With nine races gone it is perhaps good time to look at the surprises and disapointments of the first half of the 2008 Formula 1 season. Here are my picks:

Surprises

Kazuki Nakajima - It is probably fair to say that without Williams’ engine deal with Toyota it would be unlikely for Nakajima to get a race drive alongside Nico Rosberg for 2008 season. Before the start of this season Kazuki Nakajima had only one Grand Prix under his belt. Although he did not do too bad in Brazil last year most F1 fans will remember his race debut for running over his pit crew. The expectations were not too high and few people have expected Kazuki Nakajima to match the pace of his highly rated team mate Nico Rosberg. Well, if we still can consider Nakajima a rookie after racing one race last year, I would rate him as a rookie of the year, I may not be the only one. Although he has been outqualified 7 to 2 by Rosberg and is yet to make it to the podium, he scored points in four races (Rosberg only in 3) and his total after nine races is 8 points, same as his team mate. But it is not only about the points. He seems to be maturing too (if that can be said after only his 10th F1 race) as his drive in the tricky wet Silverstone may suggest.

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This is the first 2009 drivers posts that does not have rumours only. One 2009 F1 seat was confirmed last week - Mark Webber’s contract with Red Bull was extended for another year. He will however have new team mate following David Coulthard’s retirement announcement. Sebastian Vettel is everybody’s candidate …

There are reports that Toyota will confirm their current drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock for next season. It hasn’t happened yet though. This would mean that Kazuki Nakajima may stay with Williams for a while longer.

Same as last year a lot seems to depend on the next move by Fernando Alonso. He is not planning to make any announcements before Italian Grand Prix in September and some teams may wait for his situation to clear up before making any moves.

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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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What do Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli and F1Wolf have in common ? Well all these important Formula 1 figures feature in the same show on Sidepodcast.tv

Thanks to Sidepodcast for nice review !

After you finish watching the great show about planes, wine, Formula 1 and F1Wolf see the rest of the post for few more photos of the Air Asia Airbus painted in Williams colours with Nico Rosberg’s helmet all over the nose of the plane. (all photos courtesy of AT&T Williams Team):

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The strong showing of Williams cars during the tests were for me the highlight of the F1 winter. And then they revealed the classy livery Williams style … I am becoming Williams fan . Let’s look at their drivers Rosberg and Nakajima, both of them sons of former Formula 1 drivers (Keke Rosberg and Satoru Nakajima):

Nico Rosberg - Germany
Born: 27 Jun 1985
In F1 since 2006 - Williams (testing with Williams since 2003)
Best Result: 9th in 2007
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Podium Finishes: 0
Fastest Laps: 1 (on his race debut)

Nico Rosberg started his F1 career with impressive fastest lap and 2 points on his race debut in 2006. He only went on to score 2 more for the rest of the season, season that was one of the worst ever for the Williams team. Last year was very different. Impressive in qualifying, regular in Q3, string of point finishes. And all in a car that probably should not be that high. No wonder he became the prime target for McLaren as replacement for Fernando Alonso. He however decided to stick with Williams for next 2 years. With what looks like a decent car in hand he can realisticaly think about few podiums this year. One of the things I am really looking forward to in 2008 is seeing Rosberg and Alonso in pretty much equal cars fighting it out on the track …

Kazuki Nakajima - Japan
Born: 11 January 1985
In F1 since 2007 - Williams - 1 race only Brazilian GP
Best Result: 10th place in his only race so far
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Podium Finishes: 0

Kazuki Nakajima jumped into the Williams F1 race seat after Alex Wurz decided to retire with one race to go last year. The team probably knew about this earlier. Perhaps because of that they placed Nakajima in one of Williams cars for the the free practice in China already (check my Shanghai 2007 photo gallery). Nakajima did pretty well on his race debut in Brazil. After qualifying on P17 only he climbed up the grid and finished the race 10th. Unfortunatelly for him, most people will remember his first F1 race for the famous pitlane incident (see the video below the post). He definitely has something in common with Sato . The fact that Williams selected him as race driver for 2008 season took many by surprise. The Toyota connection is thought to be the main reason and Williams are not exactly denying that. His winter form however shows that he is not that much slower than Rosberg. Whether he can keep his cool during the race that is another question.

