F1Wolf reader from Spain and F1 blogger himself, Draconte, sent me a selection of his photos from the final test of this season in Jerez. Here is the photogallery that also includes photos of Williams sporting that tiny 2009 style rear wing and the KERS testing Honda of Alex Wurz with funny coloured tyre side walls. It is interesting to see that half of the driveres testing that day were from Japan- Takuma Sato, Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima. Click on the thumbnails to see the full photo, click again on the photo to enlarge it if you wish.

Photos: Draconte, thanks !

F1Wolf

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This is part 3 of the European Grand Prix mini history series - years 1996 and 1997.

In 1996 European Grand Prix returned to Nurburgring for the second year in a row. Yet again it turned out to be a significant race - the future champion won his first race here.

Williams were the team to beat those days and so it came as no suprise that Damon Hill and the new arrival from American racing Jacques Villeneuve booked themselves the front row on the grid. Behind them lined up Schumacher (Ferrari), Alesi (Benetton), Barrichello (Jordan) and Coulthard (McLaren). Confident Hill however made mess of his start and Villeneuve took the lead. Coulthard came out of nowhere in struggling McLaren and found himself 2nd challenging for the lead. Barrichello moved up to third ahead of Schumacher, Hill and Hakkinen.

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F1Wolf

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After eight years break the European GP returned to Formula 1 calendar in 1993 for so far the one only F1 race at Donnington Park, the planned post 2009 British GP venue. And again same as back in 1983 the European GP happened because plans for another race, the Asian GP in Japan, failed. There were several memorable European GP races in the past and the 1993 Donnington race is one of them, remembered as perhaps the greatest Ayrton Senna’s victory. The race started in wet rainy conditions. After start Prost held on to his P1 ahead of Hill while Senna dropped one back behind to fifth behind Wendlinger and Schumacher. However by the end of lap one Senna was leading the race (video). He won this wet-dry-wet-dry race over a minute ahead of Damon Hill who was the only driver on the same lap Senna (after unlapping himself).

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F1Wolf

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All the teams except Toyota and Ferrari, but finally including Super Aguri, tested in Jerez last week. Williams and Red Bull tested for 4 days, the rest for 3 days only.

As usual it is hard to read into the times. But there are few things that are becoming obvious:

McLarens did look like the fastest cars out of the Jerez pack, although on Wednesday Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica all managed better times than quickest of McLaren’s - Lewis Hamilton. A day later however it was Heikki Kovalainen on top, and around 1.5 second faster than Lewis Hamilton. This big difference suggests that each driver was on different program… They also tried out some weird looking wheel covers.

How close to or ahead of Ferrari they are is everybody’s guess…

Red Bull and Williams did very well. The ugly fin on Red Bull seems to be working and looks set to stay … Nakajima is quite impressive in Williams and I would lie if I say I expected him to be pretty much on par with Nico Rosberg. The races may be different story, but so far so good for Williams and for Nakajima. BMW and Renault are 2 other teams that form the very strong upper midfield group. These four may be a bit behind McLaren at the moment, but it looks like the days of top 6 pre-booked for Ferrari, McLaren and BMW drivers are over. The Q2s are going to be very intense with 12 cars at least fighting it out for 10 places in Q3 …

Then there is Toro Rosso somehow standing alone between the top and the bottom. Vettel seems to be a tenth or two faster than Bourdais. They are still running the old car, the new one not expected before the beginning of the European F1 season. But judging from their current form, starting the season with an old car is not going to hurt them.

Force India car, despite getting a facelift, remains firmly among the backmarkers. There however seems to be quite a difference between performances of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil (and Tonio Liuzzi). Looks like Fisi is out to prove his critics wrong …

Honda still lacks the speed and the three second gap between Button and Kovalainen on Thursday looks scary. But the guys at Honda seem to be happy and quite upbeat after the Jerez test. Clearly clocking quick times was not why they went to Jerez. The updates expected for the final test in Barcelona are supposed to address all the issues with the car the team has identified, so let’s wait and see …

Super Aguri made it clear to the world they still exist. Both Sato and Davidson (although still without contract for 2008) took the car around the Jerez track. They were slower than Honda proper, but the gaps were just around a tenth of a second. Unfortunately these days being a tenth slower than Honda is not a exactly good news.

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After raking up some mileage for Honda back in 2007 part of this winter, not exactly perfect test in Jerez in Januray and then missing out on several previous F1 tests, the financially troubled Super Aguri finally made it to the track again. Takuma Sato did 90 laps in Jerez yesterday in SA07B interim car and the team seems to be satisfied with the way the test went. The SA07B was less than 3 tenths slower than Barrichello’s new Honda RA108.

On the same day however the team also announced postponing their new car launch (originally planned for February 19, 2008). Instead the team boss Aguri Suzuki and technical director Mark Preston will be at the circuit to answer media questions. Their new car is still due to run for the first time in Barcelona next week but withoit the official launch. That means no confirmation on the drivers line up, no new livery yet. It looks like we may have to wait perhaps until he season opener in Australia to see how the Super Aguri new car, the SA08, will look like and who will be driving it.

Now this may mean bad news (no deal in sight) or good news (ongoing talks looking good) for the team. One thing is obvious - no sponsorship or investment deals have been finalized yet.

F1Wolf

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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 has been announced yesterday that the F1 teams will be testing slick tyres during the upcoming test in Jerez. So the slicks are returning to the place where they featured last time, 10 years ago at the European Grand Prix 1997 in Jerez. And what a race it was… It was the final race of 1997 season, with Schumacher leading Villeneuve by 1 point …

Famous qualifying - 3 drivers recorded identical time in qualifying for the first time in the F1 history - Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Famous win - Mika Hakkinen won his first F1 race

Famous incident - Michael Schumecher hit Jacques Villeneuve during Villeneuve’s overtaking attempt and later got disqualified from the whole season

The race was won by Hakkinen, ahead of Coulthard (both McLaren) and Jacques Villeneuve (Williams). The 3rd place was enough for Jacques Villeneuve to claims his first and only Formula 1 Drivers Title.

Check the rest of this post for the video highlights from 1997 European Grand Prix in Jerez

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F1Wolf

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