike Toyota, Honda does not supply customer engines to anybody anymore … He may probably have to look elsewhere. But he is not alone among the current GP drivers with an eye on F1 and as we all know, there are not too many seats in F1 to go round …

Photo: Mike Conway/Sutton

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I know that all the teams are driven by the desire to get those few tenths that make the difference between F1 heroes and F1 zeros. But this is what happens when the teams continue fine tuning the ugly additions to their bodyworks, the ugly Dumbo wings get even uglier…

Yesterday I watched few videos from older Monaco races. Here is a clip from 1996, the famous wet race win for Olivier Panis in Ligier. How much nicer the cars were then, 12 years ago …

Even the new A1GP car looks better than the current F1 cars … The only light at the end of the tunnels is the fact, that what we see now is the end of the line for the current F1 cars and 2009 will put an end to these ugly winglets and wings and ears and all this. Season 2009 can’t come soon enough …

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Images (courtesy of Honda Racing F1) of Rubens Barrichellos’ 257th race special helmet and livery.

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The usually quiet weekend between two Formula 1 races was this time interrupted by accelerating developments surrounding Super Aguri team. First on Friday Super Aguri team and Weigl Group confirmed the talks. Then Nick Fry on Friday expressed his doubts about the deal and called it unlikely. Franz Josef Weigl responded quickly. In the meantime the Super Aguri cars were spotted to be in Honda’s Brackley factory instead on ferry from Trieste to Istanbul. I tried to keep track of these developments in this post.

Then on Sunday things took a turn for worse for Super Aguri. The team were denied access to Istanbul paddock allegedly after Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry had informed F1 management that Super Aguri would not be racing in Turkey. It appears that while Aguri Suzuki is pulling all the strings to keep the team afloat, Nick Fry is determined to bury Super Aguri F1 operation. Now, why would that be ?

I think the main reason for Fry to be suddenly so eager to see Super Aguri go (either away or under) is the genuine need for Honda to fully focus on their own development ahead of brand new F1 starting from 2009. I am sure if Suzuki was to find a slid buyer or investor that would stabuilize the team Fry would have nothing against it. Honda I believe would not mind supplying customer engines if they were to get paid for them. Supplying engines to 2 teams clearly does no harm to Ferrari, does it ? But Honda does not provide Super Aguri with engines only. Super Aguri chassis and pretty much the complete cars come from Honda. That would likely be the case at least all through the rest of 2008 season. I also think that 2009 would not be too different. Even if Super Aguri were to build their own cars from 2010, they would need some legal car for 2009. The new rules will require brand new cars and Super Aguri would sure not be able to build that themselves. The car would again have to come from Honda (unless some other team would be willing to chip in spare chassis or two). Honda as it becomes apparent is not willing to finance this any longer. If they see an investor coming to Super Aguri with pockets deep enough to pay Honda for all the supplies I expect Honda to be happy to dance along. So why is Nick Fry that negative about Weigl Group ? I think the answer is simple.

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The 2008 Turkish Grand Prix will mark 257th F1 Grand Prix for Rubens Barrichello. This will make Barrichello the most experienced driver in F1 history, surpasing the 256 mark set by Riccardo Patrese. There has been questions about when exactly will Barrichello reach the record mark but I am not going into the details of the confusion. It has been done excellently elsewhere (see this post). The deal now is that 2008 Turkish GP is the one, so let’s leave it there.

Rubens Barrichello seems to have been around F1 forever. He entered the F1 circus in 1993. Here are some other names that were on grid in 1993 - Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, Martin Brundle, Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell, Michael Andretti, Mika Häkkinen, Alex Zanardi, Eddie Irvine, Aguri Suzuki. Perhaps with an exemption of Michael Schumacher all these names remind me of a totally different F1 era… He scored points in his debut season. The first podium came in his second F1 season, 1994 Pacific Grand Prix.The same season he however had his most serious accident - the heavy crash during 1994 San Marino Grand Prix Friday practice (video inside the post) - and was lucky to walk away. Later that year he was on pole position for the first time. The points, podiums and pole position came quickly but for his first Formula 1 race win he had to wait longer than anyone before him - till 2000 German Grand Prix. Eight more race wins (all with Ferrari) followed. The last race he has won (as it stands) was the inaugural 2004 Chinese Grand Prix. The last time he made it to podium was the infamous 2005 United States Grand Prix where he only had Jordans and Minardis to beat …

Here is little summary Barrichello’s F1 career:

Milestones:

1993 South African Grand Prix - F1 debut in Jordan
1993 Japanese Grand Prix - first F1 points (5th place)
1994 Pacific Grand Prix - first F1 podium (3rd place)
1994 San Marino Grand Prix - serious accident in Friday free practice (video)

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Update: The talks between Weigl Group and Super Aguri have been confirmed by both parties (see comments below this post). Nick Fry expressed his doubts yesterday (again, see comments below this post). Franz Josef Weigl however came quickly back with his response:

It looks like it is only matter of days before the future of Super Aguri F1 team is clear. Honda team does not seem to be willing to bank roll the Super Aguri operation any longer. At least that seem to be message Honda representatives sent through their statement to AFP:

“We will not provide relief on a race-by-race basis any longer.”

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted (to Reuters) he tried to help the team out but he is not convinced Super Aguri can survive:

“They don’t look in very good shape at the moment, unfortunately. I want them to stay, I’ve been helping them the last week. “

It is no surprise that even usually calm and loyal Anthony Davidson is cracking under the pressure of the situation.

So where is the help going to come from if not from Honda ? One possibility is new last minute deal with Magma Group but I would be surprised if that is the case. The only other saviour that made it to the news (yesterday) is the German automotive group Weigl. But if what the reports say is true, the 6.5 million pounds deal would only pay for the bills till end of the 2008 season. It is not the deal Aguri Suzuki is looking for but at least it would provide him with some breathing space and time to secure a long term deal.

The talks between (Aguri) Suzuki and Honda this week will likely decide the fate of the Super Aguri team. I believe that this time around any deal that comes around and does not include contribution from Honda will get a green light. I hope the cash will be found and the team stays around. But I also hope that there is a deal that will do more than just extend the agony …

Photo: Super Aguri F1 Team

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After reading the Button’s comment on qualifying I looked up the Honda cars photos from Barcelona to see what exactly are the visible updates on their cars they actually use this weekend.

“I need a bit more time with the car to understand the new aero properly and find out how to get the most out of it, but I’m happy with our position going into the race and we’ll see what happens and what we can take advantage of.” - Button

Here are the pictures from Barcelona. The “dumbo ears” are obvious on both cars. They make the car look ugly but it seems that they are going stay … The green front wheel covers do not seem to be on Honda cars all the time. Looks like the benefits are still being evaluated …

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The testing last week did not reveal too much. Not that we ever can tell too much about the form of teams from a test, but we can tell pretty much nothing after the last Barcelona test . Here is my view of what may have changed.

First look at the top 3:

Ferrari looked to be damn fast on slicks and with the hole in the nose. But not that different times were later achieved for example by Barrichello and Alonso, also on slicks. Ferrari’s speed early on in the test does not reveal much … McLaren cars were quite slow last week but both de la Rosa and Hamilton did lots of laps on their test days and outright speed might not have been their focus. Quite the same can be said about BMW Sauber. All three top teams are optimistic on their own form but cautious at the same not knowing the true gains of the other 2 …

Down to midfield now:

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