F1Wolf’s prediction for Williams drivers in 2008:
No. 1 - Nico Rosberg, natural leader of the team with a chance of a podium finish
No. 2 - Kazuki Nakajima - will eventually emerge as number 2 driver, but he will give Rosberg run for his money. If he keeps cool head and has a bit of luck, who knows, we may see him on the podium. Alex Wurz made it last year in less competitive car …

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

Check the rest of this post for Nakajima’s pit lane incident video

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AT&T Williams F1 team finally revealed their 2008 livery and released a pre-season interview with Frank Williams. The blue white livery is similar to the 2007 one but somehow it does look better . The biggest looser is Lenovo, their logo has been relegated from the prominent position on the sidepods to the rear wing. Still more visible than AT&T logo though …

Here are few answers from Frank Williams on his drivers and prediction for 2008 season:

Nico returns for his third season this year. How important is he to the team?

He’s fundamental. We have the highest regards for him and we have great confidence that, given the right equipment, he will win races.

Kazuki has been promoted from test to race driver, how has he been doing over winter testing and what are your expectations of him in a race seat?

We knew we were taking a bit of a gamble when we signed him, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised by his testing pace. It’s really only a question I’ll be able to answer properly after the first few races of the season.

And lastly, what are your predictions for the season ahead?

I think the first four places are most likely to be occupied by the same people as last year, sadly. But I do think it will be a brilliant racing season.

More photos of new 2008 Williams livery inside the article (all photos courtesy of AT&T Williams).

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The teams keep rolling out their new cars and the F1 drivers are coming up with their 2008 helmet design. Here they are:

Raikkonen, Massa

Hamilton, Kovalainen

Heidfeld, Kubica

Alonso, Piquet

Rosberg, Nakajima

Webber, Coulthard

Glock, Trulli

Barrichello, Button

Bourdais, Vettel

Sutil, Fisichella

Sato, Davidson

Fernando Alonso seems to be getting away from McLaren days and returning to Renault even with his helmet design. Jarno Trulli reduced the shiny silver surface with more red colour over it. Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica keep the designs very close to their 2007 styles.

Kimi Raikkonen’s new 2008 helmet (click here) is very similar to his 2007 one, but the white front has been replaced with some sort of “tribal” drawing. Anyone knows what it means ?

Lewis Hamilton keeps his yellow helmet pretty much unchanged. Heikki Kovalainen had to make changes to accomodate new sponsors the result is Alonso 2007 like helmet. Bourdais keeps his Champ Car yellow and blue with the addition of Red Bull brand.

Both Honda and Red Bull drivers keep the same designs as in 2007. Sutil’s helmet does not look too different from his 2007 one as well. Fisichella is another guy sticking with his traditional colours.

Please check back for updates to this post with more on 2008 F1 driver helmets. It happened before that drivers used different design for the winter testing and came up with brand new one when the season started, so these may not yet be the definite 2008 helmets.

If you come across good pictures of new 2008 F1 driver helmets that are not yet displayed here, let me know. I will add them here !

To see what the drivers were wearing in 2007, check here

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Williams decided against the official 2008 car launch. With their sponsors and drivers long in place they do not see much reason for official launch event. So here is something to remember their 2007 challenger.

After the disastrous 2006 season came a big step forward in 2007 for AT&T Williams team. Several new backers, Toyota engines, Nico Rosberg with a year of experience under his belt that was what Williams was entering the season with. They finished it with a podium, regular points finishes and 20 points ahead of Toyota (their engine supplier) team in the constructors table. Here is the screensaver to remember 2007 Williams in F1.

You can download it here: 2007 Williams F1 Screensaver

Please check the screensaver tag for more F1 screensavers.

F1Wolf

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During the past month I published series of posts with the high resolution photos of all the teams and all the drivers (well almost, one driver is missing) of 2007 Formula 1 season for download.

For those who missed it, here are all the links:

Kimi Raikkonen
Lewis Hamilton
Fernando Alonso
Felipe Massa
Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica
Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen
Nico Rosberg, Alex Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima
Mark Webber, David Coulthard
Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher
Sebastian Vettel, Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi
Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello
Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson
Adrian Sutil, Christijan Albers, Sakon Yamamoto

Screensavers are also on the way. If you do not want to miss out, subscribe to F1 Wolf via RSS Feed or E-mail

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